She nodded. "What are your plans now, Shigar? Are you returning Envoy Vii and your friend to Coruscant?"

Shigar knew that look on his Master's face. She already knew the answer to her question. She had either worked it out or seen it in a vision. There was also a slight emphasis on the word friend that encouraged him to cast his answer in the frankest terms possible.

"Larin thinks I can use psychometry to find this world. " He held up the sliver of silvery alloy that she'd recovered from the nest. It glittered in a way that wasn't beautiful, but was certainly eye catching. "I think she places too much faith in my abilities. I would rather bring it to Tython for someone reliable to read it there. "

"That would waste time, Shigar, and time may be of the essence. "

"Do you know this, Master, or do you just suggest it?"

"It doesn't matter. I do know that Larin's faith in you is not unwarranted. Perhaps you should have faith in her, too. Does she strike you as a fantasist?"

"Anything but. " Larin was as solid as a rock. "She sees what she sees and she says what she says. "

"Well, then. Maybe the one who doesn't see is you, Shigar. "

"Perhaps, Master. But if I fail..."

"Metaphorically speaking, " she said with a smile, "if is the smallest word in the Galactic Standard lexicon, yet it stands between us and our greatest dreams. Let it be a bridge, Shigar. It's time you crossed it. I will be waiting for you on the other side. "

He took a deep breath. "Yes, Master. "

"Meanwhile, I am hopeful that Supreme Commander Stantorrs will provide us with substantive backup. Where the Mandalorians are concerned, he's unlikely to take any chances. But it will undoubtedly be a military mission, not Jedi. I'll suggest rendezvousing at Honoghr. Send coordinates to me there, once you have them, and we'll get on our way. "

Shigar's mind reeled at the logistical efforts unfolding in response to his actions. "Yes, Master. "

"The Force is with you, Shigar. "

The line crackled and died.

Shigar slumped momentarily into the seat, and then went to find somewhere quiet to meditate.

Larin hadn't intended to eavesdrop on Shigar's conversation with his Master, but the Auriga Fire was too small to allow anyone actual privacy. Where she and Ula sat facing each other was less than five meters away from Shigar, and the metal-lined corridors carried every sound. Ula spoke softly so as not to disturb him, and it was easy for Larin to phase the envoy out.

She found it much harder, though, to ignore the mess the Sith wretch had made of her hand.

Just getting the glove off had been difficult. No painkillers existed sufficient to shield her entirely from the sensation of blended flesh and plastoid tearing apart. The Sith's lightsaber had melted both into a horrific seal, one that had stopped her from losing too much blood but would have to be removed before the wound could properly heal. The medkit's initial scan revealed a mess of truncated bones and blood vessels beneath. It could only deal with them once the wound was cleared.

That job fell to Ula, who wielded a sonic scalpel with more surety than she had expected. Ula talked her through the procedure, in an attempt to rea.s.sure both of them, most likely. She gritted her teeth, unable to look away, and at the same time tried to focus her mind on something else.

"What are your plans now, Shigar? Are you returning Envoy Vii and your friend to Coruscant?"

That had to be Shigar's Master, the legendary Satele Shan. Larin wished she could see her image. She spoke with such surety and confidence, and Shigar responded to both in ways he probably wasn't even aware of, simultaneously trusting and rebelling. It was hard to imagine him in a junior role to anyone.

"Maybe the one who doesn't see is you, Shigar. "

"There, " said Ula, gingerly lifting the glove from her brutalized flesh. It came off in three pieces. He had resealed the major blood vessels with a laser cauterizer and applied a bone stabilizer compound. "I think that's good enough to put in the medkit now. I'll dig around through the ship's cupboards later and see if I can find a prosthetic to tide you over until we get home. "

She didn't want to look at the ruins of her hand, but she had to. The cut ran neatly across all her metacarpals, leaving her without even a single finger stump. The pain was hazy and indistinct now, but very present. Her nerves were obviously still working. That was a good thing, she reminded herself, if she was ever to have a full prosthetic attached.

