[Thrawn Trilogy] - 01(122)
“You serve the Empire now,” Leia pointed out.
“In return for the Emperor’s help,” Khabarakh said, a hint of pride showing through his deference. “Only he came to our aid when we so desperately needed it. In his memory, we serve his designated heir-the man to whom the Lord Vader long ago entrusted us.”
“I find it difficult to believe the Emperor ever really cared about you,” Leia told him bluntly. “That’s not the sort of man he was. All he cared about was obtaining your service against us.”
“Only he came to our aid,” Khabarakh repeated.
“Because we were unaware of your plight,” Leia told him.
“So you say.”
Leia raised her eyebrows. “Then give me a chance to prove it. Tell me where your world is.”
Khabarakh jerked back. “That is impossible. You would seek us out and complete the destruction-“
“Khabarakh,” Leia cut him off. “Who am I?”
The folds around the Noghri’s nostrils seemed to flatten. “You are the Lady Vader. The Mal’ary’ush.”
“Did the Lord Vader ever lie to you?”
“You said he did.”
“I said he was mistaken,” Leia reminded him, perspiration starting to collect beneath her collar as she recognized the knife edge she was now walking along here. Her newfound status with Khabarakh rested solely on the Noghri’s reverence for Darth Vader. Somehow, she had to attack Vader’s words without simultaneously damaging that respect. “Even the Lord Vader could be deceived … and the Emperor was a master of deception.”
“The Lord Vader served the Emperor,” Khabarakh insisted. “The Emperor would not have lied to him.”
Leia gritted her teeth. Stalemate. “Is your new lord equally honest with you?”
Khabarakh hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do-you said yourself he didn’t tell you who it was you’d been sent to capture.”
A strange sort of low moan rumbled in Khabarakh’s throat. “I am only a soldier, my lady. These matters are far beyond my authority and ability. My duty is to obey my orders. All of my orders.”
Leia frowned. Something about the way he’d said that … and abruptly, she knew what it was. For a captured commando facing interrogation, there could be only one order left to follow. “Yet you now know something none of your people are aware of,” she said quickly. “You must live, to bring this information to them.”
Khabarakh had brought his palms to face each other, as if preparing to clap them together. Now he froze, staring at her. “The Lord Vader could read the souls of the Noghri,” he said softly. “You are indeed his Mal’ary’ush.”
“Your people need you, Khabarakh,” she told him. “As do I. Your death now would only hurt those you seek to help.”
Slowly, he lowered his hands. “How is it you need me?”
“Because I need your help if I’m to do anything for your people,” she said. “You must tell me the location of your world.”
“I cannot,” he said firmly. “To do so could bring ultimate destruction upon my world. And upon me, if it were learned I had given you such information.”
Leia pursed her lips. “Then take me there.”
“I cannot!”
“Why not?”
“I … cannot.”
She fixed him with her best regal stare. “I am the daughter-the Mal’ary’ush-of the Lord Darth Vader,” she said firmly. “By your own admission, he was the hope of your world. Have matters improved since he delivered you to your new leader?”
He hesitated. “No. He has told us there is little more that he or anyone else can do.”
“I would prefer to judge that for myself,” she told him loftily. “Or would your people consider a single human to be such a threat?”
Khabarakh twitched. “You would come alone? To a people seeking your capture?”
Leia swallowed hard, a shiver running down her back. No, she hadn’t meant to imply that. But then, she hadn’t been sure of why she’d wanted to talk to Khabarakh in the first place. She could only hope that the Force was guiding her intuition in all this. “I trust your people to be honorable,” she said quietly. “I trust them to grant me a hearing.”
She turned and stepped to the door. “Consider my offer,” she told him. “Discuss it with those whose counsel you value. Then, if you choose, meet me in orbit above the world of Endor in one month’s time.”
“You will come alone?” Khabarakh asked, apparently still not believing it.