[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(88)

Lando was standing at the same place at the bar where he’d been when Han had left him, his bands on the bar, his face tight. And for good reason. Standing a few paces behind him, her hand on the butt of her blaster, was Irenez.

“Well, hello, Irenez,” Han said, trying his best innocent look on her. “Funny meeting you here.”

The innocent look was wasted. “Not all that funny,” Irenez said tartly. “Sena assigned me to keep an eye on you. You get what you came for?”

Han looked at Lando, saw the fractional nod. “I think so, yeah,” he said.

“Glad to hear it. Let’s go-outside.”

Han handed the bottle of Kibshae to the bartender. “Keep it,” he said. “Looks like the party’s been canceled.”

There was an old five-passenger landspeeder waiting outside when they emerged from the lounge. “Inside,” Irenez said, motioning to the vehicle’s aft doorway.

Han and Lando obeyed. There, sitting with uncharacteristic stiffless in one of the passenger seats, Sena Leikvold Midanyl was waiting. “Gentlemen,” she said gravely as they entered. “Sit down, please.”

Han chose one of the seats, swiveled it to face her. “Time for dinner already?”

“Irenez, take the controls,” Sena said, ignoring him. “Drive us around the camp-I don’t care where.”

Silently, Irenez made her way to the front of the vehicle; and with a slight lurch they were off. “You didn’t stay in your room very long,” Sena said to Han.

“I don’t remember the Senator saying anything about being confined to quarters,” Han countered.

“He didn’t,” Sena agreed. “On the other hand, a properly brought up guest should know better than to wander unescorted around sensitive areas.

“I apologize,” Han said, trying to keep a sarcastic edge out of his voice. “I didn’t realize your liquor supply was classified.” He glanced out the window. “If you’re trying to take us back to our quarters, you’re going the wrong way.”

Sena studied his face a moment. “I came to ask you a favor.”

It was about the last thing Han would have expected her to say, and it took him a second to find his voice again. “What sort of favor?”

“I want you to talk to Mon Mothma for me. To ask her and the Council to invite Senator Bel Iblis to join the New Republic.”

Han shrugged. Was that why they’d brought him and Lando all the way over here? “You don’t need a special invitation to join up. All you have to do is contact someone on the Council and offer your services.”

A muscle in Sena’s cheek twitched. “I’m afraid that in the Senator’s case it’s not going to be quite that easy,” she said. “It’s not so much a matter of joining the New Republic as of rejoining it.”

Han threw a frown at Lando. “Oh?” he said carefully.

Sena sighed, half turning to gaze out the side window. “It happened a long time ago,” she said. “Before the various resistance groups fighting the Empire were formally consolidated into the Rebel Alliance. You know anything about that period of history?”

“Just what’s in the official record,” Han said. “Mon Mothma and Bail Organa of Alderaan got three of the biggest groups together and convinced them to make an alliance. After that the whole thing snowballed.”

“Have you ever heard the name of that first agreement?”

“Sure. It was called the Corellian Treaty-” Han broke off. “The Corellian Treaty?”

“Yes,” Sena nodded. “It was Senator Bel Iblis, not Mon Mothma, who convinced those three resistance groups to agree to a meeting. And, furthermore, who guaranteed protection for them.”

For a long minute the only sound in the speeder was the hum of the repulsorlifts. “What happened?” Lando asked at last.

“To put it bluntly, Mon Mothma began to take over,” Sena said. “Senator Bel Iblis was far better at strategy and tactics than she was, better even than many of the Rebellion’s generals and admirals in those early days. But she had the gift of inspiration, the knack of getting diverse groups and species to work together. Gradually, she became the most visible symbol of the Rebellion, with Organa and the Senator increasingly relegated to the background.”

“Must have been hard for someone like Bel Iblis to take,” Lando murmured.

“Yes, it was,” Sena said. “But you have to understand that it wasn’t just pride that drove him to withdraw his support. Bail Organa had been a strong moderating influence on Mon Mothma he was one of the few people whom she respected and trusted enough to pay serious attention to. After he was killed in the Death Star’s attack on Alderaan, there was really no one of equal status who could stand up to her. She began to take more and more power to herself, and the Senator began to suspect that she was going to overthrow the Emperor only to set herself up in his place.”