She shrugged. “Anything having to do with Jedi and the Force are out of my personal experience, Commander,” she said. “I really can’t comment one way or another on that. But … I’d have to say that the impression I got of C’baoth from Alderaanian history makes me skeptical.”
“Why?”
“It’s just an impression, you understand,” Winter emphasized. “Nothing I would even have mentioned if you hadn’t asked. C’baoth struck me as the sort of person who loved being in the middle of things. The sort who, if he couldn’t lead, control, or help in a particular situation, would still be there just so he’d be visible.”
They were passing by one of the purple-and-green ch’hala trees lining the Grand Corridor now, close enough for Luke to see the subtle moirélike turmoil of color taking place beneath the thin transparent outer bark. “I suppose that fits with what I read,” he conceded, reaching out to slide a fingertip across the slender tree trunk as they walked. The subtle turmoil exploded at his touch into a flash of angry red across the quiet purple, the color shooting out around the trunk like ripples in a cylindrical pond, circling it again and again as it flowed up and down the trunk before finally fading to burgundy and then back to purple again. “I don’t know if you knew it, but he apparently promoted himself from Jedi Knight to Jedi Master. Seems like kind of a conceited thing to do.”
“Yes, it does,” Winter agreed. “Though at least by the time he came to Alderaan there didn’t seem to be any dispute about it. My point is that someone who likes the spotlight that much wouldn’t have stayed so completely out of the war against the Empire.”
“And a good point it is, too,” Luke admitted, half turning to watch the last bit of red fade away on the ch’hala tree he’d touched. The Nkllon contact with the mysterious Jedi had been like that: there for a short time, and then gone without a trace. Was C’baoth perhaps no longer fully in control of his powers? “New subject, then. What do you know about this Outbound Flight project the Old Republic put together?”
“Not much,” she said, frowning with concentration. “It was supposedly an attempt to search for life outside the galaxy proper, but the whole thing was so buried in secrecy they never released any details. I’m not even sure whether or not it was ever launched.”
“The records say it was,” Luke said, touching the next ch’hala tree in line as they passed by, eliciting another flash of red. “They also say that C’baoth was attached to the project. Does that mean he would have been aboard?”
“I don’t know,” Winter said. “There were rumors that several Jedi Masters would be going along, but again there was no official confirmation of that.” She looked sideways at him. “Are you thinking that might be why he wasn’t around during the Rebellion?”
“It’s possible,” Luke said. “Of course, that would just raise another whole set of questions. Like what happened to them and how he got back.”
Winter shrugged. “I suppose there’s one way to find out.”
“Yeah.” Luke touched the last tree in line. “Go to Jomark and ask him. I guess I’ll have to.”
Leia’s office was grouped with the other Inner Council suites just off the cross hallway that linked the Grand Corridor with the more intimate Inner Council meeting room. Luke and Winter entered the outer reception area, to find a familiar figure waiting there. “Hello, Threepio,” Luke said.
“Master Luke—how good to see you again,” the gold-skinned droid gushed. “I trust you’re well?”
“I’m fine,” Luke told him. “Artoo said to say hello when I saw you, by the way. They’ve got him over at the spaceport helping with some maintenance on my X-wing, but I’ll be bringing him back later this evening. You can see him then.”
“Thank you, sir.” Threepio tilted his head slightly, as if suddenly remembering that he was supposed to be acting as a receptionist here. “Princess Leia and the others are expecting you,” he said, touching the inner chamber release. “Please go on in.”
“Thank you,” Luke said, nodding gravely. No matter how ridiculous Threepio might look in any given situation, there was always a certain inherent dignity about him, a dignity that Luke usually tried to respond to in kind. “Let us know if anyone else comes.”
“Of course, sir,” Threepio said.
They went into the inner chamber to find Leia and Han holding a quiet conversation over a computer display on Leia’s desk. Chewbacca, sitting alone near the door with his bowcaster across his knees, growled a greeting as they entered.
