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Traviss Karen
Книга "Sacrifice "
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Star Wars SACRIFICE Legacy of the Force - 05 Karen Traviss drama...
Star Wars SACRIFICE Legacy of the Force - 05 Karen Traviss dramatis p...
prologue THE SKYWALKERS' BEDROOM, ROTUNDA ZONE, CORUSCANT: 0300 H...
Ben . . . if Jacen doesn't know where you are, what are you up to? I have to stop doing...
"I'm worried about him, too." He punches the pillow into a more comfortable shape and buries ...
chapter one He will choose the fate of the weak. He will ...
light, but he'd stopped finding the ship's transparency unsettling. The hull was there. He co...
consequences of that might be. Right then, it made him feel invaded, and the relief at findin...
That's my mission: put the Amulet of Kalara in Jacen's hands. Nothing more, nothing les...
there was nothing of him, not a whisper or an echo. Ben thought he might have more luck persu...
from the head of the Galactic Alliance Guard, and they asked no questions. He also sensed Ben...
Ben . . . Pm here, Ben . . . The more Jacen relaxed and let the Force sweep him up—and ...
"I don't know what kind of ship," Jacen said, "but I'll know it when I see it." "Right ...
Easy, Ben . . . "Contact in visual range, sir." Tebut sounded relieved. The screen refr...
older; a brush with a hostile world, another step away from his previous protected existence—...
"I need some credits for the fare. I'm fed up with stealing to get by." "Of course." Be...
"How did it find me? I can't be sensed in the Force if I don't want to be, and I didn't let m...
Jacen turned. "What, whether you intended Ben to be killed, or who I have to kill to achieve ...
Fierfek, she really did have the Fett eyes. Maybe he was seeing what wasn't really there, but...
They didn't go in for procedural nicety. A chieftain with an ornately shaved beard and ...
Keldabe—watched him carefully. Even the head of MandalMotors, Jir Yomaget, wore traditional a...
"Back one side or the other in this war. That'll reduce the number of mouths to feed. Dead me...
"And what if the war comes too close to home? What if it spreads to a neighboring system or t...
shoulder plate of his purple-black armor was a light metallic brown. It wasn't unusual to see...
. get killed . . . and neglect the planet." Carid had a magnificent sneer. He was far m...
"Son, we are the shabla government," Carid said. "So what do you want to do about it?" ...
"Business is business." Fett gave him an acknowledging nod. "I'll chip in a few million creds...
"Never known you to stay out of a fight. You've got your reasons. That's why we're list...
"Come on," he said. "I've got some leads to follow up on the clone." Mirta scrambled on...
"Scum," Fett cursed. He banked the speeder sharply and heard Mirta hold her breath. "They did...
"Think like him?" Fett shook his head and set the speeder down with a thud. He'd have t...
chapter two If you can't beat them, divide them. —Cal Oma...
"Poor intel," said Omas. "As a Jedi, do you not sense these ambushes?" Niathal noted Ja...
intelligence. "Chief of State, even the Empire never managed to stop the Sepan wars, an...
That was a battle for Jacen Solo. She watched. "In that case," Jacen said, so softly th...
was still good for the Alliance, she thought, but he was far more the politician than the sol...
Omas looked stunned for a moment but then let out a small involuntary "Hah!" of oddly horrifi...
was a politician who discovered scrupulous principle halfway through the game. "They're badly...
handful of people who could be trusted not to shift allegiance to Corellia. There was no tell...
"Sometimes." Omas's brows lifted in a split second of hope. "I appreciate that it's not...
that he might make that accession easier for her one day if she worked with him rather than w...
"Shevu's very old-fashioned about losing prisoners. Anyone else in the Club unhappy with the ...
There was a presence following her, and Lumiya could pick it out like a beacon even at this r...
acceleration. The tracking screen was gone. She was looking at the streaming lights of stars ...
than the one who follows. The meditation sphere dropped out of hyperspace and made conv...
As the meditation sphere slipped into the docking bay of her habitat, Lumiya pondered on what...
The hatch popped and someone emerged, partly swathed in a cloak but with a distinctive limpin...
She strained to sense what the ship might be saying, but all she could detect was its watchfu...
in her mouth, as alien as any being she'd ever encountered. She'd been in the minds of the in...
scrape. Alema's expression was suitably surprised. "I'm actually more machine than orga...
But Alema looked as if she was thinking it over. "We still wish to help you achieve you...
"No." Alema seemed to have taken a fancy to the Sith vessel. Perhaps it was because she...
Oh, give me strength, she's rambling again. "Who did?" "Leia Solo. She took our lekku, ...
loved to dance." Lumiya tried to think of all the things she had once loved to do, in t...
