Part 27 (1/2)
”Then perhaps you will consider offering us a position outside your organization,” Gethzerion said.
”I don't understand.”
”You are at war with the galactic New Republic. It is a foe so widespread that you cannot defeat it. I have foreseen it. Therefore, perhaps you would consider giving us access to travel to the New Republic worlds. You could name the star cl.u.s.ter. There the Nightsisters would carve out a niche for themselves, carving into the heart of your enemies, never to bother you again.”
Zsinj folded his hands in his lap, sat thinking again. He studied Gethzerion's face for a long moment. ”It is an intriguing offer. How many of your sisters would need transport?”
”Sixty-four,” Gethzerion answered.
”How soon would you be ready to leave?”
”In four hours.”
”We will work the exchange this way,” Zsinj said. ”I will drop two transports on your grounds in four hours. One s.h.i.+p will be unarmed, the other will be armed to the teeth.
”You will bring Han Solo to the armed transport, alone. The transport will depart with General Solo, and you will then be free to board the remaining s.h.i.+p, and leave for a destination that I will choose. Agreed?”
After a moment of reflection, Gethzerion nodded, ”Yes, yes. That would be quite adequate. Thank you, Lord Zsinj.”
Both holographs faded, and Han looked around the room at the faces of the witches. ”Bah!” one old woman growled. ”Both of them are liars.
Gethzerion does not have Han or anything else to offer Zsinj, and Zsinj has no intention of releasing this planet or of letting Gethzerion leave.”
”Did you read him,” Augwynne asked, ”or is this a guess?”
”No, of course I couldn't read him,” the old woman said, ”but Zsinj lies so poorly, one does not have to.”
”He's no diplomat, that's for sure,” Leia said.
Augwynne shot her a curious glance. ”What do you mean by that?” '
”Simply that Zsinj is rumored to be a pathological liar, yet even with all his practice, he sure seems transparent.”
”Yes,” Augwynne said. ”I agree. Plots within plots. Perhaps this Zsinj is more devious than you imagine.”
”Maybe Zsinj is bluffing,” Isolder said. ”He's built his...o...b..tal nightcloak, but those satellites up there would be pretty easy to knock down.”
”You're right?” Leia agreed. ”What did Zsinj say? He called it a chain of satellites.”
”Meaning it can be broken,” Han said. ”Like a string of lights in sequence. You shoot down one or two satellites, and the system could collapse.”
”I could go up and knock out some satellites with my fighter,” Isolder said. He was volunteering for tough duty, Han knew. Zsinj had well over a dozen destroyers up there to protect his nightcloak. A lone fighter didn't stand much of a chance, unless it could knock out some satellites and then run for hypers.p.a.ce.
”It doesn't sound like much of a weapon,” Leia said, considering. ”Any planet with s.p.a.ceflight capabilities, or even a radio to call for help?”
”Would be able to fight against them,” Augwynne said. ”And so the weapon is good only for subjugating planets like Dathomir, primitive worlds without technology. Here, it is adequate.”
”Three days,” Isolder grunted, staring into the fire.
”What's in three days?” Augwynne asked.
”We only need to make it through three more days,” Isolder said, ”and my fleet will arrive. If we can take control of this planet, even for a single day, we could evacuate.”
”We don't have that long,” Han argued. ”In three days, if that orbital nightcloak stays up, this planet will pretty much be a chunk of ice. And don't forget, this is still my planet. I'm not going to let that happen!”
”Yeah,” Isolder admitted, ”I'm sure you'll think of something. But even if you don't, at least we could get the people off.”
Augwynne said hopefully, ”Do you think so? Our people are very scattered.”
”And when temperatures start hitting a hundred below,” Leia said, ”they're going to hole up in caves, burrowing as deep as they can get.”
Han considered. There was no way they could wait for three days. Someone needed to get up there soon and take out some of those satellites, bring down the nightcloak long enough to stall Zsinj. With a great deal of luck, Han thought, I might even be able to fly Leia out of here. He imagined flying through the satellite net, blowing away a few satellites, then trying to blast free of the planet. But the fact was, once he began firing on those satellites, he'd have to vector off to follow their orbital path, and he'd have to maintain a slow attack speed to hit those satellites.
