Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 04_ Backlash - Aaron Allston [4]
“This is harassment.” Ben’s words were quiet, but loud enough for Vames to hear.
The tall man glowered at Ben. “Of course it’s not harassment. The order came specifically from Chief of State Daala’s office. Public officials at that level don’t harass.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
“Ben.” Luke added a chiding tone to his voice. “No point in arguing. Vames, are you also prohibited from answering a few questions?”
“Always happy to help. So long as it’s within latitudes permitted by the regulations.”
“Within the last couple of days, have you seen any sign of a dilapidated yacht called She’s a Chancer?” Luke knew the yacht had to be here; he had run his blood trail to ground on Dathomir, and the girl had not departed this world. But anything this man could add to his meager store of knowledge might help.
Vames entered the ship name in his datapad, then shook his head. “No vehicle under that name made legal planetfall.”
“Ah.”
“Dilapidated, you say? A yacht?”
“That’s right.”
Vames keyed in some more information. “Last night, shortly after dusk, local time, a vehicle with the operational characteristics of a SoroSuub yacht made a sudden descent from orbit, overflew the spaceport here, and headed north. There was some comm chatter from the pilot about engines on runaway, that she couldn’t cut them or bring her repulsors online for landing.”
Ben frowned at that. “Last night? And you didn’t send out a rescue party?”
“Of course we did. As per regulations. Couldn’t find the crash site. No further communication from the vehicle. We still have searchers up there. But no luck.”
“Actually, that is helpful.” Luke turned to his son. “Ben, no enclosed vehicles.”
“Yeah?”
“Get us a couple of speeder bikes, would you? Beg, borrow …” Luke glanced at the spaceport official and decided that the man wouldn’t grasp that steal would have been a joke. “Or rent them.”
Ben grinned. “Yes, sir.”
Fifteen minutes later they were on their way, equipped with two rented speeder bikes and one piece of useful information that they had not possessed before, courtesy of questions asked and credcoins dropped by Luke.
The model of SoroSuub yacht the Sith girl had taken from Sinkhole Station was not one that normally came equipped with a hypercomm system. From the time it had left the Maw Cluster to its arrival on Dathomir, it had not lingered at any star system long enough for its pilot to make any substantial contact with locals. And in the time since its arrival on Dathomir, the planet’s sole hypercomm system, based out of this spaceport, had not been utilized to send any message packet large enough to include the complex navigational data required to instruct someone how to enter the Maw and find Sinkhole Station.
What that meant, ultimately, was that the Sith girl had likely not been able to communicate instructions to her Sith masters on how to reach the station or the powerful dark-side Force mystery it held. Luke probably did not have to fear that the Sith would find that power—until and unless they retrieved the Sith girl.
For once, if only temporarily, time was on Luke’s side.
DATHOMIR RAIN FOREST
THE RAIN FOREST AIR WAS SO DENSE, SO MOIST, THAT EVEN ROARING through it at speeder bike velocity didn’t bring Luke Skywalker any physical relief. His speed just caused the air to move across him faster, like a greasy scrub-rag wielded by an overzealous nanny droid, drenching all the exposed surfaces of his body.
Not that he cared. He couldn’t see her, but he could sense his quarry, not far ahead: the individual he’d crossed so many light-years to find.
He could sense much more than that. The forest teemed with life, life that poured its energy into the Force, too much to catalog as he roared past. He could feel ancient trees and new vines, creeping predators and alert