Star Wars: The New Rebellion (26 page)

“Those are for the newest model protocol droids. They are motion detectors as well, and sensitive to the body heat of sentient life.” Despite its memory wipe, the droid seemed to have retained its sense of pride.

“What about life forms with no body heat, like Glottalphibs or Verpine?”

“They will find such a droid useful in detecting outsiders,” the droid said.

Luke peered at a shelf of eyes. They appeared to be looking back at him. Their shape was no longer round, but oval. “The eyes are made here?” he asked.

The backs of the eyes moved as he spoke. A small filament flickered with each word. They weren’t just motion detectors. They were bugged as well. What an odd property, and one he didn’t entirely understand. Why would eyes need to hear? Protocol droids had hearing devices.

“Of course,” the droid said. “All parts are made here.” It noticed Luke looking at the eyes. “Come along, Jedi Skywalker. We must not be late.”

He hadn’t known until that moment that they were on any kind of time schedule.

Since the eyes were sensitive to both motion and sound, he couldn’t sweep one into his pocket. He would simply have to put it into his memory, and think about it later.

As he and the droid moved beyond the eyes, the glaring lights shut off, leaving only the dim overhangs. The shelves’ contents became more and more mysterious as he moved by. Chips with numbers, wires that were color-coded, tiny pieces of metal wire. Nothing as interesting or as unnerving as the eyes.

Eventually, the shelved walls widened. The corridor became a long, narrow room. The shelves rose above a bank of computers. No chairs stood in front of the computers, and the touchpads were well above waist-high. They were designed for someone to operate while standing. Designed for droids.

So far, Luke had not seen a living being in this place, and the only one he felt was Brakiss.

Brakiss was closer now. He had regained control of himself.

The droid walked in tiny, mincing steps. It was easy for Luke to keep up. He asked no more questions, and the droid volunteered no more information. When they reached the end of the room, the droid opened the door.

“I am not allowed to go into the assembly room. Only specialized droids may be near that equipment. Master Brakiss awaits you. I will be here to escort you to your ship when you are finished.”

Luke thanked him, which made the protocol droid bob in astonishment. Then Luke stepped through the door.

The assembly room had a three-story opaque dome. Glow panels ran along the dome’s supports and reflected off the opaque covering, making the room as bright as
daylight. Stacked conveyor belts emerged from the wall, angled in from every direction, and met at a tube in the middle. The tube was clear and large enough to fit a probe droid. Only oversized droids, like a binary load lifter, would not fit inside that tube.

The tube disappeared into the depths of the building. The floor was clear, and Luke could see the droids below, most shut off, all completely assembled, probably awaiting final checks before being sent to fulfill whatever orders were made.

The conveyors were off. The room was silent. Except for Luke’s breathing.

And for Brakiss’s.

Brakiss stood between two conveyor belts. The size of the room made him look small. He wore a silver uniform and matching silver boots. A silver lightsaber hung from his waist.

Luke had forgotten how stunning Brakiss was. Brakiss’s blue eyes pierced anything they looked at. His nose was straight, his skin flawless, and his lips thin. Leia had once called him one of the most handsome men she had ever seen.

She was right.

“
Master
Skywalker.” Brakiss’s tone held no respect. He stood his ground. If Luke wanted to bridge the distance between them, he would have to do it himself.

“Brakiss.” Luke let the calmness of the Force flow through him. “You never completed your training.”

“You didn’t come all this way to discuss that,” Brakiss said.

“Indeed?” Luke clasped his hands behind his back. His lightsaber was a reassuring weight against his hip. “Then what did I come here for?”

“Don’t play master-student games with me, Skywalker,” Brakiss said. “Just tell me what you want.”

“Your mother told me that you were expecting me,” Luke said.

“You didn’t hurt her, did you?” There was a swift protectiveness in Brakiss that startled Luke. It had not been there before.

“Of course not,” Luke said. “Your mother is a good woman, Brakiss. She is concerned for you.”

