Star Wars_ The Dark Lord Trilogy - James Luceno [35]
Obi-Wan had plotted the three jumps it had taken them to reach the Xi Char world from the Inner Rim, but Anakin had done all the piloting.
“Landing coordinates coming in,” Anakin said, eyes fixed on a display screen set into the instrument panel.
Obi-Wan was pleasantly surprised. “That will teach me not to be skeptical. In the past when we’ve been informed that Intelligence has done the advance work, I’ve found that to be anything but the case.”
Anakin looked at him and laughed.
“Something funny?”
“I was just thinking, Here you are again …”
Obi-Wan sat back in his chair, waiting for the rest of it.
“I only mean that, for someone with a reputation for hating space travel, you’ve certainly taken part in more than your share of exotic missions. Kamino, Geonosis, Ord Cestus …”
Obi-Wan plucked at his beard. “Let’s just say that the war has prompted me to take a long view of things.”
“Master Qui-Gon would have been proud of you.”
“Don’t be too sure.”
Obi-Wan had argued against going to Charros IV. Dexter Jettster, his Besalisk friend on Coruscant, could probably have furnished the Intelligence analysts with everything they needed to know about Viceroy Gunray’s mechno-chair. But Yoda had insisted that Obi-Wan and Anakin attempt to speak personally with the Xi Charrian whose sigil had been discovered on the walking chair.
Now Obi-Wan wondered why he had been so averse to making the trip. Compared to the past few months, the mission already felt like a furlough. Anakin was correct about Obi-Wan’s having had more than his share of such assignments. But several other Jedi had also doubled as Intelligence operatives during the course of the war. Aayla Secura and the Caamasi Jedi Ylenic It’kla had taken a Techno Union defector into custody on Corellia; Quinlan Vos had gone undercover to infiltrate Dooku’s circle of dark side apprentices …
And Supreme Chancellor Palpatine hadn’t been told—or learned since—about any of the covert operations.
It wasn’t that the Jedi Council didn’t trust him; it was more a matter of no longer trusting anyone.
“Do you think the Xi Char will talk to us?” Anakin said.
Obi-Wan swiveled to face him. “They’ve every reason to be accommodating. After the Battle of Naboo, the Republic refused to do any business with them, for their having supplied the Neimoidians with proscribed weapons. They’ve been eager to atone ever since, especially now that their signature designs are being mass-produced more cheaply by Baktoid Armor and other Confederacy suppliers.”
The Xi Char’s principal contribution to the Neimoidian arsenal had been the so-called Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid starfighter, a meticulously engineered solid-fuel craft that was capable of configuring itself into three separate modes.
Anakin adopted a thin-lipped expression of wariness. “I hope they won’t hold it against us that I destroyed so many of their fighters.”
Obi-Wan laughed shortly. “Yes, let’s hope your fame hasn’t spread this far into the Outer Rim. But in fact, our success hinges almost entirely on whether TeeCee-Sixteen can speak Xi Char as fluently as he claims.”
“Master Kenobi, I assure you that I can speak the tongue almost as well as an indigenous Xi Charrian,” the protocol droid chimed in from one of the cockpit’s rear seats. “My term of service to Viceroy Gunray demanded that I familiarize myself with the trader’s tongues used by all the hive species, including the Xi Char, the Geonosians, the Colicoids, and many others. My fluency will ensure complete cooperation on the part of the Xi Char. Although I expect that they will be rather disgusted by my physical appearance.”
“Why’s that?” Anakin asked.
“Devotion to precision technology forms the basis of Xi Char religious beliefs. They accept as a matter of faith that meticulous work is no different from prayer; indeed, their workshops have more in common with temples than factories. When a Xi Charrian is injured, he goes into self-exile, so that others won’t have to look upon his imperfections or deformities.