"Those," Pellaeon said, "are among our most closely held secrets."

During the Rebellion, the Empire had held out for years in the galaxy's Deep Core. The Imperials' knowledge of the narrow, twisting paths among the closely packed star ma.s.ses was unmatched; though the Rebels had finally cleared their enemies out of the Core, it had been grinding work, and probably a good many of the Empire's routes lay undiscovered.

"There are no more Imperial bases in the Deep Core," Leia said, "so the information has no value to you. On the other hand, you're aware of how useful such bases would be to the New Republic now that Coruscant is gone. And," she added, seeing the skeptical look on Pellaeon's face, "you know that the longer we tie up the Yuuzhan Vong in mopping-up operations around the Deep Core, the less likely they are to look at Bastion as their next conquest."

"I have no fear for the safety of my capital," Pellaeon said.

Then you haven't been paying attention, Leia thought. But she knew that Pellaeon didn't mean this in all truth; it was probably just one of those things that Supreme Commanders of totalitarian regimes were expected to say.

"Once," Leia said, "I had no fear for the safety of Coruscant."

Which wasn't exactly true, either.

"Perhaps you would like some refreshment," Pellaeon said. He took Leia's arm and escorted her down the row of blossoms that seemed to get more extravagant and colorful the farther they traveled. Han followed, pretending interest in the flowers.

"I hope you can offer me something in exchange for this information," he said. "The Moff Council won't want these secrets given up."

Leia smiled. "Didn't you just say that you'd tell them what you wanted them to know?"

"I will. But unfortunately," he added, "their busy little minds are capable of drawing their own conclusions, and it would be useful for them to know that something of equal value was given in exchange."

Leia had antic.i.p.ated this. Offer, counteroffer, outright payment, blackmail-all the a.r.s.enal of politics. "The New Republic would be pleased to offer in exchange everything we know about the Yuuzhan Vong. Weapons, tactics, communications, internal organization, the whole package."

"Communications?" Pellaeon pounced on the word. "You've discovered that secret?"

"We have," Leia said. Thank you, Danni Quee.

"Obsolete Core routes in exchange for the greatest secret of the Yuuzhan Vong," Pellaeon mused. "I predict no trouble with the Moff Council."

Leia was pleased to hear this, but if necessary she had been perfectly prepared to give the information to Pellaeon free of charge. As far as she was concerned, anything that weakened the Yuuzhan Vong relative to everyone else was a positive good.

They came to the end of the row of plants, and Leia discovered a circular s.p.a.ce surrounded by the trunks of Gamorrean coolsap trees, with their dense canopy providing an arbor overhead. Beneath the foliage a grand buffet had been laid out on a hollow, circular table, a long array of silver chafing dishes along with great bowls of salads, fruit, and a selection of desserts and pastry. One entire table was covered with a glittering selection of choice liquors. In the center of the circle was a crystal-topped table set for three, the plates arranged around a bouquet of the most exquisite blossoms the arboretum had to offer.

"Please forgive the informality and help yourselves," Pellaeon said.

Han eyed the banquet skeptically. "We're sharing this meal with which regiment?" he asked.

Pellaeon smiled beneath his white mustache. "Our previous meetings really hadn't given me an idea of your tastes. So I ordered a little of everything."

"Must be good to be on top of the food chain," Han commented.

Leia thanked Pellaeon and thought, Now I know how you gained those extra ten kilos.

Leia and Pellaeon talked through the meal, but of matters of no importance. Talking of matters of no importance was an important political skill. Later, over cups of nans-bud tea, Leia resumed.

"After you've had the opportunity to review the information we've gathered on the Yuuzhan Vong," she began, "I hope the Empire will accept our offer of alliance against the enemy."

Pellaeon raised his white eyebrows. "I expected you to raise the matter earlier," he said.

"Dinner first," Leia said. "War later."

Pellaeon laughed. "Very civilized."

"The main forces of the Yuuzhan Vong are facing the New Republic now," Leia said. "You could cut their supply line from the Rim with very little effort."

Pellaeon gave her a dubious look. "I can present your offer to the Moff Council," he said, "but I know what they'd say."

"Yes?"

"They would ask how the Empire would benefit from this action."

"Surely the Empire would benefit by helping to rid the galaxy of a menace like the Yuuzhan Vong."

