The Last Command (by Timothy Zahn)

Author:Star Wars - [Thrawn Trilogy 03] [-, Star Wars]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-07-25T14:54:07.051000+00:00

There was a long silence. "I wondered why Solo didn't come to the war room with you," Bel Iblis said.

"You want to tell us what's going on?"

Leia hesitated; but surely none of these people could possibly have anything to do with the Delta Source

security leak. "Mara thinks she knows where the Empire's cloning facility might be. We thought it would

be worth sending her and a small team to check it out."

" We thought?" Drayson snapped. "Who is this we? "

Leia looked him straight in the eye. "My family and closest friends," she said. "The only people I can be

absolutely certain aren't leaking information to the Empire."

"That is a gross insult—"

"Enough, Admiral," Mon Mothma cut him off calmly. Calmly, but there was a hardness around her eyes.

"Whatever reprimands may be due here can wait until later. Whether it was prudent or otherwise, the fact

remains that they're on their way, and we need to decide how best to help them. Leia?"

"The most important thing to do is to pretend Mara's still here," Leia said, the tightness in her chest

easing slightly. "She told me she'd only been to Wayland once, and she couldn't guess how long it would

take her to reconstruct the route. The longer lead they have, the less time the Empire will have to rush

reinforcements there."

"What happens then?" Mon Mothma asked. "Assuming they find it."

"They'll try to destroy it."

There was a moment of silence. "By themselves," Drayson said.

"Unless you have a spare fleet to lend them, yes," Leia said.

Mon Mothma shook her head. "You shouldn't have done it, Leia," she said. "Not without consulting the

Council."

"If I'd brought it to the Council, Mara might be dead now," Leia said bluntly. "If news leaked to the

Empire that she could find Wayland, the next commando team they sent wouldn't stop at just trying to

discredit her."

"The Council is above suspicion," Mon Mothma said, her voice turning chilly.

"Are all the Council members' aides?" Leia countered. "Or the tactical people and supply officers and

library researchers? If I'd suggested an attack on Wayland to the Council, all of those people would

eventually have known about it."

"And more," Bel Iblis nodded. "She has a point, Mon Mothma."

"I'm not interested in laying blame, Garni," Mon Mothma said quietly. "Nor in defending anyone's little

niche of power. I'm concerned about the possibility that all this was indeed a setup, Leia... and that it will

cost your husband and brother their lives."

Leia swallowed hard. "We thought about that, too," she said. "But we decided it was worth the risk.

And there was no one else to do it."

For a long minute no one said anything. Then Mon Mothma stirred. "You'll need to talk to everyone who

knows Mara Jade is gone, Colonel," she said to Bremen. "If and when we obtain Wayland's location,

we'll see what we can do about sending reinforcements to help them."

"Provided we can be sure it isn't a trap," Drayson added, glowering.

"Of course," Mon Mothma agreed, avoiding Leia's eyes. "For now, that's all we can do. Let's

concentrate on Coruscant's immediate problems: defense, and finding those cloaked asteroids.

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