Chapter

10

Zak had a hard time concentrating after that. Truthfully, the business with Allina had kept him in a pensive mood and he found himself rarely seeking company. He was too busy remembering his last night with Alitha over and over in order to try and poke holes in the girl's story.

At the moment, he was alone with the Solo twins in the cockpit of the Phantom, discussing with them the unexpected arrival of Allina.

Luke had told them nothing, it seemed. Evidently, he wasn't going to breach Zak's right to privacy by spreading news of Allina's identity and purpose of visit to everyone. No doubt, he had at least told his wife. Thus far, all he'd told the Solos was that she was claiming to be Zak's daughter. He hadn't yet gotten around to telling them of his one-night fling with Alitha all those years ago that might have led to offspring.

"So Jaina's not the first to warm your—" Jacen started. Jaina tossed a hydrospanner at him and it hit him in the arm, cutting him off. "Ow! Heart, I was going to say heart!"

"I'm sure you were," Jaina said warningly. "Even so, behave yourself!"

"Yes, mother," Jacen replied with a cheeky grin. He turned back to Zak. "So, the girl's mother; who was she?"

"Her name's Alitha," Zak said grimly.

"Oh that tells me a lot," Jacen said, almost the same way Luke had responded to the same kind of statement when Allina had first arrived. "Alitha who?"

"It doesn't matter. She comes from a well-known family line, but you wouldn't know of her at all," Zak deflected quickly.

He felt that to tell the twins that she was Palpatine's daughter would mean repeating the rest of her story. He wasn't particularly in the mood to do that right at the moment.

"Tash and I knew her from Sullust before we were imprisoned. She'd been making her way as a helper at the spaceport loading and unloading ship freights. She was a Force user, and she befriended me and Tash instantly when she realised that we had sensitivity to the Force as well.

"One night I went to see her to talk to her about her offer to teach me and Tash how to connect with and use the Force more deliberately. We wanted her to teach us, and when I told her that, she wanted me to find out if my uncle would let her travel with us so she could.

"I stayed for the rest of the night and we got side-tracked talking about anything and everything that we could. She told me more about her life leading up to Sullust, all the challenges she had to face to get to where she was, the kind of life she was leading on Sullust and how much she abhorred it. Then we got back on track and she showed me some of the things she could do, and by the end of the night I was able to levitate a cup. Though I only did it once and was unable at the time to repeat the result.

"She kept pouring drinks. Strong drinks. Drinks I shouldn't have been drinking at my age, but I didn't particularly care. When I woke up in the morning it was in her bed with her fast asleep next to me. Memory of the rest of the night slowly came back to me and at the time, I was neither annoyed nor ashamed of what had happened. I genuinely liked her. But I still had to go see my uncle about her coming with us so after a quick breakfast I took off."

"That was the day your uncle was killed, wasn't it?" Jaina asked.

"Yes," Zak said with a nod. Jacen's expression grew grim at the mention. "What with the authorities questioning me and then the kidnapping, I didn't get to see Alitha again. As her daughter tells it, she thought I'd just abandoned her; up and left with Tash, with nothing left to keep me there."

"Which you didn't," Jacen clarified. "But I can see how she might have thought that. With the anti-Force around the building, she wouldn't have known you were in there—stasis or not."

"Exactly," Zak pointed out. "When we were woken up by your father and Chewbacca and told how long we'd been out of circulation, Tash and I were a little disheartened that Alitha hadn't tried to come for us and hadn't freed us from the stasis. Without Hoole, we would have been OK with her as our guardian."

"Guardian?" Jacen's eyes were wide and Zak prepared himself for the obvious question. "Just how old was she at the time this all happened?"

"Twenty-three," Zak said. Jacen wolf-whistled and Jaina shot him another admonishing glance. "And now, I've got this whole new problem thrown right into my face just as I'm recovering from the incident with Pravus. It's both frustrating and confusing and I have no idea what to do or even if I have the nerve to tell Tash about it.

"I don't even know how to treat her. If she really is my daughter, I have no reference for acting like a father. It's sad just how little I remember of my own. Alderaan was a long time ago … maybe not relative to my memory but still."

"She's going to find out sooner or later," Jaina pointed out. "Whether it be from you or from Allina's mind when she comes across her. Wouldn't it be best if it came from her brother rather than from a stranger?"

"In theory," Zak conceded, glancing at Jaina. "But like you were, she refuses to even look at me. How am I supposed to tell her if she won't tolerate me near?"

"She greeted you the other day," Jaina reminded him.

"You were there, Jaina. She knew if she hadn't you might have torn strips off her for being ignorant," Zak retorted.

"Pessimist," she admonished with a disapproving frown.

"Push your luck, then," Jacen said. "I know what you're thinking. Wait, no, let me guess, OK?" he interrupted just as Zak opened his mouth to protest. "She's not talking to you, so there's no point. And even if she was, and there was a point, you're wary of her reaction.

"You were drinking alcohol when you shouldn't have, you were involved with someone much older than you, and it's possible that from that … coupling … came this Allina girl." He paused and mulled it over. "OK, I see your point. She's going to kill you. You better start running now while you can. Both these ships are ready to go. Jaina can probably have you delivered to Coruscant before Tash even knows you're gone."

Zak just stared at him for a moment until the grin crept upon his friend's face, then he narrowed his eyes in protest. "Very funny," he said.

"I thought it was," Jacen replied cheerfully. "You know what else I find funny? What happens when Boba Fett takes his helmet off?"

Zak sighed. Another one of Jacen's humourless jokes to pass the time; hardly what he needed. "You know, I've met the guy and I haven't the slightest clue," he said half-heartedly.

Jacen shook his head, disappointed. "No one knows, because he usually shoots them."

"Well," Jaina said quickly, taking advantage of the fact that only Jacen was laughing. She pushed herself to her feet and simultaneously unlatching herself from Zak's arm. "I hate to be one to add to the list of your problems, Zak, but tomorrow is when the Republic oversight delegation will be arriving. We need to passcode-seal this hangar and start organising the reception—we're not going to have time to come back down to do more work on either of the ships."

Zak and Jacen looked to each other and groaned aloud before they too stood up and followed Jaina out of the bridge and off the ship.