Authors: Walter Jon Williams
Mara, without comment, had begun to massage the growing tension out of his shoulders. The playful slap on his stomach had banished the rest of it. Luke smiled.
Luke turned and let his arms coil about his wife. “We've lost Coruscant,” he said, “we're fighting the enemy every day, and the squabbling and fights for precedence never end. Rodan's not going to make it easy for us. He thinks the Jedi are claiming unjustified privileges and can evolve into a menace to the state.” He hesitated. “And the problem is,” he admitted, “I'm beginning to think that much of what he says might be true.”
“Sounds like a depressing interview.” She drew him closer, let her cheek rest on his shoulder as she directed a mischievous whisper to his ear. “Maybe I should cheer you up. Would you like me to call you âMaster' again?”
Luke couldn't help but laugh. With the successful delivery of their child, Mara had at last come out of the shadow of the terrible disease that had afflicted her for so long. For years she'd had to control herself precisely and ruthlessly in order to either fight the illness or keep it in remission. The birth of Ben had been a kind of internal signal that it was possible to feel joy again. To feel the least bit irresponsible. To be spontaneous and impulsive. To laugh, to play, to take delight in lifeâdespite the seemingly endless war that raged around them.
And since Ben had been sent for his own safety to the Maw, Mara's principal plaything had become Luke.
“Say what you like,” Luke said, “if the mood strikes.”
“Oh, it strikes. It definitely strikes.”
“Well,” Luke said. “Let it strike, then.”
Some time later, Luke turned to Mara and said, “So how was
your
day?”
“Thirsty. I need a glass of water.”
Luke reluctantly allowed her to slip out of his embrace and into the kitchen.
Mon Calamari had been swarmed by refugees from worlds conquered or threatened by the Yuuzhan Vong, and housing in the great floating cities was expensive, particularly for those who insisted on breathing only air.
Mara brushed her red-gold hair back from her freckled shoulders and took a long drink. She put the glass down, turned to Luke, and sighed. “It was work, but I think Triebakk and I finally convinced Cal Omas that he needs to be our next Chief of State.”
“Congratulations to both of you,” Luke said. In the past few weeks he'd grown accustomed to the way their lives, and their conversation, veered sharply from the political to the personal and back again.
Cal Omas had fought with the Rebel Alliance, and had shown himself sympathetic to the Jedi. Certainly, from the Jedi point of view, he was a better candidate for Chief of State than Fyor Rodan.
“Fyor Rodan wants the job, too,” he said. “The possibility was the only thing that got a reaction out of him.”
“There are two more candidates. Senator Cola Quis announced his intention to run this morning, after you left.”
Luke searched his memory. “I never heard of him.”
“A Twi'lek from Ryloth. Serves on the Commerce Council. I don't think he stands much of a chance, but maybe he thinks he can forge an unbeatable lead if he starts now.”
“And the fourth?”
“Ta'laam Ranth of the Justice Council. He's known to be canvassing for support.”
“Can he win?”
“Triebakk thinks he isn't
trying
to win. Ranth is trying to build a bloc of supporters in order to play a decisive role in the outcome. At the last second he can swing his bloc to another candidate in return for favors.”
Luke shook his head. “At least there are four Senators left who think the job is worth having. That means they think they've a future in the New Republic yet.”
Or a future in looting the New Republic before it goes down.
The dark thought intruded before Luke could quite prevent it.
Carefully, he pushed the thought away, and chose a different tack.
“The question is,” he said, “how much do we involve ourselves in this election?”
“As Jedi? Or as private citizens?”
Luke smiled. “That's a separate question.”
Mara considered this. “Would it benefit Cal to be known as the Jedi's choice?”
Luke sighed. “Well,
that
question's answered.”
Mara was surprised. “You think it's that bad?”
“I think somebody's got to be blamed for the fall of Coruscant.”
“Borsk Fey'lya seems a fair choice. He was Chief of State, and he made a lot of mistakes.”
“Fey'lya was martyred during the battle. He died a hero. It's going to be politically impossible to assign him blame.”
Mara nodded slowly. “So you think it's the Jedi who are going to be assigned responsibility.”
“I think we should take care that it's
not
. The question is how.” He reached for Mara's water glass and took a sip. “If we're seen as interfering in the selection of the Chief of State, then we'll start hearing complaints of âJedi interference' and âJedi power grab' and âsecret Jedi cabal'âfrom Fyor Rodan, if no one else.”
“So we act as private citizens.”
“And we don't do anything Cal Omas doesn't want us to do. He's the professional. He knows just how far to push, and where.”
He's the professional.
Luke smiled at the irony. Rodan had wanted him to follow the professionals' advice, and here he was doing it.
Mara smiled. “Soâlet's assume we win, and we get a government that will work with the Jedi . . .”
“That's a lot of assumptions.”
“What becomes of the Insiders?”
Luke paused. During the Battle of Borleias he and Mara, together with Han and Leia and Wedge Antilles and some others, had formed the conspiracy that was the Insiders, a group intended to form a Rebel Alliance
within
the New Republic, dedicated to fighting the war with the Yuuzhan Vong.
“We don't go public with the Insiders under
any
conditions,” Luke said. “We don't tell Cal, even if he wins. The Insiders are our reserve, the people we know we can trust. It remains our secret.”
And then suddenly, he thought,
Jacen!
The water glass fell from his fingers and shattered on the floor. Mara stared at him.
Luke didn't notice. A strange bliss had fallen on him.
Now everything changes,
he thought.
“It's the turning point.” The words fell from his lips without volition. And even as he spoke, he came to the realization that he didn't know the place, amid all the great stars of the universe, from whence the words had come.
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Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group
Copyright © 2002 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ⢠where indicated.
All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
Excerpt from
Destiny's Way
by Walter Jon Williams copyright © 2002 by Lucasfilm Ltd. ® or ⢠where indicated.
All rights reserved. Used Under Authorization.
Author Q&A copyright © 2002 by Walter Jon Williams and The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
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