planning to come to this miserable hole already. The Peace Brigade decided to head ’em off, capture you guys before they arrived.”
“What, to save them the trouble?”
“Exactly. A present, of sorts. These Peace Brigade guys, they’re serious. They really think everyone in the galaxy is doomed unless we give the Vong what they want, and then some.”
“Why do you say ‘these Peace Brigade guys’ as if you aren’t one of them?”
“They hired me to pilot. That’s all.”
Anakin frowned, but let that pass. “What will the Peace Brigade do now that they’ve botched the job?”
“How do you know they’ve botched it? They figured out you hid the other kids someplace. They have some pretty good trackers and search equipment with them.”
“They won’t find anyone,” Anakin said. “What will they do? The Yuuzhan Vong might assume the Brigade really came here to hide the kids. At the very least they’ll be upset that you were so inept you let thirty or more Jedi slip through your fingers and caught only one.”
Vehn looked thoughtful. “They might cut and run. They might try to bluff it out with their one captive. I don’t know them well enough to say.”
“Anakin,” Sannah said softly. “You and Tahiri saved my people. I can’t let anything happen to her. I can’t.”
“Why didn’t you think of that earlier?” Anakin snapped. “You three should have gone with Kam and Tionne. You thought this was all some sort of game. It isn’t.”
“Anakin!” Sannah’s eyes widened further, then dropped. “You’re right,” she whispered. “It is our fault.
My
fault. I could have told Kam, and none of this would have happened. Master Ikrit would still be alive.” Tears streamed down her face, and for a second Anakin was happy she was crying, satisfied she finally saw how stupid she had been. He wanted to agree with her.
Grinding his teeth, he quickly stood and walked into the woods.
He didn’t go far, but leaned against the bole of a giant tree, breathing heavily, composing himself. Then, when he thought he could do it, he want back into the clearing, where Sannah sat, still crying. Valin was wiping his own silent tears.
“That was wrong of me,” he said quietly. “None of you is to blame. You were only trying to help. The Peace Brigade is to blame. The Yuuzhan Vong are to blame. You guys aren’t. Feeling guilty isn’t going to help us right now. There are plenty more ships on this planet. For all we know they have a perfect lock on us already, so we need to get ready. If they don’t, we need to figure out how to get this ship running again.”
Remis Vehn vented a bitter laugh.
“We have parts from three ships here,” Anakin said evenly. “We ought to be able to cobble something together. Besides that, help is on the way, so maybe all we really have to do is hold out for a little while. Valin, I’m putting you in charge of taking inventory of what food and medicine we have. Vehn, you’ll tell him where to find it on your ship—all of it. Sannah, I’m giving you the blaster. I want you to watch the camp, while I go do recon at the other wreck sites. If you hear anything—I mean anything—coming from the sky, you both hide and stay hidden. Understand?”
“Yes,” Sannah replied. Valin nodded dutifully.
“Good. And ignore everything Vehn says. Don’t touch his restraints, don’t go near him. I’ll be back soon.”
CHAPTER TEN
Karrde didn’t black out, but time stretched weirdly as his harness tried to cut him in half and his ship spun madly, power blinking on and off, finally settling on off before minimal emergency systems kicked in. The inertial compensator started up, and gravity reasserted itself, but the screen was a confusing jumble.
“Report!” he snapped. “What’s going on?”
H’sishi looked up reluctantly. “Minimal damage to the frigate,” she said. “We took a pretty hard bounce, and we’re limping a bit.”
“Limp
away
from them, at least,”
“What, to save them the trouble?”
“Exactly. A present, of sorts. These Peace Brigade guys, they’re serious. They really think everyone in the galaxy is doomed unless we give the Vong what they want, and then some.”
“Why do you say ‘these Peace Brigade guys’ as if you aren’t one of them?”
“They hired me to pilot. That’s all.”
Anakin frowned, but let that pass. “What will the Peace Brigade do now that they’ve botched the job?”
“How do you know they’ve botched it? They figured out you hid the other kids someplace. They have some pretty good trackers and search equipment with them.”
“They won’t find anyone,” Anakin said. “What will they do? The Yuuzhan Vong might assume the Brigade really came here to hide the kids. At the very least they’ll be upset that you were so inept you let thirty or more Jedi slip through your fingers and caught only one.”
Vehn looked thoughtful. “They might cut and run. They might try to bluff it out with their one captive. I don’t know them well enough to say.”
“Anakin,” Sannah said softly. “You and Tahiri saved my people. I can’t let anything happen to her. I can’t.”
“Why didn’t you think of that earlier?” Anakin snapped. “You three should have gone with Kam and Tionne. You thought this was all some sort of game. It isn’t.”
“Anakin!” Sannah’s eyes widened further, then dropped. “You’re right,” she whispered. “It is our fault.
My
fault. I could have told Kam, and none of this would have happened. Master Ikrit would still be alive.” Tears streamed down her face, and for a second Anakin was happy she was crying, satisfied she finally saw how stupid she had been. He wanted to agree with her.
Grinding his teeth, he quickly stood and walked into the woods.
He didn’t go far, but leaned against the bole of a giant tree, breathing heavily, composing himself. Then, when he thought he could do it, he want back into the clearing, where Sannah sat, still crying. Valin was wiping his own silent tears.
“That was wrong of me,” he said quietly. “None of you is to blame. You were only trying to help. The Peace Brigade is to blame. The Yuuzhan Vong are to blame. You guys aren’t. Feeling guilty isn’t going to help us right now. There are plenty more ships on this planet. For all we know they have a perfect lock on us already, so we need to get ready. If they don’t, we need to figure out how to get this ship running again.”
Remis Vehn vented a bitter laugh.
“We have parts from three ships here,” Anakin said evenly. “We ought to be able to cobble something together. Besides that, help is on the way, so maybe all we really have to do is hold out for a little while. Valin, I’m putting you in charge of taking inventory of what food and medicine we have. Vehn, you’ll tell him where to find it on your ship—all of it. Sannah, I’m giving you the blaster. I want you to watch the camp, while I go do recon at the other wreck sites. If you hear anything—I mean anything—coming from the sky, you both hide and stay hidden. Understand?”
“Yes,” Sannah replied. Valin nodded dutifully.
“Good. And ignore everything Vehn says. Don’t touch his restraints, don’t go near him. I’ll be back soon.”
CHAPTER TEN
Karrde didn’t black out, but time stretched weirdly as his harness tried to cut him in half and his ship spun madly, power blinking on and off, finally settling on off before minimal emergency systems kicked in. The inertial compensator started up, and gravity reasserted itself, but the screen was a confusing jumble.
“Report!” he snapped. “What’s going on?”
H’sishi looked up reluctantly. “Minimal damage to the frigate,” she said. “We took a pretty hard bounce, and we’re limping a bit.”
“Limp
away
from them, at least,”
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