Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights III_ Patterns of Force - Michael Reaves [75]
Thi Xon Yimmon nodded. “And to you these don’t seem like good reasons to put your friends in harm’s way?”
“To feed another man’s vengeance? No. But he’s also made some points about what the continued existence of the Emperor means to the Whiplash, to the Jedi, to the people who live under the Empire’s rule. Those are things I can’t ignore.”
“And those would be your reasons to allow I-Five to undertake what would almost certainly be a suicide mission?”
“He’s agreed to abide by my decision. I’m just not sure …”
“Are those your reasons, Jax?” Laranth asked, suddenly bristling with intensity.
“I … I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“You said Tuden Sal was a man bent on vengeance. What about you? Are you bent on vengeance as well?”
He stared at her, feeling as if she’d looked down into his soul and read his deepest fears. He felt Thi Xon Yimmon’s gaze on him, too, and resisted the impulse to shield himself from them both. Instead, he gave himself up for their scrutiny. Casting open his mind, holding Laranth’s gaze, he said, “You tell me. Please. That’s why this decision has been so difficult for me. I’m … I’m afraid that my reasons for seeking Palpatine’s death might be closer to Sal’s real reasons than I know. I’ve come to understand in recent times that I’m not always honest with myself about things.”
He didn’t mention that by recent he meant less than an hour earlier at Sil’s Place.
“I’m a Jedi, Laranth. If I want to stay a Jedi, I can’t be a man bent on vengeance. I don’t think that’s what I am, but I can’t tell I-Five to do this thing unless I’m sure. Or at least more sure than I am now. He’s ready to turn himself into a weapon and put the use of that weapon in my hands.”
Laranth held his gaze a moment longer, then lowered her eyes. “There are many reasons why Palpatine should die. He’s a blight on the galaxy—he and the Sith. Yes, I know the theories about cosmic balance and the philosophies about the duality of the Force—” She flicked a glance aside at Yimmon as if this was an ongoing discussion. “But I don’t believe them. Evil is as evil does.”
“Yes,” said Yimmon gently. “And if that’s so, and if Jax commits himself and his team in an attempt to take Palpatine’s life, then what distinguishes him from those who represent the dark side?”
Laranth’s eyes flashed. “Then isn’t fighting evil itself evil? When Kaj killed that Inquisitor to save himself, wasn’t that act evil?”
“That was an instinctive act of self-defense. Tuden Sal is talking about premeditatedly entering Palpatine’s territory and killing him. Hardly an act of self-defense.”
“But haven’t you always told me that to do battle in defense of others is noble? That even anger can be positive if it is directed at injustice? The Emperor’s death would save uncounted billions from injustice, and from the horrors visited on the Jedi, the M’haelians, the Caamasi—and the Force knows how many others.”
Her voice was low but impassioned. Seeing again her aura composed of blazing, white-hot strands, Jax felt a resurgence of admiration for the Twi’lek.
Thi Xon Yimmon inclined his head slightly, then turned to Jax. “A quandary. I fear we have given you no solace.”
“I didn’t come for solace. I came for your thoughtful consideration—for your wisdom. For that, I thank you.” Jax stood, bowed respectfully, and left the Whiplash headquarters.
As he went, Thi Xon Yimmon’s softly spoken words still rang in his ears: If Jax commits himself and his team to Palpatine’s assassination, then what distinguishes him from those who represent the dark side?
He had no answer to that.
seventeen
“Do you think the Sullustan has it?” Rhinann pitched his voice low so that only Dejah, alone in the kitchen with him, would hear.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she continued to chop silverleaf into a salad bowl. “If he does,