Legacy Of The Force_ Bloodlines Part 21

He thought of Tenel Ka and Allana. He hardly dared do that these days, in case Lumiya sensed his secret and they were put in danger-more danger than they were already in.

"Yes." It was so true that it hurt. "There's someone I would like to be with that I can't."

Mara exuded pure relief. The frown lines between her eyebrows vanished and she almost smiled. "That's all I needed to know, Jacen. I'm sorry you're having problems. I won't mention it again, but if I can do anything, you let me know, okay?"

Jacen nodded. He couldn't imagine anything that Mara could do, but it was comforting to know she was willing.

"Thanks, Mara," he said. "You're probably about my only friend these days."

She shrugged and waved discreetly to Ben before disappearing through the doors. Jacen could guess what was happening in the council chamber without using his Force-senses to listen. He'd let the side down. Jedi didn't raid people's homes with black-clad shock troopers.

A Jedi's job is to solve a problem without taking lives. I think I did that today. Sitting back and not getting involved while people get killed in an endless cycle of wars doesn't count as not having blood on your hands.

Jacen was jerked out of his thoughts by a cup of caf being thrust in front of him. "I don't think things are quite that bad, sir."

It was Corporal Lekauf: young, sandy-haired, and solidly optimistic. Jacen accepted the caf and they both stood watching the HNE coverage of the raids again, the outraged reaction from the Corellian amba.s.sador and Senators, and the imminent threat of severing diplomatic relations.

"I'm never sure if all this is aimed at Coruscant or the Alliance," said Lekauf.

"Separating the two is a real political conjuring trick."

"I'd rather see more unity than separation, sir."

"Me, too." Jacen found he enjoyed the company of 967. They all had the corporal's general optimism. "How long have you been in the army?"

"Since I graduated, sir. Four years."

"What made you sign up?"

Lekauf smiled, almost embarra.s.sed. "My grandfather served under your grandfather in the Imperial Army, sir. He always talked about how Lord Vader put himself in the front line.

Meant a lot to him, that did."

Jacen patted Lekauf's shoulder. It was humbling to see how loyalty could last generations.

Whatever sins Anakin Skywalker had committed as Vader, there were still those who recognized his qualities as an inspirational commander. Jacen decided it might be safe to walk back in time and watch him again.

He wasn't repeating his mistakes. He was simply building on Anakin Skywalker's missed opportunities.

"Let's make our grandfathers proud, then."

DUR GEJJEN'S HOUSE, CORONET, CORELLIA.

That Gejjen kid didn't seem quite so pleased to see Han this time.

"You going to invite us in?" Han filled his doorway, blaster held at his side, and Gejjen stared at it, wide-eyed. "We're feeling kind of unwelcome out here."

Gejjen stood back, eyes still on the blaster as Han and Leia slipped into his hallway. Han flicked on the safety.

"Where have you been?" asked Gejjen.

"We ran into a well-wisher and had to make a run for it," said Leia. "And before you ask, yes, we know what's happening on Coruscant."

"Sal-Solo is having a field day with it." Two small children emerged behind Gejjen, and he shooed them back into the room. "The Solos' son imprisoning innocent Corellians. Inspiring headlines."

Han snorted. "I'm glad I don't shock easy. Does this mean he's changed the contract on me to read extra dead?"

"Us," Leia muttered.

Gejjen ushered them into his front room, and Han noted that the blinds were drawn.

"Where are you staying?"

Han didn't sit down despite the mute offer of a chair. "That's our little secret."

"Okay." Gejjen didn't appear offended; paranoia seemed a normal part of political life.

"My sources say there's more than one taker for the contract."

"Fett doesn't play well with others."

"Told you it wasn't Fett," said Leia.

"Fett or no Fett, Captain Solo, the threat is real. And while we're appalled at what your son appears to be doing, Thrackan Sal-Solo is pursuing his line for his own ends, not Corellia's, so as far as we're concerned, we still have common cause."

"Who's we?"

"The Democratic Alliance. We understand how hard it is for you."

"You think?"

"You're here, aren't you? We know you put Corellia first."

"I'm going to deal with Thrackan myself, thanks."

"We can't be seen to do that, of course, but we can probably give you useful support."

You load the blaster and I fire it. Yeah, I get the idea. "I just need times, locations, and access."

Han was aware of Leia staring at his back, a kind of sixth sense that owed nothing to the Force and everything to more than thirty years of marriage. He turned slowly, expecting to see a weary frown of disapproval, and saw only wide-eyed resignation. Sometimes she looked just the way she had when he first met her.

"Just keep feeding me information about Thrackan's location," said Han. "Your party representatives have access to that, right?"

"When he's taking part in government business, yes. Itineraries, meetings, that kind of detail."

"Good."

"So what's your plan?"

Han gave him a slow, wary smile. "If I told you that, you wouldn't be able to deny involvement, would you?"

