[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(84)

“Lando,” Han said warningly.

“No, that’s all right,” Bel Iblis said, his own smile fading. “Before I answer, though, I’d like you to tell me a little about the New Republic hierarchy. Mon Mothma’s position in the new government, Fey’lya’s relationship to her-that sort of thing.”

Han shrugged. “That’s pretty much public record.”

“That’s the official version,” Bel Iblis said. “I’m asking what things are really like.”

Han glanced over at Lando. “I don’t understand,” he said.

Bel Iblis took a swallow of his Twistler. “Well, then, let me be more direct,” he said, studying the liquid in his glass. “What’s Mon Mothma really up to?”

Han felt a trickle of anger in his throat. “Is that what Breil’lya told you?” he demanded. “That she’s up to something?”

Bel Iblis raised his eyes over the rim of his glass. “This has nothing to do with the Bothans,” he said quietly. “It’s about Mon Mothma. Period.”

Han looked back at him, forcing down his confusion as he tried to collect his thoughts. There were things he didn’t like about Mon Mothma-a lot of things, when you came right down to it. Starting with the way she kept running Leia off her feet doing diplomacy stuff instead of letting her concentrate on her Jedi training. And there were other things, too, that drove him crazy. But when you came right down to it : “As far as I know,” he told Bel Iblis evenly, “the only thing she’s trying to do is put together a new government.”

“With herself at its head?”

“Shouldn’t she be?”

A shadow of something seemed to cross Bel Iblis’s face, and he dropped his eyes to his glass again. “I suppose it was inevitable,” he murmured. For a moment he was silent. Then he looked up again, seeming to shake himself out of the mood. “So you’d say that you’re becoming a republic in fact as well as in name?”

“I’d say that, yes,” Han nodded. “What does this have to do with Fey’lya?”

Bel Iblis shrugged. “It’s Fey’lya’s belief that Mon Mothma wields altogether too much power,” he said. “I presume you’d disagree with that assessment?”

Han hesitated. “I don’t know,” he conceded. “But she sure isn’t running the whole show, like she did during the war.

“The war’s still going on,” Bel Iblis reminded him.

“Yeah. Well :”

“What does Fey’lya think ought to be done about it?” Lando spoke up.

Bel Iblis’s lip twitched. “Oh, Fey’lya has some rather personal and highly unsurprising ideas about the reapportionment of power. But that’s Bothans for you. Give them a sniff of the soup pot and they climb all over each other to be in charge of the ladle.”

“Especially when they can claim to have been valued allies of the winning side,” Lando said. “Unlike others I could mention.”

Sena stirred in her seat; but before she could say anything, Bel Iblis waved a hand at her. “You’re wondering why I didn’t join the Alliance,” he said calmly. “Why I chose instead to run my own private war against the Empire.”

“That’s right,” Lando said, matching his tone. “I am.

Bel Iblis gave him a long, measuring look. “I could give you several reasons why I felt it was better for us to remain independent,” he said at last. “Security, for one. There was a great deal of communication going on between various units of the Alliance, with a correspondingly large potential for interception of that information by the Empire. For a while it seemed like every fifth Rebel base was being lost to the Imperials through sheer sloppiness in security.”

“We had some problems,” Han conceded. “But they’ve been pretty well fixed.”

“Have they?” Bel Iblis countered. “What about this information leak I understand you have right in the Imperial Palace?”

“Yeah, we know it’s there,” Han said, feeling strangely like a kid who’s been called on the carpet for not finishing his homework. “We’ve got people looking into it.”

“They’d better do more than just look,” Bel Iblis warned. “If our analysis of Imperial communique’s is correct, this leak has its own name-Delta Source-and is furthermore reporting personally to the Grand Admiral.”

“Okay,” Lando said. “Security. Let’s hear some of the other reasons.”

“Ease off, Lando,” Han said, glaring across the table at his friend. “This isn’t a trial, or-“