wombat1138 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wombat1138) wrote2005-01-04 11:05 am
wombat1138) wrote2005-01-04 11:05 am
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Arcadia, chapter 3
Feh. LJ ate the back end off my cut'n'paste of chapter 2. This is going to get messy.
Chapter 3: A fine and private place
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The necklace glistened on Danah's glove. She examined it as the droid unfastened her mantle. "A pretty thing," she said. "The gems are particularly fine."
Castra smiled. "Yes; you can see why I was eager to find it quickly. The clasp must have slipped. But surely nothing's happened to Bail, or why have you come to Belconnen?"
"Bail is quite well." She shrugged the mantle from her shoulders, extending her free hand for its glove to be unbuttoned. "I find it curious that such fine work would not extend to the clasp. I do not recall this piece from your dowry, nor was it one of mine. A recent acquisition?"
"Surely you didn't come all this way to turn over my trinkets. Why are you here?"
"To ask you the same question. Why are you here?" As Castra snatched for the chain, Danah removed her glove, dropping the necklace into the inverted palm. She relinquished the tentacular pouch to the droid. "Activate your welding module."
Castra folded her skirts around her as she sat, green eyes suddenly vivid. "Whatever for?"
"We can't have you losing your new toys. I am having the clasp sealed around your neck. Now, where did you get it?" She took a cup of tisane from the waiting tray, watching her daughter-in-law watch her over the steaming rim.
"Your mouth seems dry," Danah said. "Have some tisane."
She pressed her hands against her lips, as if praying. "I can't. I'll be ill." Behind her, the droid finished its work, fanning the fused metal before settling it back against her skin.
"One lump or two?"
"What do you want from me?" Castra whispered.
Danah considered for a moment, then dropped two lumps of sweetening into Castra's cup. Setting it before her, she took her own chair. "The truth, I think, would do nicely. Do you love my son?"
Numb, Castra could find no answer. "If not," Danah continued, "I believe both of us would be happier with the very amicable terms that could be settled on you. Leave him now, and no reprisals will fall. But if you delay your decision too long, I will decide for you. I did not survive twenty years of feuding only to have my son left heirless."
"Well, you needn't fear that," Castra snapped without thinking.
Danah's cup shattered its saucer. "Pray continue. How long have you known?"
"Longer than you, I think." She permitted herself to smile, and touched the gems at her throat.
"I see," Danah said slowly. "Bail always was a thoughtful boy."
"It's time you stopped treating him that way."
"Evidently so." She rose, brushing crumbs of porcelain from her lap. "Well, I mustn't tire you, and I ought to prepare for today's session in Senate."
"Do you intend to take my seat from me?"
With unaccustomed weariness, Danah said, "It is Bail's seat, not yours. Do you realize the enmity you've inspired within the Senate in his place? I do not want you to take any chances with your health or your child's; in the interval, I shall do the best I can to salvage Alderaan's standing in the Republic." She regarded the necklace once more, its topazes
gazing back from the heart of the filigreed web. "This is quite lovely. Bail had a fine sense of irony to commission a Coruscanti jeweler for the piece," she said, and withdrew, leaving Castra staring uncertainly after her.
* * *
The defenders fled down the corridor until they reached another set of blast doors. General Kenobi staggered through, one hand pressing down on his wounded thigh, the other hand around Anakin's shoulders. He limped to a wall and leaned heavily against it. As soon as the last member of the group had crossed the doorway, Anakin leapt for the control panel, then swore with great enthusiasm. "They're jammed!" he shouted.
An engineer ran from the other side of the chamber. "Doors in back're jammed too. Must be the power coupler for this section. If we can move one set, we can move them both, but neither's budging now."
Anakin quickly scanned the walls. He jabbed a thumb at a black-panelled hatch. "What about that?"
The engineer shook his head. "Access to the asteroid surface. No good without pressure suits."
"We could blow this room into vacuum with a thermal charge, then."
"Yes, but--"
"I didn't mean with us in it," he snapped. "They couldn't reach us beyond. What's behind those other doors?"
A small information droid snaked around the engineer's leg. It extended a speech orb and recited, "Space in question is hangar bay B-3-21, sealed off for repairs. Magnetic seals are faulty; outer access has been blocked with metal panels to maintain atmospheric integrity."
"Can you clear the power coupler?"
An explosion echoed down the corridor. Both men ducked back down as the Nechti troops rounded the corner ahead; the droid scurried behind the engineer. "Not unless someone can hold them off," the engineer answered. He glanced at the brown-clad woman beside him. "Lisel?"
"Just don't fire at them from behind me. I don't want to bounce anything back into us." Lisel stepped into the narrow doorway, lightsaber in hand. The sunset-glow blade seemed to block the plasma bolts of its own volition, moving the woman's body with it. The Nechti stayed some ten meters away; evidently, previous encounters with Jedi had taught them to keep out of lightsaber range, and they were taking no chances. Behind her, the engineer passed a scanner over the
panel. Several droids clustered about him, beeping frantically.
"Right," Anakin said. He lowered his voice. "Get those thermal charges ready-- who's got them? Rouvel? Thessa? Set the timers to two minutes, but don't start them yet. Just under the access hatch, got it?"
Farther back, Arcadia leaned over General Kenobi, who was waving a second healer aside. He had slid down the wall to the floor. "Never saw the bolt," he muttered, inhaling sharply as she probed his wound. "But then, those are the ones that always get you."
Cautiously crossing behind Lisel, Anakin returned to Kenobi's side. "Can you heal him?"
"Yes, but not yet. If you're setting those charges, we'll have to move out of this airlock as soon as the doors are unjammed." She glanced up at the open doorway; the engineer was slapping down one droid's outstretched pincer. "And if they can't be unjammed... even a Jedi can't hold them off forever, and there's no use in my healing anyone if the Nechti kill us all."
Kenobi snorted. "They'd prefer to take us alive, if we let them. I don't know what they want, but it isn't conquest. Otherwise, they'd've taken the border systems and held them, not destroyed them and passed on."
Anakin shook his head. "Then what in hell's name do they want?"
As if to corroborate Kenobi, the Nechti commander halted her troop's fire. She was an imposing figure in her green and white uniform, the Nechti new-moon crescent ablaze at her throat. "We have no wish to destroy you," she called. "Will you surrender and join us?"
Lisel stared levelly back. "You've forced yourself into our borders for three years now. Why should we make your invasion any easier for you?" Behind her, Anakin and the other warriors slid their blasters from their belts.
The Nechti commander beamed. "Invasion? Certainly not. We only seek to extend our friendship and goodwill to you."
"At gunpoint."
"We mean to explore this territory for natural resources. It will be easiest for all of us if you cooperate. But if you don't, our explorations will still continue." The Nechti flicked her gaze over Lisel, then the assorted group behind the defiant Jedi: some battle-ready warriors, like Anakin and Kenobi; others, untried cadets and noncombatants, like the engineer still pounding at the control panel. The droids, depending on their function, clustered around the engineer or toward the back of the room. Arcadia finished bandaging Kenobi's leg and looked toward the doorway.
"Other members of your Republic have already joined our confederation," the Nechti continued. "Will you not do so?"
Lisel did not move. "Nerf spit," she said.
The Nechti smiled. "If you insist." She stepped back; her hand was a flash of silver as she gestured. A spinning blizzard of plasma bolts converged upon the doorway. At first, Lisel was able to block them all, but soon bolts began to slip past her guard.
Over the noise of impact and ricochet, the engineer called over his shoulder, "The coupler's unjammed. Can you open the rear blast doors?" The rear doors slid smoothly open.
