Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 01_ Betrayal - Aaron Allston [139]
Finally Dr. Rotham’s translations reached the end. “This one you already knew. Ryloth, Tahu’ip culture: ‘He will strengthen himself through pain.’ To be honest, I don’t know whether the order of presentation is significant. It could be random, or it could add up to a specific thought. I just have no way of knowing.”
Jacen nodded. “That’s all very helpful, Doctor. Um, you skipped one.” He stood and reached out to the hologram, his fingertips touching a tan tassel featuring jagged black lines.
“Yes…I could not translate that one. Though I’ve seen the recording method before, the zigzag patterns, the arrays of protruding claws and teeth.” Dr. Rotham looked uncertain. “In statuary and figurines from the world of Ziost.”
This time it was Nelani who looked startled.
Jacen accepted the information with a simple nod. “It means something like ‘He will be drawn from peace into conflict,’ or maybe ‘His life will be balanced between peace and conflict.’”
The scholar gave him a curious look. “How do you know?”
“Believe it or not, I just feel it. The tassel’s meaning is imbued within it in a fashion that only a Force-wielder can read.”
“I can’t read it,” Nelani said.
Jacen shrugged. “Maybe when you’ve broadened your range of Force-related learning a bit.”
“What’s Ziost?” Ben asked.
“One of the worlds central to the origins of the Sith,” Nelani said, her tone low, as if she wanted to avoid being overheard.
“There’s actually a substantial Sith influence to this collection of statements.” Jacen gestured at the hologram. “Several of them seem to be paraphrases of portions of the Sith creed. The one about victory and chains, for instance. What we have here is an item fabricated by someone who is at least as familiar with Sith matters as a Jedi historian would be.”
“I hope it is only a historian,” Dr. Rotham said. “One last thing I can tell you is this: I brought in a beadcrafter to look at these items, and he’s certain that they were crafted by different hands. So you’re not dealing with a single individual who is expert in all these recording techniques. You’re dealing with someone who has collected them, arranged for their assembly, rather than someone who has fabricated them all. Which is a considerable relief to me, because the alternative would be that I have an academic rival I’ve been unaware of all these decades.” She drew a hand over her brow, miming a gesture of relief.
Jacen gave her a smile. “Doctor, your help has been invaluable. And we’ve asked you to do far too much work in far too short an amount of time. I do appreciate it.”
She beamed up at him. “I consider it my chance, so late in life, to offer some thanks to the Jedi for all they’ve done.”
“We’ll leave you now. But if anything does occur to you about any of the tassels, any of the translations, don’t hesitate to get a message to us.” Jacen wrapped the collection of tassels in a cloth and returned it to his belt pouch.
“Good luck with your investigation, Jedi Solo.”
Once the Jedi were in the corridor outside Dr. Rotham’s quarters and headed toward Nelani’s speeder, Jacen asked, “So how was the rest of your day, Ben?”
“Oh, pretty good, I guess.” Ben struggled to look, and feel, nonchalant. “I found the shuttle.”
Jacen smiled. “Well, that couldn’t have been too difficult. You started out at the spaceport.”
“Not your shuttle.”
Jacen frowned. “Whose?”
“The shuttle that escaped Toryaz Station.”
Jacen almost stumbled, and Ben suppressed the urge to laugh. Jacen said, “Wait. Are you sure?”
Ben nodded. “The transponder code is a match, and so is the design. It’s a Sentinel-class lander with the weapon systems stripped out.” Sentinel-class shuttles, slightly scaled-up and more heavily armored cousins of the Lambda-class shuttle that Jacen piloted, were familiar sights along the galactic space routes.
“How did you find it?” Nelani asked. She’d been impressed by Ben’s efforts during and after Huarr’s spectacular