The Joiner King (16 page)

The murky presence rose inside Raynar and pushed Luke out with such power that he felt as though he were falling.

“We remember the Crash,” Raynar said. “We remember flames and pain and smoke, we remember fear and loneliness and despair.”

The finality in Raynar’s voice brought a tense silence to the dais—a silence that Han broke almost instantly when he whirled on Raynar with an outstretched finger.

“What about Jaina and the others?” he demanded. “Do you remember
them
?”

“Of course,” Raynar said. “They were our friends. That is why we called them.”

“
Were
?” Han stepped toward Raynar. “Has something happened? If you’re trying to make Joiners of them—”

“Han!” Leia stopped Han with a gesture—she was probably the one person in the galaxy who could do that—then turned to Raynar. “Well?”

“Jaina and the others are well.” Raynar addressed himself to Han. “But they were Raynar Thul’s friends. We are unsure how they feel about
us
.”

“You haven’t answered the question,” Luke observed.

“The Colony has need of them,” Raynar replied. “Only Jedi can prevent a war with the Chiss.”

Han started to complete the threat he had made earlier, but Leia quickly rose and drew him to the edge of the dais.

“The Chiss have told us that there is a border conflict,” Luke said. “But not why.”

Raynar’s scar-stiffened face showed twitches of suspicion. “We do not know why. The system we have entered is over a light-year from the nearest Chiss base, and we have established nests only on food sources. Their explorers are alone on all the ore planets. We have even offered to work in their mines, in exchange for food and supplies.”

“Let me guess,” Han said from the edge of the dais. “The Chiss aren’t interested?”

“Worse. They have poisoned our food worlds.” He tilted his disfigured head and made a clicking sound deep in his throat—a sound that was echoed by the tapping mandibles of the attendant insects below. “Our nests our starving, and we do not understand why.”

Luke found Raynar’s confusion odd. “You’re only a light-year from their border. You don’t think they might be worried about your intentions? Or want to claim the system for their own?”

“The Colony is not stopping them,” Raynar said. “They are free to take what they need.”

“As long as you’re free to take what you need?” Leia asked.

“We do not need the same things,” Raynar answered. “There is no reason to fight.”

“No reason you can see,” Mara said. Luke sensed that she was as mystified as he was by Raynar’s blindness to Chiss territorial concerns. “Maybe we should go take a look at what’s happening there. Where is this system?”

Raynar’s unblinking gaze shifted to Mara. “You wish to go there?”

“You said you needed help,” Luke reminded him. “Perhaps we can resolve the situation.”

“We know what we said.”

Raynar’s eyes grew very dark around the edges, and suddenly Luke could see nothing else. The murky presence began to reach into his mind, trying to push its way inside his thoughts to read
his intentions. Luke was astonished by its power and had to reach deeply into the Force to bolster his own strength. Though the probe was hardly subtle or refined, it felt as though it were being driven by a thousand Raynars, and he feared for a moment that in his surprise he would be overwhelmed by its sheer might.

Then he felt Mara pouring her own strength into him, and Saba and even Leia. Together they pushed the dusky hand back. Luke found himself looking once again into the blue, lidless eyes of their host, and he finally began to comprehend just how difficult it was going to be to reach Raynar Thul.

“What are you waiting for?” Han demanded, apparently not noticing his companions’ sweaty brows and trembling hands. “Tell us where the system is … unless you’re afraid of what we’ll find.”

“We have nothing to fear from you, Captain Solo. Jaina and the others are free to leave anytime they wish.” Raynar floated to his feet, then tipped his head to Luke and the other Jedi. “As are you, Master Skywalker. We will assign a guide to escort you back to the Lizil nest.”

“We won’t be going back to the Lizil nest. Not yet.” Luke met Raynar’s eyes, this time ready to meet a probe with a Force wall of his own. “We came to investigate what Jaina and the others are doing.”

“You’re welcome to stay on Yoggoy as long as you like,” Raynar said. “But we’re sorry. You can’t see our Jedi.”

“
Your
Jedi?” Han snarled. “When the Core goes dark!”

Leia motioned Han back, then stepped toward Raynar, her chin raised in challenge. “Why not? Because we’ll discover you haven’t been entirely honest? Because the Chiss are more in the right than you’re telling us?”

