Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 04_ Lightsabers - Kevin J. Anderson [40]
By keeping their rubbery skin moist, the Ma' irans were able to spend hours on dry land, and the ambassadors had insisted on coming personally to the island fortress. They would allow the matter to be resolved by no one but the matriarch herself-or a member of the Royal House who was her designee.
The matriarch had designated Tenel Ka.
The princess sat waiting, watching the waves.
She had not brought her chronometer along and wondered if the ambassador was late... or if she was just impatient for this ordeal to be over with.
Lowbacca stood watch at her side, tall and shaggy; Em Teedee gleamed silver in the sunlight.
Jacen and Jaina, who hadn't been briefed, hung back.
"Uh, what are we doing here, exactly?" Jacen asked.
Tenel Ka turned to answer him, but Em Teedee chimed in first. "If I might be permitted to explain, Mistress Tenel Ka? I believe I can provide an appropriate summary." The little droid made a sound as if it were clearing its voice speaker. "Now, then. The Mairan underwater consulates domed structure built on their own planet and transported here to the Hapes homeworld-is perilously close to a subsurface mining project opened by the Vergills just after the Mairan consulate was established.
"Although the Vergill mining business is terribly productive, the Mairans have filed a formal complaint because of the noise and the silt stirred up by the drilling and excavation operations. They contend that, since the Mairans were there first, the Vergills should be required to clean up the muddied waters, cease their disruptive mining, and relocate to a place at least fifty kilometers from their consulate."
Tenel Ka nodded. "Yes, these are some of the facts. But not all."
Before she could elaborate, Tenel Ka saw a hulking shape rise out of the water and shamble in her direction, sloshing through the surf. Forty or so black tentacles-which Tenel Ka knew the Mairans let drift free underwater, to grasp any fish that might flit within reach-dangled from its slumped shoulders, and it weaved from side to side on two legs as it walked. The spherical discolored lumps on its sloping head must have been eye membranes. The entire creature looked dark and oily.
Tenel Ka's initial reaction upon seeing the alien ambassador was one of fear-a giant primeval monster nearly one and a half times her own height rising out of the surf and lumbering toward herbut she pushed the reaction away. Fear could only weaken her judgment right now.
Waves rippled around the Mairan's legs, which were like tree trunks clinging to the beach. Stopping in the low surf, the ambassador held a heavy convoluted shell, into which a pattern of holes had been drilled.
The Mairan ambassador spoke from a vibrating membrane beneath its tentacles in a resonant and burbling voice that was very difficult to understand.
"I am capable of speaking Basic if this is how we must proceed."
Tenel Ka shook her head. "That will not be necessary. Use your native language." She cast a glance sideways at the silvery ovoid of Em Teedee at Lowie's side. "I have brought my own translating droid."
"Oh, my," said Em Teedee, who just an hour earlier had downloaded the Mairan language from the fortress databanks. "This is quite exciting!"
The tentacled hulk bowed once, then straightened. Placing the drilled side of the shell against its blowhole, it played a skirting, complicated series of flutelike notes.
"Ah, yes," Em Teedee said. "This musical language was indeed properly loaded into my memory banks. Thank the Maker! The Mairan ambassador formally greets you, Princess Tenel Ka."
The tentacled creature blew another series of notes.
Em Teedee translated. "And he commends you on your capture of such a magnificent and well-trained pet, with its coat of silky brown seaweed-oh, dear!" the droid chirped. "I do believe he's referring to Master Lowbacca!"
Lowbacca growled and flashed his fangs. Tenel Ka stood, indignant, letting the robe fall