She spun to face the door. 'Chewie!' she called, for the moment not caring who might hear her. 'Chewie, get in here!' A hand gripped her shoulder, and she turned back around to find the maitrakh gazing at her, an unreadable expression on her alien face. 'Lady Vader, you will tell me what is the matter.'
'Forty-four years, maitrakh, is what's the matter,' Leia told her. The fiery heat of her anger was fading, leaving behind an icy resolve.
'They've held you in slavery for almost half a century. Lying through their teeth to you, cheating you, murdering your sons.' She jabbed a finger down toward the ground beneath their feet. 'That is not forty-four years' worth of decontamination work. And if they aren't just cleaning the dirt There was a heavy footstep at the door and Chewbacca charged in, bowcaster at the ready. He saw Leia, roared a question as his weapon swung to cover the maitrakh.
'I'm not in danger, Chewie,' Leia told him. 'Just very angry. I need you to get me some more samples from the contaminated area. Not soil this time: some of the kholm-grass.'
She could see the surprise in the Wookie's face. But he merely growled an acknowledgment and left. 'Why do you wish to examine the kholm grass?' the maitrakh asked.
'You said yourself it smelled different than before the rains came,' Leia reminded her. 'I think there may be a connection here we've missed.'
'What connection could there be?'
Leia shook her head. 'I don't want to say anything more right now, maitrakh. Not until I'm sure.'
'Do you still wish to go to Nystao?'
'More than ever,' Leia said grimly. 'But not to hit and run. If Chewie's samples show what I think they will, I'm going to go straight to the dynasts.'
'What if they refuse to listen?'
Leia took a deep breath. 'They can't refuse,' she said. 'You've already lost three generations of your sons. You can't afford to lose any more.
For a minute the Noghri gazed at her in silence. 'You speak truth,' she said. She hissed softly between her needle teeth, and with her usual fluid grace moved toward the door. 'I will return within the hour,' she said over her shoulder. 'Will you be ready to leave then?'
'Yes,' Leia nodded. 'Where are you going?' The maitrakh paused at the door, her dark eyes locking onto Leia's.
'You speak truth, Lady Vader: they must listen. I will be back.' The maitrakh returned twenty minutes later, five minutes ahead of Chewbacca. The Wookiee had collected a double handful of the kholm-grass from widely scattered sites and retrieved the analysis unit from its hiding place in the decon droid shed. Leia got the unit started on a pair of the ugly brown plants and they set off for Nystao.
But not alone. To Leia's surprise, a young Noghri female was already seated at the driver's seat of the open topped landspeeder the maitrakh had obtained for them; and as they drove through the village at a brisk walking pace a dozen more Noghri joined them, striding along on both sides of the landspeeder like an honor guard. The maitrakh herself walked next to the vehicle, her face unreadable in the dim reflected light from the instrument panel. Sitting in the back seat next to the analysis unit, Chewbacca fingered his bowcaster and rumbled distrustingly deep in his throat. Behind him, wedged into the luggage compartment at the rear of the vehicle, Threepio was uncharacteristically quiet.
They passed through the village into the surrounding cropland, running without lights, the small group of Noghri around them virtually invisible in the cloudshrouded starlight. The party reached another village, barely distinguishable from the cropland now that its own lights were darkened for the night, and passed through without incident. More cropland; another village; more cropland. Occasionally Leia caught glimpses of the lights of Nystao far' ahead, and she wondered uneasily whether confronting the dynasts directly was really the wisest course of action at this point. They ruled with the assistance or at least the tacit consent of the Empire, and to accuse them of collaboration with a lie would not sit well with such a proud and honor-driven people.
And then, in the northeast sky, the larger of Honoghr's three moons broke through a thick cloud bank ... and with a shock Leia saw that she and her original escort were no longer alone. All around them was an immense sea of shadowy figures, flowing like a silent tide along the landspeeder's path. Behind her, Chewbacca growled surprise of his own. With his hunter's senses he had already been aware that the size of their party was increasing with each village they passed, through. But even he hadn't grasped the full extent of the recruitment, and wasn't at all certain he liked it. But Leia found some of the tightness in her chest easing as she settled back against the landspeeder's cushions. Whatever happened in Nystao now, the sheer size of the assemblage would make it impossible for the dynasts to simply arrest her and cover up the fact that she'd ever been there. The maitrakh had guaranteed her a chance to speak. The rest would be up to her.
They reached the edge of Nystao just before sunrise ... to find another crowd of Noghri waiting for them.
'Word has arrived ahead of us,' the maitrakh told Leia as the land speeder and its escort moved toward them. 'They have come to see the daughter of the Lord Vader and to hear her message.'
