Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 02_ Dark Apprentice - Kevin J. Anderson [53]
When Leia entered, he sat up quickly, brushing his hair with his fingers. But she turned her back to him and worked the door controls, saying nothing. Leia seemed smaller and drawn into herself. She moved with extreme slowness and caution, as if everything might break at any sudden motion.
Han said, “I didn’t expect you back until late. Did Mon Mothma let you off the hook?”
When she turned to him, he saw that her eyes shimmered with bright flecks of light from restrained tears. The skin around her eyes looked puffy, and her mouth was drawn.
“What is it?” Han said. “What does Mon Mothma want you to do this time? If it’s too much, I’ll go tell her off myself. You should—”
“She’s dying,” Leia said.
Han stopped short, feeling his arguments pop like fragile soap bubbles. His mind whirled. Before he could ask again, Leia began to spill her story.
“She has some sort of mysterious wasting disease. The medic droids can’t pinpoint it. They’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s pulling her down fast. It’s almost as if something is taking her apart genetically from the inside.
“Remember the four days when she supposedly went to a secret conference on Cloud City? She didn’t go anywhere. There was no conference. She spent the time in a bacta tank in a last-ditch effort to be healed—but even though the bacta tank completely purged her system, it could do nothing to help. Her body is falling apart. At the rate the disease is taking over, she could be … she could be dead in less than a month.”
Han swallowed, thinking of the strong woman who had founded the New Republic, led the political side of the Rebel Alliance. “So that’s why she’s been delegating so many of her responsibilities,” Han said. “Why you’ve had to take over more and more.”
“Yes, she’s trying to keep up appearances in public—but you should see her, Han! She looks like she can barely stand. She can’t keep up the charade much longer.”
“So …” Han began, not knowing what else to suggest or what he could say. “What does this mean? What do you have to do?”
Leia bit her lip and seemed to dredge up strength inside herself. She came forward and hugged him. He held her close.
“With Mon Mothma weakening,” she said, “and Admiral Ackbar in exile, the moderate side of the Council will be gone. I can’t let the New Republic turn into an aggressor government. We have already suffered too much. Now is the time for us to strengthen our ties, to make the New Republic firm through political alliances, with planetary systems joining with us—not to go blasting leftover Imperial strongholds in this sector of the galaxy.”
“Let me guess who wants to do that,” Han said, thinking of a number of the old generals who had reveled in their days of glory during the major battles of the Rebellion.
“I have to bring Ackbar back,” she said, looking up to meet Han’s eyes. Her face was pale and as beautiful as he had ever seen it. He remembered her staring at him on Cloud City just before Darth Vader had plunged him into the carbon-freeze chamber. Han had spent months locked in a frozen non-existence with only her words “I love you” ringing in his mind.
He tried not to let his disappointment show. “So you’re going off to the planet Calamari?”
She nodded, but kept her face pressed against his chest. “I have to, Han. We can’t let Ackbar hide at a time like this. He can’t keep blaming himself for an accident. He’s needed here.”
Threepio interrupted them as he walked into the main room. “Oh,” he said, startled. “Greetings, Mistress Leia! Welcome home.” Runnels of splashed bathwater trickled down his shiny form and dripped onto the soft floor. He held two fluffy white towels draped over his arms. In the back hall two naked children giggled and ran to their bedroom.
“The twins are ready for their