Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 01_ Betrayal - Aaron Allston [105]
Well, it was enough that he, Jacen, knew. He could make his own calculations based on what he knew of Thrackan’s motivations. He shook his head. “No, I really didn’t.”
Luke leaned back. “We’ll investigate the Thrackan angle, of course. Anything else?”
“I’ve got something,” Jaina said. From beneath her outer robe she produced a folded packet of orange cloth a bit larger than her fist. She carefully unfolded it and held it out so that the others could see its contents.
At first Luke couldn’t grasp what he was looking at—it seemed to be something organic, the dried, stringy fruit of a mutant tree. It was a pliant thing with a blue-black central core perhaps a dozen centimeters long. From that core sprang twenty or more tubular branches, narrowest where they were attached to the core and at their tips, only slightly thicker in their centers, each about six centimeters long—and each bearing colors, stripes, and other patterns. One, lumpy and knotted, consisted of red and blue stripes in a spiral pattern; another was straight, an eye-hurting yellow with flecks of red and black; a third was a creamy tan with jittery, jagged markings in black.
“We found this in the air lock that Tawaler used when he was going out for fresh air,” Jaina said. “I haven’t had time to scan it for inorganic toxins, but there’s no biological activity going on in it. It just seems to be beadwork.”
“Accidentally dropped, or left for us to find?” Luke asked. “Carried by Tawaler, or someone else?”
Jaina shrugged. “No way to tell.”
“Excuse me.” The words came from overhead and all around—a set of public address speakers. Luke recognized the voice of Lieutenant Yorvin. “I have a priority holocomm contact coming in for Admiral Pellaeon. He’s not in his new quarters. Is there any chance he’s still in the lounge?”
“I’m here,” Pellaeon said. He heaved himself to his feet, and Tycho stood, too. “That’ll be the crack-of-dawn, report-any-changes call, and as soon as I report, this conference is done.” He sighed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He walked stiffly from the room, and the door closed behind him and Tycho.
Wedge consulted his chrono. “The Prime Minister will be receiving one of those, too. And though she wouldn’t be obliged to receive it, I will be. If you’ll excuse me?” He rose and departed, as well.
“Leaving only Jedi,” Zekk said, “and a Jedi-in-law.”
Han scowled at him.
Luke stared at the others over his hands, which he held steepled before him in a meditative pose. “I think we can safely say that our mission at this station has been an utter failure. We’ve been outmaneuvered, and we have at least one enemy we didn’t know about before…and we know very little about now. In a few minutes, the delegations will be recalled. It’ll be time for Jedi investigations to get under way for real.
“Jacen, Ben, please see what you can find out about Captain Tawaler. We need to find out about the Force-user he apparently had contact with. She can’t have left no trace. If you can’t pick up a trail, continue with the shuttle she apparently escaped on.”
Jacen nodded. “Consider it done.”
“Jaina, Zekk, I want you to find out whatever you can about that tassel you found. Try to determine whether it was left accidentally or deliberately, where it came from, what it means. When that’s done, please return to the task force at Corellia and take command of Hardpoint Squadron until Mara and I get back from our groundside mission, which I’ll explain momentarily.
“Leia, Han, I’d like to ask you to continue trying to calm things down between Corellia and the GA. I can’t think of anybody better to run confidential messages between the two governments, even as they become more hostile, or to tell the leaders of two governments when they’re behaving like bantha bulls in roughhousing season.”
Leia exchanged a glance with her