THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS #3 - TYRANTS_TEST

by Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell

  for the safety of a hostage can stay a hand, but it will not turn a

  heart. And when a hostage is harmed, fury replaces fear."

  "And from where does this insight come?"

  "From the vermin," said Tal Fraan. "I spoke with him aboard the

  shuttle. I wished to measure his response to the execution of his

  companion--whether it had served to make him fearful for his own

  life.

  I wished to know if the experience had heightened his sensitivity to

  our concerns or increased his eagerness to be helpful."

  "You were disappointed."

  "I Was alarmed. I am now convinced that if you transmit the recording

  of the execution, the vermin will never turn away," said Tal Fraan.

  "My alarm was so great that I ordered that message held until I could

  speak with you."

  "So Vor Duull informed me," said Nil Spaar.

  "Knowing me well, he wondered at your presumption and came to me for

  confirmation."

  Tal Fraan's face was painted with dismay. "Have I forfeited your

  trust, darama?"

  "That remains to be seen, Proctor."

  A flicker of relief crossed Tal Fraan's eyes. "Has the message been

  sent, then?"

  "No," said Nil Spaar. "But I am not yet convinced it should not be.

  When there has been a problem of obedience with the Imperial slaves,

  the public slaughter of a handful has always been sufficient to

  guarantee the behavior of the rest."

  "There is little spirit in them after so many years," Tal Fraan said.

  "They were bred for obedience. These others--the vermin queen, her

  consort, even the pilots we have faced--seem different. They show a

  foolish stubbornness and a dangerous independence."

  "You find them unpredictable, then."

  "No, darama. I will still risk my own blood on my understanding of

  them. Showing them the ones we hold will strengthen them, not weaken

  them. Uncertainty better befriends us."

  "And yet there is this," said Nil Spaar. "An hour ago Vor Duull

  brought to me news of a conversation one of his guildsmen had with

  Belezaboth Ourn."

  "The Paqwe spy? He has given us nothing of value for many weeks."

  "Perhaps he has done so now," said Nil Spaar.

  "The vermin reports that Leia does not believe we hold her

  consort--that she does not think us capable of such an interception."

  "But we allowed there to be witnesses!"

  "Then their witness went unheard or unbelieved," said Nil Spaar. "Ourn

  said she grieves for him but continues on her course unchecked, even in

  the face of an effort to unseat her. Surely this confirms that your

  first

  counsel was correct. We must show our hostage to the vermin queen.

  That will surely change her tone."

  The backs of his hands pressed to his cheeks, Tal Fraan walked the

  length of the viewpane wall and back before responding. "No, darama.

  I cannot agree. There is nothing in what he says that promises that

  knowledge of the truth will deter her aggressions. Han Solo answered

  me with defiance and threat. Surely her fire is of the same

  temperature as his. You yourself have noted the uncommon closeness of

  the bond between them.

  They have risked all for each other--boldly, surrendering nothing. It

  is in the material you yourself gave me."

  Nil Spaar directed his gaze out at the great vessel beneath and before

  him, noting how the unfiltered light of N'zoth's golden sun made lines

  and edges gleam like burnished metal.

  "Then what course do you now counsel to remove the infection from these

  stars?" he asked at last.

  "We have not managed to make them fear us," said Tal Fraan. "But there

  are already shadows they will not enter. And the greatest of these is

  the fear that the horrors of the past will be repeated. The strength

  of her challengers feeds on this fear. We can confirm their

  prophecies. We can help them to destroy her."

  With more than fifty connected structures and twenty thousand rooms and

  chambers, the great size and complexity of the Imperial Palace had

  inspired many stories.

  It was said that near the end of construction, eight workers were lost

  for nearly a month when their com-tracker failed. Rumors persisted

  about a chamber with no doors, sections with a hundred or more rooms

  that had never been occupied, and the hidden treasure compartment of

  "the pirate general," Toleph-Sor.

  There were at least eleven offices and nine other rooms with their own

  true stories of murder, plus the grisly tale of Frona Zeffla, who died

  at her desk and went undiscovered for more than a year. Longtime

  staffers recalled how the children of Palpatine's aides, given free

  rein to roam at will, played three-day-long games of "Hunter" in the

  lifts and corridors.

  Though much of the old palace had been damaged or destroyed by the

  clone Emperor's Force Storm, what survived or had been rebuilt was

  still easily large enough to either hide in or get lost in. That was a

  key reason the first administrator had required everyone above the

  third rank to carry a comlink and to keep it active.

