SW0218 Coruscant Nights 03 Patterns of Force (v5) by Michael Reaves

Author:Michael Reaves [Reaves, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

twenty

Jax decided they should make their way back to the studio through the rear of the apothecary, picking up Dejah and Rhinann on the way. The human proprietor of the business—large, impressive, and incensed by the damage to the front of her building—posed a minor problem, however.

“Are you one of them frippin’ ghosts?” She placed herself firmly in Jax’s path, hands on ample hips, and glared at him.

Jax frowned. “One of …”

“I believe she means the Inquisitors,” said I-Five placidly.

“No. No, I’m not. You can see—no robes.” He held his arms out from his body, emphasizing the ordinariness of his well-worn tunic, pants, and scuffed boots. What Inquisitor would be caught dead in such a mundane outfit?

“Well, they were sure fighting somebody,” the apothecary said dubiously. “Are you sure it wasn’t you?”

“We didn’t see who they were fighting,” Jax said, then added with a subtle change of tone, “and you didn’t, either.”

“I didn’t see who they were fighting,” the woman said.

Jax shrugged and smiled. He and his company hurriedly left out the rear of her shop and thence home by a winding route. They could hear PCBU sirens blaring down the block as they stepped through the rear doors. The doors slid shut, cutting the sound off.

Pol Haus stood waiting for them.

“I thought you were going to keep the sector police out of it,” Jax said as they headed for the lift.

The Zabrak prefect raised his eyebrows. “I did. But when I intercepted a call from one Probus Tesla, an Inquisitor by trade, calling for assistance, I had to take a chance it was over and call my forces in. It’d be pretty suspicious if I hadn’t, wouldn’t it?”

Jax had to admit that it would.

Safely in the studio, there was only one question on Jax’s mind—one he was sure everyone else shared. He turned to Kaj, who sat in the sanctuary, and asked, “What did you do to that Inquisitor—and how?”

The boy shrugged, smiling wanly. “I used to have to bag swamp rats at home. Keep them out of the granary. You pop the alpha female in a sack and take her out in the swamp somewhere and her whole warren will follow. So I popped him in a sack. A very tiny sack.”

Dejah stared at the boy. “But how?”

Kaj’s smile wavered. “I … I don’t know. I’ve never done that before. I just—” He swallowed convulsively. “I just imagined catching the swamp rat and … look, it was an Inquisitor. What does it matter what happened to it?”

Jax drew in a breath. “He, Kaj. Not it. Inquisitors are people, just like us.”

The boy reddened and shook his head. “No. Not just like us. They’re evil. He was evil.” He went to his couch then and lay down on it, turning his back on the others.

Jax gestured for the rest of them to take their discussion upstairs and out of Kaj’s sight and hearing.

“What now?” Laranth asked when they’d reached the living room above the studio.

“Yes,” Rhinann echoed, “what now?

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