Read The Unseen Queen for Free Online

look for patterns in the froth attacks.” Luke stopped at the foot of the ramp and turned to Han and Leia. “If that’s all right with you.”
    “No problem,” Han said. He stepped closer and spoke in a whisper so low that Luke barely heard it. “We’ll just wait until the boarding ramp starts to go up, then jump on. Leia can cold-start the repulsor drives, and we’ll—”
    “Han, we gave Raynar our word.”
    “Yeah, I remember.” Han continued to whisper. “But we can do this. We’ll be out of here before—”
    “We’re staying.” Luke spoke loudly enough so that the eavesdroppers he sensed watching them would have no trouble overhearing. “A Jedi Master’s promise should mean something.”
    Han glanced at the Saras cargo handlers loading moirestone into the next ship over, and a glimmer of understanding came to his eyes. Each nest of Killiks shared a collective mind, so as long as there was a single Saras within sight of them, all of the Saras Killiks would know exactly what they were doing. And since the Unu included a delegate from the Saras nest, that meant
Raynar
would always know exactly what they were doing.
    “I see your point,” Han said. “We wouldn’t want to double-cross
UnuThul
.”
    Luke rolled his eyes. “Han, you
don’t
see.”
    The ease with which Alema Rar had fallen under the sway of the Dark Nest during the Qoribu crisis hadprompted Luke to do a lot of soul searching, and he had come to the conclusion that the Jedi had been injured by the war with the Yuuzhan Vong in ways even more serious than the deaths they had suffered. They had embraced a ruthless, anything-goes philosophy that left young Jedi Knights with no clear concept of who they were and what they stood for, that blurred the difference between right and wrong and made them far too susceptible to sinister influences. And so Luke had decided to rebuild a sense of principle in the Jedi order, to demonstrate to his followers that a Jedi Knight
was
a force for good in the galaxy.
    “If we leave now, it will make solving other problems with the Colony more difficult,” Luke continued. He hated having to drag Han into his quest to revitalize the Jedi, but Raynar had agreed to allow Mara, Leia, and the others to leave peacefully only if Luke
and
Han remained on Woteba until the Jedi found a remedy for the Fizz. “We have to build some trust, or we’ll only have
more
pirates and black membrosia coming out of these nests.”
    Han scowled. “Luke, you just don’t understand bugs,” he said. “Trust isn’t that big in their way of seeing things.”
    “Captain Solo is quite correct.” C-3PO remained halfway up the ramp. “I haven’t been able to identify a word for ‘trust’ or ‘honor’ in any of their native languages. It really would be wiser to flee.”
    “Nice try, Threepio,” Mara said, stepping to Luke’s side. “But you may as well come back down here. We’re staying.”
    As the droid clanked reluctantly down the ramp, Luke turned to Mara. He knew she could sense his unspoken plan as clearly as
he
sensed her anxiety, but this was one time he would truly be better off without her at his side.
    “Mara, I think—”
    “I’m not leaving here without you, Luke.”
    Leia touched Mara’s elbow. “Mara, the Dark Nest wants you
dead
. Staying on Woteba will only make Luke and Han targets along with you.”
    Mara’s eyes grew narrow and angry, but she dropped her chin and sighed. “I hate this,” she said. “It makes me feel like a coward.”
    “Coward? Mara Jade Skywalker?” Saba snorted. “That is just rockheaded. Leaving is the best thing you can do for Master Skywalker and Han.”
    “Yeah, but before you go, I want to know who this Daxar Ies was,” Han said. “I’ve never heard of him.”
    “You wouldn’t have. He was one of Palpatine’s private accountants,” Mara answered. “He embezzled two billion credits from the Emperor’s personal funds and stashed it in accounts all over the