Before the Storm - Michael P. Kube-McDowell [103]
“Which is—”
“That something fundamental has changed. That your negotiations with Nil Spaar are over.”
“But what could have caused the change?” Leia protested. “There were no problems at our last meeting. I can’t believe that he would throw all our work away without so much as a word—”
Admiral Ackbar, who was standing, was the first to notice the viewpanes of the conference room beginning to hum. The broad expanses of transparisteel had been darkened against the morning sun and prying eyes, so he could not immediately see the cause of the tremor when he turned.
“Princess—a moment—”
“What is it?”
“I know that sound—” Engh was saying.
“Something big over at Eastport,” Rieekan said. “Can’t you hear it?”
By that time, Ackbar had strode to the controls for the viewpanes, and the room was abruptly flooded with light. As one, they turned their faces toward it and squinted into the glare.
They saw the bright spherical shape of Aramadia slowly ascending from the spaceport, with its three tiny escorts circling it like planets around a star. Ripples of atmospheric distortion rolled out of scalloped depressions in its hull.
“I guess we’ll have to believe it now,” said Engh.
“I have the port commander online,” Rieekan said.
“Let all of us hear it,” said Leia.
“Yes, sir. Go ahead, Commander—what’s happening out there?”
The roar of the Yevethan vessel’s pulse-lifters was louder over the comm line than it was in the conference room. “We’re still sorting things out. I can tell you Aramadia did not request a launch window from the tower. Our first warning she was gonna lift was when she started to launch escorts. That wasn’t enough warning to get everyone clear of the downblast. There are six port sentries and at least three ground personnel injured, and the ship in the nearest bay, Mother’s Valkyrie, looks like it took some substantial damage. Those pulse-lifters are nasty—we’ve got reports of ships being bounced as far away as the commuter docks.”
“Thank you, Commander. Stand by,” Rieekan said, and closed the link. “Princess, I recommend we immediately place the Home Fleet on high alert.”
“We must do more than that,” said Ackbar. “I have ordered the Brilliant to move into position to fire on the Aramadia if necessary.”
“What? Why would that be necessary?”
“Princess, Aramadia is inside our planetary shield,” said Rieekan. “A ship that size could carry enough munitions to make quite a mess down here—at least the equivalent of a couple of Imperial assault frigates. We can’t wait until we know what she means to do to respond.”
“This is insane,” Leia protested. “It’s a diplomatic vessel. We have no evidence that it’s even armed. Why would Nil Spaar do such a thing?” She looked back over her shoulder at Alole. “Any response?”
Her aide shook her head. “No, sir. No answer at all to your earlier messages, or to my red-line page.”
“Princess,” Ackbar said, “with respect, the question we need to be asking right now is not why he might do it, but what we can do to prevent it. We can’t afford the luxury of thinking we have friends on that ship.”
“I agree,” said Rieekan. “The casualties at Eastport testify to Nil Spaar’s priorities. They had to know what the consequences of a full-power lift with no advance warning would be. They’ve demonstrated that their convenience was more important to them than the lives of our people on the ground.”
“Not convenience,” Ackbar said. “This was no coincidence. This was calculated. He must have known that we were meeting. This was meant to embarrass you, just like the invitation to the senators.”
“No—I can’t believe that,” said Leia. But her face wore a defeated expression. “Nevertheless—” She sighed. “Alert the fleet and the ground defenses. Instruct the captain of the Brilliant to take up position and stand by for further orders. But we will not be the first to fire—I want that understood by everyone. This has to be a misunderstanding. Let’s not do anything to make it worse.”
Aramadia went into orbit forty klicks below the lower