He drank it down quickly. One glass, then two, then three. He had never tasted anything so good. The dizziness was fading, and his mind was clearing. He studied the keypad. If it was like the ones on Coruscant, it wouldn't have just kitchen information. It would also tell him what supplies were in the house, a family history, and a history of Pydyr. It would also carry news feeds and anything else he needed to know.
He leaned his hips against the counter, and used his right hand to activate the keyboard. His finger was all metal now, except for the charred pieces of synthetic skin hanging off it. He hoped the keypad wasn't activated by fingerprint or retinal scan.
The screen sprang to life.
STRANGER. YOU ARE NOT IN OUR RECORDS.
Luke typed: I AM NEW HERE. YOUR OWNERS ARE GONE.
WE KNOW. IT HAS BEEN SILENT HERE. BUT WE ARE INSTRUCTED NOT TO GIVE INFORMATION TO STRANGERS EXCEPT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.
IT IS AN EMERGENCY, Luke typed. I AM INJURED, MAYBE DYING. I NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION. HAVE YOU A MED KIT?
WE HAVE A MEDICAL DROID.
Luke started. He had seen no droids.
THE DROIDS APPEAR TO BE MISSING AS WELL, he typed. HAVE YOU MEDICAL INFORMATION IN YOUR STORES?
CERTAINLY, STRANGER. AND A MEDICAL KIT IN THE CABINET ABOVE THE KEYPAD YOU ARE USING.
Luke sought out the medical kit, found it, and removed the burn cream. He longed for a droid, but knew that he had to tend himself. He cleaned off his burns, wincing as he did so, then applied cream and a bandage. When he finished that, he devised a splint for his ankle.
Then he looked up. The screen held a single message.
PLEASE, STRANGER. TELL US WHERE OUR MASTERS HAVE GONE.
Luke shook his head and typed, THE PLANET IS EMPTY.
The screen shut itself off with a slight moan. He felt for a moment as if he were with R2. R2 would have had a similar reaction. R2 would feel loss if Luke died.
How curious. The change had happened so fast that this family hadn't had time to inform its house computer. He remembered the chill and the voices. The Death Star had destroyed the planet. This new weapon left the planet, and destroyed all life.
Or at least all humanoid life.
He felt a flash of a presence again, the same presence he had felt when he had entered the Almanian system. It was watching him.
"Show yourself." he said.
"Show yourself," he said. But no one did.
Han landed the Falcon on the far side of Skip 1's landing strip. He had Chewbacca bundle Seluss off to the infirmary, such as it was, without promising to pay for Seluss's care. Han hoped that Chewie would pay for a bit of care himself. That singed fur worried Han.
He was hanging upside down under the Falcon's power core. The scarred metal looked as if it hadn't been touched, but he wanted to be certain. On the way back to Skip 1, he had run a scan of the Falcon to make sure Seluss, the Glottalphib, or Davis hadn't tampered with it. He could see no obvious sabotage, but that didn't mean it wasn't there.
He hated being on the Run. It made him even more paranoid than usual.
He needed to get some information about Davis and about the Jawas, but he would do that after Chewie came back. Han wasn't about to leave the Falcon again. He suspected he would need to make a quick getaway. Nandreeson wasn't the type to give up.
The hatch hissed. Han grabbed his blaster, and pulled himself out of the well near the power core. Then he heard Chewie bark his name.
"Back here, Chewie!"
Chewie roared and Han sighed. Once, just once, he'd like to do what he wanted, when he wanted.
"I'll go into the Skip when I'm done here," he said.
Chewie roared again.
"Impatient sack of bones," Han muttered. He climbed across the well and onto the floor grid. "I'm coming!"
He rounded the corner to find that Chewie had already left the Falcon. The hatch was still open. Han ducked out.
Chewie stood at the bottom of the ramp.
"You could have waited," Han said.