"Get moving," Anakin barked. "Thessa, set those things up and start them. Come on, move!" He extended one hand toward Kenobi, but the older man gestured sharply.
"Make sure that hangar's secure first," Kenobi ordered. "Better to lose me than lead all of us into a trap." Anakin hesitated, then advanced into the hangar's entrance corridor; the rest of the group, human and droid alike, bolted alongside and ahead of him. Arcadia, on the verge of following, froze an instant before another plasma bolt spattered against the wall, one pace before her. In the same instant, the engineer cried out.
"Rannis?" Lisel looked behind her. The engineer fell to the ground, his back smouldering. He did not get up. Five more plasma bolts plunged through the distracted Lisel. Her lightsaber dropped and rolled away, extinguished.
Having scanned the hangar, Anakin returned to the corridor junction to retrieve Kenobi. Both men saw Arcadia step over Lisel's body into the path of the Nechti charge. Before either could cry out to her, she took up her own saber in a flare of blue light. Over her shoulder, she said, "Anakin, please take those two and General Kenobi into the hangar. The door won't last long, once shut; the Nechti are setting up a small assault cannon."
His face pale, Kenobi said, "Dia, are you certain you want todo this?"
She was already parrying the Nechti barrage. "Yes. Please hurry. We haven't much time."
"Are both of you crazy?" Anakin looked from one to the other in disbelief. "She's asking for her death, and you're going to let her?"
"Permission is hardly the issue." Kenobi struggled to his feet. "We've less than a minute left. Get those two into the hangar; I can still move on my own." He lurched toward the unblocked doorway and nearly fell, but cuffed Anakin away. "I can get there myself, damn it-- Lisel and Rannis can't."
By the time Kenobi had limped five paces, Anakin had already dragged Lisel and Rannis into the hangar. He ran back and pulled Kenobi past the blast doors, eyeing the charge timers as he did so. "Arcadia!" he shouted. "We're all through now; come on!"
Her soft voice was somehow able to penetrate the noise of the Nechti attack. "I can't reach the control panel. Can someone cover my retreat?"
"What do you mean, someone?" Blaster in hand, Anakin raced across as Arcadia darted out of the doorway. He shot at the assault cannon as the Nechti began preparations to fire. Two Nechti troopers fell, but his blaster had little effect on the weapon's armor plating. Even as Arcadia pressed the controls, they could see an ominous glow begin to erupt from the cannon's mouth.
Anakin scooped one arm around her waist and hauled her away, already running. He extended his blaster across her body and shot the doors' control array as soon as the blast panels met. In the same instant, the cannon struck the other side, spraying a fine mist of sparks through the crevices.
"Fifteen seconds to detonation," the charge timer intoned.
A second volley hit the doors as Arcadia looked back. White-hot fragments shivered off like snow from a shaken branch.
"Come on, Dia--" As he charged into the hangar, Anakin pulled her off her feet again. Backhanding the controls, he leaned against the doors as they closed; Lisel's dead saber flashed into Arcadia's hand through the gap. The last sound they heard through the narrowing sliver was the Nechti assault cannon completely destroying the far side of the antechamber.
The machinery at their backs ground to a halt, latched, and sealed shut. Only a soft whump was audible as the thermal charges detonated, but the vibrations shivered through their bodies and the heavy sheet metal of the floor.
* * *
Anakin opened his eyes in the hangar's entrance alcove, grimly surprised that he was still alive. "Of all the stupid, suicidal-- do all of you Alderaani have death wishes, or is it just you and Kenobi?"
"Do you really think I wanted to do that?" She deactivated the still-glowing lightsaber. "If there had been any other choice, I would have gone into the hangar with the rest."
"There were other Jedi who could've--"
Kenobi levered himself away from the wall. He had been standing near the door controls, ready to activate them, but Anakin had simply swept him out of the way. "Who did you have in mind? I was in no condition to hold them off. Lisel certainly couldn't, and Nisca had duties here." He indicated Lisel and Rannis, crumpled on the hangar floor. The other healer, a stocky bearded man crouched beside them, glanced up at his name before returning to his work.
Arcadia simply batted Anakin's face. "Finish scolding me later, please. I've work to do." She knelt beside Nisca, clipping the lightsabers to her belt as medical droids extended sensors all around them. "Do you need my help?"
"Take Rannis, would you?" Nisca spoke without lifting his hands or eyes from Lisel. The woman's limbs were lightly jerking, as if in restless sleep, but her body was charred through.
Rannis moaned as Arcadia probed the wound through his chest. The bolt had torn through his torso, entering at the base of his spine and angling up through his left lung. The wound made a ghastly susurrus as he tried to breathe.
"Aren't you going to anesthetize him?" Anakin asked from behind her.
Tearing open Rannis' uniform, she shook her head. "His life signs are too erratic. If the droids give him an anesthetic spray, he may stop breathing."
She extended her hands for one droid to wash with an astringent mist; working quickly, she dried them in another droid's air-jet and plunged her fingers straight into the blackened cavity of the lung. The man feebly cried out and tried to curl onto his side, but Anakin dropped to his knees and held him down. In the wound, she swiftly rotated her wrist in a gesture like someone washing the inside of a cup, and pulled her hand back out. The new flesh boiled up behind her touch, nearly closing over her fingertips.
Touching Anakin's wrist, she edged him away so she could turn Rannis over and heal his back: first reconnecting the severed loops of intestine, then bridging the gap in his lower back, both vertebrae and spinal cord. The repairs showed as dark rippled scars, without the smooth finesse she usually employed. She leaned forward, nearly fainting. "I can't... do more right now.... When he wakes, tell him-- tell him I'll check the nerve connections when I can." Taking several deep breaths, she sat up again, swaying. To the side, she could hear Nisca begin to unwind a long skein of expletives. Lisel was dead.
One medical droid nosed up against her, proffering a sleek needled appendage and another mist nozzle. She used the latter to wash the blood and char from her hands. "Yes, you can give Rannis a sedative now. Massive antibiotics into his abdominal cavity too, and osmotic regulators-- no, I don't need a stimshot. At least--" She looked around for Anakin. He
had paced away some distance but came back beside her. "Is anyone else still badly hurt? I think I can still--"
Even as Arcadia began to move toward the others, Anakin pulled her back. "They'll live. If you keep pushing yourself this hard, you won't. And you're going to rest if I have to sit on you to make you lie still. Now do I have to sit on you, or are you done?" His voice had softened somewhat, and she looked up at him with surprise.
"If there're no other serious injuries, but surely--"
"Except for these two, we left all of the badly wounded behind in our retreat. They're in the hands of the Nechti now." He met her eyes steadily. "There was nothing else we could do."
Without responding, she crossed over to Nisca, who was still staring down at his failure. Taking Lisel's saber handle from her belt, she cupped the dead hands around it. Anakin steadied her as she stood up; when she leaned on his arm, he tightened his jaw, but said nothing. Nevertheless, she pulled back and apologized.
"It's nothing," Anakin said, steering her into the main hangar. "This can wait 'til later."
"I didn't know you were shot; when--"
"You nicked me with your saber when I was pulling you into the hangar."
She closed her eyes in horror. "You mean I wounded you myself? The Healer's Code--"
"I'm sure the Nechti would have done a more thorough job." He slapped her careful hands away. "Don't you dare heal me until you've slept."
The main body of the hangar contained several ships trapped by the magnetic seal dysfunction. Anakin's cadets and the other personnel were entering these in search of supplies; he relieved one cadet of a scavenged blanket and wrapped it around Arcadia's shoulders. "Damesta-- is there a cot set up, somewhere quiet?"
