by Troy Denning
The weight became crushing, and Han dropped to his knees, his sentence ending in an unintelligible groan.
“Stop it!” Leia said. “This is no way to win our help.”
“We are not interested in your help, Princess Leia,” Raynar said. “We have seen what comes of your ‘help.’ ”
“You must want something from us,” Luke said. It sounded to Han as though Luke had also stepped in front of him. “You went to a lot of trouble to lure us here.”
“We did not lure you, Master Skywalker.” Raynar’s blue eyes slid away. The weight vanished from inside Han’s chest, and his vision slowly returned to normal. “Unu did discover why Gorog is trying to kill Mara.”
“Is trying to?” Luke’s tone was one of clarification rather than surprise. Gorog was a furtive nest of Killiks—called the Dark Nest by Jedi—that acted as a sort of evil Unconscious for the Colony’s collective mind. The Jedi had attempted to destroy it last year, after it had precipitated the Qoribu crisis by secretly persuading Raynar to establish several nests on the Chiss frontier, but they had realized they had failed as soon as the Dark Nest’s black membrosia began appearing on Alliance worlds. “We’re listening.”
“In good time,” Raynar said. “We will tell you about the plot against Mara after you tell us about the Fizz.”
He turned and started toward the Circle of Rest.
Han rose and stomped after him. “I told you, we don’t know anything about that—and if you ever try that heavy-chest thing on me again—”
Leia took Han’s arm. “Han—”
“—I’m going to buy myself a spaceliner,” Han continued. “Then I’m going to start booking culinary tours—”
Leia’s fingers bit into Han’s triceps hard enough to stop him from uttering the fateful from Kubindi, and he turned toward her, scowling and rubbing his arm.
“Ouch,” he said. She had spent the last year training under Saba, and even without the Force, her grasp could be crushing. “What’d you do that for?”
“Maybe we do know something,” she said.
Han’s frown deepened. “How do you figure?”
“Because we have Cilghal—and a state-of-the-art astrobiology lab,” Leia said. “Even if we’ve never seen this stuff before, we can probably figure it out.”
Raynar stopped at the Circle of Rest and turned to glare at them. “We want to know now.” His entourage began to clack and thrum thoraxes. “We will not stand for your stalling, Princess.”
“I don’t care for the way you’re speaking to us, UnuThul.” Leia met Raynar’s gaze from where she was standing, about three meters down the street. “We’ve done nothing to deserve that tone.”
“You cheated us,” Raynar insisted. “You tricked us into leaving Qoribu and coming here.”
“Cheated you?” Han exploded. “Now just a blasted—”
“I’m sorry,” Leia interrupted. “But if that’s the way the Colony feels, we have nothing to discuss.”
She turned away and started back up the street toward the Falcon. Luke and the other Jedi instantly followed Leia’s lead, and Han did likewise. This trip had become, he sensed, something of a test of Leia’s progress toward becoming a full Jedi, and he was not going to mess it up for her—no matter how much he was aching to put that ungrateful bughugger in his place.
An indignant rumble sounded from the Unu entourage, and Raynar called, “Stop!”
Leia continued to walk, and so did Han and everyone else.
“Wait.” This time, Raynar managed to sound as if he was asking instead of ordering. “Please.”
Leia stopped and spoke over her shoulder. “These discussions can proceed only in an atmosphere of trust, UnuThul.” She slowly turned to face him. “Do you think that’s possible?”
Raynar’s eyes flashed, but he said, “Of course.” He motioned them back toward the Circle of Rest. “You may trust us.”
Leia appeared to consider this for a moment, but Han knew she was only posturing. She and Han wanted these discussions as badly as Raynar did, and there was no way Luke was going to leave the planet without learning more about the Dark Nest’s vendetta against Mara. No matter how crazy and paranoid Raynar sounded, they had to deal with him.
Leia finally nodded. “Very well.”
