Dark Force Rising (Star Wars) swtt-2

by Timothy Zahn

  "Excuse me?" Fey'lya interrupted smoothly. "Just who is the 'we'

  here?"

  Han focused on the Bothan. On those violet eyes, that soft, cream-colored fur, that totally bland expression. "My, crew consisted of Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian." As Fey'lya no doubt knew perfectly well already. Just a cheap trick to throw Han off stride. "Oh, and two droids. You want their serial numbers?"

  A slight rustle of not-quite humor ran through the room, and Han had the minor satisfaction of seeing that cream-colored fur flatten a little.

  "Thank you, no," Fey'lya said.

  "Rogue Squadron was engaged with a group of approximately forty TIE

  fighters and fifty stolen mole miners that had somehow been smuggled into the shipyards," Han continued. "We gave them some assistance with the fighters, figured out that the Imperials were using the mole miners to try and steal some of the capital ships that had been pressed into cargo duty, and were able to stop them. That's about it."

  "You're too modest, Captain Solo," Fey'lya spoke up again. "According to the reports we've received here, it was you and Calrissian who managed singlehandedly to thwart the Empire's scheme."

  Han braced himself. Here it came. He and Lando had stopped the Imperials, all right ... only they'd had to fry the nerve centers of over forty capital ships to do it. "I'm sorry about wrecking the ships," he said, looking Fey'lya straight in the eye. "Would you rather the Imperials have taken them intact?"

  A ripple ran through the Bothan's fur. "Really, Captain Solo," he said soothingly. "I have no particular quarrel with your method of stopping the Empire's attempt at grand larceny, costly though it might have been. You had only what you could work with. Within your constraints, you and the others succeeded brilliantly."

  Han frowned, feeling suddenly a little off balance. He had expected Fey'lya to try to make him the man under the hammer on this one. For once, the Bothan seemed to have missed a bet. "Thank you, Councilor," he said, for lack of anything better to say.

  "Which is not to say that the Empire's attempt and near-victory are not important, Fey'lya said, his fur rippling the opposite direction this time as he looked around the room. "On the contrary. At the best, they speak of serious misjudgments on the part of our military commanders. At the worst ... they may speak of treason."

  Han felt his lip twist. So that was it. Fey'lya hadn't changed his stripes; he'd simply decided not to waste a golden opportunity like this on a nobody like Han. "With all due respect, Councilor," he spoke up quickly, "what happened at Sluis Van wasn't Admiral Ackbar's fault. The whole operation-"

  "Excuse me, Captain Solo," Fey'lya cut him off. "And with all due respect to you, let me point out that the reason those capital ships were sitting at Sluis Van in the first place, undermanned and vulnerable, was that Admiral Ackbar had ordered them there."

  "There isn't anything like treason involved," Han insisted doggedly.

  "We already know that the Empire's got a tap into our communications-"

  "And who's responsible for such failures of security?" Fey'lya shot back. "Once again, the blame falls squarely around Admiral Ackbar's shoulders."

  "Well, then, you find the leak," Han snapped. Peripherally, he could see Leia shaking her head urgently at him, but he was too mad now to care whether he was being properly respectful or not. "And while you're at it, I'd like to see how well you would do up against an Imperial Grand Admiral." The low-level buzz of conversation that had begun in the room cut off abruptly. "What was that last?" Mon Mothma asked. Silently, Han swore at himself. He hadn't meant to spring this on anyone until he'd had a chance to check it out himself at the Palace archives. But it was too late now. "The Empire's being led by a Grand Admiral," he muttered. "I saw him myself."

  The silence hung thick in the air. Mon Mothma recovered first.

  "That's impossible," she said, sounding more like she wanted to believe it than that she really did. "We've accounted for all the Grand Admirals."

  "I saw him myself," Han repeated.

  "Describe him," Fey'lya said. "What did he look like?"

  "He wasn't human," Han said. "At least, not completely. He had a roughly human build, but he had light blue skin, a kind of bluish black hair, and eyes that glowed red. I don't know what species he was."

  "Yet we know that the Emperor didn't like nonhumans," Mon Mothma reminded him.

  Han looked at Leia. The skin of her face was tight, her eyes staring at and through him with a kind of numb horror. She understood what this meant, all right. "He was wearing a white uniform," he told Mon Mothma. "No other Imperial officers wore anything like that. And the contact I was with specifically called him a Grand Admiral."

