Abyss (27 page)

Once the sergeant of the court had issued the obligatory demand for quiet, Lorteli fixed her gaze on Tahiri again.

“Answer the question, Defendant Veila. Were you a Jedi prior to the recent Galactic Civil War?”

“Yes.” Tahiri shot a spiteful glance toward the bewildered Bith at the prosecutor’s table. “
Before
I committed the acts for which they want to put me on trial.”

“I understand that,” Lorteli said. “But in your capacity as a Jedi Knight, you were privy to a great many secrets that the Jedi Order might not want revealed in open court, were you not?”

“Oh, we
all
know where the Emperor buried his treasure, if that’s what you’re asking,” Tahiri said, slumping back in her chair. “I’ll be glad to draw you a map, if it will get these charges—”

The rest of her offer was lost to the din of guffaws and chuckles that rolled through the courtroom, and even Daala snorted in amusement.

“That one has guts,” she said. “I have to give her that.”

“What does she have to lose?” Jag asked. “A blind Gungan could see that you’ve had this court rigged from the start.”

Daala smirked. “
Now
who’s prejudging, Fel? Judge Lorteli is merely trying to ensure that the defendant has adequate counsel.”

Once the sergeant had restored quiet again, Lorteli glared down at Tahiri. “Shall I take that as a yes?”

“Take it however you like.” Tahiri glanced back at Han and Leia, then added, “But even if I
do
know any secrets, I won’t be sharing them with anyone in this room.”

Lorteli actually smiled at her. “That choice, of course, is entirely yours,” she said. “But since any such information you care to provide might very well have an impact on the disposition of your own case, I cannot allow Nawara Ven—or any other counsel with such a clear conflict of interests—to participate in your defense.”

The courtroom burst into cries of outrage, and this time Leia Solo did not bother pulling Han back down. Jag looked away, shaking his head in disgust.

“At least you had enough sense not to gloat in open court,” he said to Daala. “Please tell me you really don’t believe the Jedi—or their allies in the Senate—will respect what you did in there?”

“Of course not.” Daala deactivated the intercom speaker, then also turned away from the viewing panel. “But I had to send a message of my own. If the Masters believe they can intimidate me by threatening to dissolve the Order—”

“I wasn’t aware they
had,
” Jag interrupted. “Everything I hear suggests those apprentices resigned on their own.”

Daala rolled her eyes. “
Please
, Head of State, if you were really that naive, the Moffs would have killed you two years ago.” She started across the room toward the beverage center. “May I offer you something to drink? Polar water or fizzee, perhaps?”

“Nothing, thank you,” Jag said. Daala had stopped offering him intoxicants after their second meeting, a grudging acknowledgment of respect, since he had made it clear that he felt state business deserved clear heads. “But I wish you would reconsider what you’re doing here. It’s not the law that you’re enforcing.”

Daala opened the cabinet and, without turning around, asked, “Then what is it?”

“
Your
will,” he said. “And it’s obvious to more than just the Jedi. When you put Tahiri Veila on trial, and at the same time leave one of the
architects
of the coup free to retire in peace, it smacks of corruption.”

Daala paused for a moment, then asked, “You’re talking about Cha Niathal?”

“Of course,” Jag replied. “Tahiri and Admiral Niathal
both
changed sides. Do you really think you can put one on trial and let the other live in peace? The public will think you’re repaying Niathal for helping you become Chief of State. I hear the Senate
already
thinks so.”

“And it won’t matter that they’re wrong.” Daala nodded, then pulled a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with fizzee. “Perception is everything.”

Jag nodded. “That’s the nature of democracy.” To his surprise, Daala seemed genuinely concerned. Perhaps there was hope of dismissing the charges against Tahiri after all. “When you accepted the
post, you promised to make the Galactic Alliance a just society for
all
beings. You can’t do that by using the courts as a political weapon.”

Daala turned, then sipped her fizzee and asked, “So what do you recommend?”

“Dismiss the charges against Tahiri and abolish the Jedi court,” Jagged said. “If a Jedi
deserves
to be charged, do it through the normal court system. If you truly want the Jedi to obey the same laws that everyone obeys, it’s the only way to make that work.”

Daala considered this for a moment, then said, “That’s certainly one way to approach the problem. I’ll give it some thought.” She took another drink of her fizzee, then looked at her chrono. “If we’re done here, I have to be back in my office for a staff meeting in ten minutes.”

Jag bit back the urge to press the matter by revealing what he knew about the Mandalorians. He was tempted to tell her that she was a fool if she believed that hiring Mandalorians was going to accomplish anything other than getting a bunch of people killed. But Daala had at least promised to reconsider her approach to dealing with the Jedi—and that was more than he had actually expected to achieve.

Instead he said, “There
is
one other thing we need to discuss.” He reached into his tunic pocket and withdrew the parasite droid Jaina had given him, then went to the beverage cabinet and laid it on the serving counter in front of Daala. “Do you know what this is?”

Daala picked up the droid and raised it to the light, then said, “It isn’t ours, if that’s what you’re thinking. Not that I wouldn’t
love
to eavesdrop on you and the Moffs, but, frankly, your sweeps have been too thorough.”

“I’ll send my security officer your compliments,” Jagged said. “But this is
ours
.”

Daala raised a puzzled brow. “And you’re showing it to me so I know what to look for?”

Jag smiled. “We’re not bugging you,” he said.
“This
is how Javis Tyrr has been getting his stories from inside the Jedi Temple.”

Daala scowled. “I know you don’t expect me to believe that
you’ve
been helping him.”

“Hardly.” Jag slipped the parasite droid back into his tunic pocket. “
Lecersen
has.”

Daala’s eyes lit with instant understanding. “The filthy Hutt slime! I should have realized.”

