Invincible (13 page)

“I must say, that seems quite wise,” C-3PO said. “The last time you two fought, you were forced to spend your nights in the bacta tank for an entire week.”

“I don’t think that’s why Luke let Ben be captured, Threepio.” Leia looked into the dark holes beneath Luke’s brow, then demanded, “What are you seeing? What scares you
that
much?”

Luke looked away, studying the ready deck as though the answer were down there somewhere. “I’m not sure,” he said. “There’s a shadow in the future. And the farther I look, the darker it grows.”

“Caedus.”
Han spoke the name as though it were a curse. “No mystery there.”

“He’s part of it,” Luke said, “the seed—though exactly how remains hidden to me.”

“But the darkness doesn’t go away when you kill Caedus,” Jaina surmised.

Luke nodded and looked away. “That’s right.”

“You
lose
?” Han asked, incredulous. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

Luke swallowed and forced himself to meet Han’s eyes, and Jaina could feel something like…
shame
in the Force.

“It’s worse,” Luke said. “I
win.
”

As usual, it was Jaina’s mother who understood first. “Oh,” she said simply. Her hand went to her mouth, then she reached for his arm. “Luke, I’m sorry. What I said earlier, about going to the dark side, I didn’t mean…”

“I know.” Luke smiled and patted her hand, but there was too much darkness in his eyes to tell whether the smile was genuine. “But it’s true. If I had any doubts about it before, my visions have only confirmed what Saba suggested on Shedu Maad—I
have
been tainted by killing Lumiya in vengeance. I can’t go after Caedus without becoming the same as Caedus.”

“Which is where I come in,” Jaina said. It gave her no satisfaction. In fact, she was beginning to feel like a holopiece in a dejarik match between her uncle and her brother—one that would determine not only
their
destiny, but that of trillions. And she wasn’t even a player in the game, just a monnok being moved through dimensions she did not comprehend. “Does that mean you can see whether—”

“I
can’t,
” Luke interrupted. “I’m trying to keep you hidden from Caedus’s visions, which means I can’t see you, either.”

“Good—I really don’t want to know anyway,” Jaina said, noting that Luke had misunderstood her question—and misread the immediate future. She only hoped her brother would show the same weakness when she attacked him. “I was asking about Ben.”

Luke looked a bit embarrassed, then shook his head. “That’s not clear yet. I’ve seen many possibilities.”

They were silent for a moment. Then Leia asked, “What can we do to swing those possibilities in Ben’s favor?”

“Nothing.” Jaina kept her gaze fixed on Luke as she spoke, both awed and frightened by the resolve that gave him the courage to risk his only son like this. In his own way, he was as calculating and ruthless as Fett—but guided by the strength of his inner convictions. It made him so much more…
dangerous.
“We can’t influence the future without giving away what Uncle Luke is doing—and that would give away
me.
”

“That’s right,” Luke said. “The best thing you can do for Ben is complete your mission. Get Caedus—soon.”

Han and Leia exchanged glances, then Han said, “That’s our plan.” He glanced back at the preparations on the ready deck, then added, “Just so I’m clear on this—there is no spy on the Council. Caedus saw Ben in a vision—one you saw, too—and
that’s
how Tahiri knew Ben would be on Coruscant?”

Luke nodded. “In Monument Plaza, by the
Devoted Technician,
” he said. “If I saw Ben there, then so could Caedus. The only thing I don’t understand is why Caedus wasn’t there himself.”

Jaina saw her parents shoot concerned glances toward each other. Her mother said, “Probably because he’s on Nickel One.”

Luke’s eyes flashed with sudden comprehension…and alarm. “Caedus is in the Roche system?” he asked. “You’re
sure
?”

“It’s what Shevu told Ben,” Leia said. “But if Caedus knew Ben was coming, maybe he’s been feeding Shevu phony intel.”

“No.” Luke’s gaze began to turn inward. “It explains too much.”

“Yeah?” Han asked. “Like what?”

