The Last Command (22 page)

He straightened in his chair. “Set course for the Ketaris battle plane, Captain. We’ll leave as soon as Ferrier is clear.”

The bulky man was turning into the Grand Corridor when Han finally caught up with him, his expression that of a man in a hurry and in a rotten mood besides. But that was okay; Han wasn’t in all that great a mood, either. “Colonel Bremen,” he said, falling in step beside the man just as he passed the first of the slender purple-and-green ch’hala trees that lined both sides of the Grand Corridor. “I want to talk to you a minute.”

Bremen threw him an irritated glance. “If it’s about Mara Jade, Solo, I don’t want to hear it.”

“She’s still under house arrest,” Han said anyway. “I want to know why.”

“Gee, well, maybe it has something to do with that Imperial attack two nights ago,” Bremen said sarcastically. “You suppose?”

“Could be,” Han agreed, batting at one of the ch’hala branches that was stretching a little too far from the trunk. The subtle turmoil of color taking place beneath the tree’s transparent outer bark exploded into an angry red at the spot where the branch connected to it, the color shooting around the trunk in ripples as it slowly faded. “I guess it all depends on how much we’re listening to Imperial rumor these days.”

Bremen stopped short and spun to face him. “Look, Solo, what do you want from me?” he snapped. A new flush of pale red rippled across the ch’hala tree Han had touched, and across the corridor a group of diplomats sitting around a conversation ring looked up questioningly. “Look at the facts a minute, huh? Jade knew about the secret back door and the passages—she admits that outright. She was there on the scene before any alert was sounded—she admits that, too.”

“Well, so were Lando and General Bel Iblis,” Han said, feeling that thin plating of diplomacy that Leia had worked so hard to build starting to fail. “You haven’t got
them
locked up.”

“The situations are hardly similar, are they?” Bremen shot back. “Calrissian and Bel Iblis have histories with the New Republic, and people here who vouch for them. Jade has neither.”

“Leia and I vouch for her,” Han told him, trying hard to ignore that whole thing about her wanting to kill Luke. “Isn’t that good enough? Or are you just mad at her for doing your job for you?”

It was the wrong thing to say. Bremen turned nearly as red as the ch’hala tree had, his face hardening to something you could use for hull metal. “So she helped shoot some alleged Imperial agents,” he said frostily. “That proves absolutely nothing. With a Grand Admiral pulling the strings out there, the entire raid could have been nothing more than an elaborate scheme to convince us she’s on our side. Well, I’m sorry, but we’re not buying today. She gets the full treatment: records search, background search, acquaintance correlation, and a couple of question/answer sessions with our interrogators.”

“Terrific,” Han snorted. “If she’s not on our side now, that’ll put her there for sure.”

Bremen drew himself up to his full height. “We’re not doing this to be popular, Solo. We’re doing this to protect New Republic lives—yours and your children’s among them, if you recall. I presume Councilor Organa Solo will be at Mon Mothma’s briefing; if she has any complaints or suggestions, she can present them there. Until then, I don’t want to hear anything about Jade from anyone. Especially you. Is that clear,
Captain
Solo.”

Han sighed. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Good.” Spinning around again, Bremen continued on his way down the corridor. Han watched him go, glowering at his back.

“You do have a way with people, don’t you?” a familiar voice said wryly from beside him.

Han turned in mild surprise. “Luke! When did you get back?”

“About ten minutes ago,” Luke told him, nodding down the corridor. “I called your room, and Winter told me you two had headed down here for a special meeting. I was hoping to catch you before you went in.”

“I’m not invited, actually,” Han said, throwing one last glare at Bremen’s retreating back. “And Leia stopped by Mara’s room first.”

“Ah. Mara.”

Han looked back at his friend. “She was here when we needed her,” he reminded the younger man.

Luke grimaced. “And I wasn’t.”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Han protested.

“I know,” Luke assured him. “But I still should have been here.”

“Well…” Han shrugged, not really sure what to say. “You can’t always be here to protect her. That’s what she’s got me for.”

Luke threw him a wry smile. “Right. I must have forgotten.”

Han looked over his shoulder. Other diplomats and Council aides were starting to show up, but no Leia yet. “Come on—she must have gotten hung up somewhere. We can meet her halfway.”

