Arcadia, chapter 5

[wombat1138]

Chapter 5: The invisible worm


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The latticed shadows fell over and through the holocomm image of General Kenobi. Bail Organa sat in the tower chamber, Alderaani noon caged above. "Lord Justin surrendered La Belle Dame to the Nechti and gave the crew into their hands," Kenobi concluded. "Posthumous honors for Sherrin's defense of the Dovecote would be a good contrast."

"I'll seize survivors' compensation from the Semble estates," Bail said. Grey-flecked dark hair sifted over his hand as he kneaded his forehead. "I can't attainder another noble house without imposing martial law. Aside from the legal objections, we can't spare the troops from the shipping lanes or from the combat front."

Kenobi smiled grimly. "We can barely spare a delegation to the Senate from here. This base has a well-stocked hangar and arsenal, but we haven't the troops to fully man them. Not that whatever ships and weaponry you or the Senate can offer won't be useful, mind you."

"Don't depend on the Senate's aid," Bail warned. "I'm afraid my lady wife did not have a successful debut among them. However, my lady mother is trying to smooth things over. Which might have included Castra's grave, if not for recent events."

"Denis brought news. May I offer congratulations on your heir?"

"Send them to Belconnen with your delegation. The formal announcement will be made there tonight, though I would have preferred a much later date." Bail grimaced. "My regards to Denis and Arcadia. House Colton will be glad to know they're still alive. Her Highness may not agree." Both of them knew he did not mean Castra. "Can you send them to safety here on Alderaan?"

Kenobi shook his head. "We're arming every transport and shuttle we have against the Nechti flagship's arrival. The Sphinx is the only ship we're sending off-base, and that's heading straight to Belconnen."

"I think you can take better care of them than that. Very well. I'll have the sector reserves mustered and sent your way."

* * *

General Kenobi stepped off the holo tile. The Sphinx had arrived at Galliae starbase some hours past. Barricaded on the bridge against the remaining Nechti crew, the escapees could have been massacred had the blast doors given way. However, the cell they had broken from was only one of several hundreds packed with captives from other ships, other systems. When the remaining cells were opened from the bridge, the odds of the bloodbath turned.

The Sphinx sat nearly empty in the hangar now. Kenobi glanced at it from the control room's window. A few technicians were readying the ship for its departure for the Senate, but as he had told Bail, only a small delegation was aboard. A small delegation, and two persons who were otherwise engaged. One of these furtively emerged from the ship as Kenobi watched. It gave the general a few minutes to steel himself as Anakin crossed the hangar floor toward him. "Where is Arcadia?" Kenobi asked.

"She wanted to stay and wait for the Nechti. But I'm sending her back on the Sphinx."

"Is that so?"

Anakin sat at the conference table, staring at the tarry cup of tisane Kenobi put in front of him. Speaking with difficulty, he said, "I've left her asleep in our cabin, aboard ship. If we send the Sphinx behind the lines now, they could be halfway to Belconnen through hyperspace before she wakes up."

"She has her own judgement to rely upon. You cannot make her decisions for her-- or even worse, arbitrarily overrule them with your own."

"I've said everything I can, but nothing will convince her. I don't call it good judgement to stay in the path of an invading fleet."

"You're staying, aren't you?"

"I can make a difference. Arcadia's a healer, not a warrior; how could she help against the Nechti fleet? Fending off a small group with a lightsaber is one thing. Trying to destroy a heavy starship-- there's nothing she could do. And I'm not letting her stay here and be killed."

"She can help with the wounded--"

"Damn it, there won't be any wounded if the Nechti ship breaks through! One shot from that weapon, and this planet is a glowing rock-- what do you want me to do, make her watch the Nechti kill our 'Hunters off and come in to destroy the rest of us?"

"It doesn't matter," she said behind them. "Anakin, I'm not leaving you."

She had slipped in from the hangar, taking them by surprise. As quickly as he had turned, Anakin put his face in his hands. "You can't stay here. The Nechti may be slow, but they know where we are. The longer we run from them, the longer they'll destroy the systems in their way."

"And when they reach us?"

"You know the answer to that already."

"Anakin," she began, but he shoved his chair back and strode toward her.

"Dia, I don't want you throwing your life away."

"But--"

"You have yourself to live for," he pleaded. "You and our son." He stopped, amazed at what he had said.

"How--" she whispered, "how did you--"

He held her as tightly as he could, burying his face in her hair. "Oh, I don't know. But if you won't save your own life, save what trace of mine you can.

