“Good.”
“So if you believe that Palpatine’s rule as Emperor was legitimate, you have to believe that any government, no matter how destructive, is legitimate.” Leia practically spat the words out. “Why did we bother taking back Coruscant from the Yuuzhan Vong? By your figuring, they were the legitimate rulers of the galaxy!”
Caedus stirred, irritated, but did not rise. “That’s not what I said, and don’t put words in my mouth. Palpatine worked within the system to gain prominence. That establishes a continuity of government. That’s part of the legitimacy. What you did with the Rebels, like what the Yuuzhan Vong did, was come in like an agricultural plan-etformer, digging up and destroying everything in its path…”
A second set of doors, the ones leading forward to the bridge, opened. Lieutenant Tebut stood there, looking momentarily surprised to have interrupted the heated exchange between two of the most famous people in the galaxy.
Grateful for the reprieve, Caedus swiveled his chair toward her. “Yes?”
“We’ve dropped out of hyperspace, Colonel. We’re at the negotiation site.”
“Thank you.” Caedus rose. “Come to the bridge, Mother. In the unlikely event that this is not some sort of trap by your Confederation friends, you might witness a successful negotiation for their legitimate return to the Galactic Alliance.”
Leia accompanied him to the door. “I can’t root for either result. You don’t deserve to negotiate and benefit from a peace. And I don’t want to be here if it’s a trap.”
Behind Tebut, they walked through into the bridge and were assailed by all its usual noise-chatter of officers at their stations in the pits to either side of the main walkway, the hum of computers and other machinery, the distorted and modulated voices of personnel coming across comm frequencies and intercoms.
Caedus marched up the walkway to the vast viewports at the bow end. He could see the hull of the Anakin Solo stretching away below and before him, with the domes of its gravity-well generators protruding like habitat shells and the distant, slightly irregular shapes of enemy ships among the unwinking stars. “Report.”
The officer in the sensor station, a woman with a Coruscanti accent, called up, “They dropped out of hyperspace thirty seconds after we did. Their numbers match ours, ship for ship. We’re running data on the ships themselves. The Anakin Solo’s opposite number is the Star Destroyer Valorum.”
“Valorum?” Caedus’s surprise was genuine. “Intelligence, best guess: did they name her for one of Palpatine’s political opponents to goad me?”
“No, sir.” The man at the intelligence station was dark-skinned; though young, he was completely bald, and his accent suggested worlds of the Unknown Regions. “That Was her original name upon launch, about sixty years ago. She’s Victory-class, from the last years of the Old Republic.”
Caedus turned to his mother. “Ancient hardware. They’re getting desperate.”
Leia nodded. “Which affects the chances of this being a legitimate negotiation and a trap equally. So it’s information, but not informative.”
“Stop trying to teach me politics, Mother. I’ve already attained the highest rank you ever did, and I’m not done yet.”
“Except that I attained it by being elected to it, not by rewriting the law and jailing my predecessor.”
Caedus turned away, shaking his head. Leia was deluded if she thought there was a meaningful difference. “Communications! Has the enemy initiated comm contact?”
Lieutenant Tebut, back at her station, nodded. “Yes, sir. They’ve sent routine greetings and asked for you.”
“Let them wait. Have we established contact with the Blue Divert”
“Yes, sir.”
“Put her on holo.”
A moment later a hologram swam into resolution before Caedus and Leia. It showed a female of the Duros people, with bluish skin, large red eyes, and a lipless slit for a mouth with no nose above it. She wore a white admiral’s uniform. She nodded to Caedus. “Colonel.” Recognizing Leia, she nodded again, her voice taking on a slight note of surprise. “Jedi Solo.”
“No, Admiral Limpan, sadly, my mother has not seen the light of reason and rejoined the Alliance. Are you on station?”
“We are.”
Caedus glanced his mother’s way. “I plan no violation of the terms of our meeting today, Mother, but if they spring a trap, I have elements of the Second Fleet standing by to jump in as a little surprise. Speaking of surprises, Admiral, if our holocomm contact is broken for more than fifteen seconds, consider that authorization to jump in. They could always manage some sort of sabotage or jamming to break contact between us.”