"Tears?" Kenth Hamner said, confused.
"The Yuuzhan Vong infected me with some sort of biotic weapon," Mara
explained. "It tried pretty hard to kill me. It would have, too, except that
that creature with the Yuuzhan Vong assassin-"
"The one who pretended to defect?"
"Elan. Yes. She had a sort of pet or familiar who gave Han a vial of
her tears-or at least that's what she said they were. She told him I should
take them, and it felt right to me, so I did. My disease went into
remission."
Hamner's long face looked thoughtful. "And you think the tears caused
what just happened to you?"
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Luke protested.
"I ran out of the tears a few months ago," Mara said. "I've been taking
a synthesized version. Luke, it's killing our son."
"You can't know that," Luke said. "The MD droid isn't equipped to do
the kind of analysis that would prove that."
"I know," Mara said shakily.
Her certainty felt like ferrocrete. Luke sat down, pushing his fingers
back through his hair, trying to think. He nearly jumped at the sound of a
distant sonic boom-probably just
some hotshot pilot practicing atmospheric maneuvers over the sea.
"I can have you at a medical facility in ten minutes," Hamner told
Mara.
"No!" Mara nearly shouted. "Then we'd lose our chance to escape
Fey'lya."
"Mara, we don't have a choice," Luke said.
She sat up again. This time Luke didn't try to stop her. "We do," she
insisted. "I won't have my child born under house arrest. If I don't take
the tears, I should be fine. Isn't that right, Emdee?"
The droid whirred and nodded. "Present danger has passed. Avoidance of
the substance will prevent recurrence."
"What if it wasn't the tears at all?" Luke said, exasperation escaping
with his words.
"It is/' Mara replied. "I know it is."
"Then there was something wrong with the synthetic drug. If we're to
synthesize a new one, we need to be here, on Coruscant."
"If we stay, they'll button us in so tight we'll never be able to
escape. We'll be at their mercy, and what then? Suppose Fey'lya changes his
mind and decides to give us to the Yuu-zhan Vong? We'll be trapped, and how
am I supposed to fight in this condition? Or worse, with an infant? Luke,
it's time. You know it; I know it. So we have do this."
Luke closed his eyes and searched the back of his lids for options. He
found none.
"Okay," he said finally. "Kenth, if you could be so kind as to take us
to our apartments."
"Absolutely," Hamner said. "I am at your command."
In moments they were airborne. So far as Luke could tell, Mara was fine
now. He himself was shaken to the core.
He activated the comm unit and placed two calls-one to Cilghal, the Mon
Calamari Jedi healer, the other to Ism Oolos, a Ho'Din physician of great
renown. Both agreed to meet him at their apartments. A third call-to the
Ithorian Tomla El-revealed the healer was offplanet, working to aid refugees
from his destroyed homeworld.
Hamner deposited them on the landing area of their roof.
Cilghal was already there, and the reptilian Ism Oolos arrived shortly
thereafter.
Luke and Mara thanked Hamner. The liaison wished them luck and
departed.
"You pack, Skywalker," Mara said, once they were inside. "We have to be
gone in two hours."
"A thorough examination will take much longer than that," Oolos
complained. "Some analyses I must do in my laboratory, to be certain of my
results."
"You have to think of your child now," Cilghal agreed softly.
"No one needs to remind me of that," Mara said gruffly. "Get on with
it."
Meanwhile, Luke reluctantly began preparation for their flight, but
each step he took in that direction felt heavier. Coruscant had the best
medical facilities in the galaxy. How could he deny his wife and child that?
He could feel Cilghal, concentrating, reading Mara in the Force, trying
to glean information from its generation and interaction in her cells. He
and feeding the data into his medical datapad.
Mara gave them an hour, then cut them off. Luke stopped what he was
doing and carne back into the room.
"Conclusions?" Mara asked.
Oolos sighed. "The MD droid was correct. The synthesized tears are
having an unforeseen effect on the placenta. The actual attack was triggered
by stress, but continuing to take them might well lead to the death of the
child."
Cilghal nodded her bulbous head in agreement. "I concur," the Mon
Calamarian said.
"Can you resynthesize them?" Luke asked. "Reconfigure the substance so
it won't have that effect?"
Oolos clasped his scaled hands together. "We still do not know why the
original tears worked," he said, a note of apology in his voice. "We were
able to duplicate them without ever really comprehending them."
"Something must be different, though," Luke said, "or this wouldn't be
happening."
"Unfortunately," Oolos replied, "I do not believe that to be true. The
nature of cell reproduction in a fetus is quite unlike the normal cellular
processes in an adult human. The 'tears' caused Mara's cells to mimic that
process in some ways, hence her regeneration. The Yuuzhan Vong disease is
still in her cells, you understand; her cells have merely been given the
power to keep it in check and control whatever damage it causes."