"If I don't come back to you, give him what memories you can of me. And--" He felt the cold pressure of metal between their bodies, and pulled away to unclip the cylinder from his belt. "And give him my lightsaber."

Slowly, she took it from him, taking the saber and cradling it in one arm. She looked beyond him to Kenobi, who stood frozen in place. "Will you stand witness to this?"

Kenobi broke from his shock and shouldered between them. "No, Arcadia," he said. "Absolutely not. You can settle this with him after we survive the Nechti. And if we don't, it won't have mattered anyway."

"But I--"

"No," he repeated. "If you intend to go through with this, find someone else. If Denis or Nisca will witness it for you, let it be on your heads. I won't have it on mine." He stalked out.

Anakin stared after him, then down at Arcadia. "What--"

She drew her necklace from the collar of her grey robes. Unknotting the silk cord, she freed the ring that hung from it. Under the pressure of her mind and hands, the metal band narrowed and lengthened until she could slip it onto his finger. "Wear it for me," she whispered, and fled back to the Sphinx.

* * *

Denis stared at Kenobi, aghast. "She said what?!"

Kenobi shrugged with deceptive nonchalance. "She's letting Anakin send her to Belconnen," he repeated. He glanced about, but everyone else in the dim barracks still lay asleep. Shifting his seat on Denis' bunk, he half-heartedly added, "Perhaps if she testifies before the Senate, the public regard will protect her from Princess Danah."

"I doubt it." Denis rubbed his eyes, looking far older than his twenty years. "Besides, I doubt she'd be permitted to testify. Not only is she a Jedi, but as an Alderaani exile, her political status--"

"I'm not so sure," Kenobi said thoughtfully. "Prince Bail suggested that I send both of you to Alderaan. You hardly need higher approval than that. Mind you--" he held up one hand to forestall Denis' grin. "I had no chance to tell Arcadia of this. Furthermore, His Highness said nothing of Liane's former holdings, nor any inheritance from House Colton."

"We can make our own way."

"But as a further matter, when did Arcadia present her lightsaber to Commander Skywalker?"

Denis indicated the hilt back in place at the general's belt. "She used yours to guard the rear during our cellbreak. Anakin used hers to lead the assault."

"She returned mine to me after my retrieval from the Belle. When he gave the other to her just now, he spoke of it as his own."

Wearily, Denis reached for his uniform and sat up. "If we're to go to Belconnen, Danah would interpret her leaving the order as a declaration of vendetta."

Kenobi put one hand on the cadet's half-donned sleeve. "You're going with her?"

With an attempt at bravado, Denis said, "Well, someone has to keep an eye on her. I may as well add my own testimony to the Senate in return for a little public regard, as you said. It'll be harder for Danah to kill both of us."

Shaking his head, Kenobi let Denis go. "Take care, both of you."

* * *

"That boy is a damned coward," Anakin said. "He held back from combat on the _Sphinx_ before, and now he's using the ship to run from battle." Side by side, he and Kenobi watched the Leucothean cruiser limp into hyperspace.

"Did she give you that?"

Anakin looked down at the ring on his hand, and the single jewel gleaming like carved flame. "Yes. You've seen her wear it?"

Kenobi drew back. "No. But I have seen it before. Did she place it on you with the stone displayed?

"I turned it to look at the crest. Does it matter?"

"In parts of Aldea sector, it could be enough to condemn you for treason." Anakin looked at the ruby again: a heraldic bird with upraised wings, fringed with feathers or flame. "It's the signet of House Antilles. Only Princess Danah has the right to bear that now. But I suppose it's safe enough if you don't show the stone." Kenobi continued to stare at it until Anakin twisted it toward his palm again.

Anakin shrugged and turned away. "If you say so. We have a war waiting for us."

* * *

The Dovecote floated in serene orbit above Ikatya as the Nechti flagship shimmered out of its phase bubble nearby. On the bridge of the Rahab, Admiral Jordan furrowed her fair brows. She addressed the navigator at her side, "Didn't your father say three ships would be here, Vesperis?"

Vesperis Meda equivocated. A somber young woman, she lacked Bevan's sanguine nature. "I don't know how many ships Captain Brabanconne took at Aricia, but surely that was reported to you."

"It was a rhetorical question," Jordan snapped, then gave orders to her communications officer. "Hail them on our coded channel. If they don't respond, destroy them."

She looked nearly disappointed when a familiar face appeared on the viewscreen. "This is Lieutenant Commander Toire," the pale brunette said. "Admiral Jordan?"

"Who else?" the admiral snapped. "Where are Captain Brabanconne and the other ships she promised?"

