Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 05_ Allies - Christie Golden [41]
A sharp scream caused Ben’s head to whip around, although he kept good focus on the fight. Vestara stood with her long legs set wide apart and her hands, fingers splayed hard, stretched out in front of her. Her beautiful face was set in a harsh, unforgiving expression. Blue Force lightning crackled from her hands in a jagged, dancing line to two other guards. They convulsed, shrieking in torment. The Sith apprentice lifted her hands and tossed the two guards aside. Her head turned, her brown eyes narrowed, then she reached out in the direction of Dyon Stad.
“Vestara!” Ben shouted.
She was going to do it.
She was going to do just what his father had warned him that Sith did, that Sith always did. She was going to betray him and murder Dyon Stad, because Sith killed Jedi. The promise meant nothing to her, Ben meant nothing to her, she was lost to the dark side, and—
Less than a second before Dyon Stad’s speeder bike impacted with the barrier, Dyon himself suddenly shot upward as if grasped by an invisible hand. He yelled in protest, his legs and arms flailing, and then was thrown several meters away to land on the soft sand.
His speeder slammed hard into the wall and was rendered into so much scrap metal instantly. Had Dyon still been on it, he would now have been little more than a collection of bloody tissue.
Ben blinked. The attacks ceased as everyone started to converge on the stunned man, who only now was moving and trying unsuccessfully to sit up. Vestara beat them all, leaping with the grace and power of a narglatch to land beside Dyon, straddling him, drawing her fist back, and slamming it into his jaw. Dyon’s head jerked to the side, and he stopped moving. Vestara hissed slightly, shook her stinging hand, then yanked up Dyon’s arms and trussed him up with cord from her belt.
Ben lowered his weapon. Vestara rose, dusting the sand from her knees, and stepped aside as the locals seized Dyon by each arm and hauled him upward. Ben fumbled for his comlink and clicked it.
“She stopped him. Vestara,” Ben said. He was panting a little from the chase. “The local authorities have him right now. Do you want me to step in?”
“No, not at this point,” Luke said. He did not acknowledge Ben’s first comment. “He came close to violating their most sacred area, and he’s stolen property. The GA doesn’t have any kind of jurisdiction here, and neither do we. I’ll come down and talk to someone once they’ve processed him. When everyone’s a little calmer, they might agree to release him to my custody.”
“Dad,” Ben said, “did you hear what I said? Vestara got him. She could have killed him, but she didn’t.”
“I’m glad she didn’t violate the terms of our alliance,” was all Luke said, and then clicked off.
Ben glowered at the comlink. His father wasn’t going to give Vestara anything, no matter how trustworthy she continued to prove herself. It was starting to irritate Ben.
“You look annoyed,” Vestara said suddenly by his ear. He started; he hadn’t noticed her approach. “Why? We stopped him in time. Everyone should be pleased.”
“I’m not exactly happy that we had another Maw-dweller go nuts right in front of us,” Ben said, dodging the real issue. “But at least you see what we’re up against.”
Vestara nodded. “It’s one thing to hear about it, another to actually witness it. I’m just happy it wasn’t someone you were close to. That’s hard to see.”
She looked genuinely concerned as she said it. She was about a foot away from him, her face dewed with sweat and smudged with sand. Her chest rose and fell slightly with exertion, and her hair, which she had not braided today, was a tangled, sandy mess. Her eyes