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“A good word,” said Kyle Katarn. “It’s … coalesced here, somehow.”

“Well, Natua did say that this was the main city, and the cave system their primary ritual site,” Jaina offered.

Luke shook his gray-blond head slowly. “Then why didn’t it concentrate behind us, in the tunnels, as well? Why here, specifically—in such a clearly defined area? You can feel it—it’s like standing with your back to the summer and your face toward the winter.” Every instinct, developed over forty years of doing battle with the dark side in one form or another, was screaming at him to be careful. He had a very bad feeling about this.

“Perhapz Ship’z presence has awakened something long asleep,” offered Saba. She stood at her full imposing height, eyes narrowed, all her senses extended.

“That’s a cheery thought,” muttered Kyp Durron.

“But a wise one,” Jaina said. “Booby-trapping an abandoned city sounds exactly like something the Sith would do.”

Natua had speculated that the rhak-skuri were found only in the tunnels, but Luke saw no point in taking any risks. He had ordered that they all wear masks. Now they stood in a small crowd, facing the abandoned city of the Sith and the towering mountain that had, tens of thousands of years before, been an active volcano.

Ben and Vestara stepped quietly beside him. Vestara glanced around, seeing more Jedi gathered in one spot than she had probably thought existed in the whole galaxy. Even as she watched them with eyes of aspiration, Luke sensed the unease fluttering inside her. He knew what the pair wanted of him. They wanted him to give them an important role—something that would show the dozens of Jedi gathered here that their Grand Master trusted the former Sith.

He wanted to do that, too. But Luke knew he couldn’t.

Luke called for their attention, then began splitting up the Jedi into small groups and giving them instructions. He said nothing to Vestara and Ben. They waited with admirable patience for their instructions, and when none came, Ben approached his father. Two-thirds of the Jedi who had landed were moving off toward the northeast, while the rest returned to their vessels.

Ben strode up to his dad and pointed at Kyp Durron, who was already powering up his StealthX. “What’s going on? Where are they going?”

“To provide air support, should it be needed. If Ship is here, and manages to defeat us, we’ll need a second line of defense. Under no circumstances can he be allowed to return to Abeloth.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Ben said, glancing between his father and Jaina. “So I guess you want Vestara and me to go with the rest of the Jedi.”

“No,” Luke said. He could almost feel Vestara’s heart sink. “I need you, Natua, and Vestara to start exploring the caves. You might find something that could help us.”

Natua smiled pleasantly. “Vestara will be of great help if we come across anything written in the ancient Sith language,” she said. “And she might recognize many things that would mean nothing to the rest of us.”

“In other words,” Ben snapped, “you don’t trust her, so you’re finding a job that doesn’t force her to choose between us and Ship.”

“That’s not true,” Natua started to say, but Vestara placed a hand on the Falleen’s arm.

“Yes, it is,” she said, looking at Luke evenly. “And he’s right to do so. You can’t risk anything going wrong if you run across Ship. And the truth of the matter is, I can help if we run across any Sith artifacts. I can help a great deal. So the logical position for me is to send me with a small group to explore the caves, where I can be an asset, rather than track down Ship, where I might be a liability. I would have made the same decision.”

“Yeah?” Ben was still upset. “Well, I wouldn’t have.”

“You’re not the Grand Master,” Vestara said. “He can’t afford to trust me.”

“Vestara,” said Luke, and his voice and demeanor were kind, “it really isn’t a matter of trust—not this time. Nor about your feelings toward Ship.”

She gave him a skeptical glance. “Think about it for a moment,” he continued. He wanted her to understand why he was doing this; if she understood