"More reason we should go, Jaden. They created some kind of monsters here and-"
"Not monsters!" Jaden said, and the harshness of his tone took them both unawares. He hung his head. "I need to go down, Khedryn. If any of them are still alive, I need to… help them."
"Help them!" Khedryn exclaimed, then, more softly, "We are not talking about them. And you and I both know it. Jaden, you made a mistake on Centerpoint. An understandable one. Fine. Don't make another one here. It's time to go."
"I cannot."
Khedryn continued, his words like hammerblows. "Subjects A through I. One is dead for certain, but that leaves up to eight clones that could still be alive. I have seen what you can do, but you are one man. Eight, Jaden. And we have reason to suspect they will be hostile."
"I know all that."
"You are asking me to risk my life so you can save your conscience."
"I did not know things would turn out this way, Khedryn," Jaden said, and meant it. "Go back to Flotsam and wait for me there."
"I don't quit, Jaden. That's not-"
Jaden's thoughts crystallized around the fact that he had asked far too much of Khedryn already. Relin had done the same with Marr. They-the Jedi-were exacting too high a price from those around them. Jaden wanted no more blood on his hands.
"Listen to me, Khedryn. You are right: This has been and is about me learning something about myself. I… can use light and dark side powers and I do not know what that means for me."
The words caused Khedryn to take a half step back, as if Jaden had struck him. His eyes widened. "You can what? Like the clones?"
Jaden bulled forward without acknowledging the question. "But I think there's an answer here, in this place. And I do not want you risking anything more than you already have-"
"I said I do not quit, Jedi."
Jaden nodded. "And I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to recognize the fact that you will be able to do nothing for me should I meet the clones. They will be dangerous, too dangerous for you. Go back to the ship. We can stay in contact via comlink. If something happens to me, you can leave, rendezvous with Marr and Relin."
Khedryn shook his head, pure stubbornness taking over. "Relin is not coming back. You and I both know that, too. But Marr better."
"Go back," Jaden said. "Go back, Khedryn."
Khedryn continued to shake his head, but Jaden saw his resistance crumbling.
He put his hand on Khedryn's arm. "Go. Back."
"You using that mind trick on me again?"
Jaden smiled. "Yes, I am. You know why you have no weapons on Junker?"
"Because I run," Khedryn said softly, and his lazy eye looked past Jaden and off to the side, no doubt seeing the world askew. He refocused on Jaden. "You are certain?"
"I am."
"I don't intend to leave without you, though."
Jaden knew he had done the right thing. He saw the relief in Khedryn's body language, his expression. Khedryn seemed to draw a deep breath for the first time since leaving Junker.
"Understood, Khedryn. Go on."
They settled on a comlink frequency and Khedryn headed out, while Jaden studied the schematic that showed the facility's layout. He put his finger on the drawing of the lift that led to a lower level.
"There be dragons," he said.
Kell slid through the open hatch of the facility, past the guard post, and down the dark hallway. He activated the light-amplifying implants in his eyes and glided through the dim corridors. His mimetic suit rendered him all but invisible against the featureless gray walls. His skill rendered him all but silent.
For a time, he was easily able to track Jaden and his companion by way of the wet tracks they left behind. When those disappeared, he relied more heavily on his skills. He examined patterns in the dust, depressions in the carpet, noted items-a computer station, a closet door-that appeared recently disturbed. He also kept his keen hearing focused on the way ahead.
From time to time he heard the hiss of distant voices, the squeak of an opening door, the tread of boots on metal.
The facility was some kind of secret research lab, though its particular purpose was lost on Kell. He spent little time thinking about it. His appetite pulled him forward. He imagined himself casting a line of fate into an ocean of possibilities and hooking Jaden Korr. All he needed to do now was reel him in and feed.
His hunger grew with each step.
Marr slammed his palm into the button that closed Junker's cargo bay door on the dead Massassi, on the ruins of Khedryn's Searing, on the ruins of Relin.
There is nothing certain.
Once the door began its descent, he took one last look down the freight corridor at the corpses and the destrution, then turned and sprinted for the cockpit. He stopped dead when he hit the galley, his chest rising and falling like a forge bellows.
The caf pot on the table had been toppled, the caf still dripping off the edge, pattering on the floor. He stared at it as if the spill pattern were a deep mystery whose solution promised wisdom.
The hard landing had spilled it.
He started to walk, stopped again.
If that were true, the caf would not still be dripping to the floor.
Something else had spilled it. Very recently.
The clang of an opening hatch sounded from somewhere behind him, one of the corridors on the stern side of the galley.
His heart revved faster than the Searing. For a moment, fear froze him. His thoughts turned chaotic, coming so fast and inchoate that they made no sense.
They had gotten in the ship from the landing bay side. They must have pried open an exterior hatch, or cut their way in, or something.
Another hatch sounded, closer. He heard the soft tread of boots on Junker's metal floors, a ginger footfall trying and failing to move with stealth.
The proximity of the danger freed him from his paralysis and he bolted from the galley, clutching his blaster in a sweaty hand as he ran. After he'd cleared the galley, reason overcame fear and he realized that pelting through the corridors would both telegraph his position and potentially send him right into the arms of whoever was aboard. He had no idea where they were, what they were.
He slowed, his heart still thumping madly, and ducked into a seldom-used crew quarters. The small room featured nothing but twin, wall-mounted bed racks and a round viewport blocked by the gray steel of a security shield.
He had to get himself under control, think rationally.
Recalling what Relin had taught him, he tried to retreat into the keep but found it barred. Fear worked against him. He could not seem to catch his breath.
Gathering himself, steadying his breathing, he thought of the calculations that proved Vellan's theorem and tried again.
He relaxed as he fell into the Force. Its touch comforted him, warmed him, steadied him. The Force crowded out his fear, leaving him clear-headed and calm.
Marr realized that Relin had been wrong. There was something certain. The Force was certain, as constant as the speed of light.
He considered his options and realized that all of them led to a single place-the cockpit. But first he needed to get to the storage locker near the forward air lock.
He put his hand to the cool metal of the hatch, turned it, and pushed it open. Cringing at the squeak, he exited the quarters and moved in fits and starts along Junker's corridors. Every windowless hatch was an exercise in controlled terror since he had no idea what he would find on the other side. As best he could, he peeked around corners, listened before he moved. From time to time he heard sounds of movement behind him, the soft chatter of a quieted comlink. Whoever was aboard sounded louder now, more careless than before, as if Harbinger's crew thought the ship empty.