“For one thing, the reason the Fourth Fleet is guarding every munitions convoy we target.” Luke turned back toward the hangar mouth, staring across space toward the Roche system. “Caedus is
there.
That’s why they always know which convoy we’re going to hit.”

Leia glanced back toward the massive preparations on the ready deck. “Which means he’s probably foreseen
this
raid, too,” she said. “He already knows you’re coming to Nickel One.”

“Probably,” Luke said.

“So you’re going to call it off, right?” Han asked. “You can’t go in there with him just waiting for you.”

“If we don’t, he’ll figure out what I’ve been doing to him,” Luke said. “And then he’ll see who’s
really
coming for him.”

Jaina began to feel raw and guilty inside. She was going to need every possible advantage to take down her brother, but sacrificing all of those lives just to mask her identity did not feel right. The truth was, it felt terribly wrong.

“Uncle Luke, there has to be some way to avoid this.”

“There
isn’t.
” Luke pivoted around and glared down on her with eyes that suddenly looked like a pair of suns blazing up from a dark well. “And it’s not your responsibility to worry about those lives. It’s mine—
mine,
Jedi Solo. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Master,” Jaina said. His voice was so hard and cold that she had to will herself not to cringe away from it, and she realized she was going to have to take a different tack if she hoped to talk him out of sending these pilots on a suicide run. “I just meant maybe there’s some way to modify that plan. And anything I can do to help—”

“There is, Jedi Solo.” Luke’s voice was softer now, with just enough humor in it to suggest that he realized Jaina had not given up. “You can go get yourself fitted for a dropsuit.”

“A
dropsuit
?” Han asked. “If you’re thinking of shooting my daughter out a torpedo tube—”

“Dad—”

“—in the middle of a battle—”

“Dad.”
Jaina grabbed her father’s arm—and was instantly shaken off. “—you’re crazy!” Han finished.

Jaina waited an instant to be sure her father was done ranting, her thoughts flying a kilometer a second as she began to see what her uncle was planning. “Dad, it just might work.”

Han scowled at her. “You’re crazy, too.”

“I’m a Solo,” Jaina said, shrugging. “But I
was
just on an inspection tour of Nickel One’s defenses with Boba Fett. I know the layout pretty well.”

Her father’s scowl only deepened. “That won’t do you any good if you get blasted to atoms on the way down.”

“Han.” Leia took his arm—and did not release it when he tried to pull free. “What are you
really
worried about?”

The fire drained from his eyes in an instant, and Jaina knew what he was
not
going to say: that now that they were talking about a solid plan—about
really
sending her after her brother—he was scared to death he was going to lose her…as he had lost Anakin and Jacen.

“I just think we need a better plan,” Han said.

“Han Solo, demanding a better plan?” Leia rolled her eyes. “Look around. Who do you think you’re fooling?”

R2-D2 gave a short whistle, though Jaina couldn’t tell whether he was trying to support her mother or father.

“No one,” Han admitted. “I just don’t like throwing Jaina into an operation at the last minute.”

“Han, that’s the best way,” Luke said. He gave Han’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It’s the only way to make sure Caedus doesn’t see her coming.”

Han sighed, then glanced over at Jaina. “You really think you can get to him down there?”

Jaina nodded. “I inspected Nickel One’s defenses less than a week ago,” she said. “How many times are we going to be this lucky?”

Han closed his eyes for a moment, then finally nodded. “Okay, let’s do it.”

“Good.” Luke looked over his shoulder, out into space, and a glint of comprehension came to his face, as though he finally understood something that had been puzzling him for some time. He remained silent for a moment, then activated his comlink. “Master Horn, please have the Owools stand down.”

“The Owools?” came Corran’s confused reply. “
Just
the Owools?”

“That’s correct,” Luke replied. “All other elements of the mission will launch as planned.”

