Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [73]
The door chimed.
Gaeri sprang up and opened it, grateful for the distraction. She had no business flirting with destiny this way, and no hope of bringing Luke Skywalker to understand the universe as she saw it.
One of her personal staff pushed a hover cart through the door. Gaeri motioned for the staffer to park it between their chairs. Once he had gone, she uncovered the single plate. “I hope you like seafood.” Raised on a desert world—and this is twice in two days.
“Would you stay?”
“Forgive my cowardice, Luke, but …”
Wordlessly he unhooked a cylindrical silvery object from his belt and laid it on the repulsor cart. Long enough to grip two-handed, it looked like half of a weapon.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked softly.
“You may be safer here than at home.” His face colored. “Sorry,” he added. “I sound like a swaggering stormtrooper.”
At least he could laugh at himself. She hesitated. For a few minutes, she’d probably be safe. “There are two of them out in that corridor,” she reminded him, “and if I were you, I wouldn’t trust them any more. Still—this smells very fresh. I’ll join you.”
Evidently he did like seafood, because he ate like a starving man. She blunted her hunger with a few delicately seasoned bites. In a few minutes, he reached for the projector, which now lay on the cart beside his lightsaber. “Do most Bakurans share your beliefs?” he asked.
Relieved that he’d brought up the subject, she answered, “Many are stricter. My sister is an ascetic. She lives with almost nothing in order to free up more for everyone else. I’m less … devoted. We’re a minority, but the weight of the universe could balance on one rightly placed atom.”
“I can feel through the Force that you’re a woman of depth. Of deep feelings.”
“I thought I’d convinced everyone that I’m a career politician.”
“Everyone else seems convinced.”
“Good,” she said lightly. Mustn’t look at his eyes—but they’re such a delicate blue.
“The Ssi-ruuk are out there.” He gestured with his fork. “I have a day, at most, to get ready for them.”
“Less.”
“Once I settle with them, I’ll come back—to talk with you, Gaeriel—if there’s any hope that you’d reconsider about me. About Jedi. You were only partially right when you said I wasn’t born a Jedi. The Force is strong in my family.”
Startled, she sipped from the water glass. Part of her head had guessed he might say something like this, and part of her heart had longed to hear it. Why not admit it? she asked herself. See how he reacts. “Thank you for being … honest. We have no time to be socially correct. And I’m drawn to you, which is dangerous.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t—”
“Yes, you would. If I encouraged you.” She stared down at her clasped fingers. “You could manipulate people easily if you chose to.”
“I wouldn’t,” he repeated, blushing. “That would be dishonest. There’s no future in it.”
She fingered her pendant. “What are you, Luke Skywalker? What gives you the right to these powers?”
“I’m a …” He faltered. “A farm boy, I guess.”
“A family of Force-strong farm boys?” she asked sarcastically.
The high color drained from his face. She must’ve struck a nerve. “Think of it this way,” he murmured, scraping the last morsel off his plate. “There will always be people who are strong for evil. If the only way to protect others is for a few of us to become strong in the Force for good, isn’t that important? Even if your beliefs are correct, and that means bringing someone else low? People constantly sacrifice themselves for good causes. I didn’t ask anyone to die for me.”
Almost persuaded, she resisted his seeming genuineness. “The Cosmos must balance.”
“I agree. The dark side calls constantly for aggression, revenge, betrayal. The stronger you become, the more you’re tempted.”
That made her hand tremble. “Then if you, you loved someone, you could easily hate them.”
He glanced down at the generator and raised an eyebrow.
She forced herself to ignore the hurt in his eyes. “No need for the generator,” she said. “We could