Star Wars - 280 - New Jedi Order 06 - Balance Point by Kathy Tyers

Author:Kathy Tyers [Tyers, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Life on Other Planets, Star Wars Fiction, Leia; Princess (Fictitious Character), Skywalker; Luke (Fictitious Character), Solo; Han (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780345428585
Google: 16Bwn5mPeLgC
Amazon: 0345428587
Publisher: LucasBooks
Published: 2000-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

"Only once?"

"I swear it by my -"

"Oh. Right, I believe you," she said, loading her voice with sarcasm. "So that's why you tried to warn Senator Shesh there were Yuuzhan Vong on the way. Because you somehow found a villip, somewhere inside Gateway dome."

"The senator assured me that reinforcements will arrive shortly." Jaina worked the tip of her thumb with one fingernail. If Jacen was right, if Shesh wasn't to be trusted, then the woman wouldnot lobby to send reinforcements. She might even report Randa to the Yuuzhan Vong.

"I made an error," the Hutt assured her. "Truly I did. But I have repaired it, now -"

"Do you think anyone will believe that? Give me that."

Jaina snatched the leathery villip. That brought her momentarily chest-to-belly with the Hutt, close enough to catch a whiff of his fetid body odor. Clutching the stiff villip under one arm, she stalked out of the shelter and hustled toward the gray admin building.

Chapter 17 Mara was ordered not to land at Gateway's main gate. "The decontam area just inside's under quarantine," they told her - doubtless from the evacuation of infested Settlement Thirty-two. A young voice directed her northeast, to a smaller, blasted-out landing area that was actually bordered by green plant growth. The scientists really had made progress here. The world was coming back to life. Whether or not it survived could depend on what she found out.

A fringe of slender boarding tubes clustered from the northeast gate. Mara waited shipboard until Gateway's crew connected one toShadow 's starboard access hatch, then threw a thin cloak over her finery and hurried up the synthplas tube.

Inside the huge Gateway dome, to the southwest, she spotted a gray building, two stories tall, ringed with lower constructs. Steam boiled out of one of the outbuildings. In an open area to her left, sandy soil had been raked into short rows that suggested settlers' private gardens. To the right, behind a powder-blue city of tents, low ruins bit into the skyline. A distant rumble pulsed, some kind of digging or mining apparatus.

Not bad, for a refugee city. She pulled a deep breath. It even had good air, when most refugee settlements were stinking mudholes.

Sympathetic administration.

She decided to speak with Leia before she poked around. If her mysterious contact gave her trouble, she might have to leave in a hurry.

The admin building's lower story was centered on a staircase instead of lift tubes, its duracrete blocks crumbly in spots. She climbed the stairs, found a door marked ORGANA SOLO, and strode in. A familiar protocol droid stood inside. "Good morning," he greeted her. "I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations -"

"So I see." Remaining in character, she dropped her cloak on a metal-frame chair and looked haughtily around the room. Large desk, cot, focus cooker, storage lockers - one room for all functions. But no Leia. "I am Baroness Muehling of Kuat. I wish to speak with the administrator." The droid spread his arms. "I am terribly sorry, Baroness. Administrator Organa Solo is engaged at present.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.