"They were here until a few hours ago, when we launched from that asteroid base. And then systems on all our ships started to break down, and the Sphinx and the Belle vanished."

"What do you mean, vanished?"

Toire squirmed. "There were minor explosions on both ships, and then they were gone. It may have been a munitions meltdown. Except that there wasn't a shock wave, and there's no debris."

"Did they take on any cargo before launch?"

"The Sphinx added some captives for Doctor Meda's use, but one or two were taken to the Belle for interrogation about a cache of matrix jewels on base."

"How many were in your cache?" Jordan said skeptically. "Two? Three?"

"Sixty."

The admiral seemed to freeze, immobile and dead white. "Toire, redock the _Dovecote_ and search every corner of that base. And you, Vesperis," she addressed the still-stunned girl, "set a sweep course spiralling out from here. If we don't find their debris, I'll hunt down Captain Brabanconne and your father as traitors."

* * *

Princess Danah waited in the sealed docking bay as an armed contingent rushed aboard the Sphinx. Bail had dispatched bare word of the ship's arrival, leaving no time to send back for details. With Castra essentially under house arrest, Danah had come to Belconnen spaceport herself, leaving the Senate without formal Alderaani presence for the morning.

The troops emerged from the Sphinx, tightly escorting the dishevelled newcomers. Danah instantly singled out one cadet near the front. "I trust you have an excellent reason for being here, Denis."

Denis smiled thinly. "I think the Senate should be the judge of that."

"Do you think the Senate would hear you?"

Arcadia came to Denis' side, curtseying as best she could in her healer's robes. In an exhausted monotone, she said, "Your Royal Highness, Prince Bail and General Kenobi wish the Senate to hear their message. For my own part, I would be content to rest in the Alderaani suite while Denis and the others speak."

Danah's eyes narrowed. "Very well." She escorted Denis into her own shuttle. Her guards sealed Arcadia into a personal transport and programmed it to the royal family's private quarters. As the vehicles sped apart, Arcadia extended her senses until she could hear Danah's voice once more. "I see Lord Semble is not among your party. Where is he, pray?"

Denis replied in faintly smug tones. "Most of us remained at Galliae with General Kenobi. He's mainly sent away the badly wounded and noncombantants."

"You and your sister seem in excellent health at the moment. Has young Justin taken up arms, then?"

"Not exactly."

A sharp slap resounded. "Answer me. What happened at Ikatya? Where are the Aldean ships we sent?"

His words were muffled at first, as if he were intent on something else. "We'll deliver a full report of Ikatya in the Senate chambers. As for Lord Semble, I suppose you could say he gave his hand away." Some paper rustled. "And here it is."

"Ugh," Danah said.

* * *

A wave of soft fabric muffled Arcadia's face. She woke gasping, vainly trying to free herself from the suffocating folds. "My gracious," a genteel, startled voice said above her. "I'm terribly sorry, but I didn't know anyone was here." The droid whisked the gowns off the bench in the Alderaani suite where Arcadia had collapsed. It seemed to weigh her untidy appearance, and then examine the embroidered silk for smudges.

Mortified, she stumbled to her feet. "I'm just waiting here until today's Senate session ends."

"Senate? You must be Mistress Arcadia." The droid bowed stiffly. "I am See-Threepio, personal protocol droid to Her Royal Highness. But you must wish to freshen up after your journey." It led her through the suite to an enclosed pool, talking all the way. "Do ring the bell when you're finished," it concluded, "and we'll bring fresh garments to you."

She slid into the pool, leaving her clothing on the enamelled tiles. The warm water caressed her skin, an armada of flowers and tiny lights bobbing against her, and she closed her eyes. Deep inside her, she could still feel Anakin's touch, a fragile cluster of cells floating within like a spray of opening blossoms.

* * *

"You've got Dia as a hostage for my good behavior," Denis whispered. "Isn't that enough?" He and Danah were hissing fiercely to one another in the Senate chambers, waiting for afternoon session to reconvene from the midday break. As other senators and their aides returned, some of them furrowed their brows at Denis-- and small wonder, Danah thought. While Denis was not the only refugee who had come from the Sphinx to the Senate with her, he was the only one picking a squabble.

"Enough what?" she snapped back. "Rope to hang yourself? Because if you say anything that throws Alderaan into further disrepute, I will certainly put an end to both of you."

"Oh, is that what you've done with Castra?" Denis riposted. "Changed her rank from Princess Consort to Chandelier? In view of her last speech--"

A shadow fell over the combatants, who looked up to see Palpatine regarding them genially. "I am delighted to see you here once more," he said. "Did I hear some mention of my esteemed adversary, Your Royal Highness? I hope she is in good health."

