Star Wars_ The Black Fleet Crisis 03_ Tyrant's Test - Michael P. Kube-McDowell [124]
It’s as though they think I’m here to win the war for them, Luke thought as he followed their escort off the flight deck. But it’s the people they’re nearly ignoring who I’m hoping can do that.
He had wanted and asked for a private meeting with A’baht, but that was perhaps too much to expect. Either he was too much of a magnet, even among the officers, or A’baht’s idea of “private” automatically included two spare colonels and an extra captain.
Luke dealt with them by ignoring them. “What’s the status of the conflict, General?” he asked, offering no introductions for his own companions.
“The President has declared war on the Yevetha,” said A’baht. “As a first step, we’re preparing to return to Doornik Three-nineteen and take it away from them. We’ve also gotten more aggressive in searching for the remaining shipyards. And planning’s underway for deeper penetrations of the cluster, all the way to the Yevethan homeworlds.”
“Are any of your forces currently engaged in hostilities?”
“No. This is the lull before the storm,” A’baht said. “Now, can I ask you to explain your presence? I assume that if you had been sent here by the President, we would have been notified in advance.”
“I’ve come here from J’t’p’tan. On your charts, Doornik Six-twenty-eight-E. Before that—well, the full explanation would take too long, and I’m not prepared to share all of it in any case,” Luke said. “But the part that matters is simple and straightforward. I’m here to offer you a chance to take that first step in a different direction.”
Even for someone with Luke’s status, Colonel Corgan, Colonel Mauit’ta, and Captain Morano were a tough audience—especially when what was being peddled had the look of magic.
“Do I need to defend the Jedi to you as well?” Luke snapped in response to the most recent expression of skepticism. “The nature of the universe transcends the definitions of science, and the possibilities of the universe exceed the limitations of technology.”
“I am not eager to risk the lives of my crew on tricks and invisible forces that cannot be measured,” said Morano.
“You’re apparently not eager to save the lives of your crew, either.”
“I prefer to trust what I know. We can win this war with the weapons we have.”
Loose objects were scarce on a ship rigged for combat, so Luke found it necessary to create some. Reaching out with the Force, he ripped the decorations from the three officers’ uniforms and deposited them in neat rows on A’baht’s desk.
“Now you know a little more about invisible forces,” Luke said.
“This is not helping,” General A’baht said with a sigh.
“I’m simply trying to remind them that the Force is as real as anything in this room—it’s a mystery, but not a fantasy,” Luke said. He pointed a finger in the direction of Morano, who was still staring wordlessly at the naked fabric where his service bars had been. “His way of winning this war means thousands, tens of thousands, of deaths on both sides—needless deaths.”
“Needless only if your trick fools the Yevetha,” said Corgan, gathering up his decorations with a cross expression on his craggy face. “And you can’t know if it will fool them.”
“What Wialu is offering us is no ‘trick,’ ” Luke said with studied patience. “Her instrumentality is older than the technology of that blaster you wear, and more powerful. But it’s more difficult—it takes a life commitment, not just a squeeze of the trigger.”
“Perhaps she could tell us more about how it works,” said Mauit’ta.
Luke turned away, raising his hands in the air in disgust and frustration.
“Reflection,” said Wialu, “from the surface of the Current.”
“I’m afraid that’s not very useful to me,” said A’baht as Luke turned back. “You must realize that you’re asking us to