There was a long, doubtful pause, and even Jaina found herself wondering if her uncle knew what he was doing. Space raids looked simple at first glance—pop out of hyperspace, blow something up, then escape back into hyperspace. But the truth was that they were one of the trickiest missions a small force could undertake. They relied on several different kinds of combat craft working together in a carefully choreographed dance of dazzle and destruction, and no one element could be removed without placing the others at terrible risk.

Finally, Corran said, “I don’t understand, Master Skywalker. What are the blastboats going to do about a fighter escort?”

Luke turned back toward the mouth of the hangar, once more focusing his attention on the black depths of space.

“That won’t be a problem, Master Horn,” he said. “Our escorts will be waiting for us at Nickel One.”

Do you know why the bantha crossed the Dune Sea? To get to the other side!

—Jacen Solo, age 14

A
WALL OF TURBOLASER STRIKES ERUPTED AHEAD, MOMENTARILY
concealing the gray nugget of Nickel One behind a curtain of boiling color. Jaina’s heart raced, as it always did when she was forced to sit idle during the opening stages of a battle, but she calmed herself by remembering that her uncle’s attack plan was as good as it was simple. The blastboats would strike at the Remnant Star Destroyer
Harbinger.
When the enemy sent its starfighters to engage them, the Jedi StealthXs would slip in and destroy the loading docks. During the confusion, Jaina would drop onto the asteroid, sneak inside, and hunt down her brother.

Simple. Uncomplicated. Straightforward.

Except for the fact that unescorted runs at Star Destroyers were suicide missions. And the blastboats certainly wouldn’t be receiving any help from Verpine Stingers. The Remnant’s aerosol weapon had wiped out the Verpine soldier caste across the entire asteroid belt. Jaina didn’t understand why her uncle had insisted on leaving the Owools behind—or why he had been so mysterious about his reasons. She felt sure it involved the strange duel of Force visions he was waging with her brother. Obviously, there were things he couldn’t reveal without messing up his plan, but it would have been nice if he’d just said that.

The blastboat began to shudder rhythmically as Jaina’s mother and Saba Sebatyne opened up with the laser cannons. Luke’s hands flew over the defense systems console, adjusting shields and deploying countermeasures. R2-D2 was plugged into the comm system behind him, monitoring squadron communications and coordinating with other astromechs to avoid duplicating attacks. C-3PO sat in the copilot’s seat, struggling to filter the blast static out of the sensors. Han Solo, of course, was in the pilot’s seat, doing what he did best: dodging Imperial turbolaser fire.

Only Jaina, kneeling on the deck at the back of the blastboat’s cramped passenger cabin, was not involved. Trapped in a bulky dropsuit that was as much a weapons system as it was protection against the cold vacuum of space, she could do nothing but wait…and remember the time she and Jacen had been tricked into fighting each other as young teenagers. Their captors at the Shadow Academy had cloaked them both in holographic images and pitted them against each other with live lightsabers, but they had both sensed a trap and held back just enough to avoid landing any dangerous blows.

Still, it was risky to recall such moments. As much as her brother might regret having to fight her now—might even wish there was a way to avoid it—he would not hold back this time. He would not even hesitate. He would simply try to kill her in the fastest, safest way possible, and if Jaina so much as thought twice before doing the same, that second thought would be the last one she ever had.

Tiny blue tongues of ion efflux began to pour out from the thin shell of Remnant capital ships surrounding the asteroid. Even with its fleets spread across the entire asteroid belt—and the GA’s Fourth Fleet escorting its munitions convoys—the Remnant was being careful to keep Nickel One well defended.

“Stay awake back there!” her father called. The blastboat jumped and shuddered even more as he began to dodge through the thickest part of the turbolaser barrage. “We’ve got Starhunters coming.”

A cluck of reptilian delight sounded through the floor grate covering the belly turret. The Remnant Starhunter was the modern version of the classic TIE interceptor, with shields and heavy armament that made it far more dangerous than its predecessor. To a Barabel, of course, that only meant it was more fun to kill.