first,” she said. “Then maybe we can recover Jysella and Valin, find a safe place to thaw them out, and figure out what the kriff is going on.”
It would certainly be good to figure things out, Bazel agreed. What he didn’t say was that Yaqeel was breaking his heart. He hadn’t grown as close to Seff and Natua at Shelter as he had to Yaqeel and the Horn siblings, but the quarters had been so tight that he had become friends with most of the other students, and he desperately wanted to see them leave the Asylum Block—
when they were ready
. Now Bazel’s best friend was starting to act like she was on her way to joining them, which was certainly a better alternative to being frozen in carbonite like Valin and Jysella.
That
, Bazel would never allow.
As they approached the corner of the Temple, Bazel took one lastlook back toward the cam vans and found a single lens turned their way—no doubt capturing some stock footage of him so they would have something ready when they aired a report about the Jedi menace. He raised a hand as though to wave, at the same time shooting a Force flash toward the van that would wipe his image—and most of the day’s other footage—from the cam’s digital memory.
They rounded the corner and came to a hedge of tall rutolu bushes, the purple leaves as long and slender as daggers. A freshly worn path led through the hedge to a chest-high safety wall that protected the sunken entrance to the speeder gate, and it was here that Yaqeel reached for her lightsaber. Bazel was desperate to keep her from causing trouble outside the Temple, where she might injure a passerby and would certainly draw the attention of the GAS assault team. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.
Yaqeel spun on him with fire in her eyes, then sent a jolt of Force energy into his arm so powerful that Bazel squealed in surprise. He had never seen her do such a thing before; in fact, he had never seen
any
Jedi use the Force that way.
“
You
, Barv?” Yaqeel’s hand dropped to her lightsaber. “They got you—”
Bazel gave a disgusted snort, pointing out they weren’t going to free anyone from the Asylum Block by trying to fight their way
into
the Temple. The plan was to
fool
the Jedi, remember?
Yaqeel’s hand remained on her lightsaber hilt, her long brow-fur rising at the ends as she studied Bazel. Finally, she said, “Barv, we
are
the Jedi.”
Silently cursing the dim wits of his species and the sharp wits of the Bothans, Bazel took a deep breath and tried to accept that he would soon be in a huge amount of pain. Even under the best circumstances, Bazel wasn’t a very good liar, and now Yaqeel would be using the Force to determine whether he was being truthful. That left him with only one option: to grab her and try to drag her inside the Temple before the GAS assault team arrived and the two Jedi got themselves killed.
And that was when Bazel realized he
could
lie to her. The key to defeating the Jedi truth-sense lay in believing the lie one told, and Bazelknew how to do that. He didn’t know
how
he knew, or where he had learned it. But all he had to do was soak his words in a little Force energy, and then he himself would believe what he said. And everyone else would, too.
So Bazel simply shrugged and pulled his hand away from Yaqeel’s lightsaber. He suggested that maybe rescuing Seff and Natua wasn’t such a good idea, after all. The … the
fakes
were bound to be watching them, and the instant he and Yaqeel started down toward the Asylum Block, they’d probably get jumped and end up in a cell themselves.
Yaqeel considered his words for a moment, then took her hand away from her lightsaber. “You’re probably right, Barv. But we’ve got to
try
.”
Bazel sighed in relief, using his newfound Force skill to make it seem like resignation. Then he asked Yaqeel if she was ready.
Yaqeel nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” She grabbed the safety wall and pulled herself up, crouching
It would certainly be good to figure things out, Bazel agreed. What he didn’t say was that Yaqeel was breaking his heart. He hadn’t grown as close to Seff and Natua at Shelter as he had to Yaqeel and the Horn siblings, but the quarters had been so tight that he had become friends with most of the other students, and he desperately wanted to see them leave the Asylum Block—
when they were ready
. Now Bazel’s best friend was starting to act like she was on her way to joining them, which was certainly a better alternative to being frozen in carbonite like Valin and Jysella.
That
, Bazel would never allow.
As they approached the corner of the Temple, Bazel took one lastlook back toward the cam vans and found a single lens turned their way—no doubt capturing some stock footage of him so they would have something ready when they aired a report about the Jedi menace. He raised a hand as though to wave, at the same time shooting a Force flash toward the van that would wipe his image—and most of the day’s other footage—from the cam’s digital memory.
They rounded the corner and came to a hedge of tall rutolu bushes, the purple leaves as long and slender as daggers. A freshly worn path led through the hedge to a chest-high safety wall that protected the sunken entrance to the speeder gate, and it was here that Yaqeel reached for her lightsaber. Bazel was desperate to keep her from causing trouble outside the Temple, where she might injure a passerby and would certainly draw the attention of the GAS assault team. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.
Yaqeel spun on him with fire in her eyes, then sent a jolt of Force energy into his arm so powerful that Bazel squealed in surprise. He had never seen her do such a thing before; in fact, he had never seen
any
Jedi use the Force that way.
“
You
, Barv?” Yaqeel’s hand dropped to her lightsaber. “They got you—”
Bazel gave a disgusted snort, pointing out they weren’t going to free anyone from the Asylum Block by trying to fight their way
into
the Temple. The plan was to
fool
the Jedi, remember?
Yaqeel’s hand remained on her lightsaber hilt, her long brow-fur rising at the ends as she studied Bazel. Finally, she said, “Barv, we
are
the Jedi.”
Silently cursing the dim wits of his species and the sharp wits of the Bothans, Bazel took a deep breath and tried to accept that he would soon be in a huge amount of pain. Even under the best circumstances, Bazel wasn’t a very good liar, and now Yaqeel would be using the Force to determine whether he was being truthful. That left him with only one option: to grab her and try to drag her inside the Temple before the GAS assault team arrived and the two Jedi got themselves killed.
And that was when Bazel realized he
could
lie to her. The key to defeating the Jedi truth-sense lay in believing the lie one told, and Bazelknew how to do that. He didn’t know
how
he knew, or where he had learned it. But all he had to do was soak his words in a little Force energy, and then he himself would believe what he said. And everyone else would, too.
So Bazel simply shrugged and pulled his hand away from Yaqeel’s lightsaber. He suggested that maybe rescuing Seff and Natua wasn’t such a good idea, after all. The … the
fakes
were bound to be watching them, and the instant he and Yaqeel started down toward the Asylum Block, they’d probably get jumped and end up in a cell themselves.
Yaqeel considered his words for a moment, then took her hand away from her lightsaber. “You’re probably right, Barv. But we’ve got to
try
.”
Bazel sighed in relief, using his newfound Force skill to make it seem like resignation. Then he asked Yaqeel if she was ready.
Yaqeel nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” She grabbed the safety wall and pulled herself up, crouching
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