Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 01_ Betrayal - Aaron Allston [177]
Nelani’s lightsaber snap-hissed into life. “I think you need to shut up,” she said.
“There’s no need for that,” Jacen said. There was a sting to Lumiya’s words—the jibe about his life being purposeless was too close to the mark to be entirely ignored. Luke would have said that obedience to the guidance of the Force would give him direction and purpose, but since the end of the Yuuzhan Vong war, except for those times when he faced foes whose behavior lit up the Force like a KILL ME SOON sign, the life of the Jedi hadn’t given him the sense of purpose it seemed to have provided his uncle. “No need unless she resists.”
Lumiya smiled. “There’s no worry. Nelani would never attack me unless I resisted. She’s a very good girl. A sweet, doctrinal Jedi.”
“This sweet, doctrinal Jedi is about to kick your teeth in,” Nelani said. “Jacen, I can feel you wavering.”
“I’m not wavering. I’m just curious about her arguments. There is merit to some of them.”
“Like any dark-sider, she mixes truth with lies until you can’t separate them.”
Jacen ignored her. He waved at the busts and walls around him. “Lumiya, you present me this house as though it constitutes proof that Darth Vectivus was a nice man despite his dark side training. Well, that doesn’t wash. Anyone can commission the building of a pretty house. Palpatine was a patron of the arts. As for Vectivus himself, you not only can’t prove that he was uncorrupted—you haven’t offered any proof that he actually existed.” He fixed her with a look he intended as amused condescension. “The dark side corrupts. The Sith are inevitably drawn to evil.”
“I can give you proof of one who wasn’t,” Lumiya said.
Nelani glared at Jacen. “Don’t listen.”
Jacen shrugged. “Go ahead.”
Lumiya looked dispirited. “Should I? Why bother? With sweet Nelani whispering in your ear, you’re certain to automatically disbelieve every word I say.” Then the forlorn look left her face, replaced by a slight smile. “After all, everything I tell you is a lie.”
Jacen stared at Lumiya, but she did not continue. Nelani looked between them, confused, sensing that something had changed in the conversation, something she had missed.
Jacen cleared his throat. “An interesting turn of phrase,” he said.
“Not an accidental one.” Lumiya turned to look at Nelani. “Turn that thing off, dear. You’ll run the battery down.”
Nelani didn’t budge. Her blade remained lit and glowing. “Jacen, something’s wrong. What is she saying?”
“She’s saying nothing.”
“Then I’ll give you a name,” Lumiya said. “Vergere. She said that, didn’t she? When she was training you to be a Sith?”
“She was training me to survive,” Jacen said. He thought of his onetime mentor, the diminutive bird-like alien who’d been born in this galaxy but had lived for years among the Yuuzhan Vong, accompanying them back when they swept into the galaxy on their mission of conquest and destruction.
“Yes,” Lumiya said. “To survive. Survival is a Sith trait. Jedi train themselves for self-sacrifice, for union with the Force, and they can afford to be suicidal, because there are so many of them. Sith train to survive.”
“Now you’re making things up,” Jacen said. “Nelani, keep her here while I go find Ben.”
Lumiya shook her head. “You don’t want Ben to be here. Someone’s about to die. It might be you, it might be Nelani, and it might be me. Bring Ben here, and it might be him. Death is here among us, and it will be a very distressing one.”
Frowning, Jacen cast out his senses like a net, sampling the present and the future. Pathways led in all directions, but in each of them one of the three people present fell dying. Jacen, head severed by a pliant whip of light. Lumiya, Nelani’s lightsaber cutting her in half—lengthwise, so there was no chance of missing the organic parts. Nelani, her heart speared by Jacen