Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Conviction Read online

  Books by Aaron Allston

  Galatea in 2-D

  Bard’s Tale series (with Holly Lisle)

  Thunder of the Captains

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  Betrayal

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  Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi series

  Outcast

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  Terminator Dream

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  Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Conviction is a work of fiction.

  Names, places, and incidents either are products of

  the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2011 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.

  Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension copyright © 2011

  by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.

  Published in the United States by Del Rey,

  an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon

  is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  This book contains an excerpt from

  Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension by Christie Golden.

  This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not

  reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-51958-0

  www.starwars.com

  www.fateofthejedi.com

  www.delreybooks.com

  Jacket design: Ian Keltie and David Stevenson

  Jacket illustration: Ian Keltie

  v3.1

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks go to my editor, Shelly Shapiro, and my fellow writers on this series, Troy Denning and Christie Golden, for inventiveness and patience; to Sue Rostoni, Leland Chee, and all the other fine folk at Lucas Licensing for their help; to my agent, Russ Galen, for his work on my behalf; and to all the fans, for their good wishes.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  The Star Wars Novel Timeline

  Dramatis Personae

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  About the Author

  Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension

  Dramatis Personae

  Luke Skywalker; Jedi Grand Master (human male)

  Ben Skywalker; Jedi Knight (human male)

  Vestara Khai; Sith apprentice (human female)

  Leia Organa Solo; Jedi Knight (human female)

  Han Solo; pilot (human male)

  Allana Solo; child (human female)

  Tahiri Veila; defendant (human female)

  Natasi Daala; Chief of State, Galactic Alliance (human female)

  Jaina Solo; Jedi Knight (human female)

  Wynn Dorvan; government aide (human male)

  Valin Horn; Jedi Knight (human male)

  Jysella Horn; Jedi Knight (human female)

  Corran Horn; Jedi Master (human male)

  Drikl Lecersen; Moff (human male)

  Haydnat Treen; Senator (human female)

  Seha Dorvald; Jedi Knight (human female)

  A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away.…

  INFIRMARY LEVEL,

  JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT

  THE MEDICAL READOUT BOARD ON THE CARBONITE POD FLICKERED, then went dark, announcing that the young man just being thawed from suspended animation—Valin Horn, Jedi Knight—was dead.

  Master Cilghal, preeminent physician of the Jedi Order, felt a jolt of alarm ripple through the Force. It was not her own alarm. The emotion was the natural reaction of all those gathered to see Valin and his sister, Jysella, rescued from an unfair, unwarranted sentence imposed not by a court of justice, but by Galactic Alliance Chief of State Daala herself. Had they come to see these Jedi Knights freed and instead become witness to a tragedy?

  But what Cilghal didn’t feel in the Force was the winking out of a life. Valin was still there, a diminished but intact presence in the Force.

  She waved at the assembly, a calming motion. “Be still.” She did not need to exert herself through the Force. Most of those present were Jedi Masters and Jedi Knights who respected her authority. Not one of them was easily panicked, not even the little girl beside Han and Leia.

  Standing between Valin’s and Jysella’s hovergurneys with her assistant Tekli, Cilghal concentrated on the young man lying to her right. His body gleamed with a trace of dark fluid: all that remained of the melted carbonite that had imprisoned him. He was as still as the dead. Cilghal pressed her huge, webbed hand against his throat to check his pulse. She found it, shallow but steady.

  The readout board flickered again and the lights came up in all their colors, strong, the pulse monitor flickering with Valin’s heartbeat, the encephaloscan beginning to jitter with its measurements of Valin’s brain activity.

  Tekli, a Chadra-Fan, her diminutive size and glossy fur coat giving her the aspect of a plush toy instead of an experienced Jedi Knight and physician, spun away from Valin’s gurney and toward the one beside it. On it lay Jysella Horn, slight of build, also gleaming a bit with un-evaporated carbonite residue. Tekli put one palm against Jysella’s forehead and pressed the fingers of her other hand across Jysella’s wrist.

  Cilghal nodded. Computerized monitors might fail, but the Force sense of a trained Jedi would not, at least not under these conditions.

  Tekli glanced back at Cilghal and gave a brisk nod. All was well.

  The pulse under Cilghal’s hand began to strengthen and quicken. A
lso good, also normal.

  Cilghal moved around the head of the gurney and stood on the far side, a step back from Valin. When he awoke, his vision would be clouded, and perhaps his judgment as well. It would not do for him to wake with a large form standing over him, gripping his throat. Violence might result.

