Revenge of the Jedi/Part 7

As much to break the ice she sensed had formed as to satisfy her own curiosity, Narasi asked, "Did you bring the trees here, or plant them and grow them?"

Baron Kaivalt raised his eyes to the broadleaf trees that shadowed Inimă Eserzennae. "Most were imported when House Pelagia gifted this estate to my father."

"Was that…Donarius Kaivalt?"

He shook his head. "His elder son, Rhosus. He was the first Baron Kaivalt."

"Wasn't Donarius Kaivalt the big hero?" Zaella asked. "Why didn't they make him a baron?"

The baron's small mouth tightened, and the droid said, "Please find some courtesy when you speak of my late master, Zaella Sabir."

Zaella cocked her tattooed eyebrows, and Narasi could tell she wasn't sure whether to be surprised or offended at being told off by a droid. After an awkward moment of silence, Raven said, "He was born a hereditary knight. He was supposed to be a baron, but then…"

"Mizra," Tirien supplied, and Raven nodded.

"I've never been to the Tapani sector," Jirdo said. "How do the ranks work?"

Raven seized the lifeline. "Above the commoners there are knights, barons, and lords. Commoners can be raised to knighthood—and in the sector, even a common-born Jedi Knight is treated as nobility—but noble knights pass their knighthood from one generation to the next."

"So Donarius's father was a knight too?" Jirdo asked, and Raven nodded. "And you? Are you…a Knight and a knight, if you know what I mean?"

"My sister Raina and I are nobles, but Tapani nobles don't come of age until we're thirty. We'll be made knights of House Pelagia then." He glanced at his father. "I hope."

Zaella frowned. "Wait, so how does that work? Don't you have a house?"

"It's a feudal system. House Kaivalt is one of many noble families governed by House Pelagia."

"And what's above them?"

"The Great Council—all the lords in the sector, and most of the barons too."

Narasi watched Zaella try out a smile on Raven. "How about the other way? Do you have baby noble houses under you?"

"It doesn't work that way. Only the great houses have subordinates."

"If you have an interest in Tapani politics," the droid said, "our library contains many volumes that would be suitable as primers, as well as several more comprehensive works."

"That's okay," Zaella said; her eyes lingered on Raven, and Narasi resisted the urge to roll her own as she realized it wasn't the information about the Tapani that attracted her.

"I'll take you up on that offer, though," Tirien said, to Narasi's utter lack of surprise.

Inimă Eserzennae was only three stories tall; Narasi wasn't sure why she had expected a castle with a keep and battlements, but there were only two towers at opposite ends of the single long structure. She supposed, with a family full of Jedi living inside, traditional defensive architecture was kind of pointless. The manor fused wood and stone in a simple, elegant style; if she'd had to guess who lived there, Narasi would have bet on either a rich person in touch with nature, or some oddly extravagant monks.

Tirien asked the droid a follow-up question about the library, but it occurred to Narasi that Yan Razam had said nothing, and as she glanced around she saw the Arcona Knight lagging. Dropping back as well, she asked, "You doing okay?"

"I could eat again, but it can wait," Yan answered. "I'll have to see about getting ammonia supplements. I wonder if there are any Arcona here…"

Narasi winced. "I didn't mean physically."

Yan looked down on her, the anger and loss obvious even on her alien face. "Be glad we didn't train you to pilot an Aurek after all; it's bad enough losing my entire squadron." She turned her narrowed eyes forward. "Although…"

Pushing past Jirdo and Tirien, she asked, "Raven, Tirien said there were survivors from Eriadu here. Pilots."

Raven spun on his heel and kept walking backward without breaking pace. He nodded, but said, "No Jedi, though."

"Where are they?"

"In Pelagar, the capital city. We can get you a boat there if you'd like."

"Definitely," Yan said, but Tirien stepped forward.

"Before that—Raven, has the High Council been informed about what happened?"

It was Baron Kaivalt who answered as he led the way up the broad, deep stairs fronting the manor's doors. "Lord Brascel contacted the High Council immediately upon the arrival of the survivors. The Great Council has also been informed; the Tapani Sector Fleet is prepared for the possibility of Lady Gasald's incursion."