"No cots, but one of the research vessels had Jidaf-style officers' quarters just inside; try the ramp access of the Perceptor."
Under the ministrations of another medical group, General Kenobi watched Anakin guide Arcadia into the Perceptor. Halfway up the ramp, her feet gave way and she began to fall, but Anakin caught her up and carried her into the ship. Kenobi smiled broadly, then winced as a droid stuck another needle into his leg.
* * *
Inside the ship, it was dark and quiet. The heavy bulkhead screened out the echoes from the hangar: orders snapping to and fro, calls for comrades and family members, the grating sound of supply crates being dragged across the floor. With Arcadia folded over one shoulder, Anakin groped forward with his empty arm for a light dial. He closed his eyes against the sudden brilliance from the corridor panels. Arcadia's lids had already drifted down.
The room Damesta had mentioned was beyond the first doorway. Instead of cots, it had been furnished with a hollow of bedding inlaid into the floor. One high storage shelf still held a few cushions, out of reach of previous scavengers or simply overlooked. Anakin looked up at them, his long shadow falling over much of the room. "If I put you back down, can you keep your balance?"
She shifted her weight, evaluating her condition. "No." When he lowered her into the dusty bedding, she made no attempt to catch herself, landing on her back like a dropped bundle of carpet. The blanket around her unrolled as she sneezed, spreading the puff of dust higher. With a muted groan, she lifted one arm to her head and coaxed out her hair fasteners, dropping them onto the elevated floor. She pulled the blanket around her again, then let her arm drop over her face.
Having retrieved the cushions, Anakin lifted her head and slid one under it. She felt the bedding sag as he sat down. "You know," she said, "I could have been sleeping at the same time you were."
He made an inquisitive noise.
"For the past two days, I mean. You can't be certain I was awake the entire time."
This time, his noise was sheepish.
"Unless you were too," she concluded, and opened one eye to look under the curve of her elbow. His expression matched his most recent sound. He looked up at the doorway, his chagrin intensifying.
General Kenobi's cheerful voice sounded from the corridor, behind Arcadia. "I thought as much. You go to sleep too, Skywalker-- and that's an order, mind you. If you disobey this time, I'll have Dia carve you up. Have you seen any monofilament coils in here?" He limped in and began to examine the walls.
With a sigh, Anakin pulled off his boots, but remained sitting up, an arm's length away from Arcadia. "I knew you could fend off a remote with your lightsaber," he finally said. "But I didn't think you could manage that many live opponents."
She had both eyes closed again, or at least the one he could see. "There's nothing so special about it; any Jedi could have done the same. Better, more likely-- healers have only minimal training with the saber."
His voice reached new heights of incredulity. "Minimal?"
Kenobi emerged from a cupboard with a bundle of wiring. "You know that's not so, Dia," he said mildly. "At the very least, you've made more of basic training than others could. Your father's blood, no doubt."
Arcadia lifted one eyebrow in Kenobi's direction without actually opening her eyes again.
"So why didn't you train as a Jedi Knight?" Anakin asked her.
She threaded her hands into her hair and began to unravel her unpinned braid. "I try to minimize contact with them, lest it appear I'm following my mother's precedent. Entering their training program would not have helped."
Anakin gave Kenobi a questioning look. "Oh, I'm a special case," Kenobi said. He began to loop the lengths of monofilament around his arm. "Her Highness of Alderaan knows me too well to expect political interference from me."
"But-- your mother? You're Liane Antilles' daughter?"
"Yes."
He exhaled slowly. "So that's why your family records are classified. Is that why Denis took your father's name? Why didn't you?"
"Denis was forced into the Colton name this year, when he left the Academy. He forfeited his citizenship when he requested transfer to Ikatya; if Danah wants no Alderaani to bear arms outside the sector, you can imagine her opinion on a member of House Antilles doing so. As for me--" She sighed. "Matters could become unnecessarily complex were I to assume my father's family name."
"Oh, but surely-- wouldn't it reassure the old girl that you've no interest in Alderaani politics?"
"If her surveillance is any good, she should know that already. But--"
Kenobi broke in smoothly. "Danah doesn't want House Antilles to end with her, I imagine. Besides, there's the matter of the succession. Now go to sleep, children." He knotted up the monofilament ends and left, closing the door behind him.
* * *
In the darkness, Anakin could hear Arcadia breathing quietly. "But surely the Alderaani succession was settled by the Senate, years ago," he offered.
"It was, for the most part." The direction of her voice shifted as she curled onto her side toward him. "The arbitrators decided that the Organas had precedence, but that the Antilles were in fact the next house in line. That was nearly the death warrant for all of House Organa, until Danah married Prince Davit to merge their claims."
"Where does your branch of the family come in?"
She sighed. "My grandmother was Helice Antilles, Danah's twin sister. There was no clear seniority between them; naturally, each considered herself to be the leader of the house. When Danah made her alliance, Helice vowed to kill her and the Organas, or to die trying. She had to settle for the latter."
"And Liane was Helice's daughter."
"After she married into House Colton, my mother swore a pledge of political neutrality modelled after the Jedi oath. Danah honored it. It was a bad decision for her, but a worse one for Prince Davit."
"So you're the last member of House Antilles."
"Unless Denis reclaims the name. But Danah would have to reinstate his citizenship to allow that." She yawned. "Which is one reason why I have to keep the Antilles name, in case the succession ever does come to me-- which I hope it doesn't."
"It doesn't sound all that undesirable to me."
"Danah would marry me off to one of her court officials at once. In fact, she may do so within the next few years, if Prince Bail has no children. Believe me, I have no desire to become an ornamental consort-- but if I'm to play any role on Alderaan, that's all I'll be allowed."
Anakin burrowed a little deeper into the bedding. "Why not rule in your own right?"
She laughed sleepily. "With Princess Danah still at court? Besides, I have no political experience."
The conversation lapsed into silence, until Arcadia spoke up in faintly accusing tones. "You're shivering, aren't you?"
"Well, I wouldn't call it shivering..." said Anakin, folding his arms more tightly around himself.
"Are you cold?"
"A bit cool, perhaps-- but I'll be fine."
"Don't be silly. There's enough blanket for both of us."
"Are you sure-- I mean, I don't think we ought to--"
In a fluid motion, she brought her body next to his, curving her blanket-fledged arm around him. "Hush," she murmured, brushing her fingertips over his mouth.
He lay in the dark with his eyes wide open. "Arcadia?" She made some soft sound, nestling her head against his shoulder. He could feel her unbound hair spilling over his throat, cutting his breath short like a silken garrotte. "Arcadia...."
She was asleep. "Damn," he said softly, and did his best to follow her lead.
* * *
He woke instantly when she turned about in his arms. "Is it morning?" she asked drowsily.
"No way to tell in here. But my chrono says it is, barely."
"Ah." She made a soft purry sound in her throat as she sat up and stretched. The blanket clung to her clothing for a moment, held by friction, before falling to a puddle of fabric around her waist. If he concentrated, Anakin could make out the outlines of her body, more by kinesthetic intuition than the dim light seeping around the door. He told himself to stop concentrating.
"Well," he said softly, "when did you learn where I came from? Did Kenobi tell you, or did you check my personal files?"
"Mmm? Neither; I don't know at all. Why?"
"Are you certain you don't?"
She drew her hair over her shoulder to finish braiding it. "Yes, I'm quite certain. Does it matter? Now where did I put my pins...."
"It might matter. On Leucothea, we'd be married now."
Arcadia sat very still for several moments before pulling the filigree pins from her hair and setting them back down. "Leucothea's your home?"
