Survivor's Quest Read online

  "You still don't strike me as a stormtrooper officer type," Luke commented. "What does your father think of your career choice?"

  Fel shrugged. "Actually, I'm in the fleet end of the Imperial military," he said. "My usual command is a fleet-arm of clawcraft." He grinned again. "And my father is very proud of me."

  They emerged from the corridor onto a deserted command deck. "No one on duty?" Luke asked, looking around.

  "Is there anyone on duty in your ship?" Fel countered reasonably as he crossed to what appeared to be the main sensor station and waved his guests to a pair of chairs at nearby consoles. "Actually, we don't have a separate flight crew. This kind of transport is designed for a stormtrooper unit to be able to fly by itself, at least on routine operations. Takes some of the strain off our pilot cadre."

  "Does that mean you're low on trained personnel?" Mara asked as she and Luke sat down.

  "Everyone's always low on skilled pilots," Fel said, sitting down and swiveling his chair toward a rack of data cards. "I doubt the New Republic's any different. But at the moment we're doing all right. There are at least two alien groups within the Empire that have shown very good aptitude for general flight operations..."

  He trailed off, and Luke caught a sudden dark flicker in Fel. "What is it?" he asked.

  Slowly, Fel swiveled back to face them. "Well," he said, his voice studiously conversational. "I think I know now what that fire was all about. Whoever it was figured the Imperial Five-Oh-First would go charging back to help, nobly oblivious to our own safety."

  "What are you talking about?" Mara demanded.

  Fel gestured to the rack of data cards. "The Outbound Flight operational manual," he said. "It's gone."

  CHAPTER 7

  Mara looked at Luke, to find him looking back at her. "Really," she said, looking over at Fel. "That's handy."

  "Isn't it, though," Fel said. His voice was still quiet, but his face suddenly seemed older and harder. More mature, somehow, than Mara's first impression of him as a kid playing soldier. "Yes, that's certainly one way of putting it."

  "I take it you don't have another copy?" Luke asked.

  "This was the copy," Fel said. "The original records are back on Nirauan."

  "Of course," Luke said. "What I meant—"

  "I know what you meant." Fel passed a hand across his face; and when he had lowered it, some of the hardness had faded. "Sorry. I'm just... I messed up. I hate when I mess up."

  "Welcome to the club," Mara said, an odd feeling flickering through her. In all her time with the Empire, she wondered, had she ever heard an Imperial officer actually admit to having made a mistake? "Let's skip the finger pointing and see if we can figure out who's got it. You have any idea how many people are aboard?"

  "Not that many," Fel said, sounding a little more on balance. "I think this size ship runs a crew of only thirty to thirty-five. There seems to be an honor guard running around, too—call it two squads of six warriors each. Typical ambassador's staff runs to twenty, plus Formbi, so that's sixty-eight Chiss, max."

  "Plus five Geroons, you and four stormtroopers, Jinzler, and us," Luke said. "Unless there's someone else we don't know about."

  "Right," Fel said.

  "Wait a second," Mara said, frowning in concentration as she searched her memory. "You said Formbi had a staff of twenty?"

  "I said that was typical for an ambassador," Fel corrected. "I haven't actually run the numbers myself."

  "And I presume most of them would be from Formbi's family," she said. "That means they'd all be wearing yellow, right?"

  "That's the Chaf family color, yes," Fel confirmed. "Why?"

  "Because I didn't see more than four yellow outfits at dinner tonight," Mara said. "Formbi, Feesa, and two others. Everyone else was wearing black."

  "She's right," Luke agreed. "Which family wears black?"

  "None of them," Fel said, frowning. "That's the Chiss Defense Fleet. Black's a combination of all colors, since the military draws from all the families."

  "What about his honor guard?" Mara asked. "Would they be from his family?"

  Fel shook his head. "All honor guards wear military black. Huh. I wonder what he's done with the rest of his entourage."

  "Maybe he had to leave them behind," Luke suggested. "With a mission of this sort the Nine Families might not have wanted any one family too heavily represented."

