Shield of Lies

by Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell

  “I know,” said Plat Mallar, standing as tall as his frame would allow. “And I thank you for reminding me that there is a choice. But my choice is to wear this, and hope for a chance to do something that makes a difference—to me, if not to anyone else.”

  “Very well,” Ackbar said. “Then let us begin. You have a great deal to learn.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  As the last holoimage of the Yevethan attack on Morning Bell faded and the lights came back up in the Defense Council’s hearing chamber, Leia studied the senators seated at the V-shaped table.

  There was one new face among the eight, reflecting a small shift in the balance: the human Tig Peramis of Walalla was gone, and Nara Deega of Clak’dor VII, a Bith, had been seated in his place. After the confrontation at the activation briefing for the Fifth Fleet, it was a relief not to have to face the fiery Peramis, who had removed himself to a legal limbo by presenting articles of withdrawal for his homeworld.

  But the intimidatingly intelligent Deega was, like the majority of his species, deeply committed to pacifism. A ruinous civil war had left Clak’dor VII an ecological nightmare, inhabitable only in domed cities. Because of those memories, Leia did not expect to find Deega any more tractable than Peramis had been.

  Leia walked into the middle of the space defined by the V, and all eyes turned to her. On the recommendation of Engh’s image specialists, she had forgone the flowing robes of Alderaan’s royal house in favor of what Han had called street-fighting clothes—a simple garment suggestive of a flight jumpsuit. But she wore just one of the medals and honors she was entitled to: the small blue-fire crystal talisman of House Organa.

  “The question I bring before you is a simple one,” Leia said—the first words she had spoken in that room that day. “What shall we do about what you’ve just seen?

  “These images document both the murderous brutality and the expansionist mentality of the current Yevethan government,” she went on. “They’ve committed unspeakable acts of xenophobic genocide and been rewarded for it with new worlds to settle and new resources to exploit. Their success can only whet their appetite for more—but even if they are content now, they’re profiting from crimes against peace and morality.

  “Excluding the Koornacht Cluster, Farlax Sector contains more than two thousand inhabited systems, some three hundred of which are members of the New Republic. Not one of them is strong enough to resist the Yevetha on its own.

  “We’ve already accepted our responsibility to protect the peaceable inhabitants of Farlax by sending the Fifth Fleet to stand between them and the Yevetha. But that’s no more than a stopgap solution. We cannot undertake a permanent deployment at battle-group strength. Eventually we will face an unappealing choice between abandoning those systems, reinforcing them, and taking on the Yevetha for them.

  “I think we must face that choice now, while the initiative remains with us—before the Yevetha find a way to force our hand. We must find some way to alter the Yevethan calculus, or what you saw just now will only be the beginning. We should try first to change their willingness to wage war, but we should be prepared to deny them the means to wage war.

  “That’s why I’m here today—to ask for your counsel in devising a plan to deal with the Yevetha, and your support in carrying it forward.”

  Leia’s presentation was the only part of the meeting she could control, and it proved to be her best moment of the morning. As soon as she returned to her seat, Behn-kihl-nahm spoke briefly but supportively before laying out the ground rules for the discussion to follow. But as soon as that discussion began, the division in the Council became evident, and Leia’s opponents began chipping away at the foundation she stood on.

  “What is the source of these images you have presented to us?” asked Senator Deega.

  Leia stood at her seat. “Senator, they were recorded by the Yevetha and intercepted by a ferret patrolling the perimeter of Koornacht Cluster.”

  “Then they are completely undocumented?”

  “What do you mean, Senator? I can, if there’s a legitimate reason to do so, bring someone in here who can testify to the time, manner, and location in which those images were recorded.”

  “You have misunderstood, President Solo,” Senator Deega said patiently. “If you did not make the recordings, you do not know what was being recorded. You have said that these images document the eradication of certain settlements within Koornacht Cluster. But, objectively viewed, they document nothing. What planets were those? Who was aboard those ships? When did those events take place? Who assembled those images in that sequence?”

