The Black Fleet Crisis_ Tyrant's Test Part 3

"I know a little nightspot in Imperial City," Barth said. "Good food, 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 s.p.a.cing 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 a.s.sessments 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 s.p.a.ces.

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 thrusts.h.i.+p. And Nylykerka has identified the Interdictor they used as the Imperator, a s.h.i.+p 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 pa.s.sion 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 pa.s.sion 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 pa.s.sion, 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 pa.s.sion," 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 n.o.ble 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 friends.h.i.+p, 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 embarra.s.s you."

Leia shook her head. "You'll only embarra.s.s 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 s.h.i.+p and have a holo taken of themselves standing beside it.

Chewbacca had left the s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.p.a.ce.

[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 s.h.i.+p. See if it's ready, and bring it when it is.

Quickly, now.] He accepted the ch.o.r.e 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 s.h.i.+p?] [Jowdrrl will know best,] Malla said, turning and leading the way onto the landing platform. She called out to the s.h.i.+p's custodians, and both came running at her voice.

[Chewbacca, ten thousand apologies. The s.h.i.+p 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 grat.i.tude for your life. I expected to be finished before you returned--" Chewbacca bared his teeth. [What gift?] [Cousin, I studied the s.h.i.+p 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 Cl.u.s.ter, 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 Falcon.] [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 s.h.i.+p 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 c.o.c.kpit.

Though the flight crew enjoyed an un.o.bstructed field of view forward and to starboard, visibility aft and to port was virtually nonexistent.

That, plus the extreme offset of the c.o.c.kpit, made maneuvering or landing a YT-1300 in tight s.p.a.ces a challenge. Most examples of that model sported five-axis laser-ranging pods as add-ons on the blind side, just forward of the loading port--often installed at the insistence of spooked-pilots after a close call with a docking bay wall or another s.h.i.+p. But out of some combination of stubbornness and ego, Han had refused to let Chewbacca install a ranging pod.

"Do you look at your feet when you walk? A real pilot feels where his s.h.i.+p is," Han had insisted. "I don't want anyone looking at the Falcon and thinking we need that kind of training-school crutch. Give me a meter of clearance and I'll fly this thing anywhere. Do you think Lando could have made that run into the Death Star at Endor if he'd depended on ranging pods?"

But the Falcon's enormous blind spot was an even more serious issue in flight than during landings. That fact was the genesis of the maneuver known to pilots as the Corellian carousel--putting the s.h.i.+p into a slow left-hand roll when making an approach in traffic or maneuvering under fire. Han's addition of a single high-mounted sensor dish to the Falcon only accentuated the need to use the carousel routinely, since the dish had an even larger blind spot than the pilot.

Jowdrrl had never flown aboard the Falcon, and Chewbacca had never complained about its peculiarities in front of her. But she summed up the problem with one clear, simple truth Chewbacca had not yet managed to impress on his son: [A Wookiee hunter who stands beside a tree hides half the forest from his eyes.] Jowdrrl's solution was a simple if not obvious one.

Everywhere there was an existing viewport the port and starboard loading hatches, the dorsal and ventral gun turrets--Jowdrrl had covered it with a custom-fitted optical transducer panel.

The output from all four of the nearly transparent sensors was routed to flatscreen displays in the c.o.c.kpit, giving the pilot the benefit of the familiar views from those four locations. Together, the new sensors eliminated most of the s.h.i.+p's blind spot, leaving only a small area directly aft--an area that was already well scanned by the sensor dish.

In explaining what she had done, Jowdrrl changed from Shyriiwook to the Thykarann dialect, which was much richer in technical vocabulary.

she told Chewbacca.

[I did not have enough time to work on the other problem,] she said, switching back to Shyriiwook, her tone apologetic.

[Which problem is that?] [That a Wookiee hunter does not have enough hands to climb and aim at the same time.] Again, her words showed a surprising awareness of the Falcon's operational realities--in this case, the fact that it was almost invariably undercrewed. The Corel-lian YT-1300 was officially rated as a four-place freighter for in-system work and an eight-place--four stations, four berths--for interstellar flights.

The cargomaster was expendable, but none of the other three stations was. Even with the c.o.c.kpit remotes for the gun turrets, it was impossible for two people to simultaneously fly and fight the Falcon effectively. The Falcon had survived most of its gun battles by fighting just long enough and just well enough to make a break.

"The more mouths at the table, the poorer the feast,] Chewbacca said.

[And the silent hunt is best undertaken by a party of two. Still, sometimes four hands are not enough.] Jowdrrl changed dialect again.