Tirien nodded, but his eyes drifted back to Raven; Narasi wondered if they were communicating telepathically, or just on the same screen. Raven said, "The Council told us—Raina and me—to await instructions here. I didn't tell them about you; I wanted to be sure you survived first."

"Your vote of confidence warms me," Tirien said, but the droid opened the door for them, and he followed Raven's father inside.

Like the exterior, the foyer had an understated sort of majesty. Narasi filed away the matching staircases leading up and the cased openings onto other parts of the house, but she zeroed in on the wooden statue of a Jedi in the center of the flagstoned floor. The sculpture was only life-sized, and yet Narasi was awestruck—broad-shouldered, straight-backed, with a face fierce and proud but somehow kind too, like a depiction of a Jedi ideal. Narasi reached out, but stopped, afraid even to touch it. "Is that…?"

"My grandfather, yes." Baron Kaivalt had watched her approach, and his voice had softened.

"That was commissioned and completed after his death," the droid added, "but it's a striking resemblance."

Narasi looked at it. "You said 'my master'…you knew him? I mean, you were around back then?"

The droid nodded. "I had that privilege, yes. My name is Bernius; Master Donarius acquired me and added many of my features you see here.  To my everlasting shame, I was not with him at Mizra, but I serve his descendants now."

"You were here because he told you to be, Bernius," a cool female voice called. "Sometimes we don't like the way we serve, but if that weren't the case, it wouldn't be service."

Narasi saw a woman in noble clothes descending the stairs. She had the same skin tone as Raven, and so Narasi wasn't surprised when Tirien stepped forward and bowed. "Raina."

"Tirien. I'm glad you survived; we feared you were lost too."

Tirien introduced Narasi first, and then the rest of their crew; like her father, Raina clearly wasn't thrilled at Zaella's presence, but she didn't comment either. She shared her brother's regal good looks and dark eyes, as well as their father's nose, but the way she crossed her arms seemed more the detached aristocrat the baron was rather than the closer-to-ground type of noble Narasi took Raven to be.

"Where's Renata?" Raven asked.

"Training. She'll be back later, I'm sure.  We should probably talk first."

Tirien nodded. "Agreed. Baron?"

Miklato's eyes tightened. "If we're to discuss Jedi business, it would be more appropriate to restrict the discussion to Jedi Knights."

Zaella crossed her arms. "Hey, I fought on Guudria too. Tirien—"

"Tirien has answered for your conduct," Miklato interrupted, "and I've taken his word so far as allowing you into my home and under my protection—here, where my father and wife are buried, where my children and my daughter's Padawan live and work and sleep. I have gone very far out of my way on Tirien's word, but I will not open Jedi war councils to Sith, redeemed or…otherwise."

Zaella glared, but the baron's face might as well have been the same wood as his grandfather's statue. Zaella whirled on Tirien. "You trust me, don't you?"

Tirien hesitated, and Narasi saw Zaella's lekku twitch. Then her master raised a hand. "Yes, Zaella, I do. But this isn't my house, and I don't make the rules.  Wait for us for now; we'll speak later.  And perhaps we can start work on that request you made of me."

"The requ—oh." Some anger faded from Zaella's face, though she refused to meet Tirien's eyes. "Yeah, all right, fine. I still remember how to sit around; it's Jebba and the corae all over again.  You want me to just sit here until—"

"That won't be necessary," Miklato said. "Bernius, show Zaella and Jirdo to guest rooms and see that the servants provide for their needs."

"Yes, master," the droid answered.

"What, me too?" Jirdo blurted out.

Miklato, Tirien, and Zaella all gave him various degrees of the same look, and he swallowed. "Right. I'll just…right."

As they followed Bernius up the stairs, Raina said, "I think it's best Renata isn't part of this yet, so maybe you should join them for now, Narasi."

Her voice was gentler than it had been, though Narasi still smarted from the words. Before she could even consider a reply, though, Tirien said, "If you don't trust your Padawan, that's your business. But Narasi is part of our council, or we aren't having one."

Miklato's eyes narrowed and even Raven bristled at the sudden ice in Tirien's tone, but Raina kept her face impassive. "And what are your feelings on that, Jedi Razam?"

Yan shrugged. "Tirien and Narasi rescued me—with help from the Sith and the deserter, by the way. And where have you been the last six days?  Tirien and Narasi walk, I walk with them."