"Oh, family business . . ." "That. And the fact that not all the Council is on the same...
got to go." "What took you so long? The old cyborg must be running low on lube oil by n...
The vitajuice bar was quiet and smelled unappetizingly of wet raw greenery like a flower shop...
"Wouldn't dream of getting involved," he said, shrugging. "I'm glad Ben's okay. Just remember...
What did we expect to give birth to, a librarian? "Hi, Mom." Ben slid the datapad into ...
"Mainly because you killed her daughter." "Uh . . . okay, I'll take her word for it." ...
That was a relief. It was just an errand, although why Jacen hadn't known about it baffled he...
you had to?" Mara certainly had, so many times that she took it for granted. And at any...
chapter three Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore. (Pres...
hunter?" "I'm not. You are." Mirta suddenly realized why he'd agreed to let her r...
Mirta found she was clutching the heart-of-fire pendant tight in her fist. It was just half o...
But life had to go on. She had to make sense of this, and not let Ailyn Vel's death be for no...
said. "Sintas said so." Ah. Under the veneer there might have been a man who wanted to either...
pulled out some painkiller capsules, and held them out to him. He took them without a word. H...
Mirta patched her datapad into her helmet's system. "Head down that speeder lane and go south...
In daylight, it looked even worse than it had when she'd last visited. A peppering of blaster...
swiveled. The helmet got his attention the way a chest plate alone didn't. "Ohhh, you got the...
"Time we shared some reminiscences about my wayward kin," said Fett, tapping his forefinger i...
"Doesn't sound like our line of work." Fett stood facing the man for a long, long time....
"Plan B, then." "What Plan B?" "I'll tell you when I've worked it out." "Wh...
At times it was clearly Vergere, clearly a memory, but at others he wasn't sure if it was his...
Allana since then. He'd felt nothing, no hint from the Force that this was the final step, th...
When I what? When I rule as a Sith Lord. The idea was 90 percent sobering, 9 perc...
"He's out on surveillance, sir. Intercepted some nasty ordnance, so he's out with Sergeant Wi...
from as many esoteric Force-using schools. He didn't want to use any of them. He wanted to lo...
the sequence, and a human voice answered. "Can I borrow a legal-analyst droid?" he aske...
Lumiya. In the middle of a battle, he'd had the chance to kill her, and they'd ended up...
Jacen, you liar. You said he resented the fact that I stopped him being your apprentice. ...
He ignored her. "I understand, Ben. I do. But the GAG isn't the place you should be." "...
this another way. And blast it, Ben was actually right. The GAG couldn't be abandoned t...
in the mid-distance. "You might want to ask Alderaan. No, wait—it's gone, isn't it? Oops. Tha...
Ben stared into his palm. "Wow." "That," she said, "was the best vibroblade the Empire ...
"And then what happens when we do?" Mara smacked the plates down on the counter so hard they ...
"You can have Alema. She needs a serious attitude readjustment with a lightsaber, too. It's n...
"How are you going to track her? She hides very-well.'" "I can hunt very well." Mara to...
chapter four To: Chief of Defense Logistics From: Supreme...
"As the legislation stands, it takes the agreement of the Defense Council to change the regul...
"How does that work?" "I draft a request for a change in the existing law to relieve re...
"What would I be limited to?" he asked. "Well, there has to be a fail-safe in the wordi...
"The three of you can do anything you need to for the duration of the war. With Admiral Niath...
disappointed, as if Jacen hadn't fully understood the complexity of his art. "I can tell you ...
but he was expecting to see some evidence of lack of frugality. "Now, about the cannon servic...
"That's very commendable, but I really want to understand the process, and that means getting...
Emergency Measures Act, I'm assigning you to the front-line ship that's had the most cannon m...
No more wars flaring up in each generation. No more career politicians wringing what th...
If I use that wisely, I can bypass the Senate when I need to. The power of simple human...
"No." He'd seen plenty, though. "Didn't pay enough." "Did you care about them, Ba'buir?...
He paused to hack into the Kuat police database from his HUD system. They wouldn't mind...
sensor. But it was, as he often thought, all about presentation. A little theater. It always ...
"Will that seeing require repairs afterward?" Fett flicked a very large-denomination cr...
a solid Mandalorian woman, because she could shoot straight, cook passably well, and had the ...
concentrate on the sabacc game, but it was hard to give the cards full attention when there w...
but the Hamadryas bodyguard tried to move her out of the way. He made the mistake of pu...
Occupational hazard." "Question still stands. I'll bet your organization was keen to fi...
Mirta's attention, which was fixed on him—and the Hamadryas—anyway. "I'm just going to help o...
"You're on the end of a line. I'm on solid ground. Think about it." "You're a dead man....
"You're going soft. Why are you reeling him back in?" "I want the fibercord back. It's ...
conscious of the reason for his search. He set off for the landing strip at top speed down fr...
enough to be on the same route, or they might have been rushing to intercept him. If he timed...