“Ah—Luke,” Leia said, looking up. “Thanks for coming.” She shifted her attention to Winter. “That’ll be all for now, Winter.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Winter nodded. With her usual grace, she glided from the room.
Luke looked at Han. “I hear you dropped a double-size thermal detonator on the Council yesterday.”
Han grimaced. “I tried. Not that anyone really believed me.”
“One of those instances where politics drifts off into the realm of wishful thinking,” Leia said. “The last thing anyone wants to believe is that in our sweep we somehow missed one of the Emperor’s Grand Admirals.”
“Sounds more like willful denial than wishful thinking to me,” Luke said. “Or do they have another theory as to how we got edged so neatly into that Sluis Van trap?”
Leia grimaced. “Some of them say that’s where Ackbar’s collusion comes in.”
“Ah,” Luke murmured. So that was the thrust of Fey’lya’s scheme. “I hadn’t heard any of the details yet.”
“So far, Fey’lya’s been playing the sabacc cards close to the fur,” Han growled. “He claims he’s trying to be fair; I think he’s just trying not to rock all the stabilizers at once.”
Luke frowned at him. There was something else in his friend’s face and sense … “And maybe something more?” he prompted.
Han and Leia exchanged glances. “Maybe,” Han said. “You notice how quickly after the Sluis Van attack Fey’lya dropped the hammer on Ackbar. Either he’s one of the great opportunists of all time—”
“Which we already know he is,” Leia put in.
“—or else,” Han continued grimly, “he knew in advance what was going to happen.”
Luke looked at Leia. At the strain in her face and sense … “You realize what you’re saying,” he said quietly. “You’re accusing a member of the Council of being an Imperial agent.”
Leia’s sense seemed to flinch. Han’s didn’t even flicker. “Yeah, I know,” Han said. “Isn’t that what he’s accusing Ackbar of?”
“The problem is timing, Han,” Leia said, her tone one of strained patience. “As I’ve already tried to explain. If we accuse Fey’lya of anything now, it’ll just look like we’re trying to take the pressure off Ackbar by turning Fey’lya’s charges back against him. Even if it were true—and I don’t think it is—it would still come across as a cheap and rather mindless trick.”
“Maybe that’s why he was so quick to finger Ackbar in the first place,” Han countered. “So that we couldn’t turn it back on him. That ever occur to you?”
“Yes, it has,” Leia said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t change the situation. Until we’ve cleared Ackbar, we can’t go making accusations against Fey’lya.”
Han snorted. “Come on, Leia. Political waddlefooting is fine in its place, but we’re talking about the survival of the New Republic here.”
“Which could fall completely apart over this without anyone ever firing a shot,” Leia retorted hotly. “Face it, Han—this whole thing is still being held together with hope and crating tape. You get a few wild accusations flying around, and half the races in the old Rebel Alliance might decide to pull out and go their separate ways.”
Luke cleared his throat. “If I can say something …?”
They looked at him, the tension in the room fading a little. “Sure, lad, what is it?” Han said.
“I think we all agree that, whatever his agenda or possible sponsors, Fey’lya is up to something,” Luke said. “Maybe it would help to find out what that something is. Leia, what do we know about Fey’lya?”
She shrugged. “He’s a Bothan, obviously, though he grew up on the Bothan colony world of Kothlis instead of on Bothawui proper. He joined the Rebel Alliance right after the Battle of Yavin, bringing a good-sized group of his fellow Bothans in with him. His people served mainly in support and reconnaissance, though they saw some occasional action, too. He was involved in a number of wide-ranging interstellar business activities before joining the Alliance—shipping, merchandising, some mining, assorted other ventures. I’m pretty sure he’s kept up with some of them since then, but I don’t know which ones.”
“Are they on file?” Luke asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve been through his file five times, and I’ve checked every other reference to him I could find. Nothing.”
“That’s where we want to start our backtrack, then,” Han decided. “Quiet business stuff is always good for digging up dirt.”
Leia threw him a patient look. “It’s a big galaxy, Han. We don’t even know where to start looking.”