“You’re not the only one,” Jag said. “But the past is the past. The question is, what do we do about it now?”

Daala’s expression went blank. “
We
, Head of State? He’s
your
Moff.”

“A Moff who’s been playing you and the Jedi against each other,” Jag pointed out. “And I’m pretty sure it’s not just Lecersen. There are a lot of Moffs who have reason to strike at you, me, and the Jedi.”

Daala’s green eyes grew so cold they almost went blue. “Then I suggest you handle them, Fel.” She banged her glass down on the cabinet so hard that the fizzee splashed onto the CrystaClear surface. “If you like, I can put you in touch with a
very
good bounty hunter who would just love the job.”

Now it was Jag’s turn to frown in confusion. “You’re going to continue this vendetta against the Jedi?” he asked. “Even knowing that it’s the Moffs who have been stirring up trouble?”

Daala’s face turned stormy. “Let me assure you that bringing the Jedi to heel is my own idea, Head of State, and it’s
anything
but a vendetta. It’s high time that someone brings these vigilantes under government control and puts a stop to their incessant power struggles.”

“
Power
struggles?” Jagged gasped. “Is that who you think the Jedi are fighting?
Themselves
?”

“Head of State, a Sith is just a Jedi who’s gone off his meds,” Daala declared. “Why do you think Dark Lords keep popping up?”

Jag shook his head. “Chief Daala, you are so tragically wrong,” he said. “The Sith are real, they’re out there, and the Jedi are the only ones who can turn them back.”

“At least we agree on those first two points. The Sith are real, and they’re definitely out there.” Daala checked her chrono again, then started for the door. “But if we really want to protect ourselves from the Sith, it’s the Jedi we need to watch. History has
proven
that.”

She called herself Abeloth, and she lived in a cave on the side of a volcano because she said the plants there were not so voracious. But Abeloth loved the water. Every morning, she would take the search party down to the crimson river, and the entire group would swim and splash for hours. Then, once they were exhausted, they would crawl out of the water and bask on the beach, alongside the huge drendek lizards that had come down to take the sun on their green, outstretched wings. And while the party was resting, no one needed to worry about eel vines snaking out of the river to snare unmoving ankles, or a hedge of smogbrush filling the air with a cloud of poison pollen, or even a swarm of thirsty fangballs tumbling up from behind. When Abeloth was near, the plants
never
attacked.

Vestara knew she should have been alarmed by that, but she wasn’t. The truth was, she was too grateful for any respite to be suspicious of it. The search party’s Sith discipline remained strong enough that they felt compelled to split up and spend at least a few hours a day trying to
find Ship, and the sheer terror of those patrols was so wearying that no one cared
why
they were safe when they were with Abeloth. When you saw a mat of dead leaves suddenly chomp off the foot that had just stepped on it, or heard a companion scream because a beautiful white flower had just squirted acid into her eyes, all you really wanted was to be back in the cave with Abeloth.

It was still before high sun when Vestara felt Lady Rhea’s Force summons. She glanced over to find Ahri still lying on his back with closed eyes. The azure tint that had come to his lavender skin beneath the blue sun only made him all the more gorgeous, and Vestara was grateful to Lady Rhea for suggesting that she spend more time with him. In addition to being easy to look at, he was her best friend, and his Master was so pleased by their obvious closeness that he had finally stopped beating poor Ahri. It did not even bother Vestara that Xal clearly hoped their friendship would prove useful in spying on Lady Rhea; as long as he believed something valuable might come of the relationship, he was unlikely to seek revenge for the embarrassment Vestara had caused him on the approach to this strange planet.

Without opening his eyes, Ahri said, “She’s early today. Are we going farther out?”

“Not that I know of,” Vestara answered. Lady Rhea had warned her to start expecting such innocent-sounding questions; Xal would want to determine how willing Vestara was to discuss her Master’s plans with Ahri. “Lady Rhea still thinks Ship is hiding on the other side of the cave ridge.”

Ahri opened his eyes and propped himself on an elbow. “What do
you
think?”

“I think we’d better hurry.” Vestara knew he was asking if she could still feel Ship, but Lady Rhea had instructed her to keep secret the unhappy truth—that she had not felt a hint of Ship in the Force since the day he had led them to Abeloth’s cave. She snatched Ahri’s tunic out of the sand and threw it at him. “If we’re the last ones there again, we’ll end up out on a flank.”

Ahri was instantly on his feet, using the Force to catch the shirt and lower it over his upraised arms. Vestara also dressed with the aid of the Force, and in less than a minute they were joining the rest of the search
party. Lady Rhea was already standing on the large boulder she used as a speaking dais. Fortunately, a lot of people had been caught off-guard by the early summons and were still straggling in, so she barely seemed to notice as Ahri and Vestara took their places.

But Master Xal, standing on the riverbank behind the boulder, studied the pair with a narrow-eyed smirk that suggested he believed their relationship had advanced further than was the case. Happy to buy Ahri another beating-free week by letting Xal believe what he wished, Vestara forced a blush and let her gaze slide down toward the foot of the boulder, where Abeloth stood looking out on the gathering Sith as though
she
were the one in charge of the search party.

Abeloth looked lovely and more or less human, but today her hair was brown and long instead of honey-colored and shoulder-length, as it had been when Vestara and Ahri had found her in her cave. Her nose was also a bit longer and straighter than usual, and her eyes were a bit more silver than gray, with a definite upward slant at the outer corners. Abeloth’s face changed like that, seeming to take hints from the appearance of anyone with whom she spent time. And somehow it only served to make her more enchanting, as though each new detail deepened the luster of her beauty.

So enraptured by her radiance was Vestara that she did not realize Lady Rhea had begun speaking until Ahri nudged her.