Rebel Stand Page 7

  Tatooine sail barge. "Leia!" she called. "Leia, it's so grand to see you alive

  and well!"

  "Addath." Leia's tone was so warm as she embraced the larger woman that Han

  couldn't tell whether her affection was genuine or not. "I was so happy to hear

  that you survived."

  "And I, you." Addath beamed down at the smaller woman.

  Han decided that Vannix's Senator was a distinguished-looking woman. She

  was not pretty, but she carried herself with grace and dignity. In contrast with

  the overwhelming gaudiness and complexity of her garments - Han was surprised

  that there were no blinking lights or mechanical toys running about among the

  crimson ruffles and pleats, golden bows and ribbons-her makeup was understated,

  merely illuminating and directing attention to her large, intelligent eyes.

  "Addath, you never had the opportunity to meet my husband, Han Solo."

  "No, but I know him well-doesn't the entire New Republic? - from the

  holodocumentaries and histories, biographies, and holodramas based on his

  exploits," Ad-dath's expression turned sober. "Allow me to offer my condolences

  about young Anakin and Jaccn. I suspect that their sacrifice means that

  countless thousands of others will live, and that is how they will be

  remembered."

  "Thank you." For once, Leia did not offer up her conviction that Jacen was

  alive somewhere. "Addath, I would not impose on your time, but our mission is an

  important one. I don't have access to all the Senatorial records, so I have to

  rely on your help. We need an appointment with Presider Sakins as soon as we can

  arrange or connive one."

  Addath's expression did not change, precisely, but Han saw something happen

  to it, all real cheerfulness disappearing, leaving only a shell behind. Addath

  took Leia by the arm and gently guided her around toward the ceremonial, flag-

  draped landspeeder waiting outside the visitors' bay. As Han and the droids

  turned to follow, the military and civilian escort dropped into step behind

  them. "That will be difficult," Addath said, her voice dripping with poisoned

  sweetness. "A week after Corus-cant fell, Sakins looted the capital treasury,

  taking gems and other valuables dating back thousands of years-a tremendous

  fortune, and one easily transportable-and departed Vannix on the rickety but

  very comfortable military corvette that served as his personal transportation.

  He took his Presider-Aide, his mistresses, his children, and a number of his

  favorite financial supporters with him. I doubt he'll be back."

  "Oh, dear," Leia said. "Who is in charge of planetary government?" She

  boarded the oversized landspeeder ahead of Addath; Han followed the Senator

  aboard and settled in beside her, separated from his wife by the Senator's

  substantial girth.

  "Well, that's not exactly clear," Addath said. She turned her attention to

  the landspeeder pilot. "Presider's residence, please." Then she returned her

  attention to Leia. "I'm more or less in charge of civilian matters. A crusty and

  not-too-bright naval officer named Apelben Werl heads up the military. We're now

  campaigning for a runoff election that will decide which of the two of us will

  be the Presider. You've arrived at a good time; the election is in a matter of a

  few days. The famous Solos might be able to swing the election with a few well-

  managed public appearances, a few kind words."

  "Count on it," Leia said.

  Two hours later-or forty, if you asked Han how long he thought it had been

  since they'd set down-they were left alone in quarters in the Presider's

  residence. The rooms were lavishly decorated in the Vannix style, thick with

  ponderous cushioned couches and chairs in well-coordinated browns and golds,

  every surface covered-ankle-brushing carpeting below, draped curtains on the

  walls, tassels covering every centimeter of the ceiling and making it an ever-

  moving, almost organic overhead view.

  But no viewports. Han settled down onto a couch beside Leia, felt a little

  alarm as he continued to sink for nearly half a meter. "Is this going to support

  me or swallow me?"

  Leia smiled. "Grope around under the cushions and see if you encounter any

  digestive juices."

  "That's the most revolting thing you've said all day.

  And don't these people believe in fresh air? Maybe a balcony?"

  "Sure they do. They believe in other things, too. They're known for the

  adeptness of their politicians and the skills of their snipers, characteristics

  that help keep one another in check."

  "Good point. So let me ask you something important."

  "Sure. But first-" Leia turned to the droids. "Artoo, how about some music?

  Something Coruscanti."

  R2-D2 whistled obligingly. Then from his interior wafted music, an ancient

  Coruscant chamber composition played mostly on strings.

  Han, puzzled, opened his mouth to ask when she'd put a music module in the

  astromech, but Leia placed a hand over his mouth, placed a finger to her own

  lips.

  Then Han heard his own voice coming from the droid, clear and as realistic

  as if Han were standing there. "So when we decide to settle down again, where

  would you like it to be?" Leia's voice was next; "I'm not sure. What if I'm

  needed to help rebuild Coruscant?"

  The real Leia, her voice a faint whisper, said, "Now we can talk."

  Han matched his volume to hers. "That's the conversation we had coming back

  from dropping the Jedi kids off,"

  Leia nodded. "I've been recording us from time to time for situations just

  like this. Each conversation is cued to a different piece of music. It's much

  simpler than hunting down and exterminating all the listening devices that are

  likely to he planted here."