"I think we have help." "I hate help I didn't ask for." But help it was, so he to...
Sintas wounded the last time he'd seen her—the very last time. It had seemed the right decisi...
back was both comforting and thrilling. He settled into a seat on the end of a row in t...
Jacen could do that: Ben wasn't sure if he envied him or not. It was interesting that he seem...
Now, there was a guy who knew how to conceal what he was thinking. Ben wondered if that...
Ben pondered the question, hearing a subtle test in it. "Thinking that a person does somethin...
"I don't know which way I'll jump when the time comes," Ben said. "Nobody does. But I'l...
It might take you years to master it." Jacen motioned him to sit down on the floor. "Come on....
"Oh. . .wow. "Now," Jacen said softly, "you see why practice is necessary. But full mar...
"Like the Amulet?" Maybe he shouldn't have said it, but he felt bad about the whole thing, as...
imagined, and he knew he had to if he wanted to survive. "This is about Tenel Ka." ...
"You don't have to do it." Jacen had that slightly wounded tone that said quite the opposite....
Our contacts on Corellia are working out a time and place. You'll have to be ready to go at a...
even have been there. He knew his destiny was to be a Sith Lord more surely than he knew anyt...
Ben's comment from the conversation they'd only just finished leapt into his mind. An o...
chapter five The main barrier to getting the Galactic Alliance ...
was pretty remarkable under the circumstances. She didn't have much to laugh about. "Do I hav...
"We're going to need to break this link soon," Leia said. "Okay. Look, I have to see Ja...
Take care. Oh, I will. I've got one advantage you haven't, Leia, and that's darkness. I've be...
She turned her attention back to Lumiya. Now Lumiya was showing up at confrontations with the...
It still bothered her. She set a course for home and before she jumped, she felt him vanish a...
"You abducting me?" "Would you rather have a chat and a cup of caf while we wait for th...
"And you're not." Fett punched the controls, and Kuat dwindled to a disk beneath them. "You d...
Mirta pulled out another painkiller, grabbed his hand, and slapped the capsule into his palm....
"Ain't I gorgeous?" He grinned, and she realized she was staring at him. "A vision," Fe...
"You're very well informed." "I'm still a Tipoca boy at heart. I stay in touch with eve...
feet as a people. Where were you when the Empire was bleeding us dry?" Hut'uun was the ...
now, part of her desperate to find a reason to love her ba'buir, and half of her wishing Leia...
"We?" Mirta felt she was getting on better with Jaing. She'd use her advantage as the harmles...
"There always is." Fett crossed his arms. "What?" "Get your shebs back to Mandalore, li...
Jaing held the vial of red-black blood up to the light and admired it. "That'll do nicely. Gi...
It took a few seconds for Mirta to work out what was going on. He doesn't want to leave any D...
"So why did you get involved with Cherit's gang over the Twi'leks?" "Another promise I ...
transport. That was fine by him. He did. But a low profile was called for, so he ...
Lekauf grinned. "It's great the way you can do that, sir." "I don't get many women comi...
in a crisis. Jacen couldn't afford divisions. "You might do Captain Girdun good, too. I...
the troops." "I'm all for that." Mara sat down in the rickety chair across from his des...
Jacen expected to hear some sigh or other reaction from Lumiya, but either she was more conce...
She knows because it's inevitable, and that proves it has to be Ben. It wasn't his pare...
If she thought she'd redeemed herself in his eyes, she was wrong. She was becoming a ri...
They'd handed him an extraordinary power, and one that he'd use to change the way the galaxy ...
chapter six Reports are coming in of a major battle between Sik...
Admiral Niathal shared a number of military philosophies with Jacen Solo, and being seen on t...
"It's a different kind of war. Flexibility and rapid response, that's the name of the game no...
"Bounty, Daring, stand by." Twelve fighters shot out of the Bounty's hangar bay, spiral...
So the Bothans thought they had a nice new asset to surprise the Alliance, but the Alliance h...
Piris's face-tentacles were completely still. It gave him a commendable look of calm. "Cannon...
Two Bothan frigates were on a ramming course with Bounty. Of the remaining flotilla, five wer...
mark, and took a furious barrage of laser and cannons. Piris gave Niathal a nod of reli...
young human male was wiping tears away with the back of his hand, his attention fixed unnatur...
"The eyes and ears of the Guard. Welcome to the monitoring center. The ultimate in scrutiny."...
"And if I'm old enough to get shot at, I'm old enough to hear . . . stuff." "Can'...
Ben paused to listen. "You sure?" Girdun asked. "Run a voice profile if you don't...
"What about the Bothans, and the other planets fighting their own wars'?" "I can bring ...
