Star Wars_ Children of the Jedi - Barbara Hambly [169]
She wondered what the old Jedi records Luke had scraped together had to say about such abuses of the power of the Force, what might be done by those with talents as healers.
“Typical,” Leia heard Lady Carbinol snap to someone at the rear of the group—a group, she noticed, made up largely of the members of the Ancient Houses, the corporate types being mostly in prudent search of the deepest defenses they could find. “I never trusted the woman … I don’t wish to sound the snob, but breeding will tell and in this case it certainly has …”
Every now and then they found, on the tunnel floor, a piece of jewelry, or a credit paper, to indicate the direction of Roganda’s flight.
The elevator up to the surface was jammed. “Servo’s blown at the top,” said Han, flipping back the coverplate on the summons button to check the monitor.
“He did that on the central servo that controls the landing silos,” said Leia. “I don’t know at what distance his power can operate, but it’s not something I’d want to have happen if I were in an X-wing going into combat. Is there a stair?” she asked Drost Elegin, who nodded.
It was, in fact, a circular ramp, since the old smugglers had to get cargo down it. Artoo-Detoo, who had followed them stolidly along the passageways and ramps from the main mazes behind the cliff, caught up with them and trundled on ahead, his small spotlight shining on the smooth stone of the floor, the battered rock walls. The place smelled of kretch and grew colder as they ascended, Leia’s breath smoking in the light of the lamps. Lady Carbinol lent Han her parka when they reached the pillbox at the top, and Han, Leia in her t-suit, and Drost Elegin—the only other member of the little group to have a parka with him—struggled, with Chewbacca and the droid, over the uneven path that wound through the sheltering backbone of the rock to the ice landing pad and its low white hangar.
The hangar door was open, the lights from within shining weirdly on the snow that blew across it, puffing back from the magnetic shield. All around the ice pad, snow was scattered in the characteristic quintuple starburst pattern of a Tikiar’s lifters.
Except for Lady Vandron’s two crew members, tied up with engine tape in a corner and shivering with cold, the hangar was quite empty.
Leia wrapped her arms tight around herself, shivering as the wind burned her unprotected cheeks. Chewbacca growled, his long brown fur whipped in all directions by the dying winds. Overhead the black roil of clouds had broken, showing the sky the clear, pallid slate of the Belsavis dawn.
“At least we’ll be able to warn Ackbar,” said Leia quietly. “Irek’s power over mechanicals can be circumvented if minor changes are made in the schematics. He can do damage on any ship that hasn’t been warned, but we can get the word out.”
“It was a plan that worked best with surprise,” agreed Drost Elegin, shaking back his graying dark hair and gazing skyward. “Though from what I know of starship mechanics, there are schematics that must be adhered to if the ship is to function at all. You must admit that the initial advantage would have been devastating. Perhaps decisive.”
He looked down at Leia, his pale eyes chilly. “All we want is sufficient power to be left alone by all parties, Princess. We are perhaps repaid for our greediness in thinking that a scheming trollop and her brat could provide it for us.”
He turned and moved off along the path heading back for the ramp head that would take him to the safety of underground.
Han stepped forward, to encircle Leia with his arms. “You know she was the Emperor’s Hand. His other Hand,” he added, as Leia looked quickly up, a protest on her lips. “And Mara’s fried as a fish about it.”
“It explains how she could do things like kidnap Nasdra Magrody, and use Imperial funds,” said Leia. “She must have been planning to develop Irek’s powers since she first knew he had them. Maybe since before he was born. They’re out there, and they’re still a danger.”
She sighed, suddenly very tired, and looked, as Elegin had, into the leaden sky,