Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [212]
“I don’t know.” I picked it up and hit the button. The blade sprang to life again with no shock and no sputtering. “I felt a lot of feedback. Something in the armor shorted it? Cortosis ore maybe?”
Mirax picked up the mask. “Spun cortosis fibers in this? Not much of that stuff around—which is fine because it’s fairly useless. Still, pretty in ornamentation like this.”
“We have a problem.” Elegos looked down at us from the governor’s desk. He punched a button and a hologram appeared above a built in holoprojector plate on the desk. It resolved itself into a tactical shot of the system around the gas giant. “I’ve fed the system data from our ship into the projector here. I show the Invidious leaving the ring and it’s headed this way.”
I shook my head. “Tavira doesn’t like losing, and she’ll strafe us to get rid of us. Yumfla’s done.”
Suddenly several more ships appeared in the image, slicing in toward Susevfi, between the Invidious’ attack course and the planet. “I have ships identified as the Backstab and the Errant Venture entering the system. They are deploying fighters: clutches and X-wings.”
Luke looked at me. “X-wings?”
Elegos nodded. “From the Errant Venture. Invidious is deploying clutches and coming about to engage Errant Venture. They should close to range in five minutes.”
Mirax shook her head. “We can’t let them do that.”
Elegos’ head came up. “Both ships are evenly matched. They are both Imperial-class Star Destroyers.”
I snarled and stood. “Yeah, but Booster’s ship doesn’t have more than a token array of guns. Can you open up a comm line to the Venture? Mirax, you can talk your father into running.”
“Leaving us here to be lit up by Tavira? Not likely.” She shivered. “She’ll vape the Venture, then vape us.”
Luke looked at me. “Try to call Tavira. Maybe we can make a deal with her.”
“A deal with her? No way.” I shook my head. “If I know her at all, there’s just no way we can convince her.…” I stopped and bounced the heel of my hand off my forehead. “Sithspawn, I’m so stupid.”
“What?”
I winked at Mirax and ran toward the stairs to the observation deck. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it. I’ll take care of it. I’ll move her right out of here.”
“Move her?” The Jedi Master’s voice came cool and even. “Do you want help?”
“No.”
“Do you need help?”
“Nope.” I smiled at him. “Remember, ‘size matters not.’ And telekinesis is not the only way to move the Invidious.”
I gathered the Force inside of me and projected my awareness out into a cone that sought the white dagger stabbing down from the ring. I found it with ease, just teeming with life and fear, anger and arrogance. I worked my way through it until I found a place where arrogance and anger and outrage all seemed to collect, then I pushed my way into Tavira’s mind and flowed into the place where her fears and confidence dwelt.
I listened to her weapons-officers calling out ranges and preparing firing orders. I pushed a bit of doubt into her mind. It was impossible, wasn’t it, that the New Republic would send so small a force after her? Hadn’t Jenos said a task force was on its way? He had sounded confident in a time when he should have known no confidence at all. He had worked with us and against us, learning our secrets. He knew how we operated and he communicated all that to the New Republic.
I let her listen to her people a bit more and latched on to the unease she was feeling with how simple her victory would be. We used the Jensaarai to hide our ship, but the New Republic, they would make more use of their Jedi. They sent two after us on the ground, to free the prisoner, but what about their other Jedi? Where are they? What are they doing? Would they dare operate against me without them?
In an instant she knew the New Republic saw her as such a threat that they would stop at nothing to catch her, which meant they would use the Jedi against her. Not only that,