Dark Nest_ The Swarm War Part 25

Leia frowned. "You do?"

"Aaaaffirmative." He nodded for emphasis. "We want to know why."

"Why what?"

"Why the Jedi are forcing the Galactic Alliance to side with the Colony against us."

"We're not," Leia said.

Baltke snorted sadly, then twisted around to look up toward the display screen in the corner. He clicked the comm unit on his lapel. "She's lying. Cut something off this time."

The officer in the vidimage smiled. Then he activated his laser scalpel and pressed the tip to the base of Han's ear.

"I'm not lying." Leia put the Force behind her words. "It's the truth."

"The truth?" Baltke seemed confused, and Leia realized that the belief she was fighting was deeply ingrained. "But the Killiks ambushed us with a brand-new Alliance Star Destroyer at Snevu!"

"Yes, I know," Leia said. "It was the Admiral Ackbar. The Killiks captured her in the Murgo Choke. That was shortly before Admiral Bwua'tu prevented the Colony's battle fleet from leaving the Utegetu Nebula."

"The Killiks? Capturing an Alliance Star Destroyer?" Baltke was clearly having trouble believing this, even under the influence of the mind-weakening drug. "That doesn't seem very likely, Princess."

The officer in the display began to cut into the skin around Han's ear, prompting Han to clench his teeth and tense against his restraints. His head-wisely-remained still.

"You stupid rodder!" Leia yelled. It required all her willpower to keep from Force-choking Baltke to death, but she held herself in restraint. The Noghri had not yet reached Han, or what she was seeing would not be happening. "I saw it with my own eyes. I was there!"

"You were there?" Baltke continued to watch the display screen, his face blank and disinterested, as though he saw someone's ear get detached in slow motion every day. "I'm sure that's why the capture looked so convincing in newsholo footage."

Leia groaned. "Look, I'm never going to convince you that it wasn't staged." She could not take her eyes off Han's anguished face. "So why don't you stop cutting and ask your source?"

"Our source?"

"The person who told you about the Falcon's mission!" Leia said. Whoever that was, he-or she-was also going to pay for what Han was suffering now-a.s.suming Leia could trick Baltke into revealing the traitor's ident.i.ty. "You clearly have good reason to trust your source."

"An excellent suggestion." Baltke nodded a little too enthusiastically. "I'll pa.s.s it along to Commander Fel."

"Maybe you should stop torturing Han until you can confirm my answer." Leia used the Force again, trying to make Baltke think that was a good idea. "I am telling the truth."

Baltke stood and pressed his comlink. "Wait."

Han's torturer glanced over his shoulder, then stopped, the laser scalpel still held to Han's ear.

Leia exhaled in relief. "Thank you," she said. "By the time you get a message to Coruscant, there wouldn't have been enough left of him to-"

"Coruscant?" Baltke asked, looking confused.

"That is where your source is, isn't it?" Leia focused all her attention on Baltke, alert to any hint of deception .. . in his face or in the Force. "Or is he with the fleet?"

"You'd have to ask Captain Fel." Baltke's tone was helpful, as though he really believed Jagged might tell them. "He's the only one who knows who the source is."

Baltke c.o.c.ked his head and frowned, no doubt listening to instructions over a hidden earpiece, and Leia tried not to choke on the growing lump of disappointment in her throat. Even if Baltke was somehow defeating his own truth drug, there was no hint of deception in either his face or the Force. As far as he knew, Jagged Fel was the only person who knew the ident.i.ty of the mission's betrayer.

Baltke's face turned a lighter shade of blue. "You're very clever, Princess-but cleverness carries a price." He depressed his comlink again. "Finish it."

The officer resumed cutting, removing Han's ear, then stepped back with the appendage pinched between his thumb and forefinger. Han's mouth opened in a roar, and he shook his head, spraying a line of blood across the man's blue face. Leia grew so angry and sick inside that she had to fight to keep from retching.

"I hope you remember my warning, Commander!" Leia snarled. "Because I certainly do."

"Of course," Baltke replied pleasantly. "And I hope you remember what will happen if you attempt anything so foolish." Again, the display screen showed the two guards pointing their charric pistols at the back of Han's head. "Now perhaps we should discuss your daughter's activities."

"There's no point-you know more than I do," Leia said. She was still in shock from what she had just seen. The Chiss were tough, cunning soldiers, but she had not believed they would actually torture a prisoner-especially not when one of their command officers had promised otherwise. Of course, the fact that Jagged had felt it necessary to make such a promise suggested that Leia was being a bit nave. "But I'm sure you won't believe that, either."

Baltke looked confused. "I want to believe you, Princess. Just tell us why she is leading the Killik ground swarm."

