Star Wars_ Shatterpoint - Matthew Woodring Stover [121]
Now Mace did, finally, look into the sky. Limitless turquoise: the only clouds to be seen were vapor trails along the horizon.
You see? You are not the only one here who can take hostages.
"Do you know," Mace said wonderingly, "that I am almost grateful to you for this?"
I understand: it makes what you must do much easier.
"Yes. Exactly. You have made my choice for me."
"What's wrong?" Nick asked from the shadows. "What's he saying to you?
We're still leaving, aren't we?"
"A great deal is wrong," Mace replied. "He has said nothing of consequence, and no, we are not leaving. Not without Depa."
Vastor's head drew down, and his eyes flickered danger.,' do not make idle threats.
"That you are here means I did not know Depa as well as I thought I did.
That the two of you would expect me to bow to this threat means that she knows me even less."
The lander will be destroyed. It will be as though you have killed them yourself.
"There is no as though." Mace turned and lifted his head to look Kar Vastor in the eye. "What it will be is you, Kar Vaster, taking up arms against the Republic."
The Republic has nothing to do with this. This is personal. You cannot pretend-'I placed Depa under formal arrest three days ago. She gave me her parole-that is to say, her word of honor as a Jedi that she would not attempt to escape, or otherwise avoid returning to answer for her actions before the Jedi Council. She has violated her word, and her honor. I must now take her into custody. And you, as well."
Me? You are mad.
"Kar Vastor," Mace said flatly, "you are charged with the murder of Terrel Nakay."
"Uh, Master, mm, General-? Sir? You sure you know what you're doing?"
Vastor stared in blank disbelief. Your men will die.
"They are soldiers, and this is a war. They understand the risks they face," Mace said. "Do you?"
What risks?
"When your man fires upon the lander, you will have committed treason.
Implicated in your crime, Depa will face the same charge. You are placing her in capital jeopardy: that is, she will be executed along with you."
Vastor's growl did not now carry words. Only contempt and anger.
"Perhaps you should order your man to stand down. While you still can."
Depa is right: Jedi are insane.
"Ever since I came to this planet, people have been telling me how crazy I am. They've told me this so many times that I had started to wonder if it might be true. Now, though, I understand: you don't say this because it's true. Not even because you think it's true. You say it because you hope it's true. Because if I am insane, you aren't really the revolting slime-hearted vermin that, down deep, you know you are."
But Vastor no longer seemed to be listening. He had folded his massive arms so that the lightsabers in his hands disappeared behind his ultrachrome-shielded biceps. He paced meditatively away from Mace, strolling toward the meadow's cliff lip, and stared out over the vast roll of jungle below. The vista was alive with gunmetal specks and distant flashes of cannonfire.
Many gunships patrol today, he hummed. More than I have ever seen.
"Mace-" Nick hissed from the cave behind. "You know that bad feeling I was talking about? It's getting worse."
"Yes."
"Maybe you better get back in here where it's safe."
"Nowhere is safe," Mace said, and walked out to join Vaster at the edge of the cliff.
I have tried, Vaster purred when Mace reached his side. I have done all that can be asked of me. Not even Depa can say I did not try to spare your life. But you will not be reasonable.
"It is not in my nature."
This as you said earlier: you have made my choice for me. There is only one way to protect her from you.
"That is true."
Mace reached down inside himself until he found the calm center within his exhaustion and his pain. He breathed himself