"Hey, youngster," Han greeted him. "You look pretty good for a dead man."
Chewbacca whuffled agreement.
Luke cleared his throat experimentally. "Thanks." He pointed at the
subspace radio. "Anything on there about Gaeriel Captison?"
"Maybe," said Han. "Some groundside group claims it's got Wilek Nereus in
custody. They're barricading themselves inside the Imperial offices sector of
the Bakur complex." The Dominant appeared to sweep underneath the Falcon's
hull; an illusion, of course--the Falcon, not the Dominant, was maneuvering.
"Threepio worked on maximizing energy bank recharge while we were on the
Flutie ship. I think we can deal with Thanas the way he deserves. Then we'll
worry about Nereus."
"Easy--" Leia interjected.
"Wait," Luke said a little louder. In Commander Thanas's place, he'd
order the huge, valuable cruiser destroyed, rather than let it fall into
Alliance hands. He couldn't spot a single TIE fighter. They'd probably
scattered, afraid to be caught in the shock waves of a Carrack'-class
cruiser's final explosion. Confirming Luke's guess, a babble of Rebel voices
announced that the Dominant had lost shield generators. Not lost. He shut them
down, Luke guessed.
"Here goes!" Han swung the Falcon around to deliver a death blow.
"Wait!" Luke repeated. "We want that ship. Even damaged, it'd be a lucky
catch." Luke leaned toward the pickup. "All forces," he ordered, "this is
Commander Skywalker. Cease fire immediately. Alliance forces, confirm on this
channel."
"What?" asked Han. Three younger pilots also protested.
Luke repeated his order, then he tried to thrust the Force across the
distance to touch Commander Thanas once more. He couldn't. Even though he'd
cast out the parasites before they chewed into his heart, he was too weary
from using the Force. If Thanas elected to destroy the Dominant, Luke could do
nothing.
Except...
Out into the Force he projected calm. Peace. Peace was possible....
And this was Thanas's last chance.
Pter Thanas flinched as Skywalker's order went out over the subspace
radio. During this battle something had reawakened in him, something that
cared. Something he'd buried years ago, at Alzoc III.
Nereus wouldn't hesitate to send him back there, too. He glanced at a
red-barred compartment. It hid a lever labeled "self-destruct." Another
compartment, halfway across the bridge, held its mate. Pulled simultaneously,
they would blow the Dominant's main generator. The blast would incinerate
everything around it.
His career was over.
He turned to his aide, a stiff-backed five-year man. "Abandon ship," he
ordered, "all hands." Crew members might get far enough away to escape
destruction. Bridge crew, however, must remain. Such was standard Imperial
discipline. Those levers had no time delay.
The young aide shifted from one foot to the other, awaiting his next
order.
Thanas stared at his black boots, spotlessly polished on a polished deck.
At Bakura, as at Alzoc III, he'd received unethical orders from a superior
officer he did not respect. These could be his final moments, sacrificed to an
uncaring Empire... the legacy of a dead emperor.
Or he could recant and admit that he'd misspent his entire life.
Then again, he remembered Governor Nereus's parting orders. Coolly he
straightened and looked around the bridge. His crew was visibly bracing for a
last act of heroism.
"Communications," he barked, "give me a channel to Skywalker. Wherever he
is."
"Done, sir."
Pter Thanas faced the communications station and laid a hand on his
blaster. Someone on this bridge would be watching him. "Commander Skywalker,"
he called, sliding off the safety. "I must warn you of something. Any contact
you have with humans endangers their lives. Nereus ordered me specifically to
ensure that you did not return to Bakura. He says you now carry some kind of
infestation or plague."
"I've taken care of that," Skywalker's voice answered, "before it could
spread. Remember, I am a Jedi."
He should have expected that. Still, Skywalker's voice sounded weak.
"Truly? Or is that just for show?"
"I'm on board the Falcon with my closest friends. I wouldn't be here if I
had any doubt."
Thanas glanced around the bridge. "Very well. If I surrendered the
Dominant to you--"
Motion caught his peripheral vision. A crewman sprang to his feet,
lunging for his belt. Thanas spun and stunned him th e Imperial Security
plant, here to make certain the warship didn't fall into enemy hands.
"Commander Thanas?" asked Skywalker's voice. "Are you there?"
"Slight distraction. If I surrendered the Dominant, would you guarantee
that you will release my crew members, who conducted this battle under my
orders?"
"Yes," Skywalker said hoarsely. "We'll send all Imperial personnel to a
neutral pickup point, and let them return to their homes--unless any want to
defect. You must give each one that choice."
"I can't do that."
"I'll arrange it."
Thanas gripped a railing. What kind of traitor handed over Imperial
property and gave Imperial personnel the chance to jump ship?
The kind of traitor who still owed Talz slave miners a debt he could
never repay. Perhaps the Alliance would be more lenient than that colonel had
been back at Alzoc III. "Done," said Thanas. "Take me to the Alliance and deal
with me as you will."
Skywalker exhaled heavily. "I accept your ship. And, temporarily, your
person. Shuttle over to my..."--he seemed to hesitate--?my flagship. Please
bring a medical corpsman. I'll see that he's released as well."