"Not any more. But I was born there." As she continued to stare at him-- or so he gathered from her frozen silhouette-- he added, "I take it last night's events weren't deliberate, then? I wasn't certain, after that talk of your aunt Danah marrying you off."
"Danah," she whispered. "Princess Danah will be livid. Even if we escape the Nechti, she'll have us killed."
He touched her wrist. "Arcadia, the situation isn't irretrievable. There weren't any witnesses to what you did, and I won't hold you to it unwillingly. Drawing me under your covers is a pledge of marriage on Leucothea, but without the heart of the ceremony, it has no legal force. It's like... you Alderaani give jewelry to one another at weddings, don't you? What are they, bracelets? Rings?"
"Rings."
"Well, it's like that. Without the proper actions and intent, a ring alone means nothing. I suppose the same is true of us here, if you wish." He looked away. "It was foolish of me to expect anything else."
"If Danah weren't a threat, I--" Her outburst was over as quickly as it had begun. "Oh, Anakin," she simply said, and bent to kiss him.
Although astonished to the point of stupefaction, Anakin was still able to observe his body operating on pure reflex. At least, his conscious mind was too dazed to send any orders about. But his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her down.
"Ouch," he murmured into her mouth.
She started guiltily, still holding him. "The wound on your arm-- does it need healing?"
"To hell with my arm," he said.
* * *
The vortex of light touched the hangar floor in a silent explosion, blinding Rouvel. Blood-tinted veils fluttered across her vision as she saw what the vortex had left behind: a stumbling humanoid form. Her voice shook as she drew her blaster. "Who goes there?"
The shadowy figure caught its balance and looked up at her. "Who are you?"
"I'll ask the questions, Nechti," she snarled, gaining confidence. "Now lie down and put your hands over your head."
"I'm not a Nechti, damn it-- is General Kenobi here?"
"Yes," Kenobi said from behind Rouvel. "What's it to you?"
"Where's Dia?" As the figure stepped cautiously forward, the dim hangar lights revealed the fine-drawn Alderaani features of Denis Colton, born to House Antilles.
"Denis?" Kenobi stared at him before recalling himself. "Rouvel, he's one of us. Continue sentry duty." As the dismissed cadet walked away, uneasily glancing back, Kenobi walked partway around Denis, reassuring himself the boy was not a hologram. "How in Dandenong's name did you get in here?"
"The Nechti took our ship and captured us. They've teleported me in to ask for your surrender. Since you've trapped yourself in here, they can bring you out in two ways. They can port you out, if you'll agree to join them afterwards. If not, they'll wait for you to run out of food and air, and collect your bodies after."
"So we can starve, smother, or defect."
Denis grimaced, making an indefinite gesture that encompassed his torn, blood-stained uniform and the bruises shadowing much of his face. "I didn't exactly embrace their cause, sir. And it does seem you're trapped."
Kenobi stared at the frost-furred blast doors, his eyes bleak. "When did you meet the Nechti? Did they overcome the entire contingent?"
"There'd been reports of Nechti activity near Aricia, and we stopped to investigate. The reports were right. The Nechti took the Dovecote, and I think they got the Aldea sector flagship."
"They did. Ikatya base lowered shields when La Belle Dame hailed us." Kenobi turned back to Denis. "Where're the other personnel?"
"It depends. But all the casualties are headed for cyborg conversion." Denis kept his eyes steady on the general's as he continued. "The Nechti don't waste anything-- stripped ion engines, salvaged corpses. So even if you choose decompression, your body will still fight for them in the end."
"So that's how they've been reinforcing their fleet," Kenobi breathed. "They haven't been bringing in more Nechti from their home system?"
"From what I've overheard, the teleporters are only used for intrafleet transport. I don't know if the Nechti even have a home system or sector; when they need more troops, they just... make more."
"From our dead."
"Or their own. It doesn't matter to them, as long as they have enough mechanical parts to fit the cyborgs with. But what message do you want me to carry back?"
"Carry back?" Kenobi repeated. "They'll teleport you back out of here, then?"
"They've given me two hours to get your decision. We don't have much time. I'd like to see Arcadia, if-- is she here, or...?" Denis faltered.
"She's in the Perceptor." Kenobi nodded at the research frigate. "Commander Skywalker is with her, if you'd like to fetch them both out. I need to confer with the senior officers about this, and the two of them should certainly be included."
* * *
When he began to shift his weight off her body, she locked her ankles together behind his knees. "Caught you," she murmured with a drowsy laugh. "I'm not letting you go now."
He kissed her again, taking his time. "I don't want to escape; I just didn't want to crush you."
"I'll be fine if I can just get some air...." Sliding her hand up from his back, she moved her tumbled hair off her face, and tucked her chin above his shoulder.
"Why didn't you say anything before?"
Her laughter rippled up again, floating around them like petals on a pond. "About air? We were a bit too occupied for conversation."
Anakin could feel the blood rushing to his face. "Um. Actually, I meant--"
"Yes, I know." Her body briefly tensed. "I didn't want to bring you into Danah's web. I still don't."
"I can protect myself. I'll do the same for you, if--"
"No."
Stung, he drew back from her a little. "You don't believe I can?"
"I don't believe you understand Danah's resources." She traced the curve of his neck with her fingertips, feeling the pulse beat under his skin. "Believe me, if we wed, each of us will stand in far more danger from her than I now do alone."
"Aren't you carrying this to extremes? You're leading an ordinary life; what grounds does she have to reproach you?"
"None. But she may not know that."
He reached behind him and pulled one of her ankles free, preparing to lever himself over it and out of her warm embrace. "If you don't want to wed me, just say so."
"You're right. I don't think we should."
"Oh? Any particular reason?"
Her soft reply came just as he was beginning to move away. "Because I love you."
Utterly disarmed, he let his shoulders slump back down. "You Alderaanis must have very peculiar ideas about marriage."
"It's not that; it's--"
"Yes, I know. It's Princess Danah." He sighed and rested his head against hers. "If that's the way you want it, then. But if you ever change your mind--"
He was interrupted by a harsh whine and a burst of light from the opening door. "Damn it, my blaster," Anakin whispered. His sidearm was well out of reach, buried somewhere in a heap of discarded clothing.
The dark shape in the doorway looked about, scanning the room at eye level. "Dia, are you in here?"
"Denis?" Arcadia struggled up to her elbows, despite Anakin's motionless weight. "I'm down here, on the floor."
Denis moved aside, shifting his shadow off her. After a moment, he said, "Er, yes. Among other things."
"I am not a thing," Anakin muttered.
"Well, General Kenobi and I need to speak with you and Commander Skywalker-- that is you, sir, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"--As soon as it's convenient for both of you, that is," Denis finished. "It is an urgent matter, though. I'll just leave the door open so you can see."
Anakin remained staring at the empty doorway after Denis left. With an abrupt motion, he turned back to Arcadia. "If you meant everything you said about Danah and myself, then as you value your life, don't tell anyone what you did last night."
She had already wormed her way out from under him and was pulling her tunic on. When her head emerged from the neck opening, she said, "But you said the declaration of marriage was invalid without the legal component."
"Right. You don't know what that is either?"
"No, but..." Her voice faded as suspicion grew.
"Consummation. Before witnesses." He donned his uniform swiftly, saying, "You can say whatever you want about marriage, Arcadia, but from this point on, I swear to protect you as best I can. I'll try to be discreet about it, but--" He lowered his second boot with a thump, settling his heel into it.
