THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS #3 - TYRANTS_TEST

by Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell

Nashira that Luke is here, and let her decide what to do." He looked

  past her, sweeping his gaze across the ruins. "Or let me tell her.

  Bring her here and let her see. She can choose."

  "That is impossible," Wialu said. "You speak a name, and if I give

  that name meaning, I have given you power over she who carries it. I'm

  sorry. I cannot help an outsider."

  "He's not an outsider," said Akanah, letting go of Norika's hand and

  advancing on Wialu. "He asked to learn the ways of the Current, and I

  have taken him as my student."

  "This is also impossible," said Wialu, "for you are but an untrained

  child yourself."

  Akanah's eyes flashed anger. Her hand shot out and grabbed Luke's

  wrist. "You do not understand the importance of his presence," she

  said darkly. "You do not understand the importance of his quest."

  "Do not do this, Akanah." It was said with sadness rather than

  threat.

  "What choice have you left me?" Closing her eyes, she threw her head

  back and drew a sharp breath.

  The air trembled. The bodies, the ruins, began to shimmer and

  dissolve. Akanah let out a little cry of pain, or surprise. Standing

  beside her, Luke felt her anger drawing on the Force--controlling, not

  merging, hurling it against something he could scarcely perceive.

  Then, in an eyeblink, everything before him, everything surrounding

  him, was transformed. The burned bodies vanished. The scorching was

  bleached from the cutstone, the shattered stones healed, the toppled

  walls and towers restored, the scarred hills painted and smoothed. The

  tragedy of the ruins was transformed into a glorious work in progress,

  filling the valley in

  every direction and filled with the vitality of thousands of solemnly

  industrious H'kig.

  Akanah gazed defiantly at Wialu, whose answering look mixed gentle

  reproof and regret.

  "My stars," Luke breathed. "It wasn't destroyed?

  You've been hiding this from the Yevetha--" "Yes," said Wialu. "Akanah

  must have thought this important for you to know."

  Luke shook his head in disbelief. "The Fleet memorandum called this a

  cult colony--they have no idea-- look at what they've done! How long

  have the H'kig been here?"

  "Not even fifty years," said Wialu. "Just in the time since we

  arrived, we have seen it grow almost beyond belief. It is a constant

  wonder."

  A quartet of H'kig dragging a heavily laden sledge passed between Wialu

  and Luke. "They're doing this work by hand?" he asked. "No fusion

  cutters, no droids?"

  "That is the meaning of it--the purpose in it. The building of it is a

  way of giving honor. That work cannot be given to a machine," Wialu

  said. "The temple embodies their vision of the universe, of the

  mystical essences--the immanent, the transcendent, the eternal, the

  conscious."

  "How long until they finish?"

  "They may never finish," she said. "It is the life's work of a

  community united by the purpose that defines them."

  "Is this why you're here?"

  "Yes," she said. "And it is why you must leave."

  "You're protecting them. Protecting this."

  She nodded. "It became necessary."

  "How long are you prepared to keep doing it?"

  "Until it is no longer necessary." Wialu stepped closer. "Please-your

  ship-is resting in what will be the Inner Court of the Transcendent.

  It is distracting the H'kig, and disrupting the work. It is time for

  you to go."

  "Wait," Luke said. "The day of the attack. The bombardment, the

  planetary blasters--those weren't illusions."

  "Then what happened here?"

  "As I have already said. We protected ourselves, and these people, and

  the others where we could. I will not say more."

  "Protected them with illusions," Luke said. "Wialu, you know that this

  isn't the only construction project under way on this planet. There's

  a Yevethan colony ship in sync orbit on the other side of this planet

  and a colony city being built on the surface. Akanah knew that, so I'm

  sure you do, too. The Yevetha think this is their world now."

  "They are mistaken," said Wialu.

  "Not necessarily," Luke said. "They claim all the stars in their sky,

  and all the worlds of those stars. What you were able to prevent from

  happening here happened on a dozen other planets where there was no

  Fallanassi Circle to provide a shield and deceive the Yevetha. The

  bodies on those worlds were real."

  "We know what happened there," said Wialu.

  "Then let me ask you what you know about what's about to happen," said

  Luke, a harder edge coming into his voice. "What the Yevetha did here

  has been challenged by my sister. Their claim to this planet and all

  the others will be contested--with force. Two opposing fleets are

  gathering up there--hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of soldiers.

  If this war comes, it will be long, brutal, and bloody. And it will

  come here.

  He saw that his words had reached her fears. "I have seen it

  coming."

