Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 07_ Conviction - Aaron Allston [147]
“Elsewhere. Helping the Grand Master.”
Ben removed his datapad from his pouch and opened it up. He activated its external holocam and trained it on Valin, then activated data streaming to Kandra’s distant datapad.
Valin said nothing more after that, just kept his eye on the three. Ben could hear the rhythmic functioning of the pumping equipment, an occasional groan from one or more of the Oldtimers lying around the chamber. Then, finally, there were distant footsteps—boot heels—approaching.
From the upper-story tunnel opposite Luke, Ben, and Vestara emerged Callista. She moved to stand at the lip of the platform overlooking the chamber. She was dressed as befitted a Jedi Master, in somber robes, a lightsaber at her side. She bore no sign of injuries sustained in previous engagements. She leaned over the rail and gave her visitors a sad little smile. “Hello, Luke.”
Ben spared his father a glance. Luke was not impassive, but his face wore the sympathetic calm of the Grand Master, the face of the man who sat in judgment over others, whose decisions could affect whole populations.
Luke offered her a nod. “Abeloth.”
“It’s not as simple as that. I am Callista. And Abeloth. And others.” She turned to descend the permacrete stairs from her platform.
“Well, then, Callista, perhaps you could tell Abeloth to go back to the Maw cluster and stop destroying lives.”
At the bottom of the stairs, Callista shook her head. “I can’t compel her to do anything.” She moved toward an open trail between bodies and headed toward Luke. “But I do influence her. Perhaps because I am more intact than anyone else held within her. Which in turn is probably because I survived, intact, moving between physical bodies before.”
As she neared Luke, Ben offered his father a stage-whispered warning, “Dad …”
Luke shook his head. He didn’t bother whispering. “There’s nothing to worry about, Ben. There is still Callista there. And she still cares for me. She will not attack, not at this time. Am I right?”
Callista came to a stop before him. “Yes.”
“And because she wants something from me.”
“I do. And Abeloth does. The same thing. We want you, Luke.”
Luke sighed. “That’s an insane notion, Callista. Join you? Can you imagine that I ever would?”
Ben glanced at Valin. The Jedi Knight had to be hearing the conversation, and it ran contrary to what he believed about Callista. But Valin’s expression was a little glassy. He clearly was not hearing the words.
“Yes. Because—well, my own reasons are completely selfish. I miss you. I’m lonely. But I’m what gives Abeloth any affection for the Jedi at all. Think about it—the Jedi and their devotion to the light side are the antithesis of what she is. Yet she seeks them out, grasped at the Shelter Jedi like Valin here. Why? Because of me, because of what I feel. Join with us, and she will have an even greater understanding of the light side, an even greater compassion for your way of thinking.” She took a final step forward and laid a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “You can feel it’s me, can’t you? You know me. You know I endure.”
Now even Ben could feel it, Callista’s presence in the Force. It arose from her and spread out to flavor the very air around them all. It was not alien, not malevolent like Abeloth.
Luke put his hands on her hips. “The use of the drochs kind of argues against Abeloth’s intentions for the living, Callista.”
“That was a lure to lead you around. It increased your anxiety, made you go from place to place while Abeloth entrenched and took control of all the Theran Listeners. She fooled you, Luke. You can’t outthink her. Can you imagine that Abeloth would ever use something that competed with her for the same resources?”
“Perhaps not.”
Now Ben could feel his father’s presence, too. Luke was suddenly all around them, his presence embracing Callista’s.
But Luke shook his head. “I don’t know. We’ve lived a lifetime apart. I’ve moved on. Loved another.