"How do I know?" Leia snapped. "Because she's a Joiner."

Baltke snorted loudly and c.o.c.ked his head, and Leia began to regain control of herself, to realize that she was not going to help Han or the Jedi by allowing her fear and frustration to control her. She turned toward the hidden vidcam.

"And even if Jaina wasn't a Joiner," Leia said slowly, "the Jedi can't condone speciecide. We're all opposed to what you're doing here. Any help we're giving to the Killiks-that's the reason." She glanced toward the display, and when the officer remained standing next to Han's bleeding figure, she added, "All the Jedi are trying to do is end the war."

"By defeating us," Baltke retorted.

Leia shook her head. "No-by destroying the Colony and restoring the Killiks to their prior state of disorganized nests."

Baltke scoffed. "Perhaps you and Captain Solo are not getting along these days." He glanced toward Han's bleeding image. "Perhaps that is why you keep lying."

Leia used the Force again. "I . . . am . . . not . . . lying."

"You aren't lying?" Even under the power of a mind influence, Baltke sounded unconvinced. "Then the Jedi are fools. What you suggest can't be done."

"We think it can." Leia turned to the vidcam again. "You asked why the Jedi are opposing you. Let me explain."

The floor and interrogation chair began to shudder with a sudden acceleration tremor. Baltke furrowed his dented brow and remained silent for a moment, listening to his earpiece and snorting softly every time he inhaled. The Force became charged with antic.i.p.ation . . . and with a strange, stoic fatalism.

Leia waited until Baltke's attention returned, then asked, "Something wrong?"

"Not at all," he said smugly. "Everything is going quite well, as a matter of fact."

Leia sensed no deception in his answer. "Then how come you're so ready to die?"

Baltke's eye widened in surprise, but he said, "Because I am a soldier, Princess Leia." He returned to his seat and gestured for her to continue. "But please don't waste our time with more lies. Our session will soon be cut short."

"Very well," Leia said. The vessel continued to tremble, suggesting they were accelerating into battle. "You already know what the Falcon's mission was."

"Yes. Your a.s.signment was to rendezvous with your daughter and her mindmate." Baltke was speaking a bit rapidly now, the truth drug and the excitement of the coming battle serving to agitate him. "Then you were to enter Chiss s.p.a.ce and attempt to infiltrate our command and control centers with teams of Killik commandos."

"Not quite," Leia said. "Actually, the plan was to attack only one center, using a variation on the same tactic the Killiks used to capture the Admiral Ackbar."

Baltke arched the brow above his red eye, then asked in an interested voice, "Really?"

"The idea was to get the Falcon captured," Leia explained. "While you were interrogating us, a swarm of Killik commandos-they're about the size of your thumb-would be sneaking out of the Falcon's smuggling compartments to infest your facility and take control at an opportune moment."

As Leia explained this, Baltke frowned and pressed a finger to his earpiece without seeming to realize he was doing it.

"Don't worry-your vessel is safe," Leia said. "That part of our plan relied on winning Jaina's cooperation. Since we haven't rendezvoused with her, we haven't picked up any Killiks yet."

"You'll understand if we want to check for ourselves."

"Go ahead," Leia said. "If you give me a comlink, I'll instruct See-Threepio to show you how to open the compartments."

Baltke started to reach for his comlink, then seemed to catch himself and smiled.

"Nice try, Princess." He glanced at one of the guards behind her. "Bring a vocoder. We'll have her record the message."

The guard acknowledged the order, and the door whirred open behind Leia. A moment later the vessel began to buck and shudder more noticeably.

"We're entering the atmosphere!"

"So it seems," Baltke replied calmly. "We're still confused about this plan of yours. How did you expect capturing one of our command and control centers to destroy the Colony?"

"We didn't," Leia said. "That was just to get your attention. Luke is destroying the Colony himself."

"Now I know you're a fool," he said. "How could one Jedi do that?"

"By destroying the Dark Nest and its Unseen Queen," Leia said. "That should be completed by now."

"You tried that at Qoribu," Baltke pointed out. "You failed miserably."

"This time, we're better prepared," Leia said. "Our scientists have developed a few weapons to disrupt the Killiks' collective mind-and we have an Alliance attack fleet to support us."

Baltke's voice grew derisive. "And once the Dark Nest is gone, you think the Killiks will become 'good bugs' again?"

"Not at all," Leia said. "That's only the first part of Luke's plan. He should be arriving here very soon to complete the second."

"Which is?"

"Destroying Unu and removing Raynar Thul from his role as the Colony's leader," Leia said. "It may take a little time, but our scientists are certain that once Raynar is no longer able to control the nests by exerting his Will through the Force, the Colony will grow disorganized and enter a self-regulating cycle again. Then it won't be a threat to anyone."

