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She let him go.
Turning back to her datapad, Leia watched the recording a second time
and then a third. The images were sharp and unambiguous. The design
of the ships was distinctive and incriminating. Yevethan colonists
were setting up housekeeping on a world which one day earlier had
belonged to the Kubaz.
Leia dug her comlink out of the drawer where she had thrown it the
night before and selected a familiar channel. "Han," she said. "You
can stop hiding from me now. Where are you? Please--come talk to
me."
"Murderers," Han muttered as he watched the recording from
Doornik-319.
He shook his head disbelievingly.
"I've been around enough to see some cold moves pulled, but killing a
family one day and moving into their house the next is right up there
with anything our old buddy Palpatine ever thought up."
Leia nodded. "I'm beginning to wonder if the greatest indignity that
the Empire subjected the Yevetha to wasn't holding them to a higher
standard of behavior," she said.
"Now, that's a picture, isn't it? The Emperor's stormtroopers setting
the example for good manners," Han said. "Like arming protocol droids
with blasters."
He tried to win a smile from her, but she had looked away to gaze at
the map of Koornacht Cluster displayed on the main screen, and he
turned his attention there as well. "Look at what they've done--it
makes no sense at all," he said. "It's not like any of these
settlements were crowding the League worlds. Or that real estate is
getting scarce in there."
"I'm afraid it makes perfect sense," said Leia, propping her chin on
folded hands. "So much of what he said sounds different to me
now--almost as though he lied to me with the truth. 'What we want more
than anything is to be left alone." I remember that clearly, from the
first time we met. He mentioned how strange it was to see so many
different species. He told me the Yevetha didn't need our
protection."
"No," said Han. "It was the Kubaz who needed protection."
"He as much as told me that, too," said Leia. "He said it was his
mission to protect his people--and he did. He kept them inside that
ship, safely away from us. He controlled his own exposure to us--as
though he were afraid of contamination. That's why those settlements
were destroyed, Han. This wasn't a boundary war, or a matter of
competing territorial claims. It was an act of revulsion."
Han looked dubious. "Maybe so. But there's something else, too. Look
at the results. Doornike319 sits nearly on a line between Coruscant
and N'zoth, just where you'd want a forward base. These other
targets--it's like they burned a firebreak between themselves and all
of us."
She reached out and touched the point of light that was Doornik-319.
"Or dug a moat. Complete with gate and drawbridge, maybe."
"Yeah," said Han. "So what are you going to do?"
Withdrawing her finger, Leia shook her head slowly. "It seems as
though it's already all over. All I can see to do now is try to make
sure Nil Spaar stays on his side of the moat. Protect the settlements
that haven't been torched--Galatos, Wehttam, The Marais." She looked
up at Han. "I'm going to have to send the Fifth Fleet back to
Farlax."
"I thought that might happen," Han said. "I left the Fleet at
readiness high--no shore leaves, no major maintenance. They should be
able to sail on a half hour's notice.
She touched his hand. "I'm sorry. I know you don't want this."
"Hold on just a moment," Han said, pulling back from her. "I'm not
going anywhere."
"I can't change commanders on them again, not twice in a week, not
under these circumstances. You've been out there with them for two
months now. That gives some continuity, at least."
"Right idea, wrong man," said Han. "If it were me, the first thing I'd
do is hand the Fifth back to General A'baht."
"How can I do that? He was disloyal to me."
"Was he? He disobeyed your orders, but is that the same thing as being
disloyal? Did he do what he did for personal gain? Did he do it to
enhance his career, or aid the enemy? No. He was trying to protect
all those people out there with him, and all the people back here,
too.
And hell, Leia--he was right. He ought to get some points for that."
"You said it yourself," she said stiffly. "He disobeyed my orders."
"He disobeyed an order you never should have given," Han said. "And if
that's your reason, you're going to have to disqualify me, too. That
prowler that picked up Plat Mallar--what do you think it was doing out
there?"
She realized she had never asked herself that question.
"I guess I assumed it was Admiral Drayson's handiwork."
"You weren't paying close enough attention," Han said. "That's a Fifth
Fleet prowler. I sent it there."
"You?" Leia said and her eyes flashed anger. "I don't understand. Is
it because I'm a woman? Is that why lately everyone seems to treat my
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