Danah nodded unwillingly. "I think it best if I take up her duties until my son can return."

"Of course," Palpatine responded with great sympathy. "With him absent from Belconnen, she must be very lonely-- too distraught in her solitude to weigh her actions clearly, perhaps."

"Perhaps. Will you attend our little soiree this evening?"

"I shall consider it a joyful obligation." He bowed, glancing over his shoulder. "But I believe I must resume the rostrum now. I preside over today's debates, you see."

Suddenly, Denis spoke up. "In that case, may I have your consent to address the Senate?"

Palpatine glanced from him to Danah, who sat smouldering. "Perhaps if time allows, at the end of today's business..."

"No," Danah snapped. Glaring at Denis, she added, "If this matter is as vital as you and my son claim-- as little of it as you have seen fit to tell me-- then we had best embark on it promptly. And if it is not, we shall have other ways of dealing with it."

Palpatine took a deep breath. What storms were rising in the Alderaani royal house this time? he thought. And had or had not Castra yet betrayed her complicity with him to Danah? He produced a strained smile and extended one hand to Denis. "Well, if Her Royal Highness agrees, I'm sure we can begin the session with your petition, my lad. Denis Antilles-Colton, is it?"

They went to the rostrum together, Palpatine relinquishing it to Denis after a few strikes of the gavel. "While some matters from this morning remain unfinished," Palpatine said, "Her Royal Highness of Alderaan has brought this young man to present some pressing testimony."

"About what?" someone muttered loudly.

Palpatine eyed Denis, and then Danah, who folded her braceleted arms. "He can tell us more clearly than I can," Palpatine said, and retreated.

Self-conscious in his torn, battle-stained uniform, Denis cleared his throat. "My lord and lady Senators," he began, "three days ago, I boarded the Dovecote for the Nechti battlefront, in the company of the Rhiannon and the Alderaani flagship La Belle Dame.

"Our last intelligence had been that the Nechti were on the fringes of your own sector, sir," he nodded his head to Palpatine, "but they've pushed through the buffer zones to Aldean territory. The space between the spiral arms is thinly populated, with little representation in these chambers, and so Nechti activities have gone largely unnoticed." The orphaned Erenatese senator chuckled bitterly.

Denis continued, "But after some years of blundering through those wastelands, they are now entering a more densely packed portion of the galactic plane. In the past six days, the systems of Niniel, Leucothea, Aricia, and Tanit were destroyed. And when I say destroyed, I mean the Nechti flagship has a weapon that smelts down the surface to the depth of several miles. Liquid planetary cores rupture into fountains of molten stone visible from orbit. I know this because I saw it happen at Aricia, where we encountered them. Secondary Nechti ships may engage defense forces, but the flagship always heads straight for the homeworld.

"After that, the defenders can either fight to the death for a place that no longer exists, or they can submit to capture. Not as hostages or collaborators, but merely spare parts for Nechti implant and cyborg technology. In most cases, they harvested limbs, skin, and organs as needed but left the donors alive for further use." He pointed in turn to the maimed survivors behind Danah. "We suspect the Nechti used some of us to bolster their rations." One young aide, her tactile plumes already pale violet with distress, wrenched open a drawer and threw up into it.

"They also use the ships surrendered to them. At Aricia, the Nechti were in Leucothea's Sphinx, which destroyed our Rhiannon before we could identify them, and then used short-range teleporters to send troops onto the Dovecote. We went on fighting aboard until Captain Sherrin was killed and their flagship destroyed Aricia.

"And then our mission commander, Lord Justin Semble, ordered our surrender. To save his life as a collaborator, he gave the rest of us to him, as well as the undamaged Belle." He related the disguised invasion of Ikatya, the search for the crystals so crucial to the Nechti fleet, and the last pocket of resistance on base.

"The Nechti pulled me out of my cell and sent me in to talk to General Kenobi. He agreed to submit to their questioning if the others were unharmed. While they were busy with him, Commander Skywalker broke us out. At the last minute, Lord Justin fled back to the Nechti. He left this behind." As in Danah's transport, Denis took a parcel from his pocket and unwrapped it to reveal a severed hand, the signet ring of House Semble still gleaming on the grey flesh.

