Star Wars: The New Rebellion (37 page)

A lesser man would not have.

Kueller had expected Skywalker to come to Almania. His decision to land on Pydyr had been a surprise, as had the explosion. Kueller had watched it all on the monitor.

He had felt it in his gut.

At least he knew the detonators worked. He just hadn’t expected Skywalker to execute the destruct command by accident.

Kueller had blocked the Force repercussions as best he could. He wanted President Organa Solo to sense that something was wrong, but not to know what that something was. Kueller would never have been able to achieve this with Skywalker himself, but Organa Solo had neglected her Jedi training. She was deficient in many important areas, areas Kueller meant to use to his own advantage.

And after he reached her, he would go to Skywalker. Even though the man was injured, even though he had lost everything, he would still be a formidable opponent.

But the injury made other things possible. The injury
did weaken Skywalker, and it would weaken his resolve. He might need some fast, easy strength. Kueller might succeed where the Emperor had not.

Kueller might be able to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side.

And then they would rule together: Kueller as Emperor, and Luke as his Darth Vader.

How very appropriate.

Leia felt as if she were back on Hoth, working on the Rebel base. She and Wedge were seated side by side, the computers before them humming with activity. Admiral Ackbar sat at another terminal and so did the other high-ranking military officials. They were tracking down the remaining X-wings, the ones that had left Coruscant after the reconditioning. Admiral Ackbar had suggested having some of the lower-grade officers doing this, but Leia wouldn’t hear of it. She knew she could trust the people in the room. She didn’t know many of the other officers, and she didn’t know if she could trust them.

Too many lives were at stake. She had to know this was done right.

Besides, it gave her something else to concentrate on besides her anger at Meido. The no-confidence vote would be held the next day, and Senator Gno wanted her to campaign. She would: a single rousing speech just before the vote was held. She remembered no-confidence votes from her days in the Old Republic. They were often based on gut feeling. If she could make the remaining senators feel good about her, she would win the vote.

For now, though, she had to stay busy, even though it didn’t seem to be helping as it normally did. Beneath her anger at Meido, she felt a deep unease. The skeletal face she had seen in the hallway kept resurfacing in her vision,
and each time it did, she felt a low-grade fear, as if Han or one of the children were in grave danger. But she had contacted Anoth, and Winter had assured her that the children were fine. And she would know if something serious had happened to Han.

At least that was what she told herself.

“President Organa Solo.” A lieutenant bent over her station. He looked impossibly young, and his voice had a tremor when he spoke to her. She still wasn’t used to making people nervous just by being who she was. “There is a message for you. Would you like to take it privately?”

She glanced around the room. These people were her most-trusted friends. She had no secrets from them. “I’ll take it here.”

“I’ll have it relayed. It’s holo-coded.” He left.

Wedge looked up from his station, a frown on his face. “Holo-coding. I haven’t seen much of that since the Empire.”

Leia nodded. She pushed her chair back. There was an open space on the floor between the terminals. The holo would show there.

Suddenly the air rippled. Then it smoothed into a see-through wall.

“It’s coming from a long distance away,” Admiral Ackbar said.

Leia stared at it intently. The feeling of unease that had followed her since the meeting was growing.

Finally the ripples coalesced into a face.

Leia gasped. It was the skeletal face of her visions. Its eyes were dark, endless, and its mouth was a thin black line. Its cheeks were concave and its forehead gleamed like bone. The face filled the center of the room.

“Leia Organa Solo.” The mouth moved in time to the words. This was no mask like the one Vader had worn. This seemed real.

“I’m President Organa Solo,” she said, rising to her full height.

There was a brief silence before his reply. “My name is Kueller. I’m sure you have not heard of me, but you have felt my presence.”

A shudder ran down her back. How had he known that?

“You felt it when I destroyed the people of Pydyr in a single moment, without using anything as crude as a Death Star or a Star Destroyer. I prefer elegant, simple weapons, don’t you?”

Leia jutted out her chin. She had to look regal and unafraid before this madman. “What do you want?” She used the same cold voice she had used on Meido.

Again, there was the pause. Then the death mask smiled at her. “Your attention, madam.” She had the sense that the mask was part of Kueller and not part of Kueller. It chilled her.

“You have that. For the moment.”

“Good.” Kueller’s face winked out. A ripple replaced it.

“Did we lose the transmission?” Wedge asked.

Admiral Ackbar shook his head. “No. He’s doing something else. It’s a function of the distance. Just like the moments of silence before his replies. It is taking time for this transmission to carry.”

“We have instant communication all over this galaxy,” the lieutenant said.

“Not all over,” Wedge said softly.

An image waved, then coalesced into a small form collapsed on the floor. A small building burned beside it, and in the distance some metal burned.

Leia squatted. The figure was Luke. His flight suit was off and in rags. His back looked like a mass of raw flesh. He wasn’t moving.

A wave of pain and anger hit her. She reeled backward,
felt a bit of terror mixed with it, and through it all, she felt Luke.

Luke!
she sent.

Leeee—

Luke’s mental voice was cut off, replaced by a deep, throaty laughter Leia had never heard before.

His image winked away. The ripply see-through wall reappeared. And then the skeletal face was back, the laughter dying on its lips.

