Ylesia (13 page)

Read on for an excerpt from
Star Wars:
The New Jedi Order
Destiny's Way
by Walter Jon Williams, available in hardcover from Del Rey in October, 2002. . . .

I
have a few minutes only,” Senator Fyor Rodan said. He sat—sank, rather—in an oversoft armchair while his aides bustled in and out of his hotel suite. All of them seemed to have comlinks permanently fixed to their mouths, and to be engaged in more than one conversation at the same time.

“I appreciate your taking the time to see me, Councilor,” Luke Skywalker said. There was no place to sit—every chair and table was covered with holopads, datapads, storage units, and even piles of clothing. Luke stood before the Senator and made the best of the awkward situation.

“At least I have managed to get the Calamarian government to give the Senate a place to meet,” Rodan said. “I was afraid we'd have to go on using hotel facilities.” As he spoke, he punched numbers into a datapad, scowled at the result, and then punched the numbers again.

The Senate hadn't quite shrunk to the size where it could comfortably meet in a hotel suite, but it was certainly a much slimmer body than it had been just a few months previously. Many Senators had managed to find reasons not to be on the capital when the Yuuzhan Vong attacked. Others had been sent away to establish a reserve of political leaders, so that they wouldn't be caught all in one place. Yet others had commandeered military units in the middle of the action and fled. Still more had died in the fighting at Coruscant, been captured, or had gone missing.

And then of course there was Viqi Shesh, who had gone over to the enemy.

Fyor Rodan had done none of these things. He had remained at his post until the fall of Coruscant, then been evacuated by the military at the last moment. He'd joined the luckless Pwoe in his attempt to form a government, but then come to Mon Calamari when the Senate reconvened and summoned all Senators to their places.

His behavior had been both courageous and principled. He had won the admiration of many, and was now spoken of as a candidate to replace Borsk Fey'lya as Chief of State.

Unfortunately, Fyor Rodan was also a political opponent of Luke and the rest of the Jedi. Luke had asked for a meeting in the hope of swaying Rodan's position, or at least of understanding the man better.

Perhaps Rodan's animosity toward Luke and his friends dated from the time that an impatient Chewbacca hung him from a coat hook just to get him out of the way. There were also rumors that Rodan was connected in some way to smugglers—that he spoke against the Jedi because Kyp Durron had once taken action against his smuggler associates.

But those were rumors, not facts. Besides, if anyone was to be condemned for having friends who were smugglers, then Luke was damned a dozen times over . . .

“How may I help you, Skywalker?” Rodan asked. His eyes flicked briefly to Luke, then returned to the datapad.

“This morning,” Luke said, “you were quoted on broadcast media as saying that the Jedi were an impediment to the resolution of the war.”

“I should say that is self-evidently true,” Rodan said. He kept his attention on the datapad screen as his fingers touched one button after another. “At times this war has been
about
the Jedi. The Yuuzhan Vong insist that you must all be handed over to them. That
is
an impediment to the war's resolution—unless of course we
do
hand you over.”

“Would you do that?”

“If I thought that by doing so, I could save the lives of billions of the New Republic's citizens, I would certainly consider such an action.” He frowned slightly. “But there are more serious impediments to peace now than the Jedi—such as the fact that the enemy are sitting in the ruins of our capital.” His face hardened. “That and the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong will not stop until they have enslaved or converted every being in our galaxy. I personally will not support even an attempt at peace with the Yuuzhan Vong until such time as they evacuate Coruscant and the other worlds they have seized.” His eyes flicked to Luke again. “Does that satisfy you that I'm not planning to sacrifice you and your cohorts, Skywalker?”

Though the man's words seemed reassuring, for some reason Luke didn't find them comforting. “I'm pleased to know that you're not in favor of peace at any price,” Luke said.

Rodan's eyes returned to his datapad. “Of course I'm only a Senator and a member of the late Chief of State's Advisory Council,” he said. “Once we have a new Chief of State, I will inevitably be forced to support policies with which I personally disagree. That's how our government works. So you should seek reassurances from our next Chief of State, not from myself.”