Chewie put a long, hairy finger to his mouth and then pointed. Han followed the direction. On the far side of the bay, smugglers were working, much as they had on Skip 5. Han frowned at Chewie, then got off the ramp and edged past a few other vehicles parked on the bay.
Han hid under the wing of a modified Gizer freighter. The metal was rusted and pockmarked and provided perfect viewing without allowing him to be seen.
Zeen Afit was carrying computer parts. Blue followed, gingerly carrying screens. Wynni was a few yards behind, her furry arms wrapped around four chairs that had bolts in their bases. Two more smugglers, both Sullustan, were carrying the cushions on top of their heads.
They were stripping a ship. In Han's day, smugglers never did that unless they had been betrayed by the ship's owner or unless the owner was dead.
Something about this stripping had bothered Chewie, though, and Han couldn't see the ship from his hiding place. After the procession passed, he slipped out from under the wing, and moved closer.
The ship looked familiar. She was a space yacht that had seen better days. Her sides were battered and her hull damaged from what appeared to be a difficult landing. Her name had been scratched off the side, but Han could still read it.
The Lady Luck.
Lando had been here.
On the Run.
And there was only one reason he would have come
Han.
Only Han was free.
Lando would never betray his smuggling friends, at least not intentionally. And for all their bluster, the smugglers on the Run were Lando's friends, as much as smugglers like that could be friends.
Which only left one option.
Lando had arrived alone—
—and Nandreeson had been waiting for him.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Femon would have laughed at him, and told him he was afraid of his own imaginings. Sometimes Kueller missed her. She had been with him a very long time. He could still hear her voice in his head, admonishing him.
He missed her, but he didn't regret killing her. Some things just had to be done.
He was standing on the very spot where she had died, in the control center on Almania. He had replaced the death masks she loved on the walls, and added a few of his own. His guards stood behind him, silently watching. His employees believed in him, but a few fanatics were all it took. He didn't want to be vigilant all the time. So he had his guards. They would protect him, and they would make no mistakes.
He frightened them.
But he didn't frighten Luke Skywalker.
Kueller pulled his chair out and sat down, extending his long legs under the console. The screen before him showed the wreckage of Skywalker's X-wing. It had landed near some of the most valuable houses on Pydyr, houses whose wealth had not yet been plucked. For a few moments, Kueller had been afraid that he would lose that wealth, but he thought it a small price to pay for Skywalker.
Skywalker, injured, on Pydyr.
Perfect.
He punched a button and said to one of his undersecretaries in communications, "I want an interstellar link to Coruscant. I want you to get President Leia Organa Solo. Tell her it's about her brother, and then have her hold for me."
"Yes, sir," the undersecretary said. The image winked away.
Kueller returned his gaze to the house that Skywalker had crawled into. Femon would have chided him: What are you so afraid of, Kueller? not realizing that the limping man with the burned back had survived the crash.
A lesser man would not have.
Kueller had expected Skywalker to come to Almania. His decision to land on Pydyr had been a surprise, as had the explosion. Kueller had watched it all on the monitor. He had felt it in his gut.
At least he knew the detonators worked. He just hadn't expected Skywalker to execute the destruct command by accident.
Kueller had blocked the Force repercussions as best he could. He wanted President Organa Solo to sense that something was w
rong, but not to know what that something was. Kueller would never have been able to achieve this with Skywalker himself, but Organa Solo had neglected her Jedi training. She was deficient in many important areas, areas Kueller meant to use to his own advantage.
And after he reached her, he would go to Skywalker. Even though the man was injured, even though he had lost everything, he would still be a formidable opponent.
But the injury made other things possible. The injury did weaken Skywalker, and it would weaken his resolve. He might need some fast, easy strength. Kueller might succeed where the Emperor had not.
Kueller might be able to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side.
And then they would rule together: Kueller as Emperor, and Luke as his Darth Vader.
How very appropriate.
