Survivor's Quest

"Yes, I remember the history lesson from the last time I was here," Mara said. "The Chiss are fanatics on the topic of preemptive strikes. So what does a fifty-year-old tragedy have to do with us?"

"Just this." Parck's eyes bored into hers. "The Chiss have found the remains of Outbound Flight. And they want to give it back."

For a long moment, Mara just stared at the screen, a hundred different thoughts and emotions twisting themselves through her mind. "No," she said, the word popping out without conscious effort. "That's impossible. It has to be a trick."

Parck shrugged. "I agree it sounds odd. But Aristocra Formbi seemed sincere when he contacted me."

"It's impossible," Mara insisted again. "You told me Thrawn destroyed Outbound Flight. When Thrawn destroys something, he does a very thorough job of it."

"Which I would know far better than you," Parck returned pointedly. "The fact remains that the Chiss say they've found Outbound Flight. The description Formbi gave certainly fits the design, and there's no other reason I can think of why even a single Dreadnaught should be out this far."

He lifted an eyebrow. "The hows and whys are questions none of us can answer right now. The only question you have to deal with is what you're going to do about it."

"What we're going to do?" Luke asked. "It seems to me this is something for the entire New Republic leadership, not a couple of Jedi."

"Perhaps," Parck said. "But perhaps not. Outbound Flight was a brainchild of the Jedi, after all, not the Old Republic Senate or even Palpatine. That's why Formbi asked that you be contacted and invited to join the official expedition to the site of the remains."

"He asked for Luke?" Mara asked.

"Specifically," Parck confirmed, turning to look toward a screen to his right. "Here's the entire message: 'To Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, Jedi academy, Yavin Four; from Chaf'orm'bintrano, Aristocra of the Fifth Ruling Family, Sarvchi. A patrol from the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet has located what appears to be the remnants of the expeditionary mission known to you as Outbound Flight deep inside Chiss territory. As a token of respect, and with deep regret for Chiss involvement in its destruction, we offer you the opportunity to join the official examination of the vessel. I will await you at the world Crustai'—here he gave the coordinates—'for the next fifteen days, at which time we will travel together to Outbound Flight's location. I urge you to attend, so that through you we may discuss arrangements for the return of the remains to your people.' End of message."

"And this all came from this Chaf'orm'whatever?" Mara asked. "The address and everything?"

"Chaf'orm'bintrano," Parck supplied. "Call him Formbi. Obviously, I supplied the location of the Jedi academy for him. The Chiss know virtually nothing about the New Republic, and certainly nothing about its worlds."

"Yet he knew Luke's name?"

"Well, no, not exactly," Parck said. "Formbi asked for the name of the New Republic's most prominent Jedi. That would of course be Master Skywalker."

"So you and Formbi are on good speaking terms?" Mara pressed.

"I wouldn't say we're on good speaking terms," Parck hedged. "Official Chiss policy is still that Thrawn was a renegade who brought nothing but dishonor on the rest of his people."

"Tell that to Stent," Luke murmured.

Parck shrugged. "I didn't say all the Chiss agreed. I simply said that was the official line. But Formbi and I have spoken on occasion, and the conversations have been reasonably civil."

He glanced somewhere offscreen. "I've run the numbers on travel to the Crustai system. Assuming you can make at least point three in that ship, you should have just enough time to get there before Formbi's fifteen days are up."

"Thank you," Luke said. "If you don't mind, we'll discuss it and get back to you."

"As you wish," Parck said. "I hope to speak with you again soon."

He was still sitting there, gazing at them, when Luke switched off the comm.

Mara kept her eyes on the planet, feeling Luke's unspoken question hanging in the air between them. "What do you think?" she asked instead.

"It's an intriguing offer," Luke said. "As far as I could tell, the whole Outbound Flight Project was wrapped in secrecy. There was hardly anything even in the Coruscant archives that I could find."

"There's a lot we don't know anymore about that whole era," Mara said. "The Clone Wars and Palpatine's purge saw to that."

"That's my point," Luke said. "If even a part of Outbound Flight survived, there's a chance that some of its records survived with it. This could be the kind of glimpse into the past that we've always wanted."

"That we've always wanted?" Mara countered, looking at him. "Or that you've always wanted?"

"All right, fine," Luke said, clearly puzzled by her reaction. "I admit it: I'd like to know more about the Jedi of that time. Wouldn't you?"

"That's also when Palpatine came to power," she reminded him darkly, turning back to the canopy. "Personally, there's a lot about that era that I don't want to know."

"I understand," Luke said gently. "But on the other hand, we can't ignore the potential of this offer."

"What potential?" Mara scoffed. "The chance for the Chiss to assuage their guilt over letting Thrawn run wild as long as they did?"

"I'm sure that's part of it," Luke said. "The Chiss claim to be an honorable people. Even Thrawn made a point of not killing or destroying more than he thought was necessary. But I have a strong feeling that there's more to this than just a simple act of atonement."

"Such as?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. It may be that the Chiss are looking to open diplomatic relations with the New Republic, and finding Outbound Flight has given them the opening they needed to do so."

"Really," Mara said. "Well, in that case, my dear, they're going about it in an awfully strange way. I've been ru

"I can't argue with that," Luke conceded. "Still, if the Chiss consider Outbound Flight to have been a Jedi project, it makes sense for them to ask for me instead of someone from the Senate."

"If Parck's telling the truth," Mara said. "It also could be that he's lying through his teeth."

"There's one way to find out," Luke pointed out. "I doubt he could hide that massive a deception from both of us in person."

"We're not going down there," Mara said flatly. "The last time I sat in the same room with him he first tried to recruit me, then almost had me shot with those wonderful little charric fire guns the Chiss carry. Thanks, but I can hear him just fine from up here."

"Okay, don't get excited," Luke said. "I'm not in any rush to go down there again, either. Just bear in mind that in that case all we've got to go on is what he says."

"I know," Mara muttered. "I just don't like it."

Luke shrugged. "It's a gamble," he said. "But I think it's worth taking." He cocked his head to the side, and again Mara could feel his mind pressing at hers. "Unless you have something more solid to go on, one way or the other?"

"You mean am I getting something from the Force?" Mara grimaced. "I wish I was. But all I've got is my own natural suspicion."

"No, it's not just that," Luke corrected her thoughtfully. "There's something else there, something deeper than just caution or suspicion. It feels a little like the way I felt when Yoda told me I would have to face my father before I would truly be a Jedi."