  She caught the attention of Corran and Mirax, parents of the two patients. “That was merely an electronic glitch.” Cilghal tried to make her tones reassuring, knowing her effort was not likely to succeed—Mon Calamari voices, suited to their larger-than-human frames, were resonant and even gravelly, an evolutionary adaptation that allowed them to be heard at greater distances in their native underwater environments. Unfortunately, they tended to sound harsh and even menacing to human ears. But she had to try. “They are fine.”

  Corran, wearing green Jedi robes that matched the color of his eyes, heaved a sigh of relief. His wife, Mirax, dressed in a stylish jumpsuit in blacks and blues, smiled uncertainly as she asked, “What caused it?”

  Cilghal offered a human-like shrug. “I’ll put the monitors in for evaluation once your children are checked out as stable. I suspect these monitors haven’t been tested or serviced since Valin and Jysella were frozen.” There, that was a well-delivered lie, dismissing the monitor’s odd behavior as irrelevant.

  Valin stirred. Cilghal glanced down at him. The Jedi Knight’s eyes fluttered open and tried to fix on her, but seemed to have difficulty focusing.

  Cilghal looked down at him. “Valin? Can you hear me?”

  “I … I …” Valin’s voice was weak, watery.

  “Don’t speak. Just nod.”

  He did.

  “You’ve been—”

  She was interrupted by a stage-whispered notification from Tekli: “Jysella is awake.”

  Cilghal adjusted her angle so she could address both siblings. “You’ve been in carbonite suspension for some time. You feel cold, shaky, and disoriented. This is all normal. You are among friends. Do you understand me?”

  Valin nodded again. Jysella’s “yes” was faint, but stronger and more controlled than Cilghal had expected.

  “Your parents are here. I’ll allow them to speak to you in a moment. The Solos are here, as well.” And little Amelia and her pet Anji, both of whom smell like they’ve been rolling in seafood shells left rotting for a week. Cilghal had to blink over that fact. The child should have received a thorough disinfecting before being allowed in this chamber. Come to think of it, Barv also reeked. Where could a youngling and even a Jedi Knight go in the clean, austere Temple and end up smelling like that?

  She set the question aside. “Bazel Warv is here, and Yaqeel Saav’etu, your friends. They can answer many questions about an ailment that afflicted the two of you just prior to your freezing.”

  Jysella looked around, barely raising her head, her attention sliding across the faces of friends and loved ones, and then she looked at Valin. He must have felt her attention; he looked back. A thought, the sort of instant communication that only siblings can understand, passed between them. Then the two of them relaxed.

  Jysella looked again at her parents. “Mom?”

  At Cilghal’s nod, Mirax and Corran came forward, crowding into the gap between the hovergurneys. Tekli moved out of their way, circling the head of Valin’s bed to rejoin Cilghal. She craned her neck to look up at the Mon Cal. “All signs good.”

  Cilghal nodded. She turned to the others in the room. “All but the immediate family, please withdraw to the waiting area.”

  And they did, exiting with words of encouragement and welcome.

  In moments, only the Horns and the medics remained with Valin and Jysella. Cilghal took a few steps to the nurses’ station and its bank of monitoring screens, giving its more elaborate readouts a look … or pretending to. Tekli found a mist dispenser and sprayed its clean-smelling contents around the chamber, driving away reminders of Amelia’s, Anji’s, and Barv’s recent presence. Then she rejoined her superior.

  If Cilghal’s predictions were correct, Valin and Jysella would be reaching full cognizance right about now, if they hadn’t already. And if the madness that had caused them to be subjected to carbonite freezing was still in effect, their voices would be raised in moments with accusations: What have you done with my real mother, my real father?

  That was the insanity that had visited them, the manifestation of the dark-side effect of their connection with the monster known as Abeloth. But recently, Abeloth’s power over the “mad Jedi” had been broken. They had all returned to normal—all but these young Horns, their recovery delayed by their suspended state.

  Valin’s voice was raised in a complaint, but it was not an accusation of treachery and deceit. “I can’t stop shaking.”

  “It’s normal.” His father sounded confident. “Han went through it years ago. He said it took him quite a while to warm up. This gurney is radiating a lot of heat, though. You’ll be warm enough before you know it.” He frowned. “He also said his eyesight was gone right after he woke. How is it that you’re seeing so well?”

  “We’re not.” That was Jysella, raising her arms above her to stretch, an experiment that caused her to wince with muscle pangs. “I’m seeing mostly with the Force.”

