THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS #3 - TYRANTS_TEST Read online

  sometimes a slava dancer worth overtipping. We'll save 'em for

  there."

  An affable, approving grin creased Han's face.

  "Done. I'll buy the first round."

  The Beruss clan estate in Imperial City was almost large enough to be a

  city in its own right. Within Ex-moor's walls were two parks, one

  forest, one meadow; a small lake stocked with game fish from Illodia

  and plied by graceful wind-driven boats; and twenty-one structures,

  including the hundred-meter-tall Illodia Tower with its external spiral

  staircase.

  Located more than three hundred kilometers southwest of the Palace, the

  estate was a testament to the long tenure of the Beruss clan on

  Coruscant. A Beruss had represented Illodia in the Senate for almost

  as long as there had been a Senate. Doman's first father, first and

  second uncles, sixth grandfather, and ninth great-grand-mother were

  just part of the long line connecting Ex-moor with Coruscant history.

  Illodia had no royal house, no hereditary rulers, but its oligarchy of

  five clans had proved longer-lived than many blood dynasties.

  And the Beruss had survived the various plots, crises, and political

  tides of Illodia in large part by being content to make Coruscant their

  home.

  Exmoor was likewise a monument to the onetime grandeur of Illodian

  ambitions. Taxes on Illodia's twenty colonies had paid for the

  construction, and the skilled hands of colony artisans had decorated

  and filled the houses named after their worlds. Even the Size and

  spacing of the structures echoed the map of Illodian territories, and

  each colony house had once borne a brilliant planetary emblem which

  could be seen only from the lookout lounge at the top of Illodia

  Tower.

  The emblems were gone now, the colony houses largely vacant, the

  colonies themselves only a memory.

  When the Emperor had annexed Illodia Sector, he had ordered the

  colonies "liberated" from the oligarchy's "tyranny"--and then levied

  assessments on the former colonies that were more than double the taxes

  imposed by Illodia.

  But the old glories were preserved in the approach and facade of the

  tower itself. The walks were swept and lined with smartly trimmed,

  bright-leaved plants.

  The metal and stone gleamed as it had when Bail Or-gana had brought his

  young daughter to play in the meadow park with the clan's many children

  while he and the senator spoke of adult things. And the seventy rooms

  inside were still a curious mixture of museum and clan commune, with

  the eleven adults and nearly twenty children who made up Doman's circle

  sharing and occasionally overwhelming those spaces.

  Doman received Leia in a room she had never before been privileged to

  enter--the clan counsel room on the top level of the tower, where the

  bonded adults met to discuss and decide family issues. Eleven

  identical chairs, each bearing the Beruss emblem in silver and blue,

  were arranged facing each other in a circle. An augmented skylight lit

  the circle warmly from the center.

  Doman's welcoming smile was equally warm. "Little Princess," he said,

  standing as though he expected her to come to him with a hug and a

  cheek kiss, as in the old days. "Is there any further news?"

  "No," Leia said, entering the circle but coming no farther. "There's

  been no word from the Yevetha. The viceroy has ignored my messages."

  "Perhaps this was not the Yevetha's doing?"

  "We now have the flight recorders from several of the recon-X

  escorts.

  There's no mistaking the Yevethan thrustship. And Nylykerka has

  identified the Interdictor they used as the Imperator, a ship that was

  delegated to Black Sword Command. There's really no question about

  it--this is Nil Spaar's work."

  "I see," Doman said, nodding. "In any event, I'm glad you came to see

  me before the Council sits. It's better that these matters be settled

  privately."

  "I had to come see you," said Leia, settling into a chair a third of

  the way around the circle from Doman.

  trayed---abandoned by someone I thought was my friend, my father's

  friend."

  "Clan Beruss is and always will be the friend of House Organa," said

  Doman. "That will not change in my lifetime, or yours."

  "Then withdraw the summons."

  Doman gestured in the air. "I will gladly do so--on your promise that

  you will not carry the war to N'zoth to rescue a loved one or avenge a

  casualty. Can you give me that promise?"

  "Are you asking me to give Han up? I can't believe that you could call

  yourself my friend and ask me to do that."

  With an easy grace, Doman lowered himself back into his chair. "Two

  other men suffered the same fate as Han--be it capture or death. Do

  you care as much for their return as you do for his?"

  "What an absurd question," Leia snapped. "Han is my husband, the

  father of my children. I'm sorry for the others, and I want them all

  safely returned. But I won't sit here and pretend that they mean as

  much to me as Han does."

  "You need not pretend here," Doman said. "But can you sit in the

  office of the President of the Senate of the New Republic and pretend

  so convincingly that nothing you do shatters the illusion? Because

  unless you're ready to give all three lives equal weight--whether much

  or none--I do not believe you should sit in that office."

