The Black Fleet Crisis_ Before The Storm Part 12

"Leia, " Luke said with a warm smile, and they embraced.

"I knew you'd come, " Leia said, kissing him on the cheek and taking his arm. "I knew you'd change your mind. I can't tell you how glad I am to see you. How long can you stay? "

"We have some work to do together, " Luke said.

"I don't know how long it will take. And then I have some things to tell you. h.e.l.lo, Han. " Luke clapped the taller man on the back with his free hand. "It's good to see you again. "

"You don't know the half of it, kid, " Han said wryly.

"Come on-let's go inside, " Leia said. "Did they make you leave your bag at the gatehouse? That's so foolish of them--"I didn't bring a bag, " Luke said. "I didn't plan on staying. But if it's too late for you, I can pa.s.s the night out here, and we can work in the morning. I've always liked these gardens. "

Leia stopped, turning toward Luke and frowning.

"I think I've missed something here, she said. "The children are sleeping-at last-so we couldn't start work until morning anyway. But I'm sure it's going to take days, more likely weeks, to make any progress. "

"Leia. I haven't come to train the children. Didn't Han tell you my feelings on that? "

"I told her, " Han said.

"Han told me you said it was my problem, " Leia said. "And that was so unlike you that I was sure he'd gotten it wrong. "

Luke shook his head. "It suffers a bit for being condensed, but I suppose the kernel is still there, " he said. "Leia, there's nothing I can do right now that won't make your lives and theirs harder in the long run. I've meditated on this for a long time. I'm sure this is the right decision. "

"Then-you came here because you want something? Not because we need help? "

"I'm here because I may have some new information about our mother. "

Han was startled by Luke's words, but, so far as he could see, Leia's expression didn't waver or soften in the slightest. "What new information? " she asked. "Where does it come from? "

"I don't want to tell you yet, " Luke said. "I'm hoping that you'll let me probe your mind again first. I have an idea what to look for now. "

Her body language foretold her answer. She held herself back from him, arms wrapped around herself, her mouth hard, her eyes darting, angry.

"No, " she said. "Go back to wherever you came from. " She turned abruptly and started back toward the residence.

"Leia-" Han said, reaching for her as she neared where he stood.

She eluded his touch with a twist and a sidestep.

"And you, if you take his side, you can go with him. "

"Leia-" Han's tone was plaintive now, and it had no effect. In moments, the two men were alone on the path.

"I thought I was just out of practice flying, " Luke said with a sigh.

"For what it's worth, kid, she had kind of a hard day, " Han said. "Leia's been negotiating with the same guy for a month now, and it's starting to drive her nuts. And I don't know how they do it, but the twins seem to know when she's not up to dealing with them, and really push the limits. "

"If she'd just draw on the Force, " Luke said, shaking his head. "It's inexhaustible. "

"Well-she's not. For whatever reason. I guess you'd better come back. "

"No, " Luke said. "I'm going to talk to her. She has to realize how important this is to both of us. "

"Kid, I can't recommend it-"

"It'll be all right, " Luke said, and started up the path.

The valet droid helpfully told Luke that Leia was in the private kitchen. He found her sitting on a stool at the meal bar, cupping a tall gla.s.s in both hands and staring out the window with faraway eyes.

"That's perfect, " she said as he entered. "I was just trying to remember if you'd ever done anything I asked you to. "

"Once or twice, by accident, " he said lightly, hoping to draw a smile from her. "But we made it through anyway. "

Leia said nothing, choosing instead to sip from her gla.s.s.

"This is important for both of us, Leia. For your children, too, " Luke said. His glance acknowledged Han, who had followed as far as the doorway and taken up a position leaning, arms crossed, against the frame. "I think there really might be a chance to break through and discover our mother as a real person. "

"Why? " She turned her face toward him for the first time, and he saw the weariness in her eyes.

