Before the Storm - Michael P. Kube-McDowell [19]
“Give me an example.”
“There was a new one this morning,” Ackbar said, folding his hands. “The Right Earl of Qalita Prime is appealing for help in dealing with pirate raiders. Six ships have been attacked within a month, four of them successfully. The cargo syndicates are threatening to stop supplying the planet.”
“Good. Very good! Go ahead and put together a patrol itinerary for the Fifth Fleet,” said Leia. “Make sure it’s heavy on tea parties and rescuing lost children. If there’s anyone else in the Seventh Security Zone who thinks the way Senator Peramis does, I want his fears put to rest.”
“I can have an itinerary ready before the end of the day.”
They talked for several minutes more, discussing the deployment of the rest of the New Republic’s spacegoing forces. The Second Fleet had been on patrol the longest without home leave and shipyard services, while the First Fleet had been enjoying the perks of serving as Coruscant’s defense force for nearly as long. On Ackbar’s recommendation, Leia agreed to recall the Second Fleet and to send the First Fleet to replace it along the crucial border patrol routes the crews called Thunder Alley.
“It should have been done sooner,” said Ackbar, “but we have had too few pieces to move about the board. I have limited myself to rotating individual vessels back to the yards, out of fear some enemy would take advantage. But if we hold the Fifth Fleet here a few days longer, we can make the exchange without leaving either the capital or the frontier unprotected.”
“Do you think there’s an enemy still out there?” Leia asked. “Someone with both the means and the will to take on the entire New Republic? I find myself much more worried about our stability than our security.”
“You have that luxury—I do not,” Ackbar said. “And remember that Admiral Daala is still alive, and has the resources of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Core worlds to draw upon. She can only grow stronger as time passes, and may well have spies in Imperial City.”
At that moment Leia’s comlink chirped. “Leia?” It was Tolik Yar. “You’re needed here at the Senate. There’s a problem with Y’taa petition.”
Leia stood up from the table. “I’m on my way.” She turned toward Ackbar and said, “We can take up the rest this afternoon, when you have an itinerary for me to approve.” Then she smiled. “You may find that some of the information you need is over at Eastport.”
“I am almost certain of it,” Ackbar said gravely.
Leia’s bodyguards fell in beside her as she left the room. The guard changed four times a day, but somehow they all seemed the same—tall, broad-shouldered, alert-eyed, and silent. Leia had nicknamed them the Sniffer and the Shooter.
The former was plugged into a backpack full of electrical and chemical sensors. It was his job to make sure no bomb, poison, pathogen, radiation, or micro-droid harmed her. He preceded her around corners, through doors, and into closed spaces.
The latter wore combat armor, a personal shield, and a SoroSuub blaster rifle with backpack generator. Since Leia refused to wear a personal shield, it was his job to place himself between her and any would-be assassin, shield her, and strike down her attackers.
Han had gotten the chief of security to order the protection and had won a reluctant promise from Leia to accept it.
But Leia had never adjusted to the guards’ presence, which seemed ever more unnecessary. And, paradoxically, she found that the presence of her personal guards didn’t make her feel safer—just the opposite, since they were a constant reminder that someone might want to kill her.
So she had learned to pretend they weren’t there, even when they shared a liftcar, a scooter, or a slidewalk with her. She didn’t want to learn their real names or to become friendly with them—her promise didn