Part 11 (1/2)
”So how does kidnapping Cundertol help you, then? He's all for an alliance with the P'w'eck. They'd make viable alternatives to the Galactic Alliance and give you a fighting chance of defending Bakura against a Yuuzhan Vong attack.”
”Exactly!” she said. ”That's why it makes no sense for me to have kidnapped Cundertol in the first place.”
”But you could have ordered it-”
”No,” Malinza cut in firmly. ”I didn't. Just because I'm young doesn't make me automatically stupid!”
”I'm not saying-”
”Maybe not, but you're still listening to what they're telling you-and they're telling you that I'm stupid.” A humorless laugh broke her somber mood. ”Then again, to have attempted a stunt like that, perhaps they're right.”
”You're not stupid, Malinza,” Jaina tried to rea.s.sure her, but the girl didn't seem to hear.
”I keep trying to explain that the goal of Freedom is simply to kick the New Republic off Bakura. We don't use violence, and we certainly don't kidnap people. Call us idealistic if you want, but we do have principles. The last thing we want to see is the old regime replaced with one equally as bad.” Jaina's mind boggled at the thought of sixteen people attempting to take on a galactic civilization. It smacked of either madness or incredible bravery.
”How did you ever hope to succeed?”
”Ah, well, there's the thing,” Malinza answered with a half smile.
”You see, we had some funding from private sources, and with that money we were able to dig deep into the infrastructure, looking for things that might a.s.sist us: evidence of corruption, brutality, nepotism, and so on.
You'd be surprised what we turned up.” Jaina seriously doubted that; she'd heard plenty about dodgy politicians over the years from her mother. ”Who funded you?”
”They would consider that private, I'm sure,” Malinza said firmly.
”Especially where you are concerned.” Jaina respected Malinza's reticence on the matter, but quietly suspected that the Peace Brigade might have been involved at some point in the past. Such an underground organization would be just the thing for stirring up dissent. ”You say you're not into violence, Malinza, but what about the others?”
”None of the sixteen core members of Freedom was into violence. It wasn't our style. But...”
”But?”
”Well, there were others who joined us,” she said.
”And it's possible that they might have had violent intentions. In fact, with some of them I'd have to say that violence was high on their agenda. But we didn't encourage them to stay.”
”So who else would join?”
”All sorts, really. Not all of Freedom's actions were covert; we had a recruiting front and our policies were well known. This is a democracy, right?
Or it's supposed to be. Some of our members were bored with their everyday lives and were looking for excitement. Sometimes we'd get people coming over from similar underground movements.” She shrugged. ”Ever since the P'w'eck arrived, we've attracted all sorts of malcontents.”
”Why is that?”
”Well, for one thing, my involvement in Freedom was never a secret, and I have some sort of profile with the media because my mother was once prime minister.
We've had cranks trying to come along for the ride since we started, but they've always been easy to weed out. Until recently, anyway.” She looked down at her lap. ”It was getting hard to control, to be honest. The anti-P'w'eck movement made it clear that if we weren't with them, then we were against them. As I said, I'm not a xenophobe; I think the P'w'eck could be a good thing for Bakura.
I don't want to be against anyone, really, because that makes them against me.
The Balance kicks back just as hard as we lash out. And trust me, I have no desire to get kicked again.”
”I think I'm starting to understand that,” Jaina said. And she was.
She didn't necessarily believe everything Malinza had said, but she also didn't believe that the girl was the sort to order kidnappings and murders to further her cause. ”So why do you really think you're in here, then?” she added.
'We were too good at what we did,” Malinza said. ”We were making too many inroads. We'd uncovered some dirt on a few Senators and threatened to go public with the information.”
”Blackmail?”
”Is it blackmail if you're acting in the public's best interests?”
Malinza shrugged. ”Whatever. They were getting nervous, but they couldn't put us away without whipping up an even bigger storm. We hadn't done anything really wrong, you see. It would have been difficult for them to incarcerate us for very long, because once we made their secrets known then public sympathy would have been on our side. So we reached a kind of impa.s.se, I guess. It was only a matter of waiting to see who snapped first.”
”During which time you kept digging for more dirt, I presume,”
Jaina said.
”Which means that if they don't genuinely think you kidnapped Cundertol, then you must have uncovered something new that they very much wanted kept quiet.”
”If we did, then I honestly have no idea what it could've been.”
Malinza shook her head again. ”We were tracing some financial deal that went through just after the P'w'eck arrived. An awful lot of money went off-world, but we couldn't work out who was behind it or where it was going. It looked like some sort of commercial transaction, and may well have been just that. The fact that the endpoints had been obscured made us wonder.” She looked at Jaina, eyes narrowed slightly. ”Your Galactic Alliance isn't looking for money now, is it?”
”No. Not from Bakura, anyway.” Taking money from Bakura would have been like taking small change from a child in order to finance a stars.h.i.+p purchase. ”It could have been legit, as you say.” Malinza nodded, taking in the confines of the cell with one sweeping gesture.
”Nevertheless, here I am.” She paused, fixing Jaina with a sober stare. ”I'm not responsible for Cundertol's kidnapping, I swear. But that's not going to stop the people behind this. They never let the truth get in the way of what they want.”
”If you didn't do it, they won't be able to make the charges stick.” Malinza laughed. ” You're a.s.suming I'm going to get a fair trial.” She shook her head. ”There's bound to be circ.u.mstantial evidence.” Perhaps the young woman was right, Jaina thought, recalling Blaine Harris's certainty over Malinza's guilt on announcing the news of her capture. On the other hand, though, there was also Cundertol's reaction on hearing the news to consider. Clearly, he hadn't been as convinced as Harris had.
”The Prime Minister's testimony will count for something,” she said by way of rea.s.suring Malinza. ”He was there, after all. If he doesn't think it was you, then I doubt they'd ever be able to convict.”
”Maybe,” Malinza said faintly. Some of the fire had gone out of her; she looked more than ever like a lonely, frightened teenager caught out of her depth. ”I just have to have faith in the Balance. If a wrong is done to me now, then some good will come of it another day. That's some comfort, at least.” A very lonely one, Jaina thought. But then, perhaps Malinza's belief in the Balance was no less lonely than Jaina's own faith in the Force.
She stood, glancing at her chronometer. It was well past midnight, and her parents would be starting to get worried. ”I should go now.”
”But you haven't told me why you're here yet,” Malinza protested.
”I'm just doing my job,” Jaina said with a smile. ”You know what Jedi are like: we're always getting in the way.”
”As well as always getting their way.” The smile was halfheartedly returned. Then it was lost altogether. ”I have to admit I would be glad to be out of here.” Jaina nodded sympathetically. ”I'll see what I can do about that.” She palmed the green CALL b.u.t.ton and faced Malinza one last time. ”Maybe we can apply some pressure to get your hearing processed more quickly and-” She broke off. The door had opened onto an empty corridor.
”That's strange,” she muttered. Malinza peered past her. ”What is?”
”The guards said they'd escort me out of here.” Jaina stepped cautiously out of the cell, every nerve screaming trap. ”But there's no one. Not even so much as a droid.” Malinza joined her outside the cell.
Jaina could tell from the girl's expression that she was as surprised as Jaina that no sirens sounded when she did this. Surprise soon became excitement, though. ”It's Vyram!” she said. ”It has to be!”
”Who?”
”He's one of Freedom's core members,” Malinza said. ”In fact, he's what you'd call the brains behind the group. If anyone could slice into the system and get me out of here, it would be him.”