“No mental games, President Organa Solo. Your brother lives. For now.”

“What have you done to him?” she asked.

The death’s head smiled. The image was so large she felt as if she could fall into the mouth and never come out. “I did nothing. His ship conveniently destroyed itself.”

“The X-wing,” Wedge whispered. Admiral Ackbar shushed him.

“I would have preferred that he land a bit closer to home, but he did not. Still, he’s on my property now, and on my property he will stay. Unless you do two things. First, you must disband your inefficient government. And second, you must turn power over to me.”

“Why would we do that?”

“Because I will kill your brother if you do not.”

Leia felt cold. Ice-cold. “You think I will trade millions of lives for one, no matter how much it means to me?”

“I know your heart, President. Your brother means as much to you as your husband. As your children. I could kill them now, if you like. Would that help you decide?”

Leia forced herself to swallow. She would not allow him to intimidate her with idle threats. But she had to be careful in case his threats weren’t idle. “You’re very far away to be making such threats, Kueller.”

The smile grew wider. “Are you testing me, President? Because I warn you, I do not bluff.”

“What do you really want?”

“I believe your government lost its effectiveness years ago. I want to return efficient rule to this galaxy.”

“And you’re the man to do so?” she asked.

The smile left the death’s head. “I am the
person
to do so, President. I have done so on my homeworld. I can do it anywhere else.”

“I’ve never heard of you,” Leia said. “How do I know you’re capable of such wisdom?”

“No one had heard of young Luke Skywalker before he rescued you from the Death Star. Or of the brash Han Solo before he joined Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. There were even planets that had not heard of you before the Rebellion, President. Sometimes reputations develop late.”

“What will you do if I refuse to turn the New Republic over to you?”

The smile returned. “I will kill your brother. And your husband. And your children.”

Leia put her hands behind her back. She used a Jedi calming method so that her emotions remained in check. She would feel terror and anger later. Now she had to be a leader. The best leader the New Republic had ever known. And sometimes being a leader meant knowing when to ask the right question. “What if I still refused?”

The death’s head tilted, and part of its forehead disappeared out of the holo frame. She had surprised this Kueller. “You would refuse?”

“I haven’t made any decisions yet,” she said, keeping her voice calm. “I simply want to know my options.”

“Then I will destroy your subjects, President.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Leia asked. “Even if you succeeded, you’d have no one left to rule.”

“There are always more worlds. With the wealth I
would have from the New Republic, I can find those worlds.”

“You can’t kill everyone in the Republic,” Wedge said. “The Emperor tried to intimidate everyone into his power, and it took years.”

The death’s head’s smile grew. “I can kill all of them at once.”

“That’s hundreds of worlds,” Admiral Ackbar said. “You can’t kill that many beings at the same time.”

“Ah, but I can.” The death’s head turned and looked at something in its view, but its head suddenly faced Admiral Ackbar. The mouth gave an order in a language Leia was unfamiliar with.

She looked to Wedge in confusion. He shrugged, and as he did so, a wave of terror hit her. It was mixed with cold and voices screaming. She felt a betrayal and shock so deep that it devastated her.
Not again
, she thought. The weight of it made her stagger.
Stop!
she thought, or maybe she screamed. She didn’t know. The cold grew deeper.

And then the voices were silent.

She was sitting on the floor, tears she hadn’t known she had shed on her cheeks. The others in the room were staring at her in astonishment. Wedge helped her up. “What happened?”

The face had a triumphant look. The blackness behind the eyes seemed deeper. It felt more powerful than before.

Force-sensitive. Kueller could use the Force.

And he used it for the dark side.

As that realization filled her, the death mask smiled. “I am stronger than you will ever be, President. I am more powerful than you can dream.”

“What did you do to her?” Wedge shouted.

“I’m all right.” Leia worked to keep her voice calm. She let go of his arm.

“I did nothing to President Organa Solo. I merely gave you a demonstration of my powers. Overpopulation is such a problem, don’t you think? I just rid the galaxy of at least a million lives. More room for the rest of us.”

“A million lives?” Ackbar murmured.

“That is my second demonstration. You remember that feeling from the first time, don’t you, President?”

“How can you?” Leia asked. “Those were people. Living, breathing people.”

“Well, actually, most of them didn’t breathe,” Kueller said, “at least not in the way you do. But they no longer have to worry about breathing, through lungs or gills or airholes. See how good I am for the galaxy?”

“No,” Leia said.

“I will not argue methods with you, President. You have heard my demands. Either you acquiesce, or in three days’ time, I will kill your brother.”

“You can’t kill Luke Skywalker,” Wedge said.

“Why not? Because he is a Jedi Master? Or because he is your friend?”

Wedge didn’t answer.

The death mask turned its empty eyes to Leia. “You have three days, President. I give you time because I respect you.” The head nodded. “Until then, President.”

And the image was gone.

Leia let herself sink to the floor. A million lives. A million more lives as a demonstration to her.

Like Grand Moff Tarkin’s demonstration of the Death Star.

Tarkin had taken her father. Kueller threatened her new family.

She wouldn’t let him win. Han and Luke and her children would come home to her. And the New Republic would remain hers. She just didn’t know how yet.