Star Wars_ Destiny's Way Part 13

"Will you all please make yourselves comfortable?" Sien Sow said in his nasal voice. "Shall I send for refreshment?"

Luke turned to Sow and felt mild embarra.s.sment at having ignored the Supreme Commander of the New Republic Defense Force for so long. "I beg your pardon, Admiral," he said. "I should-"

The Sull.u.s.tan made a dismissive gesture. "Since I asked you here to meet old friends, I can hardly object if you let them take precedence over me." His black plate eyes turned to Admiral Ackbar. "For that matter, I wish the admiral would take precedence over me during this war."

He wasn't alone in that wish, Luke knew. It couldn't have been easy for Sien Sow to be the successor to a legend like Ackbar, and Sow's modesty and hard work were hardly the sort of gifts to fill the void left by Ackbar's genius and charisma. Sow might have done better if his term had been blessed by peace, since his administrative talents were genuine and he could have kept the service running at high efficiency, but he'd been unlucky in being forced to fight the wrong war against an enemy for whom the New Republic had been completely unprepared.

Unlucky. It was the worst thing you could say about a military commander. Soldiers trusted a commander's luck much more than they trusted a commander's intelligence.

'I do not believe," Sow said gently, "that I have met all your party'?"

Luke apologized again, and introduced Jacen and Vergere. Sow complimented them both on their survival skills.

"And young Solo," he added. "I am pleased to report that your sister is not only well, but has taken part in a major victory at Obroa-skai."

Apparently comfortable with his ragged, half-clothed appearance, Jacen had perched on a chair near Vergere. Honest relief broke across his face at the news.

"I was worried," he said. "I sensed she was in a-a situation."

"An entire Yuuzhan Vong fleet was attacked by our fleet combined with a squadron of Hapans. General Farlander was quite explicit in his praise of Jaina. It appears she was responsible for much of the operational plan."

Jacen listened to Sien Sow with interest, then responded cautiously. "Jaina planned this offensive?" he asked.

"Not all the details, of course, but yes, the attack was her inspiration. Two Yuuzhan Vong troops.h.i.+ps were destroyed, with tens of thousands of warriors. Our first completely successful offensive battle."

Jacen nodded. "A good plan, then." His lips smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes.

A light began pulsing on Sow's comm unit, and he put a small listener to his ear for a private message.

"Your pardon," he said, "but I alerted Fleet Intelligence once I understood that Jacen and a-a defector were on their way. They would like to debrief the both of you." His plate eyes turned to Jacen. "If you're physically strong enough, of course."

Luke couldn't help but notice that Vergere, unlike Jacen, was not being given a choice.

"I'm willing." Jacen rose from his chair, then turned to his avian companion. "Vergere?"

"Certainly." The feathered Jedi wore the same wry, skeptical expression she had worn when she'd first stepped out of the air lock and seen the soldiers with weapons at the ready.

"I suppose this will go on for a while," Jacen said to Luke. "Since I don't know where I'll be staying, may I have your comm code?"

Luke a.s.sured Jacen that he was welcome to stay with him and Mara, and gave Jacen his code. Then, turning to Vergere, he repeated the offer.

"Vergere may be detained a little longer than Jacen, unfortunately," Sow said, which only increased the cynical look in Vergere's eye.

Vergere padded ahead of Jacen as the two made their way out.

Through the briefly open door Luke caught a glimpse of Ayddar Nylykerka, the Tammarian director of Fleet Intelligence, at the head of a group of guards; and then the door closed. He turned to Sien Sow.

"You're taking every precaution," he said.

"Yuuzhan Vong use of defectors and infiltrators is very effective,"

the Sull.u.s.tan said. "Before I free her to go where she wishes, I want to make sure that Vergere is what she claims to be."

"I know what she claims to be," Luke said. "I just wonder how she can be expected to prove it."

Chapter 12.

Now remember," Leia said, "we call it the Remnant, but to these people it's still the Empire."

"An Empire without an Emperor," Han commented.

She patted his hand. "For which we may be thankful, my dear." She sighed as a darker thought intruded. "And the New Republic is something of a remnant these days, as well."

