The Black Fleet Crisis_ Tyrant's Test Part 37

While Han slept in the healing bath of the bacta solution, the command staff a.n.a.lyzed the latest data from the stasis probes deep inside the cl.u.s.ter, and the Wookiees prepared the Falcon for the battle ahead.

Not included in any of those activities, Luke found himself alone and with time on his hands.

He went by Wialu and Akanah's cabin, intending to reopen the subject of Nas.h.i.+ra. But Wialu was not there, and Akanah would not tell him where he could find her.

"She will be in deep meditation until the time comes, preparing herself," said Akanah. "This will be very difficult--she must be strong enough to hold the projection even if fighting begins."

"Will you be helping her?"

"She has not asked that of me."

"Do you think that I can?"

"Ask me, or help her?"

"Help," he said.

"No. You have great power, Luke, but this is not a work of power.

When you lay your touch on the Current, it is still a thousand times too forceful."

He digested that in silence. "Did you know that there's a Fallana.s.si aboard Pride of Yevetha? At least, that's how I sort it out, going by Chewbacca's account.

A woman named Enara." He shook his head. "They had to have some kind of help. Going in there like that was crazy. Wookiee-crazy, the kind that comes from an excess of courage and a shortage of patience."

"Yes, I know," Akanah said.

"Will she be able to help Wialu?"

"I do not think so."

Luke frowned. "You seem to have gotten a lot more reluctant to talk to me since we reached J't'p'tan."

"Circ.u.mstances have changed," Akanah said with a small, rueful smile.

"Because Wialu is watching and listening?"

"We have lost more than privacy," she said. "We are no longer moving in the same direction."

"If you know that, you know more than I do about where I'm headed,"

Luke said, pulling a chair toward him and sitting down on it backward.

"I have more questions now than ever."

"You must be greatly tempted to try to force Wialu to answer them,"

Akanah said.

"An occasional, resistible temptation," Luke admitted.

"I know better."

"It would be an immeasurable mistake."

"I know that, too," he said. "But you could answer some of my questions-- as my teacher."

Eyes downcast, Akanah shook her head. "I don't think so, Luke."

"Because of what Wialu said about your not having the right to? She said you were a child yourself--" "She was right," Akanah said. "I told you on the day we met that I was incomplete--that there was a weakness, an empty s.p.a.ce, in me--that the loss of what my mother would have taught me had left me less than whole."

"I suppose you did," Luke said. "I guess at the time, I paid more attention to what you were saying about me."

"It was easy enough for me to forget myself," said Akanah. "But even a short time with Nori was enough to show me how far I have strayed without guidance.

These days in Wialu's company have shown me how far I have to go to return to the path."

"Your mother--Talsava--is she with the Circle?"

"No," Akanah said. "When we are finished here, I will ask Norika to be my teacher."

Luke folded his arms on the back of the chair and rested his chin on them. "So your journey is over."

She shook her head. "It is just beginning. I know that I must go back and unlearn before I can move forward again. Do not envy me too much, Luke."

Luke answered with a tight-lipped smile. "A momentary self-indulgence," he said. "Well, I suppose I can't ask you to work with me on the skill of concealment."

"You will need another teacher if you choose to follow this path and become an adept of the Current," she said, her expression earnest. "I hope that you will.

You have great strength, Luke, but you hunger for lightness.

That is part of the gift that you have been denied."

Frowning, Luke straightened his back and caught the top edge of the chair in his hands. "Maybe you can answer this question, at least--if Enara could conceal the Falcon and create phantom hostages, why couldn't she protect Shoran?"

"I am sorry for your friend's loss," Akanah said, then paused. "I do not know the limits of Enara's skill.

But creating a reflection from the surface of the Current and merging nearby objects with the Current are very different tasks. It is terribly difficult to do both at the same time. And there is something else--a person does not stay settled in the flow the way an object without volition will."

Luke's eyes lit up. "Is that why the Circle is still at J't'p'tanmwhat you meant when you said they couldn't leave?" he asked.

"Because it sounds as if the Fallana.s.si could hide the temple from the Yevetha and go away, and it would stay hidden--" "Yes. Objects which are at rest, or which follow the current without resisting it, will remain merged until they are disturbed," she said. "All of the effort comes at the beginning, and a single adept can manage it. But hiding the community of H'kig requires the constant attention of a great many adepts, and the effort is never-ending."

As he listened to her, Luke experienced a flash of intuitive insight.

"Yes. Yes, that's the only way it could be. Do you--" "I have already said too much," she said, shaking her head. "Please, Luke, ask me no more questions.

Answering you and refusing you bring me equal burdens of guilt."

"I'm sorry," Luke said. "I understand."

"You understand, and you used it to get your answer," Akanah said sharply. Then she showed a quick smile, taking the sting out of the rebuke. "Please, Luke--go now."

"All right," he agreed, standing and replacing the chair where it had been. But when he reached the cabin door, he stopped and looked back.

"I'm sorry. I have to ask one more."

She nodded wordlessly, as though she had expected it.

"Did you see Nas.h.i.+ra on J't'p'tan?"

"No," Akanah said with regret. "I do not know where she is."

It was decided early that the "phantom fleet" bluff should be played where it would have the most impact--in the light of N'zoth's sun, over the capital of the Duskhan League and the home of Viceroy Nil Spaar.

"It's the strongest Yevethan fleet we've located especially in the wake of the rescue of the commodore," Corgan explained at the strategy session where the a.s.sault plans were first disclosed "If the Yevetha are still monitoring developments on Coruscant through their spy network, they know that the President's sending us reinforcements, and that'll help sell the bluff.

