Read Lost Tribe of the Sith 05 - Star Wars Purgatory for Free Online

seven
teen
hours fif
teen
,
Galac
tic
Stan
dard.”
    Lando’s jaw dropped, and he sputtered, “Tha … that’s not
me
!”
    “Not quite,” Jaina agreed. The emphasis was placedon the wrong syllable in several words; otherwise, the voice was identical. “But it’s close enough to fool a droid.”
    Lando’s eyes clouded with confusion. “Are you telling me what I
think
you’re telling me?”
    “Yes,” Jaina said, glancing at her blank sensor display. “I don’t quite know how, but someone impersonated you.”
    “Through the Force?”
    Jaina shrugged and shot a meaningful glance toward a dark corner. While she knew of a half-dozen Force powers that could have been used to defeat Ornate’s voice-recognition software, not one of those techniques had a range measured in light-years. She carefully began to expand her Force-awareness, concentrating on the remote corners of the huge ship, and, thirty seconds later, was astonished to find nothing unusual. There were no lurking beings, no blank zones that might suggest an artificial void in the Force, not even any small vermin that might be a Force-wielder disguising his presence.
    After a moment, she turned back to Lando. “They
must
be using the Force. There’s no one aboard but us and the droids.”
    “I was afraid you’d say that.” Lando paused for a moment, then asked, “Luke’s friends?”
    “I hate to jump to conclusions, but … who else?” Jaina replied. “First, Lost Tribe or not, they’re
Sith
. Second, they already tried to double-cross us once.”
    “Which makes them as crazy as a rancor on the dancing deck,” Lando said. “Abeloth was locked in a
black hole prison
for twenty-five thousand years. What kind of maniacs would think it was a good idea to bust her out?”
    “They’re
Sith
,” Jaina reminded him. “All that matters to them is power, and Abeloth had power like a nova has light—until Luke killed her.”
    Lando frowned in thought. “And if they’re crazy enough to think they could take Abeloth home with them, they’re probably crazy enough to think they could take the guy who killed her.”
    “Exactly,” Jaina said. “Until a few weeks ago, no one even knew the Lost Tribe
existed
. That’s changed, but they’ll still want to keep what they can secret.”
    “So they’ll try to take out Luke and Ben,” Lando agreed. “And us, too. Contain the leak.”
    “That’s my guess,” Jaina said. “Sith like secrecy, and secrecy means stopping us
now
. Once we’re out of the Maw, they’ll expect us to access the HoloNet and report.”
    Lando looked up and exhaled in frustration. “I
told
Luke he couldn’t trust anyone who puts
High Lord
before his name.” He had been even more forceful than Jaina in trying to argue Luke out of a second bargain with the Lost Tribe—a bargain that had left the Skywalkers and three Sith behind to explore Abeloth’s savage homeworld together. “Maybe we should go back.”
    Jaina thought for only an instant, then shook her head. “No, Luke knew the bargain wouldn’t last when he agreed to it,” she said. “Sarasu Taalon has already betrayed his word once.”
    Lando scowled. “That doesn’t mean Luke and Ben are safe.”
    “No,” Jaina agreed. “But it
does
mean he’s risking their lives to increase
our
chances of reporting to the Jedi Council.
That’s
our mission.”
    “Technically, Luke doesn’t get to assign missions right now,” Lando pressed. “You wouldn’t be violating orders if we—”
    “Luke Skywalker is still the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. I think we should assume he has a plan,” Jaina said. A sudden tingle of danger sense raced down her spine, prompting her to hit the quick-release on hercrash harness. “Besides, we need to start worrying about saving our own skins.”
    Lando began to look worried. “What are you saying?” he asked. “That you’re sensing something?”
    Jaina shook her head. “Not yet.” She rose. “But I
will
be. Why do you