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Luke felt an emotional chill coming from his nephew. “I’m sorry you witnessed that.”

“I’m sorry for the man who died there.” Jacen shook his head. “The Yuuzhan Vong I faced when rescuing Danni—they were formidable, but nothing like that one. He had no mercy at all in him.”

“No, just a cold, efficient killer. He was bigger than the one Mara fought, longer and leaner. I wish I had seen more than just a silhouette.”

Jacen smiled. “We’ll get to see them up close soon enough.”

Luke shook his head. “I certainly hope not.”

The younger Jedi blinked. “But we have to do something for the slaves.”

“Do we?” Luke’s expression sharpened as disbelief rolled out from Jacen. “Remember why we’re here.”

“To save the New Republic, and those people are part of the New Republic.” Jacen pointed to the south. “You can feel how much pain they’re in, how much damage the Yuuzhan Vong have done to them. How can you not think of moving to free them?”

“I do think of it, but I also know it’s not practical, not at this stage. We have a lot to learn here. It’s not a satisfactory choice, but a necessary one.”

Jacen’s head came up. “Freeing them will doom the New Republic? Or will it merely make your mission to save your wife that much tougher?”

Luke stiffened, but choked down the outrage his nephew’s question had sparked in him. It helped that he could read the horror in Jacen’s eyes, but the question had still stung bitterly. “Is that what you think the real reason for our being here is? You think I would come here just to save Mara?”

“I think, Uncle Luke, that you love her so much that you’d do anything to save her.” The youth glanced down. “I’m sorry for saying what I did. I didn’t mean it.”

“Actually, Jacen, you did mean it. It is a paradox. We have to allow some people to be in pain so others can avoid it. It’s an easy choice when you’re the one who will be hurting, but tougher when others have to suffer. You have to agree, though, that we can do nothing right now. We don’t know enough about the Yuuzhan Vong presence here; we don’t know enough about the slaves; we don’t even know if they can be saved. For all we know, they’ve agreed to this treatment.”

Jacen glanced out at where the man’s body had returned to the surface and floated there placidly. “I can’t imagine his death was part of any bargain.”

“You’re probably right, but we are not in a position to do anything for the slaves.”

“But, to do nothing, that’s not . . . not being a Jedi.”

The flesh around Luke’s eyes tightened. “I thought you were the one who didn’t want any part of these missions. I thought you were the one who decided the essence of being a Jedi was to go off and study your relationship with the Force.”

“I . . . I did, but—”

The Jedi Master cut him off. “Jacen, you have to understand something, something very important. As smart as you are, as much training as you have, as much of the galaxy as you’ve seen, you still are only sixteen years old. You only have sixteen years of experience.”

Luke sighed. “Having more experience doesn’t mean making difficult decisions are easier, but it does let you know that sometimes the tough decisions must be made.”

Jacen’s expression hardened into an impassive mask. “I understand, Master.”

You use the word Master with the same tone a slave might use to address his owner. Luke shook his head. “We need to get back to the ExGal facility before darkness falls completely. Without being able to sense the Yuuzhan Vong through the Force, we’re more vulnerable at night. Besides, going back there will give both of us time to process what we’ve learned today, and think about what we need to find out in the future.”

Jacen shrugged. “It’s a plan, Uncle Luke. A plan.”

A ripple of dread ran through Luke at the tone of his nephew’s voice, but the Force brought to him no vision of what might yet happen on Belkadan. He reached out and settled a hand on Jacen’s shoulder. “Just remember, some problems have no easy or elegant solution. The Yuuzhan Vong are clearly one of those problems.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN