Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 06_ Balance Point - Kathy Tyers [81]
Jaina’s scalp bled from a cut near her right ear. She whipped out her comlink. “Gateway Security, this is an emergency. I need Administrator Organa Solo on the line—now!”
There was no answer.
“Back up the tunnel,” Mara ordered.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Okay, Mara, what is this?” Over Shadow’s comm unit, Leia’s voice had a deadly edge. “How did you find him out?”
Mara still wore the remains of her Kuati costume. She’d blasted off without waiting for clearance, once she understood that things were about to break in Bburru. Jaina sat next to her, wearing a brown flight suit from one of Mara’s lockers.
“Simple,” Mara answered. “He wasn’t there through the Force. That’s why he avoided you. Jaina found the masquer disengage spot. When he started to ripple, we went for our lightsabers.”
“How long did he think he could stay out of my way?” Leia’s voice muttered in Mara’s headset.
Mara didn’t like the obvious conclusion: He hadn’t thought he would need to avoid Leia much longer. “Grab him. Don’t let him out of Gateway.”
Leia’s voice sounded weary. “The dome’s too crowded for sensors or scanners to pinpoint one person. By now, he could be out in the swamps—or even underwater, from what Danni told us about their breathing devices. And now we know he’s got his own way of tunneling. He might even be in the old mines.”
“Can’t always have what we want,” Jaina muttered.
Mara shook her head.
“We cert … derstand Rhommamool better, d … we?” Interference ate into the transmission as they soared through Duro’s atmosphere.
“Losing you,” Mara came back. “I’ll send what I can from Bburru.”
Mara cut the transmitter, leaned back in her chair, and checked her readouts. Then finally, she let herself relax enough to check the spot between her hipbones. It was still an almost imperceptible tingle. You’ve got a good grip, she complimented … him? Keep hanging on. The ride could get a little bumpy.
“Didn’t ask about me, did she?” Jaina raised her head to stare at Bburru, growing on the fore screen.
“I would’ve told her if you’d been hurt.”
“Some women shouldn’t have children.”
Mara drew up straight, and a back muscle twanged. She must’ve overstretched it, scrabbling along on the stony ground. “I can’t believe you said that.”
When Jaina pursed her lips, she looked a very young seventeen. “To her, I’m an inconvenience. ‘Winter, take Jaina for a walk.’ ‘Threepio, tell Anakin a story.’ ‘Here, Chewbacca, watch the twins.’ ”
“And how many mothers gave up a seat on a shuttle headed for safety this year? Put their kids on board and stayed behind, to die or be enslaved? Sometimes staying with your child isn’t possible.”
“Then mothers who are too important to raise their kids should just sign them over and go off to work.”
Mara, who had only vague mental images of her parents, dropped her voice to an icy alto. “For such a mature young woman, you are being surprisingly childish.”
Jaina ran a hand over her bare head. It was starting to show a faint brown shadow of regrowth. “I’m also being honest. Mara, I nearly died at Kalarba. I lost an awfully good friend at Ithor. She gave up everything, to give families a chance to survive somewhere else.”
“And your mother is giving those survivors somewhere to live. This planet is hope, literally and symbolically.”
Jaina sighed heavily. “Poor Mom. She’s got a halfblind, stubborn daughter who can’t fight anymore and a son who’s afraid to be a Jedi. Good thing Anakin came along.”
“You’ve got a temporary weakness. File this away for your future, Jaina Solo. It’s all right to take risks for yourself. But never, never commit someone else to hand-to-hand combat if they’ve had their fighting edge blunted. Do we understand each other?”
Stars appeared as they broke through Duro’s opaque atmosphere. Mara switched Jade Shadow’s comm unit to her private frequency. “Luke,” she called.
He answered. “Mara. On your way?”
Of course, he felt her getting closer. “We met an old friend,” she