“I’m surprised you’re letting her walk around the Palace alone,” Luke commented as they headed back along the row of ch’hala trees.

“She’s not exactly alone,” Han said dryly. “Chewie hasn’t let her out of his sight since the attack. The big fuzzball even sleeps outside our door at night.”

“Must give you a safe feeling.”

“Yeah. The kids’ll probably grow up allergic to Wookiee hair.” He glanced over at Luke. “Where were you, anyway? Your last message said you’d be back three days ago.”

“That was before I got stuck on—” Luke broke off, eyeing the people beginning to wander through the corridor. “I’ll tell you later,” he amended. “Winter said that Mara was under house arrest?”

“Yeah, and it looks like she’s going to stay there,” Han growled. “At least till we can convince the bit-pushers down in Security that she’s clear.”

“Yes,” Luke said hesitantly. “Well, that might not be as easy as it sounds.”

Han frowned. “Why not?”

Luke seemed to brace himself. “Because she spent most of the war years as a personal assistant to the Emperor.”

Han stared at him. “I hope you’re kidding.”

“I’m not,” Luke said, shaking his head. “He had her going all over the Empire doing jobs for him. They called her the Emperor’s Hand.”

Which was what that Imperial major down in the medical wing had called her. “That’s great,” he told Luke, turning to face forward again. “Just great. You could have told us.”

“I didn’t think it was important,” Luke said. “She’s not with the Empire now, that’s for sure.” He threw Han a significant glance. “And I suppose most of us have things in our background we wouldn’t want people talking about.”

“Somehow, I don’t think Bremen and his Security hotshots are going to see it that way,” Han said grimly.

“Well, we’ll just have to convince them—”

He broke off. “What is it?” Han asked.

“I don’t know,” Luke said slowly. “I just felt a disturbance in the Force.”

Something cold settled into the pit of Han’s stomach. “What kind of disturbance?” he asked. “You mean like danger?”

“No,” Luke said, his forehead wrinkled with concentration. “More like surprise. Or shock.” He looked at Han. “And I’m not sure… but I think it was coming from Leia.”

Han’s hand dropped to the grip of his blaster, his eyes flicking around the corridor. Leia was up there with a former Imperial agent… and she was surprised enough for Luke to pick up on it. “You think we should run?” he said quietly.

“No,” Luke said. His hand, Han noted, was fingering his lightsaber. “But we can walk fast.”

From outside the door came the muffled voice of the G-2RD guard droid, and with a tired sigh Mara shut down her data pad and tossed it on the desk in front of her. Eventually, she assumed, Security would get tired of these polite little sweetness-coated interrogation sessions. But if they were, it wasn’t showing yet. Reaching out with the Force, she tried to identify her visitor, hoping at least that it wasn’t that Bremen character again.

It wasn’t; and she had just enough time to get over her surprise before the door opened and Leia Organa Solo walked in.

“Hello, Mara,” Organa Solo nodded in greeting. Behind her, the guard droid closed the door, giving Mara a brief glimpse of an obviously unhappy Wookiee. “I just stopped in to see how you were doing.”

“I’m just terrific,” Mara growled, still not sure whether getting Organa Solo instead of Bremen was a step up or a step down. “What was all that about outside?”

Leia shook her head, and Mara caught a flicker of the other woman’s annoyance. “Somebody in Security apparently decided you shouldn’t have more than one guest at a time unless it was one of them. Chewie had to stay outside, and he wasn’t very happy about it.”

“I take it he doesn’t trust me?”

“Don’t take it personally,” Leia assured her. “Wookiees take these life-debts of theirs very seriously, you know. He’s still pretty upset that he nearly lost all of us to that kidnap squad. Actually, at this point he probably trusts you more than he trusts anyone else in the Palace.”

“I’m glad someone does,” Mara said, hearing the bitterness in her voice. “Maybe I should ask him to have a little talk with Colonel Bremen.”

Organa Solo sighed. “I’m sorry about this, Mara. We’ve got a meeting downstairs in a few minutes and I’m going to try again to get you released. But I don’t think Mon Mothma and Ackbar will okay it until Security finishes their check.”

And when they found out that she really
had
been the Emperor’s Hand… “I should have kept pushing Winter to get me a ship out of here.”

“If you had, the twins and I would be in Imperial hands now,” Organa Solo said quietly. “On our way to be the prizes of his Jedi Master C’baoth.”

