And I gave him the coordinates.
The next moments happened so quickly. Sian lurched over to me and slammed his hand down on theend-communication button. His face was livid. “What did youdo?”
Coolly, I stepped away from the console. “I’m bringing them here.”
“This isnotthe time to give him the benefit of the doubt, Starlight.”
Veebee agreed in her deadpan way: “He sold me for a blaster.”
Entoo blooped angrily, flicking out their blowtorch.
“I know,” I replied, digging into my jacket. “But it makes more sense for theStarfarerto come here than for us to try to catch up with her. Our lander is pretty beat-up from the sungrazers. It could make one jump, maybe two? But beyond that…”
Veebee and Entoo exchanged looks.
I asked, “Aren’t you going to say this is a bad idea?”
“No,” Veebee said simply, and the astromech agreed with a bleep. “Something is very wrong, and if I don’t cook the shaak I defrosted soon, then it will ruin, and I spent good money on that shaak.”
Sian studied me, and his shoulders rounded in release. Noola scurried up to sit on one, munching on another piece of jerky she’d stolen from our stash. “You don’t trust him,” he realized.
“Of course I don’t. He’s my brother. I know him better than anyone,” I replied, finally finding what I waslooking for in my pockets. One of the few good things about not changing out of my ship uniform: I still had Lady Sosha’s contact card. I showed it to them. “I also know when I’m in way over my head.”
If I survived this, I’d read that last installment ofUnder the Tan-Tan Sun. It felt silly now to have put it off for so long, especially when life seemed to jump out at me at lightspeed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Elderels
The plan was simple: refuel the lander and wait for theStarfarerto grace the skies of Alakor. By my calculations, if they were near Yavin 4 when we contacted them, it’d take quite a few hours for them to come all the way back to this side of the galaxy. Valcouldastrogate here quicker, but I doubted he would.
Until then, we waited.
I tried not to look like a bundle of anxiety, so I took myself out to the edge of the ravine to pace. My fingernails were almost bitten down to the quick already.
After Yavin 4, the itinerary took the ship to quite a few stops before ending on Endor’s forest moon. I’d been truthful when I said that catching up to theStarfarerwould be impossible, so thiswasthe right choice. It had to be. I’d rather something happen in the middle of nowhere than above a planet full of people.
Not that anything will happen, I told myself. There were hundreds of guests on board. Dad wouldn’t let anythinghappen to them. He’d give his life to protect them—the entire crew would.
That was what worried me.
That and the blaster now in Val’s possession.
“Hey.” Sian drew me out of my thoughts. He stood a few meters away, hands in his pockets. He nudged his head away from the facility. “Want to take a walk?”
“You go ahead.”
“It’ll take your mind off things.”
“I doubt that.”
“Fine, then will you take a walk with me so I can show you something?” he asked. “My mentor and I found it last time we were here. I think you would appreciate it.”
“What is it?”
He put a finger to his lips. “Why don’t you come with me to find out?”
Infuriating—he was infuriating and…I probablydidneed to take a walk. At least it would be different scenery than a sheer drop to my death. So I caved and told him to let me grab my satchel and tell the droids. They had holed up in the lander with the air ventilation on to keep themselves from corroding too heavily. I glanced into one of the reflective sheet metal surfaces of the bulkheads, my face distorting like a ripple in water, and quickly looked away.