She led the way back up the street, and Raynar waved them into the courtyard with the Unu. Basically a walk-in fountain, the Circle of Rest consisted of four egg-shaped monoliths arrayed in a semicircle, the open side facing the Garden Hall. All four had sheets of water rippling down the sides, and looking out from inside each monolith was the hologram of a blinking, smiling Joiner child or pucker-mouthed Killik larva. Han found the place oddly soothing—in a cold, creepy sort of way.
They joined Raynar in the center of the semicircle, where C-3PO immediately began to complain about the fine mist spraying them from all sides. Han silenced him with a quiet threat, then tried not to complain himself as the insects of the Unu began to crowd around.
“Perhaps I should begin by explaining why Han and I are here,” Leia said. She looked from Raynar to his entourage. “If that’s agreeable to you and Unu.”
The insects clacked their approval, and Raynar said, “We approve.”
Leia’s smile was polite, but forced. “As you may know, after Han and I discovered these worlds inside the Utegetu Nebula, our first intention was to give them to refugees who are still looking for new homeworlds after the war with the Yuuzhan Vong.”
“We have heard this,” Raynar allowed.
“Instead, Chief of State Omas encouraged us to give them to the Colony, to avoid a war between you and the Chiss,” Leia continued. “In return, he promised to secure a new homeworld for one of the refugee species we had hoped to settle here, the Ithorians.”
Raynar’s gaze drifted out across the marsh, to where the gray foam was steadily creeping higher up the Garden Hall. “We fail to see what that has to do with us.”
“The arrangement has become common knowledge in the Galactic Alliance,” Leia explained. “And people are blaming us and the Ithorians for the trouble your nests in the Utegetu Nebula are causing.”
Raynar’s eyes snapped back toward Leia. “What trouble?”
“Don’t play dumb with us,” Han said, unable to restrain his anger any longer. “Those pirates you’re harboring are raiding Alliance ships, and that black membrosia you’re running is eating the souls of whole species of Alliance insect-citizens.”
Raynar lowered his fused brow. “The Colony kills pirates, not harbors them,” he said. “And you must be aware, Captain Solo, that membrosia is gold, not black. You certainly drank enough on Jwlio to be certain of that.”
“The Dark Nest’s membrosia was dark,” Luke pointed out. “And Alliance Intelligence has captured dozens of pirates who confirm that their vessels are operating out of the Utegetu Nebula.”
An ominous rumble rose from the thoraxes of the Unu, and Raynar turned on Luke with blue eyes burning. “Pirates lie, Master Skywalker. And you destroyed the Dark Nest on Kr.”
“Then why did you say is?” Saba demanded. “If it’z still hunting Mara, then it hasn’t been destroyed.”
“Forgive our exaggeration.” Raynar returned his attention to Luke. “You destroyed most of the nest on Kr. What remains couldn’t supply a starliner with black membrosia—and certainly not whole worlds.”
“Then where is it all coming from?” Leia asked.
“You tell us,” Raynar replied. “The Galactic Alliance is filled with biochemists clever enough to synthesize black membrosia. We suggest you start with them.”
“Synthetic membrosia?” Han echoed.
He was beginning to feel as if they had had this conversation before. The Colony’s concept of truth was fluid, to say the least, and its peculiar leader was incredibly stubborn. Last year, Raynar had literally had to be hit in the face by a Gorog corpse before he would believe that the Dark Nest even existed. It had been just as hard to convince him that the myst
erious nest had been founded by the same Dark Jedi who had abducted him from Baanu Raas during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Now Han had the sinking feeling it would prove even harder to convince Raynar that the Utegetu nests were misbehaving.
Han turned to Luke.”Now that’s something we hadn’t thought of—synthetic membrosia. We’ll have to check it out.”
“Uh, sure.” Luke’s nod could have been a little more convincing. “As soon as we get back.”
“Good.” Han turned back to Raynar. “And since you’re so sure that the Utegetu nests aren’t doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t have a problem sharing a log of your legitimate traffic with the Galactic Alliance. It would really help them out with the pirate problem.”
Raynar’s eyes grew bright and hot. “We are telling the truth, Captain Solo—the real truth.”
“The Jedi understand that,” Mara said. “But the Galactic Alliance needs to be convinced.”
