[Dark Nest] - 3(87)

Leia waited until Baltke’s attention returned, then asked, “Something wrong?”

“Not at all,” he said smugly. “Everything is going quite well, as a matter of fact.”

Leia sensed no deception in his answer. “Then how come you’re so ready to die?”

Baltke’s eye widened in surprise, but he said, “Because I am a soldier, Princess Leia.” He returned to his seat and gestured for her to continue. “But please don’t waste our time with more lies. Our session will soon be cut short.”

“Very well,” Leia said. The vessel continued to tremble, suggesting they were accelerating into battle. “You already know what the Falcon’s mission was.”

“Yes. Your assignment was to rendezvous with your daughter and her mindmate.” Baltke was speaking a bit rapidly now, the truth drug and the excitement of the coming battle serving to agitate him. “Then you were to enter Chiss space and attempt to infiltrate our command and control centers with teams of Killik commandos.”

“Not quite,” Leia said. “Actually, the plan was to attack only one center, using a variation on the same tactic the Killiks used to capture the Admiral Ackbar.”

Baltke arched the brow above his red eye, then asked in an interested voice, “Really?”

“The idea was to get the Falcon captured,” Leia explained. “While you were interrogating us, a swarm of Killik commandos-they’re about the size of your thumb-would be sneaking out of the Falcon’s smuggling compartments to infest your facility and take control at an opportune moment.”

As Leia explained this, Baltke frowned and pressed a finger to his earpiece without seeming to realize he was doing it.

“Don’t worry-your vessel is safe,” Leia said. “That part of our plan relied on winning Jaina’s cooperation. Since we haven’t rendezvoused with her, we haven’t picked up any Killiks yet.”

“You’ll understand if we want to check for ourselves.”

“Go ahead,” Leia said. “If you give me a comlink, I’ll instruct See-Threepio to show you how to open the compartments.”

Baltke started to reach for his comlink, then seemed to catch himself and smiled.

“Nice try, Princess.” He glanced at one of the guards behind her. “Bring a vocoder. We’ll have her record the message.”

The guard acknowledged the order, and the door whirred open behind Leia. A moment later the vessel began to buck and shudder more noticeably.

“We’re entering the atmosphere!”

“So it seems,” Baltke replied calmly. “We’re still confused about this plan of yours. How did you expect capturing one of our command and control centers to destroy the Colony?”

“We didn’t,” Leia said. “That was just to get your attention. Luke is destroying the Colony himself.”

“Now I know you’re a fool,” he said. “How could one Jedi do that?”

“By destroying the Dark Nest and its Unseen Queen,” Leia said. “That should be completed by now.”

“You tried that at Qoribu,” Baltke pointed out. “You failed miserably.”

“This time, we’re better prepared,” Leia said. “Our scientists have developed a few weapons to disrupt the Killiks’ collective mind-and we have an Alliance attack fleet to support us.”

Baltke’s voice grew derisive. “And once the Dark Nest is gone, you think the Killiks will become ‘good bugs’ again?”

“Not at all,” Leia said. “That’s only the first part of Luke’s plan. He should be arriving here very soon to complete the second.”

“Which is?”

“Destroying Unu and removing Raynar Thul from his role as the Colony’s leader,” Leia said. “It may take a little time, but our scientists are certain that once Raynar is no longer able to control the nests by exerting his Will through the Force, the Colony will grow disorganized and enter a self-regulating cycle again. Then it won’t be a threat to anyone.”

“An interesting theory,” Baltke said. They began to buck harder than ever, and the cell began to grow warm-an indication that they were descending so fast that the vessel was having trouble dissipating the heat of atmospheric friction. “What exactly do you mean when you say ‘remove’ Raynar Thul?”

“Whatever it takes,” Leia said. “Luke has never liked the idea of a Jedi leading any government, and this is a good example of why.”

“So you’re going to assassinate him?” Baltke asked.

“That’s one possibility, but I don’t know what Luke has decided,” Leia said. “I can promise you this, though: Raynar Thul is a Jedi problem, and we’ll do whatever it takes to fix it.”