"We've planned a feint at Doornik Three-nineteen for the day before, just to keep them jumpy and maybe draw off a s.h.i.+p or two from somewhere else. And on the big day, we'll turn out in strength at Wakiza, Tizon, and Z'fell, plus go after the s.h.i.+pyard that just turned up near Tholaz.

But the big play is at N'zoth--that's where we have to break them, one way or another."

Taking Intrepid to N'zoth meant a transfer for Hang from the flags.h.i.+p's medical ward to a medical frigate delegated to stay behind with the other noncombatants.

The transfer, in turn, meant the first conscious moments for Han since he had come aboard.

Both Chewbacca and Luke took advantage of the opportunity. The Wookiee had an emotional reunion With Han while the doctors and K-1B gave him a quick but thorough hands-on exam. Luke did not intrude on that time, waiting instead to hitch a ride with Han on the transfer shuttle.

"Hey," said Han, craning his head at the sound of Luke's voice. "I used to know a guy who looked just like you."

"Whatever happened to him, anyway?" Luke bantered back, finding a perch beside the stretcher and catching Han's right hand in his own.

"How are you doing?"

"You know you're getting old when you start wondering about what it is that's finally going to kill you," Han said with a pained grin. "I guess I'm gonna have to sit this one out, eh?"

"Unless we have a sudden need for underwater commandos," Luke said.

"They tell me you're due for another five days in the tank."

Han's countenance darkened with concern. "Say, do you think you could use your powers of persuasion to get 'em to let me talk to Leia before they dunk me back under? Has anyone told her--" "Already set up for you, Commodore, as soon as we reach the frigate," said the doctor seated at the head of the stretcher, monitoring the readouts.

"Of course she was told," Luke said. "The general sent a message as soon as you were aboard, and Chewie talked to her later."

Luke saw that Han noted the omission. "Well, when you talk to her, make sure you mention I was bothering the lady doctors---otherwise she'll worry," he said. "Say, how about Chewie's kid? He sure hit his growth, didn't he? Chewie said this was some sort of rite of pa.s.sage, and he's taken a new name-- Lumpawaroo, I think it was."

"With Waroo as the familiar," said Luke. "I think it means 'son of courage."" "Well, that fits--both ways," Han said. "They said back there that Waroo will be coming over to the frigate, too. I think that leaves the Falcon one hand short."

"I don't think I'm welcome to sign on," said Luke, squeezing and then releasing Han's hand. "Chewbacca seems to think I abandoned you to the Yevetha."

"Aw, he'll get over it. He's still wound up, that's all. I couldn't talk him out of going back to N'zoth with you--figures he owes it to Shoran."

"There's no arguing with a Wookiee," Luke said.

"He'll be all right. There won't be enough shooting to worry about."

"Why's that?"

At that point, the doctor saw on his displays the same fatigue Luke was seeing on Han's face and ordered an end to the conversation. They completed the trip to the frigate in silence, save for the off-key humming of the shuttle pilot and the wheeze at the end each time Han exhaled. The last third of the run, it seemed as though Han was asleep.

But when the hatch had opened and the orderlies were unstrapping the stretcher to carry Han out, he opened his eyes and found Luke with a steady gaze.

"Hey--kid."

"What?"

"You'd have come for me if you knew, right?"

"You know I would," Luke said. Then he grinned crookedly. "It's a bad habit from the old days."

Han let his head loll back and his eyes close. "You can keep that one," he said. "Give the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds h.e.l.l, kid.

They've earned it."

The final tactical conference for Strong Hand included not only the commanders of all sixteen battle groups--by hypercomm holo link, as the groups were already staged to their jump points--but also Luke, Wialu, and A'baht's five senior aides.

"Here's the good news," said Colonel Corgan.

"Not only did the feint at Doornik Three-nineteen go off without any losses, but we got a free shot at an outbound Fat Man in the bargain, and made the most of it. Primary credit for the kill goes to Captain Ssiew and Thunderhead, and I'd like to tip my hat to them for showing us the way."

"Here's the interesting news," said Colonel Mauit'ta. "Looking at the data from today's action together with the clash at ILC-Nine-oh-five, we now believe that the Yevetha have their own game of where's-the-candy under way. That is, we are now ninety percent convinced that there are two versions of the Yevethan T-type--one a capital wars.h.i.+p, and the other an unarmed transport. At this point, we're still looking for tip-offs to provide to your sensor crews. But we believe the risks would justify following a simple rule of thumb: Don't bother firing on any targets that aren't firing on you."

"Here's the bad news," said General A'baht. "The last survey of the N'zoth and Z'fell systems show that the Yevethan fleets there continue to be reinforced by s.h.i.+ps coming in from elsewhere in Koornacht Cl.u.s.ter.

N'zoth is now at forty-six capital s.h.i.+ps and Z'fell thirty-four.

That means that if they call our bluff and we end up in a tussle, we'll have only about a six-to-five edge--which could go to even odds by the time we get there.

We will get one more snapshot from our stasis probes just before the jump-out." He looked down the table at Wialu. "A lot's riding on you, madam. If there's any reason to think---"

"I am ready," she said quietly.

"Then we go at the times established in revision nine of the coordinated plan," said A'baht. "Good luck to us all--and if luck disappoints us, then good hunting to us all." As the holos began dissolving, one after another, A'baht leaned toward Luke. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

This conversation truly was private--just Luke and the general, alone behind the closed door of A'baht's office.

"I've been holding off saying anything about this, thinking I'd let you come to me on your own and let me know what sort of role you wanted to have in this," said A'baht. "But we're getting close to the end of the talking, so I'll get right to the point. If this comes to a shooting war, I'd like to have the benefit of your experience and leaders.h.i.+p.