"We recaptured the Sphinx, but we had to destroy the Belle on the way out. The Nechti still have the Dovecote and their own flagship. The Nechti officers we captured say their leader will search for them immediately, without waiting for more auxiliary ships. This may be our best chance to defeat the Nechti. Our survivors are taking a stand at Galliae, but it's a small border outpost with limited resources. If necessary, I'll return alone tomorrow to die with the others. Will you send aid with me? Or will you wait for the Nechti to come to you?"

* * *

Castra sat in her chamber, watching the vidcam feed from the Senate. Palpatine immediately urged reinforcements from throughout the Republic. Or so he said. She knew he had been quietly buying gunships for years, only to lease them back to their original systems. All he had to do now was reclaim his investments. Flying unchanged colours into battle, they would greatly enhance apparent support for his coalition.

Her stomach lurched, reminding her of her own clandestine role in the coalition's formation. In exchange for the jewels now locked around her throat, she had turned the Senate to his favour. And against her own. But the second half of her gamble had paid off: Princess Danah would protect her now, if only for the sake of the heir she had secured.

And she had kept her pact with Bail. No one need ever know now that their marriage was never consummated, nor why.

* * *

Kenobi shook his head sharply. "Dia should never have taught you in the first place. It's a good thing memory imprints aren't permanent, or I'd have to erase them from you now."

"I'd like to see you try." Anakin grinned, leaning against one wall of Kenobi's impromptu headquarters at Galliae. The reinforcements from Alderaan were docked and unloaded. There was still no word from the Senate.

"But before the Nechti showed up at Ikatya, you were already trying to recruit me as a Jedi Knight," Anakin continued. "What's changed your mind now?"

The general glanced from his pile of requisitions to Arcadia's ring, almost casually. "Well, we can't change the past, can we?" Anakin said, failing to avoid looking smug.

"Pity, isn't it?" Kenobi muttered.

With a glance of his own, Anakin whisked the stylus out of Kenobi's hand and spun it floating above their heads. "You said I've been sensing your Force all my life without knowing it. Well, I know it now, and what can be done with it. So if you want to teach me about it your way, you'd better do it now."

Kenobi reached up with his mind to retrieve the stylus, and was taken aback by the effort required to wrest control. "Very well," he said reluctantly. "But only until the Nechti arrive. If we survive the engagement, I'm sending you to a dedicated Master for training. We'll start with breathing exercises."

The lightsaber hilt at Kenobi's side whipped into Anakin's hands, the blade casting cold fire in his eyes. "I don't think it'll do much good to just breathe at the Nechti. I don't think we've got one of those training remotes either, so you might as well shoot me."

Kenobi echoed Anakin's smile at last. "If you insist," he said, and levelled his blaster.

* * *

"Mistress Arcadia!" Arcadia startled awake. "Mistress Arcadia," the droid plaintively continued, shaking splashed water from its limbs, "I'm afraid you've overslept and missed the banquet, but you really mustn't miss the entire evening."

"What?" Arcadia asked, clambering out of the bath. The droid patted her dry, swathing her in a velvet robe before escorting her down the hall. It appeared adept at creating a solid flow of conversation without conveying any actual facts.

"...Both royal princesses will be presiding tonight," it chattered, "and I dare say this will be the grandest fete since His Royal Highness' wedding. As you know--"

"I'm sorry, but I don't know," she firmly said, clutching the robe about her. "I'm waiting for my brother Denis to present his testimony before the Senate. May I rejoin him now?"

"Her Royal Highness has given other orders since then." Just as firmly, the droid tugged the robe away, instantly replacing it with a webbed sheath. Her protests were cut off as the corset was ratcheted into place; as she strained for breath, she was enveloped in embroidered silks. With swift, clinical touches, the droid adjusted her bodice and began to dress her hair.

"What orders?" She was suddenly reminded of her mother's last elaborate toilette, all of it sifting to ash with her body. The skin over Arcadia's own heart seemed to sear now, remembering the frostbite touch of the signet ring Liane had hung about her neck before being led to the firing squad.

"We're terribly late," the droid fretted. "The receiving line must have finished already." Despite her misgivings, Arcadia pulled on the long gloves it gave her and let her feet slip into jewelled coffers. As a last touch, the droid wrapped a necklace around her throat and propelled her out.

The door shut behind her. As she turned toward the wall in dismay, all she saw was a solid mirrored expanse, and her own reflection. Except for her fair hair, she saw, she exactly reproduced the portrait of Liane Antilles on the eve of her wedding to Laz Colton: opals shivering on silver chains in her hair, a meteor shower of pale fire across her decolletage, spectral feathers or flames damasked in crystal over the gown. She took one step back from her own apparition, and saw the wider tableau laid out behind her.

