dead? Why had the clones taken Khedryn instead of killing him?
He had no answers. He could barely breathe. His nose was broken. He blew out sharply and expelled a stream of snot and blood onto his face and shirt. The clones seemed not to notice or care.
A female clone stood beside the pilot’s seat, one hand on the back of it. She stared out at space and he could see her in profile—her delicate features, her bald head. He would have thought her beautiful had he met her in a cantina somewhere. Her eyes were closed and she swayed slightly, as if in a trance. A second woman sat in another of the chairs, her back to Khedryn, her long red hair pooling on the gray material of the seat. She seemed to be sleeping.
A child, a girl, sat on the floor near the woman’s feet, nestled against the chair. Her long hair, also red, hung almost to her waist. She smiled at him, a guileless, friendly smile. The gesture struck Khedyrn as so out of place that he did not know how to respond. Finally he stuck his tongue out at her, and she giggled.
A hand closed on his shoulder and pulled him roughly around. Another clone crouched before him, looking him directly in the face.
“I’m Soldier,” the clone said.
Khedryn saw only a hint of wildness in the gray eyes of Soldier.
Gray eyes.
He blinked, thinking how familiar the eyes seemed. He noted the narrow, angled features, the hatchet nose, the jaw … and his mouth fell open.
“Stang,” he whispered.
He was looking at Jaden Korr—a shaggy Jaden Korr worn thin by a harsh life on a forgotten moon, but there was no mistaking the eyes.
“I want you to tell me how the Jedi found us,” Soldier said.
Khedryn deflected the question, his response on autopilot. “What Jedi? I’m just a salvage jockey who was visiting a relative at—”
“I saw the recognition in your eyes when you looked at me just now,” Soldier said. “I saw the same thing in the Jedi’s eyes when he first saw me.”
“You should have let me kill him back on Fhost,” said the wild clone in the pilot’s seat.
“His name is Runner,” Soldier said, nodding at the wild clone. “If you lie to me, I will let him do what he wishes with you. Do you understand?”
“You’re going to kill me anyway,” Khedryn said.
Soldier did not gainsay it. He leaned in closer. “Tell me how you found us.”
“Jedi can do things. I don’t know how—”
Runner whirled in his seat and lunged for Khedryn, his face twisted in anger. He pushed through Soldier, took Khedryn by the throat, and jerked him to his feet. Khedryn gasped for breath, his feet kicking. He thumped a boot off Runner’s chest. The impact troubled the clone not in the least.
Khedryn began to see spots. He looked down and saw the little girl, curled up in a ball, hiding her eyes. He looked into Runner’s bloodshot eyes, saw barely controlled madness there.
“Tell me how you found us,” Soldier said. Then to Runner, “Put him down.”
Runner hesitated.
“Put him down.”
Runner dropped Khedryn and he hit the floor in a heap, gasping, wheezing. Soldier crouched beside him.
“Tell me.”
Khedryn rolled onto his backside and sat up.
“Happenstance,” he said, and Runner growled. “That’s the truth. We returned to Fhost from the frozen moon, heard about the attack on the medical facility, and put two and two together.”
Soldier seemed to consider this. “Then they are not following us now?”
Khedryn answered truthfully. “I don’t know. I don’t see how.”
“Bah!” said Runner, and returned to his seat.
Soldier studied Khedryn’s face for a moment. “I believe you,” he said, and stood.
As Soldier turned away, Khedryn said, “How can you be him? Jaden? This … doesn’t make any sense.”
Soldier turned back and looked down on him. “Jaden? That is the Jedi’s name?”
Khedryn nodded, wondering if he’d said too much.
“I’m not him,” Soldier said. “I’m Soldier.”
Khedryn looked away, looked over to the little girl, but she was gone. He did not see her anywhere in the cockpit.
“What are you going to do with me?” he asked Soldier.
Soldier stared down at him with Jaden’s intense eyes. The clone cocked his head as if asking himself the same question. He looked to the bald woman, then to Runner.
“This ship has an escape pod,” he said to them. “We can put him in it and eject him into space. Maybe someone will find him.”
Runner spun in his seat. “Why waste an escape pod? We should