Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 11_ Dark Journey - Elaine Cunningham [96]
“So you shut them up, hid them away,” Jaina clarified.
Ta’a Chume waved this aside. “Most of them hardly notice. A well-funded lab and the freedom to work is a dream to these scientists, not a punishment. The Yuuzhan Vong are a reality, my dear, and they must be dealt with. What do you propose?”
Jaina quickly described the next phase of her plan. The former queen listened carefully and made several suggestions.
“This is excellent,” she said when at last Jaina had finished. “Your brothers will be avenged, and the defense of Hapes greatly strengthened. I’ll see that you have everything you need.” She extended a slender, jeweled hand.
Jaina took the offered hand without hesitation, but not without a certain doubt. For days now, she had been living in the palace, accepting the older woman’s advice and hospitality. Today, however, a new line had been crossed. Kyp Durron might consider her his apprentice, but in truth, Jaina wondered if her real education was taking place at the hands of Hapes’s former queen.
She rose abruptly. “I’d better get to it.”
“Of course,” Ta’a Chume agreed.
Jaina spun and walked out of the queen’s residence, inexplicably eager to put some distance between her and Ta’a Chume. She rounded a corner quickly, and had to pull up short to keep from plowing into Tenel Ka.
The Dathomiri warrior’s one hand flashed out to catch and steady Jaina. “I often leave my grandmother’s presence at such a pace.”
Jaina smiled before she realized that Tenel Ka seldom resorted to humor.
“You have visited Ta’a Chume frequently,” the Jedi observed.
“She invited me to stay at the palace,” Jaina said, and shrugged. “I can’t exactly ignore her.”
“Fact. But the time you spend with her exceeds the demands of propriety.”
“I haven’t been keeping a log. Is this a problem for you?”
Tenel Ka ignored the truculent challenge. “You are a Jedi. You should be able to sense that nothing good can come from my grandmother’s hand.”
“She’s concerned about Hapes,” Jaina retorted. “Someone should be.”
“I don’t know anyone who is not. If the battle comes to Hapes, we will fight.”
“And lose! The Yuuzhan Vong can’t be fought with traditional Jedi methods. Their warriors and their living weapons are beyond the Force. To deal with them, we have to understand them. We have to beat them at their own game.”
Tenel Ka’s face furrowed into a concerned frown. “Be careful, my friend. There is danger in making too diligent an attempt to understand the enemy. It’s impossible to study something for long without being changed by it.”
Jaina sniffed. “If I start feeling the urge to tattoo my face, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“This is not what I mean,” she said quickly. “My concern is for things of far more—”
“That was a joke,” Jaina broke in impatiently. “And as for changes, my feeling is that by the time this war is over, none of us will be the same, even the Jedi. Maybe especially the Jedi.”
Tenel Ka was silent for a long moment. Her direct gray-eyed gaze softened, as if misted over by future possibilities. When she regained her focus, she looked troubled.
“You might be right,” she agreed softly.
The priestship glided through the sky like a malevolent gem, its many polished sides gleaming in the reflected starlight. In the control room deep in the heart of the ship, the priest Harrar stood by the yammosk pool, his fierce gaze shifting from the many-tentacled creature to the tattooed warrior at his side.
“You have not been able to reestablish contact?” he demanded of Khalee Lah.
The warrior inclined his scarred head. “No, Eminence,” he admitted. “The shaper continues to study the problem.”
Harrar began to pace. “The warmaster depends upon the Jedi sacrifice. Demands it!”
“Several of the Peace Brigade collaborators have reported.