by Claudia Gray
—
Through the thick cowl of her hooded robe, Leia took in the high, arched tunnels of Sibensko. The expanses of glass or whatever transparent material was in use stretched for enormous distances—far longer than she would’ve thought safe.
For once, she and C-3PO were on the exact same page. “It’s a wonder this entire city hasn’t broken down completely under the weight of the water,” the droid said.
Her sharp eyes picked out the details that revealed some of the arches to be more than arches. “Look up there. See the mechanism hidden in the framework? They’ve installed watertight doors, probably every couple hundred meters or so. This place is fortified against tunnel collapse.”
C-3PO seemed to brighten. “How very reassuring.”
“Maybe,” Leia said. “Though it makes you wonder about the strength of the supports down here.” The central joining seemed to be held together in only one place—capable of carrying the weight, but also capable of failing. “Maybe criminal masterminds aren’t the world’s most cautious architects.”
“Oh, dear.”
Together she and C-3PO made their way through the twisting maze of Sibensko. Leia went unrecognized—both a relief and a novel sensation. Computer terminals lined many hallways, and linkup stations were nearly as common as bars. But the work she needed to do required a terminal connected to Sibensko’s computer core, which none of these commercial setups would provide.
She took to wandering in and out of various stores, on the lookout for a lazy shopkeeper or an unlocked door. Nobody paid her any attention, but that did her no good if she couldn’t find an in.
Finally, she and C-3PO reached a crowded cantina where the barkeepers appeared to be as intoxicated as the patrons. Leia bought an ale, held it for a long time while only taking a few sips, and slowly edged her way farther inside. C-3PO dutifully followed behind. When someone brought up Ubardian oil wrestling on holo, leading to a wave of cheers, she used the distraction to slip into the back.
“At last.” Leia pulled back the hood of her robe as she powered up the house computer. “Threepio, can you get into this?”
“I should hope so,” he said primly. “It appears to be a rather primitive system.”
“Here’s hoping the security system is equally primitive.”
Leia was gambling on Sibensko’s extremely tight external security to pay off with a less secure internal system. Why worry about intruders when every single person on the planet had to provide approved codes to land? It was just the kind of assumption a self-satisfied mobster might make. Even Jabba had opened his palace doors for each of them, so long ago.
But artificial intelligence had its own ideas, sometimes. “Dear me,” C-3PO said as he interfaced with the Sibensko system. “How very backward. It actually wants to try a hard data transfer.”
Hard data transfers had their place in security, but at the moment Leia had nothing to transfer the information to. Why hadn’t she thought to bring something along? “Can you convince it to just share the data directly?”
“I am trying.” C-3PO shook his head as if in disbelief. “The system isn’t invulnerable, but I must say, it’s awfully stubborn.”
Leia managed not to thump her head against the nearest wall. “Keep at it.”
It took a while—so long that her heart had begun to thump crazily with suspense—but at last, C-3PO convinced the system to open up. Within several minutes, the droid had gotten past the few information locks and was deep in conversation with the computer core.
“We’re looking for any information about the Amaxine warriors,” she urged. “Any links between them and Rinnrivin Di’s cartel.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I believe such data is readily available, but now that we’re talking, the core is proving rather chatty. It’s had no one to speak with in ever so long.”
Leia experienced the vaguely guilty sensation that surfaced every time she realized that droid personalities were more than programmed conversational quirks. A computer core could be lonely. C-3PO could take pity on it.
But that was a question for another day. “Download everything you can, Threepio. We need all the evidence we can get our hands on.”
C-3PO obtained extensive banking records proving that the Amaxine warriors—or the nameless entity behind the Amaxine warriors—had provided billions of credits in start-up capital to Rinnrivin Di seven years prior. Only then had his cartel shifted from being a minor player to a major power. Arliz Hadrassian’s name came up several times, and C-3PO logged each one. Even more important, he found links that could be followed up on later, which might tie Rinnrivin’s funding to nameless sources on Centrist worlds.
