Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 01_ Onslaught - Michael A. Stackpole [83]
“I understand what you’re saying.” Corran sighed. “I’d also point out that, like it or not, combatants or not, you’re all right in the middle of a war zone. While I respect your position, we might do well to bring everyone in here, tell them what’s going on, and let them vote on what we should do.”
Dr. Pace fell silent as she considered his proposal. Corran purposely shut himself to the mixed emotions pouring off her and instead stretched his senses out to encompass the whole of the cave complex. If she goes for the vote, gathering up the twenty people here and polling them won’t take long.
Corran suddenly frowned. “Ganner, counting us, how many people are here in the cave complex?”
“Twenty.” The quick sneer on his face dissolved. “But there should be twenty-two here. Two people are missing.”
Trista shook her head. “No one is missing. Vil and Denna just went out to their meteorological station to fix the antenna. They stopped getting data last night and headed out before you two returned.”
Ganner blinked at her. “You let people go outside, let them head away from the base?”
Her head came up defiantly. “Oh, so only you Jedi are brave enough to escape slashrats and do your duty? We’ve been here dealing with this world’s perils for longer than you have.”
Dr. Pace dug for a comlink. She switched it over to a particular frequency. “Vil, this is Dr. Pace. Report.”
Only static came back through the open channel.
“Sithspawn!” Corran spun on the ball of his right foot and started pacing. “If the Vong have found the remote reporting station, they might have disabled it, given their hatred of technology. They could have left something in its place, something that those two disturbed. The Vong come out and get them—”
Trista shook her head. “There is no evidence to suggest—”
Ganner reached out and took Trista’s shoulders in his hands. He turned her to face him. “I find you intelligent, passionate, and fascinating, but you know, as well as we do, that the chances are excellent that your companions are now Yuuzhan Vong captives.”
“No, no.” She shook her head, lashing her shoulders with black hair. “I never would have let them go if I thought—”
Corran held a hand up. “Doesn’t matter. You let them go before we had proof the Yuuzhan Vong were here in the present, not just in the past. We have a problem, and we have to deal with it. Could be that Vil and Denna will come wandering back in with a comlink that had a bad power cell.”
Dr. Pace swallowed hard. “And if they don’t?”
“Someone will have to find them.” Corran forced a weak smile onto his lips. “And I think I know where our search will begin.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Mara’s deteriorating condition had Anakin worried. She was being very brave and very strong, but she was tiring more easily and had begun to withdraw. He could feel her drawing on the Force more and more to sustain herself. It clearly fortified her, but demanded so much of her attention and concentration that he was pretty sure she had no idea where she was or who he was a chunk of the time.
He did his best to see that she did not want for anything. He kept the camp clean and fixed all of the meals. By observing the Dantari, he was able to find edible plants and spices, which he used to make their bland rations into something different, if not always appetizing. Mara seemed to take the failed experiments in stride along with the good and livened up a bit at mealtimes.
Tuber—which was the name Anakin had given the elder Dantari root trader—clearly had some concerns about Mara. He kept bringing firewood but wouldn’t accept the last couple of roots Anakin had. Instead they traded for other things—most of them being trinkets, which Tuber braided into his hair to frame the button Mara had provided.
Anakin set out from the camp just after a supper that Mara had eaten listlessly. She wandered back to her cot and started sleeping again. He cleaned up, then saw his supply