[Legacy Of The Force] - 05(107)
As usual, he couldn’t feel Jacen’s presence, but he could hear him talking to someone.
Who is it? Odd. I can’t feel anybody else.
Jacen might have been on his comlink, but his tone of voice wasn’t that slightly stilted, self-conscious one that he tended to lapse into when he couldn’t see who he was speaking to. In fact, he sounded as if he was trying to keep his temper.
“You overplayed your hand,” said Jacen.
“You worry too much,” said a woman’s voice.
That was the point at which Ben realized something was very wrong. Only a Jedi could be there and not be sensedor a Yuuzhan Vong, and they weren’t exactly frequent visitors to the GAG HQ. And the voice was somehow familiar, even though he couldn’t place it.
It was dishonest to sneak up on his commanding officeron his cousin, his mentorbut it seemed like the only sensible thing to do. Keeping himself hidden in the Force, Ben edged silently along the corridor and stood as close to the open doors as he could.
This wing of the headquarters building was deserted, and Jacen probably relied on sensing people coming and going. He thought he and his guest were alone.
“You cut it too fine,” Jacen was saying. “There’s being a decoy, and there’s being too clever, and you crossed that line. Are you recovered now?”
“Yes,” said the woman’s voice. It had that slightly husky edge to it, like she used too many death sticks. “But it worked. It gave you the space to act without having her crawling all over your operation. She really thinks I want revenge for some daughter …”
“I sometimes think your cover stories are too complex.”
“And mind-rubbing Ben about Nelani isn’t?”
Ben recoiled. It was all he could do not to storm in. Jacen. You did that?
“He wouldn’t understand why I had to do it,” said Jacen.
“And that’s why he can’t ever be your apprentice. Get rid of him, find another one, and stop wasting your time.”
“Now, there’s my real problem …”
“I can’t help you there. Whoever it turns out to be, that’s the Force’s decision. You’ll know very soon.”
“Well, I dealt with Omas, anyway. A clear path.”
“Are you going to keep him here?”
“I thought house arrest might be more sensible in the long term. Republica House is easy to secure, and it makes us look like the good guys. People still like Omas.”
“And here you are, joint Chief of State …”
“That way Niathal thinks she can keep me quiet.”
“Or under control.”
“She’s way too smart.”
“Play nicely with her. You need her to keep the military behind you.”
“You’re such a strategist, Lumiya …”
Lumiya. Lumiya?
Ben thought he’d misheard, or that his state of mind was making him hear what he wanted to hear, like Lekauf’s voice. But he knew what he’d heard, and his first reaction wasn’t one of fear or dread, but agonized embarrassment.
He’d trusted Jacen, and Jacen had lied to him.
He’d mind-rubbed him.
And they were talking about him as if he was in the way.
The fact that Jacen was knowingly talking to a Sith as if they were old friends seemed to take second place to that. For all his denial, Jacen knew Lumiya. And she could walk into GAG HQ and just talk to him. Jacen wasn’t being conned by her; he was chatting casually with her about what he’d do next.
Ben found himself scrabbling for excuses that would explain why Jacen could be meeting with Lumiya and still be someone he could trust, someone with a perfectly good reason for it all.
Jacen’s a Jedi. He can’t be in league with her. She’s done something to him. Mind-influenced him or something.
This woman had left his mother with a battered face. This woman was all he’d been taught to fear and avoid, and Jacen was talking to her in his office, as bold as anything.
Ben knew he had to tell someone, but he’d run out of people to
trust. If Jacen could be influenced like that, anyone couldexcept Mom. Mom wasn’t in Lumiya’s thrall, or she wouldn’t have been in a fight with her.
Ben had to find her. He had to warn her.
That morning he’d felt like things couldn’t possibly get any worse, and now he knew they could.
chapter fourteen
If you think you’re going to scare us off by cozying up to the Mandalorians, Bug Boy, you’ve got another think coming.
Hebanh Del Dalhe, Murkhanan Department of Trade and Industry, to the Roche ambassador, during a disagreement on intellectual property rights
BEVIIN-VASUR FARM, KELDABE, MANDALORE
“Too much holonews is bad for you,” said the man standing in the doorway of the outbuilding. Fett had spotted him comingit was hard not to. His armor was extraordinary. There was no real need for Fett to be vigilant on Mandalore, but then Jaster Mereel had once thought he was perfectly okay among his own people, too. Safe was always better than sorry. Fett carried on cleaning his helmet, feet up on the chair.