Are they planning a major military buildup? Leia wondered. If so, the Amaxine warriors might be a test case. A hint of things to come. Yet she still resisted the idea that the Centrist coalition of planets wanted war. Surely no one who had lived through the wars against the Empire would ever want to take up arms again…
“Goodness gracious,” C-3PO said. “Well, that was unexpected.”
Leia turned back toward him. “What?”
“The computer core is most fretful about an area beneath the city proper,” he confided. “It’s rather large, nearly as many square kilometers as the city itself. And it appears to be used solely by the Amaxines.”
“Show me the schematics.”
C-3PO did so, and Leia gaped when she took in the sheer scale of what they’d found. Her mind began doing the calculations. An area that vast couldn’t be reserved for mere meetings. Not even a training arena.
That was a space large enough to contain an army.
“Can the computer tell us what’s stored down there?” Leia asked.
“Starfighters, a few transport ships, and—oh, my—a rather large number of armaments.” C-3PO swiveled his head toward her. “Perhaps we should have brought a military escort.”
She went for her secure comlink. “Are you there? Signal back if you can.”
After a moment, Joph Seastriker answered, his metallic-filtered voice down to a whisper. “We’re here. Greer’s finalizing the shipment, which by the way is explosive. Literally and figuratively.”
Leia grimaced. “Then I’m glad we’re the ones who got it. What’s your timetable look like?”
“I think we’ll be fully loaded pretty soon. The hoverdroids are bringing in the last crates now,” Joph said. “What about you?”
“We’ve got everything we need to bring down the Amaxine warriors and Rinnrivin Di. But we’ve also learned that Sibensko doubles as a military base. We can’t leave here without investigating.” She made up her mind in an instant. “I’m going to send Threepio back to you with the data. Meanwhile, I’m going to head down to see what the Amaxine warriors are really up to. Maybe I can get some images we can use for additional evidence.”
“You shouldn’t go alone,” Joph said, with unexpected firmness. “Wait, and Greer or I will come to your location. Then we can look into it together.”
“No, you won’t, Lieutenant.” Apparently the kid needed to remember who ranked who around here. “I know this part is risky. Extra people won’t make it any safer. We’d just put more lives at danger.”
Resigned, Joph said only, “We’re expected to take off within the hour.”
“And you will—with or without me.” Leia took a deep breath. “Threepio will reach you shortly. Get him off Sibensko no matter what. Nothing is as important as getting this data to the Galactic Senate.” Not even my life.
C-3PO, however, couldn’t fathom it. “But, Princess Leia! I couldn’t abandon you here!”
“You can and you will, because it’s an order.” She put one hand on his metal shoulder, reminded of how much she actually cared for the droid. “You’re the key to bringing this all down, Threepio. You and no one else. This is one of the most critical missions you’ve had since you and Artoo escaped with the plans for the first Death Star. Do you understand?”
As usual, appealin
g to C-3PO’s sense of importance did the trick. “Of course, Your Highness. Rest assured that I shall ensure this information reaches the proper persons.”
“Thank you, Threepio.” Leia glanced into the cantina; people were still thronged around the wrestling holos, paying no attention to the back of the house. “Now get out of here. Get to Greer and Joph as soon as you can.”
She remained in place for what seemed like a long while after C-3PO had gone, but what could in actuality have been only minutes. Then Leia raised the hood of her robe over her head and hastily ducked out.
“And Notea has the advantage!” the wrestling announcer said, his voice broadcast loudly over the speakers as she threaded her way through the distracted group in the cantina. “Yes, it looks like it’s Notea’s day today—”
Once Leia reached the corridor, she felt as if she could breathe again. She mentally superimposed the schematics C-3PO had shown her over the parts of this underwater city she could see and those she had already walked through. Her sense of direction had always been strong, and within seconds she felt sure that she knew how to reach the lifts that would take her down to the Amaxine warriors’ secret underground lair.
