Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [66]
Stupid or not, the captain was not weak-willed enough to be overtly affected. He pocketed his identicard, then waved his troops forward. Slowly they filed past him and entered the Temple. As Zilaash Kuh and Vrannin Vaxx passed, Cilghal felt Kyp leave her side, following them.
The captain remained where he was. “If you're Cilghal, then the perpetrator is your patient. I'm surprised that you don't want to be there when we take your patient into custody.”
Cilghal did want that, but she could not bear for this sorry excuse of a human to win any victories she could prevent. “No, I'm going to stand here, enjoy the morning air, and transmit this document to Master Kenth Hamner, leader of the Order, a man who actually had a distinguished military career. Jedi Tekli can prepare Jedi Horn for transportation.”
Well, if the captain could not be compelled to leave, perhaps he could be made to suffer for his impudence. As she transmitted the warrant file and added a brief message to Master Hamner, Cilghal altered the nature of the impulses she was issuing into the Force. Instead of encouraging an emotional urge, she began promoting a biological one—the notion that the captain needed to visit the refresher. To her compulsion she added visual aids, including images of flowing streams, beautiful waterfalls, and steady, drenching rainfalls.
The red suffusing the captain's face drained away, to be replaced by something like pallor. “Done with my warrant card yet?”
“No, no. I'm having some trouble with the message I'm adding. Typing on these things is difficult for a fish-head, you know. By the way, do you call Dhidal Nyz a fish-head? Is it a sign of affection, a nickname? What is your nickname? Is it Orry—may I call you Orry? Can I get you something to drink, Orry? A tall, cool glass of water, perhaps?”
Even as she parked her airspeeder in a low-level hangar at the Jedi Temple, Jaina could feel agitation from above, a sort of atmosphere of un-Jedi-like worry and anger that filtered down through permacrete and durasteel like water filtering through coarse cloth. With her observer Dab beside her, obliviously talking about the High Court decision, she rode the turbolift up. The agitation did not feel like a call to arms, did not seem like a physical emergency unfolding, so she forced herself not to reach for her lightsaber. It bothered her that her first impulse was to ready herself for combat. Despite their role in popular entertainment, that was not the way of the Jedi, even for their Sword.
She and Dab emerged into a darkened corner of the Great Hall, finding it full of Jedi who stood in small groups, talking in quiet tones.
Jaina strode up to a nearby group of three Jedi, including Master Katarn. “Master, what's happened?”
Kyle's expression was unperturbed, though he radiated a little anger. “They've come for Valin.”
Jaina frowned. “I hadn't heard that we'd come to terms with the government about his evaluation—”
“We haven't. This is unilateral on the government's part. It's in retaliation for this morning's High Court decision.”
“But we didn't have anything to do with that!”
“Of course we did. If we had put pressure on Tahiri Veila to withdraw her appeal, all the pressure the Order could bring to bear, would she have continued?”
“Probably not.”
“Well, now we know what the government considers cooperation on our part. Unthinking acceptance of their decisions, silent obedience, preemptive groveling.”
From behind them came the sound of a turbolift arriving. Jaina turned as everyone else did. From one of