"I still don't understand the problem."
"The problem is, the substance somehow does not recognize true fetal
development as a part of the normal functioning of a human body. It thus
tries to make adjustments to the developmental process, treating the child
almost as it would an illness. In turn, Mara's natural immune system resists
and rejects such modifications. Over time, the residue of this conflict has
built up enough to cause toxic shock. According to her cellular history,
this buildup began with the pregnancy, and only now reached dangerous
levels."
"I was taking the real tears in the first months," Mara said.
"Precisely," the healer concurred. "The very qualities that allow the
tears to remit your illness are a danger to your fetus."
"But my child is well?"
"I cannot feel that the child has yet suffered any damage from the
process," Cilghal answered.
"I believe Jedi Cilghal to be correct," Oolos said.
"But Mara's in her final month," Luke said. "If it took eight months
for the toxins to build up-'
"She has reached tolerance saturation," Oolos said. "Her body will
flush those chemicals over the course of years, but in the next month she
will remain at the danger level. It is unlikely that mere stress will
provoke another attack, but a single taste of the tears could bring on a
much more violent reaction than that she experienced today."
"Is there any way to flush these poisons artificially?" Mara asked.
"Yes."
"Withou
t risk to my child?"
The Ho'Din scientist lowered the spines on his head. "No. The risk
would be measurable."
"Well, let's add this to the 'what I already knew' category," Mara
said. "I'll stop taking the tears until our son is born. Then I'll start
taking them again."
"We could induce delivery now," Cilghal said.
Mara frowned. "That feels wrong. Cilghal, do you really recommend
that?"
"I do," Oolos said.
Cilghal seemed reluctant. "I don't recommend it," she said at last.
"Logically, it is the thing to do, and yet when I look down that path, I see
deep shadows."
"And if I carry to term, without taking the tears?"
"Shadows there, too, and pain-but also hope,"
Mara sat up and turned her gaze to Luke. "We ready to go?" she asked.
" I-Mara-"
"Don't even start. Our baby is healthy, and he'll stay healthy, I
promise you that. We'll get through this, no matter where we are. We have to
go. Let's go."
"May I accompany you?" Cilghal asked.
"Of course," Mara replied.
"Sadly, I cannot make the same offer," Oolos told them. "My
responsibilities to my patients and the New Republic are too great to set
aside. I wish I could convince you to remain near, but I surmise I cannot. I
wish you only the best, the four of you. I will do what I can to improve the
substance, based upon what I know. It would be prudent for you to check with
me from time to time."
"Thank you," Luke told the healer. "Thanks for everything."
Jaina rolled her X-wing into the night-shadow of Corus-cant, reveling
in the feel of the stick in her hand, the shifting crush of acceleration.
She felt like shouting out loud, and did. It was good to fly again! This was
the best she had felt in a longtime.
For months she had been forced out of the cockpit by damaged eyes, and
even after they were healed, Rogue
Squadron had shown a marked reluctance to recall her. It had unfolded
to her gradually, sickeningly, that given her Jedi status and her
involvement in the rescue at Yavin 4, they really didn't want her back. She
had gone from being their golden child to their ugly little liability. Only
today Colonel Darklighter-the very man who had asked her to join the
squadron-had suggested she extend her leave of absence indefinitely.
She didn't care right now. Coruscant was rushing below, a universe of
stars turned inside out. She was one with the X-wing. Tomorrow she would
hurt. Not today.
She aimed her ship's nose away from the planet and its multitude of
satellites, out toward the stars, and wondered where her family was. Anakin
was skipping around the galaxy with Booster Terrik, watching over his friend
Tahiri. Her twin Jacen was with her mother and father, trying to set up
Uncle Luke's "great river"-a series of routes and safe houses designed to
help Jedi escape the Yuuzhan Vong and their collaborationist shills. She had
stayed behind, assuming Rogue Squadron would recall her any day.
Well, another day, another mistake. She briefly considered chucking it
all and heading out, perhaps to find the Millennium Falcon and the greater
part of her family.
But she had to stick it out. Rogue Squadron was worth righting for, and
eventually they would recall her. How could they afford anyone sitting out
now?
Of course, the Yuuzhan Vong had been relatively quiet since Yavin
4-since Duro, as far as the idiot government was concerned. But that
couldn't last. Any thought that it could-that the enemy could be appeased by
any number of sacrifices and concessions-was wishful thinking of a nearly
criminal sort.
Her joy of flying was leaking out of her, swallowed by the sort of
mental entropy that seemed to come with growing older. She considered going
back, but if she had to sulk out here or down there, she might as well do it
out here.
She was still fighting the downward emotional spiral when the comm
demanded attention.