  "You don't understand how it is for us," Leia said.

  "Look at this room--you may have your favorites, but no one spouse is

  everything to you, the way Han is to me."

  "That has always seemed to me a weakness of the way you choose to

  live," Doman said.

  "We can argue that another day," Leia said. "The point is that you

  can't understand what it would mean to me to lose him."

  Shaking his head, Doman settled back into his chair. "Leia, I've

  watched your kind for nearly a hun

  dred years now, and I've seen the lengths to which passion drives you.

  A man in love will move mountains to protect the woman who owns his

  heart. A woman in love will sacrifice all else for the man she has

  chosen. To us, it seems a grand folly--but I do understand, Leia, or I

  would not be afraid of your passion for Han."

  "Afraid?"

  "Afraid that you would sacrifice what does not belong to you--the peace

  We've struggled toward. The lives of the thousands who would fight at

  your order, and the millions they might kill. Even the future of the

  New Republic itself. None of this is beyond human passion, Leia. You

  know that as well as I."

  "Do you think that nothing matters more to me than Han? Do you think

  I'm that out of control?"

  "Dear child, I cannot sit by and trust to reason when reason loses so

  many battles to passion," Doman said. "Give me the promise I've asked

  you for, and I will withdraw the summons. I know you'll honor your

  word."

  "You want me to limit my options before I even know why the Yevetha did

  this," Leia said with the heat of indignation. "You can't ask that of

  me. It's not time yet to decide how
to respond."

  "And when do you think that time will come?"

  "I haven't even had a chance to go over all the possibilities--Rieekan

  won't have a report to me for another few hours, and I don't expect to

  hear any more from A'baht until tonight, after the investigators report

  from the site of the ambush. Drayson's asked me for thirty hours, and

  Fleet Intelligence isn't making me any promises at all."

  "When do you expect to receive Minister Falanthas's report?"

  Leia shot Doman a puzzled look. "What?"

  "Don't you intend to involve the minister of state?

  Or are only military options under consideration?"

  "Haven't the Yevetha already set the ground rules?

  Aren't Han, Captain Sreas, and Lieutenant Barth prisoners of war?"

  "If they are not already casualties of it--which I pray they are not,"

  said Doman. "But I also pray you remember that every conflict need not

  be fought to the death, and total war need not follow every outbreak of

  hostilities."

  "So we give them what they want?"

  "In the long history of war, far more prisoners have had their freedom

  bought or bartered than won with arms and noble resolve. There is no

  shame in compromise."

  Doman spread his hands wide to embrace the circle of chairs. "This

  room--this family--is predicated on that idea."

  "You lost your colonies and your freedom to Palpatine because of that

  idea."

  "For a time," Doman said. "But here I am, free.

  Where is Palpatine? Do not let the heat of the moment limit your

  options."

  Leia slumped back in her chair and gazed up at the skylight. "I

  won't," she said finally. "But I can't let you limit them, either,

  Doman."

  "Leia--" "We don't know why the Yevetha have done this--to punish me

  for Doornik Three-nineteen, or in preparation for something still to

  come." She sat forward, as if about to stand. "But whatever the

  reason, they'll be watching our response. Don't you think the worst

  possible sign we could give them is one that says the New Republic has

  no confidence in its elected leader? Don't you think Nil Spaar will be

  delighted to see the Senate distracted by infighting?"

  "There need not be any infighting," said Doman Beruss. "Step aside

  until this is over. Let one of us carry the weight. You won't be shut

  out, I promise you."

  "I can't do that." Leia stood and closed half the distance between her

  and the senator. "Please--on our friendship, on my father's memory--I

  ask you one last time, Doman, to withdraw the summons. Leave me free

  to do what needs to be done. Don't make me fight a war on the home

  front, too."

  "I'm sorry, little Princess," Doman said. "There's too much at

  stake.

  I have a duty."

  "And so do I," Leia said, her eyes clouded with a mixture of anger and

  regret. "I'll be leaving now, Senator.

  I have a lot to attend to before the Council session."

  "I hope you'll reconsider your position," Doman said, rising from his

  chair. "I have no wish to embarrass you."

  Leia shook her head. "You'll only embarrass yourself, Senator--not

  least in the eyes of a little girl who once looked on you as family,

  and Exmoor as a second home."

  In the time Chewbacca had been on Kashyyyk, the Millennium Falcon had

  become Rwookrrorro's leading attraction. Its arrival had been a signal

  event, and its presence on Landing Platform Thyss brought an ongoing

  stream of visitors from Karryntora, Northaykk, and even the distant

  Thikkiiana Peninsula. They came despite the fact that all there was

  for visitors to do was look at the outside of the ship and have a holo

  taken of themselves standing beside it.

