Empty avenues.

An odd shuddery feeling ran up his back. He took control away from the navicomputer and began the landing procedures himself. This would take hands-on work. Even the automatic-guidance systems wouldn't help him here.

A light flashed on the screen. He glanced at it only to have it disappear. He frowned, wishing he had his old X-wing, then he returned his attention to the landing. Precision landing of a kind he hadn't done in years. He pulled the joystick--and felt the X-wing shudder beneath him.

The buildings were close on both sides. The X-wing shuddered again, and the computer locked. The screens went dark. Luke reached for the eject b.u.t.ton only to find it was missing.

There was no droid eject either, of course.

He was stuck.

He grabbed for the hatch. He would open it by hand. He had no other choice. The ground spun close to him--as the X-wing exploded.

TWENTY-SIX.

This time it was Leia's turn to call an Inner Council meeting on short notice. She decided to hold it in the Amba.s.sadorial Dining Room. The X-wing problem had to be dealt with quickly, and she picked the room closest to the bays.

The corridors here were highly polished, and the plants around the pillars well-tended. The dining room was often used for state dinners, and the entrance always had to look spectacular.

Leia hated the formality of the area, even though she had helped design it.

She and Wedge had reached the grand staircase leading up to the dining room when she felt cold. Her vision blurred, and she stumbled, clutching the mahogany railing for support.

A face formed in the air before her. The same white face she had seen before the bombing. It smiled, its black, empty eyes glittering their amus.e.m.e.nt.

Leia, an unfamiliar voice said in her ear. Leia.

And then she collapsed, her elbows and knees. .h.i.tting the marble edges of the stairs. She thudded down to the floor, the marble cutting into her already-ripped military fatigues.

"Leia!" Wedge said. He bent over her, his strong hands bracing her shoulders. "Are you all right?" Her teeth were chattering. "Evacuate the building."

"What?"

"Evacuate the building," she said.

"On the basis of what?"

"That face." She sat up. Her hands were shaking. "I had the same vision before the bombing." But it had been different. Then she had heard voices scream and had been overwhelmed by cold. The destruction that had sent Luke to Coruscant before the actual bomb went off.

"All right," Wedge said. "I'll-"

"No, wait." She pa.s.sed a hand over her face. The owner of that skeletal mask wanted her to panic. She had to think. She had to set her emotions aside and think. "This is an unscheduled meeting. No one would know we're here."

"Still," Wedge said, "we should change locations." Leia shook her head.

The disorientation was still there, but it wasn't as strong. She used Wedge's arm to help herself to her feet. "No. It feels different. That face. It was warning me of something else." And she could almost grasp what that something else was. Almost, but not quite. It would come to her, though. She was certain of that.

"Let's have the meeting," she said.

"All right." Wedge sounded confused, but he obviously wasn't going to ask more questions. "At least let me post some more guards." Leia shook her head. "We did that before the bombing, too. For all I know, this vision is stress-related. I was feeling stressed before the Senate meeting."

"And now, too, huh?" She smiled at him. "I don't like these detonators, Wedge. Whoever planted them has found yet another way to penetrate my home. Coruscant is no longer safe."

"It never really was, Leia."

"I know. But until recently I could go about my business without feeling the threat of death hanging over me. Now I worry about everything. I worry about the children's rooms. I worry about the hallways. I worry about Han and the Falcon. If the X-wings were tampered with, what else was? How much more of this are we going to find, Wedge?"

"I think the key is discovering who did it."

"I suppose." Leia straightened her shoulders. "Although I think I know."

Wedge said nothing. He had made his thoughts clear in the maintenance bay. He agreed with one of the guards. The Empire rarely announced its presence so conveniently.

They climbed the stairs to the dining room, but at a walk instead of a run. The other Council members were already inside, but they weren't seated. Leia said nothing as she pa.s.sed them. She went to her chair, sat down, and waited until they did the same.

Wedge stood behind her, as support and verification.

She called the meeting to order.

"It's irregular," R'yet Coome said, "to have a nonmember present."

"General Antilles is here at my request," Leia said. "We discovered something rather disturbing this afternoon." Wedge opened a pouch and set the detonators on the table. C-Gosf waved a delicate hand over them.

"What're these?"

"We found these in our X-wings. The entire squadron is outfitted with them, apparently," Leia said.

"They're detonators," Wedge said.

"With Imperial markings," Gno said. He sounded stunned.

Meido's crimson face did not change color. He peered at the detonators, then smiled at Leia. "Nice try, President." The chill she had felt earlier returned. "Try?"

"Try," he said. "We accuse General Solo and you find a different device that points to the Empire. How very convenient."

"What do these detonators have to do with the bombing of the Senate Hall?" Wwebyls asked.

Meido shot him a withering look. "Everything, Wwebyls. The President is trying to show us that her husband had nothing to do with the X-wings, and so by implication, we are to a.s.sume he had nothing to do with the Senate Hall." Leia clenched her fists under the table. Meido was going to oppose her at every turn. "General Antilles has warned the squadrons to bring the X-wings in, but there are some he's been unable to raise. I want to send a general distress signal throughout the New Republic's planets so that we can bring home those who might be in danger."

"What triggers these detonators?" Gno asked.

"We don't know," Leia said. "We're working on that right now."

"And they're in every X-wing?"

"We believe so."