Princess Castra sat at a dais across the ballroom, her face pale as the upturned silver crescent of House Gatou above her. Two empty thrones were at Castra's side, one draped with the iris-plumes of House Organa, the other with the Antilles phoenix, fiery red instead of the ghostly image of Liane's bridal attire. Princess Danah had just stepped off the dais toward the wall of mirrors. And between them, a hundred dancers swirled, all as elaborately garbed as Arcadia and the Alderaani princesses, or more so. For other than those three women, everyone was masked.

Danah paused in transit to draw one man from the ranks, and continued straight toward her. Even through his festive disguise, he was obviously not Denis.

"My dear," Danah said caressingly behind her, "You really must stop admiring yourself so that others may share that pleasure." A grip of steel bit through Arcadia's glove and turned her inexorably away from the mirror to face the Princess-Dowager and her escort.

Arcadia extended one hand as if to a large, unknown animal. Danah firmly placed it in his. "I trust you will have a pleasant evening together. Now if you will excuse me, I have duties to attend." She slipped into the perfumed tide of the other guests.

Arcadia remained half-turned from him as Danah disappeared. "I don't wish to inconvenience you, if..."

"Nonsense." He raised her hand and brushed his parted lips against its back. The gilded visor across his face followed his mouth, ice after fire. His warm breath still clinging to the glove's silk against her skin, he turned the hand over and gently bit the base of her palm.

The pressure sent a shock down her body, still languid from her dreams of Anakin. She found herself trembling, the wide waterfall of her gown rippling around her. If he was aware of her response, he gave no sign of it, other than a pleasant, unreadable smile. Releasing her hand, he placed his own over his heart and bowed. "Would you care to dance, my lady?"

* * *

Danah resumed her seat on the dais, beside Castra. The Princess-Consort was fanning herself with a bouquet of severed wings. When the last group of petitioners backed away, hours later, Castra gave an angry flick of her fan. "Who let all of these lobbyists in?"

"They are Alderaani peers, and have a right to attend this ball. I think their requests deserve consideration, don't you agree?" Danah's cool stare challenged Castra not to.

"If you want them approved, do it yourself. I'm not interested in stamping a fiat on them for you."

"I said consideration, not approval. There were five petitions from the Eleris coast alone. The mercantile guilds are obviously in conflict again; if they continue, they will disrupt commerce throughout the sector."

Castra said nothing. She sat on her embroidered cushions with unnatural stiffness, seafoam skirts spread around her. Danah continued, "The vendettas may seem quelled, but there's no surety in this peace. If you want your child to inherit Alderaan intact, you must be aware of such details. The guilds and the noble houses must always be watched, lest their discontent burst into violence. As has happened in the past." Danah's fan tipped toward the other side of the ballroom, where Arcadia danced with her escort.

Reluctantly, Castra tracked the fan's direction. When her gaze reached its target, her hand went to the topaz chain around her throat. "What does he think he's doing?" she snapped.

With deceptive ease, Danah flicked the fan against Castra's arm. "I invited him to this fete myself. We need his goodwill, and that of his followers. If you jeopardize our standing in the Republic, you jeopardize your child's future. Not to mention your own present."

"I want him out of here, now." While still low, Castra's voice had become ragged in its restraint. "I will not have him flaunting his new mistress at a ball in my honor."

"But you will, believe me. If his presence so offends you, you had better become faint and withdraw. And his escort for the evening is your kinswoman, as well as mine." Danah beckoned an attendant forward. "I fear the festivities are a bit much for Her Highness in her delicate condition. Pray escort her to her rooms before she becomes more distraught."

"I am not distraught!"

Danah shook her head sadly. "So you see. My dear, do go lie down until you feel more composed."

"I am extremely composed," Castra assured her, green eyes outblazing her jewels. "In fact, I believe the evening has progressed far enough to make the announcement you planned."

The musicians were still playing the last few measures of a dance, but they set their instruments aside as soon as Danah rose to her feet. "My ladies, my lords, and fellow Senators," she began as the guests turned toward her, "You honor us with your presence tonight. I am not calling the festivities to an early halt, merely informing you that Princess Castra must withdraw from her duties here, for the evening as well as from the Senate. We deem it better that she live peacefully on Alderaan while we await the arrival of my son's heir."

The announcement seemed received with relief by most, whether on behalf of the succession or the debate floor. However, as Danah surveyed the crowd, she saw Arcadia's escort sidle out of the ballroom. Arcadia herself was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

The sonic cutters whined and sputtered through the walls. "Be careful," Lise Toire warned her search team. "That last batch of prisoners was holed up in this hangar for several days. There's no telling what they left behind."