She did not look at him. Instead, she took his injured arm and cradled it, cupping one hand around the wound. Heat rippled just under the surface of his skin. "If Denis has gained access to the hangar, the news is either very good or very bad. We'd better go."
Chapter 3: A fine and private place
------------------------------------------
The necklace glistened on Danah's glove. She examined it as the droid unfastened her mantle. "A pretty thing," she said. "The gems are particularly fine."
Castra smiled. "Yes; you can see why I was eager to find it quickly. The clasp must have slipped. But surely nothing's happened to Bail, or why have you come to Belconnen?"
"Bail is quite well." She shrugged the mantle from her shoulders, extending her free hand for its glove to be unbuttoned. "I find it curious that such fine work would not extend to the clasp. I do not recall this piece from your dowry, nor was it one of mine. A recent acquisition?"
"Surely you didn't come all this way to turn over my trinkets. Why are you here?"
"To ask you the same question. Why are you here?" As Castra snatched for the chain, Danah removed her glove, dropping the necklace into the inverted palm. She relinquished the tentacular pouch to the droid. "Activate your welding module."
Castra folded her skirts around her as she sat, green eyes suddenly vivid. "Whatever for?"
"We can't have you losing your new toys. I am having the clasp sealed around your neck. Now, where did you get it?" She took a cup of tisane from the waiting tray, watching her daughter-in-law watch her over the steaming rim.
"Your mouth seems dry," Danah said. "Have some tisane."
She pressed her hands against her lips, as if praying. "I can't. I'll be ill." Behind her, the droid finished its work, fanning the fused metal before settling it back against her skin.
"One lump or two?"
"What do you want from me?" Castra whispered.
Danah considered for a moment, then dropped two lumps of sweetening into Castra's cup. Setting it before her, she took her own chair. "The truth, I think, would do nicely. Do you love my son?"
Numb, Castra could find no answer. "If not," Danah continued, "I believe both of us would be happier with the very amicable terms that could be settled on you. Leave him now, and no reprisals will fall. But if you delay your decision too long, I will decide for you. I did not survive twenty years of feuding only to have my son left heirless."
"Well, you needn't fear that," Castra snapped without thinking.
Danah's cup shattered its saucer. "Pray continue. How long have you known?"
"Longer than you, I think." She permitted herself to smile, and touched the gems at her throat.
"I see," Danah said slowly. "Bail always was a thoughtful boy."
"It's time you stopped treating him that way."
"Evidently so." She rose, brushing crumbs of porcelain from her lap. "Well, I mustn't tire you, and I ought to prepare for today's session in Senate."
"Do you intend to take my seat from me?"
With unaccustomed weariness, Danah said, "It is Bail's seat, not yours. Do you realize the enmity you've inspired within the Senate in his place? I do not want you to take any chances with your health or your child's; in the interval, I shall do the best I can to salvage Alderaan's standing in the Republic." She regarded the necklace once more, its topazes
gazing back from the heart of the filigreed web. "This is quite lovely. Bail had a fine sense of irony to commission a Coruscanti jeweler for the piece," she said, and withdrew, leaving Castra staring uncertainly after her.
* * *
The defenders fled down the corridor until they reached another set of blast doors. General Kenobi staggered through, one hand pressing down on his wounded thigh, the other hand around Anakin's shoulders. He limped to a wall and leaned heavily against it. As soon as the last member of the group had crossed the doorway, Anakin leapt for the control panel, then swore with great enthusiasm. "They're jammed!" he shouted.
An engineer ran from the other side of the chamber. "Doors in back're jammed too. Must be the power coupler for this section. If we can move one set, we can move them both, but neither's budging now."
Anakin quickly scanned the walls. He jabbed a thumb at a black-panelled hatch. "What about that?"
The engineer shook his head. "Access to the asteroid surface. No good without pressure suits."
"We could blow this room into vacuum with a thermal charge, then."
"Yes, but--"
"I didn't mean with us in it," he snapped. "They couldn't reach us beyond. What's behind those other doors?"
A small information droid snaked around the engineer's leg. It extended a speech orb and recited, "Space in question is hangar bay B-3-21, sealed off for repairs. Magnetic seals are faulty; outer access has been blocked with metal panels to maintain atmospheric integrity."
"Can you clear the power coupler?"
An explosion echoed down the corridor. Both men ducked back down as the Nechti troops rounded the corner ahead; the droid scurried behind the engineer. "Not unless someone can hold them off," the engineer answered. He glanced at the brown-clad woman beside him. "Lisel?"
"Just don't fire at them from behind me. I don't want to bounce anything back into us." Lisel stepped into the narrow doorway, lightsaber in hand. The sunset-glow blade seemed to block the plasma bolts of its own volition, moving the woman's body with it. The Nechti stayed some ten meters away; evidently, previous encounters with Jedi had taught them to keep out of lightsaber range, and they were taking no chances. Behind her, the engineer passed a scanner over the
panel. Several droids clustered about him, beeping frantically.
"Right," Anakin said. He lowered his voice. "Get those thermal charges ready-- who's got them? Rouvel? Thessa? Set the timers to two minutes, but don't start them yet. Just under the access hatch, got it?"
Farther back, Arcadia leaned over General Kenobi, who was waving a second healer aside. He had slid down the wall to the floor. "Never saw the bolt," he muttered, inhaling sharply as she probed his wound. "But then, those are the ones that always get you."
Cautiously crossing behind Lisel, Anakin returned to Kenobi's side. "Can you heal him?"
"Yes, but not yet. If you're setting those charges, we'll have to move out of this airlock as soon as the doors are unjammed." She glanced up at the open doorway; the engineer was slapping down one droid's outstretched pincer. "And if they can't be unjammed... even a Jedi can't hold them off forever, and there's no use in my healing anyone if the Nechti kill us all."
Kenobi snorted. "They'd prefer to take us alive, if we let them. I don't know what they want, but it isn't conquest. Otherwise, they'd've taken the border systems and held them, not destroyed them and passed on."
Anakin shook his head. "Then what in hell's name do they want?"
As if to corroborate Kenobi, the Nechti commander halted her troop's fire. She was an imposing figure in her green and white uniform, the Nechti new-moon crescent ablaze at her throat. "We have no wish to destroy you," she called. "Will you surrender and join us?"
Lisel stared levelly back. "You've forced yourself into our borders for three years now. Why should we make your invasion any easier for you?" Behind her, Anakin and the other warriors slid their blasters from their belts.
The Nechti commander beamed. "Invasion? Certainly not. We only seek to extend our friendship and goodwill to you."
"At gunpoint."
"We mean to explore this territory for natural resources. It will be easiest for all of us if you cooperate. But if you don't, our explorations will still continue." The Nechti flicked her gaze over Lisel, then the assorted group behind the defiant Jedi: some battle-ready warriors, like Anakin and Kenobi; others, untried cadets and noncombatants, like the engineer still pounding at the control panel. The droids, depending on their function, clustered around the engineer or toward the back of the room. Arcadia finished bandaging Kenobi's leg and looked toward the doorway.
"Other members of your Republic have already joined our confederation," the Nechti continued. "Will you not do so?"
Lisel did not move. "Nerf spit," she said.
The Nechti smiled. "If you insist." She stepped back; her hand was a flash of silver as she gestured. A spinning blizzard of plasma bolts converged upon the doorway. At first, Lisel was able to block them all, but soon bolts began to slip past her guard.
Over the noise of impact and ricochet, the engineer called over his shoulder, "The coupler's unjammed. Can you open the rear blast doors?" The rear doors slid smoothly open.
"Get moving," Anakin barked. "Thessa, set those things up and start them. Come on, move!" He extended one hand toward Kenobi, but the older man gestured sharply.
