"Humor me," Luke said. "Spell it out."

The avian's eyes remained closed. Her voice seemed to come from far away. "Once, or so the story that Jacen told me suggests, you had your own props similarly knocked away. Deprived of help, of hope, of weapons, blasted by the Emperor's Force lightning-what did you have then? You had only your self. You were made to choose between the Emperor's path and your own."

"I had no choice," Luke said.

"Exactly. You had no choice, and even with annihilation staring you in the face, you chose to remain true to yourself." A hint of satisfaction entered Vergere's tone. "Likewise, it was necessary to reduce Jacen to himself, in order that, with every other door closed to him, he might embrace his destiny."

Destiny. For the second time in two days the word rose in connection with Jacen. And deep in his bones, in complete inner certainty, Luke knew that Vergere was right, that somewhere in the complex weavings of fate, Jacen had a special place.

The previous evening, over dinner in the small apartment, Luke and Mara had asked Jacen about his experience at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong. At first Jacen had been reluctant to speak at all, saying it was a large subject; but after the first few questions he spoke matter-of-factly of his imprisonment, the way Vergere had repeatedly betrayed him into the hands of the enemy after somehow taking away his connection to the Force. Mara and Luke had glanced at each other in growing horror.

But Jacen had shown no resentment of Vergere; in fact, he had spoken of her with profound respect and admiration. Luke hadn't understood this until later that evening, when he and Mara were alone, and Mara quietly reminded him how hostages sometimes grew strangely attached to their captors. Sometimes captives even grew to love their warders, particularly if the warder was skilled enough in manipulating people. Vergere-old and experienced and serving her own agenda-had been able to manipulate young Jacen's growing psyche.

And so Luke, angry, certain he knew what had happened, had traveled to Vergere's cell to confront her with her actions. But somehow it hadn't quite come out the way he'd antic.i.p.ated.

"And what do you know of Jacen's destiny?" Luke asked.

Vergere pondered a moment before answering. "I believe that Jacen is intimately connected with the fate of the Yuuzhan Vong," she answered.

Of all things, Luke had not expected that. "He can destroy them?"

he asked.

"Destroy them. Save them. Transform them." The tilted eyes opened, gazed expressionlessly into Luke's. "Perhaps all three."

"Can he open them to the Force?" Luke asked.

"I don't know if that's possible."

Luke felt bitterness poison his heart. "Then the Yuuzhan Vong will remain . . . outside."

Vergere's head tilted. "That bothers you?"

Luke blinked. "Yes. Of course. The Force is life. All life is the Force. But the Yuuzhan Vong are outside the Force. So are they outside life as well?"

"What do you think?"

"I think it was easier dealing with enemies from the dark side."

Luke looked narrowly at Vergere. "I also think you're very good at interrogation. This conversation started with me asking the questions."

"If you didn't want me to ask questions," Vergere said, "you should have explained that at the beginning." Her piebald body stirred on her stool. "I've been answering question after question ever since I arrived, and I'm tired of it. So if you insist that the only questions in this room must come from you, then I decline to answer them."

"Very well." Luke rose to his feet. Her head craned after him on its odd little neck.

"But I will ask one more question before you leave," she said. "You may answer it or not, as you like."

"Ask," Luke said.

Her eyes blinked slowly. "If the Force is life," she said, "and the Yuuzhan Vong are alive, and you cannot see them in the Force-then is the problem with the Yuuzhan Vong, or is it with your perceptions?"

Luke, choosing not to answer, nodded politely and left.

"Tricky, isn't she?" Ayddar Nylykerka asked a few moments later.

"You heard?" Luke asked.

"Of course. Everything in that room is recorded." The Tammarian inclined his head. "What do you suggest we do with her?"

"Hold her here," Luke said, "and keep asking her questions."

Nylykerka smiled. "Just what I planned, Master Skywalker."

Mon Calamari, goggle eyes gleaming in the floodlights, swam easily past Cal Omas's window. The scent of mildew in the room was greater than ever. Mara looked up as Luke entered.

"Vergere?" she said.

"It's complicated," Luke said. "I'll explain later." He looked at Cal Omas, who was sharing a hasty meal with Mara. "What news from the Senate?"

Cal swallowed the mouthful he'd been chewing, and said, "The Senate had a vote this afternoon. I got twenty-eight percent."

"And Rodan?"

"Thirty-five."

"And Cola Quis got ten percent," Mara added, "and Ta'laam Ranth eighteen. Pwoe got three votes total-though he sent a message saying that the vote was illegal and that he was still Chief of State. The rest of the votes were abstentions, or scattered among half a dozen others."

Luke and Mara had decided that, of the two of them, Mara would be one who would work more openly with Cal and his campaign. Luke had other business, with Jacen and Vergere and the Jedi, and Mara could move more openly among the politicians and lobbyists than he could.

Luke joined the others at the table, and Cal amiably pushed a bowl of giju stew in his direction. "Where's Triebakk?" Luke asked.

"Talking to Cola Quis," Cal said. "By now it must be clear to Cola that he can't win, so we need to find out what it would take for him to drop out of the race and endorse me."

"I'm sure Rodan's asking him the same thing," Mara said.

"And then we ask the same thing of Ta'laam Ranth," Cal continued, "though I don't suppose Ta'laam is ready to answer yet, He'll want a few more floor votes first, just to show what a valuable ally he could be."

"What's he likely to want?"

"A place on the Advisory Council, certainly," Cal said. "Plus he'll want places in the government for his friends-he's always been very serious about controlling patronage."

Luke finished his bite of stew and spoke. "In order to control patronage, there has to be a government for him to control patronage in.