Chief of State talk to the Corellian Prime Minister?" "Depends what he's talking about,...
She had a hologram of Mon Cal on the wall behind her, all shimmering blue ocean and sinuous b...
Mother of my daughter, my little darling. I wish I could see them. "We're next." Niatha...
Nice job with the procurement amendment, by the way. Slipped through like an oiled eel." Niat...
"If I feel we have to . . . act to restore stability and security, will you be standing with ...
Although he could control it, he let it race because it made him feel alive and human. These ...
"Actually, it does matter if it was lucky or not," said Jacen. "Because it goes to the ...
Omas turned to Jacen. "Your turn, Colonel." "I share the admiral's fears about overstre...
whose quietly lethal leader could have scared a Hutt gang lord. And, Jacen thought, any...
and said nothing until they were back in her office. "Well?" "Not good," she said...
"He's insane to meet Gejjen face-to-face without close protection anyway. He hasn't asked for...
Joint control." Niathal indicated her uniform and then reached out to jab a bony finger...
"I'm tabling it for next week, through Aitch-Em-Three." "And in the meantime?" "L...
contemplative journey. It was time to make sure nothing went wrong, if manifest destiny...
chapter seven Goran, in Fett's absence, I think you really ough...
the Force." "I'll use it when I need to. Most of the time now, it's overkill." Ja...
irrelevant." "Powers or not, I can't control a galaxy on my own. I need to persuade, to...
"Exactly." "You can't see yourself taking a lightsaber to a fourteen-year-old boy." ...
it matter that he still thought all her actions were dictated by an old romance, and by a tra...
catches you?" "I might win, and anyway—it'll buy you time." Lumiya was still testing he...
comes." "Think laterally," Lumiya said gently. "Luke can still take you in a lightsaber...
armed, so he could work out that he wouldn't be any happier after dispatching Gejjen. I...
from comfortable in his brand-new lieutenant's rank insignia, gave Ben a nervous grin. ...
Ben watched the flight plans from Coronet appearing on the screen. Any neutral pilot entering...
sniper rifle. Y'know—projectiles." "If you're trying to get me close to Gejjen, why do ...
operation. So we're riding along with you to make sure Omas gets home in one piece." Sh...
"Loads of reasons. We need overkill. We need something that doesn't light the place up like f...
Ben was transfixed. It was just a dummy, just a clever piece of training technology. He check...
using, as long as you hit the head or neck at all, the result's the same." "What if I c...
the gel-form to settle for just long enough to take the shot. It was harder than he tho...
"Better have a break now," Lekauf said. Ben checked to make sure the adjacent lanes wer...
declared himself Mandalore while Fett was gone, and probably found a lot of support among the...
Maybe Sintas had felt for him. He hadn't noticed. "You're not going to sit back and let...
stopped the degeneration, and Taun We would have turned that research over to her new bosses ...
age of fourteen, so making a mess on her clean floor wasn't to be attempted rashly. "We'll go...
"There." Medrit Vasur cooled the rough form of the saber in a tub of hissing liquid and turne...
because they wanted to annihilate Mandalore, not conquer it. Fett enjoyed a rare moment...
saw was just a test batch." "Have we got the facilities to do that anymore?" Fett wasn'...
"You think anyone's stupid enough to try invading like the Empire did?" Beviin said. "After w...
"I know. But take a planet in postwar recovery, an ongoing civil war, and a new find of beska...
"You didn't tell me how the lode was found," Fett said. It was his best shot at small talk, g...
been Mandalore now. Exhaustion was the best sleeping pill he knew. Before he let it eng...
chapter eight Once Omas pulls his troops back, we'll talk the B...
at Charbi City Spaceport, because he's meeting Gejjen in one of the conference rooms there th...
Ben's mind was a couple of hours ahead, thinking of the few hours' sleep he could get on the ...
"You can take whatever works for you, as long as you don't leave or carry evidence that links...
caught sight of himself in a mirror. He felt ridiculous. The foam looked mauve, and he wonder...
"Jori, I'm going to think up something special for you," he said aloud, and grinned, wanting ...
And then he sensed . . . amusement. The presence—now at the door to the apartment, he w...
The thought hit Luke like a hard slap in the face. Maybe she's abducted Ben. He felt for his ...
"Well, Lumiya's jerking my chain, as she probably was at Gilatter, too." Stupid, stupid, stup...
How could I have let this go on for so long? I don't care if I'm expected to be the elder sta...
But it wasn't his nature. It wasn't what he did best. Just because he had whatever gifts the ...
known whereabouts . . ." "Well, there's no pattern there, either . . . Do you think it'...
inner voice told her that the only person who deserved that anger was herself, for defending ...
who wasn't as totally focused on the mission as she was, to the exclusion of all else. ...
