Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 07_ Conviction - Aaron Allston [24]
Corran nodded, his expression speculative. “But she’s going to want to talk to Kenth Hamner instead. They speak—spoke—the same language. And until the news of Hamner’s death breaks, he’ll still be assumed to be in charge.”
Leia sighed. “Here’s our story. Kenth Hamner has withdrawn to a concealed location because his military mind tells him that Daala’s best tactic would be a surgical strike against the acting Grand Master of the Jedi Order, himself. He has taken this drastic action to forestall such a preemptive strike, and appointed Master Sebatyne as his spokesbeing in his absence. He’ll come out of hiding when relations between the Alliance government and the Order have normalized.”
It was a big lie, a painful lie. Kenth Hamner never would have avoided the risks brought on by his office.
But Daala seemed to be increasingly paranoid, and this tactic was one a paranoid would understand and appreciate.
Jaina looked thoughtful. “That … might work.”
“We will do it.” Saba’s voice was decisive. “Now we must plan contingencies for the removal of Admiral Daala. In the absence of knowledge of her schedule, her current resources, and her exact state of mind.”
Corran managed a wan smile. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t call for a Jedi.”
* * *
Several floors up, the name finally came to Valin Horn: Nam Chorios.
It had been growing within his mind for days, a conviction that he needed to go somewhere—somewhere distant, a place where he could be himself, could achieve his destiny. With each hour that passed, his sense of it became stronger, sharper, more defined.
And now, sitting in the main Temple chow hall, a forkful of nerf steak raised nearly to his lips, the exact place flashed into his mind.
He knew about Nam Chorios, of course. Everyone knew about the Death Seed plague that had decimated Meridian sector thirty standard years earlier. Everyone knew about the extraordinary efforts by the New Republic, later the Galactic Alliance, Department of Health to keep the cause of the plague buttoned down on that dimly lit little world.
And now he knew that this was where he needed to go.
He glanced at his sister, sitting opposite him.
She flashed him a smile and gave him a small nod. She knew.
They couldn’t talk, of course. Spies were everywhere. These false Jedi clearly remained suspicious, despite pretending to accept the two of them as their own, as trusted members of their subverted Order. So Valin and Jysella had said not one single word that could have let their captors and observers know that the two of them understood what was really happening.
But what to do? The best way to escape Coruscant would be in StealthXs, but almost every Jedi StealthX was now in space, hunting the Sith.
Master Kam Solusar, lean and weathered, a Jedi since the earliest days of Luke Skywalker’s school on Yavin 4, moved up to stand at the head of their table. “May I join you?”
Jysella offered the older man a smile Valin knew she did not feel, and Valin gestured for him to sit. “Of course.”
Kam did, his body language suggesting ease and confidence. “I hear from Tekli that your last sets of test results are in. No lingering effects from your lengthy carbonite imprisonment.”
Jysella gave Valin an encouraging look, and Valin answered Kam. “Good to know. Except, of course, it means that our vacation is over. Back to work, I assume?”
Kam nodded. “I’m afraid so. I’ve scheduled the two of you for a light courier run to Corellia. You’ll take a long-range shuttle to transport some lightsaber crystals and some medicines, a small payload, to our enclave there.”
Valin felt his stomach tighten. Trap, it was a trap.
It had to be. A mission like this didn’t require two experienced Jedi Knights.
The most likely scenario flashed through his mind. The