Swiftly she walked through the crowds, which were no longer as numerous as they had been earlier. Apparently this was what passed for nighttime underneath Sibensko’s ocean. Good, Leia thought. Fewer people to walk around, fewer people who might notice us. If her luck held, she might be able to rendezvous with the others before very long.
She turned a corner and descended a series of steps into a deeper tunnel both longer and darker than the others. This one seemed to lead to the lift she wanted. Better yet, it seemed to be nearly deserted. Nobody else was walking through the tunnel but three figures not that far away—a Nikto and two of his guards—
Leia’s gut clenched. It couldn’t be. Surely her mind was playing paranoid tricks on her.
But she hadn’t checked her tracker since they’d begun downloading information from the central computer. With every step she took, she became more certain that the Nikto walking toward her was none other than Rinnrivin Di.
Keep your hood on. Don’t look at him. There’s no reason for him to expect you here. Just stay calm.
So Leia told herself, but she could sense that a confrontation was inevitable.
Rinnrivin’s voice echoed through the tunnel. “There you are at last. May I have the privilege of knowing precisely who it is who’s been tracking me all this time? Though I must admit, I have an idea.”
He held up something in his left hand: the holocube, even now playing her murder of Jabba the Hutt over again.
Pretense would be useless. Leia threw back her hood and veil to face him squarely. “Rinnrivin. Fancy meeting you here. I regret that our reunion is taking place under such unfortunate circumstances.”
Cocking his head, Rinnrivin said, “Do you honestly think I’m fool enough not to have sensors that would detect a signal from a tracking device?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You were fool enough not to check for a tracking device in the first place.”
Rinnrivin’s leathery face shifted from a thin smile to a snarl. The gentlemanly mask had finally dropped away. What remained was the true man: ugly, violent, and willing to kill.
Leia was outnumbered, alone, beyond her authority…and trapped.
Immediately Leia corrected herself. She was outnumbered, alone, beyond her authority, trapped—and in possession of a blaster strapped just beneath the folds of her cloak.
Her hand stole down toward it as she faced Rinnrivin squarely. Despite the distance, their gazes locked. He said, “I had so hoped we could be friends, Huttslayer.”
“No, you didn’t. You hoped I’d be your tool.” Fast as a flash, Leia pulled her blaster, firing almost as soon as her finger could touch the trigger. One of Rinnrivin’s guards dropped instantly. She swung her blaster around just in time to match the other guard; the two of them were now locked in a standoff. Keeping her eyes on the guard, Leia addressed herself to Rinnrivin Di. “All those times you watched me kill Jabba the Hutt, and you never learned from his example. It doesn’t pay to jerk me around.”
Rinnrivin was not cowed in the slightest. He merely crossed his arms in front of his chest, the gesture wrinkling the fine gray silk of his jacket. “Posture all you like. The fact remains that you’ve been exposed. You can no longer leave Sibensko—at least, not without my help. Which, at the moment, I am unwilling to give.”
“Looks that way,” Leia agreed. She took one pace backward, and the heel of her foot hit the lowest of the stairs she had just descended. Cautiously, never losing her aim on the second guard, she took that step.
This won her only scorn from Rinnrivin. “Do you honestly think you can escape that way?”
“You never know until you try.” Another step. Then another. Rinnrivin’s guard shifted on his clawed feet, uneasy and unsure at what point he should stop threatening and start firing.
“May I point out that you’d be well within the range of my man’s blaster all the way to the top of the steps?” Rinnrivin shook his head sorrowfully. A flicker of motion to one side made Leia tense, but it was only a school of glowfish, their blue-white fins briefly bright against the dark waters outside.
“Believe me,” she replied, “I’ve forgotten more about blaster ranges than you’ll ever know.”
“That may be,” he agreed. “Your forgetfulness would certainly explain why you’re trying to get away, even though you have no hope of success. Or is the explanation far simpler? Is it merely…cowardice?”
