Star by Star (27 page)

Leia rolled her eyes at Lando’s characteristic vanity, then looked at Han, who had returned to Coruscant immediately after dropping the voxyn at Eclipse. “I don’t see why I have to be here.”

“Think of it as a favor.” Han nodded toward the front of the hoversled, where Borsk Fey’lya stood flanked by two generals, Garm Bel Iblis and Wedge Antilles. “Borsk wouldn’t meet with Lando unless you came.”

“And why is the chief of state meeting with an arms supplier in the first place?” Leia demanded. “You know what this is.”

Han shrugged. “They’re good droids.”

“As if anyone here were qualified to judge that.” Leia was silent for a moment, then said, “He’s trying to draw me back in.”

“Look, all Lando’s trying to do is sell a few droids and help win the war,” Han said.

“I was talking about Borsk.”

“I know,” Han answered. “But what’s wrong with using
him
for a change?”

“It’s politics. I’m done with that.”

She fell silent as Lando explained he would be demonstrating the YVH’s capabilities in the most challenging combat environment of all, the urban battleground. YVH 1-1A turned and began to stalk down the simulation maze of a fairly modern glasteel city. The hoversled followed a dozen meters above, where the occupants would have a clear view of the action. Adarakh and Meewalh were still in bacta tanks recovering from their acid burns, or Leia knew they would have insisted on being even farther from the action. Demonstrations of war droids were notorious for going tragically astray.

The first test came when a pair of what looked like Yuuzhan Vong quietly stepped into an alley around the corner from 1-1A. They were armed with amphistaffs and bandoliers of thud bugs.

“There’s nothing to be concerned about,” Lando said. “They’re actually training droids, built off the same frame as the YVH, but programmed with Yuuzhan Vong battle tactics and equipped with emitter packages that mimic enemy heart rates, heat signatures, and odor characteristics.”

“Yuuzhandroids—the ultimate abomination,” Bel Iblis said,
grinning. “I admire a man who has confidence in his own product.”

“I have confidence in everything I manufacture,” Lando said, returning the general’s smile. “But why do you find that so admirable … in this case?”

“No particular reason.” Bel Iblis shrugged. “I was just thinking of what the enemy will do when they hear you’ve begun manufacturing them.”

Lando’s smile grew queasy.

The Yuuzhandroids made it only three steps down the alley before 1-1A sprang around the corner to meet them, the servo motors of his repulsor-enhanced legs hissing slightly as they propelled his enormous mass. One Yuuzhandroid made the mistake of raising his amphistaff and was immediately struck down by a green blaster bolt. The other was smarter, making a headlong dive and reaching for his bandolier of thud bugs. He actually had a hand on it before 1-1A’s blaster bolt knocked him senseless.

“For the purposes of this demonstration, One-One-A’s blaster cannon is powered down to a nonlethal setting modulated specifically to paralyze the Yuuzhandroid circuitry,” Lando explained. “In true combat, One-One-A would automatically select the energy level needed to annihilate any target up to the size of a coralskipper. We’ll see his destructive capabilities in the second part of the demonstration.”

YVH 1-1A paused while a remote sensor scan confirmed that he “downed” his targets, then he continued along the main avenue. For the next hour, Leia and the others watched the war droid work his way through a broad assortment of combat problems, locating concealed Yuuzhandroids through solid durasteel, tracking multiple escapees, and, most impressive to Leia, capturing a trio of ooglith-masqued infiltrators without harming anyone in a crowd of bystanders. The finale came when 1-1A was ordered into a simulated ambush—simulated because 1-1A’s sensors alerted him to it well in advance and Lando ordered him in anyway. Of the half a dozen Yuuzhandroids trapped in the cul-de-sac with him, four hit him with thud bugs. Only one managed a second strike before being blasted unconscious. By
the time 1-1A’s sensors confirmed that he had downed all six targets, the bug pits in his laminanium armor were already filling themselves.

“Self-healing metals,” General Bel Iblis observed. “Nice.”

“Just one of the YVH’s many design innovations.” Lando’s smile was one of genuine pride, more sincere than Leia had seen in decades. “Of course, it’s impossible to simulate a full-scale battle here. The Yuuzhan Vong would have heavier weapons that we just can’t use in a demonstration, but this should provide some idea of the YVH’s capabilities. It’s totally immune to biological agents, hermetically seals itself in the presence of corrosive chemicals, and the laminanium armor can take a coralskipper plasma ball in the chest without breaching.”

