Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 06_ Balance Point - Kathy Tyers [23]
“But your honored siblings are not here. Destiny brought us together, Jedi Solo. I could make your name even greater than it already is.”
Jacen stretched his arms, cracking his knuckles. His name? At the moment, his name might as well be bantha fodder with the Jedi and the New Republic military.
“I will find a way to leave Duro and rush to Nal Hutta’s aid, if all I can do is arrive too late and crash a ship in the middle of the invaders’ celebratory banquet. Or I shall locate Kyp Durron and throw my support behind his squadron, carrying the battle to the enemy.” The Hutt slithered toward the door.
“Randa,” Jacen soothed, “we do need your help. Here.”
“Oh?” Randa paused. “Tell me, young Solo. What can I do besides stir hydroponics vats? Besides tend the water pumps, and—”
Jacen’s comlink beeped. “Hold on,” he said, raising one hand in entreaty. “Randa, don’t go.” He yanked the comlink off his utility belt. “Jacen Solo,” he said.
“This is Piani at Communications,” a tinny voice announced. “We’ve finally got that message. You’d better get down here.”
Stunned, Jacen flicked his comlink to another channel. “Dad, did you get that?”
The elder Solo’s voice sounded fuzzy. Even from short distances, low-power communications were iffy in Duro’s weird atmosphere. “On my way,” Han said.
The same contact person as before greeted Jacen over the voice-only link. “Her vision will clear up without medical intervention, over time. She’s out of action for several weeks at the inside, though.”
Han burst through the control shed’s door. “Vision? What was that?”
“The exposure clouded her corneas, Captain,” Major Harthis repeated. “It’s reversible, but it’ll metabolize very slowly.” The voice hesitated. “In someone older, we might have implanted artificial eyes, or a Traxes ultrasound enhancer. But she’s young, and a Jedi can heal herself pretty well.” Longer pause, this time. “We’re, uh, also up against some wartime shortages.”
Han shook his head. “That’s all right. If those eyes will heal, you leave them right where they are.”
“That was our feeling. We can’t tie up military personnel to nursemaid her, so we’re furloughing her to family.” The officious voice finally softened. “We’d, ah, like to send her to you on Duro, Captain. That’ll save us the trouble of hunting down her mother.”
Mara got up from the mossy table. “Stay here,” she murmured. Their suspect had vanished into the Leafy Green’s kitchen.
Anakin scowled at her half-finished gornt steak. “Be careful.”
Wonder of wonders, the boy wasn’t going to insist on following her. She’d pull off this reconnoiter alone more easily. “If I’m not back when you’ve finished your scrimpi, come looking.”
Anakin stabbed a slice and sawed off a long, thin bite.
The kitchen entry wasn’t far from the refresher, and she spotted an empty table nearby. She’d already counted the Leafy Green’s sentient staff and checked each one through the Force. Only their suspect seemed absent.
Now, for the kitchen personnel—in case he had reinforcements, or maybe a boss.
She walked purposefully to the empty table, then sat with her face in the shade of her hood. When all the servers—especially the one under suspicion—were off on their rounds, she slipped to the kitchen door. She palmed the opening panel as the servers had done. The door swung aside.
No one challenged her. Keeping one hand near her blaster, which was already set for stun, she eased left along a wall, away from the noisiest area. She found a station where a line of small, four-armed droids, the first mechanicals she’d seen inside the Leafy Green, were laying garnishes on trays. Programmed to react only to food configurations, they ignored her.
She heard four distinctly living presences clattering at other stations, a large sentient staff. The owner was definitely trying to project a pastoral setting. It was a place