  "Will you help me try to stop it?"

  "We cannot allow ourselves to be used that way.

  Our loyalty is to the Light, and our way is of the Current.

  Nothing has changed."

  "If nothing has changed, then you're divided among yourselves, as you

  were on Lucazec," Luke said, looking past Wialu, searching for other

  Fallanassi faces among the H'kig. "There must be at least some of

  you

  who believe that you must do what you can do, just as you protected

  these people."

  "It is not our war. It is yours, and theirs."

  "Neither was this your war," he said. "But you intervened, and saved

  these lives, and this treasure."

  Then he pointed at Akanah. "She challenged me to put down my weapon

  and try to find other ways to serve my conscience. What she asked

  isn't easy for me, but I've seen the worth in trying. Now I challenge

  you to give up your isolation, and be the water that quenches the

  flame."

  At that moment another woman, slender and larger eyed, appeared beside

  Wialu, surrendering her concealment to take part in the colloquy. "Can

  this be done?" she asked.

  "Of course it can," said a voice from another direction.

  Luke turned to find two more Fallanassi standing by-the temple wall.

  "The Yevetha are vulnerable to us," said the shorter of them. "If we

  wished for the invaders to crash their ship into the city they are

  building, any one of us could accomplish it, at any time."

  A young Duu'ranh female appeared nearly at Luke's elbow, startling him

  for a moment. "But can it be done without such violence?" she

  asked.

  "The goal is to prevent a war, not to join it, or decide the victor.

  We cannot choose sides."

  "You must," Luke said. "It's not enough to simply prevent the

  fighting--there has to be a resolution to the conflict behind it. You

  must choose to frustrate the will of one side or the other--the

  Yevetha, or the New Republic."

  "The difference between them is immaterial," said a new voice, behind

&nbs
p; Luke. He turned to see a round-bodied Ukanis woman holding a child.

  "To build a war fleet is to accept the morality of violence and

  coercion.

  They are equally guilty."

  "When war comes, the price is paid by the guilty and 'the innocent

  alike," Luke said.

  "And we are paying the price instead of the H'kig," said Akanah. "We

  will never be free to leave here so long as the Yevetha remain."

  "Not unless you're prepared to see these people and this place

  destroyed," Luke said. "And the Yevetha will never leave of their own

  accord. They believe that they are the rightful inheritors of all the

  worlds they conquered--including J't'p'tan."

  Turning in a slow circle, Luke found that more than twenty Fallanassi

  had revealed themselves. "You have to decide whether to affirm their

  belief or reject it," he said. "You must choose."

  "And what would we be choosing if we chose to involve ourselves?"

  asked Wialu. "If they are as resolute as you say, how can the will of

  the Yevetha be frustrated without force?"

  Luke turned quickly toward her. "I don't know for certain that it

  can," he said. "What I'm asking is, are you willing to try? Are you

  willing to use your gifts in an effort to prevent the war--a war that

  will surely come if you do nothing? There's very little time left.

  Once both fleets are committed to the fight, any chance there was will

  be gone. There'll be too much fire, and too little water."

  "A chance to try what?" asked Norika. "What can we do?"

  "You can deceive them, as you have here--but on a grander scale." He

  advanced a step toward Wialu, holding his open hands out before him.

  "I don't know the limits of your power to project illusions. But if

  the Fallanassi are capable of creating an illusion of a vast New

  Republic fleet, a projection with the same depth of reality as what I

  saw when we first arrived here--" Wialu raised an eyebrow

  questioningly. "You believe that if the Yevetha face overwhelming

  odds, they may yield."

  "I have to think that their lives mean something to them--more, I hope,

  than their claim to J't'p'tan does," said Luke. "Whether they

  surrender or just withdraw, many lives on both sides would be saved."

  "Would the New Republic accept their surrender

  or simply use it as an opportunity to exterminate the Yevetha?" asked

  Norika.

  "Leia would never allow such a thing," Luke said.

  "I stake my honor on it."

  "Perhaps we should first see if we can drive one Yevethan ship away

  with this trickery," said another woman.

  Luke spun on his heel, searching for the face that belonged to the

  voice. "No--no, that would be a mistake.

  Not without at least one real warship available to back up the bluff,"

  said Luke. "We have to give them every reason to believe--and only one

  chance to decide, with everything at stake."

  "Then it will be necessary for the fleet commander to be part of this

  plan," said Wialu.

  Turning back, Luke nodded hopefully. "Yes."