Narasi found it hard to read Raina's reaction to that, but Raven had the grace to look abashed as he said, "Narasi is older and more experienced than Renata, and she's as much a Jedi of the Order as we are."

When Raina said nothing, Miklato said, "The girl is a Jedi Padawan, and it is for her master to decide what she does and does not do. Tirien would not presume to instruct you on your Padawan's business; we shall extend him the same courtesy."

Raina bowed her head. "Yes, Father."

Warmed as she was by her master's loyalty, Narasi still felt the chilly atmosphere among the Jedi as they filed down the hall and into a parlor with chairs arrayed around a fireplace. There weren't enough places, so Narasi stood at Tirien's right shoulder as the rest of them sat. She noticed one of the tapestries on the stone walls featured the winged lightsaber of the Jedi Order, but Baron Kaivalt spoke before she could ask about it.

"Before we delve into discussion of what's transpired at Eriadu and since," he said, "I think I'm entitled to know about this weapon I vouched for you bringing onto Pelagon."

Tirien nodded. "It's a baradium-core nuclear bomb."

Narasi had gotten used to lugging the thing around the galaxy, but the Kaivalts' reactions shook her complacency; that unflappable noble demeanor flapped for all three of them. Miklato asked, "Of what yield?"

"Roughly a terajoule."

Eyes still wide, Raven said, "I don't know much about nuclear weapons, Tirien; I'm having trouble putting that in concrete terms."

"It's got about a hundred-kilometer blast radius," Narasi said.

The seconds ticked by as the Kaivalts processed that, and Narasi felt the hair on her neck stand on end. Detonated on Pelagon, the bomb could incinerate not only the Kaivalts' island, but any of the platform cities—maybe two, if it was set off between them. She had taken Tirien at his word that it wouldn't go off without the detonation codes, but if he was somehow wrong…

"Meaning…" Raven cleared his throat. "Meaning one hundred kilometers of its effects? Blast, fallout…?"

"Meaning everything within a hundred kilometers will be incinerated," Tirien corrected. "Probably within seconds; baradium is used in thermal detonators, too. Add another two hundred kilometers of less-than-total damage.  And then the radioactive fallout will go…what, another two hundred kilometers past that?"

He looked up at Narasi, and she worked to remember what she had studied from the Crescentia ' s data crystal. She got lost just for a second as she remembered the ship's librarian, Master Coreski—reduced to atoms now, along with Ayson and Slejux and so many other friends—but she forced herself to focus and coughed the lump from her throat. "Yeah, at least. Somewhere between two and three hundred."

Tirien turned back to the Kaivalts and said, "Pelagon's geography aside, this monstrosity can kill continents—perhaps an entire world, if it was small enough."

"And the Hutts had this?" Miklato demanded.

"Runganna was auctioning it. We…"  Narasi heard the little puffing snort her master made when he laughed without humor. "Let's just say we won the auction. But we can't let the bomb fall into Sith hands."

"Or anyone else's," Raina said, and Tirien nodded.

Miklato leaned back in his armchair, steepling his fingers. After a moment of thought, he asked in a calmer voice, "What do you intend to do with this weapon?"

"Deliver it to the Republic for dismantling. I'm sorry to have brought it here, but I didn't want to return to Coruscant before we knew how we were going to proceed against Gasald."

The Sith Overlord's name electrified the atmosphere in the room; Yan sat forward and Raina cupped one fist with her other hand. Raven said, "We've had nothing more from the High Council since our first conversation."

"We'll need to contact them," Tirien said. "It's even worse than you know. Yan?"

She repeated what she'd told the Second Chance ' s crew, describing the Battle of Eriadu and the slaughter that had unfolded after Gasald and her reinforcement fleet had appeared. By the time she was done, Raven and Raina looked stricken, and the baron had bowed his head. Raina asked, "Four hundred Jedi?"

Tirien nodded. "Believe that I'm conscious of my audience when I say this is the worst catastrophe for the Jedi Order since Mizra."

The Kaivalts exchanged looks at that, but Raina said, "Certainly the greatest loss of Jedi lives."

"Tirien's right: we need to speak to the High Council," Raven said. "I'm sorry, Father, but this is far beyond just the Tapani sector's concerns."

