Inferno (20 page)

“There’s no need for concern,” she said, waving her hand between them. Wookiees were rarely weak-minded, but she had nothing to lose by trying. “We’ve come to hear the—”

“No problem,” Han interrupted, addressing himself to the Wookiee. “It was an accident.”

He grabbed Leia by the hand and softly hissed, “He’s just apologizing.” He pulled her between a pair of furry torsos, then added, “And cut out the Force stuff already. That isn’t allowed here.”

“
We’re
not allowed here,” Leia said, squeezing to his side. “We’re supposed to be in jail, remember?”

Han shook his head. “We’re supposed to be in jail when Waroo gets back from lunch,” he said. “Didn’t you hear him?”

Leia frowned. “I
thought
I had,” she said. “Didn’t he say,
You’d better be here when I get back
?”

“That’s
exactly
what he said—not
You’d better
still
be here
or
You’d better not go anywhere
or
Don’t use the Force to open that lock while I’m gone.
” Han shook his head, then added, “Sometimes I wonder how you ever made it as a diplomat.”

“He
let
us escape?” Leia asked. “I thought Wookiees had an honor code.”

“They do,” Han said. “And only Wookiees understand it.”

They finally reached the center of Council Rock, emerging from the crowd at the foot of a natural basalt dais standing half again as tall as a man. Atop the pedestal, a dome-muzzled male paced back and forth, roaring at the crowd and waving a meter-long mandible lined with hooked fangs. Leia could make out enough of what the Wookiee was saying to realize he was evoking memories of the galaxy’s fractured response to the Yuuzhan Vong, assuring his fellow delegates that they were making the best decision for Kashyyyk
and
the Alliance.

“Han, I think the debate’s over,” Leia said, using a Force whisper to project her voice into his ear. “That’s not an argument he’s making, it’s a pep talk.”

“Then we’ll just have to start a new debate.”

“What about Waroo?” Leia was reading Han’s lips as much as she was hearing him. “Wookiee debates take forever, and he’ll be in more trouble than
we
are if we’re not there when his relief comes.”

“So he won’t
ask
for relief. Why do you think they picked Waroo to guard us in the first place?” Han turned toward Leia and stepped in close. “Besides, we’ll be back in jail before you know it. This won’t take long.”

Leia scowled. “
What
won’t take long?”

Han jerked a thumb at the Wookiee on the Council Rock. “You see that tyrossum jaw he’s holding?”

“How could anyone miss it?”

“If I want the floor, I’ve got to take it from him.” Han reached into Leia’s pocket and pulled her hold-out blaster—among the weapons Lumpawaroo had left conveniently unguarded when he went to lunch—then hid it between them as he changed the setting to stun. “
Without
using any weapons.”

Leia put her hand over the blaster. “Then what’s
this
for?”

“If I cheat, they have to stop this debate to decide whether I’ve violated the Rock Council rules,” Han said. “And then they’ll have to settle on a fitting punishment. The whole thing should take about a month if I can get ’em good and stirred up.”

“Han, I’m not sure that’s really a solution,” Leia said. The more she heard about the idea, the less she liked it. “From what Waroo said, the battle at Kuat is going to last a lot longer than a month.”

Han shrugged. “You got a better idea?”

“In all likelihood.” Leia slipped off her outer robe and unclipped her lightsaber, then pushed them both into Han’s arms. “Hold these.”

Han’s eyes widened. “Leia, you can’t do—”

His warning was lost to the general din as Leia Force-sprang onto the top of the rock. She landed beside the dome-muzzled Wookiee a couple of meters away—and still almost caught a face full of fangs as he swung the tyrossum jaw in a sweeping, cheer-rousing arc. Leia saved herself—or at least her good looks—by cartwheeling to the forward edge of the platform.

By the time she returned to her feet, the tumult was quieting to a confused murmur, and the speaker was cocking his head with an expression that seemed equal parts confusion and apology. His face fur was dappled with gray flecks and his fangs were rounded with age, yet he still looked like he could lift a landspeeder as easily as he could a human woman who stood barely as high as his waist.

Leia pointed at the huge jawbone he held. “If you can’t be careful with that thing,” she said, “maybe it would better if I held on to it.”