"You've probed me more times than I can remember. You had Artoo and Threepio on Obra-skai for months, searching the libraries for any clue. " She emptied her gla.s.s and set it down on the bar. "You and I sat in a Jedi meditation circle for hours on end, night after night, calling on Obi-Wan and Anakin and Yoda, Owen and Beru, my foster parents, anyone we knew of who might have known her. Calling her, too-remember? "

"I remember. "

"And when we were done, we knew exactly as much as we had before. A conspiracy of silence, you called it. "

"It seemed that way, " Luke said. "But I think the silence has just been broken. I think I know why we never found any trace of her. "

"You're obsessed with the past, " she said, her tone sharp. "I just can't let myself keep caring that much. Father and Mother are dead, and nothing you do can change that. My children are the future. "

"How do we know that Mother's dead? " Luke asked, easing onto a stool on the opposite side of the meal bar. "Where's her grave? Who saw her die? Did you? "

"No-"

"How do we know she didn't leave Alderaan, leave you on Alderaan, to hide from Father? How do we know she didn't succeed? "

"There's a simple answer to that, " Leia said, raising her head. "She's dead, Luke. If she were still alive, there'd be nothing to stop her from coming here for a reunion. "

"She might be as young as fifty, " Luke said. "It could still happen. "

"It's been twelve years, Luke, " she said. "And we're not hard to find-at least, I'm not. "

"What does that mean? " asked Luke.

"I'm going to tell you something I've kept from you, just because of the way you are about this thing, " Leia said slowly. "Since the end of the war-since I made Coruscant my home, and the work of the New Republic my life-there's been a steady stream of women coming here and claiming that they're our long-lost mother. " She looked to Han. "How many have there been now, honey? "

"More than two hundred, " Han said, nodding.

"More of them lately, for some reason-almost one a week so far this year. "

"The security staff calls them 'mad grannies, ' " Leia said. "Some of them aren't old enough by half-some aren't even human. But they're all firmly in love with the idea that they married the monster and gave birth to the heroes of the Rebellion. " She shook her head sadly.

"But there might be reasons we don't know of for her not to come, " Luke said earnestly. "She may need to protect those who protected her. She might not want to face our questions. For all she knows, we curse her memory. That's why we may have to find her. Please, Leia-let me look into your mind one more time. I have a signpost this time-a name. "

"And what if you find what you're looking for? "

"Then I'm going away with the woman who brought me the name, to find the rest. "

Leia raised her hands in exasperation. "You see? You see? There'll never be an end to it-you'll never be able to let it go. "

"I just have to know the truth, " Luke said. "I don't understand why you don't feel the same way-"

"Listen to me-we're never going to have a tidy family tree, " Leia snapped. "Why can't you realize? We're never going to know our parents better than we do right now. We're never going to have fond stories of our grandparents to tell our children. We're better off telling them about Owen and Beru, about Bail-the real people who cared for us, protected us, loved us like we were their own. You make too much of blood. "

"It's more than blood-" Luke began.

"I don't care, " Leia said, slapping the top of the bar with the flat of her right hand. The noise was so sudden and loud that it made Han jump. "You can't invent a normal childhood for us, no matter how much you turn up about Mother and Father. And if you do find the truth, as you call it, you just might find you don't like it very much. You might end up wishing you'd let them stay dead. "

"Could anything be worse than what we already know? "

"I'd rather not know the answer to that question, " Leia said curtly, pushing herself back from the bar so violently that her stool toppled to the floor as she slipped off it. "You and I are foundlings, Luke. That's how it is, like it or not. Our family tree starts here-with this family, and these children. And they're going to know their parents, and their uncle, and all our wonderful friends. "

Leia's face and voice filled with a rising fury as she spoke, fury at the world, the past, at Luke, at all who stood as obstacles to her vision of what should be.

"My children are going to have normal family stories to tell their children, little funny stories about everyday nothings, stories where no one dies too young or has to carry a burden of shame. I'm going to see to that, with your help or without it-"

Han approached from the doorway. "Leia-"

"Nothing matters more to me, do you understand? " she demanded, jabbing a finger in Luke's face. "Nothing. So you do what you think you have to, brother-go wherever you have to with whoever you want to, chasing whatever shadow of a hint of a promise of a clue you like. I don't care about any of it. Don't ask for my help again. And don't bring the past into this house. It's all just pain and death. You wallow in it if you want to. I've had enough of it for ten lifetimes. "

Stunned by the vehemence of her outburst, both men stood mute as Leia stalked out of the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, " Luke said at last. "You were right. I let myself think I know her better than you do. "

"I don't know who's right and who's wrong, kid. I just know you're both stubborn as tauntauns, " Han said. "And that this would probably be a good time to be leaving. "

Luke did not argue.