"Make sure that hangar's secure first," Kenobi ordered. "Better to lose me than lead all of us into a trap." Anakin hesitated, then advanced into the hangar's entrance corridor; the rest of the group, human and droid alike, bolted alongside and ahead of him. Arcadia, on the verge of following, froze an instant before another plasma bolt spattered against the wall, one pace before her. In the same instant, the engineer cried out.
"Rannis?" Lisel looked behind her. The engineer fell to the ground, his back smouldering. He did not get up. Five more plasma bolts plunged through the distracted Lisel. Her lightsaber dropped and rolled away, extinguished.
Having scanned the hangar, Anakin returned to the corridor junction to retrieve Kenobi. Both men saw Arcadia step over Lisel's body into the path of the Nechti charge. Before either could cry out to her, she took up her own saber in a flare of blue light. Over her shoulder, she said, "Anakin, please take those two and General Kenobi into the hangar. The door won't last long, once shut; the Nechti are setting up a small assault cannon."
His face pale, Kenobi said, "Dia, are you certain you want todo this?"
She was already parrying the Nechti barrage. "Yes. Please hurry. We haven't much time."
"Are both of you crazy?" Anakin looked from one to the other in disbelief. "She's asking for her death, and you're going to let her?"
"Permission is hardly the issue." Kenobi struggled to his feet. "We've less than a minute left. Get those two into the hangar; I can still move on my own." He lurched toward the unblocked doorway and nearly fell, but cuffed Anakin away. "I can get there myself, damn it-- Lisel and Rannis can't."
By the time Kenobi had limped five paces, Anakin had already dragged Lisel and Rannis into the hangar. He ran back and pulled Kenobi past the blast doors, eyeing the charge timers as he did so. "Arcadia!" he shouted. "We're all through now; come on!"
Her soft voice was somehow able to penetrate the noise of the Nechti attack. "I can't reach the control panel. Can someone cover my retreat?"
"What do you mean, someone?" Blaster in hand, Anakin raced across as Arcadia darted out of the doorway. He shot at the assault cannon as the Nechti began preparations to fire. Two Nechti troopers fell, but his blaster had little effect on the weapon's armor plating. Even as Arcadia pressed the controls, they could see an ominous glow begin to erupt from the cannon's mouth.
Anakin scooped one arm around her waist and hauled her away, already running. He extended his blaster across her body and shot the doors' control array as soon as the blast panels met. In the same instant, the cannon struck the other side, spraying a fine mist of sparks through the crevices.
"Fifteen seconds to detonation," the charge timer intoned.
A second volley hit the doors as Arcadia looked back. White-hot fragments shivered off like snow from a shaken branch.
"Come on, Dia--" As he charged into the hangar, Anakin pulled her off her feet again. Backhanding the controls, he leaned against the doors as they closed; Lisel's dead saber flashed into Arcadia's hand through the gap. The last sound they heard through the narrowing sliver was the Nechti assault cannon completely destroying the far side of the antechamber.
The machinery at their backs ground to a halt, latched, and sealed shut. Only a soft whump was audible as the thermal charges detonated, but the vibrations shivered through their bodies and the heavy sheet metal of the floor.
* * *
Anakin opened his eyes in the hangar's entrance alcove, grimly surprised that he was still alive. "Of all the stupid, suicidal-- do all of you Alderaani have death wishes, or is it just you and Kenobi?"
"Do you really think I wanted to do that?" She deactivated the still-glowing lightsaber. "If there had been any other choice, I would have gone into the hangar with the rest."
"There were other Jedi who could've--"
Kenobi levered himself away from the wall. He had been standing near the door controls, ready to activate them, but Anakin had simply swept him out of the way. "Who did you have in mind? I was in no condition to hold them off. Lisel certainly couldn't, and Nisca had duties here." He indicated Lisel and Rannis, crumpled on the hangar floor. The other healer, a stocky bearded man crouched beside them, glanced up at his name before returning to his work.
Arcadia simply batted Anakin's face. "Finish scolding me later, please. I've work to do." She knelt beside Nisca, clipping the lightsabers to her belt as medical droids extended sensors all around them. "Do you need my help?"
"Take Rannis, would you?" Nisca spoke without lifting his hands or eyes from Lisel. The woman's limbs were lightly jerking, as if in restless sleep, but her body was charred through.
Rannis moaned as Arcadia probed the wound through his chest. The bolt had torn through his torso, entering at the base of his spine and angling up through his left lung. The wound made a ghastly susurrus as he tried to breathe.
"Aren't you going to anesthetize him?" Anakin asked from behind her.
Tearing open Rannis' uniform, she shook her head. "His life signs are too erratic. If the droids give him an anesthetic spray, he may stop breathing."
She extended her hands for one droid to wash with an astringent mist; working quickly, she dried them in another droid's air-jet and plunged her fingers straight into the blackened cavity of the lung. The man feebly cried out and tried to curl onto his side, but Anakin dropped to his knees and held him down. In the wound, she swiftly rotated her wrist in a gesture like someone washing the inside of a cup, and pulled her hand back out. The new flesh boiled up behind her touch, nearly closing over her fingertips.
Touching Anakin's wrist, she edged him away so she could turn Rannis over and heal his back: first reconnecting the severed loops of intestine, then bridging the gap in his lower back, both vertebrae and spinal cord. The repairs showed as dark rippled scars, without the smooth finesse she usually employed. She leaned forward, nearly fainting. "I can't... do more right now.... When he wakes, tell him-- tell him I'll check the nerve connections when I can." Taking several deep breaths, she sat up again, swaying. To the side, she could hear Nisca begin to unwind a long skein of expletives. Lisel was dead.
One medical droid nosed up against her, proffering a sleek needled appendage and another mist nozzle. She used the latter to wash the blood and char from her hands. "Yes, you can give Rannis a sedative now. Massive antibiotics into his abdominal cavity too, and osmotic regulators-- no, I don't need a stimshot. At least--" She looked around for Anakin. He
had paced away some distance but came back beside her. "Is anyone else still badly hurt? I think I can still--"
Even as Arcadia began to move toward the others, Anakin pulled her back. "They'll live. If you keep pushing yourself this hard, you won't. And you're going to rest if I have to sit on you to make you lie still. Now do I have to sit on you, or are you done?" His voice had softened somewhat, and she looked up at him with surprise.
"If there're no other serious injuries, but surely--"
"Except for these two, we left all of the badly wounded behind in our retreat. They're in the hands of the Nechti now." He met her eyes steadily. "There was nothing else we could do."
Without responding, she crossed over to Nisca, who was still staring down at his failure. Taking Lisel's saber handle from her belt, she cupped the dead hands around it. Anakin steadied her as she stood up; when she leaned on his arm, he tightened his jaw, but said nothing. Nevertheless, she pulled back and apologized.
"It's nothing," Anakin said, steering her into the main hangar. "This can wait 'til later."
"I didn't know you were shot; when--"
"You nicked me with your saber when I was pulling you into the hangar."
She closed her eyes in horror. "You mean I wounded you myself? The Healer's Code--"
"I'm sure the Nechti would have done a more thorough job." He slapped her careful hands away. "Don't you dare heal me until you've slept."
The main body of the hangar contained several ships trapped by the magnetic seal dysfunction. Anakin's cadets and the other personnel were entering these in search of supplies; he relieved one cadet of a scavenged blanket and wrapped it around Arcadia's shoulders. "Damesta-- is there a cot set up, somewhere quiet?"
"No cots, but one of the research vessels had Jidaf-style officers' quarters just inside; try the ramp access of the Perceptor."
