Chapter Twelve

The central mountain estate of Raca City was, simply, the very top of the highest central peak with the upper reaches lopped off to make space for a large area, which contained a huge pyramid-shaped house and several other smaller administration buildings. There were signs of construction around the edge of the estate where there were obvious plans to build and all-encompassing dome of some sort to protect the high buildings from the elements but only the foundations of the huge support frames had been set in the rock. There were no visible signs that the work was to be continued.

The buildings were simple two storey affairs with huge plastiglass fronts so that the viewer could see into spacious offices, ground, air and space control centres and several other functional workstations that Skeet could only guess at as he stared at them from his seat in the four-person speeder. The vehicle shot from an access tunnel and across the green estate’s grounds, up to a five-storied pyramidal structure in the centre. The very top of the pyramid was nothing but glass and Skeet could see figures moving about in there. It appeared to be filled with huge plants and growths that crawled up the windows.

The speeder pulled up at the front doors of the pyramid and the occupants disembarked, Skeet, Brey, Officer Eilen and another constable. They entered the doors, into a large turbolift, and then were quickly raised to the top. Whatever was below the glass top of the structure, within the building itself, Skeet didn’t see. The lift took them straight to the top.

The lift portal slid open and Skeet found himself confronted by an alien he had never seen before. It was huge, with a large bovine-type face that regarded the occupants of the liftcar with small dark eyes.

“You must be Skeet Jonas and Brey Yard. Officer Eilen, it is agreeable to see you again. Governor Retsam wants you in this meeting also.” The alien’s voice was remarkably light considering his huge frame, and he took a step back on strangely bended legs to allow them access to the room. The other officer nodded to the alien and stayed in the lift as the doors closed.

As the being walked into the room, which appeared open to the weather, as there were no seams or supports in the glass, he motioned to a circular arrangement of seats in the centre.

“Be seated. The governor was expecting you long before this.”

“I’m sorry,” Skeet said, suddenly becoming uncomfortable in his dusty clothes which he hadn’t had time to change since the explosion in the Hutt’s basement. “Things kind of got out of hand.”

The alien gave Skeet what appeared to be a smile.

“So I hear.” He motioned to the seats and frowned as dust fell from the two men’s shoulders and onto the pristine mockleather seats. Eilen hid her smile.

“Boron,” came a voice from behind one of the huge plants that dominated the room, “be so kind as to fetch some drinks for our guests.”

Skeet and Brey turned in their seats to regard a tall man with thin white hair and long grey robes that brushed the floor. He walked around the plant as he checked the wide green leaves, a small tool humming over the growths as he passed it over them

. “Mites,” he said, “you think you’ve got them all...”

As he came around Skeet could clearly see his features and once again he had that sense, that tingle, of what felt like nervousness but wasn’t. The sensation, now that he was so close to the man, seemed intensified and he couldn’t describe the feeling.

Emag Retsam turned his blue eyes to the two men, his half- metal jaw on the left of his face now clearly visible. It was a dark polished grey, the skin appearing to grow over it where it entered the face and five small wires running from the cheek into the unit. He looked at Skeet and smiled.

“Skeet Jonas. You appear to have caused a little bit of a stir since your arrival on-planet. And not just in the races, I hear.”

Skeet cleared his throat, trying to quell that disorientating feeling and choose his words carefully.

“I’ve managed to get myself into a little trouble and, regrettably, my friend Bay here got caught up in it.”

“A little trouble?” Emag said as he slowly lowered himself onto one of the opposite couches. “You blew up a Hutt.”

“That wasn’t us,” Skeet said, “It was something in the crate we picked up from the Star Destroyer in orbit.”

Brey stared at his friend in astonishment. He was telling the governor of Raca City everything. What was he thinking?

“Grand Moff Galgen’s Malevolent?” Emag’s face suddenly became darker.

Skeet shifted. He couldn’t explain it but he felt compelled to co-operate.

“Yes. I helped bring down part of the Hutt’s operation and I had to clear the debt by fetching the crate for him. Brey here had a ship so we had to do it.”

“I understand,” Emag said, “but lets go back to the destroyer. Junduk Major has been trying to find out why they’re here and you actually went up there? Did you see the Grand Moff? Talk to him?”

“No.” all of a sudden Skeet didn’t want to talk about him. “I never spoke to him.”

“But you did see him?”

The conversation died as Skeet looked at the floor, unwilling to pursue this particular line of enquiry. Boron, the huge alien, walked in with a tray of liquids and placed them on the table in the centre of the circle. Emag motioned to him.

“Boron, would you be so kind as to take Officer Eilen and Mister Yard to the food hall? I’m sure they must be starving after all the excitement.”

Boron nodded and motioned to the other two.

“If you would follow me,” he said, motioning to a small hidden door by three of the huge plants. Brey stood and looked at Skeet imploringly and then at the governor. Emag smiled at him and gave a single nod as if reassuring him that nothing untoward was going to happen to his friend.

Emag leaned forward towards Skeet as the door slid shut behind the others and he took in a deep breath.

“Skeet, I’m not going to waste your time and I don’t want you to waste my time. I need to know what happened on the Malevolent.”

“Nothing. We flew up, picked up the crate that went boom in Komag’s face. Look, I don’t know what else to say, I’m sorry.”

Emag sighed and Skeet felt that the governor knew that he wasn’t telling him everything. He just looked helpless, wishing fervently that Emag would just take him at his word and simply banish him from the planet, or something. He honestly felt that he shouldn’t stay here.

As Skeet wished Emag looked up.

“I know you want to leave but this is important. I’ve waited years for this moment and now it’s finally here I don’t know what to do.”

There was a moment of silence as Emag weighed his options and then started on a totally different line of questioning.

