[Legacy Of The Force] - 08(137)

“Shysa was always a magnet for the ladies, “said the voice she was dreading. “He’s got better luck dead than I have alive.”

Jaina didn’t look up. At least it was some kind of humor, not a dressing-down at a time when she wasn’t really up to one. Bursting into tears in front of Fett was out of the question. “Sorry, Fett. Should have commed you.” “I add wasted time to my invoice.” He squatted back on his heels with his arms loosely folded on his knees. It seemed to be a comfortable way of sitting in armor. Jaina wanted to explain what had made her bolt up here for solitude, but showing Fett the recording was probably the quickest and easiest way of getting the message across. Was she betraying her family by showing him the Solos’ lowest ebb? Would he gloat? She wasn’t sure how she’d react if he did. Right now, she was as raw and emotionally devastated as if Jacen had died. Her Jacen had, of course.

“Before I show you this, “she said, holding the ‘pad out to Fett, “it’s going to make you mad because it’s my brother. And however callous you look, you’ve got to be devastated by Ailyn’s murder.”

Fett took the datapad and thumbed the controls. “First time anyone’s called it that.” “Clear cut. Unarmed prisoner.” “Unarmed interrogator…”

“Don’t go all reasonable on me. Jacen killed your daughter.”

“I don’t do reasonable. Sure you want me to see this?” Jaina hadn’t expected that consideration. But maybe he was even more unfeeling than she thought; gloating took some emotional attachment. Even his lifetime of Jedi hunting seemed to lack the passion and triumph of full-blooded vengeance.

“Yes, “she said. “Tell me what you see. And remember that what he says is corroborated by forensics.” “Jacen telling the truth? Well, well.” Fett’s tilt of the head suggested he was mulling it over. Then he flicked the key and squatted absolutely motionless while the conversation played. When it ended, he didn’t move. Jaina waited for a reaction. “Well?”

“What do you want to know?” Fett said. “Whether he’s crazy? Whether he’s better dead, or locked up?”

“Anything.” Suddenly Jaina almost slapped her hand to her mouth, appalled by her own lapse of judgment: Shevu was easy to identify as the man who’d set Jacen up. Stang, she really wasn’t on top form today. “You know the officer risked his life to get that…”

“I know how to keep my mouth shut. You should have noticed by now.” Fett still seemed to gaze at the static-image on the small holoscreen, although it was hard to tell with a man in a helmet; he could have been talking on his internal comlink for all she knew, because they could switch in and out of audio channels in those sealed buy’cese literally in the blink of an eye. But she guessed he was chewing something over that bothered him.

“Here’s what I see, “he said. “A sane man. Because they all slide down that path when they get power, and then they have to tell themselves lies to explain how they got there, and how it wasn’t their fault. That’s when reality becomes a stranger to them. And there’s you, ashamed of yourself because you’re thinking that maybe Mara Skywalker started the ruck, but you want to see her as some uncomplicated completely innocent victim.”

Jaina knew it was true, because it hurt so much. “And?” “That’s a barve who nearly got his backside handed to him by Skywalker’s wife. He still looks scared when he remembers it. Because she went at him like a maniac. Just like Beviin showed you.”

It was the most she’d heard him say in one conversation; he’d need to shut up for a couple of years now to even out his average word count. Jaina was smart enough to recognize uncomfortable truth, though, and began unpicking all the implications in what he’d said. For a man who didn’t seem to have a heart or any normal emotions, he knew plenty about everyone else’s. It could have been just the sharp eye of a hunter, or he might have felt things more keenly than he let on. Jaina bet on the latter.

“Yes, I didn’t want to think Jacen killed Mara, but if he did, I wanted him to be completely to blame, “she said.

“Mara didn’t ask for it.” Fett put his arm out behind him and shifted into a proper sitting position, legs stretched. “She just went to do some necessary pest control. She nearly succeeded.”

“You’re saying he needs… that I have to kill him.” “It’s not that simple.”

“Why haven’t you ever gone after him personally? Why did you tell your men to leave him for me?”