  Nearly everyone above the third rank required those who served below

  them to carry them as well.

  But Engh's edict did not apply to Leia, whose comlink was typically off

  as much as it was on. So at the outset of the Yevethan crisis, Alole

  and Tarrick had conspired with the security teams to make certain that

  someone with an active comlink was constantly in touch with the

  President whenever she was in the Palace.

  Alole had had the duty that afternoon, but in a busy moment, Leia had

  slipped away unannounced through her office's second exit. The aide

  did not discover the President's absence until General Rieekan's

  red-border alert pushed everything else off the comm displays

  throughout the suite.

  Her first call was to The Sniffer, who should have been standing by at

  the only entrance to the executive level. "Are you with the

  President?" Alole asked.

  "No, ma'am. She has not left the floor."

  Next Alole paged Tarrick, who by then had already heard about the

  alert. "Have you seen the President?"

  "No. She's not with you?" he asked.

  "She scampered sometime in the last half hour."

  "I'll query the spotters," said Tarrick, referring to their private

  list of nine offices and seven ministry officials it was Leia's habit

  to visit. "Have you looked in the cave?"

  "I'm on my way there now."

  Her feet carried her flying down the back corridor toward the

  little-used private spaces in the adjacent tower. Mon Mothma had used

  them as an extension of

  the President's office, holding private meetings in the small,

  intimate lounge, taking air and exercise in the sunny garden

  courtyard.

  Leia rarely went there-when her office walls closed in on her, the

  Princess usually preferred to escape the executive level entirely.

  But that was where Alole found her--dead asleep on the triangular

  corner bed in the privacy room. Looking down on Leia's peaceful

  expression, Alole hesitated to w
ake her. Leia's fatigue had been

  obvious to everyone that morning, and this was the first time in many

  days that she had seen Leia's face unmarked by tension and frown

  lines.

  Then, sighing, Alole reached out and took hold of the golden-green

  metal post at the nearest point of the triangle. Shaking it gently,

  she said Leia's name twice, then stepped back.

  "Tarrick--she's here," she said quietly into her comlink. "We'll be

  out in a minute or two. Set up the recording for replay. See if

  General Rieekan wants to come up."

  "I'm on it," Tarrick said. "Admiral Ackbar is on his way over from

  Fleet."

  The distinctively tinny sound of Tarrick's voice as heard through a

  comlink seemed to be what finally reached through Leia's fatigue and

  demanded her attention.

  She sat up with a wordless cry, unfocused eyes, and balled fists.

  "It's all right. It's only me, Alole," the aide said, slipping the

  comlink back into her pocket. "Come--hurry.

  Nil Spaar is on Channel Eighty-one."

  Four of the six people at the conference table with Leia were seeing

  the viceroy's announcement for the second time. Only one of them

  ventured to try to prepare her for what she would see.

  "If this is an answer to Ourn's message," said Admiral Graf, "the

  message is that we've been worrying about the wrong thing. Han Solo is

  no longer important."

  "Let me hear it for myself," Leia said, reaching for the controller.

  The recording began with something they had not seen before--the emblem

  of the Duskhan League, a double circle of three-pointed stars on a

  scarlet background.

  Then Nil Spaar appeared.

  This time, however, he had company. Standing beside him was a human

  wearing the black uniform of an Imperial Moff.

  Graf leaned toward Leia. "Behind them--that's the bridge of a

  Super-class Star Destroyer."

  She silenced him with a dismissive wave of her hand.

  "I address the strong, proud leaders of the vassal worlds of the New

  Republic," the viceroy began. "I bring you an announcement, and a

  warning.

  "As I speak, the enormous battle fleet under the command of Princess

  Leia continues its reckless invasion of Koornacht Clusterterritory that

  has belonged to the Yevethan people for more than ten thousand years.

  "Up until this moment, we have shown great restraint, despite having

  been attacked in our own home.

  Against the urging of my military commanders, I have held our own

  powerful fleet in reserve except where the lives of civilians are in

  danger. I have done all I can to minimize casualties on both sides. I

  have given Princess Leia every opportunity to change her course and

  withdraw her forces.

  "I am saddened that she has chosen instead to reinforce them. In

  recent weeks, she has rejected the wisdom of her advisors and secretly

  dispatched hundreds more warships to threaten the worlds of the Duskhan

  League.

