Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 07_ Conviction - Aaron Allston [145]
The other reason things were different was because Allana wasn’t just wandering. She was looking for someone—the man with the aura of darkness about him. If she couldn’t see him, perhaps she could feel him.
As she hurried, Javon had to stretch his legs a little to keep up. “Looking for something in particular?”
“No.” She tried to make the lie convincing. “My mother says this is all going away soon. I want to see more of it before it does.”
“Ah.”
Allana felt a little disappointment that she couldn’t confide in Javon. He was nice enough, but a typical grown-up. He wouldn’t take her seriously if she told him about the man she sought. And in the unlikely event that he did, his by-the-book security measures might foul everything up.
Leia would take her seriously, but probably wouldn’t agree with Allana’s feeling that the dreams meant that she, Allana, had to be the one to jump on the fiery man. Leia would try to find some other way to do things, a way that would protect Allana. Allana was sure that would mean her not being there to protect her mother.
She thought that maybe this was why the Jedi traveled alone or in pairs. That way nobody needed to ask permission or arrange things with groups. Everything was faster. Just walking around the camp now would be faster if it were only her and Anji.
Allana led them around a corner in the pathways between tents. Hurrying to catch up, Javon broke into her thoughts. “You’re leaving your droids behind.”
“They’re too slow.” Allana stopped and looked back, impatient for R2-D2 and C-3PO to rejoin them. “They should go back to the Falcon.”
“You’re probably right.”
R2-D2, waddling in two-legged mode because of the unevenness of the sand, rounded the corner and moved up to them.
They waited.
Allana looked at the astromech. “Artoo, where’s Threepio?”
R2-D2 tweetled something unhelpful. His dome twirled so his main photoreceptor was trained back the way he’d come.
But C-3PO did not round that corner.
Back at the Falcon, Leia did not look worried enough to suit Allana. “No, sweetie, he’s not responding to comm signals, but think about it—who’s going to hurt a protocol droid?”
Allana looked at Han. “He’s said he was going to a bunch of times.”
Han grinned as if reflecting on particularly expressive threats of the past. “Yeah, but, Amelia, I never have. It’s just talk.”
Leia curled a finger under Allana’s chin to regain her attention. “Look, I have to make a public appearance with Master Kyp and the other Jedi. When it’s done, we’ll all come back and look for Threepio.”
“How long will it take? Five minutes?” That was longer than Allana wanted to wait. She wanted to be out there searching—not for C-3PO. That was just an excuse. The hunt for the droid would give her more opportunity to hunt for the man with the dark aura.
“An hour, two at most.”
Allana slumped.
Leia gave her a placating look. “You can come watch.”
“No, thanks. I’ll stay here.”
“Your mother will be there.”
“I’ll stay here.”
Leia became very still, and Allana wondered if she’d made a mistake with her answer. Of course she always wanted to see her mother. Always, always. But now there was something more important going on. Saving her mother.
But Leia simply stroked her hair. “All right. We’ll be right back after we’re done.”
They filed out, five Jedi and a retired smuggler, leaving Allana with her nexu and an astromech aboard, a handful of guards scattered about outside the Falcon.
And leaving her with a mission she wasn’t sure how to accomplish.
CRYSTAL VALLEY PUMPING STATION,
NAM CHORIOS
IN FIFTY METERS OF LATERAL TRAVEL, THE NATURAL TUNNEL DESCENDED ten meters of depth and then gave way to ancient tunnel works chipped and burned out from living stone. The walls became square and rough, still bearing scars of high-intensity burners and even metal picks from centuries earlier. And now Ben could smell water, a rare scent on Nam