The Wookiee grew even more bewildered, pushing his head forward as though he didn’t quite believe what he was hearing. The rest of the Rock Council caught Leia’s meaning instantly and erupted into peals of booming laughter. At the foot of the rock, Han shielded his eyes as though he couldn’t bear to watch what was about to happen—but he was peeking between his fingers, and the tip of Leia’s hold-out blaster was poking out of the robe folded over his arm.

Leia shrugged off Han’s lack of confidence as simple overprotectiveness and stepped toward the Wookiee. “You heard me. Hand it over.”

Finally seeming to realize that he was being challenged, the Wookiee raised the jawbone over his head—about a meter out of Leia’s reach—then shook his head and taunted her with a fang-filled grin. Another peal of laughter rumbled across Council Rock, and a handful of voices began to yowl warnings not to let Han’s bedmate do to him what Han’s shipmate had done to his son.

Leia glanced down at Han. “
This
is old Tojjelnoot?”

Han pulled his hand away from his eyes and nodded. “Who’d you
think
would be closing the council?”

“Great.” Leia looked back to old Tojjelnoot, who was now eyeing her like something he intended to eat at his next meal. “All I have to do is take that jawbone from him, and then I get to talk?”

“For as long as you hold on to it,” Han answered. “Just don’t kill him. The last thing we need right now is a bunch of Tojjes following us all over the galaxy.”

“No promises.” Leia winked. “He’s big.”

A hint of uncertainty flashed through Tojjelnoot’s eyes. Leia raced straight at him, and he finally seemed to realize she really did intend to bowl him over. He snorted in contempt and raised his free hand to slap her aside.

Leia dived under the blow, then planted her hands a meter in front of him and launched herself into a hand-spring. Both heels hit square in his stomach.

Tojjelnoot would probably have fallen even without the Force, but Saba had drilled into Leia the folly of taking unnecessary chances in any combat. She waited until her legs had extended fully, then added just enough power to be certain the Wookiee would go down.

Tojjelnoot dropped to his seat gasping, groaning, and clutching at his stomach. Leia pushed into a forward roll, then pirouetted around and retrieved the jawbone from where it had clattered to the floor.

Wookiee voices immediately began to boom both approval and accusations of Force-cheating. Leia allowed the tumult to continue for a moment, then used the Force to project her voice over the uproar.

“I wasn’t supposed to use the Force?” she asked, feigning ignorance. “Is it against the rules?”

The roaring grew more unified as the entire council assured her that using the Force was
completely
against the rules. The Talking Bone had to be taken without the use of claw, weapon, or fang, and the Force was clearly a weapon. Tojjelnoot stopped groaning long enough to add that Force use was
totally
forbidden on Council Rock—Han should have told her that.

Leia put on an expression of contrition and faced Tojjelnoot, who was still struggling to sit upright. She offered the jawbone to him.

“I wouldn’t want to cheat,” she said. “Shall we go again?”

Tojjelnoot’s eyes flashed with alarm and anger—then began to twinkle with appreciation as Leia used the Force to gently pull him to his feet so he wouldn’t appear quite so defeated. He turned to Han and grunted that Han should have explained the rules before bringing his mate here, then motioned for Leia to keep the jawbone and slipped off the rock.

“Thank you—that’s very generous.” She turned her attention back to the rest of the council. “And when someone else wants to take the floor, I promise not to use the Force on them, either.”

This drew a chorus of approving guffaws. Leia waited for quiet, then continued in a deliberately soft voice.

“You all know me,” she began. “You all know who my son is, and I daresay you all know of the trouble between him and my husband and me.”

A murmur of sympathetic agreement rumbled through the crowd.

“It is a sad sign of our times that many families are divided like mine, separated not by selfish interests or conflicting loyalties or even necessity, but by deeply held principles. I know Jacen holds
his
principles even more deeply than Han and I hold ours, even more deeply than his own life, because that’s what it would take to make him fire on the
Falcon.
”

The incident could hardly be news to the council, since it had been reported throughout the Alliance as proof of the colonel’s uncompromising dedication to duty. But among the family-oriented Wookiees, it remained enough of a controversy to draw a chorus of snorts and snarls.

“But holding principles deeply doesn’t make a being right—and it doesn’t make what he’s
doing
right.” The snorts began to grow indignant, but Leia pressed on, knowing she had to make her point quick and hard before someone grew angry enough to challenge her. “And that’s what I’m here to talk to you about.