“How long to repair that?” Wedge asked.

“Less than a day standard, but it will need to recharge its power pack and replace its laminanium ingot.” Lando signaled to 1-1A, who drew an appreciative murmur from the generals by riding the repulsorlifts concealed in his feet onto the deck of the hoversled. “If we can proceed to the firing range, One-One-A will demonstrate his destructive capability.”

Fey’lya nodded to the pilot droid, and they started across the mock city toward a distant blast tunnel.

“The YVH’s primary weapon is the variable-output blaster cannon in his right arm,” Lando said. “But his left arm can be fitted with a wide variety of weapons, including a fifty-missile seeker battery, sonic rifles, heavy lasers …”

As Lando ticked off the options, Fey’lya motioned for him to continue for the generals, then joined Leia and Han in the back.

“Impressive.” He addressed himself to both Leia and Han, as though he were only making casual conversation. “I can see an army of these droids defending the New Republic. What would it take? A million?”

“Three million would be better,” Han answered, immediately slipping into bargaining mode on his friend’s behalf. “There are a lot of Yuuzhan Vong, and these things are bound to make them mad. That’s worth something.”

“
Three
million?” Fey’lya considered the number, then looked to Leia. “That’s a lot of laminanium. It would require a great deal of support to push through.”

Leia had a hollow feeling in her stomach. She had known this moment was coming since watching the hologram of Fey’lya dressing Nom Anor down in front of the full senate, and—for a change—she was almost eager to give the Bothan what he wanted. After the destruction of the
Speed Queen
in the battle at Froz, the Jedi were taking more of a battering in the senate than ever. The chief of state’s support would do much to alleviate that, but her feeling as she left the NRMOC situation room that day had been unmistakable. The Force was guiding her away from politics, and she had no doubt that the Bothan hoped to bring her back into the senate as his ally—a move that would both add to his support and give the Jedi an audible voice.

It was a sacrifice she could no longer make. The feeling had been too clear. “I’m sure you’ll find all the support you need, if you truly believe it’s the right thing.”

The fur around Fey’lya’s collar ruffled uncertainly. “What do my beliefs matter? We’re talking about the senate.”

“The senate
you
made,” Leia said. “You and those like you. I’m no part of that.”

Fey’lya’s ears flattened, and Leia heard her husband mutter something under his breath. They had talked this over before coming. Han was sympathetic to her determination to have no more to do with the senate, but, in typical Han Solo fashion, he thought she simply ought to fake it. To his way of thinking, all she had to do was smile a few times and make a couple of public appearances with Fey’lya. Then the Jedi would be off the hook, Lando would have enough credits to buy an entire sector, and the New Republic would have the finest droid army in a dozen galaxies. Han just could not understand that to play Fey’lya’s game would be to countenance the Bothan’s way of doing things, to become a part of the rot that had made the New Republic such a soft target for the Yuuzhan Vong in the first place.

After a long pause, Fey’lya cast a meaningful glance at the lightsaber hanging from Leia’s belt. “Come now, Princess. You know how this works. I cannot support the Jedi unless the Jedi support me.”

“Do the right thing, and you will have their support,” Leia said. Lando and the generals had given up all pretense of discussing the YVH’s merits and were now openly eavesdropping.

“I am no longer in the business of making behind-the-scenes deals.”

“What a pity, when there is such a need for them to hold the New Republic together.”

Lando’s eyes widened at Fey’lya’s acid tone, and he shot Han a look of appeal.

Han could only shrug. “Sorry, pal. I promised she’d come, not what she’d say.”

The hoversled slowed and began to descend toward the blast tunnel, where several Tendrando technicians were unloading two huge crates of YVH munitions.

Lando rallied with one of his slickest smiles. “No problem, Han. This baby sells itself.” He jerked a thumb toward a squad of big human bodyguards rushing to secure the hoversled’s landing pad. “When the chief of state sees what One-One-A’s depleted baradium pellets do to yorik coral, he’ll want a dozen to replace those jokers.”

From behind them came 1-1A’s ultramasculine voice. “Remain calm. Seek shelter immediately.” The hoversled shuddered beneath the war droid’s heavy steps. “This is a military emergency. Seek shelter immediately.”

It was the same warning the droid had given in the search-and-identify demonstration, just before disabling three Yuuzhandroid “infiltrators” as they tried to slip through a crowd of Tendrando “pedestrians.” Leia cocked a querying brow at Lando. He shook his head, then moved to intercept the war droid.

