Star Wars_ Darth Bane 02_ Rule of Two - Drew Karpyshyn [29]
“I … thank you, Master,” was all he could say. Not sure what else to do, he gave a short bow.
“It’s what Hoth would have wanted for you,” Farfalla said softly. Then, louder, “We’ll leave as soon as I finish making the arrangements for others to take over command of the fleet while I’m gone.”
“Why does the Chancellor want to meet with you so urgently?” Johun asked, suddenly curious.
“Now that the Brotherhood of Darkness has been defeated, the Galactic Senate wants to put an official end to this war. There is important legislation on the table that could change the face of the Republic forever. Valorum wants to discuss it with me before the Senate votes.”
“And this legislation will affect the Jedi as well?”
“It will,” Farfalla answered grimly. “In ways you cannot even begin to imagine.”
Zannah’s feet hurt. Her calves ached. Her thighs burned with every step. Yet somehow she ignored the pain and pushed herself to go on.
She’d been walking ever since Darth Bane’s ship had disappeared over the horizon, leaving her alone once again. Her mission was clear: make her way to Onderon. To do that, she had to find a ship to get her off Ruusan. That meant finding other people. But Zannah had no idea where any other people might be, and so she had simply chosen a random direction and started walking.
She was too small to pilot the swoop bike Bane had used to whisk them across the landscape. At first that hadn’t mattered: She’d used her newfound talents in the Force to propel herself along, running so fast that the world passed by her in a blur of wind and color. But while the Force may have been infinite, her ability to draw upon it was not. Her skills were still developing, and fatigue had set in quickly. She had felt her pace slowing as her strength ebbed, and though she tried to summon the power of the dark side again by tapping into her deep reserves of anger and hate, her exhausted will could only call up the faintest flicker of a response.
Now she’d been reduced to a tired little girl plodding across the war-torn Ruusan landscape. Yet she refused to surrender to despair, instead focusing all her energy on putting one foot in front of the other. It was impossible to say how long she continued her forced march—how many hours or kilometers she endured—before she was rewarded with what she sought: the sight of a shuttle in the distance.
Hope gave new life to her weary limbs, and she managed a clumsy, limping run toward the vessel. She could see people milling about the craft: a young woman, an older man, and two teenage boys. As she drew nearer the woman noticed her and called out to one of her companions.
“Bordon! Tell the boys we’ve found someone who needs help.”
Minutes later Zannah found herself inside the vessel’s cargo hold, sitting on a supply chest while wolfing down nutrition bars from a ration kit and chasing them with a piping-hot cup of chav. One of the boys had thrown a thick blanket over her shoulders, and the entire crew was now hovering protectively around her.
“I’ve never seen someone so small eat so much,” the woman said with a laugh.
She didn’t look like she’d come from Ruusan originally. She had dark skin and short black hair, and she wore a bulky padded vest under her jacket. There was also a blaster pistol strapped to her hip, making Zannah fairly certain she was a soldier of some type.
“What did you expect, Irtanna?” the older man said. In contrast to the woman, he looked like he was probably a native of Ruusan. He had broad shoulders, leathery skin, and a short brown beard. He reminded Zannah of Root, the cousin who had raised her as a little girl back on her homeworld of Somov Rit. “The poor thing’s nothing but skin and bones. When was the last time you had a decent meal, girl?”
Zannah shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said around a mouthful of food.
She’d only accepted their offer of a meal out of politeness. Ever since she had arrived on Ruusan she’d been living on roots and berries, her body constantly on the edges of starvation. She’d been doing