TWENTY-THREE

That night, as I fell into bed and waited for sleep, I refused to review the dinner conversation, even though I had a nagging sense something of importance had been said during it. I didn’t want to get anywhere close to going over again what I’d felt during Carida’s death. I had once thought myself so hardened that a distant tragedy like this would tote itself up as just a statistic.

My training in the Force had changed all that. It hadn’t made me any softer or weaker, but just more aware. I became cognizant of more of the connections between things and people. The pain of those who had died at Carida had echoes in the pain of relatives who would never see kin again, expatriates who could never go home again, people like Han Solo, whose memories of Carida would forever be tarnished because of what Kyp had done. While all of this would have been obvious to someone who sat down to think about it, it had come to me full blown through the Force. It amazed me, and also reinforced how vast my sphere of responsibility had become.

Sleep, when it finally came, was mercifully dreamless. I awoke a bit late and skipped my run, instead helping Han pre-flight the Falcon. He loaned me a couple of hydrospanners so I could work on Mara’s Headhunter. He then said his farewells to his family and raced off, leaving his children flanking their mother, waving fervently until the Falcon vanished from sight.

I spent much of the rest of the day working on the Headhunter. When Artoo was not busy with babysitting duties, he helped me out. He saved me from a mistake where I crosswired two boards in the navicomp that would have transposed coordinates, sending me off in directions I didn’t want to go. By early evening I’d fixed most of the things Kyp had broken and figured I would resume where I left off the next morning. I finished the day with an evening run and a long soak in a cool stream, then dropped into bed.

I felt more than heard the children scream. I bolted from bed and ran to the turbolift, but the car was already moving upward and away from my level. I ran to the internal stairwell and started sprinting upward as fast as I could. Above me, in the Grand Audience Chamber, I could feel forces gathering, and was surprised that the person sitting with Luke had not raised an alarm. Streen is smart enough to summon help.

The second the old man’s image popped into my mind, a piece of the dinner conversation echoed through my head. “I can’t get away from him,” he’d said desperately. “The dark man. A dark man, a shadow. He talked to Gantoris. He talked to Kyp. You shine the light, but the shadow always stays, whispering, talking.” My chest tightened. By all of Alderaan’s ghosts, we’ve doomed Master Skywalker!

A raging windstorm howled through the Grand Audience Chamber and battered me as I burst through the stairwell doorway. As I entered the room, I saw Leia leap for her brother’s legs and get carried upward toward the ceiling by the cyclone. At the heart of the storm, Streen danced around in a circle, his arms spread wide, his eyes open but unseeing. He clearly meant for the storm to blow Luke and Leia out through the skylights and hurl them into the jungle, where the fall would kill them.

And without any telekinesis, I was powerless to halt the storm. Something urged me to despair over the fact, but I brushed it aside. I’ll just have to make Streen stop it himself.

As the turbolift door opened and Kirana Ti boiled into the storm armoring Streen, I set myself and concentrated. Summoning the Force, I projected into Streen’s brain a vision of the room that did not include me or Kirana or the other apprentices coming out of the lift. I also showed him that the room was empty save for himself. Those he wished to blow out of here were gone, sent off on the fate he had intended for them. I shoved into him a sense of his mission having been accomplished fully and totally and I felt an alien wave of satisfaction roll back out from him.

Then Kirana Ti battered her way past his defenses and tackled him. The wind died, allowing Luke and Leia to plunge toward the ground. Kam Solusar and Tionne rushed forward and used their telekinetic abilities to catch the siblings and lower them to the ground slowly.

Master Skywalker appeared to be unhurt. Streen slowly recovered himself and explained that in his nightmare, he thought he was fighting the dark man. He had tried to destroy him, thought he had, and then awoke to find he had actually been trying to kill Master Skywalker.

Standing up, Streen put an edge into his voice. “We must destroy the dark man before he kills all of us!”

I retreated back down the stairs, mulling over Streen’s words. I’d always known it would come down to that. While I used sociopathic murderers as mental models for Exar Kun, I hadn’t located the logical flaw in my thinking. When hunting a sociopathic killer on Corellia, we could still have our blasters set on stun. We could capture him, have him treated for mental illness, have him incarcerated so he would do no more harm or even exile him to Kessel or some other hideous penal colony. We could also kill him, but only after court proceedings and judicial reviews. If we had to, if we were given no choice, we could employ deadly force against him, but few serial murderers fought to the bitter end.

