[Hand Of Thrawn] - 01(20)

Leia nodded silently, that scene from ten years earlier flashing back to mind. Councilor Borsk Fey’lya, standing outside the Wild Karrde in the Imperial City on Coruscant, all but pleading with Karrde to fly Leia to Wayland to help Han and the others destroy the Emperor’s Mount Tantiss storehouse. Warning darkly that there were things in that storehouse that, if found, could bring disaster to the Bothan people and the galaxy.

Lak Jit had found it. And Fey’lya had been right.

“I don’t suppose there’s any chance the record is a forgery,” Karrde said, gazing thoughtfully at the datapad. “Something the Emperor might have created with an eye to someday blackmailing the Bothans.”

“I doubt it,” Leia said. “The royal library on Alderaan had a great deal of information on the attack that burned off Caamas. Details that were never made public knowledge.”

“It’s hard to believe anything about Caamas could have been kept secret,” Karrde said. “The outrage at the time was certainly widespread enough. Worse even than when your own Alderaan was destroyed.”

Leia nodded mechanically, her mind’s eye drawn unwillingly back to the horrifying holo images she’d seen as a child in the history records. The destruction of Caamas had happened before her time, but the pictures were as vivid as if she’d witnessed the aftermath of the event in person.

The attack had been sudden and thorough, with a viciousness that had made it stand out even against the widespread devastation of the Clone Wars that had preceded it. Perhaps that was what the attackers had banked on, that a populace weary of war would be too emotionally drained to even notice, much less care about the fate of a single world.

But if that was indeed their strategy, it turned out to be a serious miscalculation. The Caamasi had been a good and noble people, with an artistic bent and a gentle wisdom that had won them a deep respect even among their adversaries. Their unwavering belief in peace through moral strength had been a strong influence on the political philosophies of many worlds, including Alderaan, while their firm support of the principles of the Old Republic had made them a rallying point for all such supporters during the political chaos of that era.

It was still not known who the attackers had been who had come out of nowhere to systematically and ruthlessly burn off the planet. None of the Caamasi’s political opponents had claimed credit-indeed, all of them had joined in the universal condemnation, at least verbally-and the Caamasi’s surviving records of the battle were too badly damaged to be of any use in identification.

But with Lak Jit’s datacard, at least one piece of the puzzle had now been solved.

“They were an almost universally beloved people.” Leia sighed, bringing her attention back to the present. “Still are, those few who are left.” She blinked back tears. “You wouldn’t have known, but there was a large Caamasi refugee group on Alderaan when I was growing up, living in the South Islands in secret under my father’s protection. They were hoping that someday when they were strong enough they could return to Camaas and try to rebuild.”

“Interesting,” Karrde murmured, absently stroking his beard. “As it happens, I did know about that group-I used to smuggle in foodstuffs and medicines they needed that were on Alderaan’s forbidden-import list. I always wondered why your customs people never seemed to notice me.”

“My father didn’t want anything official showing up in any import records,” Leia said. “He’d always suspected Palpatine’s involvement in Caamas’s destruction, either directly or through intermediaries, especially when it became clear as to the direction Palpatine was trying to twist the Republic. The Caamasi would never have stood for it, and they would have been much quicker to recognize and respond to the threat than we on Alderaan were.”

“Hence, they had to be eliminated,” Karrde said heavily. “As you say, obvious in hindsight.” He gestured toward the datapad. “But I would never have guessed there were Bothans involved.”

“It’s going to surprise everybody,” Leia said, wincing. “And it couldn’t have come at a worse time. With tensions and brush wars cropping up all over the New Republic, I’m not at all sure we’re in any shape to deal rationally with something like this.”

There was a flicker of presence from outside the office, and she turned as the door slid open. “The alert’s out,” Mara said, coming into the office and sitting down next to Leia. “All our ships and ground stations, and I got word to Mazzic’s and Clyngunn’s people, too. If Lak Jit gets near any of them, we’ll have him.” She nodded at the datapad. “Was there anything else on the datacard?”