Leia felt as if she were back on Hoth, working on the Rebel base. She and Wedge were seated side by side, the computers before them humming with activity. Admiral Ackbar sat at another terminal and so did the other high-ranking military officials. They were tracking down the remaining X-wings, the ones that had left Coruscant after the reconditioning. Admiral Ackbar had suggested having some of the lower-grade officers doing this, but Leia wouldn't hear of it. She knew she could trust the people in the room. She didn't know many of the other officers, and she didn't know if she could trust them.
Too many lives were at stake. She had to know this was done right.
Besides, it gave her something else to concentrate on besides her anger at Meido. The no-confidence vote would be held the next day, and Senator Gno wanted her to campaign. She would: a single rousing speech just before the vote was held. She remembered no-confidence votes from her days in the Old Republic. They were often based on gut feeling. If she could make the remaining senators feel good about her, she would win the vote.
For now, though, she had to stay busy, even though it didn't seem to be helping as it normally did. Beneath her anger at Meido, she felt a deep unease. The skeletal face she had seen in the hallway kept resurfacing in her vision, and each time it did, she felt a low-grade fear, as if Han or one of the children were in grave danger. But she had contacted Anoth, and Winter had assured her that the children were fine. And she would know if something serious had happened to Han.
At least that was what she told herself.
"President Organa Solo." A lieutenant bent over her station. He looked impossibly young, and his voice had a tremor when he spoke to her. She still wasn't used to making people nervous just by being who she was. "There is a message for you. Would you like to take it privately?"
She glanced around the room. These people were her most-trusted friends. She had no secrets from them. "I'll take it here."
"I'll have it relayed. It's holo-coded." He left.
Wedge looked up from his station, a frown on his face. "Holo-coding. I haven't seen much of that since the Empire."
Leia nodded. She pushed her chair back. There was an open space on the floor between the terminals. The holo would show there.
Suddenly the air rippled. Then it smoothed into a see-through wall.
"It's coming from a long distance away," Admiral Ackbar said.
Leia stared at it intently. The feeling of unease that had followed her since the meeting was growing.
Finally the ripples coalesced into a face.
Leia gasped. It was the skeletal face of her visions. Its eyes were dark, endless, and its mouth was a thin black line. Its cheeks were concave and its forehead gleamed like bone. The face filled the center of the room.
"Leia Organa Solo." The mouth moved in time to the words. This was no mask like the one Vader had worn. This seemed real.
"I'm President Organa Solo," she said, rising to her full height.
There was a brief silence before his reply. "My name is Kueller. I'm sure you have not heard of me, but you have felt my presence."
A shudder ran down her back. How had he known that?
"You felt it when I destroyed the people of Pydyr in a single moment, without using anything as crude as a Death Star or a Star Destroyer. I prefer elegant, simple weapons, don't you?"
Leia jutted out her chin. She had to look regal and unafraid before this madman. "What do you want?" She used the same cold voice she had used on Meido.
Again, there was the pause. Then the death mask smiled at her. "Your attention, madam." She had the sense that the mask was part of Kueller and not part of Kueller. It chilled her.
"You have that. For the moment."
"Good." Kueller's face winked out. A ripple replaced it.
"Did we lose the transmission?" Wedge asked.
Admiral Ackbar shook his head. "No. He's doing something else. It's a function of the distance. Just like the moments of silence before his replies. It is taking time for this transmission to carry."
"We have instant communication all over this galaxy," the lieutenant said.
"Not all over," Wedge said softly.
An image waved, then coalesced into a small form collapsed on the floor. A small building burned beside it, and in the distance some metal burned.
Leia squatted. The figure was Luke. His flight suit was off and in rags. His back looked like a mass of raw flesh. He wasn't moving.
A wave of pain and anger hit her. She reeled backward, felt a bit of terror mixed with it, and through it all, she felt Luke.
Luke! she sent.
Leeee—
Luke's mental voice was cut off, replaced by a deep, throaty laughter Leia had never heard before.
