Part 29 (1/2)

Micamberlecto was in his office, where they had watched the torchlight parade. By the time they got there, fire was once again visible from the widnow, but this time it was the Selonian Enclave burning. Back then the office had been calm, quiet, dark. Now it was the brighfly lit center of a madhouse, of aides rus.h.i.+ng in and out, a.s.sistants shouting into phones, two men in navy uniforms setting up a large-scale wall map of the city. And, not to Han's surprise, several of last night's supposed trade delegates were in the thick of it, helping to work the com system. Well, no pomt in the NRI agents sticking to their cover stories now.

”It's everywhere, everywhere,” the governor-general said to Han and Leia as they came in. ”Not just here in Coronet, but all over the planet. The other planets, other planets, too.”

”Where and when did it start?” Han asked.

”It seems as if the first incident was in Bela Vistal's Selonian neighborhood about eight hours ago. Somebody threw a punch, and that began it, began it. But since then, everywhere. Drall attacking Selonians, both attacking humans, and humans attacking, humans attacking everywhere.

Here, on Drall and Selonia, and we're getting the first reports of trouble on Tralus and Talus.”

”You're right, Han,” Leia said. ”The timing is too tight, too perfect. Someone had this all set to go, and sent the go code the minute we met with Mara.”

”Yes, yes,” said Micamberlecto. ”That is my conclusion also.”

”What about the CDF?” Han asked. Yesterday he had decided that he trusted them. But today nothing was for sure.

”Almost all the ground forces are still with us, still with us, loyal to the Republic. But I have not been able to contact anyone in authority in the s.p.a.ceside, s.p.a.ceside service.”

”And it was the s.p.a.ceside CDF that set up that phony attack on us,”

Han said. ”Forget them as an a.s.set, Governor. They aren't yours anymore. They never were yours.”

A com panel lit on the Governor's desk, and Micamberlecto pressed the answer b.u.t.ton. ”This is the Governor,” he said.

”Sir, this is Captain Boultan, CDF groundside.”

Gwunnsi&, Han thought. The loyalist faction. It would seem the CDF had aleady found names for the two sides.

”My unit was attempting to get to the CDF barracks in the navy yard to collect our riot equipment. The s.p.a.ceside service has secured the base. I'm pretty sure that I saw people in New Republic uniforms a.s.sisting them.”

”The navy?” Leia asked. ”The na't has gone over?”

”No,” Han said. ”Just the navy yard has, though that's bad enough.

Don't forget that used to be the Imperial Navy Yard. lots of ex-Imperial military enlisted in the Republic Navy are here in Corellia Now we know why.” Han turned toward the governor-general. ”What about the civilian s.p.a.ceport?” he asked.

Micamberlecto shook his head. ”1 don't know,” he said.

”It's hard to know anything. Too little staff. They are all here, working, and all loyal and trusted, but half the com systems are down. We are helpless, helpless to do more than watch.”

Han looked at the Governor-General, and knew Micamberlecto was right.

There was nothing he could do but go to the window and watch his planet burn.

Within a few hours, enough information had come in so that it was at least possible to get a clearer picture of the confused situation. It was soon apparent that the human rebels, the Human League, had indeed been waiting for the signal to start a fight. However, their Drall and Selonia enemies had been ready and waiting for them, much to the apparent surprise of the Leaguers.

In the city of Coronet, it looked as if the Selonian and Drallan Enclaves had managed to throw back the league for the moment, but only just. There was no clear information from Bela Vistal or any of the other large cities on Corellia There were only scattered reports of fighting on Drall and Selonia as yet, but no hard information.

The situation on the Double Worlds was more complicated. On Talus, a mixed force of Drall and humans seemed to be fighting off a savage Selonian attack, if the broadcasts were to be trusted. A humaniDrall coalition was holding Centerpoint Station. But on Tralus, the Selonians and Drall were making common cause against the humans.

The short form was that all three sides-human, Selonian, and Drall-were busily engaged in grabbing as much territory as possible, along with whatever s.h.i.+ps and equipment they could.

It was chaos.

Chewbacca roared his frustration and punched another hole in the wall. He picked up a wall lamp and threw it through the hole, and it stuck there, half in and half out of the wall.

”It's okay, Chewbacca,” Jaina said. ”You don't have to be scared.”

Chewbacca bared his teeth and stomped to the other side of the room.

”I don't think he's scared, Jaina,” Jacen said. ”You want to fight, don't you, Chewie?”

The Wookiee nodded vigorously, then threw his hands in the air and roared again.

”I don't know against who, either,” Jacen said. ”Sure looks like everyone is fighting everyone else out there.” Privately, he felt pretty sure that half of Chewbacca's frustration was a direct result of having to play baby-sitter to a bunch of dumb kids, but there didn't seem to be any diplomatic way to say that.

”Do you understand who's fighting who, Ebrihim?”

Jaina asked their tutor. Ebrihim and Q9 were both standing at the window, as they had been most of the morning, watching the disaster unfold.

Ebrihim shook his head sadly. ”I understand, and I do not understand. It is species against species, but I believeno, I know-that the vast majority of all three species would rather live in peace. It is rabble-rousers, fools who only know how to blame others for their own failures, that have started this fighting. But I fear it can only spread. A human will kill a Selonian, and a Selonian will kill a human in revenge-and kill a Deall he dislikes while he is at it.

The Drall will fight back against both, or one or the other.

People will get drawn in, against their will, by ties of blood.”

”I'm scared,” Anakin announced from his seat facing the window.

Jaina came over and sat next to him on the couch. ”It's all right,” she said, repeating what she had said to Chewbacca.

”You don't have to be scared.” Anakin threw his arms around his big sister and she rocked him back and forth.

Apparently the formula worked better on little brothers than Wookiees.

It was at that moment that the first explosion rocked Corona House.

The sound was deafening, so loud that it almost did not seem to be sound at all, and over so suddenly that it was as if they never heard it at all. The whole building shook, and the window blew out. Q9, moving with incredible speed, knocked his master out of the way of the flying gla.s.s, and took most of the force of the blast himself. Anakin wailed in tertor, and buried his head in Jaina's shoulder.

Jacen was knocked flat by the first blast, and had barely gotten to his feet whenBla'n!

Another explosion, sharper and closer, shook the building. He was about to get to his feet again when a huge, furry arm scooped him up.

Jacen looked up to see that Chewbacca already had his brother and sister in his other arm.

The Wookiee roared at Jacen, loud and fast, but he at least managed to get the sense of it.