If the government falls apart in the meantime ..."

Cal shrugged. "Ta'laam wants what he wants. If we start giving him speeches about patriotism and duty, he'll think we're trying to put something over on him. He's the sort who thinks that patronage is the whole point of government."

"In that case," Luke said, sighing, "you may as well point out that if the war goes on, his people will gain access to a lot of military contracts."

Cal grinned. "We'll make a politician of you yet."

"I hope not," Luke said.

Cal reached across the table for a datapad. "It's Fyor's supporters that worry me." He tapped the display. "I've been looking at the people who voted for him, and if I were to make a mental list of the members of the Senate who would want a truce with the Yuuzhan Vong, or even a surrender, I'd find quite a number of them among Fyor's supporters."

"Senator Sneakaway," Luke said, with a significant look at Mara.

"Senator Scramblefree."

Cal frowned at the datapad. "I count at least a dozen Senators who either ran away from Coruscant during the fighting or found reason to flee before the fighting started. And some of them are influential."

"Rodan told me that he didn't trust the Yuuzhan Vong to keep a truce," Luke said.

"He repeated it publicly, this afternoon," Mara said.

"But can he hold out against his own supporters?" Cal said. "When the people he depends on for his position tell him they want peace with the Yuuzhan Vong, how can he resist?"

"I don't understand," Mara said. "Rodan was brave during the fight, maybe even heroic. How can he a.s.sociate with these people?"

"Some people don't question the folks who give them what they want," Cal said, and then his long face creased in a sly smile. "I haven't exactly made my own supporters fill out a questionnaire, either."

Luke finished his stew. "We need a government soon," he said. "And one the military can respect. Because the military won't hold still for a surrender or a truce. And then we'll have a military government that won't hold any legitimacy other than what they acquire at blasterpoint."

Cal looked serious. "Mara told me what you saw this afternoon. I agree we need a government soon. A parliamentary system like ours is inefficient in certain ways, but it's what we're stuck with."

"The question is," Mara said, "does the military understand that?"

It was a question to which none of them had the answer.

Luke and Mara found Jacen in the suite when they returned. Jacen sat on the floor in a meditation pose, and Luke could feel the Force surrounding him, swirling in great eddies through the boy's body, cleansing, healing, strengthening, and restoring. Jacen's eyes opened as soon as Luke and Mara stepped into the apartment, and he smiled.

"The Intelligence people are done with me, for the present," Jacen said. "I think they'll be a while with Vergere, though."

"I spoke with her myself," Luke said.

Jacen's smile broadened. "What did you think?"

"I think she's not simple."

Mara had scowled at Jacen's pleased reaction to the mention of Vergere, but she put the frown away and sat next to Jacen. "I have to wonder about her loyalties," she said.

"They're not simple, either," Jacen said. "She's very harsh sometimes."

Mara's mouth twisted, and Luke knew why, because his own insides were queasing at the thought of torture. He swallowed back a bitter surge of stomach acid and dropped cross-legged to the floor in front of Jacen.

Jacen looked at him. "I'm still your apprentice, Master Skywalker," he said. "Do you have any a.s.signments for me?"

Harsh, Luke thought. Whatever he was going to be, he wasn't going to be Vergere. He smiled. "A very difficult a.s.signment, Jacen," he said.

"You're to take a vacation."

Jacen was surprised. "What kind of vacation?" he asked.

Luke almost laughed. "Whatever kind you like," he said. "You've been through a lot, and I want you to take the time to think about it.

Many of your friends are here-I want you to reconnect with them.

Meditate, as you were doing. Try to discern what it is that the Force wants for you, if anything, and whether it's what you want for yourself."

Jacen tilted his head in curiosity. "You'd give me that option?"

"You of all people," Luke said, "should know that you've always had that option." He looked into Jacen's solemn eyes. "I want you to get beyond what I want for you, beyond what Vergere wants, beyond any of us.

I want you alone with Force. A dialogue, with just the two of you, alone."

"Harsh," Mara said. Luke could feel her muscles tense. "Days and days of torture. Harsh"

They were alone in bed, lying nested like spoons, Mara in the curve of Luke's body. Jacen was presumably asleep in the next room, and they conversed in low tones so as not to be overheard.

"She claims she had good reasons for what she did," Luke said. "And they sounded plausible, if-well-harsh"

Mara looked thoughtful. "She helped heal me with her tears."

"Perhaps a gesture of compa.s.sion, perhaps a coldhearted calculation to pave her way to a defection-or should I say a re-re-defection, to our side."

"She tortured Jacen, but she brought him back."

"And she collaborated in the deaths of hundreds of billions of citizens of the New Republic," Luke said. "The reasons she gives are, perhaps, adequate. Or perhaps she is simply a being with absolutely no conscience and an agenda of her own."

Mara's eyes turned hard. "We've got to get Jacen out from under her influence."

"That's why I told Jacen to take time off and to reconnect with his friends," Luke said. "I can't order him not to feel a connection to Vergere, but I can tell him to connect to all the parts of his life that aren't Vergere."

Mara nodded. "Good idea."

"Whatever may have happened to Jacen while he was gone, he's more mature than he was. More balanced. And more centered than ever in the force."

Mara bit her lip. "I agree. Not everything that happened to him was negative."

"After Jacen's gotten his bearings back, I'll send him on a mission. After he's had a chance to think and regain his balance, he'll need to reconnect with his job."

"Yes." She hesitated. "That may be hard, but it's necessary."

"I spoke this morning of Jacen's having a special destiny," Luke said. "Vergere thinks he has one as well."

Mara looked at him over her shoulder. "Maybe you'd better tell me what she said."