“Jacen Solo, my son, has seized power in an immoral coup—”

The floor erupted into a deafening storm of objections. Unable to make herself heard without using the Force, she banged the heavy jawbone down on the dais—and only felt more ignored.

After the uproar had continued for more than a minute, Tojjelnoot hopped up and politely held out his hand for the jawbone. Seeing that the thing was doing her no good anyway, Leia passed it over. He went to the edge of the rock and slammed the flat side into the shoulder of the nearest Wookiee, roaring for him to respect the bone, then repeated the process twice more.

Finally, the tumult began to subside. Tojjelnoot boomed something in Xaczik that instantly silenced the crowd…and made Han wince.

Leia knelt at the edge of the rock. “What did he say?”

“Uh, I’m not sure, exactly,” Han said sheepishly. “Do I
look
like a Wookiee?”

“Only in the morning,” Leia said. “And don’t dodge my question.”

“Okay, okay,” Han said. “He threatened to let you use the Force on the rock—said nobody would shut you up then, judging by the speeches you used to make as Chief of State.”

Leia was still trying to decide whether to be offended or grateful when Tojjelnoot appeared at her side, holding out the jawbone. She accepted with an ingratiating smile and returned to the center of the rock.

Leia had barely started to speak again before a nasal Sullustan voice rose from somewhere deep in the crowd.

“Stop! Don’t listen…that woman. It’s
illegal
!”

Leia glanced down at Han, but saw that sending him to silence Juun would be hopeless. Even if he could find the Sullustan in the middle of that jungle of fur out there, it would take several minutes to reach him. She decided to try the Wookiee approach and simply shout down her heckler.

“As I was saying, Colonel Jacen Solo and Admiral Cha Niathal have seized power in an immoral and illegal coup—”

“It was perfectly legal!” Juun yelled from about twenty meters back. “Under an amendment to the Emergency Measures Act, GAG has the authority to detain heads of state, politicians, and any other individuals believed to present a risk to the security of the Galactic Alliance.”

“It
was
illegal,” Leia insisted. “I’d bet my lightsaber that Jacen is the one who tabled the amendment in the first place, and that makes his actions a scheme to seize the power of the executive through means other than a legal election, and
that
is a gross violation of the constitution of the Galactic Alliance.”

Leia’s argument caused even Juun to fall silent in contemplation, but she knew by the tide of indecision rolling through the Force that she could not talk the Wookiees out of helping Jacen by arguing legalities. She had to find a way to convince them of the utter
wrongness
of his actions, to stir their moral outrage.

“But let’s talk about what Jacen has done even with the authority he
has
legally,” Leia continued. “By GAG’s own figures, there are less than ten thousand terrorists operating on Coruscant. Yet he’s imprisoned over a million Coruscanti residents—for what? Sympathizing with their homeworld? The crime of being
descended
from Corellian parents? Looking crosswise at the GAG troopers standing guard in their apartment hallways?”

This drew a few thoughtful grunts, and Leia began to think she was making progress.

“And what about the Bothans?” she pressed. “Was it any coincidence that the True Victory Party’s entire membership on Coruscant turned up dead? No wonder Bothawui entered the war on Corellia’s side.”

“You can’t prove Colonel Solo had anything to do with that!” Juun objected. He seemed to be about five meters closer, but remained hidden in all that Wookiee fur. “And you can’t blame—”

A fierce Wookiee voice barked at Juun to be quiet, and another growled that if he wanted to talk, he had to climb up on the Council Rock and steal the Talking Bone like anyone else.

“Thank you.” Leia was starting to think she just might convince the Wookiees to change their minds about supporting Jacen—and if she could do
that,
then maybe the Jedi could broker a peace that would prevent the conflagration above Kuat from spreading any farther. “I’ve already reminded you that Jacen fired on the
Falcon
during the recent Hapan crisis. What I
didn’t
tell you—what GAG has been very good at keeping out of the holonews—is that at the time we were rescuing several Jedi and other Alliance personnel who had been left adrift during the battle, including his own sister, Jaina Solo, and his cousin and apprentice, Ben Skywalker. Jacen
knew
this, and still he fired on—”