Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 06_ Balance Point - Kathy Tyers [30]
“No,” Jacen exclaimed. He couldn’t resist stretching out through the Force. His sister’s presence pulsed red-hot—an ember, not a flame. “No, you’re healing well. They just didn’t want to risk you in combat. Or risk that you’d endanger someone else,” he added, trying to push her anger away. Standing beside her made him edgy, almost as if the ground were vibrating.
“Not you, too.” Jaina pulled off her mask and pushed her face closer to his. Her eyes did look cloudy, the pupils faintly gray.
Finished with the medical team, their dad clapped an arm around her shoulder. “Come inside, sweetie. I’ll get you settled before I head back to the pumping station.”
They found her a cot in a hut with an elderly Ryn woman, whose husband had died on the Jubilee Wheel over Ord Mantell, and who was glad for company. As Han hurried off, Jaina grudgingly let Jacen stow her belongings under the shelter’s second cot. She turned her head toward the small window.
“I can see fine, if there’s enough light.”
“That’s a problem in Thirty-two,” Jacen admitted. “The cloud cover doesn’t let much in.” And these SELCORE shelters had just one door and one window. “A little light gets in through the roof panels,” he added, gesturing upward.
These huts were suited only for domed environments. One good storm would blow off the roofs, then wash the mortar out from between mud bricks that reinforced the synthplas walls.
“How long did it take to get used to the stink?”
Jacen’s face warmed. He glanced at the older woman seated on the other bunk. Jaina wasn’t just smelling Duro’s atmosphere. The Ryn had this odor …
“That’s partly me,” the Ryn said bluntly.
“Less than a day.” Jacen got the words out quickly. “And, Clarani, you know it’s not you in particular. Your people just have a different body chemistry.”
Jaina shook her head slowly. “Sorry,” she muttered. “You’re generous to take me in. The last thing you need is an ungrateful kid in your house.”
“Don’t worry.” Clarani gestured left and right, taking in the door they’d left open for light—and the small window, with its primitive shelf-row storage. “I’m tired of sleeping alone.”
When Jaina raised a hand to adjust her mask, Jacen spotted a tremor. She really had been through it.
“So bring me up to speed,” he said casually. “What have the Rogues been up to, and who fried your X-wing?”
“I did. That’s the worst of it.”
“You?”
She sighed. “I was chasing a skip. At Kalarba,” she added.
“Yes, they told us. I guess Druckenwell’s gone, too?” That had been a major Imperial manufacturing center.
“And Falleen. They’ve reached Rodia. It’s the heavy end of the hammer, pounding and pounding.”
“Unbelievable,” Jacen muttered, wondering if the Falleen had fought to the last drop of green blood or else used their infamous pheromones to buy a measure of freedom.
Jaina didn’t offer details, and this wasn’t the time to press. “I stayed a little too close to a cruiser that was under attack,” she said. “When it blew, I … caught some radiation. I should be fine in a couple of weeks,” she insisted. “No permanent damage.”
“Good.”
In return, Jacen gave her a fast explanation of Thirty-two’s water purification project, the ancient pit mine that had filled with toxic groundwater, the settlement’s nominal partnership with Gateway beyond low, blasted hills, and their supply problems. CorDuro Shipping, contracted by SELCORE to deliver supplies to the refugee domes, had missed two shipments this month and been late with the other eleven.
“There’s plenty of work here,” he added. “Mechanical stuff. Your specialty.”
She snorted. “Save it for somebody who doesn’t know how to vape skips, Jacen. They’re taking this galaxy away from us. The forces need every decent pilot we can get. That’s where you ought to be. Even Dad.”
She sounded