Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 08_ Edge of Victory 01_ Conquest - J. Gregory Keyes [38]
Valin nodded, then smiled a little. “You talk more than you used to. Tahiri said she would rub off on you eventually.”
It struck Anakin that Valin was right. He’d been practically pontificating, something he wouldn’t have dreamed of doing a few years ago except maybe in an argument with his siblings or Tahiri. It was something he wasn’t good at, didn’t like, avoided like raw cobalt. His father had once joked that it was easier to drag a neutron star with a landspeeder than it was to drag two words out of him.
But more and more, people seemed to want something like this from him. Some of the things he had done had gotten around, and he guessed he had something of a reputation. That part was fine, and though he wouldn’t say so out loud, he sort of liked it. It made him feel that he could be like Uncle Luke, back when he was young and fighting the Empire—like a hero, though he knew he wasn’t really that.
He felt a pang, and suddenly knew where these thoughts were taking him.
“Why did you and Sannah and Tahiri come to help me, Valin? Why didn’t you go on with Kam and Tionne?”
Valin looked up at him with guileless eyes. “We want to be like you, Anakin. We all do. And you—you would never have run from a fight.”
Anakin’s lips tightened and his eyes felt gritty and hot. That settled that. He’d lied when he told Sannah and Valin that the Yuuzhan Vong and the Peace Brigade were responsible for this mess. Like Chewie’s death, like Centerpoint, this was his mess, Anakin Solo’s mess.
But this time he would clean it up. Somehow.
“Doesn’t look like they took much,” Sannah observed, as they picked through the wreck of Vehn’s transport. Four days had come and gone since the crash, and a day since they had seen the last of the flitters.
“Why should they?” Valin asked. “There’s not much left they would want.”
“No,” Anakin said. “There’s plenty. It would have taken too much time to salvage it, that’s all.”
“But you think you can?” Vehn sneered from where he sat, cuffed hands resting on his knees.
“I can fix it,” Anakin replied. “The hyperdrive is fine.”
“That’s great. We’ll just go to lightspeed from here. At least no one would have to worry about disposing of our remains. And we sure wouldn’t have to worry about the Vong anymore.”
“If Anakin says he can fix it, he can fix it,” Valin snapped.
“Shut up, you smelly little Hutt,” Vehn grunted. “I may be your prisoner, but that doesn’t mean I have to listen to your smart mouth all day. I—hey! Ow!”
Vehn was suddenly scratching furiously at his legs, then thrashing on the ground.
Anakin straightened. “Stay away from him. It’s a trick!”
“Trick?” Vehn screamed. “I’m being eaten alive!”
That’s when Anakin noticed Valin was laughing. So was Sannah, but she was hiding hers behind her palm.
“Valin, are you doing that?”
“He deserved it.”
“Stop it. Right now. Immediately.”
“I just—”
“Now.”
“Yes, sir,” Valin said. And he didn’t sound sarcastic.
Anakin knelt by Vehn. A swarm of multisegmented worms a centimeter in length were detaching themselves from the pilot’s arms and face, leaving purplish welts behind. Vehn pushed at them frantically, but when Anakin moved to help him, he jerked away with a hoarse rasp of anger.
When they were all finally off, Vehn turned his head toward Valin. His chest was heaving.
“You did that, didn’t you? With some kind of Jedi magic.” He rose clumsily to his feet. “I hope the Vong do get you. The whole lot of you.”
“Yeah?” Valin started. “Well—”
“Valin!” Anakin said a little sharply. “Keep quiet and listen. You know better than that. I know you know better than that, because we had the same teachers.” He turned on Sannah. “And you were laughing. You think it’s funny to use the Force to torture a helpless captive for no better reason than that he called you a