Considering the firepower up there, whoever tried to take out those satellites would be committing suicide.
He looked at Isolder, and the prince stared at him, and Han knew they were waiting for one another to volunteer. ”Should we draw straws?” Han asked.
”Sounds fair enough,” Isolder admitted, biting his lower lip.
”Wait a minute,” Leia said. ”There's got to be another answer! Isolder, what about your fleet? You left the same time that they did. Is there any possibility that they could get here sooner?”
Isolder shook his head. ”If they stay to the prescribed route, no. Those s.h.i.+ps are worth trillions. You don't fly that kind of equipment through hazardous routes.”
Isolder was right, of course. More than one general in history had sent fleets through proscribed routes, hoping to shave a few pa.r.s.ecs off their trip so that they could win some advantage through surprise, only to find that their entire fleets got wiped out by flying through an asteroid belt.
Han glanced toward the stone door, realized he was waiting for Luke, and he shook his head. It wasn't like a Jedi to leave them all hanging, and Han felt more than a little worried. He fought the impulse to run down the mountain, shouting Luke's name. Leia folded her arms across her stomach, almost in a fetal gesture.
Han felt pulled in several directions at once?he wanted to find Luke, even if only to find him dead. He wanted to fly out of here and blow some satellites out of the sky. But what he did was go to Leia, wrap his arms around her shoulders.
She began to sob, her chest heaving. ”He's not here,” she said. ”I can't feel him. He's not here anymore.”
”Hey,” Han said, wanting to offer some words of comfort, knowing that he could say nothing. Leia's ability to sense Luke's presence, to touch his feelings and know his thoughts, was too strong to doubt. Leia began shaking, and Han kissed her forehead. ”It will be all right,” Han said.
”I'll . . . I'll?” He could see no way out, nothing left that he could do.
Suddenly, something shoved its way into his consciousness, as if an invisible hand had pushed through his skull. It was an odd sensation that left him feeling violated, dizzy. Very clearly, an image formed in Han's mind, a vision of dozens of men and women in orange coveralls, standing in a well-lighted room. They were looking up curiously, gazing around at walkways above them. On the walkways stood stormtroopers with blaster rifles. Han recognized the prison.
General Solo, Gethzerion's voice crawled through his mind. I hope you will find this amusing. As you see, I am here at the prison with dozens of your kind below me. I trust that you are a compa.s.sionate man, a caring man. I suspect you are.
As you know, I have struggled through various means to cause you to come to me. Perhaps this will convince you.
A hand waved in front of his face, a hand partly concealed by a black robe, and Han perceived that he was viewing the scene through Gethzerion's eyes. The stormtroopers looked at her waving hand, began firing into the crowd. Men and women screamed and scattered, trying to run from the blaster fire, but the gates back to the cell blocks had closed, and they could not escape.
Han threw his arm in front of his eyes, tried to blind himself to the atrocities, but the vision persisted. He could not close his eyes against it, for the vision remained even when his eyes shut. Nor could he turn away, for the images followed him: a woman ran shrieking below the parapet, and Han saw Gethzerion's hand go up, blaster aimed as if he were staring through the laser sights, and she snapped a shot into the woman's back. Gethzerion's victim spun with the impact of the blast, then collapsed, stunned, as Gethzerion pulled off another shot. A man beside the dying woman raised his clasped hands, pleading for Gethzerion to spare them. The witch fired high into his right leg and the prisoner was thrown to the floor to die slowly as he bled to death.
These fifty people are already dead, Gethzerion said, forcing Han to continue viewing the murders. They die because of your stubbornness. When my stormtroopers finish with them, I will round up five hundred more just like them, bring them to this room to die.
But you can save them, General Solo. I will send a Nightsister to pick you up at the foot of the fortress in my personal hover car. If you are not there to meet her in one hour, then those five hundred people will die, and you will get the privilege of watching. If you do not surrender after that, you will watch the deaths of another five hundred, and another. As I said, I trust that you are a compa.s.sionate man.
At first Leia thought Han was crying when he backed away, covering his eyes with his arm, but then he gasped for breath and his muscles went rigid. He gazed around the room, unseeing, and she'd never witnessed such a look of utter desolation in his eyes.