Under the ministrations of another medical group, General Kenobi watched Anakin guide Arcadia into the Perceptor. Halfway up the ramp, her feet gave way and she began to fall, but Anakin caught her up and carried her into the ship. Kenobi smiled broadly, then winced as a droid stuck another needle into his leg.
* * *
Inside the ship, it was dark and quiet. The heavy bulkhead screened out the echoes from the hangar: orders snapping to and fro, calls for comrades and family members, the grating sound of supply crates being dragged across the floor. With Arcadia folded over one shoulder, Anakin groped forward with his empty arm for a light dial. He closed his eyes against the sudden brilliance from the corridor panels. Arcadia's lids had already drifted down.
The room Damesta had mentioned was beyond the first doorway. Instead of cots, it had been furnished with a hollow of bedding inlaid into the floor. One high storage shelf still held a few cushions, out of reach of previous scavengers or simply overlooked. Anakin looked up at them, his long shadow falling over much of the room. "If I put you back down, can you keep your balance?"
She shifted her weight, evaluating her condition. "No." When he lowered her into the dusty bedding, she made no attempt to catch herself, landing on her back like a dropped bundle of carpet. The blanket around her unrolled as she sneezed, spreading the puff of dust higher. With a muted groan, she lifted one arm to her head and coaxed out her hair fasteners, dropping them onto the elevated floor. She pulled the blanket around her again, then let her arm drop over her face.
Having retrieved the cushions, Anakin lifted her head and slid one under it. She felt the bedding sag as he sat down. "You know," she said, "I could have been sleeping at the same time you were."
He made an inquisitive noise.
"For the past two days, I mean. You can't be certain I was awake the entire time."
This time, his noise was sheepish.
"Unless you were too," she concluded, and opened one eye to look under the curve of her elbow. His expression matched his most recent sound. He looked up at the doorway, his chagrin intensifying.
General Kenobi's cheerful voice sounded from the corridor, behind Arcadia. "I thought as much. You go to sleep too, Skywalker-- and that's an order, mind you. If you disobey this time, I'll have Dia carve you up. Have you seen any monofilament coils in here?" He limped in and began to examine the walls.
With a sigh, Anakin pulled off his boots, but remained sitting up, an arm's length away from Arcadia. "I knew you could fend off a remote with your lightsaber," he finally said. "But I didn't think you could manage that many live opponents."
She had both eyes closed again, or at least the one he could see. "There's nothing so special about it; any Jedi could have done the same. Better, more likely-- healers have only minimal training with the saber."
His voice reached new heights of incredulity. "Minimal?"
Kenobi emerged from a cupboard with a bundle of wiring. "You know that's not so, Dia," he said mildly. "At the very least, you've made more of basic training than others could. Your father's blood, no doubt."
Arcadia lifted one eyebrow in Kenobi's direction without actually opening her eyes again.
"So why didn't you train as a Jedi Knight?" Anakin asked her.
She threaded her hands into her hair and began to unravel her unpinned braid. "I try to minimize contact with them, lest it appear I'm following my mother's precedent. Entering their training program would not have helped."
Anakin gave Kenobi a questioning look. "Oh, I'm a special case," Kenobi said. He began to loop the lengths of monofilament around his arm. "Her Highness of Alderaan knows me too well to expect political interference from me."
"But-- your mother? You're Liane Antilles' daughter?"
"Yes."
He exhaled slowly. "So that's why your family records are classified. Is that why Denis took your father's name? Why didn't you?"
"Denis was forced into the Colton name this year, when he left the Academy. He forfeited his citizenship when he requested transfer to Ikatya; if Danah wants no Alderaani to bear arms outside the sector, you can imagine her opinion on a member of House Antilles doing so. As for me--" She sighed. "Matters could become unnecessarily complex were I to assume my father's family name."
"Oh, but surely-- wouldn't it reassure the old girl that you've no interest in Alderaani politics?"
"If her surveillance is any good, she should know that already. But--"
Kenobi broke in smoothly. "Danah doesn't want House Antilles to end with her, I imagine. Besides, there's the matter of the succession. Now go to sleep, children." He knotted up the monofilament ends and left, closing the door behind him.
* * *
In the darkness, Anakin could hear Arcadia breathing quietly. "But surely the Alderaani succession was settled by the Senate, years ago," he offered.
"It was, for the most part." The direction of her voice shifted as she curled onto her side toward him. "The arbitrators decided that the Organas had precedence, but that the Antilles were in fact the next house in line. That was nearly the death warrant for all of House Organa, until Danah married Prince Davit to merge their claims."
"Where does your branch of the family come in?"
She sighed. "My grandmother was Helice Antilles, Danah's twin sister. There was no clear seniority between them; naturally, each considered herself to be the leader of the house. When Danah made her alliance, Helice vowed to kill her and the Organas, or to die trying. She had to settle for the latter."
"And Liane was Helice's daughter."
"After she married into House Colton, my mother swore a pledge of political neutrality modelled after the Jedi oath. Danah honored it. It was a bad decision for her, but a worse one for Prince Davit."
"So you're the last member of House Antilles."
"Unless Denis reclaims the name. But Danah would have to reinstate his citizenship to allow that." She yawned. "Which is one reason why I have to keep the Antilles name, in case the succession ever does come to me-- which I hope it doesn't."
"It doesn't sound all that undesirable to me."
"Danah would marry me off to one of her court officials at once. In fact, she may do so within the next few years, if Prince Bail has no children. Believe me, I have no desire to become an ornamental consort-- but if I'm to play any role on Alderaan, that's all I'll be allowed."
Anakin burrowed a little deeper into the bedding. "Why not rule in your own right?"
She laughed sleepily. "With Princess Danah still at court? Besides, I have no political experience."
The conversation lapsed into silence, until Arcadia spoke up in faintly accusing tones. "You're shivering, aren't you?"
"Well, I wouldn't call it shivering..." said Anakin, folding his arms more tightly around himself.
"Are you cold?"
"A bit cool, perhaps-- but I'll be fine."
"Don't be silly. There's enough blanket for both of us."
"Are you sure-- I mean, I don't think we ought to--"
In a fluid motion, she brought her body next to his, curving her blanket-fledged arm around him. "Hush," she murmured, brushing her fingertips over his mouth.
He lay in the dark with his eyes wide open. "Arcadia?" She made some soft sound, nestling her head against his shoulder. He could feel her unbound hair spilling over his throat, cutting his breath short like a silken garrotte. "Arcadia...."
She was asleep. "Damn," he said softly, and did his best to follow her lead.
* * *
He woke instantly when she turned about in his arms. "Is it morning?" she asked drowsily.
"No way to tell in here. But my chrono says it is, barely."
"Ah." She made a soft purry sound in her throat as she sat up and stretched. The blanket clung to her clothing for a moment, held by friction, before falling to a puddle of fabric around her waist. If he concentrated, Anakin could make out the outlines of her body, more by kinesthetic intuition than the dim light seeping around the door. He told himself to stop concentrating.
"Well," he said softly, "when did you learn where I came from? Did Kenobi tell you, or did you check my personal files?"
"Mmm? Neither; I don't know at all. Why?"
"Are you certain you don't?"
She drew her hair over her shoulder to finish braiding it. "Yes, I'm quite certain. Does it matter? Now where did I put my pins...."
"It might matter. On Leucothea, we'd be married now."
Arcadia sat very still for several moments before pulling the filigree pins from her hair and setting them back down. "Leucothea's your home?"