Capture and rehabilitation were not options with Exar Kun. Master Skywalker might have been able to redeem his father, but I held out no such hope for the dark man. Luke had a stake in redeeming his father, and his father had a connection to him that invited redemption. Exar Kun had just spent four millennia trapped on this rock—virtually forever to think on what he had done—and if he hadn’t decided to mend his ways in that time, it wasn’t going to happen when one of us asked nicely.

But how does one kill a creature of the dark side? I had no clue as to the answer to that question. We would just have to find a way and then do it.

It really came as no surprise when, as I lay down in my bunk, an oily, glistening black stain seeped into the ceiling above me. It resolved itself into the shadowy image of a tall, slender, sharp-featured man. He wore archaic clothes and long hair. He knitted his long fingers together at his waist.

“Your mind-trick was quite good, Keiran Halcyon.”

“High praise from a Dark Lord of the Sith.” I watched him through half-lidded eyes. “Did it really fool you, Exar Kun, or were you just too trusting in using Streen’s senses?”

The Dark Lord threw his head back in a silent laugh. “Fire and spirit, good. I had misjudged you because Gantoris and Kyp held you in such contempt.”

“And here I thought a man should be known by his enemies.”

“A truism I once lived by.” The shade descended from the ceiling and stood at the foot of my bed. “I was once like you, a mere man filled with ambitions.”

I sat up and snorted. “If you’re the ‘after’ holograph, I’m not interested.”

“Quite droll, Keiran, not as full of anger or fear as the others.” Exar Kun’s obsidian gaze bored into me. I tried to armor my mind against him the way I had with Mara Jade, but he was in and out too quickly for me to stop him. “You have more experience and more maturity. You are a riper fruit.”

“But not to be plucked by you.” I drew my knees up and hugged them to my chest. “You continue to misjudge me if you think there is anything I want from you.”

“Oh, there is, you just don’t realize it,” A confident grin twisted his ebon features. He gestured casually with his right hand and a window opened in the air, hanging there in the center of my room. Within its confines I saw an Imperial Star Destroyer and I knew I was looking at the Invidious. It looked more worn than it had in the image General Cracken had showed me, but battle damage had far from crippled it. Swarms of Tri-fighters cruised around it on picket duty.

The image zoomed in, closing on the bridge, and exploded in through the forward view port. There stood Leonia Tavira, a bit older than Cracken’s image of her, but all the more beautiful for it. She wore her black hair longer, so it fell to the swell of her breasts. Her figure had become less gangling and more rounded—while still petite, she had developed symmetrically so without other things or people around to judge scale, she appeared perfectly normal. Her violet eyes gleamed with a feral cunning that sizzled electrically through the image I was being shown.

The long-dead Sith Lord laughed lightly. “I can give you the power to destroy the Invids. Wipe them out. Or …” The image of Leonia brightened slightly. “I can give you the power to possess her and rule beside her. I will use the two of you as the focal point for a new Empire that I will spread throughout the galaxy.”

I felt a stirring in my loins, then forced myself to laugh and shake my head. “It’s been a while for me, and she’s pretty, but I’m not interested.”

“No, of course, you are not. You are a man of duty. Still here, on the Invidious, there are things you want.”

The image pulled back a bit and slid over to center itself on an armored figure standing well back of Tavira. Two meters tall and apparently male, he wore a grey cloak over steel-grey armor. The armor looked as if it were made of the same plasteel used in stormtrooper armor, but had been shaped differently and layered with another material that provided texture and the grey color. The styling appeared more natural and primitive, as if designed to mimic the armored hide of some animal. This remained true of the facemask the figure wore. Serpentine styling and diagonal eye slits gave it a very viperish cast.

As soon as I saw him I knew he was the reason the Invidious could remain hidden. As I watched, his head came up and he stared straight out at me. His head then dipped and the image faded for a moment. Then I saw him striding forward toward Tavira. He gestured and she began shouting orders that started a flurry of activity.

Exar Kun yawned. “He is the true foe you seek. He is responsible for her successes. With my power you can defeat him, supplant him, do with her what you wish.”

“I’ll get there without your help at all, Exar Kun.”

The shade’s voice sharpened. “Perhaps, but you will not get here without it.”