  "I suppose that would make sense," Fel agreed slowly. "There's always been a tricky balance of power among the families."

  "We can do a head count in the morning," Mara said. "Let's go on. How many of these assorted people might have known you had those files?"

  Fel grimaced. "That's not going to narrow it nearly as much as you think. I was talking about it to Ambassador Jinzler this evening in the reception corridor before we were seated for dinner."

  "You told Jinzler about it?" Mara bit out.

  "Yes," Fel said, frowning at her vehemence. "I wanted to know if he'd brought any records of his own I could compare against ours. Why, shouldn't I have done that?"

  Mara waved a hand in disgust. Of course Fel had no way of knowing the man was a fraud. "Skip it," she said. "Did he?"

  "What, have any records?" Fel shook his head. "No. He said everything useful the New Republic might once have had had been lost or destroyed."

  "Probably true," Luke murmured. "Could anyone have been able to overhear this discussion?"

  Fel exhaled noisily. "Could everyone have been able to overhear it, you mean," he said. "The whole dinner crowd was milling around the corridor being sociable."

  "Yes, but the whole dinner crowd wasn't paying attention," Mara countered. "Tell us who was."

  Fel frowned into space, searching his memory. "For starters, of course, there were several Chiss," he said slowly. "I remember Feesa passing by at one point—I think she'd just brought you two in. Then there was—"

  "Wait a minute," Luke said, straightening in his chair a little. "We were there by then?"

  "Yes, but you were all the way across the corridor," Fel said. "Talking with Formbi, I think."

  "That's not the point," Luke said, looking at Mara. "What do you think?"

  "Worth a try," she agreed. "Just hold those thoughts a minute, Fel. We'll be right back to you."

  Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and stretched out to the Force. The memory-enhancement technique the Emperor had taught her only worked on short-term memories, but the reception corridor ought to be recent enough to be accessible. She let the pictures flow backward through her mind's eye: the fire, the dinner, the flow of conversation before dinner...

  There it was: Formbi stepping forward to greet them as Feesa brought them into the gathering. She and Luke speaking with him, assuring him their quarters were quite satisfactory and that, no, they didn't know very much about Outbound Flight but were looking forward to the voyage.

  And in the background, Fel and Jinzler across the corridor by one wall, deep in conversation.

  She froze the image, studying it. Then, slowly, she let it run forward again, watching everything and everyone around them.

  All too soon, she had her answer. With a sigh, she slipped out of the trance and looked over at Luke.

  He was already finished with his own memory enhancement. "What do you think?" he asked.

  "He's right," she said in disgust. "It'd be simpler to figure out who didn't know. I spotted at least two Geroons close enough to listen in, plus a couple of the Chiss crewers and two command-rank officers."

  "Including General Drask," Luke agreed. "About the only likely suspects who couldn't have known were Formbi and us."

  "And, of course, Feesa works for Formbi," Mara reminded him. "She could have clued him in at any time."

  Luke lifted a hand, let it fall into his lap. "Which leaves you and me. Dead end."

  "Not necessarily," Mara said as a sudden thought struck her. "Okay, so they got the data cards. But they'd also need a datapad to read them with. That leaves only
Jinzler."

  "And the Geroons," Luke said. "I was talking to them when the explosion went off, and I left my datapad behind in their shuttle."

  "Sorry, but that's a dead end, too," Fel spoke up, pointing to another rack above the console. "Whoever took the data cards also helped himself to a datapad." He brightened suddenly. "Which means it's not Jinzler or the Geroons," he said. "Like you said, they wouldn't need to take one."

  "Unless they deliberately took it to throw us off the trail," Luke pointed out gently.

  Fel's face dropped. "Oh. Right." He muttered something under his breath. "Sorry. This sort of thing is a little outside my area of expertise."

  "Ours, too," Luke assured him. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out. If necessary, we can always ask Formbi to search the ship."

  "What do you mean, if necessary?" Fel asked, frowning. "Don't we want him to do that anyway?"

