Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 07_ Conviction - Aaron Allston [99]
HWEG SHUL, NAM CHORIOS
Luke woke hours later, feeling better, his head more clear. He was still surrounded by the curved walls of Sel’s home and not by Nam Chorios security guards, so obviously nothing had gone catastrophically wrong during his sleep.
Blinking, he moved toward Sel’s tiny kitchen to prepare some caf, but Ben, emerging from the office, held out a datapad to him. The device was open, text and holocam images on the screen. “Dad, take a look.”
Luke peered at the screen. It was made up of text transcripts of a number of recent HoloNews stories. The headline for the top one read, Jedi Seize Control of GA Government. The holocam image, a motion recording, showed Saba Sebatyne addressing the Senate, but no sound emerged from the datapad. Luke scrolled down. Below it, Chief of State Daala Charged with Crimes Against Sentient Species. Its image, a holocam still, showed an unflattering pose of Daala, looking angry, her mouth open.
Below that were the words, Jedi Master Kenth Hamner Slain—Murder or Ritual Duel? Its images included a close view of Hamner’s face, solid and serious, and beside it a long view of the man’s bier, flames licking up toward his body, smoke flowing up into the sky.
And at the bottom, Luke Skywalker Sentence Overturned. The image beside it showed Luke, not long after the end of the Second Galactic Civil War, dressed in black Master’s robes and looking sorrowful.
Luke blew out a breath and leaned back against the wall. Quickly, aware of Ben’s gaze on him, he scanned through the stories.
He already knew of Hamner’s death, of course, but the rest … “This is a disaster.”
“Disaster? It looks like a correction to me. And your plea-bargain terms dismissed? Dad, you get to go home!”
“After Abeloth.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And disaster is exactly the right word.” Luke looked up to meet his son’s eyes. “We’re not politicians, Ben. We’re not trained for it, except for the occasional exception like your aunt Leia. Our usual tactic for dealing with trouble is to stand in front of it as it comes and cut it down if it doesn’t respond to reason.”
Ben’s face fell. “I thought you would have been pleased. About the exile being at an end, anyway.”
Luke offered him a small smile. “I am, about that, anyway. But I can’t return home right now. Can’t offer Saba the sort of support she probably needs.”
“You can summon the Jedi here. No more suggestions from me, hoping they’ll decide to do what you want—”
“No. The Jedi are needed elsewhere.” Luke snapped the datapad shut and handed it back to Ben. “What’s needed here … is caf. Breakfast?”
* * *
In the last hour of daylight, when winds still drove streamers of dust across the town and vision was limited to a city block or less, Luke, Ben, and Vestara ventured out of Sel’s home. Sel herself remained behind, still asleep.
The three of them found the speeder they needed parked in front of the taproom they had first visited in Hweg Shul. An Incom T-47 modified to accommodate as many passengers and as much cargo as possible in its sleek, broad-winged fuselage, painted black, rested there. It was an old airspeeder, but obviously meticulously maintained. The owner, doubtless, was inside, enjoying a few drinks with friends … an enjoyment that would end very soon.
Despite the risk of Force storm consequences—a minor risk, owing to the tiny amount of effort directed through this technique—Luke stared through the side viewport, located the interior door catch, and exerted himself through the Force. The catch slid into its unlocked position. A moment later the three were inside. It didn’t take long for the technically proficient Jedi to locate and disable the vehicle’s transponder and bypass the security governor on its start-up systems.
Just a couple of minutes after they’d first spotted the vehicle, still undetected, Luke activated the repulsors, brought the T-47 off the ground, and sent it gliding toward the town border.
They had supplies filched from Sel’s kitchen, a vehicle stolen from a potential enemy, and an impossible task to accomplish. Luke grinned. It really