asked Leia.
'If you mean solidly on his side, only a couple,' she said. 'If you mean leaning in his direction ... well, you'll be able to judge for yourself in a minute.'
Han blinked. Lost in his own mulling of the mess, he hadn't really paid attention to where Leia was taking him. Now, with a start, he suddenly realized they were walking down the Grand Corridor that linked the Council chamber with the much larger Assemblage auditorium. 'Wait a minute,' he protested. 'Now?'
'I'm sorry, Han,' she sighed. 'Mon Mothma insisted. You're the first person back who was actually at the Sluis Van attack, and there are a million questions they want to ask you about it.'
Han looked around the corridor: at the high, convoluted vaulting of the ceiling; the ornate carvings and cutglass windows alternating on the walls; the rows of short, greenish-purple saplings lining each side. The Emperor had supposedly designed the Grand Corridor personally, which probably explained why Han had always disliked the place. 'I knew I should have sent Threepio out first,' he growled.
Leia took his arm. 'Come on, soldier. Take a deep breath and let's get it over with. Chewie, you'd better wait out here.' The usual Council chamber arrangement was a scaled-up version of the smaller Inner Council room: an oval table in the center for the Councilors themselves, with rows of seats along the walls for their aides and assistants. Today, to Han's surprise, the room had been reconfigured more along the lines of the huge Assemblage Commons. The seats were in neat, slightly tiered rows, with each counscilor surrounded by his or her assistants. In the front of the room, on the lowest level, Mon Mothma sat alone at a simple lectern, looking like a lecturer in a classroom. 'Whose idea was this?' Han murmured as he and Leia started down the side aisle toward what was obviously a witness chair next to Mon Mothma's desk.
'Mon Mothma set it up,' she murmured. 'I'd be willing to bet it was Fey'lya's idea, though.'
Han frowned. He'd have thought that underlining Mon Mothma's preeminent role in the Council like this would be the last thing Fey'lya would want. 'I don't get it.'
She nodded toward the lectern. 'Giving Mon Mothma the whole spotlight helps calm any fears that he plans to make a bid for her position. At the same time, putting the Councilors and their aides together in little groups tends to isolate the Councilors from each other.'
'I get it,' Han nodded back. 'Slippery little fuzzball, isn't he?'
'Yes, he is,' Leia said. 'And he's going to milk this Sluis Van thing for all it's worth. Watch yourself.'
They reached the front and separated, Leia going to the first row and sitting down next to her aide, Winter, Han continuing on to Mon Mothma and the witness chair waiting for him. 'You want me sworn in or anything?' he asked without preamble.
Mon Mothma shook her head. 'That won't be necessary, Captain Solo,' she said, her voice formal and a little strained. 'Please sit down. There are some questions the Council would like to ask you about the recent events at the Sluis Van shipyards.'
Han took his seat. Fey'lya and his fellow Bothans, he saw, were in the group of front-row seats next to Leia's group. There were no empty seats anywhere that might have signified Admiral Ackbar's absence, at least not in the front where they should have been. The Councilors, seated according to rank, had apparently shuffled positions so as to each be closer to the front. Another reason for Fey'lya to have pushed this configuration, Han decided: at the usual oval table, Abkbar's seat might have been left vacant.
'First of all, Captain Solo,' Mon Mothma began, 'we would like you to describe your role in the Sluis Van attack. When you arrived, what happened subsequently-that sort of thing.'
'We got there pretty much as the battle was starting,' Han said.
'Came in just ahead of the Star Destroyers. We picked up a call from Wedge-that's Wing Commander Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron-saying,g that there were TIE fighters loose in the shipyards-'
'Excuse me?' Fey'lya interrupted smoothly. 'Just who is the 'we'
here?'
Han focused on the Bothan. On those violet eyes, that soft, cream-colored fur, that totally bland expression. 'My, crew consisted of Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian.' As Fey'lya no doubt knew perfectly well already. Just a cheap trick to throw Han off stride. 'Oh, and two droids. You want their serial numbers?'
A slight rustle of not-quite humor ran through the room, and Han had the minor satisfaction of seeing that cream-colored fur flatten a little.
'Thank you, no,' Fey'lya said.
'Rogue Squadron was engaged with a group of approximately forty TIE