Mara put her hand on the boots and felt the remnants of dark energy. Now she was mad: cold, c...
what it's going to take to make me kill her. And nothing short of that makes sense now." ...
checked her datapad to see where Ben's transponder had gotten to. If you've left that b...
chapter nine I don't want to worry, you, sir, but I've just hea...
charcoal-gray wedge of a ship that had none of the insectoid lines of the StarViper. Fett wal...
"Beviin would call that over-egging the cake." "Think of this as the demonstrator." ...
Yomaget trailed after him. This was defense policy on the fly, and the clans didn't get consu...
Bes'uliik. It was the kind of news that made other men walk away whistling. CHARB...
"I know." It was a long wait. Shevu would make contact with them when he landed. His la...
Ben perked up. The Karpaki was folded in two inside his jacket, right on the limit of what he...
That was the plan, anyway. Ben switched seats in the cramped interior to look out from ...
It smelled of factories and sulfur. They ambled down the ramp, working hard at looking ordina...
credit chip in the slot to one side. The doors parted and Ben got a glimpse of a small, brigh...
Ben and Lekauf could hear the conversation in their earpieces, both of diem monitoring it so ...
"Of course. And you need us to come back into the GA fold to stop the membership hemorrhaging...
there love the idea of having their man back in command." Ben's gut turned suddenly hea...
There was nobody around anyway. The observation platform was cracked, and weeds were thriving...
I can do it. I got in and out of Centerpoint, didn't I? Ben held his breath, let the Ka...
If they sealed the doors . . . It was chaos. Nobody seemed to know what had happened ye...
Ben balanced on a blade's edge between surrender and making a run for it. ...
chapter ten Verpine negotiator Sass Sikili, speaking today at t...
she got into GAG HQ to grab Ben's boots." Mara squatted down to touch the permacrete. She exp...
So Lumiya was taunting her. / com get at your husband. I can get at your son. If she was so s...
"Classified," Mara said, and ended the conversation in the way that only she could. Whe...
lightsaber's blade, ready to fight when she rounded the next hull. This is it, Lumiya. ...
she wasn't, then Mara would sit in wait for her, and kill her then. It was all the same to Ma...
Last of your kind, Lumiya. And about time. Mara hesitated on the brow of the ramp. She ...
Mara didn't take that weapon lightly. It was the worst of both worlds, leather strips studded...
triumphant. I've done it. Dead. Dead, you— But Lumiya was screaming, and that was...
hidden cam," she said. "You didn't see a fight at all." "We didn't see a fight at all, ...
She settled into a shallow meditative trance to speed the healing process. Why didn't s...
This was all he needed to justify the next step. He leaned across his desk and tapped t...
you, Aitch." "Thank you, sir. So many don't." "And my apologies for dragging you ...
After that, the next stage would be to settle her in the titular role as Chief of State while...
"Let me know five minutes before you . . . pay your visit." Jacen leaned back in his se...
Ben activated his earpiece and spoke barely moving his lips to contain the whisper. "I'...
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to get rid of it." "What about the ballistic contamination? You ...
"Open the doors!" he yelled. "Open them now, or I blow her head off!" Pandemonium broke...
give them a clear shot at him. Ben wanted to run after him and help, but had no idea what to ...
The drive hadn't stalled on him. Ben could feel Lekauf now—terrified, oddly triumphant, and w...
arrested and found to be Luke Skywalker's son, carrying out political assassinations. "We jus...
chapter eleven Breaking news . . . we're just getting reports t...
little above tenor, and buzzed with a faint resonance. "We noted your return with delight." ...
Roche may be outside of your sector, but the last time Mandalorians had plenty of beskar, the...
projects." "Ah, you Mandalorians have always . . . adopted technology from others. You ...
visiting graves. Not even yours, Dad. Now he was going to put that right. He had ...
Mirta looked past Fett to watch Orade leave, and then glared at him. "I suppose that's your i...
stupid thoughts about eternity. "I knew you were basically okay when you split the hear...
"Thanks. You didn't have to." "No. I didn't." "There it is." "What?" ...
The exceptional fertility of the soil suddenly made sense. There was no point wasting organic...
Fett pondered how tedious it would be if there really were some existence after death, especi...
"Marry Ghes, and I'll make you a blaster that can take the head off a dozen Trandoshans with ...
"They heard the word beskar." "I do believe good times are on their way again, Mand'alo...
And they never got close enough to see Mandalorians at peace. Come to that, not many Mandalor...
JEDI COUNCIL CHAMBER, CORUSCANT: EMERGENCY MEETING "This one," said Master Saba Sebatyn...
Kyle Katarn joined in. "Is assassinating heads of state legal?" "In a war, I believe it...
"Just to spice up the mix, the Mandalorians are joining forces with the Verpine." Kyp seemed ...
