Danse Macabre/Part 4

"The Chancellor," Tirien said when they had secured themselves in Kenza's room. "What's the threat?"

"The Empire, the way I hear it."

Tirien frowned. "I'd heard it was Aresh."

"Aresh, Empire…" Kenza shrugged. "Bad guys are after the Chancellor. Good thing the good guys are on guard, right?"

"It makes a difference," Tirien insisted. He might have pressed on, but he gave Narasi a meaningful look, testing her; Kenza followed the gesture with her blind face, and Narasi blinked, but after a moment she reassembled a look resembling confidence.

"Aresh…he's a Humanocentrist." Her face twisted, but she controlled herself after a moment. "And the Chancellor's the biggest target the Republic has. So he wouldn't trust this to an ali—to a non-Human."

"Exactly," Tirien said, giving his apprentice an encouraging nod. "If Aresh is the threat, the assassin will be a Human. Maybe even one of the Dark Vanguard.  If it's the Empire, it could be anyone."

"Darth Alecto?" Narasi suggested.

"It's possible." Tirien grimaced. Alecto's skill for stealth made her the natural choice, but perhaps for that very reason Darth Saleej would think twice; Alecto was too well-known now. "But there are thousands of Sith Lords. We don't even know if it's Darth Saleej."

"We can take 'em!" Kenza encouraged. "And it's not just us, a bunch of other Jedi are coming with the Chancellor."

She studied him. Tirien had met several Miraluka, and so he did not find it as bizarre as Narasi still seemed to; he just looked at her mask where eyes would normally be until she said, "You're still worried?"

"Aresh or the Empire, they'd know the Chancellor wouldn't come here unprotected. And here, to Anaxes Citadel of all places—apart from the Senate Building or the Jedi Temple, where in the galaxy is better defended?  Aresh and the Council of Five know that, but one of them is sending assassins anyway."

"Maybe Aresh is desperate," Kenza suggested. "Master Cazars and Mali have him on the ropes up north. Go big or go home?"

"Aresh is cornered, not stupid," Tirien countered. "And Seldec knows the Jedi Order. They wouldn't make a mistake like this as a desperation ploy.  No, I'm concerned that they know something we don't."

"Well, good thing they sent the best then, huh?" Kenza retorted. She crossed her arms with a defiant smile, then let her posture relax as she grinned. "And I'm here too."

Tirien rolled his eyes, and Kenza bumped him with her shoulder. "We've got this. We have plenty of time to get ready."

"Hey, speaking of which," Narasi inserted, "we need to get outfits for the ball. Is there a place around here?"

"Oh, perfect, I need to go too." Kenza made a face. "It's always better when I go with people; I don't want to show up in an orange dress with a purple scarf or anything. You'll help me out, Narasi?"

Narasi laughed; so soon after their discussion of learning from other Jedi, Tirien wondered in a corner of his mind whether there might not be something his effusive colleague could teach Narasi. "Of course."

"What do you say, Tirien?" Kenza asked.

"I do need to get something other than Jedi attire," Tirien admitted. Going out to see the environs around Anaxes Citadel would give him a more complete picture than lurking around inside the walls and waiting for the Chancellor, too. "All right, let's…"

He trailed off as his beacon transceiver buzzed. Taking it out, he checked the frequency, but it came back only numbers—no one the transceiver had stored. Kenza and Narasi checked their own transceivers, but both shook their heads, and Kenza said, "Just you."

Tirien plugged the transceiver into his datapad, waiting until it gave him the decrypted message: ''P LEASE CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY. –A RLYA ''

"Master? What's wrong?"

Tirien looked up at Narasi and found her face full of worry; he realized belatedly his own must have shown the surprise he felt. "It may be nothing. Why don't you two go ahead?  I'll catch up later."

"We could wait?" Kenza offered, but Tirien shook his head. Shrugging, she said, "Whaddaya say, Narasi? Girls' day out?"

Narasi frowned in concern, but Tirien shook his head again, and ultimately she cobbled together her usual smile. "Let's do it!"

Tirien smiled for them as they made their way out, but his face smoothed over as he left Kenza's room and headed in the opposite direction. Following directions from soldiers he stopped in the halls, he arrived at the Citadel's secure holocomm station. The on-duty servicebeings stood as he entered. "Good afternoon, Master Jedi."

"And to you. I need a private holo connection."

"Of course, sir. If you can just give me the frequency…"

A few moments later, Tirien sealed himself in a secure call room as the technicians worked to connect him. A blue holo struggled to resolve for a moment before the noise solidified into Aryla Kesk's cranial horns, armored Jedi robes, and tense face.

"Aryla." Looking at her, even through a holo, brought back an onslaught of memories for which Tirien was not prepared; debating the finer points of the Jedi Order with Karr Shadeez, holding Rhosa in his arms as she clung to life after throwing herself in the path of danger meant for Tirien, and the flash of lightsaber blades under the stars as he tried and failed to bring down Alecto the first time.

"Tirien," she answered, and if she felt any similar misgivings from the past, she concealed them well; her relief was obvious. "I'm just barely getting you."

"Where are you?"

There was a flicker in the signal, but even when it came back Arlya was still wearing the same expression of indecision. Tirien was about to ask whether the transmission had frozen when the Zabrak said, "I can't really discuss that."

Tirien controlled his instinct to make a face; he could see it from her perspective. Old memories or not—both Jedi Knights or not—he and Arlya were not the comrades they might have been had things on Gizer gone differently. He let his tone cool just a little as he asked, "What may I do for you, Arlya?"

"Do you kn….Jed…ed Arg…"

Tirien waved a hand and the Force opened the communication cell's door for him. "Can you get a tighter lock on this signal?"

"We're working on it, Master Jedi," the technician in the control room called back. "It's bouncing through half a dozen relays, we're having trouble holding onto it as it is."

Arlya's face morphed into something almost demonic before the holo sharpened into her again. There was anxiety around her tight eyes. "Tirien?"

"I'm barely receiving you, Arlya, say again."

"Argus Z'dar. Do you know him?"

Tirien blinked. "Yes. He's a Jedi Master, one of my teachers.  Why?"

A burst of static. "…you trust him?"

"Of course." Tirien stared. "What are you doing with Master Z'dar?"

The connection wobbled, and Tirien felt a surge of misgivings. Why would Arlya call across what seemed like half the galaxy to chat about Argus Z'dar? He wished he had the power to reach across the stars and connect to her, mind-to-mind. He was on the border of trying it when her shaking holo abruptly solidified.

Arlya didn't waste any time. "Can we meet? In person?"

"Where?"

"Corsin? The capital city?"

Tirien tried to pull up a galactic map in his head. "All right."

"A week from now?"

"Better make it two." Tirien wasn't sure how long Chancellor Phnyong planned to stay on Anaxes after the ball.

Arlya frowned, but nodded. "Two weeks. I'll meet you outside the Republic Senator's office."

"I'll see you there." Feeling compelled to speech, Tirien said, "May the Force be with you, Arlya."

"I hope so," she muttered. "And also with you."

The connection wavered again, then derezzed.