Part 17 (2/2)
”You tracked them?”
”How else would we know where to find her?” Somoril replied reasonably.
”So now, Captain, you have a decision to make.”
”You realize what you're suggesting,” Ozzel said, his voice sounding strange in his ears. ”You're talking about killing an Imperial agent. A woman who gets her orders from Palpatine himself.”
”A girl who gets those orders,” Somoril corrected. ”She's barely had time to finish her training, let alone build up any real field experience.”
”She's an Imperial agent.”
”Stop saying that,” Somoril growled. ”This is a dangerous life she's chosen for herself. Agents in the field die all the time.”
”So why didn't you deal with her when she was here?” Ozzel demanded.
”What, in front of potentially hundreds of witnesses?” Somoril countered contemptuously. ”Besides, at the time I didn't know how close to the trail she was sniffing. Now we do.”
Ozzel exhaled noisily. But the colonel was right. Terribly, horribly right. ”How do you propose we proceed?”
”As I said, an agent's life is dangerous,” Somoril said. ”You never know when you might get caught up at the wrong end of a military action.” He lifted his eyebrows. ”The sort of action that might occur if a patrolling Star Destroyer happened on data pointing to a suspected pirate nest.”
For a long minute the two men gazed across the desk at each other. Then, slowly, Ozzel reached to his intercom. ”This is the captain,” he announced grimly. ”Set course for the Gepparin system. Get us under way as soon as the hyperdrive's up to full power.”
He got an acknowledgment and keyed off. ”I presume you've also calculated how far behind her we'll be?”
”No more than a few hours,” Somoril a.s.sured him. ”Brock and Gilling can easily keep her away from any HoloNet transmitters that long.” He stood up. ”With your permission, Captain, I'll go see if I can search out any further details on what our five deserters have been doing.”
He gave a slight bow and turned to the door. ”What would you have done if I'd said no?” Ozzel called after him.
Somoril didn't turn around. ”I'd have sent one of my own s.h.i.+ps to deal with her,” he said. ”And I would have had utter contempt for you for the rest of your days.”
Ozzel snorted. ”Don't you mean for the rest of your days?”
”Not at all,” Somoril said quietly. ”I have the feeling your life would have ended up being significantly shorter than mine.”
Chapter Eleven.
Chivkyrie's s.h.i.+p, by prearrangement, was already waiting when Leia's courier s.h.i.+p dropped out of hypers.p.a.ce over the uninhabited rendezvous planet. Two other vessels were also in sight, running in parallel orbits: the two Rebellion leaders who had come to argue against whatever this plan was Chivkyrie had come up with. Gazing out her viewport, taking deep, steadying breaths the way her father had taught her, Leia watched as her pilot eased them alongside Chivkyrie's s.h.i.+p. It's just another negotiation, she told herself firmly. Like hundreds she'd partic.i.p.ated in during her career.
But there was something ominous about this one, an odd uneasiness that refused to go away. Distantly, she wished Luke was with her. Or even Han.
She hadn't had much occasion to deal with Adarians when she was in the Imperial Senate-their interests and those of Alderaan had seldom coincided. But since joining the Rebellion she'd been forced by necessity to learn more about their customs and psychology. Living through a war, her father had once said, forced one to learn geography. Partic.i.p.ating in a war, Leia had discovered, forced one to learn people.
The welcoming ritual aboard Chivkyrie's s.h.i.+p was short but densely layered with history and custom and significance, and Leia was exceedingly glad she'd made a point of studying the ceremony ahead of time. She made it through with only a few small errors, all of them due to the fact that her human vocal apparatus couldn't quite hit some of the Adarese words.
”You grace my s.h.i.+p and my company with your courtesy,” Chivkyrie said when the ceremony was over, his Adarian mouth mangling the Basic words almost as badly as Leia had done with his language. ”Allow me to present the other leaders who seek your wisdom.” He gestured to a Mungra with piercing orange eyes standing to his left. ”This is Ydor Vokkoli, leader of the Freedonna Kaisu.”
”Leader Vokkoli,” Leia said, nodding a greeting to him. Mungras were one of the two species native to Shelsha sector, a people who had already created a realm of a dozen interstellar colonies when the Great Exploration of the galaxy had begun millennia ago.
”Princess Organa,” Vokkoli said, bowing his s.h.a.ggy maned head in return.
”And this is Thillis Slanni of the s.h.i.+ning Hope,” Chivkyrie continued, gesturing to a tall Is.h.i.+ Tib to his right.
[Though I am not the leader, but merely the director of planning,] Slanni corrected in the complex series of squeals, honks, and beak-clicks that made up the Tibranese language.
”I understand,” Leia said, nodding. ”The organizational skill of your people is well known. I'm pleased to have both you and Leader Vokkoli here to help guide my decision.”
”A decision that may mean life or death for us all,” Vokkoli rumbled.
So much for small talk. ”Then let's sit down and discuss it,” Leia said.
”Leader Chivkyrie, if you'll show us the way?”
The conference room was down the corridor from the entryway and featured the stepped floor and multilevel tiered conference table typical of Adarian design. Chivkyrie escorted Leia to the highest part of the table, then took a seat at the next level down. Vokkoli took the chair opposite him, at the same table level, while Slanni sat one level below Vokkoli on his side.
It was an odd setup, Leia had often thought, and in long meetings tended to give the partic.i.p.ants vertigo and stiff necks. Still, she had to admit that it made it abundantly clear where everyone stood on the issue at hand.
”First of all,” she said after Chivkyrie's servants had laid out drinks and plates of nibblings on each of the occupied tiers, ”I need to know from you, Leader Chivkyrie, the details of this plan you're proposing.”
”It is simplicity itself,” Chivkyrie said. ”I do not understand how anyone cannot see the vast potential for benefit-”
”We'll discuss the benefits in a moment,” Leia interrupted him smoothly.
”First, I need to know about the plan itself.”
Chivkyrie looked across the table at his fellow Rebels, the light peeking through the aeration hole in his elongated skull as he did so. ”I propose to bring Shelsha sector to the side of the Rebellion.” He looked at Leia.
”The entire sector.”
”Interesting,” Leia said, keeping her diplomat's face firmly in place.
”How exactly would this be achieved?”
”That is the most delicious part of the plan,” Chivkyrie said. ”We-the Rebel Alliance-would need do very little. It is Governor Ch.o.a.rd himself who has proposed this.”
”He's said as much to you?” Leia asked.
”Not the governor personally,” Chivkyrie said ”But I've spoken at length with his a.s.sistant, Chief Administrator Vilim Disra. He a.s.sures me Governor Ch.o.a.rd has r already set in motion a plan for Shelsha to withdraw from the Empire and declare its independence.”
[Which is not the same as stating Shelkonwa will, in fact, join the Rebellion as an active member,] Slanni pointed out.
”Chief Administrator Disra has a.s.sured me that will be the next step,”
Chivkyrie said. ”Governor Ch.o.a.rd has become increasingly appalled by the horrors of Imperial Center's rule, and understands that joining the Rebellion is the only answer.”
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