“She’s never been concerned for me,” Brakiss said, and Luke felt the pain, the ancient pain that had prevented Brakiss from facing himself on Yavin 4. Brakiss blamed his mother for the Empire’s use of him as a child. Not the Empire. His mother, who had been unable to prevent his loss.

But Luke had no time for old family arguments. “Were you expecting me, Brakiss?”

“At some point, Skywalker. You never let your students go easily.”

“It’s been years,” Luke said. “Students make their own choices. You aren’t the only student I’ve lost.”

“I was the only member of the Empire to best you,” Brakiss said, bringing himself to his full height.

Luke glanced around him. The light gave the room an airy, open feel that the protocol-droid section did not have. “This is an Imperial facility, then?”

“No,” Brakiss snarled. “It’s mine.”

“You’re no longer with the Empire.” Luke smiled. “See, Brakiss? Some good did come from your stay on Yavin 4.”

“I’m not with the Empire any longer because the Empire no longer exists,” Brakiss said.

“There are still enclaves,” Luke said.

Brakiss waved a hand in dismissal. “Powerless groups who cannot let go of the past. I have a new life here, Skywalker. I don’t need you.”

“I never said you did,” Luke said. “But you have a
talent in the Force, Brakiss, a talent that needs nurturing, not the hatred grown on the dark side.”

“I no longer use the Force, Skywalker.”

“Then why do you still carry a lightsaber?”

Brakiss’s hand fell to his side and clutched the saber, then let it go, as if he had just realized what he had been doing. “What do you want, Skywalker?”

Luke took a step forward. The conveyor belts hemmed him in. He could only go toward Brakiss or turn his back on Brakiss. “Two tragedies have happened recently. In the first, millions died all at once. The second was a bombing on Coruscant that killed a number of senators. In both cases, I got a sense of your presence. You’re connected somehow, Brakiss. I need to know how.”

Brakiss shook his head. “I live here now. I have legitimate work, and I make good money running this facility. I no longer work for the Empire.”

“I never said the Empire was involved with those events. I’m not even sure what happened in the first instance. I thought perhaps you could help me.”

Brakiss narrowed his eyes. “Why should I help you?”

“Because there’s still a spark of good in you, Brakiss, buried beneath all that the Empire taught you. In the end, Darth Vader returned to the light. So could you.”

Brakiss’s chin trembled. His lips parted, and he took one involuntary step backward. For a moment, Luke could see the young Brakiss, the child Brakiss, the one buried deep beneath years of dark-side training, the one Luke had nearly reached on Yavin 4.

Then the glimpse vanished. Brakiss’s face became a mask. It was as if doors had closed to that distant part of himself, as if he were not just walling it off from Luke, but from himself.

With a snarl, Brakiss pulled his lightsaber from his
waist. A bright red flame soared from it. Brakiss ran toward Luke and slashed as he moved.

Luke’s lightsaber was in his hand instantly. He parried Brakiss’s thrust, smashing Brakiss’s lightblade against a nearby conveyor belt. Sparks flew. Brakiss recovered, slashed again, and Luke blocked the hit.

The lightsabers hummed, and clanged as they clashed. Thrust, parry, thrust, parry. Luke matched Brakiss movement for movement. Somewhere in the last few years, Brakiss had gained strength.

Brakiss tried a series of small thrusts, little movements designed to be parried, and then he arched the lightsaber in one great circular movement. Luke didn’t move quickly enough. Brakiss’s lightsaber seared Luke’s shirt, narrowly missing his skin. Luke then matched each movement of Brakiss’s.

The assembly room was hot with the sparks from the lightsaber blades. The edges of the conveyor belts glowed with the heat. Luke concentrated on each of Brakiss’s movements, deciding to defend, never to attack.

Brakiss swung his lightsaber from left to right, going for Luke’s unprotected sides. Luke blocked each attack. The swings got fiercer, the movements sloppier. Brakiss was no match for Luke, but he was a good, strong fighter, and they would both be exhausted before this match ended.

