[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(139)
“It is,” Leia nodded. “I have said that these plants are not the kholm-grass you remember from before the disaster. But I have not yet said what is different about them.” Picking up one of the plants, she held it up for them to see. “The Emperor’s scientists took your kholm-grass and changed it,” she told the crowd. “They created differences that would breed true between generations. The altered smell you have noticed is caused by a chemical which the stem, roots, and leaves secrete. A chemical which has one purpose only: to inhibit the growth of all other plant life. The machines that the Grand Admiral claims are cleaning the ground are in fact doing nothing but destroying this special kholm-grass which the Empire planted.”
“Your truth is again dreams,” Vor’corldi scoffed. “The droid machines require nearly two tens of days to cleanse a single pirkha of land. My daughters could destroy the kholm-grass there in one.”
Leia smiled grimly. “Perhaps the machines don’t require as much time as it appears. Let’s find out.” Holding the kholm-grass out in front of her, she eased a drop of pale liquid from the tip of the needle and touched it to the stem.
It was as dramatic a demonstration as she could have hoped for. The drop soaked through the dull brown surface of the plant, and for a handful of seconds nothing seemed to happen. There was a faint sizzling sound; and then, without warning, the plant suddenly began to turn black and wither. There was a hissing gasp from the crowd as the patch of catalytic destruction spread along the stem toward the leaves and roots. Leia held it up a moment longer, then dropped it on the terrace. There it lay, writhing like a dry branch thrown into a fire, until there was nothing left but a short and unrecognizable filament of wrinkled black. Leia touched it tentatively with the toe of her hoot, and it disintegrated into a fine powder.
She had expected another outburst of surprise or outrage from the crowd. Their dead silence was in its own way more unnerving than any noise would have been. The Noghri understood the implications of the demonstration, all right.
And as she looked around at their faces, she knew that she’d won.
She put the cylinder down on the terrace beside the destroyed plant and turned to face the dynasts. “I have shown you my proof,” she said. “You must now decide whether the Noghri debt has been paid.”
She looked at Vor’corkh; and moved by an impulse she couldn’t explain, she unhooked her lightsaber from her belt and put it in his hand. Stepping past him, she went over to Khabarakh. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t expect for you to have to go through anything like this because of me.”
Khabarath opened his mouth in a needle-toothed Noghri smile. “The Empire has long taught us that it is a honor pride and duty to face pain for his overlord. Should I do less for the Mal’ary’ush of the Lord Vader?”
Leia shook her head. “I’m not your overlord, Khabarakh, and I never will be. The Noghri are a free people. I came only to try to restore that freedom to you.”
“And to bring us on your side against the Empire,” Vor’corkh said caustically from behind her.
Leia turned. “That would be my wish,” she agreed. “But I do not ask it.”
Vor’corkh studied her a moment. Then, reluctantly, he handed her lightsaber back to her. “The dynasts of Honoghr cannot and will not make so important a decision in a single day,” he said. “There is much to consider, and a full convocate of the Noghri people must be called.”
“Then call it,” Khabarakh urged. “The Mal’ary’ush of the Lord Vader is here.”
“And can the Mal’ary’ush protect us from the might of the Empire, should we choose to defy it?” Vor’corkh countered.
“But-“
“No, Khabarakh, he’s right,” Leia said. “The Empire would rather kill you all than let you defect or even become neutral.”
“Have the Noghri forgotten how to fight?” Khabarakh scoffed.
“And has Khabarakh clan Kihm’bar forgotten what happened to Honoghr forty-eight years ago?” Vor’corkh snapped. “If we left the Empire now, we would have no option but to leave our world and hide.”
“And doing that would guarantee the instant slaughter of the commando teams that are out serving the Empire,” Leia pointed out to Khabarakh. “Would you have them die without even knowing the reason? There is no honor in that.”
“You speak wisdom, Lady Vader,” Vor’corkh said, and for the first time Leia thought she could detect a trace of grudging respect in his eyes. “True warriors understand the value of patience. You will leave us now?”