[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(23)
“Thank you, sir.” Threepio tilted his head slightly, as if suddenly remembering that he was supposed to be acting as a receptionist here. “Princess Leia and the others are expecting you,” he said, touching the inner chamber release. “Please go on in.”
“Thank you,” Luke said, nodding gravely. No matter how ridiculous Threepio might look in any given situation, there was always a certain inherent dignity about him, a dignity that Luke usually tried to respond to in kind. “Let us know if anyone else comes.”
“Of course, sir,” Threepio said.
They went into the inner chamber to find Leia and Han holding a quiet conversation over a computer display on Leia’s desk. Chewbacca, sitting alone near the door with his bowcaster across his knees, growled a greeting as they entered.
“Ah-Luke,” Leia said, looking up. “Thanks for coming.” She shifted her attention to Winter. “That’ll be all for now, Winter.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Winter nodded. With her usual grace, she glided from the room.
Luke looked at Han. “I hear you dropped a double size thermal detonator on the Council yesterday.”
Han grimaced. “I tried. Not that anyone really believed me.”
“One of those instances where politics drifts off into the realm of wishful thinking,” Leia said. “The last thing anyone wants to believe is that in our sweep we somehow missed one of the Emperor’s Grand Admirals.”
“Sounds more like willful denial than wishful thinking to me,” Luke said. “Or do they have another theory as to how we got edged so neatly into that Sluis Van trap?”
Leia grimaced. “Some of them say that’s where Ackbar’s collusion comes in.
“Ah,” Luke murmured. So that was the thrust of Fey’lya’s scheme.”
“I hadn’t heard any of the details yet.”
“So far, Fey’lya’s been playing the sabacc cards close to the fur,” Han growled. “He claims he’s trying to be fair; I think he’s just trying not to rock all the stabilizers at once.
Luke frowned at him. There was something else in his friend’s face and sense : “And maybe something more?” he prompted.
Han and Leia exchanged glances. “Maybe,” Han said. “You notice how quickly after the Sluis Van attack Fey’lya dropped the hammer on Ackbar. Either he’s one of the great opportunists of all time-“
“Which we already know he is,” Leia put in.
“-or else,” Han continued grimly, “he knew in advance what was going to happen.”
Luke looked at Leia. At the strain in her face and sense : “You realize what you’re saying,” he said quietly. “You’re accusing a member of the Council of being an Imperial agent.”
Leia’s sense seemed to flinch. Han’s didn’t even flicker. “Yeah, I know,” Han said. “Isn’t that what he’s accusing Ackbar of?”
“The problem is timing, Han,” Leia said, her tone one of strained patience. “As I’ve already tried to explain. If we accuse Fey’lya of anything now, it’ll just look like we’re trying to take the pressure off Ackbar by turning Fey’lya’s charges back against him. Even if it were true-and I don’t think it is-it would still come across as a cheap and rather mindless trick.”
“Maybe that’s why he was so quick to finger Ackbar in the first place,” Han countered. “So that we couldn’t turn it back on him. That ever occur to you?”
“Yes, it has,” Leia said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t change the situation. Until we’ve cleared Ackbar, we can’t go making accusations against Fey’lya.”
Han snorted. “Come on, Leia. Political waddlefooting is fine in its place, but we’re talking about the survival of the New Republic here.”
“Which could fall completely apart over this without anyone ever firing a shot,” Leia retorted hotly. “Face it, Han-this whole thing is still being held together with hope and crating tape. You get a few wild accusations flying around, and half the races in the old Rebel Alliance might decide to pull out and go their separate ways.”
Luke cleared his throat. “If I can say something :?”
They looked at him, the tension in the room fading a little. “Sure, kid, what is it?” Han said.
“I think we all agree that, whatever his agenda or possible sponsors Fey’lya up to something,” Luke said. “Maybe it would help to find out what that something is. Leia, what do we know about Fey’lya?”
She shrugged. “He’s a Bothan, obviously, though he grew up on the Bothan colony world of Kothlis instead of on Bothawni proper. He joined the real Alliance right after the Battle of Yavin, bringing a good-sized group of his followers Bothans in with him. His people served mainly in support and reconnaissance, though they saw some occasional action, too. He was involved in a number of wideranging interstellar business activities before joining the Alliance-shipping, merchandising, some mining, assorted other ventures. I’m pretty sure he’s kept up with some of them since then, but I don’t know which ones.”