“No.” Raynar’s mouth straightened, perhaps in an attempt at a smile. “Because we know how good you are, Princess Leia—and because you serve necessity instead of virtue.”

“Just hold on,” Han objected. “Leia has been out of politics for a long time. This is just
us
.”

“Really?” Raynar turned to Luke. “What do the Jedi seek?”

“Peace,” Luke answered instantly.

“Peace in the Galactic Alliance,” Raynar amended. “We know where the new Jedi Temple has been built.”

“That doesn’t mean we are the Galactic Alliance’s servants,” Luke said.

“Master Skywalker, remember who Raynar Thul’s parents were. We
know
how money works.” Raynar stood. “You must bow to the needs of those who pay your bills—and, at the moment, the Galactic Alliance needs you to turn your back on what is right.”

“Right from whose viewpoint?” Luke countered, also standing. “Right and wrong, good and evil, light and dark—most of the time, they are illusions that prevent us from perceiving the greater reality. The Jedi have learned to distance themselves from these illusions, to seek the truth beneath the words. Let us go—”

“No.”

Raynar stepped toward Luke, and suddenly the dark presence returned, pressing against him, trying to push him toward the edge of the dais. Luke opened himself to the Force and pushed back, standing firm until Raynar came toe-to-toe with him, and they stood glaring into each other’s eyes, two strangers who had been, in another life, Master and pupil.

“We have heard about this new Force of yours,” Raynar said. “And we despair. The Jedi have grown blind to the dark side itself.”

“Not at all,” Luke said. “We have learned to see it more clearly than ever, to recognize that the dark side and the light side spring from the same well—inside
us
.”

“And which side is it that wishes to find Jaina and the other Jedi Knights?” Raynar asked. “The side that knows what is right? Or the side that serves the Galactic Alliance?”

“The side that the serves the will of the Force,” Luke answered. “Everywhere.”

“Then you will serve it best by leaving Jaina and the others to settle this,” Raynar said. He turned his back on Luke and started toward the steps. “As we said, you are welcome to stay on Yoggoy as long as you like.”

“I’ll bet,” Han said, going after him. “And when we get to be Joiners—”

“Thank you.” Leia grabbed Han’s arm and jerked him back. “We look forward to learning more about the Colony. After we have, perhaps we can discuss this further?”

Raynar stopped on the top step and glanced back, his scorched face tipped at a slight angle. “Perhaps, but you won’t change our mind, Princess. We know you too well.” His gaze shifted back to Luke. “We know you
all
too well.”

Were it not for the golden gleam of C-3PO’s head—bobbing along through a forest of feathery antennae as he questioned their guide about the Colony languages—Leia would never have been able to tell which scarlet-headed insect they were following. The route back to the hangar was swarming with Kind, and at least half of them were Yoggoy, proud and bustling and identical in every way she could see to the guide that had been assigned to escort them.

The passage took a sharp bend, and Leia lost sight of C-3PO. Waving the others to follow, she started to walk faster.

“What’s the hurry?” Han said, catching her by the arm. “We could use a few minutes alone.”

“Alone?” Leia tipped her head at the steady stream of insects clattering past. “Take a look around!”

Han was careful to avoid doing as she suggested, but gave a little shudder anyway. “You know what I mean. Without Raynar’s spy listening in. I’ve got a plan.”

“Planz are good,” Saba agreed from the back of the group.

“But we don’t want to look suspicious,” Mara said. She waved the group forward again, and they set off with Leia and Han in the lead, Luke and Mara next, and Saba bringing up the rear. “Let’s keep moving while we talk.”

“I’m pretty sure I can talk Juun into giving us a copy of that list of nests on his datapad and any charts he
does
have on the Colony,” Han said. “Between that and your Jedi senses, it shouldn’t take us that long to figure out where Jaina and the others
are. After all, Raynar practically told us where to look—a light-year or so from the frontier.”

“
If
he was being honest,” Mara said. “He was always clever, but now … we should be careful. This new Raynar is a lot more formidable than the kid we remember. I have a feeling he’s already ten steps ahead of us.”