Like most small sport s.p.a.cecraft with bold names, Akanah's Verpine Adventurer offered few amenities, technical or personal.

It had no weapons, combat shields, or astromech droid, and its sublight speed rating was a meager 2.5.

The navigational deflector array had been upgraded to the Block 3 standard somewhere during its history, but its hyperdrive motivator was still Block 1. There was only a single pressurized compartment, which the flight stations shared with a single-width sleeper and tiny curtained refresher unit. The meal-service console was limited to three drink selections, Akanah explained apologetically, since she hadn't been able to afford repairs to the food dispensers.

But the pilot's station was roomy enough for Luke to forgo his service flight suit in favor of looser, more casual clothing, and the small cargo hold had more than room enough for Luke's one modest bag beside Akanah's luggage and supplies.

"Is that all? " Akanah shouted over the wind.

"That's all, " Luke said, retrieving a comlink from a concealed pocket. "Go on, get inside-you're shivering. Artee, can you hear me? "

The comlink chirped brightly.

Luke helped Akanah climb through the narrow access chute, then moved away from the Adventurer.

"Artee, I'm going away for a while, " he said, cupping the comlink in one bare hand. "Maintain Security Protocol Five. If anyone breaches the perimeter, send Code Alpha-five-zeal-alpha on Control Channel One. Acknowledge. "

R7-T1 acknowledged the instructions obediently.

It was innocent of the fact that the code it had been given would topple the hermitage into the sea, shattering it on the rock spires and plunging the E-wing below the waves.

"End link, " Luke said, and switched the comlink off. Turning away, he returned to the Adventurer and climbed the access ladder two rungs at a time.

"Is everything all right? " Akanah asked as he joined her.

"Everything's fine, " he said, pushing the lever that folded the ladder and sealed the hatch behind him.

"Do you want the controls? "

"That's not necessary, " she said, slipping in the second seat.

"If you don't mind, I'll help, " Luke said as he buckled himself in. "But first you have to tell me which way to point the little end of the ship. "

"Our destination is Lucazec, " she said. "That was our last home. We'll start our search there. "

Chapter 7.

In deep s.p.a.ce far from any star, the Teljkon vagabond drifted in the darkness, silent and inert.

Gmar Askilon, the nearest of the cold lights woven into the eternal curtain of night, was too far away to raise more than the faintest gleam on the vagabond's gray metal skin.

Trailing well behind was the much smaller black-hulled Intelligence ferret IX-44F-one ghost shadowing another. The ferret was nearly as inert as its quarry.

It announced itself only with periodic position updates broadcast to Coruscant by hypercomm, and by an optical-laser pulse aimed directly aft.

The laser pulse was the rendezvous target for Pakkpekatt's approaching armada, which had come out of hypers.p.a.ce on tiptoe, one ship at a time, hundreds of thousands of klicks behind the vagabond. Following the ferret's beacon, the armada had taken days to close the gap, its slow, silent approach that of an infinitely patient predator.

For most of that approach, the armada was arrayed single file on a heading that allowed the hull of the tiny ferret itself to hide the approaching ships from the vagabond. Only two days ago had the armada broken file and, using thrusters only, begun to spread itself out into the intercept formation.

The three pickets that made up the interdiction screen moved the farthest out and forward. Their orders called for them to flank the vagabond on three sides, and move ahead of it. By the time the rest of the armada caught up to the ferret, the interdiction pickets were to be in position to cut off a hypers.p.a.ce escape.

Spreading out almost as widely were the three spotter ships-two escorts and theLightning , a converted Prinawe racer-a.s.signed to make complete visual and full-spectrum recordings of the intercept attempt.

If the vagabond tried to run in real s.p.a.ce, it wasLightning's job to run with it.