The Millennium Falcon had finally completed its long, dangerous crossing of enemy-dominated s.p.a.ce to the Imperial capital of Bastion. A squadron of Imperial Star Destroyers flew escort close alongside, their long, wide hulls almost walling off the stars. Their destination wasn't the planet at all but a Super Star Destroyer that stretched a full four kilometers left and right from the docking port, and which carried a crew larger than the population of cities. In the docking bay, a military escort met Leia, officers quivering at the salute. Behind them was a military band that drummed and thumped them the fifty or so meters to their shuttle, a deluxe Lambda-cla.s.s vehicle that featured a pa.s.senger compartment with fixtures of solid gold and a soft-spoken military aide who offered drinks and refreshments to fortify Leia and Han for the ten-standard-minute trip to the world's surface.

"The Empire hasn't changed its style much," Han said. He tugged at the collar of his general's uniform. Leia had made him wear full dress on the theory that Imperials were conditioned to defer automatically to anyone wearing a uniform with sufficient badges of rank. Leia herself had chosen for the occasion a gown that was as uniformlike as possible, with a high collar and a double row of jeweled b.u.t.tons down the front.

"Did you notice when Vana Dorja left us?" Leia asked.

Han gave a startled look over one shoulder. The only person to share the compartment with them was the aide, who had perched on a chair a tactful distance away, far enough to permit them to speak in lowered voices without being overheard.

"No," Han answered.

"I'll lay you a wager that Grand Admiral Pellaeon is listening to her report right now," Leia said.

"I don't take sucker bets."

The Lambda-cla.s.s shuttle dropped close to the planet's surface and sailed low down a long avenue, past formations of thousands of stormtroopers and uniformed fleet personnel, all bracing into a salute as the shuttle drifted past. The late-afternoon sun stretched the soldiers'

long shadows across the pavement, producing the illusion that each ranked formation was followed by a dark legion of ghosts.

"Quite a welcome," Han said.

"They're trying to show us what valuable allies they'd make. Troops galore, a Super Star Destroyer, precious metals plating the furniture . .

"And what do they expect us to give them in return for all this?"

Leia gave her husband a significant look. "They'll tell us, I'm sure."

The shuttle began to float upward as it approached Imperial Headquarters, a stupendous monolith of polished black marble, gleaming bronze, and dark reflective windows, with s.h.i.+eld generators and turbolaser installations perched on a series of stepped-back ledges from which emerged a final, slim pinnacle that stretched upward to a bright crystalline starburst at the very top. It was as if a giant black fist had raised a single finger to indicate that the galaxy could have only one law, one government, and one absolute ruler.

It was toward the starburst that the shuttle rose. It lined up on one of the long crystal rays of the starburst, then brought its docking arm to its tip and hovered there effortlessly on its repulsorlifts.

The aide rose from his seat and stepped to the hatch. "I hope you enjoyed your flight," he said, and at a touch of his fingers the hatch hissed open. The crystal ray, fragile-seeming from the ground, was actually a quite st.u.r.dy docking arm, transparent crystal supported by a strong silver-alloy skeleton.

Leia thanked the aide, straightened her shoulders, and marched down the tube, with Han one pace behind and off her right shoulder. After about sixty meters the docking arm ended in a large glittering room roofed with faceted crystal. To Leia's surprise she realized it was an arboretum, filled with thousands of bright exotic blossoms spilling out of their neat rows. Their fragrance perfumed the air. The setting sun set their petals aflame.

As if in deliberate contrast to the brilliant color that rose in profusion behind him, Gilad Pellaeon dressed in the plain white uniform of an Imperial Grand Admiral. He had put on ten kilos since Leia had last seen him, and his hair and bristling mustaches were white. But alert intelligence still shone in his dark eyes, and his pace was brisk and his clasp firm as he walked to the docking port to take Leia's hand.

"Princess." Pellaeon gave her a courtly bow.

"Supreme Commander."

Pellaeon greeted Han as well, but did not bow over his hand. He stepped back and turned again to Leia.

"I received an urgent message for you from New Republic Fleet Command," he said. "They failed to contact you and wished me to relay the message to you."

Leia took an involuntary step back as her heart gave a lurch.

Jaina! During the Borleias campaign Leia had seen for herself the relentless way Jaina was driving herself, both against the Yuuzhan Vong and against the darkness that threatened to claim her soul. Jaina was far too young to cope with the constant tragedy and loss that had been hers since the beginning of the war, her friends and comrades killed in action, her teachers lost, her brother Ana-kin killed before her eyes, and Jacen gone to ... to wherever Jacen had gone. In response Jaina had grown hard, but to grow hard was also to risk growing brittle. Jaina had been riding with death sharing her c.o.c.kpit for far too long, and it was only her ferocious willpower that was keeping her from toppling over the brink.

Her willpower, which must one day fail, along with her luck. Which bad failed. Leia knew it.

