Edge of Victory 2 Rebirth Page 6

  "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

  caught glimpses of Oolos taking skin and blood samples and sonic readings

  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