  Luke shrugged. "There are any number of places aboard a ship like this where you can hide something as small as four data cards," he pointed out. "Or the thief could easily have copied them into a different system—a droid, even—and then gotten rid of the originals."

  "The Chiss don't have droids," Fel said. "But I see your point."

  "On the other hand," Luke went on, "if we don't make a fuss, the thief won't know whether or not we've even missed them. That might give us a whole different set of advantages."

  "Maybe," Fel said, not sounding entirely convinced.

  "Trust me," Luke assured him. "Knowledge of any sort is power, as Talon Karrde always says."

  "As Grand Admiral Thrawn usually proved," Fel rejoined.

  "Don't remind us," Luke said ruefully. "Do you know if this ship carries any hypercapable transports or shuttles?"

  "I believe this class usually carries one," Fel said, forehead wrinkling in concentration. "The commander's glider, it's called, though on a diplomatic ship like this it would probably be assigned to Formbi instead of Captain Talshib. Why?"

  "You might still be right about someone trying to delay us and get a head start," Luke explained. "Especially now that he's got an operational manual in hand. If so, he'd need a way to get there once he'd disabled the ship. With your transport, ours, and Formbi's, that means he's got at least three to choose from."

  "Plus the Geroons' shuttle and whatever Jinzler used," Mara put in.

  "You can forget the Geroons' shuttle," Luke said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't trust it to fly to the far side of the Chaf Envoy."

  "That bad, is it?" Mara asked.

  "It makes my old T-sixteen look good by comparison," Luke said wryly. "Anyway, I don't think it has a hyperdrive."

  "Okay, so that leaves Jinzler's ship," Mara concluded. "Fel, do you know what he's got?"

  "Actually, I don't think he has a ship," Fel said. "I didn't see him arrive—he got here before we did—but I believe Formbi mentioned he'd gotten a ride from someone."

  "He got a ride?" Luke asked incredulously. "Out here?"

  Fel shrugged. "All I know is what Formbi said. Maybe he contacted Nirauan and Admiral Parck arranged something."

  "Maybe," Mara said. Personally, she didn't believe that for a minute, but there was no point arguing about it. "So what's our next move?"

  "Our next move is to go back to our quarters," Luke said firmly. "I don't know about you, but I've got a few small burns that need to be attended to."

  "Oh, I'm sorry," Fel said, getting up quickly from his chair and starting toward one of the medpacs fastened to the wall beside the emergency oxygen tanks. "I didn't even think about—"

  "No, no, that's all right," Luke hastened to assure him. "We don't need medical help. We'll be able to fix ourselves up just fine overnight with a Jedi healing trance."

  "Oh." Fel stopped short, and Mara could sense his embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I guess I don't know as much about Jedi as I thought I did."

  "Have you ever even met one before?" Mara asked.

  "Well, no," Fel admitted. "But I have read up on them. I mean, on you. I mean—"

  "We know what you mean," Luke said, smiling slightly. "Don't worry about it." He stood up. "Mara?"

  "We'll see you tomorrow, Commander," Mara said, getting to her feet.

  "All right," Fel said. "I'll see you out."

  "Don't bother," Luke said. "We can find the way. You'd better go see to your men."

  "Maybe discuss some new security arrangements," Mara added.

  Fel made a face. "Point taken. Good night."

  The stormtroopers had vanished from the ready room as Luke and Mara passed through, their armor hung neatly on the racks lining the walls. "That last comment was a little unfair, you know," Luke commented as they walked down the corridor toward their quarters. "I'm sure he did have some security set up."

  "That's why I said they needed a new set of arrangements," Mara countered. "The old ones obviously weren't good enough."

  "Mm," Luke said. "Maybe. Maybe not."

  Mara looked sideways at him. "You have a thought?"

  He shrugged, glancing casually behind them. "I don't know if it occurred to you, but we only have Fel's word that there were any data cards here in the first place."

  "Or that he really did talk to Jinzler about them before dinner," Mara agreed. "He could just be venting waste gases here, trying to get us to look suspiciously at everyone except him. You think we ought to pay a little visit to Jinzler before we lock down for the night?"