  Valin nodded. “Me, too.”

  Cilghal and Tekli exchanged a glance. That was a relief. The conversation was idle chat, and would soon turn to minute discussions of who had been up to what while Valin and Jysella slept. All was well.

  Unless … Cilghal still had one more test to run.

  She raised her voice to catch the attention of all the Horns. “Excuse me. I must interrupt. We have to let the monitors get several minutes of uninterrupted data, and all this talking is interfering. I must ask you two to withdraw for a while.”

  Mirax gave her an exasperated look. “After all the time we’ve waited—”

  Tekli held up a hand to forestall her. “After all that time, you can afford to indulge in a few minutes of quiet relief with your husband.” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “Out.”

  Grudgingly, the older Horns withdrew. They’d be joining the others in the waiting area.

  From a cabinet, Cilghal took a pair of self-heating blankets. She approached the gurneys and spread one blanket over each patient. “Tekli and I need to make some log entries about your recovery. Josat will be here in a moment—ah.” As if on cue, and it was indeed on cue, a teenage Jedi apprentice, cheerful and maddeningly energetic, entered the chamber. Red-haired, lean with a teen’s overactive metabolism, he offered Cilghal and Tekli a minimally acceptable respectful nod and immediately moved over to the nurses’ station monitor to familiarize himself with his two charges.

  Cilghal finished adjusting Jysella’s blanket. “If you need anything, Josat can provide it, and if he is not here, say ‘Nurse’ and the comm router will put you in contact with the floor nurse.”

  Jysella glanced over at her brother. “I have just been tucked in by a large fish.”

  He smiled, and when he spoke, there was amusement in his voice. “Maybe you’re hallucinating.”

  * * *

  The waiting room was a long chamber decorated with plants from a dozen worlds and a wall-side fountain shaped to simulate a waterfall on the planet Alderaan, destroyed so long ago. The air here was fresher than that in the infirmary chambers, smelling of oxygen from the plants, mist from the waterfall—

  Fresher in most ways, fouler in others. Leia turned to Allana and crossed her arms. “Sweetie …”

  “I know, I know.” The child did not sound at all child-like, but she hugged her pet nexu to her with what looked like a need for reassurance. “We smell bad.”

  “What did you get into?”

  Allana’s shrug was uncommunicative. “I don’t know.”

  Leia glanced at Barv, but the Ramoan Jedi Knight, big and green with ferocious tusks, avoided her eye.

  Well, of course he didn’t want to explain. He’d been entrusted with watching over Allana, and
he’d failed to keep her out of mischief. This was the sort of humbling experience young Jedi needed to have from time to time.

  Han leaned into the conversation, but his attention was on his wife, not his granddaughter. “Garbage Compactor 3263827.”

  Leia scowled at him. “Oh, shut up.”

  Han grinned, and there was a bit of mockery in the expression. He switched his attention to Allana. “Sweetie, I can remember when your grandma smelled just like that. And unlike you, she was rude and ungrateful, too.”

  “Han—”

  “Go get cleaned up, and sanisteam Anji if you can, while your grandma and I discuss the impossibility of keeping children—or teenage princesses—clean.”

  “Yes, Grandpa.” Allana scurried while the scurrying was good. She didn’t have to look back to detect the glare Leia was visiting on Han.

  Cilghal and Tekli walked toward an office at the far end of the hall from the Horns’ chamber, just short of the waiting room.

  Cilghal had Josat’s script timed and running in her head. He would now be moving around the Horns’ chamber, humming to himself, cautioning Valin and Jysella not to move or talk—the monitors needed stillness to do this evaluation—but he could talk, fortunately, for it was impossible for him to keep quiet, or so his family said …

  Tekli interrupted the holodrama in Cilghal’s head. “So what did cause the pod monitor to fail?”

  “Maybe what I said. And maybe it was a spike of the ability Valin manifested when he went mad.”

  “The one that blanked out the encephaloscan?”

  “Yes. He was probably using the technique when he was frozen. The monitor failure would have been the last bit of that usage.”

  “Hmm.” Tekli didn’t comment. She didn’t need to: Cilghal knew what she was thinking. Retention of that scanner-blanking ability was not an indication that Valin retained the madness, as well, but neither physician liked mysteries.

  When the two of them entered their office, the main monitor on the wall was already tuned to a hidden holocam view of the Horns’ chamber. They could see Josat indeed bustling among the cabinets, assembling a tray full of beverages, receptacles for medicines, blood samples, swabs.