Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 04_ Exile - Aaron Allston [114]
“Of course,” Alema assured her.
The truth was more complex than that, naturally. If Alema set eyes on Han but failed to kill him, she might choose to kill Lavint to ensure that the captain would not be captured by the Solos. Lavint knew too much about Alema’s movements. But if Han died, what Lavint knew would not be as critical, so she might let the captain live under those circumstances.
Surely Lavint understood that.
ZIOST
“Ben…save girl.”
“Ben…protect girl.”
“I have to get her offworld,” Ben murmured in his sleep. “I need a ship.”
“Ship!”
“Ben ship.”
“Learn ship.”
“Ben learn ship.”
“I already know how to pilot a ship,” Ben protested. He struggled against the hold sleep had on him, but something reminded him he mustn’t move right now. If he moved, he would—what? Fall down.
“Learn ship.” The voice was unusually emphatic, and in Ben’s mind a picture appeared—the image of a ball-shaped craft.
It was odd and organic, with a rough red surface texture. In the center of the sphere facing him was a transparent hatch or canopy.
Red spars stretched upward and downward from the craft. They seemed articulated, insectile. But this vehicle was no living thing, not like a Yuuzhan Vong craft; Ben sensed it was machinery, but machinery that was aware of him, waiting for him.
He woke up with sunlight, broken up by the branches above, streaming into his face, and he knew where the red ship was.
Or rather, he knew the direction to take to find it.
If it was real.
The TIE fighter did not find them at noon. That was because Ben snipped the long leg of the tracking device in his pouch, assuming that it was the unit’s antenna. He must have been right. Starting an hour and a half beforehand and waiting until some time past noon, he, Kiara, and Shaker rested in a small ravine, a place where infrared traces would be harder to detect from any angle but straight up. He distantly felt the eye in the sky, but it did not come near him.
If he ever needed to, he could reattach the antenna.
That was one good result of the day. Other events were not so promising.
Their food was beginning to run short. They had two cans of preserved rations, which would last as long as they chose to stretch them. Ben could happily have eaten both cans himself at a single sitting.
Water was in good supply. All they had to do was pack snow into Faskus’s canteen and wear it against their bodies to melt—which was chilly and uncomfortable, but simple. Occasionally they wandered across a frozen stream; at those times, Ben used his lightsaber to cut through the ice and give them access to the water.
He wondered, though, about the snow and the water on this world. He’d now seen a few bird-like creatures—their wings were webbed rather than feathered—and they were often distorted, with one leg bigger than the other or possessing a misshapen beak. Was there something in the water causing high levels of mutation? For his sake and Kiara’s, he hoped not.
Worst of all, he was sure that the neks were following them. They stayed out of sight, but he could sense them pacing him and Kiara to the right and left, following their trail.
He and Kiara were meat to the neks, he knew. He didn’t much like being considered meat. He hoped he’d have enough strength to do something about it when the time came.
CORUSCANT SYSTEM ERRANT VENTURE
In one of the ship’s great lobbies, where lights were bright and visitors mingled well away from the expensive attractions of casinos and shops—but not far from the expensive attractions of several surrounding bars—Alema spent a few minutes in a data kiosk, downloading the last several lists of new arrivals.
Of course, not everyone who came to Errant Venture consented to be listed. But many did, so that an automated search code would