One woman, heedless, had already stepped through the broken metal. Her stride ahead was cut short by a soft snick and the sound of a heavy weight falling. The others caught up to find her gasping through a shredded throat, her body hacked and mangled by the nest of razor-fine monofilaments laid out along the corridor. Toire turned even paler, but said, "Count yourself lucky you just cut yourself up with the tripwires instead of setting off those detonators. We'll fit you up with replacement limbs if there're still any in stock."

Toire knelt beside the woman as the remaining Nechti cautiously continued into the hangar. She snapped open a gelpak to smear on the wounds, adding, "Maybe this bacta stuff will patch you up well enough. Now just lie there and give it time to work."

Following the calls of her team, Toire entered the hangar where Kenobi and the others had taken refuge. "Looks like we got them out of here just in time," someone remarked, emerging from the frigate Rannis had spent his last hours refitting. "A little more work, and that thing could've shot its way out of here and sped off."

As the team reviewed the systems scan of the Perceptor, their entrance corridor suddenly creaked and exploded. Ducking from shrapnel, Toire sighed. "I told her not to move. Well, we'll have to finish the job on that ship and shoot our own way out. At least Admiral Jordan will have something to be happy about."

As if on cue, Admiral Jordan materialized in the Perceptor's hangar, evidently returned from the Rahab's search mission. "Found an operational ship, have you? Any crystals to go with it?"

"No," Toire admitted. "We could collapse your teleporter coil into a drive dome, though. That's what Danville did on La Belle Dame."

"And the Belle self-destructed," Jordan snapped. "Their worm drive underwent critical failure at the first flux point, according to the automated logs. We found a debris trail starting two light years away and stretching five more, pointing straight toward another system. It's called Galliae or Niamh, depending on which captives I've asked, but they agree that it's another military base like this one."

"Another base? With another stockpile of drive crystals?"

"I don't know," Jordan grinned. "But I intend to find out. I also intend to find out whether Brabanconne had the same thing in mind. There was no debris from the Sphinx, and the Belle's logs show that the Sphinx ported her and Doctor Meda over just before its mysterious disappearance."

Toire nodded in understanding. "The Dovecote is barely operational, after the fight they put up on board. But it looks as if this Perceptor has all non-transluminal systems functional-- sublight drive, weapons, and shields-- as well as a slave circuit. If we can rig the master command from the Rahab to tow it to Galliae, we can back you up against their base."

"As well as that traitor Brabanconne," Jordan said.

* * *

The night air whispered over Arcadia's skin, her array of jewels swiftly cooling. She shivered as the man returned to the balcony, a plate of refreshments in hand. He balanced the dainties on the rail before tracing her cheek with his fingertips. "It's a very good mask," he said calmly.

"I beg your pardon?"

His expression was shadowed behind his own gilded facade. "No one would dare come to an Alderaani fete masquerading as Liane Colton without Princess Danah's consent. But why you?"

Arcadia wormed her gloves from elbow to fingers, draping them around her shoulders. Taking up a round fruit, she took cautious bites, gazing at the moonlit foliage of the garden. She heard his teeth grit together as he waited for her reply.

Reluctantly, he spoke again. "Princess Castra has been on the dais all evening, so unless someone else has an equally good holographic mask of her as a blind, you cannot be she. Can you?"

"I suppose not," Arcadia said. The plate chimed as she dropped her fruit pit.

Impatiently, he snatched off his own mask. He lowered his bare face to hers, his hands at the nape of her neck questing for a holograph button. "I have revealed myself to you, my lady. I pray you do the same." As his fingers found no clasp or apparatus hidden in her hair, he extended the search by pressing her against the balcony rail with his body, raking the line of her jaw with his tonguetip and teeth.

She twisted away, pulling one long glove from her shoulder and lashing him with it. At arm's length, she surveyed the man, his eyes and hair the same dark molten gold as the mask he had discarded. "I do not know you, sir. Nor do I wish to. And I assure you I am wearing no mask."

"You can't be Liane herself. I attended her execution."

"So did I," she said.

"Your name," he demanded. "What is your name, and why is Danah parading Liane's ghost before me?"

"My own name is Arcadia, and Liane Antilles was my mother."

"I see." A pall of exquisite formality fell over him once more. He absently rubbed the red welt her glove had left on his face before replacing his mask to cover it. "Well, my dear, I am Palpatine of Coruscant. I believe I must have some words with Her Royal Highness. Good night." With a bow, he left her on the balcony, the silver platter of sweetmeats glittering in the starlight beside her.

