'I still say you should have been the one over there,' Han groused as he and Leia watched from the back of the room while Pellaeon and Gavrisom performed the ceremony amid the crowd of assembled dignitaries. 'You did way more on this than he did.'
'It's all right, Han,' Leia said, surreptitiously wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. Peace. After all the years, after all the sacrifice and destruction and death. Finally, they had peace.
'Yeah?' Han countered suspiciously. 'Then how come you're crying?' She smiled at him. 'Memories,' she said. 'Just memories.' He found her hand, took it comfortingly. 'Alderaan?' he asked quietly.
'Alderaan, the Death Stars—' She squeezed his hand. 'You.'
'Nice to know I'm in the top three, anyway,' he said, looking around the room. 'Speaking of old memories, where's Lando? I thought he was going to be here.'
'He changed his mind,' Leia said. 'I guess Tendra wasn't very happy with him heading out to Bastion with you without at least telling her about it. He's taken her art shopping on Celanon to make it up to her.'
Han shook his head. 'Strong women,' he said, mock sadly. 'They'll get you every time.'
'Watch that,' Leia warned, digging her elbow into his side. 'You've always liked strong women. Admit it.'
'Well, not
'What's this about strong women?' Karrde's voice asked from Han's other side.
'Just a friendly family discussion,' Han assured him. 'Good to see you again, Karrde. How come you're not over there with the rest of the high-class people?'
'Probably the same reason you're not,' Karrde said. 'I don't exactly fit in with that sort of group.'
'That'll change soon,' Leia assured him. 'Particularly now that you're respectable and all. How in the worlds did you talk Gavrisom and Bel Iblis into this joint Intelligence service idea?'
'The same way I talked Pellaeon into it, actually,' Karrde said. 'I simply pointed out that the key to a stable and calm peace is both sides knowing the other isn't plotting some kind of move against them. Bastion doesn't trust your Intelligence network, and Coruscant definitely doesn't trust theirs.' He shrugged. 'Enter a neutral third party —us—who straddle both regimes and are already equipped to gather and assemble information. We'll simply now be supplying it to your two governments instead of to private buyers.'
'It could work, I suppose,' Han agreed cautiously. 'The Bureau of Ships and Services has been operating independently for years without going political, either under the Empire or the New Republic. You might be able to pull it off.'
'I like the fact we'll be getting the same information about our own systems that you'll be giving Bastion,' Leia said. 'It'll supplement the data the Observers are sending us and help us keep track of what the various system and sector governments are up to. That should help us spot problems before they get too big to deal with.'
'Yeah,' Han said darkly. 'Just because the Caamas Document Luke and Mara brought back slowed down a lot of the brush wars doesn't mean they won't start up again.'
'Still, I suspect that seeing how easily their old rivalries were manipulated by Disra and Flim has made them more cautious,' Leia pointed out. 'I know of at least eight conflicts where the participants have now petitioned Coruscant for mediation.'
'It may also depend somewhat on how the trial goes,' Karrde said. 'I was a bit surprised so many of the culprits are still alive.'
'Bothans tend to be long-lived,' Leia said. 'I'm sure that group is regretting that fact.' Across the room, Leia could see Bel Iblis and Ghent talking with Pellaeon now, Ghent looking extremely uncomfortable at his inclusion into such—to his mind—exalted company. A little ways behind them, Chewbacca was riding patient herd on Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin as the children chattered excitedly away to Barkhimkh and two other Noghri about their adventures on this latest visit to Kashyyyk. 'Did Luke tell you where he found that copy of the document, by the way?' Karrde asked. 'I couldn't get anything out of Mara.'
'No, he and Mara have both been very quiet about it,' Leia said. 'Luke said they have some thinking to do before they give us any details. It most certainly has to do with that odd spaceship they came back in.'
'I imagine there's an interesting story behind it all,' Karrde suggested. Leia nodded. 'I'm sure we'll hear it eventually.'
Han cleared his throat. 'Speaking of Luke,' he said, 'and speaking of strong women,' he added, throwing Leia a grin, 'how's your organization going to manage without Mara?'
