[Legacy Of The Force] - 03(82)

Alema frowned. “How is it not different? You are the … last of … the …” She stopped, suddenly realizing why Lumiya might be willing to risk dying before Jacen completed his sacrifice … why Lumiya seemed so confident he would, even without her to guide him. “There are more Sith?”

Lumiya floated the housing down to the floor, revealing a head-sized wafer of bright metal with a small tube of liquid deuterium sunk into the center.

“There is a plan-a plan that will be carried out whether or not I survive.” Lumiya reached over and followed two wires from the top of the deuterium tube to a small circuit board, then undipped them both. “That’s all you need to know.”

“We don’t believe you.” Alema did not bother moving the glow rod away, since they were no longer at a crucial point in the disarming process. “Aren’t there only two Sith at a time?”

Lumiya picked up her hydrospanner and began to unbolt the proton charge. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

There was a cold edge in Lumiya’s voice that rocked Afema back on her heels, and she realized she had probably heard too much already. If there really was a secret organization of Sith-and that was the only reason she could think of for Lumiya’s willingness to sacrifice herself-they were obviously very serious about keeping their existence secret.

“No, there is no need,” Alema said. “We have heard enough of your lies for now.”

An amused twinkled came to Lumiya’s eyes. “That is probably for the best.”

Lumiya removed the proton charge from the missile, then pulled a black combat vest from her tool satchel and slipped the device into a chest pocket. She checked to be sure that the actuation wires would reach from the deuterium tube to a small sensor pad located about where the wearer’s heart would be, but did not affix the clips.

“Very clever,” Alema said. “You win even if you lose.”

“It is the Sith way.” Lumiya scooted her tool satchel down the floor to the next missile on the rack. “Bring the light-we’re running out of time.”

“We don’t understand.” Alema began to have a sinking feeling, but she did as Lumiya asked and shined the light on the nose cone of the missile. “How are you going to wear two proton charges?”

“I’m not.” Lumiya reignited the fusioncutter, then looked up at Alema. “This one is for you.”





Chapter Eighteen


Ribbons of smoke were still seeping from the hangar mouth and rising into the downpour, but the rest of Villa Solis had obviously burned out long before the rains came. A couple of proton bombs had reduced the site to a smear of rubble and melted stone, leaving only a few ghostly foundation circles to mark where the habitation domes had once stood. To Ben’s surprise, he felt only a hint of death in the Force. Either the attack had occurred a very long time ago-which seemed unlikely, given the fumes still rising from the hangar-or very few people had died in it.

The tilting voice of the skiff’s pilot and commander-a Duros junior lieutenant named Beta Ioli-came over Ben’s headset, which he and the rest of the crew were wearing to muffle the roar of the oversized engines.

“Something bad happened here,” she said. “Chief, you picking up anything?5

“Negative, ma’am,” Tanogo replied. A Bith chief petty officer who had been in the space navy since before Ben was born sat three meters back in the Rover’s cramped cabin, operating the “snoop station” used to locate and evaluate enemy targets. “There aren’t any signals originating within three hundred kilometers-but we do have a bogey squadron headed our way from Warro Field.”

“Miy’tils?” Ioli asked.

“Negative. Looks more like Headhunters.”

“Headhunters?” Ioli grunted. “You’re kidding.”

“The planetary militia still uses Headhunters,” Ben said, quoting the intelligence file Tenel Ka had provided when Jacen assigned him the mission. “They’re probably curious about us.”

“Nobody sends twelve fighters on a look-and-report,” Tanogo repeated. “That’s an attack squadron.”

“Can’t blame them for being cautious,” Ioli replied. “Somebody did just level their Ducha’s place. Identify us and see if they know what happened.”

Tanogo acknowledged the order, and a moment later Ben noticed the weapons systems running through a test pattern. Either the skiff’s young Twi’lek weapons tech had taken it upon himself to bring up the systems, or-more likely-the seasoned petty officer had quietly suggested it.