The Unifying Force (39 page)

A proximity alert sounded in the
Falcon
’s cockpit.

“Coming into visual range,” Leia said.

Han began to edge the
Falcon
out from behind the asteroid. “Let’s have another look at those charts.”

Leia called a map to the display, showing Coruscant’s system of planets, sunward from Revisse to the OboRin comet cluster. The coordinates Luke had sent placed Zonama Sekot on the ecliptic, in orbit between Coruscant’s Rimward brethren, Muscave and Stentat, at approximately ninety degrees to Coruscant.

“Unless the navicomputer agrees with me about this being a crazy mission, we should be seeing it soon,” Han said.

Leia pointed out the wraparound bay. “There.”

Han sighted down her finger, far to starboard, to a gibbous green planet.

“Well, it’s sure no moon.”

“Or Death Star,” Leia said.

With a squeaking of joints, C-3PO entered the cockpit. “Excuse me, Princess Leia and Captain Solo, but I wondered if I might view with my own photoreceptors our destination.” He motioned behind him. “Mistress Cilghal would also like to see the living planet.”

The Mon Calamari healer wasn’t the only Jedi on board. Kenth Hamner, Waxarn Kel, Markre Medjev, and several others were in the forward compartment. Still other Jedi were due to arrive at Zonama Sekot aboard
Errant Venture
. Jaina, Kyp, Lowbacca, Alema Rar, and the Wild Knights had come by starfighter.

“We should probably let Luke know we’re here,” Han said.

Leia turned to the comm board.

“Jade Shadow
, this is
Millennium Falcon,”
she said. “Just wanted to let you know that we’re in the neighborhood.”

Luke’s voice issued from the cockpit annunciators. “Leia! Welcome to Zonama Sekot.”

“Luke, Han here. I’m not imagining this, right? I mean, that’s really a planet I’m seeing, and not the aftereffects of being bitten by an amphistaff?”

“Zonama Sekot is every bit as real as the
Falcon
, Han.”

“It’s beautiful,” Leia said.

Luke laughed lightly. “I wish you could have seen it before all the hyperspace jumps we’ve been forced to make.”

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” Han said. “How ’bout giving us some landing instructions?”

Luke fell briefly silent. “Han, I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave the
Falcon
in synchronous orbit.”

Han showed Leia a puzzled look and muted the mike. “The pollen must be affecting him.” He reactivated the mike. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m dead serious,” Luke said. “Booster’s going to have to do the same.”

“Luke, a Star Destroyer I can understand,” Han said. “But if this is about suitable landing platforms, I’ve parked the
Falcon
inside asteroids.”

“It has nothing to do with that. Sekot refuses to allow warships on the surface.”

“But we’re a freighter!”

“Sorry, Han.”

Han worked his jaw in annoyance. “I don’t like it, but I’ll do it if I have to. Who’s this Sekot, anyway? The governor or something?”

“Sekot is the planetary consciousness.”

Han blinked. “Say again,
Jade Shadow?
I thought I heard you say
planetary consciousness.”

“Han, I told you I’ll explain everything when you’re planetside.”

“Luke, in case Sekot hasn’t noticed,” Leia interjected, “the Yuuzhan Vong armada is so close we can practically touch it. They also have battle groups orbiting Muscave, Stentat, Improcco, and The Covey.”

“Sekot has parried the Yuuzhan Vong before,” Luke said.
“I’m guessing that Shimrra knows this. That’s why the armada is staying put for the moment.”

“It’s been a while since they met,” Han said. “Maybe the Vong have forgotten.”

“Not as long as you think, Han. Besides, Zonama Sekot can go to lightspeed if it has to.”

“Yeah, well, you’d better tell this Sekot to keep the hyperdrives idling, ’cause after what almost happened at Mon Calamari, I don’t know that anything can stop the Yuuzhan Vong now.” He fell silent briefly, then muttered: “Well, there is one thing—”

“We may know a way,” Luke cut in.

Han blew out his breath. “I hope you’re right, Luke. But how’re we supposed to get planetside from stationary orbit? We can’t just jam everyone into the escape pods.”

“You won’t have to. In fact, your transport should be visible to the
Falcon
’s scanners just about now.”

Leia and Han watched the display screen. Shortly a vessel that might almost have been Yuuzhan Vong grown came into view. The ship’s lobed, faintly luminescent hull was made up of six oval modules, smooth as skipping stones and seamlessly joined. Knife-sharp, the leading edges of the modules glowed with what appeared to be organiform circuitry.

