Star Wars: The Soul of a Sith

Chapter 15

Ren followed his mother at a respectful distance through the tunnels. She had absorbed all of the knowledge about the Cathock and mandalorians, and was travelling to them, having evidently reached agreement with Ren that they were of use. Her nature dictated that she take the lead. Magretta Asango was many things, Ren knew, but being a follower was not one of them.

Neeka broke apart from the pair of Jedi, who were following from a bit further back, and caught pace with Ren. She wordlessly knitted her fingers with his, and he accepted her hand eagerly. "I agree with your mother," she whispered. "It is not acceptable to have a plan to kill you."

"It's not acceptable to have a plan to let me terrorize the universe," said Ren.

"That won't happen. You're too strong for anyone to possess you-even a three thousand year old Sith lord. You know you are."

Ren smiled ever so slightly. Believing in himself and the strength of his own will were what had brought him through one impossible situation after another. He had never failed to overcome an enemy. Neeka understood this aspect of him somehow better than any other, and she knew, without him telling her, that deep down he was not altogether unconfident that he could stand up to the ancient Sithlord in a test of wills.

"You won't fail, Ren," she whispered.

"Thank you," he said.

She smiled at him, but then very suddenly he felt her grip on his hand tighten to a severe degree no human female of her size could ever produce. "You should have told me about your backup plan. I'm not some stupid, fragile little girl you need to hide the truth from."

"I only made the decision to ask him to do it right when I said the words, but it was something I was thinking about loosely since Kalethian first touched my mind." He paused, then added: "I am sorry... I wasn't sure it was something I should discuss with you." It was the first apology he had ever given to anyone.

"I forgive you," she said, her grip instantly loosening, "and I understand. But if you want me to be-" she paused, and Ren caught the faintest change in color in her skin, "w-with you, then you can't keep anything like this from me again."

A thrilling little wave of nerves coursed through Ren's body as he said: "I do want you to."

Neeka gave what sounded like a small giggle, and she brought his hand up to her lips and kissed the back of it. Up ahead, they both heard his mother give what sounded like a sigh of exasperation.

Breaking the awkward silence that followed, Ren heard Dalvin's voice crackle through - not on his own wrist computer or Neeka's - but his mother's, saying: "Hello, my name is Dalvin. As I understand it, you've joined our group. I would like to include you in our communications if you don't mind."

"Hello, Dalvin," his mother responded. "I am aware that you have proved extremely useful to my son. I suppose it is fine for you to communicate with me when you find it tactically advantageous."

"Understood. I'll fit you with a booster when you come to the surface. Until then, you'll need to be close to one of the others to pick up my signal."

"Do you have any updates on your falleen companion?" said Ren's mother. "Is she near the planet's core?"

"There's an incredible amount of interference at that level of descent - I'm not completely sure why. Not even my technology can transmit through it. Therefore, she could be there, around there, or dead. I really don't know."