The medkit swallowed what was left of her hand up to the wrist, and hummed patiently to itself.

"The Force is with you, Shigar. "

Larin heard him sigh, then get up to move elsewhere in the ship. His footsteps thudded heavily, as though he were bearing a heavy weight. Doors opened and closed, sometimes prompted by a thump or two. Finally he stopped. A door closed and sealed. Apart from the combined hum of life-support and a dozen other machines, the ship was silent.

"I said, I have several carrybags full of brand-new clothes. If you or anyone else wanted to change... ?"

She focused on Ula's face. "What? Oh, yes. Sorry. That's a good idea. Could you help me get my armor off? I won't be able to reach the seals down my right side until the medkit has finished. "

"Of course. I'd be happy to. "

Together they wrestled her out of her arm and chest plates. The back defeated her entirely, so she showed him how to pop the waist seals and wriggle the sh.e.l.l free. Even through her body glove she felt the coolness of the air. She literally hadn't taken the armor off for days. On Coruscant, in the dangerous old districts, she had become used to sleeping in it most nights.

The state of the armor dismayed her. It had been well used even before she bought it, but the last few days had tested it beyond reasonable expectations. It was dented, slashed, melted, pierced, and blackened. More than once she found patches of blood she didn't even remember shedding.

"I can manage the rest, " she said. "There must be a 'fresher in here somewhere. "

"I saw a small one near the starboard hold. Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"

"Most definitely. A girl's gotta keep some secrets. "

He flushed a bright red, and she instantly regretted the joke.

"I'm sorry, " she said, taking his hand. "You've been a great help, Envoy Vii. The painkillers are making me feel a bit woozy. I might lie down after I've cleaned myself up. "

"Yes, yes, you should rest. And please call me Ula. "

"Thank you, Ula. "

His hand was warm in hers. She surprised herself by not wanting to let him go. They sat without saying anything for a moment, and maybe the painkillers really were getting to her because she felt herself tearing up at this tiny instant of human contact. She had been on her own for so long.

Don't be an idiot, she told herself. Being in the Blackstars was never like this. We fought and killed together. We didn't hold hands.

"All right, " Ula said, sounding embarra.s.sed again. "The luggage is in the crew quarters. I'll let you rummage through it. Call if you need anything, anything at all. "

Larin nodded and wiped her nose.

Ula let her hand go.

When next she glanced up, he was gone.

CHAPTER 24.

The imperial shuttle came out of hypers.p.a.ce above the green and empty world of Kant, deep in Bothan s.p.a.ce. Kant's two moons possessed a sparkling array of asteroid companions. Among them lurked the seventeen vessels of the half division granted to Darth Chratis by the Dark Council. The bulk cruiser at its head, an aging hollow-nosed Keizar-Volvec behemoth called Paramount, hung low and heavy dead ahead. Ax felt an antic.i.p.atory dread as the shuttle swooped in to dock. She had cleaned the wounds on her face and neck and changed into clean attire. Still, she felt unready for what was surely to come.

A full detail awaited her on the hangar deck. She ignored their salute.

"Where's the technician I asked for?"

"Specialist Pedisic is on her way, my lord. "

"Not good enough. I asked for one to be here when I arrived. What about Darth Chratis? Is he on his way, too?"

"No, my lord. He wishes you to attend him immediately. "

"Again, not good enough. " She wrapped the Force around the man's throat and squeezed until he gasped. "Tell him that I have important work to oversee, and I will not be distracted. "

"Yes... sir!" the red-faced soldier managed.

She let him go and he scurried off to obey her orders.

Behind her, the pilot and another grunt carried a sealed metal case down the ramp with exaggerated care. She had impressed upon them the importance of its contents. If anything happened to the remains of the hex, she was sunk along with the mission.

"I need somewhere secure to open this box, " she told the next soldier in line. "Show me to the nearest quarantine bay. "

"Yes, my lord. " He snap-turned neatly on his heel and led her to a gla.s.s-windowed room set into one wall of the hangar deck. The box promptly followed.