Luke had heard the real story from Han. Never had he missed the good old clear-cut days of Re...
happened to you." "Why, darling, thank you for asking! I'm very well. Just a flesh woun...
we can do is keep an eye on the situation, and I've got a request in with Omas's secretary to...
"She wants me to catch up with her. I'll be extra-ready next time—and there will be a next ti...
head shot waiting to happen." "What's the public mood like over there?" "There ha...
it wasn't something serious. It was bad enough losing Gejjen, because at least he was a...
suspected that if he'd been a grown man, Shevu might have been harsher, but he thought Ben wa...
anti-Gejjen factions claiming responsibility, so the mission worked fine —strategically. Now ...
refreshers, toweling his hair and wondering if Jacen had set him up. I didn't have to d...
"You can stop the game. I know where you've been, and I have a horrible feeling I know why. T...
frangible round." Mara actually sat back in her chair and her left hand moved as if she...
"Or Captain Shevu's place." "Wherever you feel safest, Ben. I won't force you to come b...
don't care." "I didn't," she said, seeming to understand he meant Gejjen. "Not until la...
chapter twelve Ori'buyce, kih'kovid. All helmet, no head....
"We're in position now," he said. "We're going in." "I have an emergency appointment wi...
pleasantly neutral woody scent, and the broad corridor was lined with niches filled with rare...
how careful we have to be in our line of work." He ambled down a long hallway that made...
yesterday," Omas said, still quite casually conversational. "Good grief. You really did...
twenty-four hours the barracks and the CSF bar would be full of the gossip about how magnific...
Coruscant, the heart of galactic democracy, had undergone a silent, bloodless, and thoroughly...
chapter thirteen SENATE BUILDING Trading on the ISE was s...
interim government while the Chief of State's office is thoroughly investigated." "I li...
As long as I can keep Jacen on a choke chain, of course, and, he doesn't ruin it for me. If h...
over the GA or the Confederation. They'll always be the bursa let loose among nuna. They're o...
the floating platform. "You need to watch your back with Jacen." "I know," she said. "S...
There wasn't a single lie in there. There was never any need to lie. She meant every word. Th...
hand. It was time for him to do his party piece, so she sat down and let G'Sil have the floor...
"Oh, classic—" "—and I want Omas's office sealed until further notice." G'Sil loo...
Niathal paused and sent a message to Luke that she wanted to continue the good working relati...
It had been a long night, and the morning's news left Luke reeling. He looked at Mara a...
Personally?" Cilghal looked up. "Admiral Niathal announced it. We've heard nothing from...
the assassination, but Luke felt that something more convoluted was happening, and judging by...
to think this through, because we might leave matters worse than before we started." "W...
"I won't say it." "Fine." "And not your fault, okay? Could have been any one of u...
merge with the matter and energy around him. The more he did it, the less he felt like he was...
relied on sensing people coming and going. He thought he and his guest were alone. "You...
"That way Niathal thinks she can keep me quiet." "Or under control." "She's way t...
he'd been taught to fear and avoid, and Jacen was talking to her in his office, as bold as an...
chapter fourteen If you think you're going to scare us off by c...
"Sit down, Venku." Fett gestured to the last remaining chair in the room. He tried to think l...
his ammunition belt—his aunt's belt, he'd said, so she must have been a typical Mando woman—a...
"So you're still alive." He'd worked out what shabuir meant, too, but he chose to take it as ...
reasonable job of disguising it. "I believe you, Ben." "Maybe I did imagine it." ...
She couldn't swallow it anyway, even if it hadn't tasted like the Millennium Falcon's hydraul...
He struggled visibly with something. Mara guessed he'd been sworn to secrecy. It was way too ...
"Hesperidium. When I caught up with Lumiya." Ben's shoulders sagged. He folded his arms...
Ben nodded, grim, very old eyes in a terribly young face. He really was just a kid even if he...
during the Empire, too, and most people's lives were the same under Palpatine as they had bee...
She stopped to hug him, and he hugged her back rather than just submitting to the indignity a...
HE WILL IMMORTALIZE HIS LOVE. It still didn't make sense. If it meant killing the perso...
their lives had been a stark warning of how precarious his family's position was. He'd never ...
be him. It would be easy to kill Ben, because Ben trusted him. Jacen knew how bad that ...
chapter fifteen This has to be about more than getting tough on...
and checking the reservoir. Another man in a ragbag of assorted armor was standing with his b...
There was an awful squelch. Orade swallowed loudly. "If you're going to faint or throw ...
It was all making sense now. Kad'ika had to be the son of a clone trooper. There must have be...
If I find anyone who can read the stone, I'll let you know." Then he was gone. Orade nu...