  “If the Council feels it hasn’t seen enough and chooses to commit the time, I can present the entire unedited intercept—all eleven hours of it.”

  “You still misunderstand, President Solo,” said Deega. “For all you can prove, those images were recorded during the Rebellion, light-years away from Koornacht Cluster. If they were recorded at all—the quality of the images does not exceed the capabilities of the best image editors.”

  Chairman Behn-kihl-nahm intervened at that point. “Senator Deega, inasmuch as you’re new to the Council, I’m aware that you haven’t had much experience evaluating military intelligence. Much as we would all like to have absolute certainty in these matters, technical espionage does not often allow us the luxury of the exacting standards a scientist has for evidence, or a mathematician for a proof. Sometimes we just have to trust our spies—or, if that asks too much, trust our eyes.”

  That brought chuckles from Senators Bogen and Yar, and effectively silenced Deega. But Senator Marook stepped up to fill the void.

  “I have no doubt that terrible, shameful things have happened in Koornacht Cluster,” said the Hrasskis, his air sacs pulsing slowly. “I do not question what Princess Leia has shown us.”

  Leia waited, knowing not to take his words as a vote of confidence.

  “In truth, I found the presentation sufficiently real that I should not like to see any more, or see any more closely. It’s enough to know that the dying are screaming—I don’t find that listening to it adds anything to my understanding,” said Marook. “What I question is the Princess’s claim that this is a matter of great urgency. Perhaps she can help me understand.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Leia said, wary.

  “These recordings—to the best of your knowledge, they were made days, even weeks ago, yes?”

  “That’s true.”

  “So what you’ve shown us is history. None of these tragedies can be prevented, or even tempered.”

  “No—”

  “Then how is this any different from the unavenged atrocities of the Imperial era? Why are we not meeting to discuss how and when to invade the Core in search of the agents of Palpatine’s rampages? Isn’t the real urgency here the waning of your political power, and your desperate need for a dramatic victory to restore your prestige?”

  That brought Tolik Yar roaring to his feet in Leia’s defense with accusations of his own. “Bold talk from a traitor who secretly visited Aramadia and plotted with Nil Spaar against his own. You have never explained what you were doing there—besides shaming your people and betraying your oath—”

  Marook answered with a lunge and a clenched fist, which brought Senators Bogen and Frammel into it as peacemakers and sent Deega fleeing from the room. Meanwhile Senator Cundertol of Bakura and Senator Zilar of Praesitlyn sat back in their chairs, treating the contretemps as an object lesson and an entertainment, respectively.

  “You see?” Cundertol said, leaning toward his companion. “These aliens are always fighting, on the least provocation. It’s in their nature. You can’t stop them—so why should we try? Why are we obliged to protect the weak against the strong? Why not let the weak fall, and then make our alliances with the strong?”

  It took all Behn-kihl-nahm’s persuasive skill to bring everyone back to the table and the session back to order. But by then, unanimity was hopelessly beyond reach.

&nbs
p; The meeting dragged out for three more fractious hours. At the end of it, Leia was forced to settle for a compromise that pleased no one in the room, least of all herself and the chairman. The plan was too bold for Deega, too hasty for Marook, too interventionist for Cundertol, too far short of what Behn-kihl-nahm had thought possible, and too timid for Tolik Yar and the rest of the Council.

  But all eight were willing to support it when they left the privacy of the hearing room, which made it the best Leia could hope for.

  “Thank you, Chairman,” Leia said after the consensus vote, pretending to a dignity far more elevated than the process deserved. “I’ll give the Council advance notice of the announcement. I’ll need to consult with Admiral Ackbar and notify General A’baht. But it should only be a matter of a few hours.”

  The preparation took longer than the execution.

  “Here’s a question for you, Princess,” Han said, scratching his head as he peered at the holorecorder’s reference screen. “How exactly will we know that Nil Spaar has gotten the message, since he’s officially not talking to you?”