  "Do you know where he is, or how to find him?"

  "I can find the fleet," Luke said. "I can take you to General

  A'baht."

  "Then I will go with you," said Wialu. "And we will see how great a

  fire is burning." She turned and directed a hard look at Akanah. "You

  will come, too."

  There were no walls or guards at the perimeter of Mon Mothma's estate

  in Surtsey. Though she was still under the protection of Ministry

  Security, their presence on her property was limited to a sensor grid

  monitored by two fast-response teams based just off the grounds. A

  special traffic patrol kept the airspace near the estate swept clear of

  possible threats.

  Even though Leia had been neither invited nor asked to visit, none of

  those precautions was any hindrance to her arrival. She landed her

  orbital jumper neatly on the smaller of the two landing pads in the

  northeast corner of the estate, then began the long walk through the

  outer gardens and the tree moat to the house itself.

  The outer gardens had vivid patches of purple, cobalt blue, and pale

  orange--intybus, commelina, and anagallis were in bloom, and centaurea

  pods were everywhere, promising an eruption of pink in the next day or

  two. The air in the tree moat was cool, shadowed, and rich with

  complex scents. Leia felt the deep peacefulness of an old forest

  envelop her.

  Inside the circle of the tree moat were the house and inner gardens,

  and both were more modest than what surrounded them might lead a

  visitor to expect.

  The low, squarish house had but three rooms, all with transparent walls

  and ceilings, and the inner gardens were little more than accents for

  patches of soft ground cover and walking paths.

  Mon Mothma was inside, sitting in what she called her salon with her

  feet up and a datapad on her lap. She looked up as Leia neared the

  entry door, and motioned her inside.

  "Leia," she said with a smile. "It's been months.

  Come in."

  Leia was taken aback by Mon Mothma's appearance.

  Her short hair was now startlingly silver, and the fine lines around

  her eyes were visible from across the room. "Mon Mothma," she managed

  to say. "I hope you'll forgive my intruding--" "It's hardly that," she

  said. "But you're staring," she added gently.

  "This is not the mark of Furgan's treachery you see lingering on me."

  The allusion was to the Caridan am bassador's nearly successful attempt

  to poison her--an attempt that had precipitated Mon Mothma's

  retirement.

  "I've earned every line and white hair, Leia. Just as you are starting

  to earn some of your own. Now, it's true--I refuse to paint my face

  and pretend to youth and inexperience. Do you think that vain of

  me?"

  "I think you're still full of surprises, Mon Mothma--and still teaching

  little lessons at every opportunity."

  A little laugh lit the older woman's eyes. "Get yourself a drink and

  come sit with me. The afternoon sun will have the thrann tree dripping

  sap before long, and

  then the barbary birds will come out to feed. They're so tiny and so

  swift--I can watch them for an hour and never be bored."

  Mon Mothma's pantry contained a legendary array of potent and aromatic

  drinks collected from all over the galaxy, but Leia contented herself

  with a tall flask of cold fallix water.

  "So tell me what's driven you away from' Imperial City," Mon Mothma

  said when Leia had settled in the chair beside her. "I don't keep up

  with capital affairs these days, but I know it wasn't my gardens that

  drew you here."

  "Do you know what's happened to Han?"

  "That particular bit of bad news has been inescapable, I'm afraid," Mon

  Mothma said, resting her hand gently on Leia's. "How are the children

  coping?"

  "Jaina is angry. Jacen is afraid," Leia said. "Anakin is mostly

  confused--he can't understand why anyone would want to hurt his

  daddy.

  We've managed to keep them from seeing the recording, but I had to tell

  them--too
many other people know, and I didn't want them to hear

  talk."

  "And you," Mon Mothma said, giving Leia's hand a squeeze. "How are you

  doing?"

  "I'm having trouble seeing my way."

  Nodding silently, Mon Mothma set her datapad on the floor beside her

  and sat back in her chair, waiting.

  "Tomorrow afternoon, I have to go before the Senate to face a recall

  petition," Leia went on. "The Ruling Council thinks that with Han

  being held by the Yevetha, I can't be trusted with the power of the

  Presidency."

  "How foolish of them."

  Leia shook her head. "To tell the truth, after seeing that last

  transmission from N'zoth, I'm not sure they aren't right. My first

  impulse was to give Nil Spaar what he wants, to recall the fleet if

  only he'll send Han back to me alive. My next was to go ask Special

  Operations for the most horrible weapon they have, something I could

  send to N'zoth to kill every last one of them--preferably in lingering