The image he presented me shifted and my stomach imploded. I saw Mirax lying on a bier, very much like Master Skywalker above us. A soft silver light bathed her. Her arms rested at her sides and she looked as if she were just napping. The only anomalous feature in the image was a small grey band resting on her forehead, pulsing with red and green lights. She looked very peaceful, and try as I might, I could sense no distress from her.

And nothing else.

“I can give her to you. I can tell you exactly where she is.” Exar Kun shaped his face into what he thought was a compassionate expression. “You know the Force allows me to show you the past, the present, the future. This is where she is, your wife, right now. Hidden away, where you will never find her without my help.”

“And what would you have me do for your help?”

“Kill Skywalker.”

I smiled. “Mirax’s life for his? No deal.”

“You want more?” The Dark Lord laughed defiantly. “I can give you more, I will give you more. I will give you your wife and Tavira. You can have her ship and destroy her fleet. You can destroy your father-in-law’s ship. You can return to Corellia and destroy those who hate you there!”

I shook my head. “No.”

“No?”

“No.” I sighed. “You don’t get it, do you? You’ve already lost and you’re continuing down that losing path. Haven’t the last four thousand years taught you anything?”

“I know more than you could ever hope to learn in four thousand years or forty thousand years.”

“That may be, but I know the one thing you don’t.” I rose from my bed and pointed a finger at him. “You’re never going to win. You destroy those who oppose you, and what does that leave you?”

“The faithful.”

“From among whom arises a rival. You have a schism.”

“And I destroy the heretics.”

“Yes, you do.” I nodded carefully. “And again and again that cycle repeats itself and you let it go on because you’ve forgotten the most fundamental truth of reality: Life creates the Force. When Kyp destroyed Carida, he diminished your power. When you destroyed Gantoris, you diminished your power. You’re a predator over-grazing your prey, but you can’t stop because the dark side fills you with this aching hunger that will never be satisfied.”

“Ha!” Exar Kun’s laughter slashed at me, but sounded just a bit too shrill. “You cannot speak of the dark side until you have experienced it. Join me and learn that you are wrong.”

“I don’t think so. A Two-Onebee droid doesn’t need to contract a disease to diagnose and treat it.” I folded my arms across my chest and laughed at him. “I’m not fodder for your fantasies, go away.”

Exar Kun lifted his head. “I came to you, now, inviting you to join me. I would have given you much. When next you come to me, and you will, I shall not be so generous.”

As he spoke the image of Mirax began to fade, but it did so in a most horrible way. I watched her lying there, aging years for every passing second. Her dark hair became grey and brittle, then fell out in clumps. Her flesh became ashen, her eyes sunken. Her body puddled out through the seams of her clothing, then they split, letting me see bare bones. A gust of wind came up, scattering them, spinning her skull around like a child’s toy. Finally it came to rest, gap-toothed, staring at me with empty sockets.

I blinked the image away and found myself alone again. I sat back down on my bed and discovered I was trembling. It surprised me, so I made myself laugh. I had to push at first, but it came more easily. The warm sound filled my small room and I swore I could hear the echoes of laughter that Biggs, Wedge and Porkins had shared in here. They had laughed because they knew they had the secret of destroying the Death Star.

I laughed along with them. Exar Kun had come to me to entice me to join him. What he didn’t know, what fueled my laughter even more, was that in doing so, he gave me the secret of destroying him.

I hoped for a moment alone with Leia Organa Solo to tell her what I’d discovered about Exar Kun, but between her caring for her children and the unexpected arrival of a B-wing fighter, I had no chance to speak with her. I wanted to talk to her alone because I was operating on the assumption that the dark man might have gotten to others of the students. She’d not been on Yavin long enough to fall under his sway, and I had no doubt that she’d be able to resist him. Letting everyone know that I had a way to hurt Kun was a good way to let him know that, too, and that would rob us of our weapon.

The pilot of the B-wing turned out to be a Mon Calamari named Terpfen, who blubbered out a confession about having been an agent under Imperial control who had betrayed to the Imps the location of the world Anoth, where Winter and the youngest Organa Solo child, Anakin, had been sent for safe keeping. He urged Leia to head immediately for Anoth, but she said she didn’t know its coordinates. Only Winter, Master Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar did. She determined to head immediately for Mon Calamari to find Ackbar, and then off to rescue her youngest child.

While the other students took charge of the twins and helped Terpfen recover from his journey, I caught up with her in the Great Temple. “Councilor Organa Solo, I need to speak with you.”

