Heir to the Jedi (7 page)

“Add an astromech droid and you’d probably be fine,” I said, thinking of R2-D2.

“Yeah, well, my guess is that Dad will convince someone to go out there soon because time is a factor. I mean, he’s going to say he’s worried about the crew because they might still be alive and need help, but I can be honest: He’s really worried his competitors will find out about the moon and exploit it before he can. The point is, Luke, if we wanted to do this, it should be a quick trip. We can go there, find out what happened, and bring back some kind of news—any kind of news—for my father; he would be grateful, and then we could get the
Desert Jewel
upgraded in time for this mission on Denon.”

Ackbar jumped into the discussion. “What are the names of this planet and moon, if I may ask?”

“The planet is called Sha Qarot and it orbits a red sun. The moon is a strange purple place called Fex.”

“Does the Empire know about Sha Qarot and Fex?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure who discovered it, how long ago, or who they sold the information to besides my father. My father’s under the impression that its existence is not widely known.”

“Are there any sentient species?”

“Not that I know of. I don’t think anyone has set foot on the planet yet; it has a poisonous atmosphere and heavy volcanic activity. We just have holos and scans from orbit. But Fex is very interesting, even though we haven’t found sentient life yet.”

“If searching for this lost collection crew will earn you the credits to upgrade your ship, I think you should do it,” Ackbar said. “But it might also serve another purpose—a more important one as far as I’m concerned. It’s possible that the moon might make an ideal base for the Alliance, so I want you to scout it with that in mind. Keep an eye out for the Imperial fleet and put down beacons for future reference if you find any satisfactory sites—but don’t lose track of time. Extracting that cryptologist from Denon is your main priority.”

NAKARI ASKED ME
when I wanted to leave and nodded when I said as soon as possible. There is very little excitement on a Nebulon-B frigate like the
Patience
, breathing recycled air and drinking recycled water, and the chance to check out a funky purple moon sounded like a good time to me. I still remember my years of deadly boredom on Tatooine, when every sunset signaled another lost opportunity to experience something besides sand dunes and moisture vaporators, so a chance to evacuate a sterile environment galvanized me to action like nothing else. Almost becoming snack food for a ghest was vastly preferable to twiddling my thumbs on the hangar deck.

Nakari evidently felt the same and said immediate departure was fine with her.

“Let me get cleaned up and packed, maybe grab a bite, and I’ll meet you at the ship in a couple of hours?”

“You sure that’s enough time?” Nakari asked.

“It’s more than I need. That’s taking it easy.”

She smirked and tucked a curled string of hair behind her ear. “All right. See you then.”

I bade farewell to Leia and Admiral Ackbar and brushed past the droids on my way out. My exit triggered the abrupt departure of R2-D2 just as C-3PO was complaining at length about a microsecond lag in his lateral relays. “Wait! Where are you going?” he called. Artoo’s response didn’t please him. “But you just got here and I’m not finished catching up yet!” The door closed on any further complaints and Artoo chirped a question at me.

“We’ll be flying out on the
Desert Jewel
again soon. I hope you liked her. We’re going to be depending on you two to get us in and out of the Deep Core safely.” I didn’t understand his reply, but since the digital beeps sounded generally positive I didn’t worry.

“Luke? Wait up,” Leia called from behind. Surprised, I stopped and turned, telling Artoo to go ahead to my quarters. Once she saw that I was waiting, Leia didn’t hurry, and when she reached me, she didn’t speak right away. Instead she glared at me and paced back and forth, hands on hips. I checked the hallway behind me to make sure she wasn’t angry with someone else, but no, it was just the two of us, which meant she was mad at me.

“What?” I asked. “What did I do?”

“It’s what you’re
doing
.”

“What am I doing?”

“You’re taking a poorly mapped hyperspace route to a planet where people have gone missing because she’s pretty.”

“No, that’s not it—” The flash in Leia’s eyes made me stop and backtrack. “Well, yeah, she
is
pretty, but that’s not why I’m going. I’m going because the ship needs weapons if we’re going to pull off this mission on Denon, and you heard Admiral Ackbar—this moon might turn out to be a great hiding spot for us.”

“We can send someone else to check out the moon, and we
can find a safer way to get the credits you need to upgrade the ship. You don’t have to take this risk.”

“How is it any riskier than anything else I’ve done? I mean, the Battle of Yavin was pretty risky.”

“You were surrounded by people you could trust then.”

I blinked. “Oh, I see. You think she’s working for the Empire.”

Leia shook her head and huffed in irritation. “No, not exactly. It’s just that she’s an unknown quantity and I don’t trust her yet.”

That was disappointing; I’d need a better reason than that to rethink the mission. On the one hand I wanted to do whatever I could to make Leia happy, but on the other we now had Admiral Ackbar’s orders. We really did need a better place to hide than this orbit. I knew the leadership had some ideas about where to build a new base, but they hadn’t settled on anything yet.

“Come on,” I said, “I can’t scrub the whole trip based on unknowns. How can you ever trust someone if you don’t give them a chance?”

“That’s a very noble attitude, Luke, but not a very safe one.”

“If safety is always the number one priority then we would never talk to anyone.”

“This isn’t about dealing with high-minded blanket statements. When you get betrayed, it’s never by someone who looks like Vader. Betrayal always comes wrapped up in a friendly cloak. It’s one of the first things I learned in the Senate.”

“All right, fair enough. I agree that a certain amount of suspicion of anyone new is warranted, but I don’t want to be paranoid, either. You sound like you have a specific reason to be wary of her. What are you not telling me? What should I be looking for?”

Leia crossed her arms and looked away, annoyed. “I don’t know. Something under her cloak.”

I snorted, she sniggered in response, and then we were both laughing.

Leia covered her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I know. Still funny, though.”