His image winked away. The ripply see-through wall reappeared. And then the skeletal face was back, the laughter dying on its lips.
"No mental games, President Organa Solo. Your brother lives. For now."
"What have you done to him?" she asked.
The death's head smiled. The image was so large she felt as if she could fall into the mouth and never come out. "I did nothing. His ship conveniently destroyed itself."
"The X-wing," Wedge whispered. Admiral Ackbar shushed him.
"I would have preferred that he land a bit closer to home, but he did not. Still, he's on my property now, and on my property he will stay. Unless you do two things. First, you must disband your inefficient government. And second, you must turn power over to me."
"Why would we do that?"
"Because I will kill your brother if you do not."
Leia felt cold. Ice-cold. "You think I will trade millions of lives for one, no matter how much it means to me?"
"I know your heart, President. Your brother means as much to you as your husband. As your children. I could kill them now, if you like. Would that help you decide?"
Leia forced herself to swallow. She would not allow him to intimidate her with idle threats. But she had to be careful in case his threats weren't idle. "You're very far away to be making such threats, Kueller."
The smile grew wider. "Are you testing me, President? Because I warn you, I do not bluff."
"What do you really want?"
"I believe your government lost its effectiveness years ago. I want to return efficient rule to this galaxy."
"And you're the man to do so?" she asked.
The smile left the death's head. "I am the person to do so, President. I have done so on my homeworld. I can do it anywhere else."
"I've never heard of you," Leia said. "How do I know you're capable of such wisdom?"
"No one had heard of young Luke Skywalker before he rescued you from the Death Star. Or of the brash Han Solo before he joined Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. There were even planets that had not heard of you before the Rebellion, President. Sometimes reputations develop late."
"What will you do if I refuse to turn the New Republic over to you?"
The smile returned. "I will kill your brother. And your husband. And your children."
Leia put her hands behind her back. She used a Jedi calming method so that her emotions remained in check. She would feel terror and anger later. Now she had to be a lea
der. The best leader the New Republic had ever known. And sometimes being a leader meant knowing when to ask the right question. "What if I still refused?"
The death's head tilted, and part of its forehead disappeared out of the holo frame. She had surprised this Kueller. "You would refuse?"
"I haven't made any decisions yet," she said, keeping her voice calm. "I simply want to know my options."
"Then I will destroy your subjects, President."
"Why would you want to do that?" Leia asked. "Even if you succeeded, you'd have no one left to rule."
"There are always more worlds. With the wealth I would have from the New Republic, I can find those worlds."
"You can't kill everyone in the Republic," Wedge said. "The Emperor tried to intimidate everyone into his power, and it took years."
The death's head's smile grew. "I can kill all of them at once."
"That's hundreds of worlds," Admiral Ackbar said. "You can't kill that many beings at the same time."
"Ah, but I can." The death's head turned and looked at something in its view, but its head suddenly faced Admiral Ackbar. The mouth gave an order in a language Leia was unfamiliar with.
She looked to Wedge in confusion. He shrugged, and as he did so, a wave of terror hit her. It was mixed with cold and voices screaming. She felt a betrayal and shock so deep that it devastated her. Not again, she thought. The weight of it made her stagger. Stop! she thought, or maybe she screamed. She didn't know. The cold grew deeper.
And then the voices were silent.
She was sitting on the floor, tears she hadn't known she had shed on her cheeks. The others in the room were staring at her in astonishment. Wedge helped her up. "What happened?"
The face had a triumphant look. The blackness behind the eyes seemed deeper. It felt more powerful than before.
Force-sensitive. Kueller could use the Force.
And he used it for the dark side.
As that realization filled her, the death mask smiled. "I am stronger than you will ever be, President. I am more powerful than you can dream."
"What did you do to her?" Wedge shouted.
"I'm all right." Leia worked to keep her voice calm. She let go of his arm.
Star Wars - The New Rebellion Page 25