“One-One-A, the demonstration is over,” he said.

“Affirmative, demonstration completed,” the droid replied. “Please seek shelter. There are Yuuzhan Vong ahead.”

YVH 1-1A brushed Lando aside and jerked the pilot droid away from the control column, then jacked into the socket himself. The sled was so close to the landing area that Leia had to step to the safety rail to look down on the bodyguards. They were arraying themselves on all sides of the pad, facing outward as was proper. Once the sled descended, it would take only an instant to spin around and catch the group in a deadly cross fire.

The war droid turned the hoversled away from the landing area.

“Calrissian!” General Bel Iblis barked. “Enough is enough.”

Leia reached out with the Force, felt nothing from the guards. “No, Garm,” she said. “They’re impostors.”

YVH 1-1A laid his arm on the rail and loosed a flurry of blaster bolts. A pair of Yuuzhan Vong detached the sleeves of their blast armor and turned their shoulders toward the hoversled, and something black and winged shot out of the first warrior’s sleeve. YVH 1-1A continued to bank away.

The thing—whatever it was—smashed into the hoversled and nearly flipped it. Four black pincers came through the durasteel floor, ripping a hole, and a beetlelike insect about the size of Leia’s arm started to come through. Han, Bel Iblis, and Wedge vaporized it with blasterfire.

Another jolt. The hoversled turned on edge and angled down into the simulated city.

“Impact imminent,” 1-1A warned. “Brace—”

Even cushioned by repulsorlift engines, the crash was a mad and confusing thing. Leia ricocheted off durasteel and dropped face-first onto ferrocrete, bodies thudding all around. The hoversled fell against a wall above her, remained there leaning. Han called out. She reached for him through the Force and felt more worry than pain.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Everyone?”

Fey’lya answered first. “Thankfully, I am unhurt.”

“Sound and strong,” Bel Iblis reported.

“Same here,” Wedge said.

Only Lando did not answer. Leia picked herself up and found him crouched behind the overturned sled, watching 1-1A spray blaster bolts down a one-block street. The
whumpf-whumpf
of the droid’s blaster cannon sounded somehow all too gentle.

“Lando?” Leia pulled the lightsaber from her belt. The handle felt familiar enough, but the weapon still seemed a thing in her hand, not at all the extension of herself she knew it should have been. “Tell One-One-A to let loose with the heavy stuff.”

“Can’t. There’s a power governor on his weapons systems.” Lando sounded almost sick. “With two generals and the chief of state here, we didn’t want to chance a programming glitch.”

“Power governor?” This from both Han and Fey’lya.

“You think I’m not disappointed?” Lando retorted. “An opportunity like this?”

Thud bugs began to ping the bottom of the hoversled.

“What was he supposed to do in the blast tunnel?” Han asked. “Put on a lightshow?”

“It only takes a second to change a programming card,” Lando said. “It’s with the munitions.”

Leia peered around the platform edge. YVH 1-1A stood in a storm of thud bugs pouring blasterfire at the assassins and accomplishing nothing against their stolen blast armor. Finally, he gave an electronic bellow and stomped down the street.

A pair of Yuuzhan Vong pressed themselves into a doorway and opened their breastplates, each drawing a long eel-like creature from beneath his armor and throwing it at 1-1A. The things turned rigid and streaked at the droid, their heads pulsing with white energy, their tails shooting threads of flame.

YVH 1-1A fired twice on the run. The eels exploded. He fired twice more, and both attackers dropped.

Then the droid was crashing into the others. Two more fell to his flailing arms, but the rest slipped past, and Han, Lando, and the generals took out another pair with blaster pistols. Wedge stopped firing long enough to shove Han and Leia toward Fey’lya.

“Take him. We’ll hold here.”

Han started to object, but Fey’lya was already fleeing, shouting into his comlink for someone to answer. Judging by the panic in his voice, no one was.

Leia grabbed Han and started after the Bothan. Like it or not, Fey’lya was chief of state. Behind them, another assassin fell, then Wedge took a thud bug in the shoulder and tumbled into the others, and the last trio of Yuuzhan Vong charged under the hoversled and raced past, 1-1A stomping into view behind them, still scorching their armor with ineffective blasterfire. The droid’s laminanium armor was pitted to the underskeleton and his circuits were showing, but he kept coming, kept firing even with his allies in front of him. Precision targeting.