Fett looked up as a dull black wedge shot across the sky and vanished behind a forested hill....
Yomaget looked hopeful. "We could ask those helpful insectoid chaps to lend us an orbital fac...
counted for a lot, and he still had his heroic image to protect. A line of citizens wai...
The rest of the Alliance is detail. I have its heart and mind. "Good morning," Jacen sa...
The woman looked at him suspiciously. "There's always a catch." The news droid was righ...
The little crowd muttered and oohed and ahhed. It was a perfect media moment. The protesters ...
"I understand you're concentrating forces in the Corellian and Bothan sectors," she said, sta...
"No, they want Mandalorian protection, too." "Why?" Jacen couldn't see Murkhana attacki...
by other means rather than escalate straight to saber rattling. But . . ." He thought about t...
"If they've built any yet." "I say commit a couple of nights if we can't spare a comple...
staying out of the fighting." "Isn't paying them not to fight tantamount to an insult t...
Order. It's all about order. This is the microcosm of the entire galaxy; the dry run for how ...
Mara nearly choked. It wasn't funny at all. Did Leia know something? "Mara, are you oka...
"How's Han taking it?" "Not well, to say the least. He veers between wanting to disown ...
"Okay, do you think Jacen is susceptible enough to be controlled by Lumiya?" I should h...
Take it easy for a few hours. Because I can't run on adrenaline and anxiety twenty-four hours...
She was planning to take Jacen from them, and they'd already lost Anakin. There was only so m...
chapter sixteen The government of Bothawui is prepared to pay t...
There was something deeply unsettling about a Force-user—about anyone, really—who gave off no...
"Mara, are you okay? You're not well, are you?" "Don't even think about trying that one...
"Okay, buddy," she said, not caring if a couple of Bith Senators were staring at her. "Okay."...
hider in the Force, so she went up to the apartment, bypassed his security locks, and sat dow...
"Mundane politics." "Maybe. Look, I've covered a lot of ground these last few weeks, an...
brief you on your return?" "I don't want to be contacted," he said. "If something major...
It extruded its boarding ramp without even being asked. Follow Jacen Solo, she thought,...
he'd been digging. Maybe he'd acted out that nightmare. He bounced on his heels a few t...
The only person whose death he knew would make him feel good and not just competent was Jacen...
"The cell degeneration's stopped. But the lab tech over on Dawn said we shouldn't breed from ...
chapter seventeen I find it interesting that Taun We has never ...
"Well, beats doing the wrong thing for the right reasons—classic excuse, that one. I was a co...
It was the Sith ship. He didn't know where it was, but it was calling him. It wanted to know ...
—away from the genteel, constitutional way of doing things on Coruscant. Jacen had said...
Luke grunted again, and his eyelids twitched. Mara debated whether to give him a little Force...
Plenty of little darknesses. The two with my flame. Lumiya repeated it to herself. Flam...
"Where is he?" Hapes Cluster. "Follow him." Perhaps he was going to enlist ...
transition to Sith Lord, he'll settle down fast. And she'd be no more use to him after ...
Hapes. This was Hapes. And it involved something he'd kept secret even from her. His lo...
A toy. A soft toy. Jacen had come back to the apartment with a plain package gripped tight un...
chapter eighteen The Roche government has given Murkhana twenty...
Yeah, I'm going to kill my sister-in-law's son. On the dark scale of ten, that's a twelve. ...
I could just comm Tenel Ka and ask . . . However tightly the Hapans controlled access t...
"Fleet, he's not aware that we have concerns for his safety and that we've put close protecti...
He dropped out of hyperspace and headed back Coreward to Taanab, not Hapes, even though he wa...
If he could avoid killing the Sith ship, he would. For some reason, it bothered him more than...
whisper of fate, dreading it, but there was only silence. It would only have caused him...
with Ben's face. I want it over with. I can deal with it. I just can't stand not knowin...
hostile that was trying hard not to be. He hoped it was Hapan, and that they were just trying...
second; he rolled instinctively to break, suddenly aware it was a landing light so close on h...
chapter nineteen She logged out Five-Alpha at 0036 hours, sir, ...
Laser cannons flared across his port side and he felt the impact in the airframe, but he was ...
He didn't have to explain it to her. Suddenly he could see an orange ball accelerating toward...
He'd have to trawl for wreckage later. Right now, his priority was to silence Mara Jade Skywa...
Masters may use their ships to fight but not involve apprentices. "Ship, Jacen made an ...
frequencies. She was urging the sphere to fire on Ben, to ram his shuttle, to kill him. ...
KAVAN, HAPES CLUSTER Mara set the StealthX down in the middle of nowhere and reminded h...
her way into the maze of buried passages and get Jacen to follow her. She was nowhere n...
chapter twenty From: Sass Sikili, negotiator of Roche To:...