Before Miklato could react, Tirien asked, "What are the Tapani Jedi planning?"

"Lord Brascel's told me nothing since I informed him," Miklato said. "If the Great Council has a plan, they have not yet seen fit to share it with me. But I agree with you, son; even the entire sector fleet and all our Jedi together couldn't match Lady Gasald's armada."

"How many Jedi do you have?" Yan asked.

"Between fifty and a hundred," Miklato said. "Including Padawans."

Narasi blinked. "Wait, that many? Don't the Corellians only have a couple dozen?"

"That's just the Five Brothers," Tirien reminded her, though she could tell the Tapani numbers had surprised him too. "The entire Corellian sector might be more."

"House Pelagia is one of the richest in Jedi," Raven said. "There are at least a dozen of us."

"Us?" Miklato asked mildly.

Narasi didn't understand the look father and son exchanged, though she saw Raina tense too. But Tirien cut in before it could escalate. "Are any Jedi left on Milagro?"

"Baron Obveluus Gonzed IV, and two of his house's Knights," Raina answered. "The other Tapani Knights returned here with us, and the other Republic Knights went to the Crescentia."

"Why didn't the Praxeum Council call you two?" Yan demanded. "You're Republic Knights, aren't you?"

For the first time the twins looked uncomfortable. As they traded glances, Miklato snapped, "Would you wish that catastrophe on my children too? Was my grandfather's life not enough for the Order?"

"Easy for you to say, hiding—"

Tirien tugged Yan back down with one hand and raised the other to the Kaivalts. "Enough! Pelagia Jedi, Republic Jedi—we're past this nonsense!  The enemy's out there!  And she's coming for us sooner rather than later."

Narasi wasn't used to Tirien losing his cool like that, but it definitely got the room settled back down. Seizing the thread he had started to tug, she said, "If it's just three Jedi, does Milagro have enough of a fleet to hold off Lady Gasald?"

"She may not need Milagro now," Raina said. Narasi saw Tirien frowning as Raina added, "With Darshkére's territory—"

"Oh, Force," Tirien groaned, leaning back and covering his eyes with his thumb and middle finger.

"What?" Narasi asked, unnerved. "What about Darshkére? We whittled him down to almost nothing!"

"But part of that 'almost' was Eriadu," Tirien said from behind his hand. "It's the economic cornerstone of the whole quadrant because it's an industrial center. Gasald can churn out more resources from Eriadu than she ever could from Milagro."

"And with all those added resources…" Raina began.

"…she can fix her fleet at Allanteen, produce a new battle group, and smash Milagro, all while her main fleet targets the Core," Raven finished.

Narasi could tell they had thought about it a lot—had perhaps spent days poring over holomaps, before the Second Chance had called, when they had thought the few stragglers here and at Milagro were all the survivors they'd find. Trying to pull up a galactic tactical holo in her head, she asked, "What's the nearest big fleet? Master Bnodd?"

"Or the Corellian Sector Fleet," Raven said. "Denon and some of the other Inner Rim systems might have defensive forces, but nothing capable of taking on Gasald."

"The Seventy-Second was supposed to be the check on Gasald's aggression," Yan reminded her. "We could never have taken her head-on, but if she overextended we could've sacked her systems behind her back. Without that…and with Darshkére's forces on top of what she had…"

"At least she'll have to defend all that new territory now?" Narasi offered half-heartedly, but they couldn't even give her that.

"Except she won't," Raina said. "She needs Eriadu, and Sullust is at a hyperlane junction, but she could let the rest burn and it wouldn't impact her war machine."

"And I'll bet nobody's eager to run down and hit Darshkére's territory again," Yan growled. "After what happened to the Seventy-Second, why risk losing another fleet?"

Miklato held up his hands. "All of this is academic until we know how the High Council plans to proceed. We can set up a secure holoconference here."

Narasi sensed Yan's annoyance and sympathized;  If we're to discuss Order business, it would be more appropriate to restrict the discussion to real Jedi Knights, she thought. Tirien glanced up at her, and she hurried to clear her mind, sure her thoughts had betrayed her. But he looked back at Miklato without comment or even telepathic nudge, and said, "The sooner, the better."