"Are you ill?"
"I said I've taken care of that. I have another human on board who was
badly burned. I think he could make it, if he got help quickly."
"Oh." Thanas narrowed his eyes and made a guess. "Sibwarra?"
Skywalker hesitated. "Yes."
"You're asking too much." What irrational, supernatural agency had raised
up Luke Skywalker to judge his scruples? He paced along the bridge pit past
humming banks of instruments. "But I would like to see Sibwarra brought to
justice. Empire or Alliance, it doesn't matter--s long as it's a human jury.
I'll see what I can do."
"I'll shuttle over a skeleton crew for the Dominant," said Skywalker.
Solo's voice interjected over Skywalker's, "But you'd better come over
unarmed, in a survival pod. I'm making a big concession, letting you on board
at all."
"Understood... General."
The speaker fell silent.
Thanas drew a deep breath. He had no idea what to expect next, but he
wasn't taking his crew into it. He'd face the Alliance's wrath, plague risk
and all, on his own. Alm. "Bridge crew, board lifeboats. Reserve a single two-
man evacuation pod."
"Sir." One pivoted and loped off the deck.
"Carry him, someone." Thanas nodded at the Security man lying stunned on
the deck. "Take him with you. Captain Jamer, you're in command."
"Si
r." A beetle-bodied little man stalked out at rear guard. Pter Thanas
rubbed his chin, then opened a line to his medical staff. Perhaps Skywalker
had neutralized one threat of contagion, but Thanas wouldn't feel safe in the
Jedi's presence until his own staff checked him over.
Luke glanced at Han, who maneuvered the Falcon toward a tiny round
object. Sensors confirmed two life-forms. "You're sure you want to take him on
board?" Han fidgeted.
Luke sighed, weary with arguing. "Yes. Next question?"
"Why?" Han snapped.
"We're all a little edgy," Leia said, "but this is the only place to put
him. We've got to check on the rumors from Salis D'aar immediately."
"Well, even unarmed, he's not staying loose on my ship. Handcuff him to
Chewie--no, to Threepio--and lock them in a cargo hold. Threepio can entertain
him."
Luke smiled. "That sounds like punishment enough for anyone."
"Poor Thanas," agreed Leia.
Chewbacca delicately stroked airlock controls, keying the vacuum seal for
manual release, and then Luke, Han, and Leia walked to the airlock and waited.
Several minutes later, Commander Thanas stepped through with both hands
raised. The posture tugged his khaki tunic askew. "I'm unarmed," he insisted.
"Check me."
Leia ran a weapons scanner over him. "Looks clean," she announced.
Meanwhile, Commander Thanas's small, slight companion trained a medical sensor
up and down Luke's body. Luke held still, guessing Thanas had chosen the medic
for his wide-eyed, soft-chinned, harmless appearance. "What's in that pack?"
Leia asked sharply.
"Medical equipment. Burn treatment. Commander Skywalker asked for--"
"This way." Luke turned away from the top airlock.
The corpsman dropped his medisensor into a pocket. "Skywalker's clean,
too, Commander. A preliminary scan shows severe mechanical bronchitis, but no
infestation." He shrugged at Thanas.
Luke hadn't doubted, but the medic's diagnosis reassured him. He led
deeper into the ship.
Threepio sat at the hologram board. Behind him, on a single bunk, Dev lay
still. Threepio stood. "Greetings," he began cheerily. "I am--"
"Quiet," Leia murmured. "Take this pair of binders and attach yourself to
Commander Thanas. Escort him to the aft cargo bay. You're designated security
until further notice."
One binder snicked shut around Thanas's wrist, and the other clinked
against Threepio's. "Very well, Your Highness. Come with me, sir. I am See-
Threepio, protocol droid..."
Luke led the mousy little medic to Dev and gently drew a sheet off the
youth's scarred, folded arms. "He's in a Jedi healing trance," Luke said, "and
he's in no pain--for now. See what you can do for him."
"I'll try," said the medic, "but frankly, I've encountered energy-blast
trauma before." He ran the pocket medisensor over Dev's stomach and chest,
then shook his head. "There's little I can do. He might live a day, if he's...
I won't say lucky. If he regains consciousness, he'll suffer. Internal damage
is... well, there's nothing to keep him alive."
"Please try. He changed his mind about the Ssi-ruuk." And Dev had so much
Force potential. He had to survive.
"Huh," the medic answered without enthusiasm. He reached deeper into his
equipment pack.
Luke could barely keep his own body moving. Half stumbling, he rejoined
Han in the cockpit. "We've got an invitation," Han announced, "from a lady
named Eppie Belden. She claims to know you. She's with your friend Gaeriel at
the Bakur complex. I guess there's a nasty prisoner they want the Alliance to
deal with."
"Governor Nereus?" asked Leia.
"Looks that way."
He'd last seen Gaeri being dragged by Artoo from the cantina. Abruptly he
remembered that meal they'd shared. This news suggested that Gaeri was safe,
though. And had Eppie healed herself? Had they captured Governor Nereus? "Can
you land the Falcon on a roof port?"
