“Which reminds me,” Leia said. “What became of Senator Tuomi’s challenge to my credentials?”
“Over. Forgotten. Chairman Beruss squashed it under a
procedural mountain. And I was able to limit the parade to the podium to ten speakers.”
“How many more would there have been if you hadn’t shown up at the end of the line brandishing an ax?”
Behn-kihl-nahm waved away the question. “It’s simply noise to be ignored. The more important question concerns the future. What do you plan to do about the Yevetha?”
“What are we strong enough to do?” Leia asked.
“What options are there that don’t lead to handing the presidency to Fey’lya or Praget or Cion Marook?”
“Perhaps you might consider the question of what should be done, and then we can work together on surviving it.”
“What should be done—” Leia shook her head.
“What we should do is drive the Yevetha back to N’zoth, then drop a planetary interdiction field over them, with the timer set for a thousand years. And that would probably be too light a sentence by half.”
“You are kinder than I,” said Behn-kihl-nahm. “The only justice I can imagine would be for them to suffer the sentence they imposed on their victims. Of course, that’s impossible—for us to do such a thing would violate every principle in the Declaration.” He plunked a bitter candy from the bowl on the side table. “But I could stand by and watch while someone else did it.”
“You’re stronger than I,” Leia said. “I think I would have to look away.”
Behn-kiln-nahm made the candy disappear with a snap of his jaws. “But while we are waiting for this avenger to appear—” “Maybe I should meet with the Defense Council and get a sense of how far we’re willing to go.”
“I would rather see you come to the Council on a quest than with a question.”
“If I come before them and insist that we have to use the Fifth Fleet to spank the Yevetha, every one of them will remember what Tig Peramis said about why we built that fleet, and what Nil Spaar said about my heritage. If we’re going to do anything that risks the lives of those who wear New Republic uniforms, the initiative has to come from the Defense Council.”
Behn-kihl-nahm shook his head. “There is no way it can come from anyone but you.”
“Then it isn’t going to happen,” Leia said flatly.
“Nil Spaar tied my hands. Senators Hodidiji and Peramis gave him the rope. And I stood still for it, because he was smiling while he did it.”
“This decision does not have to be about Leia Or-gana Solo.”
“How can it be about anything else?”
“It could be about Plat Mallar,” said the chairman.
“He could become the symbol of your cause.”
Leia was shaking her head even before Behn-kihl-nahm finished speaking.
“I will not use him,” she said. “I won’t exploit his tragedy. If the execution of a million or more sentient beings, the destruction of a dozen planetary communities, isn’t enough—if the members of the Council need a living victim paraded in front of them to move them to act—then shame on them. And shame on US.”
Making as to leave, Behn-kihl-nahm stood. “Shame is a scarce commodity in politics,” he said, brushing down his clothes. “And there are more politicians than statesmen on Corascant now.”
“I don’t want to believe that.”
“Nevertheless, it is so. Think this through carefully, Princess. You will get only one chance to lead them,” the chairman said. “If you forfeit it, you will have no choice but to follow where they lead. And I cannot promise you that they will choose an agreeable destination.”
The hypercomm link showed nothing but static until General A’baht entered the decryption code Admiral Hiram Drayson had obliged him to memorize. Several seconds later—longer than the usual hypercomm transmission lag—the static resolved into the face of the Alpha Blue director.
“General A’baht,” said Drayson with a nod.
“Thank you for making yourself available–” “Drayson,” A’baht growled.
“Perhaps you can explain what is going on back there.”
“You may be hoping for too much,” said Drayson.
“This is Coruscant, after all. Which peculiarity in particular concerns you?”
“I requested additional support within the first hour of our arrival on station,” A’baht said. “All I have heard in reply is silence. ‘Under review by the Fleet Office Strategic Command,’ I am told. But not one member of the command staff has contacted me.”