“There is talk that you may
be
our next Chief of State.”

For the first time, Rodan's fingers hesitated on the keyboard of the datapad. “I would say that such talk is premature,” he said.

Luke wondered why the man was being so consistently rude. Normally a politician canvassing for support wouldn't close the door on someone who could potentially help him to power, but Rodan had always followed an anti-Jedi line even when there was no advantage to be gained, and that meant something else was going on. Perhaps the rumors about smuggling made more sense now.

Luke queried again. “Whom do you support for the post?”

Rodan's fingers grew busy once more. “One question after another,” he said. “You sound like a political journalist. If you want to continue along this line, Skywalker, perhaps you could trouble yourself to acquire press credentials.”

“I'm not planning to write any articles. I'm merely trying to understand the situation.”

“Consult the Force,” Rodan said. “That's what you people do, isn't it?”

Luke took a breath. This conversation was like a fencing bout, attack followed by parry as the two circled each other around a common center. And that center was . . . what?

Fyor Rodan's intentions toward the Jedi.

“Senator Rodan,” Luke said. “May I ask what role you envision for the Jedi in this war?”

“Two words, Skywalker,” Rodan said, his eyes never leaving the datapad.
“None whatsoever.”

Luke calmed the anger that rose at Rodan's deliberate rudeness, at his provocative answers. “The Jedi,” he said, “are the guardians of the New Republic.”

“Oh?” Rodan pursed his lips, glanced again at Luke. “I thought we had the New Republic Defense Force for that purpose.”

“There was no military in the Old Republic,” Luke said. “There were only the Jedi.”

A half smile twitched on Rodan's face. “That proved unfortunate when Darth Vader turned up, didn't it?” he said. “And in any case, the handful of Jedi you command can scarcely do the work of the thousands of Jedi Knights of the Old Republic.” Rodan's glance grew sharper. “Or
do
you command the Jedi? And if not you, who? And to whom is that commander responsible?”

“Each Jedi Knight is responsible to the Jedi Code. Never to act for personal power, but to seek justice and enlightenment.” Luke wondered whether to remind Rodan that the councilor had opposed Luke's notion of refounding the Jedi Council in order to provide the Jedi with more direct guidance and authority in their actions. If the Jedi were disorganized, it was partly Rodan's doing, and it hardly seemed just for Rodan to complain about it.

“Noble words,” Rodan said. “But what does it mean in practice? For justice, we have police and the courts—but the Jedi take it upon
themselves
to deliver justice, and are constantly interfering in police matters, often employing violence. For diplomacy, we have the highly skilled ambassadors and consuls of the Ministry of State—but Jedi, some of them mere children I might add, take it upon
themselves
to conduct high-level negotiations that frequently seem to end in conflict and war. And though we have a highly skilled military, the Jedi take it upon
themselves
to commandeer military resources, to supplant
our own officers
in command of military units, to make strategic military decisions.”

Such as to hunt smugglers?
Luke wondered. He considered bringing up the issue of smuggling, but decided against it—with Rodan in his present mood, Luke didn't want to remind him why he hated the Jedi in the first place.

“It's an amateurish performance,” Rodan continued. “At worst the Jedi are a half-trained group of vigilantes. At best they simply make it all up as they go along, and the result is all too often disaster. I hardly think that the ability to do magic tricks is qualification for supplanting professional diplomats, judges, and military officers.”

“The situation is critical,” Luke said. “We're being invaded. The Jedi on the spot—“

“Should leave it to the professionals,” Rodan said. “That's what we pay the professionals for.”

Rodan turned to his datapad, called up information. “I have your record here, Skywalker. You joined Rebel Alliance forces as a starfighter pilot. Though you fought with distinction at Yavin Four and at Hoth, you shortly afterward left your unit,
taking with you the starfighter that didn't belong to you,
in order—“ He paused to insert virtual quotation marks around his words. “—to conduct ‘spiritual exercises' on some jungle planet. And you did all this without even asking permission of your commander.