The quarantine bay was small but well equipped. The box went onto the floor next to a gleaming metal table. A heavy-breathing droid tech finally arrived, and Ax sent everyone else packing.

"Inside that box is a droid, " she told the technician. "And inside the droid is information of the greatest possible importance. It's your job to get it out. "

"I understand, my lord. "

"Good. Well, open it!"

Specialist Pedisic unsealed the clasps, stared for a moment at what lay within, then reached in to scoop out the remains. The dead hex had collapsed in on itself and was now reduced to the size of a small human child. Its legs curled protectively around its midriff. Dark brown fluid stained everything.

"I've never seen anything like this before, " Pedisic told her, wiping her hands on a cloth she produced from inside her uniform.

"What you've seen or done before doesn't concern me, " Ax said. "It's what happens now that matters. If I said this was a matter of life and death, I wouldn't be exaggerating. For you, it certainly is. "

Pedisic swallowed. "Let me send for some more equipment, and I'll get started right away. "

Ax nodded. "You have one hour. "

She swept out of the quarantine bay, past the double guard stationed at the door, and went to find her Master.

The blow came so fast she couldn't avoid it, even though she'd expected it from the moment she boarded the Paramount. She felt herself swept up and thrust with crushing force into the nearest bulkhead, and held there, unable to move.

"You were sent to Hutta to claim one thing. "

The deadly hiss of her Master's voice slid like a red-hot needle into her right ear. She could feel him next to her, even though the room was in absolute darkness. His presence was like a foul-burning fire in the fabric of s.p.a.ce itself.

"One thing only, " he repeated, "yet you return without it, you stand by while the Emperor's official envoy is killed, and you delay before reporting to me. What am I to do with you, Eldon Ax? What punishment would be most fitting?"

"The envoy was a puppet, " she managed in her own defense.

"They always are, but they remain the public face of the Emperor. To slight one of them is to slight him. Would you be party to such a thing? Should he be informed that you have allowed his authority to be disrespected?"

"No, Master. That was not my intent. "

"Perhaps it was not. It is hard to be certain. Your confusion is exposed to me. You are weakened by attachment, by the existence of a mother... "

She flinched away from him as though physically struck. "You lie!" she cried, even though part of her worried that it might be the truth.

The lights burst on, blindingly bright. She fell to the floor, released, and blinked away bright afterimages. The room was square, black, and empty apart from her Master's meditation sarcophagus mounted securely in the center. He was inside it, his withered face hidden safely behind the lid.

He had never been standing beside her at all.

"Allow me to explain, Master. "

"If you cannot, I will crush your mind to dust. "

She began with her attempt to infiltrate the vault and moved quickly on to her confrontation first with the Jedi Padawan, then with Dao Stryver. Darth Chratis was displeased at her inability to slay either of her enemies, and she felt his feverish will coiling about her again, but she plowed on without hesitation. Her fate rested on convincing him of the worth of the hexes.

"Droids, " he breathed. "Lema Xandret was a droid maker. "

"This surely confirms beyond all possible doubt that the Cinzia was connected to her. Doesn't it, Master?"

"Do you have any other evidence?"

She pushed aside a memory of the hexes' relentless screeching. "They consistently attacked me first, as though they possessed an embedded resentment of the Sith. Otherwise, they lashed out only when either attacked themselves or their way was impeded. "

"Suggestive indeed. You say the Mandalorian had the measure of them, as though he had seen their kind before?"

"He held back until it was clear the hexes were going to escape. "

"I find that very interesting, too. "

"The Hutts clearly had no idea what they had found, Master. They might have sold it for the material value alone, had it not been activated. "

"Do you think your presence triggered some kind of awakening?"

"No, Master. It was a matter of expediency. The seed-factory remained relatively quiescent until circ.u.mstances ruled that tactic unworkable. Then it moved to another tactic. If the auction had been held a week later, I believe the hexes would have escaped unchecked into the Hutta biosphere, and from there made their journey home. "

"To report, I presume. "

"Yes, Master. "

"Can you recover their route from the remains you brought here?"

"I intend to, Master. "