Han's strong hands caught Leia's shoulders and buoyed her up.

A smile drew itself across Pellaeon's face. "Good news, Princess!"

he said. "Your son Jacen has escaped the Yuuzhan Vong. He's arrived at Mon Calamari in good health."

Leia felt her knees weaken, and willed herself to remain upright.

Without Han's support she might not have succeeded. Whatever minor doubts she might have had about Jacen's survival had been erased days ago when she'd received his Force message, but still she should have known an official transmission would follow.

It wasn't about Jaina after all. It wasn't about more death, more sorrow, more grief.

"Yes!" Han hissed in her ear. "Did you hear that, Leia? Jacen's alive!"

His arms wrapped her from behind, and she felt the ferocious joy of his embrace. Dizzily she realized that he hadn't entirely believed her last a.s.surance about Jacen's survival. He loved her, and so had consciously decided to believe her, an act of will, but still a part of him doubted, and that part wanted official word.

With effort Leia summoned speech.

"Thank you, Supreme Commander," she said. "You've-"

Still wrapping Leia in his arms, Han gave an unrestrained whoop of pleasure that nearly deafened her.

"You've made us very happy," she finished, more understated than she would have liked.

"If you would like to use our channels to send your son a message, you are welcome," Pellaeon offered.

"Certainly. Thank you."

Han's message-way to go, sprout!-was composed quickly enough, but Leia's was more measured and took longer.

"Once again, Jacen," she dictated into Admiral Pellaeon's comm, "you have answered a mother's prayers."

"An elegant sentiment," Pellaeon judged. A wry smile formed beneath his white mustache. "Jacen seems to have inherited his parents' gift for escaping capture."

"As well as our gift for getting captured in the first place," Han said.

Pellaeon gestured toward the garden and its profusion of bright blossoms. "Shall I show you my garden?" he asked. "We can speak privately about your emba.s.sy."

Leia hesitated. "Won't I need to speak to others as well?"

"The Empire is not run by committee, Princess," Pellaeon reminded.

"If I find that the Moff Council needs to know the substance of your message, then I'll be the one who tells them."

Pellaeon drew Leia and Han along the rows of blossoms, pointing with obvious pride to his hybrid native orchids, to rainbow-colored fungi from Bakura, to lofty yellow Pydyrian blossoms that so strangely resembled the moon's tall, aloof sentients. Contentment rose in Leia at the sight and scent of the flowers, at Pellaeon's pleasure in them.

"I had no idea you were a gardener, Admiral," Leia said.

"Every ruler should have a garden," Pellaeon said. "It's always useful to draw lessons from nature."

"True." Leia cupped a vast pink blossom and lifted it to her face, inhaled its scent.

"From a garden one learns to cull the weak and unfit," Pellaeon continued, "and to encourage the strong and vigorous." He held up his thumb and forefinger. "An inferior bud soon feels the strength of my pinch!"

Leia sighed and straightened, letting the blossom fall from her fingers. She supposed it was too much to hope that she could stay for long on Bastion without being reminded what the Empire was really about.

Han gave Pellaeon's pinching hand an appraising look. "And you make your plants grow in rows," he said.

"Each receives its proper allotment of s.p.a.ce and sunlight, and no more," Pellaeon said. "That's fair, don't you think?"

"But plants don't naturally grow in rows," Han pointed out. "This is only possible-" He gave a deliberate glance at the gla.s.s arboretum overhead. "-in a highly artificial environment."

Bravo! Leia thought at her husband. 7 swear FU make a diplomat of you yet!

Pellaeon gave a judicious smile. "You prefer the state of nature, then? I think you will find that in a state of nature, the weak are culled hi a far more merciless fas.h.i.+on than you find here."

Leia took her husband's arm. "Let's say that I prefer a balance,"

she said. "There should be enough nature so that the plants can thrive by following their natures, if you see what I mean."

"That notion of balance is derived from Jedi philosophy, if I'm not mistaken," Pellaeon said. "But such hybrid beauty as you see here"-he indicated the blossom Leia had just cupped in her hands-"is not a matter of balance, or nature, but a contest of wills. The will of the gardener, and the will of the plant he must coerce into surrendering her treasure."

Leia dropped Han's arm and sighed again. "I see we're doomed to talk about politics.," she said.

Pellaeon gave her one of his courtly bows. "I fear so, Princess."

"The New Republic," Leia said, "would like to request that the Empire furnish us its maps of routes through the Deep Core."