Dark Nest 02: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning

Author:Troy Denning
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Solo, Leia, Fantasy, Space Opera, Star Wars Fiction, Princess (Fictitious Character), Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Life on Other Planets, Han (Fictitious Character), General, Media Tie-In
ISBN: 9780345463036
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2005-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

It was afternoon in Unity Green and a fierce storm was rolling across Liberation Lake, raising three-meter whitecaps and bombing the yammal-jells with fist-sized hail. In the flat light, the bluffs along the lake’s far shore were barely visible, a mere band of darkness rising from the edge of the gray water. But the abandoned skytower project atop the cliffs was all too visible, a line of durasteel skeletons silhouetted against the flashing sky, twisted and bowing beneath the weight of the enormous yorik coral goiters hanging from their necks.

In many ways, Cal Omas viewed the skytower project—and the entire reconstruction of Coruscant—as emblematic of his service as Chief of State, a visionary undertaking being dragged down by the deadweight of selfish concerns and species rivalry. After the devastation wrought by the Yuuzhan Vong, rebuilding the galaxy would have been almost impossible under any circumstances. But doing it as the head of an alliance of semi-independent governments . . . he considered it a testament to his skill and hard work just to have kept the peace for six difficult years.

And now the Jedi were threatening even that one small accomplishment. They had been his most valuable asset for most of his tenure, able to eliminate criminal cabals with a single team of Jedi Knights, or to bring a pair of starving worlds back from the brink of war with the arbitration of a Master. Then the Killik problem had arisen in the Unknown Regions, and the Jedi order had become just one more problem, more deadweight threatening to bring the Galactic Alliance down around his ears. Sometimes Omas truly did not know whether he was up to the job—whether anyone was. A female voice spoke from the door to the council chamber. “Chief Omas, the Masters are here.”

Omas turned away from the viewport. “Well, send them in, Salla. I am just a visitor in their Temple.”

Salla, his personal assistant, twitched her whiskers in what someone unfamiliar with a Jenet might have mistaken for condescension, but which Omas knew was simply amusement.

“So you are.” She stepped out of the door and waved the Masters inside. “I’m sure you heard Chief Omas.”

“I’m sure he meant us to,” replied the familiar voice of Kyp Durron. He marched into the chamber with the other Masters at his back, then stopped at the edge of the speaking pit. With a threadbare robe and unkempt hair, he was as raggedly groomed as always. “Thanks for letting us into our own council chamber, Chief.”

Omas accepted the insolence with a smile. “Not at all, Master Durron. After all, the Reconstruction Authority gave the entire Temple to the Jedi.”

Omas’s irony might have been lost on Kyp, but not on Kenth Hamner. “And the Jedi are very grateful,”

he said. Though he usually dressed in a civilian tunic or his liaison’s uniform, today he wore the same brown robes as the rest of the Masters. They obviously intended to present a united front. “We’re all here as you requested, Chief Omas.

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