Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights III_ Patterns of Force - Michael Reaves [103]
Rhinann was surprised at how little surprise he felt at this evidence of Dejah’s betrayal.
“On the other hand,” she said, turning away from the droid and looking at one of the Inquisitors, “he might have given it to the Jedi.”
Rhinann caught a hiss of breath from the Inquisitor.
Dejah approached the scarlet figure, her expression sweetly melancholy. “I’m sorry, Jax,” she said gently. “I really am.”
twenty-seven
Blood thundered in Jax Pavan’s ears—so loudly he barely heard what the Zeltron woman was saying to him.
“Please understand that this isn’t personal, Jax. Or political, for that matter. In fact I’m grateful to you for introducing me to the Force. I’ve never been so near a Force adept before. I had no idea of the sheer sensual power of it. It’s the most intoxicating thing I have ever encountered. I had thought Ves’s creativity was heady, but this—” She drew in a long breath. “—this power you and Kaj and the other Jedi wield … it’s beyond my experience.” She looked demurely through her lashes at him. “Like I said—I’m sorry.”
Jax pulled back the cowl of the Inquisitor’s robe. From the corner of his eye, he caught the echo of the motion from one of two real Inquisitors in the room—Probus Tesla, if the scarring on his head and face were any indication. He stared into Dejah’s eyes.
“No, you’re not,” he said.
She shook her head sadly. “If you’d been willing to meet me halfway, this wouldn’t have been necessary. But you kept withdrawing from me, holding me at bay. You wouldn’t let me in. You wouldn’t let me taste the Force in you.” Her lovely mouth twisted. “All that Jedi circumspection, that moral code, kept you from letting me touch you—kept you from touching me. But—”
“But Probus Tesla, unlike me, is not bridled by moral limitations.”
She smiled, her gaze caressing the keloid ridges on the Inquisitor’s face. “Yes. How did you know?”
“I suspected something was amiss when you stopped importuning me with your pheromones. At first you shifted your desire to Kaj, but when he disappeared, you needed another source. Who better to make an alliance with than the Inquisitor who was hunting me?
“But you had to prove your sincerity. So you gave them Laranth and Kaj. You told them where to find the boy and the Paladin.”
She looked puzzled. “But—I was so careful—”
“I told you about the Force dream I had, in which I smelled spice gas. The scent of your pheromones was there as well.”
She appeared about to reply, when Vader interrupted. “This is all vaguely interesting and amusing, Pavan,” he said. “But it has gone on long enough.” He extended a black-gloved hand. “Give me the bota—now.”
Jax laughed without mirth. “Why? You’re not going to let us go no matter what I do.”
“I will not let you go, but I will let her go.” Vader dipped his head toward Laranth.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because it is easier than the alternative—dissecting you all, piece by piece until I find what I’m looking for. Something you know I’m capable of doing.” He made a careless gesture with one hand and Laranth stiffened, her head thrown back, her eyes wide with sudden pain.
Beneath his robes, Jax triggered the remote that would, in theory, restore I-Five’s higher cognitive functions. The droid, however, gave no indication of any change. Jax felt fear stab his heart. Had he been right? Had I-Five lost some ephemeral part of himself that he could never regain?
“Tell the droid to give me the bota, Pavan.”
“The droid doesn’t have it,” said I-Five suddenly. Both hands came up in a lethal gesture, lasers firing. The beams sliced toward Vader … and stopped mere centimeters from his outstretched hand.
“Interesting,” he said. “I read your intention even as you were forming it. Not as a current in your positronic matrix, but as an emotion. You were protecting what you hold dear. You truly are a remarkable machine.”
“Forgive me for not being gracious enough to thank you for the compliment,