Han whistled in amazement. “The waiting list for those things must be a kilometer long!”

“The pilot’s name is Aken,” Luke said. “Her ship will accept your cofferdam as soon as you’re ready to extend it.”

From the moment Leia stepped from the pulsing multicolored cabin of the Sekotan ship and beheld the sight of her son, her brother, her sister-in-law, and so many friends, some of whom she hadn’t seen in almost a year, and all of whom were standing against a backdrop of incredibly tall and wondrous trees, her heart skipped a beat.

She felt like a child again.

Even from the air Zonama Sekot had appeared more fantastical than real; a world of red and green-leafed trees, shimmering aqua lakes, and cryptic mountain ranges. The wounds the planet had sustained through its several hyperspace jumps—its “Crossings”—were obvious and numerous,
but they were surface blemishes, and couldn’t impair the planet’s aching beauty. This far from Coruscant’s primary, Zonama Sekot should have been frozen, but Luke had explained that Sekot was keeping the planet warm from within.

Leia didn’t know whom to embrace first. But since Han had captured Jacen in a wampa hug, she went straight to Luke and Mara, throwing an arm around each of them and tugging them to her.

“There were times I thought I’d never see you again,” she said, her eyes closed in joyous relief.

No sooner had Leia let go of them than Jacen was in front of her, smiling enigmatically.

“Mom,” he said.

For a moment Leia was too spellbound to move. She stared at Jacen as if he had manifested from a dream. He stepped into her open arms and allowed himself to be held for much longer than he ever had. Leia finally let him go, but only to arm’s length. She stroked his cheek with her right hand.

“You look changed, Jacen—more than after your time on Coruscant.”

“I am different,” he said. “Zonama Sekot has matured me.”

Leia turned through a slow circle, her gaze falling on Saba Sebatyne, Danni Quee, Tekli, Corran Horn, Tahiri Veila … All of them seemed to be reexperiencing their initial awe of the planet through the eyes of the newcomers.

“You all look so different,” Leia said to her son. “Is it the months we’ve been apart, or is it something about this extraordinary place?”

“Sekot makes a lasting impression,” he said ambiguously.

Leia repeated the name, as if trying it out on her tongue. “I keep hearing about Sekot. Will I get to meet Sekot in person?”

“I hope so.”

“Jacen!”

Leia recognized Jaina’s voice and stepped out of the way just in time to avoid being trampled.

Leia turned another slow circle, trying to commit every
scene of reunion to memory. There was bearded Corran, welcoming Mirax, along with his father-in-law, Booster Terrik. Elsewhere Cilghal and Tekli were conversing in the latter’s native Chadra-Fan. Danni—her blond hair elaborately braided—was surrounded by Talon Karrde, Lando, Tendra Risant Calrissian, and several other members of the Smugglers’ Alliance, who were celebrating with sips of Corellian brandy from a shiny flask. Saba and some of the Barabel Wild Knights—including Saba’s son, Tesar—were having an animated conversation, as were C-3PO and R2-D2.

“What adventures
you’ve
had?” C-3PO was saying. “Let me tell you, Artoo, you haven’t experienced anything until you’ve been inside—”

The astromech droid razzed, tootled, and whistled.

C-3PO straightened. “You did what? You’re exaggerating. The entire planet? That’s impossible. You need to have your circuits serviced.”

R2-D2 chirred.

“I do
not
need to defrag myself. I am perfectly—”

Again, the diminutive droid beeped and zithered.

C-3PO bent his head to one side. “Did I understand you correctly? Did you actually say that it’s good to see me? Why, Artoo, this world must have done something to you, as well!”

Yet by far the most arresting sight of all was the manner in which Kenth, Kyp, Lowbacca, Alema, Octa Ramis, and more than a dozen other Jedi were clustered around Luke, who now stood in the center of the circle his comrades had formed around him, some of them seated, some of them actually down on one knee, paying close attention to everything he was telling him, his every word about Zonama—the planet—and Sekot, the planet’s animating consciousness …

He has become a true Master
, Leia thought.

Momentarily overwhelmed by the emotions flooding through her, Leia began to move away from the transport landing platform, as if dazed. Han was suddenly beside her, his arm about her shoulders, leading her into a kind of glen.

