Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights III_ Patterns of Force - Michael Reaves [44]
Jax nodded, then watched the police prefect make his way down the corridor, looking nothing like what he was. There had been a time when Jax Pavan had regarded Pol Haus as a disorganized, easily befuddled Imperial functionary. Now he wasn’t sure what to make of him.
nine
“He’s gone,” Jax said as he reentered the living room. “It’s all right, Kaj, you can come out.”
A moment later the boy appeared, looking highly spooked.
Jax smiled at him reassuringly. “It looks as if we may have another ally.”
“I’d withhold judgment on that,” advised Rhinann. “You can never be too careful.”
“Actually, you can,” I-Five said. “And you can miss opportunities that way.”
Still keeping tabs on Kaj through the Force, Jax turned his objective attention to the droid. “And is this an opportunity or a risk?”
“Aren’t they two sides of the same coin? Opportunity rarely comes without risk.”
“Oh, stop it, Five,” said Den. “You sound like a carnival oracle droid. Opportunity, my aunt Freema’s dewlaps. All this is, is one more person—one more person with a link to His Evilness—who knows Jax is a Jedi. I see no particular upside to that. I think we should relocate immediately.”
“Ah. Somewhere not on this planet, I assume.”
“I’m willing to compromise. I’ll consider the same galactic sector.”
“But where would I go?” Kajin asked. He hovered at the very edge of the seating area, the light sculpture washing him with lambent hues.
“No one is going anywhere,” said Jax.
Den stared at him. “Haus could be on his way to Vader right this minute.”
“Den,” said I-Five, “you’re showing every sign of rampant paranoia.”
“You know the difference between paranoia and realistic concern? Breathing. The way I see it,” Den said, “Haus has little to lose by tipping Vader to us and much to gain in the way of prestige. I don’t trust him.”
Behind Jax, Kaj uttered a sick moan and, much to Jax’s astonishment, disappeared entirely from Jax’s Force radar. Startled, the Jedi turned just as the boy slid into a formchair, simultaneously coming back into sight, as it were.
Had Kaj just disconnected from the Force? Could he do this at will? From his attitude he seemed unaware of what had just happened. Even so, the implications were stunning. Jax opened his mouth to say something, but Dejah had launched into a disagreement with Den.
“That’s because you can’t sense him, Den. Not like Jax and I can. Right, Jax?”
“I …” Jax pulled his attention away from Kajin, who continued to brood. “What I sense from Haus is … anomalous. He’s got some dark ribbons of Force around him, but they don’t seem to be connected to Vader, or anyone else, which is unusual. There’s an underlying agitation there, though. My sense of it is that he’s more disturbed by Vader than he cares to admit.”
“Well, I’m not sensing anything anomalous,” Dejah said. “I don’t sense any duplicitous emotions from him at all.”
“You’re not getting your psychic impressions of him through the Force,” Rhinann pointed out.
“Which leads me to trust them all the more.”
A moment of somewhat stunned silence followed this. Then Jax said, “Before, when he was playing the bungling detective, did you realize that’s what he was doing? Did you sense duplicity then?”
Dejah stared at him in surprise. He felt suddenly contrite and nearly apologized aloud.
“I sensed no malice,” she answered.
“But neither did you realize that he was concealing his true nature,” said I-Five.
Anger flashed briefly in the Zeltron’s eyes. “I sensed he was hiding no hostility,” she repeated.
“Why would you assume that anyone who meant us harm must necessarily feel hostility for us?” the droid asked. “Beings often hurt each other for reasons other than emotional impulse. Some of the greatest atrocities in history have been orchestrated with complete dispassion. The Emperor’s annihilation of the Caamasi homeworld, for example, or, to put it on a more