Then Luke felt a blast of fear. He glanced up in surprise. The fear had come from Brakiss, and the fear was not of Luke.

Brakiss stopped attacking and raised his blade, much as Ben had in the belly of the Death Star.

Unlike Vader, Luke shut off his blade. The hum stopped, and the sound of labored breathing echoed in the near-empty room.

“Kill me,” Brakiss snapped.

“I have no desire to kill you,” Luke said. “I would rather bring you back with me to Yavin 4.”

“Kill me, Master Skywalker.” All trace of sarcasm was gone from his voice. “Kill me. End it now.”

“We all have to face ourselves,” Luke said. He extended his left hand. “Come to Yavin 4 with me. I will help you.”

Then Brakiss shook his head, as if he were coming out of a deep sleep. “It’s too late for me,” he said.

“It’s never too late.”

Brakiss smiled, a wistful look. “It is for me.” He swallowed. “I don’t belong on Yavin 4. I belong here. I am better off without contact, alone.”

“Come with me, Brakiss,” Luke said. “You can’t be happy here.”

“Happy?” Brakiss said. “No. But I am satisfied. I can be creative here. And that is enough.” He holstered his lightsaber. “I was paid to get a message to you. That’s why you’ve been following my trail. You’re supposed to go to Almania. The answers you want are there.”

“Who wants me in Almania?”

Brakiss shivered. The movement was fine, almost invisible, but Luke felt it as well as saw it. Brakiss wasn’t afraid of Luke. He was afraid of the person who had sent Luke the message. The person who wanted Luke in Almania.

“If I were you, Master Skywalker,” Brakiss said, “I’d go back to Yavin 4. I’d forget about everything else. Turn into Obi-Wan and retire. Leave the fighting to those who are ruthless. They’ll win anyway.”

Then he turned and walked out of the room.

Luke clipped his lightsaber to his belt and waited, hoping Brakiss would return. But Brakiss didn’t. Luke started to follow, and then stopped. He couldn’t help Brakiss. Not yet. Brakiss had again turned down his offer to return to Yavin 4.

But Brakiss was getting closer. Brakiss would come eventually. The Brakiss who had stopped fighting, the Brakiss who had spoken this last, was the Brakiss Luke was trying to save.

Luke had never seen such defeat in a man. Or perhaps that wasn’t defeat speaking. Perhaps Brakiss was giving him a hidden message.

Perhaps not.

Almania. Luke had never heard of it.

But he knew that he had to go there.

Or die trying.

Brakiss felt the door close behind him. He leaned on the metal wall in the utility tunnel and let himself shake. Never again did he want to be between Skywalker and Kueller.

Never again.

The line was too fine to walk, and Skywalker was adept at reading him. Skywalker had almost convinced him to return to Yavin 4. In the space of a conversation, Brakiss nearly had abandoned everything.

For Skywalker.

Never again.

If Kueller let him, he would renounce the Force. He would go on to make droids, to live the kind of life his mother wanted for him, a quiet life, lived in obscurity.

It was the best he could hope for as long as Kueller and Skywalker were in the universe. He was not as powerful as either of them, and he knew it.

He put a hand over his face. Kueller had wanted him to move with finesse, to make Skywalker want to go to Almania. Instead, Brakiss had warned him away. His feelings got too confused around Skywalker. It was almost as if Skywalker could turn him with a few words, a glance, an idea.

In the end
,
Darth Vader returned to the light. So could you
.

So could you
.

But something had compelled Vader away from the dark side. Rumors were that something was Skywalker.

If that was the case, then Skywalker was more powerful than both Kueller and Brakiss gave him credit for. Brakiss had gone into the meeting wanting to kill Skywalker. By the middle of it, he had begged Skywalker to kill him.

How humbling.

How humiliating.

Master Skywalker still controlled him. And he had warned the man away from Almania.

If Skywalker didn’t go, what would Kueller say?

What would Kueller do?

Brakiss wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.