It was Aunt Mara, and she sounded more troubled than Jaina felt.
"Jaina, where are you?" Mara asked.
"Just out. What's the matter?"
"We're taking the jade Shadow up. Meet me, will you? It's important."
She ticked off a list of coordinates.
"Sure," Jaina replied. "Laying that course now."
"And Jaina-keep your eyes open. Trust no one."
"Mara, what-?"
"We'll discuss it when we rendezvous."
Great, Jaina thought. What else could be going wrong? But it could be
almost anything, including some possibilities too terrible even to
contemplate.
Luke and Mara decided not to risk being seen boarding the Jade Shadow.
They made their way with an occasional pass of the hand and a suggestion
backed by the Force. Some wouldn't remember them at all; others would not be
able to recall their faces, though both were well known.
Taking off was a little trickier, but Mara hadn't lost her knack,
managing to secure a launch authority using a fake transponder ID and then
filing a flight plan to orbit. As Luke watched Coruscant dwindle, he felt,
oddly, a strange elation, a kind of freedom he hadn't known he missed. He
glanced over at Mara.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine, now. I contacted Jaina. She'll meet us in orbit." She eased the
angle of their climb and glanced at Luke. "This is the right thing to do,
you know."
"I'm still not sure."
"It's done, now. Where are we going, by the way?"
"We'll find Booster first," he decided. "I've arranged a way for us to
contact him. He'll have some of the medical facilities you need, at least.
After that-the Jedi need a haven, a base to operate from. I've already done
preliminary searching. That will have to wait, though. Your health is our
first priority right now."
She nodded. "I am going off the drug."
"And risk your illness coming back, full-blown?"
She pursed her lips. "That's a risk, but right now it looks like the
lesser of two." She made a face at her instruments. "By the way," she said,
"looks like your first priority has been bumped back. I've got planetary
security hailing us and at least four ships on an intercept course."
Luke opened to the hail and activated the visual communications array.
"Jade Shadow, this is planetary security." The screen showed a pale
gold Bothan male. "You must return to ground immediately. Slave yourselves
to us for escort."
Luke smiled tightly. "This is Luke Skywalker of the Jade Shadow. We're
outward bound and not prepared to turn back."
The Bothan looked extremely uncomfortable. "I have my orders, Master
Skywalker. Please help me carry them out with minimum fuss."
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Captain, but we aren't returning to
ground."
"I'm authorized to use force, Master Skywalker."
"This ship will defend itself," Luke replied reluctantly. "Let us go,
Captain."
"I'm sorry. I can't."
Luke shrugged. "Then we really have nothing else to discuss." He
switched off the comm.
"Can we outrun them?" he asked Mara.
"It'll be tight." She eyed her instruments again. "Probably not. They
must have been on to us almost from the beginning. Two of the ships are
coming in from a high orbit."
"Right. Waiting for us. I was more than half expecting that."
"So much for Fey'lya wanting us to escape."
"They have to make an effort," Luke replied. "As efforts go, this isn't
a big one."
"No, but maybe sufficient," Mara replied. "We'll at least have to fight
them, which won't make us look any better."
Within moments the approaching ships were in sight.
"Military-grade shields," Mara remarked. "Hang on, Skywalker."
A moment later she began to fire.
If we weren't outlaws before, we are now, Luke thought. How could it
have come to this?
Jaina couldn't believe what she was seeing. The Jade Shadow was under
fire from four security interceptors. What was going on?
Not that it mattered. She powered up her weapons and dived in, ignoring
the hails from the security ships but sending her own signal to the Shadow.
It was Uncle Luke who answered.
"You two look like you could use a hand," she said. "What did you do to
irk the sky cops?"
"Stay out of this, Jaina," Luke told her.
"Yeah, right. That'll happen." She was close enough to fire now, and
fire she did, rolling between the trailing interceptor and spearing it with
her lasers as she went past. The heavy shield took the shots easily, but she
achieved the desired effect; the interceptor had noticed her now. It tried
to lock on to her tail, but she was having none of that. Leaning on the
stick, she circled tight and planetward. A few lucky shots grazed her
shields, but they had a long way to go before they could bring her down. She
nosed back up and had her pursuer in her sights again. She held the
beak-to-beak collision course long enough to put a few more into its
shields, then yawed starboard, missing the oncoming craft by a few meters.
She eyed her proton torpedoes specula-tively. She could take them out with
those, but she still wasn't sure what was going on here, and it was probably
a bad idea to kill someone in Coruscant's security force. For all she knew,
it might even be a friend of hers. That meant she needed to cripple, not
kill.
Both ships turned tight, trying once again to pick up the other's tail.
Jaina had the more maneuverable ship and soon found herself flying up the