Pellaeon considered this, then shook his head. "I would rather not go to the Moff Council with this offer," he said. "They won't approve it."

Jag Eel's voice whispered in Leia's memory. It would really make more sense in the short term for the Empire to join the Vong ... Leia found a muscle behind one knee trembling, and she stilled it. "Why not?"

she asked.

"Because, quite frankly, the New Republic is losing its war,"

Pellaeon said. "Your forces are undisciplined, your government is in disarray, your capital is lost, and your Chief of State was tortured to death in his own office. Why should the Empire join such a debacle?"

Leia silently cursed Vana Dorja and the report Pellaeon had doubtless heard before this meeting.

But maybe that wasn't fair, she thought; Pellaeon didn't need Vana Dorja for this.

"If we join with you now, you'll only drag us down with you,"

Pellaeon continued. He hesitated. "That's what the Moff Council would say."

That's what you say, Leia translated.

"Now, if you start to win some real victories," Pellaeon went on, "then the Moffs' position would be altered. But you'd have to convince us you're not dragging us into a disaster." His dark eyes looked quite solemnly into hers. "And that, Princess, is the truth."

"Well," Leia said, "that's that."

Something shifted in Pellaeon's face. "On the other hand," he said, "if you could offer something to the Moff Council. Something concrete ...".

"Such as?" Leia queried.

"The Moff Council is impressed by real things," Pellaeon said.

"Solid things. For instance, if the Empire could retain any worlds we took from the Yuuzhan Vong, it would impress the Moffs considerably. Not"

he added, at the protest in Leia's face, "any worlds that still have your population on them. Only those the Yuuzhan Vong have remade for themselves." He nodded confidingly. "I think the Moff Council is most impressed by worlds, Princess."

The Empire could double its size, taking its choice of worlds, and it would cost the Yuuzhan Vong nothing . . . Again Jag's voice whispered in Leia's mind.

Leia managed to seize control of her whirling thoughts. "II have no authority to make such a concession," she said. "And in any case, there are millions of refugees who want their worlds back."

"They would be welcome in the Empire," Pellaeon said. "I think we could support them better than could your own overstrained resources."

Then you can prune and cull to your heart's content. Leia saw the cynical remark in Han's brown eyes, but fortunately Han didn't speak it out loud.

"As I said," Leia managed, "I have no authority to make such a concession."

"But you will take my words back to your government?"

Leia nodded. "Certainly."

If we have a, government when I get back, she thought.

It wasn't until long after Shimrra had dismissed them all that Norn Anor thought to question what had happened, and then it was Yoog Skell who spoke the words that made him stop and think. The delegation had walked in procession to the Damutek of the Intendants and broken up, and Nom Anor's path lay alongside that of his master, walking along the coiled corridors of the damutek, breathing in the healthy organic stench of the building as young intendants dodged respectfully to the side.

"So," Yoog Skell said, "you have seen the power of the Supreme Overlord."

"Indeed, High Prefect."

"You felt his mind on yours, I know, when he interrogated you."

Nom Anor recoiled inwardly at the memory of the mental pressure that had squeezed him dry. "Yes," he said.

"Never think to lie to the Supreme One. He will know."

"Never," Nom Anor agreed. "I'll never think it."

Yoog Skell gave him a sidelong glance. "Did you feel the Supreme One again when he incited us against Ch'Gang Hool?"

Nom Anor almost stumbled as he walked alongside his leader. "High Prefect? "he said.

"Oh yes," Yoog Skell said, "unless you think it's normal for high-caste Yuuzhan Vong to scream and rant and drool in that way."

The breath went out of Nom Anor in a long, awed hiss. The Supreme Overlord had created that? Turned his closest subordinates into a mob of murderous fiends rejoicing at the fall of one of their number?

"Oh yes," Yoog Skell said, "the G.o.ds have given him that power, among others." His voice turned reflective. "Not that Ch'Gang Hool is such a loss. His ambitions always exceeded his talents. I remember an Escalatier Ceremony that he performed for one of my most talented advisers, young Fal Tivvik. A fairly basic procedure, I recall, but-as our high priest would say-'the G.o.ds discovered a flaw' in the poor girl, and she joined the Shamed Ones. I have myself always wondered whether the flaw might instead have been in Ch'Gang Hool."

