[Legacy Of The Force] - 01(14)

This balcony ran the length of Han and Leia’s building along a canyon-like drop. Bridges, sonic of them canopied and some open to the sky or to overhanging spacescrapers above, spanned gaps between buildings. This elevated pedestrian roadway changed appearance, surface texture, and lighting every few hundred meters, intersecting other walkways. Had someone no need to work a job, had he an infinite credcard and feet as tough as duracrete, he could probably walk entirely around Coruscant’s circumference at this altitude.

Most of the men, women, and who-knew-whats traveling this path-Jacen counted only thirty or so within a hundred steps in either direction-were probably on less ambitious errands. Jacen saw wealthy businessbeings, many of them accompanied by bodyguards both overt and covert, on strolls; there were young lovers and families, chiefly belonging to the higher income brackets, walking apparently unprotected. Some of them probably didn’t worry about the dangers that they might face walking so far from protection. Some were probably better defended than they looked.

Luke gestured to the left, where the walkway rose in a series of short steps some five meters across a distance of fifty, and they began walking in that direction.

“Your father surprised me,” Luke said. “With his mention of Jedi walking the government halls in Corellia.”

“Surprised you?” Jacen thought about it. “Not because he’s being paranoid. Because he’s not being paranoid. Because there are plans along those lines.”

Luke nodded, his expression glum. Then he put up his hood and wrapped his cloak more closely around himself, the better to conceal the presence of his lightsaber.

Jacen did the same. A young human couple pushing a repulsor-assisted baby stroller, trailing two dark-clad security men, one human and one Rodian, were walking in their direction. Luke and Jacen would still be slightly conspicuous in their cloaks, which had the anonymous appearance of travelers’ garments but were seldom worn by the sort of people who lived at these altitudes … then again, the residents of these heights did often go slumming in inappropriate clothes, so they weren’t too unusual. Their features shadowed by their hoods, the Jedi passed unrecognized by the oblivious couple and their alert guards.

Once they were past, Jacen continued, “It seems like an extreme action. Has the GA given up on negotiation with Corellia?”

“The GA is aware of some facts that haven’t made it to the holocomm news feeds,” Luke said. “Such as, the Corellians aren’t really negotiating in good faith-just stringing the GA negotiators along while making no internal effort to edge toward compliance with the new regulations. Such as, the Corellians are secretly encouraging other systems to follow the same sort of resistance. Such as-“

Luke looked troubled. “What I’m about to tell you is for your ears alone.”

“Understood.”

“The Corellian government, or someone inside it, appears to be constructing a planetary assault fleet. In secret.”

Jacen frowned. Historically, there was only one reason ever to build a planetary assault fleet, and to do so in secret: to launch a sneak attack on another system. “For use against whom?”

“That’s a good question. And it’s a question military intelligence hasn’t been able to answer yet.” Luke shrugged. “But there are dozens of possibilities. Most of the recovery loans Corellia made after the Yuuzhan Vong war are in default, and the Corellians have no shortage of trade disputes. They might even be considering a resource-grab. There are just too many possibilites at this point to guess.”

“Why did you say the Corellian government or ‘someone inside it’? Do we not know who’s responsible?”

Luke shook his head. “The truth is, this intelligence is based primarily on analyses of procurement patterns, plus a long history of suspicious personnel assignments.”

“Wait. The existence of the fleet is based on the reports of accountants?”

Luke grinned. “What do you have against accountants?”

“Nothing, I guess.”

“The problem with the data we have, though, is that it gives us no idea where they’re building the fleet-only that it’s been under construction for almost a decade, and our logistics people think it’s nearing completion.”

Jacen grew thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “And you want me to find the shipyards and confirm the intelligence?”

Luke shook his head. “I wish it were that easy. Admiral Pellaeon is confident that military intelligence will soon pinpoint the base. We need you to handle a more pressing matter.”

“More pressing than a planetary assault?”