Mara felt her jaw tighten. Offhand, she couldn’t think of many fates more horrible than that one. “You’ve already thanked me,” she muttered. “Let’s just say you owe me one and leave it at that, okay?”

Organa Solo smiled slightly. “I think we owe you a lot more than just one,” she said.

Mara looked her straight in the eye. “Remember that when I kill your brother.”

Organa Solo didn’t flinch. “You still think you want to kill him?”

“I don’t want to discuss it,” Mara told her, getting up from her chair and stalking over to the window. “I’m doing fine, you’re going to try to get me out, and we’re all glad I saved you from C’baoth. Was there anything else?”

She could feel Organa Solo’s eyes studying her. “Not really,” the other said. “I just wanted to ask why you did it.”

Mara stared out the window, feeling an uncomfortable swelling of emotion washing up against the heavy armorplate she’d worked so hard to build up around herself. “I don’t know,” she said, vaguely surprised that she was even admitting it. “I’ve had two days of solitary to think it over, and I still don’t know. Maybe…” She shrugged. “I guess it was just something about Thrawn trying to steal your children.”

For a minute Organa Solo was silent. “Where did you come from, Mara?” she asked at last. “Before the Emperor brought you to Coruscant.”

Mara thought back. “I don’t know. I remember the first time I met the Emperor, and the ride here in his private ship. But I don’t have any memories of where I started from.”

“Do you remember how old you were?”

Mara shook her head. “Not really. I was old enough to talk to him, and to understand that I would be leaving home and going with him. But I can’t pin it down any closer than that.”

“How about your parents? Do you remember them?”

“Only a little,” Mara said. “Not much more than shadows.” She hesitated. “I have a feeling, though, that they didn’t want me to go.”

“I doubt the Emperor gave them any choice in the matter,” Organa Solo said, her voice suddenly gentle. “What about you, Mara? Did
you
have any choice?”

Mara smiled tightly through a sudden inexplicable welling up of tears. “So that’s where you’re going with this. You think I risked my life for your twins because I got taken from my home the same way?”

“Were you?”

“No,” Mara said flatly, turning back to face her. “It wasn’t like that. I just didn’t want C’baoth getting his crazy grip on them. Just leave it at that.”

“All right,” Organa Solo said, in a voice that said she only half believed it. “But if you ever want to talk more about it—”

“I know where to find you,” Mara finished for her. She still didn’t believe she was telling Organa Solo all this… but down deep she had to admit that it felt strangely good to talk about it. Maybe she was getting soft.

“And you can call on me anytime,” Organa Solo smiled as she stood up. “I’d better get downstairs to the briefing. See what Thrawn’s fighting clones are up to today.”

Mara frowned. “What fighting clones?”

It was Organa Solo’s turn to frown. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“The Empire’s found some Spaarti cloning cylinders somewhere. They’ve been turning out huge numbers of clones to fight against us.”

Mara stared at her, an icy chill running through her. Clones… “No one told me,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Organa Solo said. “I thought everyone knew. It was the main topic of conversation in the Palace for nearly a month.”

“I was in the medical wing,” Mara said mechanically. Clones. With the
Katana
-fleet ships to fight from, and with the cold-blooded genius of Grand Admiral Thrawn to command them. It would be the Clone Wars all over again.

“That’s right—I’d forgotten,” Organa Solo acknowledged. “There was so much else going on.” She was looking oddly at Mara. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Mara said, her voice sounding distant in her ears as the memories flashed across her mind like heat lightning. A forest—a mountain—a hidden and very private warehouse of the Emperor’s personal treasures—

And a vast chamber full of cloning tanks.

“All right,” Organa Solo said, clearly not convinced but equally unwilling to press the point. “Well… I’ll see you later.” She reached again for the door handle—

“Wait.”

Organa Solo turned back. “Yes?”

Mara took a deep breath. The very existence of the place had been a sacred trust, known to only a handful of people—the Emperor had made that clear time and time again. But for Thrawn to have a renewable army of clones to throw against the galaxy… “I think I know where Thrawn’s Spaarti cylinders are.”

Even with her rudimentary sensing abilities she could feel the wave of shock that rippled outward from Organa Solo. “Where?” she asked, her voice tightly controlled.