Star Wars_ Darksaber - Kevin J. Anderson [9]
A harsh, hiccoughing sound came from the voice synthesizer. No, Jedi. The B’omarr monks have already given as much solace as they could. What you must do for me is stop the Hutts’ plan. Humiliate them. The spider legs rocked back and forth. I will remain here alone—and continue to laugh at Jabba. That is my reward.
CHAPTER 3
Since their banthas had run off, leaving them stranded at Jabba’s palace, Han suggested to Luke that they investigate the vehicle hangars in the lower levels. Together, the two of them might be able to reassemble a functioning speeder so they could make good time away from the ruins. Luke agreed, his mind preoccupied with his real reason for wanting to come to Tatooine.
Under the flickering light of old glowpanels, Han tinkered with the mechanical subsystems of damaged vehicles. The scrapped engines and hull parts were all that remained after the frantic mass exodus of Jabba’s minions. Because of rumors and superstitious fear, Jawas and other scavengers had not dared to come steal away what was left, so dismantled skiffs and flyers remained in the maintenance bay, salvaged for parts.
Han and Luke worked together, swapping out components, making modifications from what they had on hand. At last they operated a clanking mechanical side door, letting the wash of yellow sunlight scour the filthy hangar bay. They climbed aboard two battered swoops that reminded Luke of the speeder bikes he and his sister, Leia, had ridden so recklessly through the forests on Endor.
Luke sat on the dented metal scat, trying to be comfortable on the scraps of the petrified leather covering. “It’s been a long time since I did something like this,” Luke said. “Feels good.”
“Just like old times, kid.” Han powered up the humming repulsor-lifts. “Let’s head back to Mos Eisley Spaceport so we can get out of here.”
“Wait, Han,” Luke said with a pensive expression. “There’s something I have to do first. We’ll need to make a side trip, circle around to the Jundland Wastes.”
Han looked at him, pursing his lips, then he nodded. “Yeah, I thought you had something else on your mind from the way you were acting. Anything to do with Callista?”
Luke nodded, but gave no details.
“I guess I should know by now that when I’m with a Jedi, nothing’s simple and straightforward,” Han said.
As events continued around him, Luke forced himself to keep moving, proceeding to the next step, hoping that he would find some clue at his next destination. The news of the Hutts’ secret plan alarmed him, but his heart ached at being separated from Callista. He longed to be with her. He longed to help her.
Following threads of the Force, he and Callista had connected with each other’s personalities from the very first. They had linked like two pieces of a precise puzzle. Callista was right for Luke, and he was right for her. Being Jedi, they knew it in a way that few other lovers could understand.
Though Callista had been born decades before Luke, her spirit had been frozen within the computer of the automated Dreadnaught Eye of Palpatine. Luke had fallen in love with Callista’s luminous form, until she came back to life in the body of one of his brilliant students, who had sacrificed herself to destroy the Dreadnaught.
Now Callista was physically whole again. Flesh and blood. Beautiful. They could be together.
But in a devastating irony, Callista had lost all her Jedi abilities in the transformation. She was alive again, but not the same, not completely there. They could no longer link with each other, mind and spirit. They’d had only those heady days to remember, trapped together aboard the Eye of Palpatine.
But it was enough to galvanize the deep love between them and make them keep trying to find an answer. Luke would never give up until he found a way to bring Callista back whole.