Leia laughed behind him. "Han can land the Falcon on an ice cube if he
wants to."
Luke glanced around the cockpit, counting heads. "I assume you're calling
in reinforcements?" he asked Han.
"I, uh, just ordered your new Dominant crew into position to fire on the
Imperial garrison at Salis D'aar. It'll take a while. Our B-wing squadron's
tugboating it into place. And we've got two X-wing pilots coming in to fly
cover, just in case."
"Good work, Han." And Luke had his reputation as a Jedi. So long as he
didn't stumble in plain sight, the Imperials would consider him a threat. He
pictured Governor Nereus's face when he walked off the Falcon alive.
"Your Bakuran lady friends promised to meet us at the roof port. We'll
see if they manage it."
"I'm going to lie down." Luke gave one last cough. "Get me up when you're
about to land."
The Millennium Falcon swooped through a textured blanket of clouds toward
Salis D'aar. Over the city and west across one river, smoke drifted. Han
brought up a remote sensor as they decelerated. Peering between Han's head and
Chewie's, Luke spotted a knot of people behind a blast barricade at the
complex roof port. A familiar shape waited with them. "Artoo!" he exclaimed. A
swirl of long blue-green skirts, backing away from the blocked-off landing
Gaeriel's uncle the prime minister stood near an unbound, defiant Wilek
Nereus, who still wore Imperial drab with red and blue rank buttons.
"He doesn't look like a prisoner to me," Leia muttered, pointing through
the viewport. "I'll make you a bet Governor Nereus doesn't intend to surrender
the Salis D'aar garrison. He could hold that against all of us for a long
time."
Han reached for belly gun controls.
"Don't you dare." Leia shook her head. "We're back to diplomacy."
"And we've got Commander Thanas," said Luke. "He could surrender the
garrison."
The Falcon settled to ground with a muffled thud.
"Particularly if you told him to," Leia returned. "How are you feeling?
Could you...?"
"I can't push it. You'd better take charge."
"Right," she said grimly. "I've set up enough Resistance cells to know
what happens if we botch this."
Leia clenched her seat while Han sprang up and loosened his blaster in
its leg holster. "Okay, Goldenrod," Han called into the comlink. "Bring Thanas
to the main ramp."
Luke stood up more slowly. Leia almost saw two Lukes one strong, cocky,
and victorious, the image he meant to project--and one withdrawn, worried,
exhausted, and in pain. Tired enough to make mistakes.
She squared her shoulders. "Do you want to stay on board until it's
obvious which way this is going?" she asked.
"Uh... sure." Luke scratched the back of his neck. "Nereus probably
thinks that he killed me, anyway." He stepped to one side of the main hatch
and unhooked his lightsaber. From there, he could hear without being seen. "Be
careful."
Threepio appeared around the bend in the corridor. Commander Thanas
matche
d his pace step for step. "Your droid tells interesting stories," Thanas
commented drily. "Despite the fact that he insists--repeatedly--t he's not
much of a storyteller."
Educating the prisoner, Threepio? Commander Thanas had probably gotten an
earful of Alliance propaganda.
The main hatch hissed and then opened. Leia led down the ramp. The
rooftop group filed around the blast barricade toward them, Captison in the
lead, closely followed by Governor Nereus and his female escorts... and Artoo.
Han kept one hand on his blaster. Once Leia and Han reached the rooftop, she
glanced back. Threepio followed, shackled to Thanas. Chewie came last,
bowcaster already fitted with a quarrel. The air smelled unpleasantly smoky.
"Artoo!" exclaimed Threepio. "You can't imagine what I've been through--"
"Save it," snapped Han.
Commander Thanas ignored his metallic escort and walked eyes-ahead,
expressionless like a man who expected a brutal dressing down. He passed Leia
at the foot of the ramp and came to attention as well as anyone could when
handcuffed to a protocol droid.
"I assume you're not expecting compliments." Governor Nereus closed the
distance between them, clasping both of his hands behind his back in a
swaggering pose. "A few years ago, when I commanded a cruiser, a commander who
surrendered his ship was stood against the nearest wall and shot."
Leia stood forward. "We brought him with us only to prove that he's in
our hands, Governor. He is not your prisoner. He's ours. As I hear you are."
"I'd like to see you hold either of us."
"You have no space forces left. Surrender your garrison, and you and all
your people may leave Bakura freely... immediately." An X-wing flying patrol
tore shreds from the low smoky clouds.
Governor Nereus smiled placidly at Leia. "Perhaps you forget that I still
command three thousand land-based troops. Furthermore, Imperial survivors are
landing all over Bakura in lifeboats as we speak. You have had a single ship
surrender to you. That is all."
"We've moved the Dominant into a stationary orbit, Governor," Leia
countered with a grateful glance at Han. "Its armaments are locked onto the
Salis D'aar garrison. I know it's not designed for planetary assault, but
it'll do considerable damage if we give the order. Even if we released you,
you couldn't hold Bakura forever against the will of its people."