Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 06_ Vortex - Denning Troy [52]
“Is there a reason you wish to retain the high ground, Master Skywalker?” Taalon rested his hand on his lightsaber. “Or do you think the time has come to part ways?”
“Before we know what’s become of Abeloth?” Luke shook his head. “I’d rather take my chances with Sith—but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be careless.”
“A clever answer,” Taalon replied. “It suggests much and promises nothing.”
“You already have my promise, and it hasn’t been broken.” As Luke spoke, he continued to look across the river toward the starships. “Didn’t Vestara report that Ship was under Abeloth’s control?”
“Was being the crucial point,” Taalon replied. “The Sith control it now.”
Luke turned to face the Keshiri. “How sure are you of that?”
“Very sure.” Taalon narrowed his eyes. “If you’re planning to use Ship as an excuse—”
“Not an excuse,” Luke said. “But has Ship explained why it returned here after the fight? It must have seen the rest of your fleet leaving the Maw.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “It was kind of surprised to find out I was still here—and I got the impression Vestara felt the same way.”
“You believe Abeloth summoned Ship?” Taalon asked. “To help her escape?”
Luke nodded. “I believe that’s one possibility—especially if that was Abeloth instead of Dyon that Ben and Vestara were looking after in the medbay.”
Taalon considered this, then looked down the bank to where Vestara and her father were preparing to launch the raft. Khai was using the Force to levitate the raft back toward the river’s edge, while his daughter was holding the line that would keep it from floating away.
“Vestara, you have been listening?” Taalon asked.
Vestara turned and nodded. “Of course, High Lord.”
“Is young Skywalker right?” he demanded. “Did Ship seem surprised to find you here?”
Vestara did not even need to think before nodding. “Ben is half right.” She glanced toward Ben and flashed him a quick smile. “Ship was already on his way when I felt him coming. I didn’t need to call him.”
“That is no proof that Skywalker is telling the truth, Lord Taalon,” Khai said. He lowered the raft to the sand. “If Ship came for Abeloth, why is it still here?”
“Probably because Ship is so damaged,” Ben replied. He turned his gaze back to Vestara. “How long did it take Ship to arrive after we felt it coming? Three hours?”
“Easily,” Vestara confirmed. “We crossed the ridge to the fountain ruins, realized that we had the wrong body, then crossed the ridge again and found an empty medbay in the Shadow. That was at least three hours, and Ship didn’t arrive until later, after we had already started to search for Abeloth.”
“Right,” Ben said. “So if Abeloth was counting on Ship to rescue her, she was disappointed. In its condition right now, the Shadow or Emiax would have caught up in about two heartbeats and blown them both back to atoms.”
“Which begs the question of why Abeloth would call Ship in the first place,” Taalon pointed out. “If she couldn’t use it to escape, what good is it to her?”
“Would she have known Ship was damaged?” Luke asked. “When I reach for someone in the Force, I don’t have a feel for their condition until after I make contact.”
Taalon’s expression turned thoughtful. “Perhaps.”
“And perhaps not, High Lord,” Khai said. “A plausible story is not always a true one. By all accounts, Abeloth has lived on this planet for dozens of millennia. Why would she pick now to leave?”
“First, because she’s wounded and being hunted,” Ben said. “Second, because she can.”
All three Sith frowned, and Ben glanced over at Luke, clearly wondering how much he should reveal about what they had surmised about Abeloth’s past. Deciding that the more they revealed right now, the more likely the Sith were to believe, Luke nodded.
“Go ahead,” he said. “Maybe it will convince them