“Usually I’m more careful with how I phrase things.” The smile on her face scurried away, chased off by darker thoughts. “It just shows you I’m worried.” She gestured down the hall to where she had left Admiral Ackbar. “I know we can’t scrap this now that it’s a scouting mission for the Alliance,” she said before letting her hand fall down, “but please don’t think it’s routine. And don’t be so trusting.”

“I won’t.”

“Okay.” She threw her arms around my neck for a quick hug. “Be very careful, Luke. Come back safe.”

“Thanks. I will,” I said, though I wasn’t so anxious to leave anymore. It felt good to see Leia shed her all-business demeanor for a few moments and speak to me on a personal level—especially without Han around. But I could hardly prolong the moment when I had a mission waiting.

An awkward silence stretched between us. Eventually, Leia spoke. “Well. I’d better get back,” she said, giving me a tight grin. “See you soon.”

“Right! Yes. Soon.” I resumed walking to my quarters, and Leia returned the way she had come, leaving me to wonder why my brain had seized up so badly. It must have been the infinite number of things to say and how most of them would have been the wrong thing. I’d just have to hope I did better next time.

In an hour I was showered, dressed, packed, and loaded up on soup and crackers. Having nothing better to do, I headed down to the hangar early, thinking I’d go through some of the weapons in the Rodian catalog to see what might work for the
Desert Jewel
, only to find Nakari already there.

“Turns out I’m pretty anxious to leave, as well,” she said. “Can’t wait to do anything besides sit here and hope the Empire doesn’t find me. There’s something about skulking that doesn’t suit me. It’s not engaging, but it isn’t restful, either.”

Copying her gesture from when we first met, I waved a hand back and forth between us and said, “Same here!”

We let Artoo board first and followed him up.

“We have to stop on Pasher on the way to get all the details from my dad,” Nakari said. “I think we have to pick up some custom armor, too. The creatures the collection crew were after are supposed to be dangerous.”

“What are they?”

“Not sure. My dad’s information protocol means he never gives specifics like that in messages in case they’re intercepted. We’ll find out soon enough. Plus, I want to impress upon him that we’re doing this as a special favor and expect a special favor in return.”

She invited me to pilot, content to be a passenger. “I’m already familiar with the ship and what it can do. You might need some additional time to get acquainted.”

It was true I wasn’t as comfortable yet in the
Desert Jewel
as I was in my X-wing, but I complimented her on what I’d experienced so far. The
Desert Jewel
deserved every admiring glance she received.

Pasher was located in the Inner Rim at a sort of interstellar dead end. Entering the system and viewing it from orbit reminded me of Tatooine, though Pasher didn’t have any moons, and since it lacked the intersecting hyperspace lanes of Tatooine, it wasn’t a popular haven for smugglers. Kelen Biolabs was the largest industry on the planet and Fayet Kelen had many demands on his time, but he carved out some for his daughter when we arrived at the sprawling complex of his industrial kingdom. I probably did not make the best impression on him, but it was Nakari’s fault. Her earlier impersonation of him turned out to be uncannily accurate, so much so that I could not suppress a goofy half smile in his presence, which he may have found annoying. It was difficult to tell. He was portly, had decided to shave his head rather than try to hang on to a halo of
hair, and was gifted with an abundance of jowls. He used his deep voice to boom imperious orders at his employees—whom he actually called minions—and then softened them at the end by adding on “there’s a love” or “just because you’re brilliant.” When we first walked into his office, he turned to an assistant standing nearby and barked, “Minion! Fetch us caf!” And then immediately modulated his tone, saying, “But only because you are kind and deserve a long paid holiday soon.” I guess his employees were all in on the joke, or at least compensated well enough that they overlooked his idiosyncrasies. He noticed my expression, however, and shouted at Nakari, “Daughter! Who is this and why is he laughing at me?”

“This is Luke Skywalker, Daddy. He’s with the Alliance and he’ll be going with me to Fex.”

“Pleasure to meet you, sir,” I said, nodding at him.

“Hmph! Skywalker. Where have I heard that name?”

“He’s the one who destroyed the Death Star, Daddy.”

“Ah! The pilot!” He lowered his voice and said to his daughter, “So you’ve decided to go to Fex after all? Good idea bringing him along.”

“Yes, we’ll go, but we expect to be compensated for the trip.”

“Compensated! For what?”

“For finding the collection crew and bringing back whatever we can.”

“Ah! Very well! The more you bring back, the looser my purse strings. But you must be prepared.
Minion!
” he bellowed. A different assistant, a lean, tall, older man, walked through a door set in the wall to our left and asked Fayet Kelen how he might serve. “Fetch two suits of the new Fexian armor prototypes immediately for my daughter and her pilot! And a case of stun sticks! Have them delivered to her ship as soon as possible! And,” he added, more quietly, “please give my regards to your family. I hope your son is doing well at the university.”

The man bowed and departed without a word, accepting both
the order and the good wishes. It was just as well that he didn’t try to speak, for Fayet had already turned his attention back to us and pointed at R2-D2, who had followed us in. “Can I transfer coordinates and other data to your droid?” he asked.

“Of course,” I said.

“Does this droid interact with anyone besides you?”

“He occasionally interacts with other members of the Alliance,” I said. “But mostly he’s my personal astromech.”

“It’s good to have a minion, isn’t it?”

Artoo bleeped something and the tone did not fail to communicate his annoyance with such a demeaning label. Fayet Kelen paused, considering the droid, then looked at me. “You should make sure to lavish him with compliments for his service.”

“Oh, I do. He’s the finest droid in the galaxy.”

Fayet nodded, satisfied, ignoring Artoo’s blat of disgust. “Are you returning to the Alliance after leaving here, or traveling straight to Fex?”