[Thrawn Trilogy] - 01(40)

“She’s right,” Leia nodded. “We were still getting echoes of the whole fiasco in the Imperial Senate when I was serving there. It wasn’t just Bpfassh, either-some of those Dark Jedi escaped and made trouble all throughout the Sluis sector. One of them even got as far as Dagobah before he was caught.”

Luke felt a jolt run through him. Dagobah? “When was that?” he asked as casually as possible.

“Thirty, thirty-five years ago,” Leia said, her forehead creased slightly as she studied his face. “Why?”

Luke shook his head. Yoda had never mentioned a Dark Jedi ever being on Dagobah. “No reason,” he murmured.

“Come on, we can discuss history later,” Han put in. “The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get this over with.”

“Right,” Leia agreed, latching her lightsaber to her belt and heading for the door. “I’ll get my travel bag and give Winter some instructions. Meet you at the ship.”

Luke watched her leave; turned back to find Han eyeing him. “I don’t like it,” he told the other.

“Don’t worry-she’ll be safe,” Han assured him. “Look, I know how protective you’re feeling toward her these days. But she can’t always have her big brother standing over her.”

“Actually, we’ve never figured out which of us is older,” Luke murmured.

“Whatever,” Han waved the detail away. “The best thing you can do for her right now is what you’re already doing. You make her a Jedi, and she’ll be able to handle anything the Imperials can throw at her.”

Luke’s stomach tightened. “I suppose so.”

“As long as Chewie and me are with her, that is,” Han amended, heading for the door. “See you when we get back.”

“Be careful,” Luke called after him.

Han turned, one of those hurt/innocent expressions on his face. “Hey,” he said. “It’s me.”

He left, and Luke was alone.

For a few moments he wandered around the room, fighting against the heavy weight of responsibility that seemed sometimes on the verge of smothering him. Risking his own life was one thing, but to have Leia’s future in his hands was something else entirely. “I’m not a teacher,” he called aloud into the empty room.

The only response was a flicker of movement from the still-paused remote. On sudden impulse, Luke kicked the device to life again, snatching his lightsaber from his belt as it moved to the attack. A dozen stinger blasts shot out in quick succession as the remote swooped like a crazed insect; effortlessly, Luke blocked each in turn, swinging the lightsaber in a flashing arc that seemed to engulf him, a strange exultation flowing through mind and body. This was something he could fight-not distant and shadowy like his private fears, but something solid and tangible. The remote fired again and again, each shot ricocheting harmlessly from the lightsaber blade-With a sudden beep the remote stopped. Luke stared at it in confusion, wondering what had happened … and abruptly realized he was breathing heavily. Breathing heavily, and sweating. The remote had a twenty-minute time limit built in, and he’d just come to the end of it.

He closed down the lightsaber and returned it to his belt, feeling a little eerie about what had just happened. It wasn’t the first time he’d lost track of time like that, but always before it had been during quiet meditation. The only times it had happened in anything like a combat situation were back on Dagobah, under Yoda’s supervision.

On Dagobah …

Wiping the sweat out of his eyes with his sleeve, he walked over to the comm desk in the corner and punched up the spaceport. “This is Skywalker,” he identified himself. “I’d like my X-wing prepped for launch in one hour.”

“Yes, sir,” the young maintenance officer said briskly. “We’ll need you to send over your astromech unit first.”

“Right,” Luke nodded. He’d refused to let them wipe the X-wing’s computer every few months, as per standard procedure. The inevitable result was that the computer had effectively molded itself around Artoo’s unique personality, so much so that the relationship was almost up to true droid counterpart level. It made for excellent operational speed and efficiency; unfortunately, it also meant that none of the maintenance computers could talk to the X-wing anymore. “I’ll have him there in a few minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Luke keyed off and straightened up, wondering vaguely why he was doing this. Surely Yoda’s presence would no longer be there on Dagobah for him to talk to or ask questions of.

But then, perhaps it would.