Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [161]
Aside from working with my new squadron, I used the downtime to go over the various events of the Xa Fel raid. We learned later, through various channels, that the New Republic had not been at Xa Fel waiting for us. The New Republic had staged a surprise raid on Xa Fel to trap officials of Kuat Drive Yards. KDY had been under various judicial orders to stop polluting the planet and start massive clean-up campaigns, but had done almost nothing to comply. During the Thrawn raids, little had been done to enforce the rulings—ditto the turmoil concerning the Reborn Emperor. KDY had gotten complacent, so the New Republic stepped in, used an Interdictor to keep all ships in the system, and were in the process of checking everything out when we showed up.
While I was happy to see Xa Fel on the way to getting cleaned up, the nature of the raid and our stumbling into it took on a greater significance for me. Tavira’s people missed the New Republic forces because those forces were not there to trap the Invidious. Those forces had a different target. This meant that Tavira’s advisors were able to read threats directed toward her, not the future in general. They were sensing the same hostile intent I’d gotten from Tycho, only they got their warning a bit in advance. Unless something was a direct threat to Tavira and the Invidious—and, by extension, the advisor himself—it just didn’t register.
As good as they might be at using the Force, they seem limited, half-trained.
My fruitless consideration of how to use this discovery against Tavira occupied a lot of my free time, and it wasn’t a problem I could share with my friends. It got knocked offline one afternoon when Jacob Nive called me into his office. I knew the pilots who had been at Xa Fel had been being called into their various headquarters to answer questions about the battle, but the process had left the Survivors for last. The pilots in the other bands remained quiet about what went on in the interrogations, but I gathered none of them really had a clue about what had happened to them.
I entered the office, tossed Captain Nive and Admiral Tavira a salute, then moved to third chair in the set before Nive’s desk, the one with its back to the door into a connecting office. Admiral Tavira, wearing a pilot’s black jumpsuit with a short jacket and cape to match, crossed her legs and let her booted left foot bounce somewhat impatiently. “Thank you for joining us, Captain Idanian.”
I nodded once. “My pleasure, Admiral. How can I be of service?”
“I am making inquiries about the Xa Fel battle. As you are aware, in the past my advisors have been rather shrewd about keeping the Invidious out of danger.” Tavira regarded me through half-lidded eyes, beguiling eyes. “At Xa Fel they failed but there they sensed a presence.”
“A presence?” I frowned. “I’m not certain I understand.”
“Do you know what a Jedi Knight is?” Her question came soft and almost seductive. The pink tip of her tongue wet her lips as she waited for my reply, her gaze gaining in intensity. Her manner and bearing and tone of voice suggested rewards for the truth, and I found myself surprisingly willing to indulge her. Exar Kun’s promise to let me have her flashed through my mind, followed quickly by the image of Mirax, sending a little jolt through me.
In the wake of that jolt I felt a presence creeping into my mind. It came tentatively and gently, a roly-poly lint-nerf rolling and hopping over the surface of my consciousness. Had I not been trained in the ways of the Force I never would have noticed it, or I would have put it down to the Admiral’s penetrating gaze. As it was, even with my rudimentary skill in the Force, I felt its intrusion and sought to deflect it away from any deep probe.
I recalled how Luke had entered my mind by making his thoughts flow along with mine. I reversed this technique. Since the prober was looking for information about the Force and Jedi Knights, I’d supply it. I dredged up every memory of Jedi Knights from every trashy holodrama and news documentary I could remember. I