Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [78]
“It’s as good a plan as any.”
“Considering there’s no alternative.”
Mara Jade let a little laugh slip out. “You’re destroying this image I had of you as a dumb fighter jock.”
“Serves you right. You’ve been listening to things Booster Terrik has to say about me.”
“True enough.” She turned and started walking back to the Grand Temple. “I understand you get up early and run in the morning.”
“With the dawn.”
“Mind company?”
“You’d go running with me?” I trotted over and fell into step with her. “I generally take a pretty nasty course.”
“You set it, I’ll run it.”
“Good enough,” I smiled. “Welcome to the Jedi academy, Mara Jade. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”
NINETEEN
Enjoy her stay she did, at least as measured by the purely pleasurable expressions she wore when showing me up on our runs, or holding off one more remote than I possibly could at lightsaber practice. She might have been little accustomed to smiling, but she had a triumphant smirk down perfectly, and I got to study it enough to be able to etch it into stone from memory.
This fact was made all that more damning because we actually saw very little of each other. In the mornings we would run together, then Luke would concentrate on working with Mara much as he had with Kyp. That left Kam instructing the rest of us. After lunch we would listen to more Jedi lore from the Holocron, then Mara and I would practice with the lightsaber. While I was not her equal with the shimmering blade, we would have been closely enough matched to seriously hurt each other, so Kam just pitted us against remotes.
Kyp’s disappearance left the apprentices a bit uneasy. The arrival of a new apprentice, the Mon Calamari Ambassador, Cilghal, both brought relief from the dismal mood that had fallen over the students and linked us back to the rest of the galaxy. She told of Admiral Daala’s assault on Mon Calamari and the loss of one of her Star Destroyers, which was good news. The fact that pro-Imperial forces still existed out there also reinforced our resolve to become Jedi Knights, since the need for our presence was very clear.
Early one afternoon I sat in the common room, listening to Tionne practice her ballads and Mara Jade interrogating Cilghal for details about the Imperial assault on Mon Calamari, when Artoo rolled over and tugged on the shoulder of my robe with his pincer. He tootled briefly at me, then spun around and headed back out of the room. I followed him and, not surprisingly, he led me to Luke’s chambers.
Inside the door I caught the acrid scent of melted electronics. A blackened puddle of melted plasteel on the room’s table was the source of the stink. It still smoked and some of it appeared to still be liquid. I looked over toward where Luke sat on his bunk, his brows knotted with concentration.
“What happened?”
Luke glanced at the little droid. “Artoo, close the door.” He waited until the droid had complied with his wishes before continuing. “You remember I said I’d check the Holocron for more information on Exar Kun?”
“I do.”
“There was. Vodo-Siosk Baas was modeled on the Jedi that trained Exar Kun. I used him as a vector for my inquiries about what happened to Kun.” Luke fell silent for a moment. “Baas went to Coruscant, to speak to his disciple, to get him to return to the way of the Jedi. Kun killed him in the Senate Chamber.”
I drew in a deep breath through my nose. “That’s not good news.”
“No, it isn’t. When I asked what happened then …” He pointed mutely at the melted device. “In the resulting fire and bright light I thought I saw the shadow of the dark man and heard his laughter.”
I stared at the black mess again and felt my mouth go dry. “That is the Holocron?”
“I think was is the correct verb tense.”
I ran a hand back through my hair. “I think my brain hurts. And the shadow you saw, could it