Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [41]
8
Night on Eol Sha offered little rest. Falling darkness fought against the simmering orange glow from the nearby volcano, the pastel blaze of the Cauldron Nebula, and the looming spotlight of the too-close moon. Hissing blasts from the geyser field broke the quiet at irregular intervals.
Luke sat alone in the cramped storage module Gantoris had given him for sleeping accommodations. Never intended as a living area, the module had few comforts: a basin of filmy water and a cloth-covered mound of dirt for a bed. Gantoris took a perverse pleasure in telling Luke that it had been one of the dead boy’s favorite places to play. Either the refugees blamed Luke for not being able to save both children, or perhaps Gantoris just wanted to keep him off balance.
Luke had his lightsaber and all the powers he had learned from Jedi training, should he decide to escape. But that was not the reason he had come to Eol Sha. Cupping his chin in his hands, he stared out at the hostile night. He needed to convince Gantoris to listen to him, to see the need for rebuilding the Jedi Knights—but why would someone from an isolated colony, with no conception of galactic politics, bother to care?
If Gantoris was indeed a descendant of the long-ago Ta’ania, Luke had to make him care.
When the other people drifted to their quarters for the evening, Warton brought him a steamed bugdillo to eat. Luke poked at the glossy black shell of the crustacean, splitting open the cracks in its multiply segmented body to get at the pinkish meat. That afternoon a boy had been killed trying to spear these small creatures.…
At any time Luke could leave the battered module, walk to the passenger shuttle on the far side of the geyser field, and retrieve his own rations; but he didn’t want to leave, not until Gantoris agreed to come with him. Luke ate the sour-tasting meat, chewing in silence.
“Come with me.” Gantoris stood silhouetted in the square doorway of Luke’s quarters.
Luke blinked and came out of his trance, refreshed and surprised to see the gray morning light shining through cracks in the module. Without a word, he stood up and stepped outside.
Gantoris wore the faded uniform of a trader captain. It fit him poorly, but he carried himself with pride. The uniform must have been passed down from generation to generation as the hopeful colonists waited for the ramjet gas miners to return and make their settlement a booming town.
“Where are we going?” Luke asked.
Gantoris handed him a woven pouch, then slung a similar one over his own shoulder. “To get food.” Tossing his thick black braid behind him, he marched toward the geyser field.
Luke followed across the rugged terrain, sidestepping the lime-encrusted network of geysers and steam vents. The planet of Eol Sha hummed with the tidal strain, like fading vibrations from a struck gong.
Gantoris moved with outward confidence, but Luke sensed trepidation, an uncertainty in him. Luke decided this might be a good time to talk about the Force and its powers.
“You must have learned something about the order of Jedi Knights,” he began. “For a thousand generations they served the Old Republic as guardians and keepers of order. I believe one of your own ancestors—Ta’ania—was the daughter of a Jedi. That is why I’ve come to you. She was among the people who established this colony on Eol Sha.
“The Emperor hunted down and killed all the Jedi Knights his assassins could find, but I don’t believe he could have traced every descendant, every bloodline. Now the Empire has fallen and the New Republic needs to reestablish the Jedi Knights.” He paused. “I want you to be one of them.”
He gripped Gantoris’s shoulder. The other man flinched, and pushed Luke’s hand away. Luke’s voice took on a more pleading tone. “I want to show you the powers of the Force, the infinite doors it can open. With this new strength you’ll be able to help hold the entire galaxy together. I promise we’ll take