Gejjen went to a desk in the corner of the room and took a datachip from a drawer. "Floor plans," he said. "Government buildings. They're not illegal, just only available for inspection in libraries and civic offices. They might he useful."

"Consider me a librarian."

"Dur," said Leia. "If Thrackan Sal-Solo were to fall from power, would your party be in a position to form an emergency government?"

Gejjen was now focused totally on Leia: that was what really interested him, the seizure of power. Han chose not to be offended.

"With my colleagues, the Corellian Liberal Front, and those in the Centerpoint Party who'd like a change of leadership, yes."

So that's how a coup happens. In some guy's living room while his kids are playing in another room. "Hey, you telling everyone my cousin's days are numbered?"

"If you think you're the first person this year to come up with the idea of neutralizing him, you'd be very much mistaken," said Gejjen. "Corellia doesn't want to be his personal toolbox any longer."

"We'll keep contact to a minimum," Leia interrupted. "And we'll keep changing our comlink code. I hope the next time we meet is when the crisis has pa.s.sed."

Leia herded Han out into the street and they walked a tortuous path to the center of Coronet, doubling back on themselves to check that they weren't being followed. There was a lot of air traffic heading into the s.p.a.ceport and a general buzz of tension in the city itself. It felt like a world bracing itself for the worst.

They came into the main boulevard where the apartment rental office was located. They'd lease something small and anonymous in the center of town, Han decided. Something n.o.body would expect the Solos to want to live in.

It's just like old times again. Living on the edge.

"Do you think Gejjen's cronies are setting me up to do their dirty work?" he asked.

"What, that the a.s.sa.s.sination contract is a ruse?" Leia shook her head. "You heard Jacen, you saw the holonews, and there's the small business of the guy we shoved out the air lock."

"Oh, yeah, him."

"I'm not encouraging you to do this."

"But you haven't told me not to."

"I'm not making your decisions for you, Han. I'm your wife, not your mother," Leia said.

"But you're a Jedi, too . .."

"It sounds like a case of self-defense to me."

"Not a coup?"

"That's a separate issue."

"Diplomacy's a fascinating spectator sport," Han said. "It's about managing the inevitable with minimum loss of life."

"Yeah, ours."

Han cared about Corellia in that abstract way people did when their home-even their unhappy home-was being attacked by outsiders. He'd never thought of himself as a patriot; he simply felt Corellian to the core. But there was one thing that still drove him above all others, and that was Leia and the kids.

"Thrackan doesn't stand a chance of taking three Jedi," said Leia, as if she did a little telepathy on the side. "It's you I'm worried for."

"Jedi have been known to get killed."

"It's not very gracious of me, but I kind of wish Jacen had shot him after all."

"You and me both."

The rental agency office was crowded when Han and Leia reached it. There was a line of people, some with young children, some elderly, waiting with bags and cases of varying sizes.

"You just arrived from Coruscant, too?" said the hara.s.sed-looking woman at the main desk.

"Well-" Han didn't get the impression that she recognized him as Public Enemy Number One.

"Yeah, we just got in."

"You're ahead of the rush, then." She handed him a data-pad. "Register your details. We've only got one-bedroom apartments left. Will that be okay?"

Han glanced at Leia.

"We just want a roof over our heads," she told the woman.

"We're all shocked at what's happening on Coruscant, ma'am. But you're safe now. Who'd have thought it? Han Solo's son, too."

"Yeah, we're shocked, too," said Han, and meant it.

They signed a lease as Jay and Lora Kabadi and found themselves disguised quite by accident as just one couple in the first wave of Corellians fleeing Coruscant to avoid internment. The irony wasn't lost on them.

"Nice timing, son," Han muttered.

SENATE CHAMBER. CORUSCANT: EMERGENCY DEBATE ON INTERNMENT POLICY.

Jacen sat next to Niathal on the Mon Calamari delegates' platform and listened to Corellia's Senator Charr haranguing Chief Omas about the abuse of human rights on Coruscant and the lack of consultation with the Senate.

"We have no option but to withdraw our amba.s.sador," said Charr.

"Is that Coruscant or the Alliance we're talking about?" Omas asked.

Charr hesitated. "Isn't that one and the same, Chief of State?"

"I think the honorable representative for Corellia understands that the action I took was to ensure the safety of Coruscant citizens, which is a responsibility given to me by the Coruscanti local authority, and so does not require sanction by the Senate. So which ent.i.ty do you wish to withdraw representation from?"

There was a general murmur of support but significant scoffing from some of the Outer Rim delegates. Omas stood his ground. At the moment, Corellia's allies were a minority, but that would change unless they were given a good reason not to line up behind her.

"How do you feel about that blockade, Admiral?" Jacen asked quietly. Senatorial platforms detached from the walls of the ma.s.sive chamber and hovered into the void between them for delegates to deliver impa.s.sioned but noncommittal speeches against terrorism and the need for unity.

"Are you asking if I could mount one now?"

"I'm a.s.suming you can. Do you still favor one?"