  “We have three different holocomm codes from his visit here—two for Aramadia and one for the viceroy’s staff,” said Leia. “It’ll go to all three.”

  “We’ll be using Channel One to notify all the home governments,” added Minister of State Mokka Falanthas. “Since the Yevetha used Channel One themselves for Nil Spaar’s last address, we know they can monitor it—and if they can, it’s likely that they do.”

  “We will also have prowlers broadcasting in high-band and laser directional from along the Koornacht perimeter,” said General Rieekan. “Those signals will reach the Yevethan pickets in eight hours or less, and Doornik Three Nineteen thirty-four hours later.”

  “And if for some reason they willfully manage to ignore all that, they cannot fail to notice two days from now, when we repeat this message and allow the grids to carry it to the general citizenry, to prepare them for what may come,” said Behn-kihl-nahm. “I have no doubt that the Yevetha still have spies on Coruscant. They will know what has transpired.” He shrugged. “Indeed, they may already know.”

  Leia finished fussing with the drape of her robes and looked up. “Where is Ackbar? Has anyone seen him?”

  “I did,” Han said. “He was heading for his office with a big bundle under his arm, muttering something about too much ormachek. I think maybe he was having trouble with his dress uniform.”

  Leia’s face relaxed into a smile for the first time in hours. “If he went all the way back into his closet for the Mon Calamari battle tunic he wore at Endor, this may take a while.”

  Tugging uncomfortably at his own uniform, Han said wryly, “I could have used a tailor myself. I hope we don’t look more silly than scary, standing behind you.”

  Behn-kihl-nahm patted Han on the shoulder. “Don’t worry—the right message will come through. And your presence is as much for domestic eyes as for Yevethan ones.”

  At that point Ackbar arrived, resplendent in his white admiral’s tunic.

  “Is that everyone now?” called the young consultant from Nanaod Engh’s staff. “Can I have everyone but the Princess here by the banner?”

  The consultant quickly arranged the extras along the wall behind where Leia was to sit—Han, Ackbar, and Rieekan all in uniform to the left of the banner bearing the gold-trimmed New Republic insignia, Engh, Behn-kihl-nahm, and Falanthas all in diplomatic dress to the right. Then he brought Leia in and sat her down in the cupped-hand pedestal chair, which effectively vanished behind her robes. Backing up, he studied his handiwork, then peered at the tableau on the reference screen for a few seconds.

  “That’s all I can do,” he announced. “Princess, you can go ahead whenever the technicians are ready.”

  The technicians were ready in short order. Then, at last, it was Leia’s room, and Leia’s moment.

  “I am Princess Leia Organa Solo, President of the Senate, Chief of State of the New Republic, and Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Force. I address myself to Nil Spaar, Viceroy of the Duskhan League, to the governments of N’zoth, Wakiza, Zhina, and the other Yevethan worlds throughout Koornacht Cluster, and to the commanders of Yevethan armed forces everywhere.

  “Whereas Viceroy Nil Spaar has freely and openly admitted to responsibility for grievous crimes against the inhabitants of Morning Bell, Polneye, New Brigia, Doornik Six Twenty-eight, and other legally constituted settlements in and near Koornacht Cluster—

  “Whereas these crimes include the unprovoked wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants of these worlds, and the illegal and immoral seizure of their homes, goods, and territory—

  “Whereas these acts grossly and wantonly violate the fundamental rights of sentient beings and peaceful worlds everywhere, as well as the fundamental principles of moral conduct—

  “Whereas these are rights and principles to which the New Republic is wholly and unswervingly committed in both law and spirit—

  “I do thereby instruct and advise Viceroy Nil Spaar and the ruling authorities of the Yevetha to immediately relinquish and withdraw from the systems you have seized, surrender any and all property confiscated, and release unharmed any and all prisoners now held. If you fail to do so in a timely and responsive manner, you will leave us no choice but to enforce this directive by every means available to us.”