  Chewbacca had left the ship in the care of his cousin Dryanta and his

  cousin Jowdrrl. They had nearly begged him for the honor, and they had

  taken the responsibility to heart. For Dryanta, a pilot, and Jowdrrl,

  a ship systems engineer, leaving their homes to live aboard her was an

  almost unmeasurable privilege.

  They had kept the Falcon sealed to everyone but themselves and arranged

  for the platform to be watched around the clock. During the morning

  and afternoon open-platform periods, either Dryanta or Jowdrrl-and

  often both--stood watch to see that no one came within arm's reach of

  the hull.

  But there were no visitors on the platform when Chewbacca, Freyrr,

  Shoran, and a disconsolate Lumpawarrump approached it. Mallatobuck had

  chased the crowd away without apology and set Dry anta and Jowdrrl to

  work preparing the Falcon for space.

  [Lumpy, I need you to go to the home tree,] Mallatobuck said after she

  greeted the party. [Kriyystak has been preparing a food bundle for

  your father's ship. See if it's ready, and bring it when it is.

  Quickly, now.] He accepted the chore without protest and hurried off.

  [You chose to bring him back rather than leave him with Freyrr,] Malla

  said, turning to Chewbacca.

  [It falls on me, not on him. But he was not ready,] said Chewbacca.

  [Perhaps he will be more ready the next time. Has there been any

  further news?] [The grids are silent. The misfortune that has befallen

  our friend is not yet public knowledge. Ralr-racheen has sent a

  message to the Princess on your behalf, but there has been no reply.]

  [And the ship?] [Jowdrrl will know best,] Malla said, turning and

  leading the way onto the landing platform. She called out to the

  ship's custodians, and both came running at her voice.

  [Chewbacca, ten thousand apologies. The ship is not quite ready for

  you,] said Jowdrrl. [I have twenty minutes of work left in the upper

  gun turret.] [Explain.] [I meant it as my gift to Han Solo, in

  gratitude for your life. I expected to be finished before you

  returned--" Chewbacca bared his teeth. [What gift?] [Cousin, I studied

  the ship closely while it was in our care. I saw certain weaknesses,

  and Dryanta helped me devise improvements--" Chewbacca's grimace grew

  into a snarl. [Are you telling me that the Falcon is not ready because

  you have been tinkering with it while I was gone, and it is still in

  pieces?] [No, cousin, no. Dryanta and I worked all night to finish

  what we had planned. I need only to test the new

  systems. If I return to my work now, I will be done by the time you

  have loaded and received clearance.] Dispatching her with a growl,

  Chewbacca turned angrily to Malla. [Did you know of this?] [Do not

  turn your fears for Han into fury at your family,] Malla said

  reprovingly, her snarl matching the intensity of his. [You did not

  even stop to consider the value of Jowdrrl's gift before rejecting it.]

  [She should not have presumed to change anything,] Chewbacca

  grumbled.

  [She is your closest cousin, and all too like you,] Malla said. [How

  long will it take you to reach Corus-cant?] [I am not going to

  Coruscant. I can do nothing for Han from there,] Chewbacca said. [He

  is in Koornacht Cluster, so I must go there.] [But the Princess asked

  you to come to Coruscant.

  Go, listen to her message, it's saved for you on the Falc
on.] [If she

  then asks me to go to Koornacht, I will have lost hours that Han may

  not have to spare. And if she does not ask me to go there, I must do

  so anyway, or betray my honor. So I will go there directly.] [And what

  will you do there?] [Whatever is necessary,] he said. [I must go see

  what Jowdrrl has done. Will you bring me my blaster from the home

  tree?] [I will gather what you will need,] Malla said. [Be forgiving

  of Jowdrrl. She follows the dictates of her honor conscience, just as

  you do.] Growling to himself, Chewbacca turned and climbed the

  Millennium Falcon's boarding ramp with long strides. Malla turned to

  Freyrr and Shoran.

  [Come,] she said. [I must speak with you, and there is not much

  time.]

  Grudgingly, Chewbacca was forced to admit that Jowdrrl's modifications

  to the ship were not only perceptive, but long overdue.

  One of the much despised idiosyncrasies of the Corellian YT-1300 stock

  freighter was the severely restricted field of view from the cockpit.

  Though the flight crew enjoyed an unobstructed field of view forward

  and to starboard, visibility aft and to port was virtually

  nonexistent.

  That, plus the extreme offset of the cockpit, made maneuvering or

  landing a YT-1300 in tight spaces a challenge. Most examples of that