“And Chief Omas is willing to make it worth your while,” Leia added. “Once he’s convinced that the Utegetu nests aren’t supporting these activities, he’ll be willing to offer the Colony a trade agreement. It would mean larger markets for your exports, and lower costs for your imports.”
“It would mean regulations and restrictions,” Raynar said. “And the Colony would be responsible for enforcing them.”
“Only the ones you agreed to in the first place,” Leia said. “It would go a long way toward bringing the Colony—”
“The Colony is not interested in Alliance regulations.” Raynar signaled an end to the subject by stepping closer to Luke and Mara and presenting his back to Han and Leia. “We invited the Masters Skywalker here to discuss what Unu has learned about the Dark Nest’s vendetta.”
Leia refused to take the hint. “Strange, how you can remember the vendetta,” she said to Raynar’s back, “and still not know what’s really happening here inside the nebula.”
Raynar spoke over his shoulder. “What are you saying?”
“You know what she’s saying,” Han said. “The Dark Nest fooled you once—”
The air grew acrid with Killik aggression pheromones, and Raynar whirled on Han. “We are not the ones being fooled!” He glanced in Leia’s direction, then added, “And we will prove it.”
“Please do.”
Leia’s wry tone suggested she believed the same thing Han did—that it could not be done, because Raynar and the Unu were the ones being fooled.
Raynar smirked their doubts aside, then turned to Mara. “When you were the Emperor’s Hand, did you ever meet someone named Daxar Ies?”
“Where . . .” Mara’s voice cracked, and she paused to swallow. “Where did you hear that name?”
“His wife and daughter came home early.” Raynar’s tone grew accusatory. “They found you searching his office.”
Mara narrowed her eyes and managed to put on a good impression of collecting herself. “Only three people could know that.”
“And two of them became Joiners.”
Luke reached out to steady Mara, and Han knew she had really been shaken.
“All right,” Han said. “What’s going on?”
“Daxar Ies was a . . .” Mara’s hand slipped free of Luke’s, and she forced herself to meet Han’s and Leia’s gazes. “He was a target.”
“One of Palpatine’s targets?” Leia asked.
Mara nodded grimly. Recalling her days as one of Palpatine’s special “assistants” was not something she enjoyed. “The only job I ever botched, as a matter of fact.”
“We would not call it botched,” Raynar said. “You eliminated the target.”
“That was only part of the objective.” Mara was looking at Raynar now, glaring at him. “I didn’t recover the list . . . and I left witnesses.”
“You let Beda Ies and her daughter live,” Raynar said. “You told them to vanish forever.”
“That’s right,” Mara said. “As far as I know, they were never harmed.”
“They were well protected,” Raynar said. “Gorog saw to that.”
“Wait a minute,” Han said. “You’re saying these Ies women joined the Dark Nest?”
“No,” Raynar said. “I am saying they created it.”
Han winced, and Leia’s eyes flashed with alarm.
“I thought we already knew how the Dark Nest was created,” Leia said. “The Gorog were corrupted when they absorbed too many Chiss Joiners.”
“We were mistaken,” Raynar said.
Han’s wince became a genuine sinking feeling. To broker a peace between the Colony and the Chiss, Leia had been forced to bend the truth and contrive an origination tale for the Dark Nest that would make the Killiks want to stay far away from the Chiss. The Colony had readily embraced the new story, since it was less painful than believing one of its own nests could be responsible for the terrible things they had found in the Gorog nest. If Raynar and the Unu were trying to develop a new version now, it could only be because they wanted to renew their expansion toward Chiss territory.
“Look,” Han said, “we’ve been through all that.”
“We have new information,” Raynar insisted. He looked back to Mara. “Mara Jade told Beda Ies and her daughter to vanish and never to be found. They fled into the Unknown Regions and took refuge with Gorog—before it was the Dark Nest.”
“Sorry, but this story won’t work for us,” Han said. “You should have brought the Ies women up last year.”
“We did not know about them last year,” Raynar said.
“Too bad,” Han said. “You can’t just make up a new—”
“Han, I don’t think they’re making this up,” Mara interrupted. “They know too much about what happened—at least the part about the Ies women.”
