Chapter 38

"I," Luke said cautiously, "I don't think I understand. You want us to wait to find Mara help? When she could die any day?" Mara gave him a dirty look at this, but didn't correct him.

Jaina looked at her feet, then Anakin. This was your idea. Just tell him.

Anakin looked at Luke. "I can't explain it. I just think we shouldn't do this yet. I'm sorry."

For the first time Jaina could ever remember, her uncle looked angry. "We have waited so long for a cure; far too long. And now we have a chance, a glimmer of a chance, to live our lives together, and you tell me to wait because...because why?" he fumed.

Anakin turned to Jaina, who nodded encouragingly. They had never faced a Luke who was anything but passive before, and it was more than disconcerting. "A feeling."

"A feeling?" he exclaimed.

A small, deceptively weak hand shot out, grabbing hold of Luke's arm. "Luke," Mara said softly, "there's not a number large enough to total all the times I've heard you tell these kids to trust their feelings. And now that they do you get angry with them? You're letting your personal feelings cloud your vision. Calm down a little bit. Listen to them. You raise them, after all, if they have a reason it will be a valid one."

Luke seemed to diffuse at her admonishment, even take on a guilty demeanor. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

Jaina smiled gratefully at Mara and said. "It's okay, I understand. I would have behaved a lot worse had Jag been in Mara's condition."

Luke just nodded. "Tell me what you're feeling."

"Well," Jaina took over, knowing Anakin had been pushed to his limit, "when she tried to stick me my danger sense flared. And then when she did it again Anakin said there were warning bells going off. Like Mara said, you always told us to trust our instincts, so..." Jaina trailed off lamely. She looked away from the disease-torn couple to Jag, who stood in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest. He smiled slightly, his silent approval, giving her the needed boost to keep herself from giving in and going ahead with the procedure.

Then, "Cilghal?"

"Yes, Master Skywalker?"

Luke turned to his former pupil. "Would it make any difference in the time when the antidote would be ready to fix the Yuuzhan Vong version now and assemble it for humans later than the other way around?"

The Mon Cal took a moment to consider. "You would have to ask Nen Yim for a definite answer, but I am assuming it should be the same."

Luke looked to Mara then, and his wife nodded. Then he turned back to Jaina and Anakin and smiled. "All right then. We'll wait."

"Thank you, Uncle Luke," Jaina said, relieved.

"Wait," Anakin stopped them. "If there is reason to be worried, we need to watch her more closely, and maybe figure out why. That, or change her mind."

"I agree," Cilghal said. "Just because she has agreed to aid Mara is no reason to treat her as anything but what she is: a prisoner of war. She needs to remain under close watch."

"And Jag and I need to leave for a while."

That started a commotion in the room as a flurry of questions were tossed their way. "What? I don't understand, why? For how long? Is that wise in your condition? Don't tell me you're going back to the frontlines?"

Jag came to stand by Jaina until the talking died down and everyone waited for an answer. Then he said, "This is a personal war we have been fighting for the last few months. But the bigger, galactic war is still going on. We're about to bring a child into this war, and that's not something Jaina and I want." He paused for a moment, smiling down at Jaina in private amusement. "We had a, uh, talk last night, about insecurities. Both of us have them, and they're mostly about Hanna and her future. To secure that future, we have to make a decisive stand. So we're going back to Coruscant, where we'll meet with the NR heads of state, Grand Admiral Pellaeon, and the Moff Council. The war has been at a virtual standstill for a while, with no conclusive winner. If we don't make a stand now we could lose in the end. So, in short, we're all going to make a plan to bring down the Yuuzhan Vong, once and for all."

Silence reigned for a few long, tense moments. Then Luke let out a long breath. "What do you want us to do while you're gone? I mean, we're staying on the Roughshod. Are you taking her with you? Where should be go?"

"Our friend, Commander Elkanah Eliab, is going to take over the guardianship of Bastion while we're gone. He'll temporarily captain the Roughshod and we'll take the Valorous to Coruscant. You all can stay here and continue with the experiment, if that's what you want."

Luke nodded slowly. "I see. Well, I don't think we have much choice, except to say have a safe trip."

Nen Yim stared at the Mon cal healer. "I do not understand."

Cilghal smiled encouragingly. "Master Skywalker believes the process will go faster if you prepare the formula first and adjust it afterwards. I hope that does not convenience you too terribly."

Nen Yim forced herself to remain calm. "Of course not. Whatever he wants. It is his wife's life, after all."

Cilghal did smiled then. "I knew you wouldn't mind. Well, shall we get started then?"

Nen Yim was careful to keep her features passive. "I will need a few hours to recall the instructions in the cortex."

"Certainly. Call me when you know everything you need to." With that she turned and left. Nen Yim pulled the villip out of her robes for the second time with trembling hands. She stroked it shakily, afraid she might hyperventilate. Things were going wrong, so wrong, and there was nothing she could do about it.

A very perturbed-looking Nom Anor appeared in her hands. "What is it now? Have you poisoned them?"

Nen Yim's upper lip curled back in disgust. "No, they suspect. Do you see what you have done? I had a chance, a chance to change this war and bring you all the things I have learned, but now they will kill me before I get the chance! You are a nezbit fool!"

Nom Anor didn't seem ruffled by her rantings. "Calm down. None of this is going to solve our problem. You will get your chance, if you can just keep cool long enough to do it! Just do what you have been, and everything will be fine. You have all the means you need, and there is no evidence of your betrayal. There will be none until you kill them. Do you understand?"

"I can't do this," she gulped. "I...I can't. Just send someone for me, Executor, before it's too late. I am no intendant, no spy. I am a shaper."

He gave her a patronizing look. "I have the utmost faith in you, Nen Yim. You will do your job well." With no other words, his visage faded back into the faceless orb. Nen Yim continued to stare. How could he? He had no compassion, no understanding of what he was asking her to do. She could not kill these people.

But he had left her with no choice. It was either kill them or be killed. And, true to her Yuuzhan Vong heritage, Nen Yim had been raised in just such an atmosphere. It was second nature. For a Yuuzhan Vong, there was no failure. She would do what she must.