He expected Jacen to show up to issue a warning, but Niathal said Jacen was away on "business...
She was right. Unless someone happened to eyeball Five-Alpha or Mara had left a transponder o...
Mara, the better. Luke tried to appear casual as he climbed into his cockpit. Jaina sto...
He was still looking for meanings and patterns in the events around him, and he now saw in hi...
"Okay," he said. "I know you can hear me, Mara. You can still back out of this." His vo...
From here, the vaulted ceiling became lower, and even Mara had to run at a crouch. It wasn't ...
Jacen's boots crunched over bricks. He was impatient. She was in his way, holding him up when...
She felt as detached and steady as she'd ever been as the Emperor's Hand. "Tell my mom ...
chapter twenty-one Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la. Not g...
Ben ... he didn't know where Ben fitted into this, but now he knew he did, as surely as he kn...
Force-pushed, Force-crushed: he threw her back again, trying to Force-jolt her spine and para...
Jacen stared into her eyes and instantly created the illusion of Ben's face beneath her. She ...
Jacen suppressed his instinct to help her. "It's my destiny, Mara—to be a Sith Lord, and brin...
Ben was the last word she ever spoke. KAVAN Lumiya felt the Force shift subtly li...
chapter twenty-two I don't know what's happening, Mand'alor, bu...
I just killed my aunt. I grew up with her. She was there for me. We fought a war together. ...
Then he felt a presence. He leaned his head against the side of the cockpit canopy, and gazin...
was able to come to your aid." "Wonderful." "And she even gave them a description...
"Well, who knows. And here I am about to say they'll never trace the poison back to me, but d...
hers through. She studied him with her head on one side for a while, eyes disturbingly green ...
"Still no sign of Ben," Luke said, stroking Jaina's hair. "And I can't even guess where he is...
"Don't say it," said Luke. "He's a total stranger," Jaina said. "There. I had to, or el...
"I know. I know." "It's Lumiya." "We don't know that." "You're reasonable t...
"Jaina," he said. "I think you have to leave this to me." "What was it you said about n...
higher frequencies in its drives made his sinuses tingle. "Who says defense procurement...
"Sometimes," said Medrit, "you have only to ask. Go read the Resol'nare. The six basic tenets...
and if there was any serious attempt at government going on— Mando'ade regarded that as...
all ran better under Vader." "I'm still waiting for justice for my mama," Mirta said qu...
But apart from the fact that he was now minus everything good in his heart except Ben, Luke f...
Lumiya was here; Luke could feel her because she wanted him to, he knew that. He wondered how...
angular masts and webbed vanes at its cardinal points lent it an edge of predatory grace. ...
He jumped out of the cockpit and waited for her to leave the safety of her vessel, standing w...
was around her eyes rather than her cybernetic mouth. "Just doing what I swore an oath to the...
As she straightened up, he looked her in the eyes—calm, eerily calm—and swung his lightsaber ...
Jacen's mouth opened slightly while he stared first at Mara—a long, baffled stare—and then at...
chapter twenty-three Lawyers for former GA Chief of State Cal O...
lowered it into the man's palm before sitting down and trying to seem unconcerned. The ...
"She said you were far too young to know what you were doing, and you said you only needed to...
lines of work, a permanent identifying mark had its drawbacks. "It doesn't give me the ...
The man opened his eyes and took a rasping breath. "Phaeda. Whatever it was, it happene...
He was only ten or maybe fifteen years older than Fett. "I don't think I've ever been to Phae...
The only thing Fett knew about his own daughter beyond the people she'd killed and what she'd...
Jacen nodded politely. She sounded as if she really meant the condolence, but then she was pr...
normal conversation about deaths. The best thing we can do to honor my aunt's memory is to wi...
I can see all this. "Can we check that out?" the officer of the watch called to a colle...
slept. "It's okay, Cilghal," he said. "I don't need to be alone with her." "Oh, y...
But he understood so little of those elements of mysticism. Right then, he was grateful to se...
"I know, legal process and all that, but legal process . . . Lumiya said she had to . . . wel...
"Ben . . ." "What about all the other people she killed and had killed? She's not worth...
chapter twenty-four Message to: Hapan Meet Ops Originatin...
recently . . . and only to vongese, if they were. Besides, Fett wanted decent HNE cover...
"I'm not sure how to tell you this." She brandished the datapad as if she wanted to show she ...
She handed him the datapad. The screen was already set to show images of what was stored in R...
She was going to have quite a bit of catching up to do with the galaxy—and her shattered fami...
death by death, a change so gradual and incremental that he hardly noticed its passage until—...
But he kept seeing Ben's face as he walked up to the boy in that tunnel and found him keeping...
and Allana, and they would come to hate him when the truth was known. I've sunk as low ...
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