Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 09_ Edge of Victory 02_ Rebirth - J. Gregory Keyes [3]
“If you wish it, Warmaster,” Qurang Lah said, “I shall lead my fleet. I never shrink from battle when my duty calls.”
“Hurr,” Tsavong Lah murmured, considering. “Nom Anor, you will implement your plan. Qurang Lah will command the Yuuzhan Vong forces, and you will advise him how to proceed. If your advice is again flawed, there will be a more serious reckoning. If it is good, as you assure me it will be, you will atone for your recent mistakes. Do you understand?”
“I understand, Warmaster. I will not fail.”
“See you do not. Qurang Lah, have you anything else to say?”
“I have not, Warmaster. My duty is clear now.” He snapped the salute. “Belek tiu. The infidels will fall before us. Their ships shall burn like falling stars. As I speak it, it is already done.”
PART ONE
THRESHOLD
ONE
“You’ve had worse ideas, Luke,” Mara Jade Skywalker reluctantly admitted, nodding her head back so the sunlight fell on her face and her deep red-gold tresses trailed behind her. Posed that way, eyes closed, framed against the blue line of the sea, her beauty closed Luke’s throat for a moment.
Mara’s green eyes opened, and she looked at him with a sort of wistful fondness before arching a cynical brow.
“Getting all fatherly on me again?”
“No,” he said softly. “Just thinking how ridiculously lucky I am.”
“Hey. I’m the one with the hormone swings. You aren’t trying to one-up me, are you?” But she took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s walk a bit more.”
“You sure you’re up to it?”
“What, you want to carry me? Of course I’m up to it. I’m pregnant, not hamstrung. You think it would be better for our kid if I spent all day lying around sucking on oorp?”
“I just thought you wanted to relax.”
“Absolutely. And this is relaxing. Us, all alone, on a beautiful island. Well, sort of an island. Come on.”
The beach was warm beneath Luke’s bare feet. He had been reluctant to agree to going shoeless, but Mara had insisted that’s what one did on a beach. He found, to his surprise, that it reminded him pleasantly of his boyhood on Tatooine. Back then, in the relative cool of early evening—one of those rare periods when both blazing suns were nearly set—sometimes he would take his shoes off and feel the still-warm sand between his toes. Not when Uncle Owen was looking, of course, because the old man would launch into an explanation of what shoes were for in the first place, about the valuable moisture Luke was losing though his soles.
For an instant, he could almost hear his uncle’s voice and smell Aunt Beru’s giju stew. He had an urge to put his shoes back on.
Owen and Beru Larses had been the first personal casualties in Luke Skywalker’s battle against the Empire. He wondered if they had known why they died.
He missed them. Anakin Skywalker may have been his father, but the Larses had been his parents.
“I wonder how Han and Leia are doing?” Mara wondered aloud, interrupting his reverie.
“I’m sure they’re fine. They’ve only been gone a few days.”
“I wonder if Jacen should have gone with them?”
“Why not? He’s proven himself capable often enough. And they’re his parents. Besides, with half the galaxy after him, it’s better he stay on the move.”
“Right. I only meant it makes things worse for Jaina. It’s hard on her, doing nothing, knowing her brother is out fighting the fight.”
“I know. But Rogue Squadron will probably call her up pretty soon.”
“Sure,” Mara replied. “Sure they will.” She sounded far from convinced.
“You don’t think so?” Luke asked.
“No. I think they would like to, but her Jedi training makes her too much of a political liability right now.”
“When did the Rogues ever care about politics? Has someone said this to you?”
“Not in so many words, but I hear things, and I’m trained to listen to the words behind the words. I hope I’m wrong, for Jaina’s sake.”
Her feelings brushed Luke