[Legacy Of The Force] - 05(50)

Jacen couldn’t afford divisions. “You might do Captain Girdun good, too. It’s interesting how a good apprentice creates a better teacher.”

“Thank you, sir.” Lekauf showed not a flicker of reaction. “I’ll show your guest in.”

Jacen kept one eye on the silent holoscreen while he looked through the reports, one of which he forwarded for Niathal’s immediate attention—the Bothans had a new class of frigate coming into service in a matter of days. The P&R meeting had reached Item 102. A busy day: a lot of rubber-stamping was going on. He opened his corn-link and switched the signal to the small bead deep in his ear. Lumiya had a concealed receiver in her cybernetic implants and would hear it in the depths of her skull, silent as a thought.

He used her cover name, the one he’d used in front of Ben. It was common enough. It also helped avoid accidental slips. “Are you helping them make decisions, Shira?”

“Giving them a sense of urgency, that’s all. Not that they don’t have fancy lunches on their minds anyway.”

“Does it look as if anyone troublesome has read the agenda sheets in advance?”

“Not as far as I can see. But don’t worry. I can deal with that.”

Jacen felt Mara approaching down the corridor, a little tornado of determination. Unlike Lekauf, she walked straight in. Jacen projected a veneer of weary good humor in the Force and smiled at her.

She glanced at the holoscreen. “That looks thrilling.”

“Just making sure we get our supply issues worked out.” Hiding in plain sight was always the best option, Jacen found. “An amendment so that we can cut the red tape and get our people the right kit. It’s been an issue with the troops.”

“I’m all for that.” Mara sat down in the rickety chair across from his desk—Jacen believed in being seen not to spend budget on himself—and crossed her legs. She’d taken to wearing a gray jacket that looked more like battledress, an indication of her state of mind lately. “I’ve come about Ben.”

“He’s doing well. He’s doing very well, in fact.”

“You’ve certainly focused him. Quite the responsible young man now.” Mara glanced at the open doors as if they troubled her. “Let’s get to the point. I know Lumiya’s trying to kill him. Whatever he did or didn’t do, Lumiya thinks he killed her daughter. Now, seeing as we also found evidence that Lumiya has a mole in the GAG, that concerns me somewhat. A lot of somewhat. If anything happened to my boy from inside the GAG, I’d take it pretty badly, I think.”

Ah. Has she worked it out? Has Mara actually seen what’s coming? Jacen felt a moment of sinking dismay as he wondered if this last mystery about his path was transparent to everyone. She was Palpatine’s Hand. If anyone on the Jedi Council can see it, she will.

Jacen managed to project genuine concern. His link was still open: Lumiya could hear all this. “I’ve investigated that, and I can assure you I found nothing to support it.”

“Is Ben around? I don’t see much of him these days.”

Ben was out on patrol, on routine weapons searches. Mara didn’t need to know that. “He’s doing some research for me.”

“Okay,” Mara said. “Just asking you to bear in mind that it’s not the Confederation that’s most likely to threaten his life, and even if you don’t think Lumiya has an insider in your ranks, then I’m assuming she has until I’m convinced otherwise.” She stood up slowly, and Jacen was on the edge of believing that she could see what was happening. “Just ask yourself which member of the GAG would ally with Lumiya. I’m not sure you’d see it, being so close to it.”

Jacen expected to hear some sigh or other reaction from Lumiya, but either she was more concerned with the passage of the amendment or she couldn’t hear after all.

“I’ll certainly ask that question, Aunt Mara,” he said. “Just bear in mind that Ben’s learning to take care of himself.”

“And are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if nobody else is going to say it to your face, I will. What’s happening to you, Jacen? Why did you run out on your parents like that? Okay, there’s a warrant out on them, but—”

Jacen wondered why it had taken so long for anyone to confront him. He’d expected Jaina to be the first, given her perpetual sulk with him, but Mara probably felt her defense of him had now made her look stupid.

“My fault,” he said. “I assumed they were okay and could get to safety, so I decided to get to where I could make a difference to the battle—my ship.”