  "Politics..." Han shook his head. "Not my strength.

  Care to let me know what we're looking at here, so I have an idea of what

  to shoot at?"

  Leia nodded and crooked a finger at C-3PO. The protocol droid moved up to

  stand before the couch, and, when Leia beckoned again, leaned forward until his

  golden head made the third point of a triangle with theirs. "Yes, mistress?"

  "Have you been sampling the local information broadcasts?"

  "I have."

  "Can you synopsize the Presider's election and the candidate positions?"

  "There are three candidates, but two are sufficiently out ahead of the

  third so far in pre-election polls that only their participation has any

  meaning," the droid said. "Addath Gadan is a twenty-year representative of

  Vannix before the New Republic Senate, and Admiral Apelben Werl heads the

  planetary system's navy. Since the abdication of the previous Presider, each has

  come to dominate, through political strategems, force of will, and calling due

  of personal markers, ever-greater portions of the planetary infrastructure. It

  is expected that the upcoming election will end the competition between them,

  but it remains possible that the loser in the contest will choose not to accept

  the election results and seize the government by force. Addath Gadan promotes an

  agenda of coopera-tion with and appeasement of the Yuuzhan Vong, while Admiral

  Werl favors military opposition. As is customary
in politics, each supports the

  notion that her election constitutes a mandate of the masses related to these

  pre-eminent campaigning issues rather than a matter of personal charisma."

  "Nicely boiled down," Han whispered. "Can you do the history of the Sith in

  thirty words or less?"

  "Only in the most general terms, sir, and without including most pertinent

  dates and personality profiles-"

  "Han, stop that." Leia scowled at him.

  "Sorry, easy target, I know." Han sighed. "All right. We've actually

  accomplished our number one objective here. If they haven't already, our two

  secret passengers will soon drag their crates of comm gear, weapons, and trade

  goods out of the Falcon and run off to begin setting up a local resistance cell.

  So we could leave tomorrow and consider this mission a success."

  "We could."

  "Bur not with your conscience clean."

  "Or yours either."

  "My conscience is always clean. But we would be leaving the planet in a

  situation where it might elect an appeaser to rule the government, which means

  the day after that the Yuuzhan Vong have another ally in their war on us."

  "That's right."

  "So I expect you'll want to stay for a few days."

  "That's right."

  "And fire a political concussion missile right into the campaign plans of

  your friend."

  Leia nodded, her expression regretful. "Addath is not my friend. She's just

  a politician whose skills I respect. I don't owe her any ill will. But this is

  business, and it's obvious that our interests have gone their separate ways..

  probably forever. We can't let her win, Han. The only question is whether we can

  let this Admiral Werl win, either."

  Han couldn't keep a grin from his face. "Election rigging is illegal, you

  know. Not entirely suited to a law-abiding politician from a good family."

  Leia's smile matched his. "I'm not a politician anymore, Han. I'm just

  pretending to be one. I've come over to the scoundrel side of the Force."

  Han waited for a break in the recorded dialogue issuing from R2-D2, then

  scowled at the droids. "Hey, you two. Go take a walk. Give a couple of

  scoundrels some privacy here."

  Borleias

  "You're the nosebleed guy, aren't you?"

  The voice came from the other side of the blue sheet separating Tam's bed

  from the next one to his left. It was a boy's voice.

  "The 'nosebleed guy'?"

  A small hand pulled the sheet partway aside and Tam could see the speaker,

  a boy of perhaps twelve, brown-haired, blue-eyed, with a cleanly chiseled dimple

  in his chin giving him a surprisingly adult look. "They say that the scarheads

  did awful things to you and when you didn't do what they wanted, it made you

  bleed so bad from your nose you almost died."

  "Well, it's not as simple as that." Tam shrugged, surprised that he wasn't

  annoyed by the boy's prying. "What they did to me makes my head hurt when I

  refuse. My head hurts, my blood pressure goes as high as if my body were a

  compression chamber. That can give me really bad nosebleeds. But the pain is the

  more dangerous part."

  "That's why you have to wear the stupid helmet?"

  "That's why 1 have to wear the stupid helmet." Tam extended his hand. "I'm

  Tam."

  The boy took it. "I'm Tarc. It's not my real name. That's just what

  everybody calls me. Nobody calls me Dab anymore."

  "What are you in here for, Tarc?"

  "You know the other day, when the scarheads made their big attack, and

  Lusankya bombarded their guts out?"

  "I know about it. I fell unconscious just as it was starting."

  "Well, they got close enough to shoot at the main building, and some plasma

  stuff burned through the shields and the wall where I was, and some of it

  splashed on me. My leg got burned." Tarc whipped his sheet off, displaying the

  bandage on his right calf. "But I get out today." His tone suggested that he was

  making a break from prison rather than leaving a hospital.

  "I get out-well, I guess I can leave whenever I want.

  "Then what are you doing here?"

  "No place to go, I guess. No one trusts me. Anyone who does, shouldn't."