  "Obviously a self-granted promotion," Fey'lya said briskly. "Some regular admiral or perhaps a leftover Moff trying to rally the remains of the Empire around him. Anyway, that's beside the immediate point."

  "Beside the point?" Han demanded. "Look, Councilor, if there's a Grand Admiral running around loose-"

  "If there is," Mon Mothma interrupted firmly, "we'll soon know for certain. Until then, there seems little value in holding a debate in a vacuum. Council Research is hereby directed to look into the possibility that a Grand Admiral might still be alive. Until such an investigation has been completed, we will continue with our current inquiry into the circumstances of the Sluis Van attack." She looked at Han, then turned and nodded at Leia. "Councilor Organa Solo, you may begin the questioning."

  Admiral Ackbar's high-domed, salmon-colored head bent slightly to the side, his huge round eyes swiveling in their sockets in a Calamarian gesture Leia couldn't recall ever having seen before. Surprise? Or was it perhaps dread?

  "A Grand Admiral," Ackbar said at last, his voice sounding even more gravelly than usual. "An Imperial Grand Admiral. Yes. That would indeed explain a great many things."

  "We don't actually know that it's a real Grand Admiral yet," Leia cautioned him, throwing a glance at the stony look on her husband's face. Han, clearly, had no doubts of his own. Neither did she, for that matter. "Mon Mothma's having Research look into it."

  "They won't find anything," Ackbar said, shaking his head. A more human gesture, that, of the sort he usually tried to use when dealing with humans. Good; that meant he was getting back on balance. "I had a thorough search made of the Imperial records when we first took Coruscant back from the Empire. There's nothing in there but a list of the Grand Admirals' names and a little about their assignments."

  "Erased before they pulled out," Han growled.

  "Or perhaps never there to begin with," Leia suggested. "Remember that these weren't just the best and brightest military leaders the Emperor could find. They were also part of his plan to bring the Imperial military more personally under his control."

  "As was the Death Star project itself," Ackbar said. "I agree, Councilor. Until the Grand Admirals were fully integrated both militarily and politically, there was no reason to publish details of their identities. And every reason to conceal them."

  "So," Han said. "Dead end."

  "It appears that way," Ackbar agreed. "Any information we're going to get will have to come from current sources.

  Leia looked at Han. "You mentioned you were with a contact when you saw this Grand Admiral, but you didn't give us the contact's name."

  "That's right," Han nodded. "I didn't. And I'm not going to. Not now, anyway."

  Leia frowned at that unreadable sabacc face, stretching out with all her rudimentary Jedi skills to try to sense his purpose and feelings. It didn't get her very far. If only I had more time to practice, she thought ruefully. But if the Council had needed all her time before, it was going to need even more than that now. "Mon Mothma's going to want to know, eventually," she warned him.

  "And I'm going to tell her, eventually," he came back. "Until then, it's going to be our little secret."

  "As in 'leverage'?"

  "You never can tell." A shadow of something crossed Han's face. "The name's not going to do t
he Council any good right now, anyway. The whole group's probably buried themselves away somewhere. If the Empire hasn't caught up with them."

  "You don't know how to find them?" Leia asked. Han shrugged. "There's a ship I promised to get out of impoundment for them. I can try that."

  "Do what you can," Ackbar said. "You said Councilor Organa Solo's brother was with you at Sluis Van?"

  "Yes, sir," Han said. "His hyperdrive needed some repairs, but he should've only been a couple of hours behind me." He looked at Leia. "Oh, and we're going to have to get Lando's ship back to him at Sluis Van." Ackbar made a noise that sounded something like a choked whistle: the Calamarian equivalent of a grunt. "We'll need to hear testimony from both of them," he said. "And from Wing Commander Antilles, as well. It's vital that we learn how the Empire was able to smuggle such a large force past so many sensors.

  Leia threw Han a look. "According to Wedge's preliminary report, they apparently were inside a freighter whose bold registered empty." Ackbar's eyes swiveled in their sockets. "Empty? Not merely unreadable, as if from a sensor misfire or static-damping?"

  "Wedge said it was empty," Han told him. "He ought, to know the difference between that and static-damping.

  "Empty." Ackbar seemed to slump a little in his seat. "Which can only mean the Empire has finally developed a workable cloaking shield."