* * *

Danah examined the girl with a critical eye. She wears court garb uneasily, but well, she thought. Palpatine should be pleased enough with her to agree. "Let me be the first to felicitate you on your marriage."

Arcadia looked up so suddenly as to dislodge one of the jewels fixed in her hair. The opal slid down the silver brocade of her gown and lodged in the carpets like a round drop of water. Her voice barely above a whisper, she said, "You know already?"

"Certainly," Danah snapped. "Do you think Palpatine would betroth you without my consent?"

"Palpatine?" If a cool trickle of fear had run through Arcadia before, she was now inundated with an icy flood. "What does Senator Palpatine have to do with it?"

"Do you mean to say--" Danah broke off, dark eyes narrowing. Her voice as soft as Arcadia's, she said, "And tell me, to whom do you think yourself betrothed?"

"Anakin Skywalker." Arcadia twisted away from her razored gaze, but could still feel it flicking over her.

Danah leaned back, tapping her rings together impatiently. "The same man Denis spoke of?"

"Yes."

"You will annul the marriage at once."

"No."

"No?"

Tilting her face up, Arcadia could feel the opals in her hair trembling on their pendant chains. "I wed him on Ikatya by his traditions, and on Galliae by ours. Furthermore, I am carrying his child."

"That," said Danah, "can be rectified."

"You wouldn't," Arcadia breathed.

"Would you prefer I widowed you?"

"After the testimony this afternoon, I don't think the Senate would be very pleased by that."

"General Kenobi seems none too fond of him."

Arcadia faltered again. "Why are you doing this?"

"Now that the succession is secure, you and your brother are no longer necessary." Danah paused, watching Arcadia's face drain pale as her gown's brocade. "Fortunately for you both, Bail is reluctant to order, shall we say, expedient actions. I expect you to tender appropriate thanks to him. But you will have to lead your spared lives far from Alderaan. Since Castra has created some ill will in the Senate with her opposition to Palpatine, you present an ideal opportunity for alliance.

"As Palpatine's consort, you will be in a different quadrant of the Republic, and should have enough power on Coruscant to content any ambition. If you are so besotted with your Anakin, retain him as part of your royal escort. I doubt Palpatine will object, as long as you do not endanger the succession."

Arcadia slowly recovered her aplomb. "I am surprised you told me at all, instead of marrying me off by proxy."

"I should have done so before you came of age. But even now, you do not need to yearn for Palpatine. You need only accept that your alliance to him is necessary. Will you sign the marriage contract, or must I arrange circumstances to compel you?"

"Widowed or not, I will continue to work as a healer for the Aldean fleet. I will not marry Palpatine."

"Then you had better tell him of your decision."

"You already gave him my acceptance?"

"We expected your consent to be a mere formality. In fact, he intends to announce the betrothal before leading the Senate's armada out tomorrow. Perhaps you should refrain from telling him the exact grounds for your refusal; even if his command is only nominal, he will be in an excellent position to send Anakin Skywalker to his death." Danah studied Arcadia's face once more. "What reason did you have for marrying this man? Or is it too much to expect you to have any reason at all?"

Arcadia throttled a fold of her gown, intensifying her grip until the brocade gave way. "You have no right to question me like this. I am the last member of House Antilles, and well past the age of consent. And if I am an exile, then Alderaani law has no hold on me. If this contract to Palpatine was the only motive for your hospitality, I will return to the fleet at once. And I will refuse every summons to your presence until you lie in state, when I will heap garlands of thanksgiving on your bier."

Danah leaned back in her throne, her hand concealing her expression. She flexed her fingers before returning them to her lap. She was smiling. "Do you utterly refuse this alliance with Coruscant?"

"I do. May I go?"

"You may not. You intend to return to Galliae, don't you?"

"Yes."

"In expectation of a joyful reunion with your Anakin? Under Palpatine's command, having rejected his own proposal?"

Taken aback, Arcadia let the torn cloth slip from her hand. Some of the brocaded crystals now bore her blood on their facets. "In other words, if Anakin and I thwart your alliance with Coruscant, you'll make it easy for Palpatine to dispose of us."

"No," Danah said with unnerving patience. "I am saying that the Nechti battlefront is a dangerous place. I am keeping you here on Belconnen regardless of how you choose to bestow your hand. Nor do I intend to inform Palpatine of your previous engagement. If you can convince him of your refusal, I will let his proposal lapse."

"And if I cannot?"

"That could be troublesome. I suggest you avoid the trouble and simply succeed."