[Legacy Of The Force] - 03(88)

“That was fast,” he said.

“Too fast,” Tanogo answered. He set to work decoding it. “It’s a CU message. Has to be.”

This drew a groan from the usually silent Twi’lek weapons officer.

“CU message?” Ben asked.

“See you later,” Ioli explained. “When a Star Destroyer has to change posts while her scouts are out, she drops a message beacon with rendezvous coordinates.”

“Okay,” Ben said, not seeing the problem. “So I don’t plot a course until we have the new coordinates.”

“That’d be too easy, son,” Tanogo said.

“It’s pretty rare that a Star Destroyer moves toward the scout ship,” Ioli said. “And since reconnaissance skiffs don’t carry a lot of fuel or provisions…”

“And since we have half again our normal complement,” Ben added, beginning to understand.

“Right,” Ioli said. “It can be a problem.”

They waited in silence while Tanogo finished decoding the message. Then Ben felt a ripple of relief in the Force.

“It’s not so bad,” Tanogo announced. “We might even get in a little R and R, if the lieutenant is feeling generous.”

“That depends on how long you intend to keep me waiting,” Ioli said.

The message appeared on the cockpit display almost immediately. RECON SKIFF ROVER PROCEED TO ROQOO DEPOT FOR REFUELING AND RESUPPLY. AWAIT RENDEZVOUS OR ORDERS.

“What about our message?” Ben asked.

“The Anakin is probably in hyperspace herself,” Tanogo said. “We’ll have to keep trying and hope we catch her between jumps.”

“That’s not good enough,” Jaina said from the back of the cabin.

Ben turned in his seat and saw her and Zekk emerging from crew quarters. Their faces still had pillow lines and their hair was still sleep-tousled, but they appeared completely rested-as Jedi usually did after a recovery trance.

“We have to go to Hapes,” she said, continuing forward.

“Those aren’t our orders,” Tanogo objected. “When Colonel Solo tells us to go somewhere…”

“Colonel Solo doesn’t know about our message,” Zekk interrupted. “Or the importance of getting it there now.”

Jaina slipped past Tanogo’s station and stopped behind Ioli’s seat. “You know how important it is to deliver our intelligence to the Queen Mother in time, and you have the authority to act on your initiative.”

Ioli nodded. “Of course. But the Queen Mother is aboard the Anakin…”

“Not if the Anakin left Hapes, she isn’t,” Jaina said.

“A leader of Tenel Ka’s courage and integrity is not going to leave her capital world while it’s under threat of attack,” Zekk added. “Wherever the Anakin went, the Queen Mother will be staying behind to oversee Hapes’s defense.”

“So I suggest you act on your own initiative,” Jaina said. “Or we’ll act on ours.”

Ioli’s small jaw clacked shut, then she let out a snort of irritation and turned to Ben. “What do you think Colonel Solo would want?”

Ben glanced over his shoulder at the uncompromising faces of Jaina and Zekk. “Well, that message is pretty important,” he said. “And I don’t think Jacen would want you to get your crew killed by the two Jedi Knights he just sent you to rescue.”

Jaina smiled at Ben, then winked. “Good answer,” she said. “Maybe Jacen’s teaching you something after all.”





Chapter Nineteen


The task force had emerged from hyperspace in perfect crescent formation, and the luminous green disk of the planet Relephon was already swelling in the Anakin’s bridge viewport. The world was one of those truly massive gas giants on the verge of becoming a star itself, the tremendous pressures in its core releasing enough energy to bathe its horde of moons in a life-sustaining blanket of heat and light.

Jacen did not notice the tiny saucers of any Battle Dragons silhouetted against the pale glow, nor see the blue slivers of even one efflux tail streaking in to intercept the task force Tenel Ka had sent to arrest AlGray. Still, he had a cold prickle along his spine and an uneasy emptiness in his stomach. The minutes after a fleet emerged from hyperspace were always its most hectic and vulnerable, with the sensor officers struggling to calibrate their instruments and the hangar chiefs rushing to launch a fighter screen. It was the ideal time for an attack, and Jacen could feel one coming.

Unfortunately, he had no idea from where. The advance scouts had reported only an alarming inability to locate the enemy fleet, and AlGray’s commander was certainly in no rush to reveal her position.