“You afterward returned to the military, served bravely and with distinction, and rose to the rank of general. But you resigned your commission,
during wartime,
again to devote yourself to spiritual matters.” Rodan shrugged. “Perhaps during the Rebellion such irregular practices were necessary, or at any rate tolerated. But now that we have a government, I fail to see why we should continue turning over state resources to a group of amateurs who are all too likely to follow their Master's example and abandon their posts whenever the mood—or the Force—takes them.”

Luke stood very still. “I think you will find,” he said, “that our ‘spiritual exercises,' as you call them, strengthen us in our role as protectors of the New Republic.”

“Possibly so,” Rodan said. “It would be interesting to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to discover whether the Jedi are in fact worth the resources the government has devoted to you. But my point is this—“ He looked up at Luke again from the depths of his oversoft chair, and his eyes were not soft at all. “You call yourselves protectors of the Republic; very well. But I have looked very carefully at the constitution of our government, and there is no Office of the Protectors of the Republic.”

Rodan's expression turned quizzical. “What exactly
are
you, Skywalker? You aren't military—we
have
a military. You aren't a diplomat—we
have
diplomats. You aren't a peace officer or a judge—we
have
those. So why exactly do we need you?”

“Jedi Knights,” Luke said, “have been fighting the Yuuzhan Vong from the first day of this invasion—from the first
hour
. Many Jedi have been killed—some sacrificed to the enemy by their fellow citizens—but we continue our struggle on the New Republic's behalf. We are effective enough that the Yuuzhan Vong have singled us out for persecution—they are afraid of us.”

“I don't question your bravery or your dedication,” Rodan said. “But I do question your effectiveness. If your people want to fight the Yuuzhan Vong, why not join the Defense Force? Train with the other soldiers, accept promotion on the same basis as other soldiers, and
accept the same penalties for derogation of duty
as other soldiers. As it is, the Jedi expect special privileges, and the regular officers have every right to resent them.”

“If you feel the Jedi are an undisciplined, uncontrolled force,” Luke asked, “why do you oppose the re-formation of the Jedi Council?”

“Because the Jedi Council would form an elite group within the government. You
say
you do not seek power or personal gain—and I will take you at your word—but other Jedi have shown less admirable traits.” His eyes flicked to Luke again, a chill, flinty gaze. “Your father, for one.

“If you want to fight the Yuuzhan Vong,” Rodan continued, “advise your Jedi to join the military. Or any other branch of the government that appeals to their interests and skills. They can, of course, continue to practice their religion in private, as any other citizen, and not as a state-supported cult.

“No, Skywalker.” Rodan settled deeply into his chair and returned his attention to his datapad. “Until you actually
join
this government you say that you defend, and join it on the same basis as any other citizen, then I have every intention of regarding you as I would any other lobbyist for any other interest group demanding special privileges for its members. Now“—his voice became abstracted—“I have many other appointments, Skywalker. I believe our interview is at an end.”

Why is he behaving this way?
Luke wondered. And then he left.

“He kept calling me ‘Skywalker,' ” Luke said. “Because I don't have a title—I'm not a Senator, I'm not a general any longer, I'm not an ambassador. He used the word like an insult.”

“He could have called you ‘Master.' Like I do sometimes.” Mara Jade's voice was a smoky purr in his ear. Her arms slipped around Luke's waist from behind.

Luke smiled. “I don't think it would be the same as when you do it.”

“It better not be . . .
Skywalker
.” Luke jumped as one of her hands gave his stomach a slap.

Luke had found Mara waiting for him as he returned to their rooms in the large hotel suite they shared with Han and Leia. He had been calm, even analytical, when he was speaking with Rodan, but when he related the substance of his interview to Mara, he found himself with less reason to maintain calm and objectivity, and the resentment that he hadn't actually felt in Rodan's presence now began to boil.