Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [132]
“No. It would have been shattering for them. But the Hidden One, after a night's sleep, might have reconsidered. You took that choice away from him.”
“Yes, I did. It solved the problem. It didn't kill anybody. It spilled out some nasty truths that they all needed to hear. Dad, sometimes you shouldn't wait that extra day. Sometimes you have to cut the other guy's arm off.”
“Yes, if the Force guides you to do so. Did the Force guide you to do that?”
“I'm … not sure.” Finally Ben did look a little contrite. “Was it the wrong thing to do?”
“I'm not sure.”
“Oh, good. A really useful answer for once.”
Luke grinned.
“Dad, you had added it all up, too, hadn't you? The tunnel size, the blast doors, the telepathy …”
“Yes.”
“So what I did really didn't shock you. You knew I wasn't sealing us in forever.”
“Yes. And even if it was the wrong thing, it clearly wasn't very wrong. Add it to everything you did right while we were here, and you're still very much ahead of the game.” Luke reached over and affectionately mussed Ben's hair.
“Dad, the hair.”
THE TURBOLIFT CARRIED THE SKYWALKERS AND THE FIRST FEW EXPLORATORY Baran Do one kilometer straight up. It ended in a large chamber packed with cloth-shrouded speeders, most of them seven decades or more old, and a ramp to a surface-level door. The capacitance charge on that door worked as well, and soon they were at the top of the ramp, staring up into the starry sky of Dorin, the black eyes of the neighboring black holes on either side.
Ben's planetary positioning system datapad put them at about thirty kilometers west of Dor'shan. With Ithia's blessing, they un-shrouded a speeder, poked at the engine and connections to make sure they were in good working order, and started up the vehicle. Within minutes, they were nearing Dor'shan's outskirts.
“Are we going to stay and offer them any help?” Ben asked.
Luke shook his head. “We may stay for a day or two and actually relax, but they don't need help. Mistress Tila Mong is capable of handling things among the living, and Charsae Saal and Ithia among the formerly dead. And really, I doubt they want our help right now. I suspect they would be happier not seeing us for a while.”
“You're probably right. What's going to happen to the Hidden One?”
Luke thought about that for a few moments, searching among his feelings, his knowledge of the way such Force societies operated, his sense of the future. “One of two things, probably. If he gets better, if he finds a new direction for his original goal, he may end up distributing the archives of his Order, or maybe organizing groups of Baran Do to go out into the galaxy the way Master Plo Koon did. If not, if he doesn't get better … well, he'll probably stay in those caverns, maintaining them as a hideaway for the Baran Do. The place will just be a bit less secure than it used to be.”
“I wish I could feel happy for him.”
“Feel happy about the others.”
“Hey, there's something I've been meaning to do for you. I've been practicing while you weren't around.”
Luke shot his son a suspicious look. “Go ahead.”
Ben pulled his breath mask free and took a deep breath of the helium-rich Dorin atmosphere. “‘Where fields once grew, a road runs through, and buildings hide the sun,’” he sang, his voice as high and ridiculous as that of an animated Ewok in a children's broadcast.
“Ben, don't.”
“‘Where grass of green could once be seen, are only gray and brown.’”
“I hate that song under normal circumstances.”
“‘My childhood home, while I did roam, became a place of sadness.’”
“I'll just wait until you pass out.”
“‘Now I return, my heart does yearn for times of light and gladness.’”
“You'll make your throat sore.”
CALRISSIAN-NUNB MINES, KESSEL
It had been a couple of days since the pilots' expedition into Kessel's caverns, and a day since the last of the caverns not prematurely detonated had self-destructed. Things were different now.
The groundquakes