Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 03_ Champions of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson [10]
“Or,” Leia said, “waiting for us to find a way to help him return.”
“I don’t know how,” Cilghal said in a thin, husky voice. “None of us knows—yet. But perhaps working together we can figure it out.”
“Do you have any inkling about what really happened?” Leia asked. “Have you found any clues?”
She could sense the sudden spike of Han’s turmoil. Cilghal looked away with her big Calamarian eyes, but Han answered with grim certainty. “It was Kyp. Kyp did this.”
“What?” Leia said, whirling to stare at him.
Han answered in a tumble of words. “The last time I saw Luke, he told me he was afraid for Kyp.” Han swallowed hard. “He said that Kyp had started dabbling in the dark side. The kid stole Mara Jade’s ship and took off somewhere. I think Kyp came back here and challenged Luke.”
“But why?” Leia asked. “What for?”
Cilghal nodded, as if her head were too heavy for her. “We did find the stolen ship in front of the temple. It is still here, so we don’t know how he flew away again … unless he fled into the jungles.”
“Is that likely?” Leia asked.
Cilghal shook her head. “We Jedi trainees have pooled our talents and searched. We do not detect his presence on Yavin 4. He must have left on another ship somehow.”
“But where would he get another ship?” Leia asked, but suddenly she remembered astonished New Republic astronomers reporting the impossible news that an entire group of stars in the Cauldron Nebula had gone supernova at the same time.
She whispered, “Could Kyp have resurrected the Sun Crusher from the core of Yavin?”
Han blinked. “How could he possibly do that?”
Cilghal hung her head gravely. “If Kyp Durron has managed that, then his power is far greater even than we feared. No wonder he was able to defeat Master Skywalker.”
Han shuddered, as if afraid to accept what he knew was true. Leia could sense his emotions like a maelstrom within him. “If Kyp is on the loose with the Sun Crusher,” he said, “then I’ll have to go and stop him.”
Leia snapped around to look at him, thinking how Han always leaped headfirst into challenges. “Are you getting delusions of grandeur again? Why does it have to be you?”
“I’m the only one he might listen to,” he said. He looked aside, staring down at Luke’s cadaverous face. She saw his lips trembling.
“Look, if Kyp doesn’t listen to me, then he won’t listen to anyone—and he’ll be lost forever. If his power is as great as Cilghal thinks, that kid is not an enemy the New Republic can afford to have.” He gave one of his lopsided grins. “Besides, I taught him everything he knows about flying that ship. He couldn’t possibly do anything to me.”
It was a somber dinner with the Jedi trainees.
Han used the Falcon’s food synthesizers to create a repast of heavy Corellian food. Leia picked at some spiced, fried strips of a woolamander that Kirana Ti had hunted in the jungle. The twins stuffed themselves with messy fruits and berries. Dorsk 81 devoured a bland and unappealing-looking meal of heavily processed food cubes.
Conversation was minimal, little more than forced pleasantries. They all feared to discuss what really preoccupied them—until Kam Solusar said in a hard-edged voice, “We hoped you would bring us news, Minister Organa Solo. Give us some guidance as to what we should do here. We are Jedi students with no Master. We’ve learned a little, but not enough to continue training on our own.”
Tionne broke in. “I’m not sure we should try to learn things we don’t understand. Look what happened to Gantoris! He was consumed by some evil thing he inadvertently found. And what about Kyp Durron? What if we get lured to the dark side without knowing it?”
Old Streen stood up and shook his head. “No, no. He’s here! Don’t you hear the voices?” When everyone turned to look at him, Streen sat down and hunched his shoulders, as if trying to hide under the Jedi robe. He snuffled and cleared his throat before continuing. “I can hear him. He’s