“Call it whatever you want.” With that, Leia lifted her blaster, losing her sights on Rinnrivin’s guard—
—and targeting the central strut of the tunnel support directly overhead.
One bolt held the entire thing together. That bolt was no larger than a child’s fist. At this range, in semi-darkness, perhaps one shot in a thousand might be capable of destroying that bolt.
But Leia made the shot.
For one terrible instant, the metal groaned, and she caught a glimpse of blind panic on Rinnrivin’s face before she spun and began running up the steps as quickly as she could. Then, with a tremendous roar of water, the tunnel gave way.
Leia didn’t have to turn around to know that Rinnrivin Di and his guard had been instantly crushed to death. She had only one priority: running fast enough to save her own skin.
Taking the steps two at a time, Leia reached the top just as she heard the wave surging behind her—and saw one of the watertight doors sliding down to seal this corridor away from the rest of the Sibensko complex. Within moments, it would lock into the floor and seal her inside to drown.
She called on all her strength to hurl herself toward the door. Her body struck the floor so hard that pain jolted through every bone, but she managed to land in a roll. Water rushed past her, even over her, in the moment before the watertight door finally snapped shut.
And Leia was on the right side.
For a moment she sat in the tremendous puddle that now covered this corridor, panting, her waterlogged cloak heavy on her shoulders. She stared at the metal door that now marked Rinnrivin Di’s watery grave. But she had no time to think on that; bright-yellow alarm lights had already begun to flash. Before long, Sibensko would be in complete lockdown. Should she go for her ship immediately, or should she try to get the evidence they needed first?
One of the hard lessons Leia had learned during the Rebellion was this: Any single life was expendable, including her own.
Shrugging off the damp cloak, Leia got to her feet as she took up her comlink. “Joph? Greer? Are you there?”
“We’re here,” Greer replied. “Threepio just walked into the hangar, and we’ve finalized the shipment, but some kind of alarm’s going off—”
“I’m afraid that’s my fault.” Leia took a deep breath as she adjusted herself. Now she wore only a black skimmer shirt and leggings, plus the leather holster strapped to one
thigh. Crowds of people had begun rushing from shops and cantinas, panicked by the breach alert and desperate to get to their own ships. “Greer, I’m giving you new orders. You’re to take off immediately. Get out of here as fast as you can, and bring the evidence inside Threepio’s data banks back to the Senate.”
Joph broke in. “Princess Leia, we can’t just leave you here!”
“You can and you will.” She squared her shoulders and took a moment to reckon her surroundings anew. The path she’d intended to take to the Amaxine warriors’ den had been cut off, perhaps permanently, but another lift would get her there if she made it in time. “Once I’ve checked this out, I’ll steal a ship if I can—and trust me, I probably can.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Greer insisted. “You can reach us in just a few minutes if you start right away.”
“No. I have to get as much evidence as possible, now, because we’ll never be able to return to Sibensko. It’s worth risking my life, but it’s not worth risking yours. Least of all is it worth risking the data inside Threepio.”
Again, Joph tried to dissuade her. “After this, the Senate will be all over Sibensko—”
“And the Amaxines will be long gone.” Leia knew how to put steel in her voice, and she did it now. “You have orders, Lieutenant Seastriker. That goes for you, too, Greer. Take off as soon as possible. Organa out.”
With that, she snapped off her comlink. If her crew couldn’t argue with her any longer, maybe they’d finally get around to escaping from this place.
As for herself—Leia intended to take her chances.
—
Back on the ship, Joph and Greer stared at each other, their hands on the controls, trapped in indecision.
“We can’t do this.” Every instinct Joph had rebelled against it. “Leaving her behind? She’ll die. You know she will.”
“If anyone could steal a ship and get out of here, Princess Leia could.” But Greer didn’t move to obey the princess’s orders.
C-3PO offered, “If I might, as loath as we all are to leave Her Highness behind, military protocols are quite clear on this point. We are required to follow her orders. And Princess Leia has been known to escape from unlikely predicaments before.”
