Survivor's Quest

"You want to talk about it?" Luke asked.

She shrugged. "I don't think he's a con man," she said. "Too emotionally co

"I meant you," Luke interrupted her gently. "Your reaction."

Mara grimaced. One of the minuses of having a Jedi husband was that you were never completely alone. "I don't know," she confessed. "There was just something in Formbi's comment about paying respects that got to me somehow."

"Any idea why?"

"Not really." She looked around the room, a small shiver ru

"And Thrawn?"

"Maybe Thrawn," she agreed. "Though I don't know why that should bother me so much."

Luke didn't reply, but she could sense his invitation. Crossing the room, she lay down on the bed beside him. He slipped his arm around beneath her shoulders, and for a minute they just lay snuggled together, their minds and emotions wrapping around each other in much the same way. "Maybe it's the Force, then," Luke suggested. "Maybe there's something you need to work through, something you've been putting off or suppressing, and the time has come for you to deal with it. That's happened to me once or twice."

"I suppose," Mara said. "I just wish the Force would pick a time when things are quieter if it's going to push me into something."

She sensed his smile. "Me, too," he said. "If you ever figure out how to schedule things that neatly, let me know."

"You'll be the first," she promised, reaching up to pat the hand around her shoulder.

He caught her hand and held it. "Until then," he said quietly, stroking her hand with his fingertips, "just remember that I'm here for you. For whatever you need from me."

She squeezed his hand. "I know," she said, feeling his warmth and strength and commitment flowing into her, flooding into the dark areas that Jinzler's emotions had opened in her.

One of the plusses of having a Jedi husband, she thought contentedly, was that you were never completely alone.

They lay there together for a few minutes. Then, with a sigh, Mara forced her mind back to business. "So," she said. "What do you think of the rest of this setup?"

"Well, it's definitely not as cheering as we might like," he said. "Did you notice the way Formbi looked when he came up after that talk with General Drask and Captain Talshib?"

Mara thought back. She'd been concentrating mainly on Jinzler at the time, and all she could remember about Formbi was his general expression. "He looked tired," she said.

"It was more than that," Luke said. "It was as if he'd just fought a battle, and wasn't sure whether he'd won or lost."

"Mm," Mara said, slightly a

"They're certainly not happy about something," Luke said. "Though it sounds to me like an Aristocra is higher in rank than a general."

"That's never stopped anyone else from complaining," Mara pointed out. "And I've seen a higher-ranking person give in just to shut the complainer up."

"So have I," Luke said. "We'll want to keep an eye on things and see how Drask does as we go along."

"Uh-huh," Mara murmured. "Tell me, do you think Drask might be a

"Such as?"

"Such as that accident with the cable in the reception room," Mara said. "The timing there was almost too good to be coincidence."

For a few seconds Luke didn't answer. Mara listened to the silence, watching the kaleidoscope of thought and emotion go through his mind as he examined the possibilities. "I don't know," he said at last. "It probably wouldn't have killed me even if it had hit me dead-on. But it could easily have put me out of action for a time while I went into a healing trance."

"Which would have left me more or less on my own," Mara said. "Alternatively, it might have given Drask an excuse to kick us off the mission completely."

"He would have had a tough job selling it," Luke pointed out. "It's pretty clear Formbi wants us along."

"Maybe, but at least it would have given him an added lever," Mara said.

Abruptly, she came to a decision. "I'll be back," she said, making sure her lightsaber was securely fastened to her belt as she headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Luke called after her, propping himself up on an elbow.

"Back to the reception room," Mara said. "I want a closer look at that cable."

"You want me to come with you?" Luke asked, starting to stand up.

"Better not," Mara said, shaking her head. "One Jedi poking around is idle curiosity; two of them is an official investigation. There's no point in adding fuel to Drask's fire."

"I suppose." Reluctantly, Luke sat back down on the bed. "Whistle if you need any help."

"Of course," Mara said, giving him an i

She managed to get out of the room before he could come up with a suitably sarcastic reply.

The corridors back to the reception room were fairly quiet. Mara saw perhaps a dozen black-uniformed Chiss on her way, and most of them pretty much ignored her. A few seemed interested or intrigued by her alien appearance, but even that small handful said nothing as they passed by. Either the culture was just naturally polite, or else Formbi had given strict instructions as to how his guests were to be treated.

It was interesting, though, how much more of their emotional states she was able to pick up this time around. Back on Nirauan, during her first brush with groups of Chiss, she'd barely even been able to sense their presence. Experience and practice apparently paid off in this area.

Of course, back then she hadn't been a true Jedi, either. Maybe that was part of the difference.

Not surprisingly, the reception room was deserted when she reached it. Somewhat more surprising was the fact that the loose cable that had nearly hit Luke had already been reattached.

She stood just inside the archway for a moment, eyeing the cable. It was nestled into a cable groove between the ceiling and the bulkhead, a good six meters off the deck. That wasn't an impossible jump for a Jedi, but a simple jump wouldn't accomplish very much. She needed to be able to sit there for a minute or two in order to examine the end where it had either broken or been cut. And as far as she knew, even Jedi couldn't hover in midair.

But there might be another approach. Formbi had said that the reception area could be automatically reconfigured and decorated for arriving guests...

It took a minute for her to find the control panel, set into the bulkhead just inside the archway and hidden behind a plate colored the same neutral gray as the rest of the paneling. The controls consisted of a dozen buttons, each labeled with an alien mark. Experimentally, she pushed one of them.

Smoothly, and in complete silence, the room began to change. A dozen wall sections of various sizes and shapes began to swing outward, exposing intricate symbols or painted patterns on their other sides, then settled back against the bulkheads with the patterns now showing. Parts of the ceiling likewise swung free to hang like flags or else began to lower as rectangular or circular columns to various heights, leaving the room with a sort of stylized stalactite look.

The deck itself underwent the most dramatic changes. Instead of large panels flipping or rotating or otherwise changing, tiny lights that had hitherto been invisible came to life, forming intricate spirals and patterns of color. As she watched, the patterns altered, giving a sense of water flowing from the hatchway over to the arch.