  "It's starting to look that way," Leia agreed soberly. "I suppose the only good news is that they must still have some bugs left in the system. Otherwise, they could have simply cloaked the whole Sluis Van task force and torn the place to ribbons."

  "No," Ackbar said, shaking his massive head. "That's something we won't have to worry about, at least. By its very nature a cloaking shield would be more, danger to the user than it was worth. A cloaked warship's own sensor beams would be as useless as those of its enemies, leaving it to flail about totally blind. Worse, if it were under power, the enemy could locate it by simply tracking its drive emissions."

  "Ah," Leia said. "I hadn't thought of that."

  "There have been rumors for years that the Emperor was developing a cloaking shield," Ackbar said. "I've put a good deal of thought into the contingency." He harrumphed. "But the weaknesses are of small comfort. A cloaking shield in the hands of a Grand Admiral would still be a dangerous weapon indeed. He would find ways to use it against us.

  "He already has," Han muttered.

  "Apparently so." Ackbar's swiveling eyes locked onto Leia's face.

  "You must get me cleared of this ridiculous charge, Councilor. As soon as possible. For all his ambition and self-confidence, Councilor Fey'lya hasn't the tactical skills we need against a threat of this magnitude."

  "We'll get you released, Admiral," Leia promised, wishing she felt that confident. "We're working on it right now.

  There was a diffident knock, and behind Leia the door opened. "Excuse me," the squat G-2RD droid said in a mechanically resonant voice. "Your time has expired."

  "Thank you," Leia said, suppressing her frustration as she stood up. She wanted desperately to have more time with Ackbar, to explore with him both this new Imperial threat and also discuss the legal strategies they might use in his defense. But arguing with the droid would gain her nothing, and might get her visiting privileges revoked entirely. Guard droids were allowed that kind of discretion, and the 2RD series in particular was reputed to be a touchy lot. "I'll be back soon, Admiral," she told Ackbar. "Either this afternoon or tomorrow.

  "Good-bye, Councilor." There was just a brief hesitation-"And to you, Captain Solo. Thank you for coming."

  "Good-bye, Admiral," Han said.

  They stepped from the room and started down the wide corridor, the G-2RD taking up position at the door behind them. "That must have hurt," Han commented.

  "What must have?" Leia asked.

  "Thanking me for coming."

  She frowned up at him, but there was nothing but seriousness in his face. "Oh, come on, Han. Just because you resigned your commission-"

  "He considers me one step up from a complete traitor," Han finished for her.

  An obvious retort about persecution complexes flashed through Leia's mind. "Ackbar's never been what you'd call an outgoing person," she said instead.

  Han shook his head. "I'm not imagining it, Leia. Ask Lando sometime-he gets the same kind of treatment. You leave the military and you might as well be tauntaun spit as far as Ackbar is concerned." Leia sighed. "You have to understand the Mon Calamari ethos, Han. They were never a warlike species at all until the Empire started enslaving them and ravaging their world. Those wonderful Star Cruisers of theirs were originally passenger liners, you know, that we helped them convert into warships. Maybe it's not so much anger at you for quitting as it is some sort of residual guilt at himself and his people for taking up warfare in the first place."

  "Even if they were forced into it?"

  Leia shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't think anyone ever goes into a war without the nagging feeling that there might have been,some other way. Even when every other way has already been tried and hasn't worked. I know I felt it when I first joined the Rebellion-and believe me, people like Mon Mothma and Bail Organa had tried everything. For an inherently peaceful race like the Mon Calamari, the feeling must be even worse.

  "Well...maybe," Han conceded grudgingly. "I just wish they'd work it through for themselves and leave the rest of us out of it.

  "They are," Leia assured him. "We've just got to give them time." He looked down at her. "You haven't told me yet why you and Chewie left Kashyyyk and came back here."

  Leia squeezed thumb and forefinger together. Eventually, she knew, she would have to tell Han about the deal she'd made with the Noghri commando Khabarakh. But walking down a public corridor of the Imperial Palace wasn't the place for that kind of discussion. "There didn't seem any point in staying," she told him. "There was another attack-"

  "There what?"

