Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [89]
“Wait, wait.” Jaina's mind raced. “We need to be sure he has the same condition Valin does.”
“All evidence suggests it. What's more, he came back to Coruscant without notifying the Temple he was here, and now he's staking out the facility where the only other Jedi who behaves like him is being held. Besides, if we're wrong, we can let him go.”
“Right.” Jaina checked her chrono. It had been only two hours since Dab had awakened her with one of his random checks of her whereabouts. This meant that, in all probability, she had several hours to act before he'd check again. She should be able to sneak out for a while. “All right. I'm going to mobilize some people I've contacted about our little Darkmeld conspiracy. You need to set things up here so that when we bring Seff in, whether it's tonight or later, we have a secret place to hold and evaluate him.”
“Understood, understood.” Tekli nodded so fast it made her fur sway, and Jaina wondered what would happen if the Chadra-Fan were to drink a couple of cups of caf while in this state.
Tekli moved to the door and reached up to slap the button. “Sorry to cost you sleep.”
“Don't worry. It's worth it.”
All of them dressed in inconspicuous garments of the sort favored by the middle class when traveling, they met in a tapcaf a kilometer from Valin's prison—Jaina, Jag, Tahiri, and a lean woman with white hair and elegant, ageless features. Jaina introduced the last: “Jag, this is Winter Celchu, my former babysitter. Winter, this is Jagged Fel, Head of State of the Imperial Remnant.”
“Galactic Empire,” Jag corrected absently. “You're married to General Tycho Celchu?”
Winter nodded.
“And you're ex-Intelligence. In addition to ex-babysitter.”
She gave him a faint smile. “I hate it that people have heard of me.”
“Well, your husband and my uncle are best friends. It makes some secrets hard to keep.”
Jaina waved to get their attention. “I'll make this short. I've got the Jedi resources and ways in and out of the Temple, but I'm going to be hobbled by having an observer. Jag, you have unlimited financial resources, at least by our standards.”
Jag nodded. “I can't really be a despot if I'm not wasting the Empire's money.”
“Tahiri, you have the full range of Jedi abilities, which we'll need in order to handle Seff, and no observer hanging around your neck.” Jaina did not voice her next thought: that Tahiri had been very easy to convince to help on this mission. Tahiri hadn't been able to repair much of the damage she'd done in Jacen's service. It apparently meant a lot to her to be able to help with another Jedi's mess. “Winter, you have Intelligence skills and contacts. Between the four of us, we're the core of this operation. We need to set up an observation of Seff, secretly grab him at our earliest opportunity, and get him into the Temple for Tekli to evaluate.”
The others nodded.
Tahiri looked doubtful. “And we have to do it without him being alerted to us. He's a Jedi Knight. This is not going to be like doing surveillance on a bail jumper.”
“Not a problem.” Winter held her datapad up. “On this is a shopping list. High on the list are holocam droids and security holocams. If it's mostly holocams watching him, he won't feel it in the Force.”
Tahiri shook her head. “Problem. He may know the technique that allows him to fuzz out holocam feeds for a moment or two as he passes in front of them.”
Jaina gave her a reassuring smile. “Not a problem. We still have the software we used to track Alema Rar when she was using that technique, back when she was sneaking around on the Errant Venture. We can plot Seff's movements even if he does that.”
Jag slid a credcard across the table; it fetched up against Winter's forearm. “There should be enough there for your shopping trip.