  Her gaze burned into the lens of the holorecorder. “Do not misjudge this—our will and determination in this matter are unwavering. Withdraw from those worlds you illegally and immorally seized, or be removed from them. Those are the only choices. The New Republic will not allow you to profit from acts of such unbridled barbarism.

  “Ordered and recorded this day and before these witnesses at Imperial City, Coruscant, by President Leia Organa Solo.

  “End transmission.”

  When the technical staff signaled the recording was over, the gathering dispersed with surprising speed. Ackbar, Behn-kihl-nahm, and Han all came to her with words of support, but only Han lingered.

  “Sounded great from where we were, Leia,” he said, catching her up in a quick hug. “If it was me you were talking to, I’d know you meant business. Now—how long do we wait?”

  “I hope we don’t have to wait very long,” she said. “But there aren’t any deadlines. We’ll give them enough time to work through their decision. I’m sure we’ll hear from someone at that end before long.”

  “What if we don’t?”

  “Then everything centers on Doornik Three Nineteen,” she said. “It’s the one site we can monitor closely enough to know whether the Yevetha are packing up or still moving in. That’s where we’ll be watching.”

  Waiting was hard.

  An hour came and went, with the excitement of the moment making it seem like only a few minutes. The next hour lasted a day. The first day lasted forever. Anticipation became anxiety, and anxiety restlessness. Soon restlessness became impatience, and impatience a gnawing distraction.

  The second day was even longer.

  And nowhere was the waiting harder than along the Koornacht perimeter. All 106 principal vessels of the Fifth Battle Group were on round-the-clock combat-level alerts. Flights of fully armed fighters and interceptors came and went from the launch bays of the carriers as the defensive screens were brought up to full combat density.

  At the end of the second day, the ultimatum was made public, along with selected still images from the Alpha Blue intelligence. The response was surprisingly muted and, overall, supportive.

  “It is comforting, but illusory,” Behn-kihl-nahm warned Leia. “The Senate is holding its criticism until there’s some sign—in the form of news from Farlax—to tell them which side they want to end up on. In the meantime, they can nobly posture as loyal supporters of the President and defenders of the Charter. And the public response—I suspect you will find that most casual observers are applauding the principle without grasping the risk. They enjoy the show of strength, and it seems right and good to th
em for us to dictate to outsiders. They expect the Yevetha to meekly comply, and for this to be over in a few days. Most of all, they do not expect this to lead to War.”

  Two days became three, and three stretched to five. The ultimatum was retransmitted daily at 1700, but there was no response of any kind from inside Koornacht Cluster. It became increasingly clear that the Yevetha were ignoring the messages.

  On the sixth day an Alpha Blue stationary probe came out of hyperspace near Doornik 319 and recorded the arrival of a small flotilla—three spherical thrustships and an Imperial-design Star Destroyer. The recording was relayed successfully to a repeater outside the Cluster, but the probe had been on station long beyond its endurance and disintegrated when it tried to disappear back into hyperspace.

  As soon as they reached him, Drayson brought both the news and the dispatch to Leia at the residence.

  “I’m afraid our probe will have left debris in realspace,” he said apologetically. “That may complicate matters.”

  “All it tells them is that we’re watching—and that they can’t detect it when we are,” Leia said. “Maybe that will help us a little.”

  “But the reality is that that was my last asset in that system,” Drayson said. “And placing them is harder than hiding them once they’re there. This is likely to be the last report from Doornik Three Nineteen for the foreseeable future. They’re all going to be expiring.”

  “Let me get Han, and we’ll take a look,” she said. “And we should contact Behn-kihl-nahm and Ackbar.”

  “I took the liberty,” Drayson said. “Bennie is on his way over. But Admiral Ackbar is getting in some time in a TX-sixty-five and won’t be here for at least an hour.”