“I don’t believe this,” Luke spoke up at last, looking back and forth between Fey’lya and Mon Mothma. “The Katana fleet’s been found, the Empire’s going after it, and we’re sitting here arguing about it?”
“Perhaps the problem is that you believe too much, or too easily,” Fey’lya retorted, turning his gaze on Luke. “Solo tells us the Empire is holding someone who can lead them to these alleged ships. And yet Karrde has said only he knows their location.”
“And as I’ve mentioned at least once today,” Karrde said tartly, “the assumption that no one else knew what we’d found was just that: an assumption. Captain Hoffner was a very astute man in his way, and I have no trouble believing that he might have pulled a copy of the coordinates for himself before I erased them.”
“I’m glad you have such faith in your former associate,” Fey’lya said. “For myself I find it easier to believe that it is Captain Solo who is wrong.” His fur rippled. “Or has been deliberately deceived.”
Beside her, Leia felt Han’s mood darken. “You want to explain that, Councilor?” he demanded.
“I think you were lied to,” Fey’lya said bluntly, his eyes still not meeting Han’s. “I think this contact of yours-who I notice you’ve been remarkably reluctant to identify-told you a story and dressed it up with false evidence. That piece of machinery you say Calrissian examined could have come from anywhere. And you yourself admitted that you were never actually aboard any of the ships.”
“What about that Imperial raid on the Coral Vanda?” Han demanded. “They thought there was someone there worth grabbing.”
Fey’lya smiled thinly. “Or else they wanted us to believe that they did. Which they very well might : if your unnamed contact is in fact working for them.”
Leia looked at Han. There was something there, beneath the surface. Some swirl of emotion she couldn’t identify. “Han?” she asked quietly.
“No,” he said, his eyes still on Fey’lya. “He’s not working for the Imperials.”
“So you say,” Fey’lya sniffed. “You offer little proof of that.”
“All right, then,” Karrde put in. “Let’s assume for the moment that all of this is in fact a giant soap bubble. What would the Grand Admiral stand to gain from it?”
Fey’lya’s fur shifted in a gesture Leia decided was probably annoyance. Between her and Karrde they’d pretty well burst the Bothan’s theory that Thrawn was not, in fact, an Imperial Grand Admiral; and Fey’lya wasn’t taking even that minor defeat well. “I should think that was obvious,” he told Karrde stiffly. “How many systems would we have to leave undefended, do you suppose, in order to reassign enough trained personnel to reactivate and transport two hundred Dreadnaughts? No, the Empire has a great deal to gain by hasty action on our part.”
“They also have a great deal to gain by our total lack of action,” Karrde said, his voice icy cold. “I worked with Hoffner for over two years; and I can tell you right now that it won’t take the Imperials a great deal of time to obtain the fleet’s location from him. If you don’t move quickly, you stand to lose everything.”
“If there’s anything out there to lose,” Fey’lya said.
Leia put a warning hand on Han’s arm. “That should be easy enough to check,” she jumped in before Karrde could respond. “We can send a ship and tech crew out to take a look. If the fleet is there and seems operational, we can start a full-scale salvage effort.”
From the look on Karrde’s‘ face she could tell that he thought even that was moving too slowly. But he nodded. “I suppose that’s reasonable enough,” he said.
Leia looked at Mon Mothma. “Mon Mothma?”
“I agree,” the other said. “Councilor Fey’lya, you’ll speak to Admiral Drayson at once about assigning an Escort Frigate and two X-wing squadrons to this mission. Preferably a ship already here at Coruscant; we don’t want anyone outside the system to get even a hint of what we’re doing.”
Fey’lya inclined his head slightly. “As you wish. Will tomorrow morning be sufficiently early?”
“Yes.” Mon Mothma looked at Karrde. “We’ll need the fleet’s coordinates.”
“Of course,” Karrde agreed. “I’ll supply them tomorrow morning.”
Fey’lya snorted. “Let me remind you, Captain Karrde-“
“Unless, of course, Councilor,” Karrde continued smoothly, “you’d prefer I leave Coruscant tonight and offer the location to the highest bidder.”