“So what if the Ies girls did become Joiners?” Han asked. He was beginning to wonder whose side Mara was on. “That doesn’t mean they created the Dark Nest. They could have joined some other nest, and the Colony would still know enough about them to put together a good story.”
“The story we have put together is the truth,” Raynar said. “When Beda and Eremay became Joiners, the Gorog absorbed their fear. The entire nest went into hiding. It became the Dark Nest.”
Han started to object, but Leia took his arm.
“Han, it could be the truth,” she said. “I mean, the real truth. We need to hear this.”
“Yes,” Saba agreed. “For Mara’z sake.”
Han let his chin drop. “Blast it.”
“You should not feel bad, Captain Solo,” Raynar consoled. “We have believed the new truth for some time. Nothing you could say would make us change our mind.”
“Thanks loads,” Han grumbled. “That’s a real comfort.”
A flash of humor danced through Raynar’s eyes, and he turned back to Mara. “We are sure you have figured out the rest,” he said. “Gorog recognized you at the Crash last year—”
“And assumed I had come to find the list,” Mara finished. “So they attacked first.”
Raynar shook his head. “We wish it were that simple. Gorog wanted revenge. Gorog still wants revenge—against you.”
“Of course.” Mara did not even blink. “I killed Beda’s husband and Eremay’s father, and condemned them to a life in exile. Naturally they want me dead.”
“They want you to suffer,” Raynar corrected. “Then they want you dead.”
“And you had to bring Mara and Luke all the way out here to tell them that?” Han asked. He could tell by their expressions that the Jedi—well, at least the human Jedi—were all convinced that Raynar was telling the truth. But something here smelled rotten to Han, and he had noticed the stench as soon as they arrived on the planet. “You couldn’t have sent a message?”
“We could have.” Raynar stared at Luke a moment, then turned and looked across the bog toward the froth-covered walls of the Garden Palace. “But we wanted be certain that Master Skywalker understood the urgency of our situation.”
“I see.” Luke fo
llowed Raynar’s gaze out across the bog, and his face slowly began to cloud with the same anger that was welling up inside Han. “And Unu’s Will isn’t strong enough to change what Gorog feels?”
“We are sorry, Master Skywalker, but not yet.” Raynar tore his gaze off the Garden Hall and faced Luke coolly. “Perhaps later, after we have stopped the Fizz and are less concerned with our own problems.”
TWO
The interior of the hangar smelled of hamogoni wood and containment fluid, and the air was filled with the clatter and drone of Killik workers—mostly cargo handlers and maintenance crews—scurrying from one task to another. The Falcon sat a hundred meters down the way, looking deceptively clean in the opaline light, but berthed directly beneath one of the gray blemishes that were beginning to mar the hangar’s milky interior.
Luke took the lead and used the Force to gently nudge a path through the frenetic activity. The companions were hardly fleeing, but they did want to launch the Falcon before Raynar had time to reconsider the agreement Leia had negotiated after his veiled threat against Mara—and before the blemishes on the ceiling turned into the same gray froth spreading over the exterior of the hangar.
“Looks like we’re not the only ones eager to clear this bug hive,” Han said, moving up beside Luke. “That Fizz must be even faster than it looks.”
“This one does not think so,” Saba said. In her hands, she was holding a sealed stasis jar containing a thumb-sized sample of gray froth. “If it workz so fast, why would they stay to load their shipz?”
“I see you haven’t spent much time around smugglers,” Luke said. “They never leave without their cargo.”
The boarding ramp descended, and Leia’s longtime Noghri bodyguards, Meewalh and Cakhmaim, appeared at the top armed with T-21 repeating blasters.
“What a relief!” C-3PO clinked ahead and started up the ramp. “I can’t wait to step into the sterilizer booth. My circuits itch just holding a record of that Fizz.”
“Sorry, Threepio. Han and I need you and Artoo with us, to translate and look for patterns in the froth attacks.” Luke stopped at the foot of the ramp and turned to Han and Leia. “If that’s all right with you.”