  Tam leaned back, grimacing at the painful reality of those words.

  "But you fought back! You won. That's what everyone says."

  "I should have fought back from the start. I should have let it kill me

  before I did anything bad."

  Tarc looked at him, wide-eyed, and then his expression turned to one of

  scorn. "Does everybody just get stupid when they grow up?"

  "What?"

  "You heard me. That's a stupid thing to say."

  "Tarc, listen. I'm just some guy who was of no use to anybody, and then the

  Yuuzhan Vong grabbed me, chewed me up, and spat me out in one of their plots."

  "Yeah, me too."

  Tam gave him a closer look. "Huh?"

  "Me, too. The Yuuzhan Vong grabbed me, chewed me up, and spat me out, just

  like you said." Tarc leaned hack, his weary posture an imitation of Tam's. "I

  look just like Anakin Solo. You know, Han Solo's son. The dead one. On

  Coruscant, this lady spy for the Yuuzhan Vong made me go with her to the Solos

  so they'd be weird and distracted, so she could kidnap Ben Skywalker. Then I

  guess I was supposed to die, but the Solos brought me here, even though it hurts

  their feelings to look at me." He looked away and his face became very still. "I

  don't know where my real family is. Maybe still on Coruscant." He didn't have to

  add, Maybe dead.

  "There aren't a lot of kids here. Not a lot of civilians of any sort. What

  do you do when you're not recovering from burn wounds?"

  Tarc grinned. "I stay with Han and Leia Solo. 'Cept they're gone a lot,

  like now. So I explore." He lost his smile; his expression became melancholy.

  "And I have to study."

  "Not even having a world knocked out from under your feet can change some

  things, Tarc. How would you like to learn to be a holocam operator?"

  "What's that?"

  "Well, anytime you see a holocast, the image is being recorded by a

  holocam. The holocam is worked by a holocam operator. That's what I do."

  "That's... interesting." Tarc sounded dubious.

  "Give it a try. I need to find Wolam Tser and see if he needs my services.

  Want to come along?"

  Tarc's eyes got bigger. "You know Wolam Tser? My parents used to watch him.

  "

  Tam mocked his tone. "You know Han and Leia Solo? Sure, kid. I'm Wolam's

  holocam operator."

  "I'll come along."

  "Good." Tam leaned back and shrugged to himself. Well, at least it would

  give him something to do.

  Yuuzhan Vong Worldship, Coruscant Orbit

  The shaper, Ghithra Dal, looked upon Tsavong Lah's arm and hesitated.

  The warmaster knew the news would be unfavorable. He could feel the

  increased activity of the carrion-eaters in his arm, could see and feel the

  emergence of new spines in the Yuuzhan Vong flesh above the join. "Speak," he

  said. "Your words cannot anger me. Nor your conclusions. If they are presented

  in a quick and correct fashion, you have nothing to fear from me."

  The shaper bowed in gratitude. "It is growing worse, Warmaster. I fear for />
  your arm. All my shaper's arts are not saving it."

  "So I am doomed to become one of the Shamed Ones." Tsavong Lah leaned

  forward on his chair, staring off into the distance, into the future, paying the

  shaper no more mind. "No, that will never happen. When my arm is at its worst,

  but before I am truly among the Shamed, I will offer myself in sacrifice, or

  throw myself against the enemy and die appropriately. My only concern now is to

  support a new warmaster who can lead the Yuuzhan Vong ably and well." He cupped

  his chin in his good hand and considered. "I think Gukandar Huath will serve

  best, don't you?"

  It was a ploy, one that Tsavong Lah would have considered appropriately

  cruel had he merely been offering it for his own amusement, but it had a

  purpose. Gukandar Huath was a fine warrior and war leader, but was well known

  for the support he offered the priests of Yun-Yammka and Yun-Harla, and for his

  barely disguised indifference to the Creator god, Yun-Yuuzhan. If, in fact,

  Ghithra Dal was part of some conspiracy with Yun-Yuuzhan's priests, he would be

  forced now to offer-

  "If I may, Warmaster, I said that the shaper's craft was inadequate to the

  task... not that you were doomed," Ghithra Dal said. "You may have one other

  avenue left to you-and it is an avenue of attack, not an avenue of retreat."

  Tsavong Lah considered the shaper as if he'd just been reminded that he was

  still there. He did not allow any nope to creep into his expression or tone.

  "Speak, my servant."

  Ghithra Dal lowered his tone as if to thwart eavesdroppers. "The shaper's

  arts cannot help you, 1 am certain, because the one force in the universe more

  powerful than those arts afflicts you. The will, the anger of the gods is what

  you suffer."

  "No, Ghithra Dal. I bring victory to the twin gods, and they know that soon

  I will have a twin sacrifice for them. Their priests tell me of the gods'

  pleasure with my successes."

  " Their priests, yes. Their priests rejoice, and the priests of Yun-Yammka

  anticipate your father's victories in the Pyria system, so that they may occupy

  the rich world there. But though they are the gods whose names are most upon the

  lips of our warriors and great leaders, they are not the only gods."