• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“If you think—”

Elegos held a three-fingered hand up to forestall Leia’s reply. “He’s right, Leia, I won’t be going with you. Even so, Borsk, I will not be here, either.”

Leia blinked. “What? Where will you be?”

The Caamasi sighed and sat back, staring up at the dark ceiling. “I’ve listened to all of you, your discussions, your arguments. I think you are all on the right course for dealing with this problem. You have covered all aspects of it save one: what the Yuuzhan Vong want. I intend to go to Dubrillion to ask.”

“No, impossible.” Leia shook her head adamantly. “We were at Dubrillion before and tried to communicate with the Yuuzhan Vong. They didn’t want to communicate with us.”

Traest nodded in agreement. “We’ve no evidence they understand the concept of truces. They certainly don’t treat captives well—we have ample evidence of that. You’ll be putting yourself in mortal danger.”

“And you and your soldiers will not?”

“That’s our job, Senator.”

“In reality, is it not my job, as well?” The Caamasi leaned forward, his long-limbed body moving with a serene fluidity. “As a senator, I bear responsibility for millions of people. I do not want to see them dead or dying. It is my responsibility to do what I can to avert this war. You know my people are pacifistic, yet you know I fought with you at Dantooine, and I have fought before. I do not wish to fight again, so to Dubrillion I must go.”

Leia stared at him, a lump rising in her throat. A chill shook her, a chill she wanted to put down to exhaustion, but one she could not. She knew the Force could provide a flash of insight concerning the future. The dread she felt welling up inside her seemed so strong that she hoped it did not mean that Elegos’ mission was doomed.

“Elegos, at least take some Noghri with you, someone to protect you.”

“That is a kind suggestion, friend Leia, but the Noghri will best serve elsewhere.” Elegos canted his head to the right a bit and smiled at her. “This mission must be undertaken. If I am successful, we will all be saved.”

Borsk snorted. “Are you really so naive as to think your mission can succeed?”

The Caamasi stared at the Bothan for a moment, then half-closed his eyes. “The chances are slender, perhaps nonexistent, but can anyone here tell me the risks are not worth it if this war can be stopped?”

Leia shivered. “And if you are not successful?”

“Then, my dear, my fate will matter little, given the gravity of what will come.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Luke entered the auditorium and saw he’d made a tactical error in leaving the arrangements to Kyp. Tables and chairs had been set up on the stage, facing out toward the amphitheater where Jedi sat. The two tables on the stage were at right angles to each other, forming a wedge centered on a podium. To the left were Kyp Durron, Ganner Rhysode, Wurth Skidder, and the Twi’lek, Daeshara’cor. Her presence on that side surprised Luke because she’d always seemed to view Kyp’s rhetoric as being extreme.

At the other table there were only three chairs. Corran Horn and Kam Solusar stood by two of them, conversing. Luke expected Mara to take the third, then sensed she was not behind him. He glanced back at the top of the stairs and saw her taking up a position in the auditorium’s shadows.

Luke smiled. How like her to watch, assessing who is with me and who is not.

The Jedi Master mounted the steps to the stage with no ceremony. At the top of them he paused and nodded to Kyp. The younger Jedi Master waved a right hand to indicate that Luke should move to the podium, but instead Luke spun and bowed to the sixty Jedi occupying the seats. “I welcome you. Not so long ago we had a meeting, and now events have drawn us together again.”

Kyp moved behind the podium and adjusted the microphone, sending an audible squeak through the room’s sound system. “Master, the lighting and sound are better from back here.”

Luke let himself chuckle once, then nodded and sat on the stage, letting his feet rest on the steps. “That