  "I am saddened, but not surprised. This woman sabotaged a promising

  negotiation between my people and the New Republic, because peace did

  not suit her ambitions. She sat across from me and lied about her

  intentions--and while she lied, her agents spied on us, looking for

  weakness, planning a war of conquest.

  "I know that the good citizens of the New Republic

  are even now trying to drive this deceiver from your capital. But she

  has bought many friends on Coruscant, and others have reason to fear

  her. It will be a bruising fight, though I hope that honor will

  ultimately prevail."

  "Here comes the good part," Graf whispered to Ackbar.

  "But the Yevethan people can no longer await the outcome," said Nil

  Spaar. "We can no longer risk our future on the hope that Princess

  Leia will find her conscience and leave us in peace. We must protect

  ourselves.

  By refusing our offer of friendship, by threatening our very existence,

  Leia has forced us to seek friends where we otherwise would not

  have."

  Nil Spaar raised a hand in the direction of the man beside him. "We

  have invited the Empire to return to Koornacht Cluster as allies--"

  "That's--that's completely unbelievable," Leia sputtered. "They

  despise the Empire."

  "--I have come to you to announce that, the Duskhan League and the

  Grand Imperial Union have concluded a treaty of mutual assistance.

  Moff Tragg Brathis is commander of the battle fleet now stationed

  here."

  The uniformed man nodded, Nil Spaar paused, and the holo tracked to the

  right until the view forward out the bridge viewports confirmed that

  the vessel was Super-class. For a few seconds, at least half a dozen

  other Star Destroyers were visible as well, flying in formation over

  the limb of a dusty yellow planet.

  Then Nil Spaar moved in to block the view. "You have seen enough now

  to understand. If the NewRepublic does not withdraw from our

  borders--if the President, whoever that might be, does not swiftly

  acknowledge our just claim to these stars--the combined strength of the

  League and the Union stands ready. Your actions will determine the

  course of the future."

  The display dissolved to a scarlet curtain, with the Duskhan League

  emblem appearing again before the screen went black.

  "Is that the end of it?" Leia asked.

  "That's it."

  She pressed a button on the controller and threw it down on the

  table.

  "Does anyone here think this is real?"

  "I have ASset Tracking working on the recording," said Graf.

  "Nylykerka should be able to tell us if we've seen those ships before,

  during the flash recon."

  "Will he be able to tell us when they got there and who controls them?"

  asked Rieekan. "Perhaps this pact is real, and was concluded months

  ago, in secret."

  "Why reveal it now?"

  "Why not? Since we already know about the Imperial ships, he has

  nothing to lose by telling everyone else.

  And it's obvious what he hopes to gain."

  "What do you mean, 'telling everyone else'?" Leia demanded of

  Rieekan.

  "Did this go out to the entire system?"

  Rieekan raised an eyebrow and looked down the table.

  "Yes," admitted the director of the communications agency. "It

  appeared in the system in a standard diplomatic packet, with the

  expected coding. There was no reason for the filters to trap it."

  "Interesting times are ahead," Ackbar said to himself, shaking his

  head.

  Leia looked disgusted. "Can we at least find out this time where it

  got into the system?"

  "We're working on it," the other woman said defensively.

  "There are more than three hundred thousand authorized entry ports for

  a low-security channel like Eighty-one."

  "Black box on an enabled hypercomm," said Rieekan. "That's all it

  would take. It doesn't even have to be on Coruscant."

  "Excuse me," said Nanaod Engh. Only a few heads turned his way, and he

  cleared his throat and repeated himself. "Excuse me. This is

  unimportant. Mere de-tails--trivialities.


  There is more to this than what happens in this room."

  Leia spun her chair sharply toward him. "Go on."

  "We are not the intended audience for the viceroy's message," he said,

  and gestured expansively with his hands. "They are. That bolt was

  aimed at the hearts of our citizens."

  "But it is a fraud," Ackbar insisted. "There is no pact. There is no

  Moff Brathis, no Grand Union, no Imperial fleet. I am certain of

  it."

  "And you may well be right," said Engh. "But that is irrelevant. It

  doesn't matter if what we saw is the truth or a lie. It doesn't matter

  what we here believe.

  General Rieekan, what kind of proof could you offer to refute that

  image--a black-shirt commander standing with Nil Spaar on an Imperial

  Star Destroyer?"

  "Why, there are many ways to attack it. We have experts in--" "No,

  General. You cannot refute that image with words." He looked to

  Leia.