"An interesting theory," Baltke said. They began to buck harder than ever, and the cell began to grow warm-an indication that they were descending so fast that the vessel was having trouble dissipating the heat of atmospheric friction. "What exactly do you mean when you say 'remove' Raynar Thul?"

"Whatever it takes," Leia said. "Luke has never liked the idea of a Jedi leading any government, and this is a good example of why."

"So you're going to a.s.sa.s.sinate him?" Baltke asked.

"That's one possibility, but I don't know what Luke has decided," Leia said. "I can promise you this, though: Raynar Thul is a Jedi problem, and we'll do whatever it takes to fix it."

Baltke considered all this for a moment, then said, "It does sound plausible." He stood, shaking his head and turning to the display screen. "But I can see we're going to have to cut something else off your husband."

"What?"

The display screen showed a Chiss medic bandaging Han's ear-and, by the looks of it, enduring the cussing-out of his life.

"Your story doesn't hold together," Baltke told Leia.

"Attacking one of our command centers contributes nothing to this plan."

"That's because the Jedi don't see the Chiss as an enemy," Leia said. "Luke never wanted to cause the Ascendancy harm-only to make a point."

"Is that so?" Baltke asked. "I'm afraid we fail to see it."

The lights flickered as the vessel began to fire its heavy weapons. Leia checked the display screen again, wondering why Han was still there. The Noghri should have had him free by now.

She turned her attention back to Baltke. "The point was to show that the Killiks are capable of infiltrating even your most secure facilities. The Alliance learned that the hard way with the Ackbar. The Killiks stole it right out from under the nose of our best fleet admiral."

"Bwua'tu might be your best," Baltke said. "But I can a.s.sure you that no Chiss admiral would make such a mistake-if, indeed, it was a mistake."

"I don't think you're very sure of that," Leia said. In the display screen, the medic stepped away and made some sort of joke that caused Han's tormenter to laugh. "If you were, you wouldn't have been so curious when I described the Falcon's mission."

"Merely being prudent," Baltke countered. "An abundance of caution is never wasted."

"If you really believe in caution, then you'll think about what I'm telling you," Leia said. "Killiks can sneak into anyplace. They're insects. All they have to do is lay eggs in a few wounded soldiers and let you take them home aboard a medical frigate, and a whole base will be infiltrated. Or they could stow away in a returning supply freighter and then infest an entire planet. Before you know it, your whole society will be swarming with Killiks-and I don't have to tell you what that means. You'll become an empire of Joiners."

"And the Jedi think we would be better off letting the Colony ma.s.s nests on our border until they are ready to attack?"

"We think the Chiss would be better off ending the war our way," Leia said. "You'll never win the war your way. It's not possible to wipe out the Killiks. They were building nest cities on Alderaan twenty thousand years before the Chiss empire was born, and they'll be building nest cities on your frontier twenty thousand centuries after it's gone."

A confident smirk flashed across Baltke's face, and Leia felt something disturbing in the Force-something cold and menacing and final. Deciding to give up on the Noghri, Leia reached out to Saba, concentrating on the b.l.o.o.d.y image of Han in the display screen, allowing her alarm to flood her thoughts.

Saba's emotions were oddly rea.s.suring-at least for a Barabel-and Leia received the distinct impression that Han was safe. Unfortunately, Leia was not a.s.sured.

Baltke c.o.c.ked his head again and briefly turned toward the hidden vidcam, then faced Leia. "I'll pa.s.s your warning on to my superiors." He started toward the door. "But now I'm afraid I must be off to my duty station. We'll be expecting casualties soon."

"You're a medic?" Leia could not conceal her surprise.

"A battle surgeon, to be precise." Baltke removed his eye patch, revealing a perfectly sound organ underneath, and started toward the door. "Interrogations are a secondary duty."

"Wait!" Leia commanded.

Baltke stopped-clearly in spite of himself. He glared at her angrily.

"When I told you the Killiks would outlast the Ascendancy, you smirked," Leia said. "Tell me why."

"What are you doing? Using a Jedi mind trick?" Baltke demanded. "It will be your fault if I have to hurt Captain Solo again."

Leia glanced at the display screen and saw that the medic was still standing next to Han, laughing with the torturer. Something did not make sense. Saba had clearly meant to rea.s.sure her about Han, and yet Leia could see that he had not yet been rescued-in fact, that he did not even look close to being rescued.

The remaining guard started to step forward behind Leia. She grabbed him in the Force, then hurled him into the corner with the vidcam. He hit headfirst with a loud thunk, then dropped to the floor and did not move.