“You okay?” he asked worriedly.

She took a steadying breath. “It’s just so much to take in.”

“I know.” He gazed around. “Some place.”

“Have you ever seen anything to compare to this?”

He took his lower lip between his teeth. “Well, there are some canyons on Luuq Two that are every bit as deep. Then there’s Kismaano for cliffside dwellings. And, of course, Kashyyyk for trees …” His words trailed off as Leia began to weep. “Hey, hey. What’s all this about? You should be happy about being here.”

She wiped away tears with the back of her hand. “I am happy, Han. This place—it’s the safe harbor I’ve been dreaming about for months now. But I’m
sad
—for so many things. For Anakin and Chewbacca, and Elegos. For my parents, my homeworld, so, so many friends …”

She cried softly against Han’s shoulder, and when she looked up into his face, she saw tears in his eyes.

“I feel like we’re coming to the end of a long voyage, Han, and I hate the fact that additional violence is the only thing that’s going to get us there. It’s like a final payment we have to make to conclude this thing, and to ensure that our children, and our children’s children don’t grow up with the threats we’ve been forced to face at every turn.

“I keep thinking that my father must have finally come to this point when he summoned the strength to save Luke from the Emperor. I know from her journal that my grandmother felt this way. And I have the strongest feeling that my mother must have also reached this stage—with war erupting all around her, her homeworld threatened … Is this what Jacen has been trying to tell us all along—that violence is
never
the answer, even if it seems the shortest and most direct path?”

Han shook his head. “I don’t know, Leia. But I know I’d die to give him and Jaina a better life than the one we’ve had.” He smiled lopsidedly. “Even though I wouldn’t change a day of it, because of you.”

Leia nodded. “I know. I know because I feel the same way, Han. But I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you. Especially after what I saw you go through on Caluula—”

“Come on,” he said, lifting her chin. “Look who you’re talking to.”

She smiled faintly, and sniffed. “If bluster counts for anything, you’ll outlive us all.”

“Leia! Han!” Luke called out. “I want you to meet someone.”

When they returned to the landing platform, Luke introduced them to some of Zonama Sekot’s tall and pale-blue-complected indigenous residents—Ferroans—including a middle-aged woman he called Magister Jabitha.

“Sekot has agreed to fashion living ships for some of the Jedi,” Jabitha told everyone gathered. “The process will require several days, but I promise you that it will be unlike anything any of you have ever experienced.”

“Only three Jedi have ever gone through the process,” Luke told Leia. “And only one of them ever piloted a Sekotan ship—Anakin Skywalker.”

Our father!
Leia realized.

Her astonishment and elation endured for only a moment before the sadness returned. Ships, she told herself. Then it was to be war, after all. She had persuaded herself that Luke had found some other way to end the conflict. But she should have known better. The dark side was strong, and right thinking alone wasn’t enough to abolish it. She struggled to resign herself to what lay ahead.

For Luke, she forced a brave smile.

Her brother’s expression promised even greater surprises to come. “There’s someone else I want you to meet,” he said for everyone to hear.

Turning to the Ferroans, he called one of them forward—a tall man, who lowered the hood of his cloak as he approached, revealing a face of tattoos and scars, a hint of nose, a sloping forehead …

Leia felt Han tense beside her.

“This is Harrar,” Luke said. “A high priest of the Yuuzhan Vong. He, too, is going to help us end this war.”

“Our redemption is at hand!” the Shamed One cried from the mound of yorik coral rubble that was her momentary pulpit. Her rapt audience of a hundred or so heretics was sitting at the base of the mound, either oblivious or indifferent to the danger they had placed themselves in by gathering in broad daylight, in the midst of the sacred precinct, no less.

“Yu’shaa urged us to watch the sky for signs, and that sign has appeared for one and all to see!” She spread her emaciated arms wide. “Gaze around you at what its coming wrought, and pray that Shimrra has taken its message to heart! The Shamed Ones have been granted a new home—and a more powerful one than Shimrra’s. When the Prophet reappears to lead us to salvation, we will be
ready!”

Seated atop the shaded litter Shimrra had sent to carry him to the Citadel, Nom Anor lowered his head by reflex, then resumed his upright posture. Though within earshot of the gathering, he was far enough removed not to have to worry about being identified, should Kunra or one of the other heretical leaders be lurking about. Besides, it would be only a matter of minutes before warriors arrived to disperse the crowd.