Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 11_ Dark Journey - Elaine Cunningham [54]
He considered the warrior woman. “You’ve thought about this.”
“At length,” she agreed. “Jaina is dealing with her loss by taking charge. This is a good response, one that returns to her a measure of control. But in detaching herself from her pain, she is also losing an important balance within herself.” Her face turned grim. “I have seen what a leader who lacks this balance can become. We must watch her carefully.”
Zekk looked away. “You’ll have to do the watching. I’m moving on.”
“You would abandon a friend?” she demanded.
“As you abandoned Jacen?” he snapped back.
Nothing in Tenel Ka’s face acknowledged the hit. “I know you didn’t mean that,” she said calmly. “But I also know that if Jacen were in danger of sliding into the dark side, I would want to do whatever I could to pull him back.”
This was the first time any of them had put their concern for Jaina into words. For a moment they were silent, sobered by the grim possibility.
“And what if she can’t be pulled back?” Zekk asked. “I’ve taken that path, and I know what a Dark Jedi can do. If it comes to that, someone will have to stop her.”
“By any means necessary,” she agreed, once again giving voice to their shared fears.
“And I couldn’t do that. No matter what, I just couldn’t do it.”
“I see.” Tenel Ka turned her gaze straight ahead. “Then you are right to go.”
Jaina slid on the cognition hood and urged the drifting Trickster into motion.
The ship balked, confused by circumstances it did not understand, and by the metallic bulk attached to it. Jaina gritted her teeth and reconsidered the wisdom of this attempted salvage. They might be able to fly and land in this formation, but if challenged, they wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight.
A trio of starships appeared in the distance, so suddenly that Jaina had the uncanny feeling that she’d conjured them with her unspoken fears. Faint lines of light slid out of hyperspace and slowed into focused, rapidly approaching dots.
She snatched up the comm Lowbacca had rigged up and opened the frequency to hail. “This is Lieutenant Jaina Solo of Rogue Squadron, aboard the Yuuzhan Vong frigate Trickster. The ship is under New Republic control. There are no Yuuzhan Vong aboard. Repeat, this is not an enemy ship. Hold your fire.”
“Relax, Trickster. We’re here to see you safely down,” announced a familiar voice—the last voice Jaina expected or wanted to hear.
“Kyp Durron,” she said coldly. “You might as well turn around right now. I wouldn’t follow you out of an ocean if I were drowning.”
“Hear me out before you open fire. Your parents are on Hapes, in the refugee center. I told the princess I’d bring you back. Now, you could send me back to Leia empty-handed, but we all know what path a vindictive spirit might take you down.”
She absorbed his dark humor in silence as she considered his words, and the likely consequences of his presence. Her parents had enough to deal with without the added grief that always seemed to follow Kyp Durron like fumes from a faulty exhaust.
“Don’t use my family in another of your tricks—if they’re really on Hapes at all.”
“This is Colonel Jag Fel, Lieutenant Solo,” another voice broke in. “I have seen your mother on Hapes, and the request for an escort came directly to me from landing control. Kyp Durron is speaking the truth, and flying under my command.”
A strange, unsettled feeling coiled in the pit of Jaina’s stomach, and a little rush of gladness entered her heart like a spring breeze. She did her best to ignore both.
“Under your command? Don’t believe it,” she said bluntly. “If Kyp can twist a Jedi’s thoughts, he can make you think anything he wants.”
“Thank you