Star Wars_ Rebel Force 2_ Hostage - Alex Wheeler [36]
Unbelievable, she thought in wonder. Grabbing hold of that scaffolding at the right instant had been an incredibly lucky one-in-a-hundred shot.
And then the bar from which she hung gave out. As it snapped free of the scaffolding, she reached desperately for the edge of the catwalk. She caught herself just in time, hanging by her fingertips. But the bar tumbled to the floor, crashing into a pile of durasteel girders with an echoing clang that seemed to shake the building.
She heard a shout, then footsteps, running toward her.
With the last of her strength, Leia swung herself up onto the catwalk. But it was too late. By the time she'd regained her footing, Halle's men had arrived. Three of them, blasters aimed.
"Get her down from there," Halle ordered her men. "Then bring her back with us so we can keep an eye on her. Just in case she's stupid enough to try this again."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"Sorry about all this," Kiro murmured, as he fastened her restraints. Leia pretended not to hear.
Halle Dray stood before her, clapping slowly. "Impressive," she jeered. "Not what I would have expected from a coddled member of the royal family."
Leia glared at her captor. "My father never coddled me," she said in an even voice.
"He showed me how to stand on my own. To fight."
Halle perched on the edge of a durasteel girder, bringing her face level with Leia's.
"Yes, your father knew plenty about fighting, didn't he? Alderaan was a peace-loving planet, but that wasn't good enough for him, was it? He needed the glory of battle. Even if it meant turning his planet into an enemy of the Empire. Even if it meant destroying us all."
Enough. Let them accuse her all they wanted—but there was no way Leia would let them attack her father.
"My father loved Alderaan," she snarled.
Halle shook her head. "No. He loved the glory of war."
It was Leia who had first urged her father to join the Rebellion. Leia who had fought for Alderaan to take up arms after so many years of peace. Will you be the one to bring war to us? he had once asked.
But in the end, he had agreed.
"The people of Alderaan believed in my father," Leia insisted.
"'The people,' taken as a whole, are almost always reckless and stupid," Halle snapped.
"You and your father preyed on their foolishness. You re-armed a planet that had turned its back on violence. You linked it with the Rebel Alliance. And you—yes, you, Princess Leia—you gave the Emperor the final excuse he needed."
Leia heard Grand Moff Tarkin's voice, as she heard it in her nightmares. In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that will be destroyed first.
"No!" she shouted. Halle could blather on as much as she wanted. But Leia needed to silence the voice in her head. "I'm proud of everything I've done. Can you—any of you—
say the same?"
Kiro and Nahj both looked away, shame tingeing their expressions. But Halle was uncowed. "I've done only what I need to do. Sacrifices are always necessary for the greater good."
"No good can come of cooperating with the Empire," Leia protested. She turned her gaze toward Kiro. He'd been working on behalf of the Alliance for weeks—yes, it had all been an act, but he seemed so apologetic now. Wasn't there a chance that some small part of him believed in her? If she could persuade him… "The Empire is evil, you must see that after what they've done. There can be no good in the galaxy until the Empire is destroyed.
This is why we fight. Why we must fight."
Kiro cleared his throat. "Halle, maybe…"
"Kiro, get my medpac and find something to tend to the prisoner's wounds," Halle ordered. "I'm sure Vader's men expect to find her in good condition."
"But—"
"Kiro, now!" Halle snapped. Then she drew in a slow breath, calming herself. She stood up, grasping his wrists and bringing her face close to his. "You know this is right,"
she said in a low voice. "I need you to believe in me."