Dark Nest_ The Swarm War Part 12

"Jacen, what you did was wrong," Luke said. "And I suspect you know it, or you wouldn't have needed to trick your sister and the others into helping you."

"What else was I supposed to do?" Jacen demanded, turning on Luke with heat in his eyes. "You were trapped on Woteba, Mom and Mara were stuck in the Murgo Choke, and Masters Durron and Horn had the entire Jedi order locked in a contest of wills."

The reply hurt because it was so true-and because the breakdown had been Luke's failure.

"I understand, but that's never going to happen again." Luke locked eyes with his nephew and put some durasteel in his voice. "And neither will something like the trick you pulled on your sister and the others. Is that clear?"

Jacen let out a breath of exasperation, but nodded. "The next time, I'll come to you."

"And if Luke's not available?" Mara asked.

"I'm sure he'll have designated someone to oversee the order in his absence." Jacen gave Luke a wry smile. "I'm not the only one who learns from his mistakes."

"Let's hope not." Luke reached out and was unhappy to find his nephew still closed off from the Force. "Now, what else are you hiding?"

Jacen was not surprised this time. He merely nodded, then said, "It has nothing to do with the Jedi-and I wouldn't be hiding it if it wasn't very important."

"Does it explain why you want to kill Raynar so badly?" Luke pressed.

Jacen smirked. "That's no secret," he said. "I want to kill Raynar because it's the only way to stop the war. Lowie and Tesar don't want to because he was our friend at the academy."

"You don't think they're being influenced by Raynar?" Mara asked.

Jacen considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "If Raynar had known what we were considering, sure. But they're not complete Joiners, so it's hard to believe they would've been in close enough contact for him to know that the Masters were discussing his death."

Luke nodded. Raynar had already proven-when he originally summoned Jaina and the others to the Colony's aid-that he could use the Force to exert his will over non-Joiners. But Cilghal's experiments had established that he was not able to read minds-even Joiner minds-over long distances any better than Jedi could communicate through the Force. It was all feelings and notions; at the most, Raynar would have felt a vague sense of danger and unease.

"Good," Luke said, relieved Jacen had not seized such an obvious opportunity to cast doubts on the judgment of his rivals. At least he was still trying to he fair and balanced in his actions. "That's the way I understood the situation, too."

"Of course," Jacen added, "now that Tesar and Lowie have told Madame Thul about the debate, we can a.s.sume Raynar has been informed via more conventional means."

Luke frowned. "How do you know about that?"

"Tesar and Lowie?" Jacen's gaze flicked away, and he could not quite hide his frustration with himself. "I didn't realize it was supposed to be a secret."

"We haven't told anyone about it," Luke said. "And since I sent the three of them to Dagobah to consider whether they truly want-"

"You sent Tahiri, too?" Jacen gasped. "But she didn't tell Madame Thul anything!"

It was Mara's turn to frown. "And how would you know that?"

Jacen hesitated a fraction of a second, then seemed to realize he had made a mistake and said, "Tahiri and I still talk."

"About what Lowie and Tesar are doing?" Mara demanded. "Is she spying for you?"

"We talk," Jacen insisted. "Sometimes their names come up."

"I can't believe this!" Luke rolled his head back and shook it in despair. Had matters really gotten so out of hand that the order's Jedi were spying on one another? "Maybe I should send you to Dagobah to join them."

"I didn't betray the Masters' confidence," Jacen replied evenly. "But if that's your decision, of course I'll go."

"I'll think about it," Luke said darkly. "In the meantime, no more spying. If we can't trust each other, we don't have a chance of pulling together."

"Actually, spying builds trust." Jacen was quoting a maxim that Luke had often heard Leia use as the New Republic's Chief of State. He must have sensed Luke's displeasure, because he quickly added, "But it looks like I won't be talking to Tahiri anytime soon, anyway."

"Thank you," Luke said.

"You're welcome," Jacen said. He glanced toward the exit. "If that's all, I really should be-"

"Nice try," Mara said, blocking Jacen's exit. "I still want to know what you're hiding."

Jacen did not even pause before he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you."

"Does it involve what you did to Ben?" Mara's voice grew as sharp as a vibroblade, for she had been even more alarmed than Luke, when he reported what Lowie and Tesar had told him. "Blocking his memories?"

Jacen did not seem as surprised as he should have. "Not at all," he said. "I did that to protect him."

"From what?" Mara demanded.

"We were sleeping near an Ewok village when a Gorax attacked," he explained. "Before we could get there, it had wiped out half the village and was heading home."

Luke felt Mara's ire fading. Gorax were primate behemoths, standing as tall as the trees on the forest moon, and they were well known for their brutal natures. "I see. You were afraid the memory would traumatize him."

"No, actually not," Jacen said. "Ben knows better than most kids his age that the galaxy is filled with monsters, so I'm sure he could have handled what he saw with a little adult guidance."

"You're more confident of that than I am," Luke said. "Did he feel their deaths in the Force?"

Jacen nodded. "And he sensed what the Gorax's captives were feeling, too."

Mara's hand went to her mouth.

Luke asked, "So that's why you blocked-"

"No," Jacen said. "I blocked Ben's memory to keep him from recalling what I did."

"What you did?" Luke asked.

"Ben started to scream that I had to save the Ewoks, and that drew the Gorax's attention," Jacen explained. "But I couldn't take him into the fight with me, and I could sense another Gorax in the forest behind me-"

"So you couldn't leave him alone," Mara finished.

Jacen nodded. "I used the Force to hide us."

When Jacen remained silent, Luke prompted, "And?"

"And Ben was very sensitive that night," Jacen continued. "He felt what happened to the prisoners in the cave."

"That's what you didn't want him to remember," Mara said.