“And
that’s
why we should accept his offer to stay on Yoggoy for a while,” Leia said. They rounded the bend in the corridor, and Leia spotted C-3PO’s golden head fifteen meters ahead—far enough away that no matter how good the guide’s ears were, it should be impossible to eavesdrop over the clicking and thrumming that filled the passage. “We need to learn as much about Raynar—and the Colony—as he knows about us.”

“We know enough,” Han grumbled. “We know that Raynar joined minds with a bunch of bugs, and that if we don’t get to Jaina and Jacen and the others soon, the same thing’s going to happen to them.”

“Han, we have time,” Luke said. “A Jedi’s mind is not easily dominated.”

“Oh, yeah?” Han glanced back. “
Raynar
was a Jedi.”

“A much younger and inexperienced Jedi—and a grievously wounded one,” Mara said. “Luke and Leia are right. We need to answer some questions before we go.”

“Yes,” Saba said. “This one would like to know why they are lying about the Dark Jedi.”

Mara nodded. “I noticed that, too.”

“Even
I
picked up on it,” Han said. “But I don’t see what difference it makes to finding Jaina and the others.”

“
That’s
what we need to find out,” Leia said. Han’s mind ran as straight as a laser bolt when he was worried about his children—and she loved him for it. “Trust me, we’re better off knowing if Lomi and Welk are mixed up in this.”

“And we need to talk to Raynar some more,” Luke added. “I don’t want to leave him here like that. I’m sure Cilghal knows someone who can repair that burn damage.”

“
That
choice may not be ourz,” Saba said. “He is the heart of the Colony. This one does not think the Kind will let him go easily.”

“Even if he wanted to, which he won’t,” Mara said. “Power is addictive, and he’s the king bee of a galactic empire.”

“If power was the only appeal, we might have a chance,” Leia said. The passage divided about twelve meters ahead, and C-3PO and the guide vanished down the right branch without looking back. “But Raynar is
responsible
for the Colony. It wouldn’t exist without him, and he won’t abandon it lightly.”

“Now I
really
have a bone to pick with those Dark Jedi,” Han said. “And with Raynar, too. Why couldn’t he just let bugs act like bugs?”

“Because he’s a Jedi.” Luke sounded almost proud. “And he was trained in our old tradition—to serve life and protect it, wherever he found the need.”

“Yeah, well, he won’t be protecting much life when that border conflict gets out of hand,” Han said.

“Yes, now many more livez are at risk,” Saba said. “Nature is cruel for a reason, and Raynar has upset the balance.”

“The law of unintended consequences,” Mara said. “That’s why it’s better not to intervene. A modern Jedi would have held himself apart and studied the situation first.”

“And we’re sure that’s a good thing?” Leia asked. She was as surprised as anyone to hear herself asking this question, for the war had hardened her to death in a way that she would not have believed possible twenty years before. But the war was over, and she was
tired
of death, of measuring victory not by how many lives you saved, but how many you took. “How many beings would have died while a modern Jedi studied the situation?”

Luke’s confusion filled the Force behind her. “Does it matter? A Jedi serves the Force, and if his actions interfere with the balance of the Force—”

“I know,” Leia said wearily. “I just miss the days when all this was simple.”

Sometimes, she wondered whether the tenets of this new Jedi order were an improvement or a convenience. She worried about what had been sacrificed to this new god Efficiency—about what had been lost when the Jedi abandoned their simple code and embraced moral relativism.

They came to the divide in the passage and started down the right-hand branch. C-3PO and the guide were waiting about five meters ahead.

“Buruub urub burr,”
the guide droned.

“Yoggoy asks that you please try to keep up,” C-3PO translated.

“Rurr bururu ub Ruur.”

“And she politely suggests that you start your investigations at the Crash,” C-3PO continued. “That way, you can see for yourself that UnuThul is not lying about the Dark Jedi.”

“Urr buub ur bubbu.”

“Or anything else.”

Leia’s stomach tightened in surprise, but she wasted no effort trying to figure out how the insect knew what they had been discussing.

Instead, she smiled calmly and said, “That sounds like an excellent idea, Yoggoy. Thank you for the suggestion.”

By the time they reached the hangar a few minutes later, another Yoggoy was waiting for them with a battered hoversled.

“Burru urr burrr ubb,”
it explained, pointing toward the
Shadow
with one of its four arms.
“Burrrr uuu!”