"Not any more. But I was born there." As she continued to stare at him-- or so he gathered from her frozen silhouette-- he added, "I take it last night's events weren't deliberate, then? I wasn't certain, after that talk of your aunt Danah marrying you off."
"Danah," she whispered. "Princess Danah will be livid. Even if we escape the Nechti, she'll have us killed."
He touched her wrist. "Arcadia, the situation isn't irretrievable. There weren't any witnesses to what you did, and I won't hold you to it unwillingly. Drawing me under your covers is a pledge of marriage on Leucothea, but without the heart of the ceremony, it has no legal force. It's like... you Alderaani give jewelry to one another at weddings, don't you? What are they, bracelets? Rings?"
"Rings."
"Well, it's like that. Without the proper actions and intent, a ring alone means nothing. I suppose the same is true of us here, if you wish." He looked away. "It was foolish of me to expect anything else."
"If Danah weren't a threat, I--" Her outburst was over as quickly as it had begun. "Oh, Anakin," she simply said, and bent to kiss him.
Although astonished to the point of stupefaction, Anakin was still able to observe his body operating on pure reflex. At least, his conscious mind was too dazed to send any orders about. But his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her down.
"Ouch," he murmured into her mouth.
She started guiltily, still holding him. "The wound on your arm-- does it need healing?"
"To hell with my arm," he said.
* * *
The vortex of light touched the hangar floor in a silent explosion, blinding Rouvel. Blood-tinted veils fluttered across her vision as she saw what the vortex had left behind: a stumbling humanoid form. Her voice shook as she drew her blaster. "Who goes there?"
The shadowy figure caught its balance and looked up at her. "Who are you?"
"I'll ask the questions, Nechti," she snarled, gaining confidence. "Now lie down and put your hands over your head."
"I'm not a Nechti, damn it-- is General Kenobi here?"
"Yes," Kenobi said from behind Rouvel. "What's it to you?"
"Where's Dia?" As the figure stepped cautiously forward, the dim hangar lights revealed the fine-drawn Alderaani features of Denis Colton, born to House Antilles.
"Denis?" Kenobi stared at him before recalling himself. "Rouvel, he's one of us. Continue sentry duty." As the dismissed cadet walked away, uneasily glancing back, Kenobi walked partway around Denis, reassuring himself the boy was not a hologram. "How in Dandenong's name did you get in here?"
"The Nechti took our ship and captured us. They've teleported me in to ask for your surrender. Since you've trapped yourself in here, they can bring you out in two ways. They can port you out, if you'll agree to join them afterwards. If not, they'll wait for you to run out of food and air, and collect your bodies after."
"So we can starve, smother, or defect."
Denis grimaced, making an indefinite gesture that encompassed his torn, blood-stained uniform and the bruises shadowing much of his face. "I didn't exactly embrace their cause, sir. And it does seem you're trapped."
Kenobi stared at the frost-furred blast doors, his eyes bleak. "When did you meet the Nechti? Did they overcome the entire contingent?"
"There'd been reports of Nechti activity near Aricia, and we stopped to investigate. The reports were right. The Nechti took the Dovecote, and I think they got the Aldea sector flagship."
"They did. Ikatya base lowered shields when La Belle Dame hailed us." Kenobi turned back to Denis. "Where're the other personnel?"
"It depends. But all the casualties are headed for cyborg conversion." Denis kept his eyes steady on the general's as he continued. "The Nechti don't waste anything-- stripped ion engines, salvaged corpses. So even if you choose decompression, your body will still fight for them in the end."
"So that's how they've been reinforcing their fleet," Kenobi breathed. "They haven't been bringing in more Nechti from their home system?"
"From what I've overheard, the teleporters are only used for intrafleet transport. I don't know if the Nechti even have a home system or sector; when they need more troops, they just... make more."
"From our dead."
"Or their own. It doesn't matter to them, as long as they have enough mechanical parts to fit the cyborgs with. But what message do you want me to carry back?"
"Carry back?" Kenobi repeated. "They'll teleport you back out of here, then?"
"They've given me two hours to get your decision. We don't have much time. I'd like to see Arcadia, if-- is she here, or...?" Denis faltered.
"She's in the Perceptor." Kenobi nodded at the research frigate. "Commander Skywalker is with her, if you'd like to fetch them both out. I need to confer with the senior officers about this, and the two of them should certainly be included."
* * *
When he began to shift his weight off her body, she locked her ankles together behind his knees. "Caught you," she murmured with a drowsy laugh. "I'm not letting you go now."
He kissed her again, taking his time. "I don't want to escape; I just didn't want to crush you."
"I'll be fine if I can just get some air...." Sliding her hand up from his back, she moved her tumbled hair off her face, and tucked her chin above his shoulder.
"Why didn't you say anything before?"
Her laughter rippled up again, floating around them like petals on a pond. "About air? We were a bit too occupied for conversation."
Anakin could feel the blood rushing to his face. "Um. Actually, I meant--"
"Yes, I know." Her body briefly tensed. "I didn't want to bring you into Danah's web. I still don't."
"I can protect myself. I'll do the same for you, if--"
"No."
Stung, he drew back from her a little. "You don't believe I can?"
"I don't believe you understand Danah's resources." She traced the curve of his neck with her fingertips, feeling the pulse beat under his skin. "Believe me, if we wed, each of us will stand in far more danger from her than I now do alone."
"Aren't you carrying this to extremes? You're leading an ordinary life; what grounds does she have to reproach you?"
"None. But she may not know that."
He reached behind him and pulled one of her ankles free, preparing to lever himself over it and out of her warm embrace. "If you don't want to wed me, just say so."
"You're right. I don't think we should."
"Oh? Any particular reason?"
Her soft reply came just as he was beginning to move away. "Because I love you."
Utterly disarmed, he let his shoulders slump back down. "You Alderaanis must have very peculiar ideas about marriage."
"It's not that; it's--"
"Yes, I know. It's Princess Danah." He sighed and rested his head against hers. "If that's the way you want it, then. But if you ever change your mind--"
He was interrupted by a harsh whine and a burst of light from the opening door. "Damn it, my blaster," Anakin whispered. His sidearm was well out of reach, buried somewhere in a heap of discarded clothing.
The dark shape in the doorway looked about, scanning the room at eye level. "Dia, are you in here?"
"Denis?" Arcadia struggled up to her elbows, despite Anakin's motionless weight. "I'm down here, on the floor."
Denis moved aside, shifting his shadow off her. After a moment, he said, "Er, yes. Among other things."
"I am not a thing," Anakin muttered.
"Well, General Kenobi and I need to speak with you and Commander Skywalker-- that is you, sir, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"--As soon as it's convenient for both of you, that is," Denis finished. "It is an urgent matter, though. I'll just leave the door open so you can see."
Anakin remained staring at the empty doorway after Denis left. With an abrupt motion, he turned back to Arcadia. "If you meant everything you said about Danah and myself, then as you value your life, don't tell anyone what you did last night."
She had already wormed her way out from under him and was pulling her tunic on. When her head emerged from the neck opening, she said, "But you said the declaration of marriage was invalid without the legal component."
"Right. You don't know what that is either?"
"No, but..." Her voice faded as suspicion grew.
"Consummation. Before witnesses." He donned his uniform swiftly, saying, "You can say whatever you want about marriage, Arcadia, but from this point on, I swear to protect you as best I can. I'll try to be discreet about it, but--" He lowered his second boot with a thump, settling his heel into it.
She did not look at him. Instead, she took his injured arm and cradled it, cupping one hand around the wound. Heat rippled just under the surface of his skin. "If Denis has gained access to the hangar, the news is either very good or very bad. We'd better go."