“Skeet, do you know what a Jedi Knight is?”

Skeet shrugged.

“Yeah, sure. They were the guardians of...”

“...Peace and justice in the Republic,” Emag joined Skeet in reciting the widely used description of the fabled warriors of the Force. “Right. They were skilled individuals who manipulated and were guided by the Force. Do you know what that is?”

“My mother always made sure I knew about the past of the Republic and the details of the rise of the Empire. She used to tell me stories about the Jedi. The Force, too. The energy field, which is generated by all living things which binds the galaxy together. The Force can be utilised by the trained. She told me all kinds of stories.”

“And did you believe them?”

Skeet felt a little embarrassed, feeling like he was about to be told that his favourite holiday character didn’t exist.

“Yes, I did. All of them. I was just a boy when she told me but I always felt that she wasn’t telling stories but histories.”

“That’s right. History. Your mother was always a lover of the past, of what the Empire destroyed.”

“What? My mother? How could know her, know that about her? You don’t know her!”

“But I do, Skeet. Fuida Galgen-Jonas. My sister. She was your mother and the man on the Malevolent is your father.”

Skeet leaped to his feet. His head was threatening to burst, his heart soon after, and he glared at Emag with anger.

“What the hell is this!” he shouted. “What is this? I came here to race, not to take part in some kind of reunion! What, is my life just a series of co-incidences? I just happen to be on Raca City when the Malevolent just happens to be in orbit, which just happens to have my father on board, and my uncle just happens to be the governor of the city? What the hell is going on here?”

“The will of the Force,” Emag said calmly.

“What kind of freckin’ explanation is that!” Skeet shouted. “The Jedi are dead! The Force is dead!”

“Skeet, will you please sit down...” Emag stood and walked round to Skeet.

“I don’t understand this. This isn’t happening. This is impossible!”

Emag placed a hand on his shoulder and Skeet immediately felt calmer. He looked at the governor with a tired, pained expression.

“What is happening to me?” he said.

“I want to tell you something,” Emag said, guiding Skeet back to his seat. He remained standing. “I want you to listen to everything I have to say.

“Decades ago, my father - your grandfather - was a Jedi Knight. It’s true. The Force flows through our family. He was contacted by another Jedi called Hutos-Qui-Lan, a newly invested Knight who had a horrible problem. She had been in touch with an ambassador from one of the Mid-Rim systems who claimed that he had evidence about the secret existence of a dark Force user. She had seen the future, and in this vision she had seen the Dark Side of the Force manifesting itself here, on Raca City. All she could see was a three-mountain city surrounded by speeding objects. It took me years to find this place and match it with her prophecy. She couldn’t see the Dark Side of the Force or what kind of manifestation it would take. The Dark Side is difficult to see. She knew that the Jonas bloodline would be involved and she made sure she communicated the knowledge to my father before... she died. She was killed trying to save the ambassador who had uncovered the secret. They both perished.

“So here we are. Years later, the strands of the prediction are finally tying together. Since that time the Jedi were wiped out by Emperor Palpatine, the Old Republic fell, the New Order rose. Both me and your mother were never trained as Jedi, we were too old by the time it was discovered we were proficient with the Force and our father was so disturbed by the predictions of Hutos-Qui-Lan he was loathe to have us trained but no-one can escape the will of the Force. We were taught the basic teachings to keep our power in check. Do you sometimes feel as though you know how things are going to turn out? Why things happen in your favour when you desperately want them to?”

Skeet nodded.

“Yes. It happens sometimes. Like the day we found my speederbike and I desperately wanted to make that shot.”

“From what I hear the shot was almost impossible to make. You were unknowingly tapping into the Force. It has been passed from your mother to you. This was one of the reasons she fled your father. He was so in love with the Empire he would have sold you both out if he thought it would further his career, betrayed you to the Emperor.”

“If he was such an evil man why did she marry him?”

“He wasn’t always that way. The Empire swallowed him up. Even I liked him, once. She loved him so much... all this has happened for a reason, Skeet. We have all come together here, on Junduk, so that the prophecy can be lived. The dark Force user may be here, also.”

There was a sudden chill as Skeet remembered the figure in dark blue on the Star Destroyer. The height of the being, the apparent presence it had. The sense of utter dread he had felt... the Force had warned him and he didn’t realise what it meant until now.

“He is here,” Skeet said.

Emag started.

“What?”

“He’s here. The dark Force user. He’s on the Malevolent with my father.”

The door the others had exited through suddenly swooshed open and they all came in. Boron was walking with long strides and the others were quick stepping to keep up.

“Governor!” Boron shouted.

Angered at the conversation being interrupted, Emag turned to the three who had walked in unannounced. His anger faded as he saw the worried expressions on their faces.

“What is it?”

Officer Eilen had her headset on and was listening to frantic transmissions, which were being sent directly to her.

“Governor, traffic control has detected over a dozen transports and smaller vessels leaving the Malevolent and heading straight for us. They are not responding to any of their hails and are taking up attack formations.”

Emag stood to his full height. He knew now what he must do. Galgen had played his hand and if the dark Force user was with him then there was only one course of action.

“Boron, prepare my ship,” he said. “We’re all getting out of here. Inform all stations to co-operate with the incoming vessels and advise the citizens they should evacuate if they can.” He turned to Skeet. “However the prophecy turns out we can’t go against the force of the Empire, and if this dark Force user is with them then we are in twice as much danger.”

Boron was already out of the door and Eilen stood to attention in front of Emag.

“I stand ready to escort you, sir,” she said solidly.

As they headed for the turbolift Brey nudged Skeet.

“What did he say to you?” he whispered.

Skeet grimaced.

“Enough to know that we’ve got to get off this planet,” he said.