"Oh, dear," Fey'lya said. "If they're in each X-wing, where else might they be?"

"Good question," Meido said. "Why don't we ask the President."

"Leia wouldn't know that," C-Gosf said. "She would if she planted them."

"You've gone too far," Bel Iblis said. "You owe the President an apology." Leia waved a hand to silence Bel. "Actually, I'd like to hear why Senator Meido believes I have suddenly become a traitor to the Republic."

"Your husband, President, and his attack on the Hall. Even you have said he would do nothing without your approval."

"What are they accusing Han of?" Wedge whispered.

"Treason," ChoFi whispered back.

"Han Solo!?!" Wedge had stopped whispering. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Han Solo was risking his life for the Rebellion while these cowards were hiding under the wings of the Empire. You, Meido, have no right-"

"Wedge," Leia said softly. "You're a guest. You don't have permission to talk. "

"I can't believe you tolerate this stupidity," Wedge said.

"Not everyone believes it's stupidity," Meido said. "Who better to betray the New Republic than someone who is one of its most-trusted members. You forget that Palpatine was a senator when he overthrew the Old Republic."

"None of us has forgotten that," Gno said. "This is different."

"Is it?"

"I think you're being too zealous," Fey'lya said to Meido. "I know you're trying to prove you're worthy of your Council seat. But attacking President Organa Solo is not the way to do it. She and I have had our differences in the past"-and he smiled at Leia as he said this-"but even I would never impeach her good name."

"You wouldn't have to," Meido said. "I'm glad you called this meeting, President, because I was about to call one myself. You need to know that there's a no-confidence movement in the Senate. There will be a vote shortly."

"What's a no-confidence movement?" Wedge asked.

"It means," C-Gosf said, "that the government will say it no longer has confidence in Leia's leadership. If the no-confidence vote pa.s.ses, Leia will have to step down. The leaders of the vote will force it."

"They can't do that," Wedge said. "You're Mon Mothma's chosen successor."

"Yes, they can," Gno said. "Chosen or not, she was ratified by a vote."

Everything was moving too fast for Leia. It was all spinning out of control. She could handle the big, obvious threats, but the treacheries hidden everywhere, even in little bugs inside machines, were too much.

Leia's fingernails were digging into her palm, she would maintain a semblance of calm, even if she weren't really calm. She would regain control. The first place to do so was inside this room.

She turned to Meido. "What's the no-confidence vote based on?"

"On the preliminary bombing results," he said.

"Really?" Her voice was cold. She made herself as haughty and regal as she could, even though she wanted to tear him from limb to limb. "And how did the full Senate get those results, considering that they were part of a private meeting of the Inner Council?" The room suddenly became very silent.

"I-ah-I don't know, President." Meido said. Now the crimson was fading from his face. She finally decided that she liked that trait. It broadcast his emotions.

"You don't know?" she asked. "And yet the full Senate will be voting based on facts from a closed session of the Inner Council? A vote I didn't know about. How did you find out?"

"President," R'yet said softly, "Meido, Wwebyls, and I are new to the Inner Council. We don't know all the rules."

"That argument held last meeting, R'yet," Leia said. "I won't accept it this time. You know the rules. You have just decided to play differently.

Well, it won't work. This is not the Empire. We do things aboveboard here."

"Except," Meido mumbled, "sabotage."

"President Organa Solo has done nothing wrong," Gno said.

"Neither has Han," Leia said.

"Our evidence says otherwise."

"Your evidence could have been planted. Given your callous disregard for the rules of the Senate, you might have shown the same disregard for the rules of law here on Coruscant."

"You have no right to make that charge, Princess," Meido said.

"Just as you had no right to reveal private doc.u.ments from this meeting, Senator." Leia ignored his use of her former t.i.tle, even though he was doing so to remind others of the arrogance often displayed by aristocracy, although never by anyone from Alderaan.

"This arguing will get us nowhere," Fey'lya said. "We have several issues on the table: the sabotage of the X-wings; the bombing; the no-confidence vote; and the indiscreet mouths of some Council members." He turned his face toward the new members. "I move that if we have any new leaks, the new members be expelled."

"I second," Gno said.

"All right," Leia said. "All in favor say yes." Every member of the Council, except for the three newcomers, chorused "Yes."

"Opposed?" she asked sweetly.

Meido spoke his no softly, as did R'yet Coome and Wwebyls.

"The motion pa.s.ses. Any more leaked information will result in your expulsion from this body. Is that understood?"

"Oh, it's understood," Meido said. "You blame everything on us, Princess, because we lived under your former enemies. Now all someone has to do is leak more information and we no longer belong to this body. How convenient for you. Just as those detonators with an Imperial stamp are convenient. How many other convenient ways are you going to find to undermine the changes in the Senate?"

"You're being unfair," C-Gosf said.

"Am I?" Meido's white lines glared off his face. "I guess it really doesn't matter, because by the next time this august body meets, the good princess will no longer be a member. She will be recalled, her leadership in ruins. It's a small price to pay, Princess, for killing your colleagues."

"I didn't," she said. She was shaking. She kept her hands under the table. "I can't believe you're accusing me of that."

"And I can't believe you think we're simplistic enough to think that you can let go of your enmity toward your former enemies. How many Imperial soldiers did you kill on Endor, Princess? How many minor bureaucrats died when the Death Star blew?"

"Those weren't innocent people," Bel Iblis said.