"By morning, he was already beginning to withdraw from the Force again," Jacen said. "He's still young; I think he blames it for the bad things he feels in it."

"I think he does," Luke said. He and Mara had postulated a similar theory themselves, shortly after the war, when it began to grow clear that Ben was withdrawing from the Force. "And how, exactly, did you block this memory?"

"It's a form of Force illusion," .Jacen explained. "The Adepts call it a memory rub."

Luke frowned. "That sounds pretty invasive for the Fallana.s.si," he said. "And I don't recall any White Current techniques that can permanently affect another person's mind."

Jacen smiled and spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Well, Akanah did say I was only the second-worst student she ever had."

"It's good to know I'm still number one with her," Luke said, not laughing at the joke. He paused a moment, then continued, "I see why you blocked the memory. I'll probably even be grateful, when I've had time to think about it."

"I'm grateful now," Mara said. Luke could feel that she had already forgiven Jacen completely. "I hope you can teach me that technique."

"I'm not nearly the guide Akanah," Jacen replied. "But I can certainly try."

"First, I want to know why you didn't just tell Mara and me what happened," Luke said. "I understand you wanted to protect Ben, but that doesn't make sense."

"That's right, Jacen," Mara said, forcing herself to be stern again. "There's no excuse for keeping secrets from us."

"I'm sorry," Jacen said, shame crawling up his face. "I should have told you, but it was reckless of me to put him in that position."

"And so you decided to hide what happened from us?" Luke demanded.

"I don't know why, but I sense that he needs me to guide him into the Force," Jacen said. "And I thought if you knew what had happened, you wouldn't trust me with him."

"Jacen!" Mara's voice was incredulous, but her relief flooded the Force. "How could you think that?"

Jacen looked a little confused. "I'm not sure. I just thought-"

"You thought wrong!" Mara said. "You've been wonderful for Ben, and there's no one else I'd rather trust with him. But no more secrets." She glanced over at Luke. "Okay?"

"We'll see." He was a little less inclined than his wife to forgive all. There was no doubt about the effect Jacen had on Ben, but Luke remained uneasy about the way his nephew continued to shut his emotions off from the Force. "You're still hiding something from us. And I want to know what it is."

"I know you do," Jacen said. "But telling you any more would betray a confidence, and I won't do that."

"Jacen, if you're going to continue being a Jedi, you have to put the order first," Luke said. "We can no longer have divided loyalties."

"I understand that, and I'll leave the order if-"

"n.o.body wants that," Mara interrupted. Luke shot a blast of irritation her way through their Force-bond, but she ignored it and continued, "We just need to know that this secret won't interfere with your duties as a Jedi."

"It won't," Jacen said, relief showing on his face. "In fact, I can promise that it makes me even more determined to be a good Jedi-and to keep our order strong."

Jacen revealed just enough of his presence to confirm he was telling the truth-that whatever the nature of this secret, he saw the Jedi order as the best means of protecting it.

"I guess we'll have to trust you on that." Luke's tone was measured. "Don't let us down."

Luke was about to dismiss his nephew when a guilty heaviness began to weigh on the Force from the direction of his inner office. He went to the door and found Ghent lying under the work station in the corner, affixing something to the underside of the writing table. Mara slipped through the door past Luke.

"Ghent!"

The slicer sat up, banging his head, and the guilt in the Force changed to fear. His gaze shot across the room toward R2-D2, then he pulled a tiny electronic device off the underside of the table and swallowed it.

"Have you been planting listening devices in Luke's office?" Mara demanded.

The tattoos on Ghent's face darkened with embarra.s.sment. "S-s-sorry."

She used the Force to pull the slicer out from under the table, then began to go through his pockets, pulling out a truly impressive a.s.sortment of eavesdropping bugs.

"Did Chief Omas put you up to this?" Mara asked.

Ghent nodded. "He said it was for the good of the Alliance." He plucked one of the hugs out of Mara's hand and began to fidget nervously with the tiny wire antenna. "And he said that I couldn't help you with Artoo any more unless I did it."

"I see," Luke said, joining them.

He looked around for a moment, eyeing an out-of-place datapad on the surface of his work station, a recording rod that had mysteriously turned itself on, a holocube of Ben and Mara that was facing the wrong way on the shelf.

"Were you finished?"

Ghent looked confused. "N-n-not really."

"Well, then." Luke waved Mara and Jacen toward the door. "I guess we had better leave you to your work."

"You're going to let him finish?" Jacen asked.

"Of course." Luke nudged his nephew toward the outer office. "Didn't you just tell me that spying builds trust?"

TEN.

Three jumps after departing Lizil, Han was running a systems check while Leia plotted the course to the Rago Run, the long hypers.p.a.ce lane that would take them back into Galactic Alliance territory. So far, the Swiff had performed flawlessly, even reminding them to eat when the ship's droid brain noticed that none of the processing units in the galley had been activated in twenty hours.

"I don't like it," Han said, studying the nacelle-temperature history. "No machine is this reliable."

"To the contrary, Captain Solo," C-3P0 said. "When properly maintained, operated in the appropriate environment, and not pushed beyond performance parameters, machines are very reliable. Malfunctions most often result from a biological unit's inattentiveness. I can tell you that has been true in my own experience."

"Watch it, Threepio," Leia advised. "It's not smart to insult the hand that oils you."

"Oh," C-3P0 said. "I certainly didn't mean to imply that you or Captain Solo have ever been neglectful. I have had other owners, you know."

"Other owners? Now there's a thought." Han looked over to the copilot's station, where Leia was seated in one of the c.o.c.kpit's self-adjusting, supercomfortable Support-Gel flight chairs. "How are those jump coordinates coming along?"

"Almost done," she said. "The navicomputer's a little slow, at least compared with the Falcon's."