  "Relax, we fought it off" she soothed him. "And I've made arrangements that should keep me safe, at least for the next couple of weeks. I'll tell you about it later, when we're someplace more secure. She could feel his eyes boring into her; could sense the suspicion in his mind that there was something she wasn't telling him. But he recognized as well as she did the danger of speaking secrets out in the open. "All right," he muttered. "I just hope you know what you're doing." Leia shivered, focusing on the sense of the twins she carried within her. So potentially strong in the ... Force and yet so utterly helpless. "So do I," she whispered.

  CHAPTER

  4

  JORUS C'BAOTH. HUMAN. BORN IN REITECAS, ON BORTRAS, ON 43112. PRE-EMPIRE DATE.

  Luke made a face as he watched the words scroll up the Old Senate Library computer screen. What was it about new regimes, he wondered, that one of their first official acts always seemed to be the creation of a new dating system, which they then went and applied to all existing historical records?

  The Galactic Empire had done that, as had the Old Republic before it. He could only hope that the New Republic wouldn't follow suit. History was hard enough to keep track of as it was.

  ATTENDED MIRNIC UNIVERSITY 6495 TO 43290 PE. ATTENDED JEDI TRAINING CENTER ON KAMPARAS 21590 TO 8338 PE. PRIVATE JEDI TRAINING BEGUN

  988 PE; INSTRUCTOR UNKNOWN. GRANTED TITLE OF JEDI KNIGHT 3686 PE. OFFICIALLY ASSUMED TITLE OF JEDI MASTER 4374 PE. SUMMARY ENDS FURTHER

  DETAILS OF SCHOOLING AND TRAINING?

  "No," Luke said, frowning. C'baoth had assumed the title of Jedi Master? He'd always been under the impression that that title, like the rank of Jedi Knight itself, was something that was granted by the rest of the Jedi community and not simply self-proclaimed. "Give me the highlights of his record as a Jedi."

  MEMBER OF ANDO DEMILITARIZATION OBSERVATION GROUP 882 TO 781 PE. MEMBER OF SENATE INTERSPECIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE 981 TO 679 PE. PERSONAL

  JEDI ADVISER TO SENATOR PALPATINE 679 TO's77 "Stop," Luke ordered, a sudden shiver running up his back. Jed
i adviser to Senator Palpatine? "Detail C'baoth's service to Senator Palpatine." The computer seemed to consider the request. UNAVAILABLE, the answer came at last.

  "Unavailable, or just classified?" Luke countered. UNAVAILABLE, the computer repeated.

  Luke grimaced. But there was little he could do about it for the moment. "Continue."

  MEMBER OF JEDI FORCE ASSEMBLED TO OPPOSE THE DARK JEDI INSURRECTION

  ON BPFASSH 777 TO 174 PE. ASSISTED IN RESOLVING ALDERAAN ASCENDANCY

  CONTENTION 117O PE. ASSISTED JEDI MASTER TRA'S M'INS IN MEDIATION OF

  DUINUOGWUIN-GOTAL CONFLICT l68 TO 466 PE. NAMED AMBASSADOR AT LARGE TO

  XAPPYH SECTOR 82162 PE BY SENATE. HIGHLY INSTRUMENTAL IN CONVINCING SENATE

  TO AUTHORIZE AND FUND OUTBOUND FLIGHT PROJECT. ONE OF SIX JEDI MASTERS

  ATTACHED TO PROJECT 7765 PE. NO RECORD EXISTS AFTER PROJECT DEPARTURE FROM

  YAGA MINOR, 4164. HIGHLIGHTS SUMMARY ENDS. FURTHER INFORMATION?

  Luke leaned back in his chair, gazing at the display and chewing at the inside of his cheek. So not only had C'baoth once been an adviser to the man who would someday declare himself Emperor, but he'd also been part of the attack against those Dark Jedi from the Sluis sector that Leia had told him about. One of whom had survived long enough to face Master Yoda on Dagobah... There was a soft footstep behind him. "Commander?"

  "Hello, Winter," Luke said without turning. "Looking for me?"

  "Yes," Winter said, coming up to stand beside him. "Princess Leia would like to see you whenever you're finished here." She nodded at the display, running a hand through her silky white hair as she did so. "More Jedi research?"

  "Sort of" Luke told her, sliding a data card into the terminal's slot. "computer: copy complete record of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth."

  "Jorus C'baoth," Winter repeated thoughtfully.

  "Wasn't he involved in the big ascendancy flap on Alderaan?"

  "That's what the record says," Luke nodded. "You know anything about that?"