“Make it brief. I’m heading out as soon as I can get my stuff together.”

I hit the button for the turbolift. “You can’t go with Terpfen. He’s a known traitor.”

She preceded me into the lift. “I can handle myself on that count.”

“Despite the assurances that Ambassador Cilghal gave you that we can protect your twins, you can’t leave them here.”

Her brown eyes sparked dangerously. “So, what, I load them into a fighter with a known traitor and take them off to a world where Imperial assassins are going to be trying to kill them?”

“No, but leaving them here, where a four-thousand-year-old Dark Lord of the Sith is turning apprentices into puppets isn’t much of a choice, either.” I shook my head. “You don’t know any of us. How can you trust all of us with your kids?”

“I can’t trust all of you.” She poked a finger square in my chest. “I’m trusting you.”

“What?”

Her expression sharpened as the lift doors opened and she started down the hall to her room. “When my husband left here, he said I could trust you. Not an easy man to earn trust from, my husband. That got me wondering and you’d be surprised what the president of the New Republic can learn when she’s curious and has got a HoloNet connection. The fact that my brother picked you to be here counts a lot in your favor, but the rest of your record doesn’t hurt at all. I think my children are safe with Corran Horn.”

“Look, since you know who I am, let me fly you to Mon Calamari. I’m a hot hand with a fighter. I can help when you get to Anoth.”

She shook her head. “Can’t do it—and that’s because I do know who you are. I know that if you wanted to be my chauffeur, you’d not have come to me privately. You want something else, and I’m willing to bet that something else means you’re going to be staying here. Let me have it.”

I nodded as she started shoving clothes into a satchel. “First, I think the apprentices who are vulnerable to Exar Kun are those who have had some brush with the dark side in the past. Streen once asked me about something I considered minor, but it might be the vector in for Exar Kun. Can’t confirm that about Gantoris or Kyp, but it would make sense since those who have fallen once can more easily be lured back to old paths of behavior.”

Leia paused for a moment. “That would put Kam at risk.”

“He’s pretty tough, but, yes, there’s a chance.” I glanced down. “Streen remains a risk. Can’t pinpoint any others, though Brakiss has an Imperial background that would make him prey.”

“Right. What else?”

“We have a basic problem if we’re going to figure out a way to deal with Exar Kun. If we exclude everyone who is suspect, he could know something is afoot because of that fact.”

“And he could use any paranoia that develops as a way into those who aren’t yet tainted.” She zipped up her bag. “So is there a solution to this problem, or do we evac Yavin?”

“With Kyp running around in an invincible ship? No way. We’re all that can stand between him and his returning with a way to move Exar Kun off this ball.”

“Evac is out. The problem still stands then.” She watched a smile grow on my face. “I hate it when a Corellian smiles like that. Usually means Han’s about to lose the Falcon to Lando in some sabacc game.”

“Well, it’s Exar Kun’s chance to lose this time, because he overplayed his hand.” My smile broadened. “Your brother identified an ability in me, one to project thoughts into others. How well I know them, the degree of contact I feel for them, determines how much I can pump through. Exar Kun came to me last night, after I helped take Streen down by projecting into him the idea that he’d succeeded at what he tried to do. Kun tried to bring me over to his side, but I resisted. He got a good read on me and tried to play me.”

Leia smiled and it became easy for me to see why thousands of Rebel hearts had been broken when she married Han Solo. “And while he was playing you, you got a good read on him. You can track him, when he’s active?”

“I think so. I also think these displays take a lot out of him. I think he’ll be keeping a low profile, probably tapping in on Streen, to find out what we’re doing.”

She nodded. “And you can feed enough back through that connection to deceive him?”

I nodded. “Giving us time to find a way to deal with him.”

“Good, very good.” Her eyes sharpened. “I can’t leave you in charge—he’d notice the change in routine and spot you as a danger.”

“Right. I’ll have to keep a low profile, too. I’ll keep quiet unless things aren’t going to work or start going really badly.” I moved from the doorway as she headed out toward the turbolift. “I know I can buy us time, but not much. At the rate he recovers, Kun should be ready for something tomorrow, maybe tonight.”

“I know you’ll do what you can.” She stopped at the turbolift and offered me her hand. “May the Force be with you.”

“And you.”

“I hope so.” She smiled at me grimly as the turbolift doors closed. “I have a feeling we’ll both need it.”