Light of the Jedi(58)

“Yes, I see,” Mari said, still tracking the data as it rolled along her medical pod’s canopy.

“They’re trying to build a huge sort of machine—lots of navigational droids linked together—and they hope they can use it to predict where the missing pieces of the Legacy Run will show up. I just want to know if that’s possible. Can something like that actually be done?”

Mari did not hesitate. She laughed, a surprisingly rich sound. Marchion had no idea where it came from. Her chest looked like you could collapse the whole apparatus with the flick of a finger.



“Of course, you silly. I could do it for you right now. I can tell you where every last piece of this ship will show up. Won’t take long at all. Just…I’m very tired.”

Marchion froze. Everything was clear—in that single moment, every step he would need to take was revealed to him. There were options, branching routes, he would have to make choices, improvise…but it was all one path, and it led to what he’d been looking for all his life.



His comlink chimed, and he lifted it from his belt.

“Yes?” Marchion said.

“She had another seizure,” came Dr. Uttersond’s squeaky voice through the comlink. “I saw it on my monitors.”

The Chadra-Fan’s voice was exceedingly irritating even when he wasn’t affecting the scolding tone he was currently using.

“She’s fine,” Marchion said.

“No, sir, respectfully, she’s not. She needs to rest. No more prospecting, no more Paths, nothing for at least a week. She is frail, and needs to rebuild her strength.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Understood.”

“Do you, sir? Because sometimes I wonder. I think—”

Marchion ended the transmission. He watched Mari San Tekka, the innocent smile on her face as she watched pieces of the Legacy Run kill and destroy throughout Hetzal.

“I would appreciate your help very much, Mari,” he said. “I need to go do a few things, but I’ll be back later. Can you get started right away? I’ll have the chef bring you your dinner. You can work while you eat.”

The old woman didn’t answer. She waved a hand vaguely, her medical pod slowly rotating back to a horizontal position. She was going deep again, her mind flickering along swirling roads only she understood, as she began to work the problem.

Marchion Ro left Mari’s chamber, heading for the ship’s bridge. The Gaze was almost entirely crewed by droids and hired personnel from outside the Nihil. He couldn’t trust the Clouds and Storms, and certainly not the Strikes. Not any one of them. Not even the Tempest Runners were allowed aboard his ship. None knew where the Paths came from, but if they ever found out, well…anyone could keep a medical pod running.

When he arrived on the bridge, a beautiful chamber carved entirely from the trunk of a single huge wroshyr tree, imported from Kashyyyk and shaped by artisans at breathtaking expense, Marchion moved to his captain’s chair without a word to his deck crew. He tapped the button that raised privacy screens around the seat, all of which doubled as comm displays.



Another button, and Kassav, Pan Eyta, and Lourna Dee appeared on the displays.

“Let me guess, you’re scared of the big bad Jedi and don’t want to give us any Paths,” Kassav said, as ever the first to speak and the last to shut up.

Pan Eyta and Lourna Dee remained silent.

“I am not afraid of the Jedi, Kassav. However, because I am not an idiot, I take them seriously as a threat. They could destroy everything we’ve built.”

Kassav looked like he was about to say something else, so Marchion just kept talking, not giving him the chance.

“I know you’ve all been frustrated that we’ve been lying low,” he said. “No raids. Well. You know that new initiative I mentioned? It’s on. We’re going to change things up. I’m going to get the three of you a list of the Emergences—the ones that haven’t happened yet. Go over them, see what opportunities you can find for us. Only catch is no Paths. You’ll have to plan your operations without them. Just standard tactics and techniques.”

Lourna and Pan said nothing, but he could see them calculating, thinking, trying to decide how much this would help or hurt them, what sort of game he was playing, how they could benefit or change his mind, or whether it was finally the time to actively embark upon the plans he was sure both had to murder him, steal everything he had, and take the Paths for their own.

For once, Kassav didn’t speak right away. He probably was thinking the same things as the other two.

“I’m actually impressed,” Kassav finally said. “This is pretty good. But since we’ll be doing the jobs ourselves, and you aren’t actually giving us any Paths, the split should be different. I say the Eye doesn’t get a third for these. How about…ten percent? That seems fair.”



Marchion gave him a smile that was not a smile at all.

“Here’s what I can do, Kassav—if you don’t want the Emergences, I can give them to Pan Eyta and Lourna Dee. Or none of you. Your choice. But if you take the Eye’s information, you pay for it like you usually do, or no more Paths, ever. Returns get divided up like usual. The Rule of Three applies.”

Kassav didn’t like this. Marchion didn’t care.