Nom Anor gave his superior a sharp glance-the high prefect's words flirted with heresy. But Yoog Skell was in a reflective mood, and he continued.

"Perhaps you remember Fazak Tsun, another of Ch'Gang Hool's unfortunates," he said. He paused as he came before the door to his chamber, and turned to face Nom Anor. He dropped a heavy hand on his subordinate's shoulder.

"You have made mistakes, Executor," he said, "and now you see what happens when too many mistakes come to the attention of the Supreme Overlord."

"Yes, High Prefect." Nom Anor's mind ran so fast he could almost hear the wheels spinning. "How do you suggest I avoid Ch'Gang Hool's fate?"

"Don't make any more mistakes," Yoog Skell said blandly. The door behind him quivered open, and he stepped through it.

"And my particular advice, Executor," Yoog Skell added, "is that whatever you do, don't give the Supreme Overlord an itch, particularly one he can't scratch in public."

The door shimmered shut behind him and left Nom Anor alone in the corridor. He was thinking hard.

The stars streamed aft, and Han sat back in the pilot's seat and gave Leia a grim smile. "Well," he said. "That's that. Next stop, Mon Calamari."

The day after their meeting in the arboretum, Leia and Han had returned Grand Admiral Pellaeon's hospitality by having him to dinner on board the Millennium Falcon. Pellaeon and Leia exchanged disks: he had given her the charts of the Deep Core hyper-s.p.a.ce routes, and she gave him everything the New Republic knew about the Yuuzhan Vong. Then formal toasts had begun, with Leia toasting the Empire-it had been getting easier with repet.i.tion-then Pellaeon toasting the New Republic, and, very kindly, the success and survival of Jacen Solo.

Then Pellaeon had presented Han with a new hypers.p.a.ce comm antenna to replace the one shot off in the fight with the Yuuzhan Vong. If there were any more bulletins about Jacen or any other friends or family, Han and Leia would be able to receive them without Pellaeon acting as a relay.

Han eased himself out of the pilot's seat. "I want to get that antenna installed at our next jump point," he said, "and get your message and a copy of that Deep Core map off to the capital. And I'm going to send a copy of the map to Wedge Antilles, too, just in case no one in the capital knows what to do with it."

"Good idea." An idea struck Leia. "I wonder if Pellaeon's antenna has been tampered with. Maybe anything we send will be transmitted to Imperial Headquarters."

"It won't matter," Han said. "The Empire already has the information they gave us."

"True."

"I'll replace the antenna again, with one of our own, when we get back to Mon Calamari."

Leia followed Han to the galley. He looked at her. "So were those Core charts worth this trip?"

"Yes. We can keep fighters in the Core for years, raiding the Yuuzhan Vong."

"Even though the Empire isn't about to attack."

"Not without preconditions, anyway."

Han looked grim. "He had a lot of nerve asking for our planets," he said.

"They're not our planets anymore, which I suppose was his point.

But I think that was just a test. If I'd agreed to his idea, it would have told him how desperate we arc."

Han's tone turned thoughtful. "Would that have brought him into the war, or scared him off?"

"Good question." Leia considered the matter. "I think I've come to the conclusion that we don't want the Empire in this war."

Han was startled. "You sure? All those Star Destroyers? Those troops?"

"That's right," Leia said. "Pellaeon said he'd join us if we started winning victories. But once we start winning, we don't need the Empire any longer. What Pellaeon really wants are concessions ahead of time, and then to be at the peace table when it's over. He wants a peace that serves the Empire's interests."

Han began slicing up charbote root. "And here I was starting to think that Pellaeon was a good guy."

Leia made an equivocal motion of her hand. "I'm not saying he isn't., at least by Imperial standards. But he's a head of state, and he has to look out for that state's benefit. He didn't persuade the Empire to end the war with the New Republic on the grounds that it was the moral thing to do, he did it by persuading the Moris that it was in the Empire's best interests. Right now the Remnant has barely recovered from the last war-why should Pellaeon get into another life-and-death struggle unless it's to his advantage?"

"I guess," Han said.

"Not too much charbote root, Han," Leia said.

"I'm a Corellian. I like charbote root." But he stopped cutting, and instead gathered the root slices and dropped them into the saucepan.