  Luke shook his head. "Not worth it. We definitely need to talk with him sometime before we get to Outbound Flight, but I don't want to do it with these burns distracting us. Besides, even if Fel did talk to him about Outbound Flight, it doesn't prove anything. By Fel's own admission he was trying to see what Jinzler knew about the mission. If Jinzler didn't have anything, but said he wanted to see Fel's records—"

  "Records Fel didn't have," Mara murmured.

  "Right—records he didn't have," Luke said, "then Fel would still have to fake a robbery. It'd be easier to fake it to us than wait until Jinzler came by."

  "Except that we might catch him at it," Mara pointed out.

  "You're forgetting the sequence of the conversation," Luke reminded her. "It wasn't until we told him we couldn't always catch people in lies that he even mentioned he had the data cards."

  Mara played back the memory. Blasted if he wasn't right. "You're really making me look bad tonight," she growled. "I thought I was the one who was supposed to have had the investigative training."

  "It's all the time I've spent hanging around Corran Horn," Luke said dryly. "Some of it rubs off on a person. Besides, you've got other things on your mind."

  Mara felt her muscles stiffen. "What do you mean?" she asked cautiously.

  He shrugged, too casually. "I was hoping you'd tell me," he said. "All I know is that there's something still churning around behind those beautiful green eyes of yours."

  Mara snorted under her breath. "So it's flattery now, is it? That's a sure sign you've run out of logical arguments and persuasive skill."

  "Or else it's a sign of my sincerity and commitment to your continued happiness as my wife and companion," Luke countered.

  "Ooh—I like that," Mara said approvingly. "Commitment to my continued happiness. Make sure you use that one again sometime."

  "I'll make a note," Luke promised. His smile faded into seriousness. "You know that I'm always ready to listen."

  She caught his hand, squeezed it. "I know," she assured him. "And it's no big deal—really it isn't. I just have to do some thinking on my own before I can talk about it, that's all."

  "Okay," Luke said, and she could feel his concern fading a little. But only a little. "Oh, and there's one more factor here we shouldn't forget. Fel's stormtrooper squad isn't exactly homogeneous."

  Mara frowned. "Are you talking about that alien, Su-mil?"

  "Yes," Luke said. "We don't know anything about him or his people, after all. It's possible he's running with his own agenda."

  "Possible, but unli
kely," Mara said, shaking her head. "The Five-Oh-First wasn't exactly your run-of-the-star-lane stormtrooper unit. They were an elite among elites, and I can't imagine Parck reviving it without holding to those standards."

  "I didn't say it was likely," Luke reminded her mildly. "I would hope that Fel hadn't just thrown chance cubes when he picked his people for this mission. I just thought it was something we should keep in mind."

  * * *

  They did make one short side trip on the way back, stopping by the Jade Sabre to make sure she was properly locked down against intruders. After that admittedly snide comment to Fel, Mara knew she would never live it down if her own ship got broken into. Back in their quarters, they were preparing for bed when Formbi's official announcement came over the shipwide speaker system that the fire damage had been repaired and that the mission would continue without interruption. He made no mention of the assistance the Chiss had received in battling the blaze; nor was there any comment as to the cause of the explosion that had started the fire in the first place.

  Later, lying beside Luke in the darkness, Mara stared at the ceiling and wondered what exactly was going on inside her.

  It had come on so quickly, this quiet feeling of guilt that had suddenly taken hold of her like a hand gently gripping her throat. Suddenly, all the things she'd done through the years she was Palpatine's agent were coming back to haunt her. The heavy-handed investigations; the casual brushing aside of even the limited rights that had existed under the Empire; the summary judgments.

  The summary killings.

  But she'd put all that behind her. Hadn't she? She'd never truly been on the dark side, after all—Luke himself had pointed that out to her three years ago. She'd served Palpatine and the Empire as best and as honestly as she'd known how, based on the admittedly slanted information he'd given her. Certainly the fact that she was now a Jedi seemed to support the view that her actions were redeemable.