'Ah,' Leia said. 'I hadn't thought of that.'
'There have been rumors for years that the Emperor was developing a cloaking shield,' Ackbar said. 'I've put a good deal of thought into the contingency.' He harrumphed. 'But the weaknesses are of small comfort. A cloaking shield in the hands of a Grand Admiral would still be a dangerous weapon indeed. He would find ways to use it against us.
'He already has,' Han muttered.
'Apparently so.' Ackbar's swiveling eyes locked onto Leia's face.
'You must get me cleared of this ridiculous charge, Councilor. As soon as possible. For all his ambition and self- confidence, Councilor Fey'lya hasn't the tactical skills we need against a threat of this magnitude.'
'We'll get you released, Admiral,' Leia promised, wishing she felt that confident. 'We're working on it right now.
There was a diffident knock, and behind Leia the door opened. 'Excuse me,' the squat G-2RD droid said in a mechanically resonant voice. 'Your time has expired.'
'Thank you,' Leia said, suppressing her frustration as she stood up. She wanted desperately to have more time with Ackbar, to explore with him both this new Imperial threat and also discuss the legal strategies they might use in his defense. But arguing with the droid would gain her nothing, and might get her visiting privileges revoked entirely. Guard droids were allowed that kind of discretion, and the 2RD series in particular was reputed to be a touchy lot. 'I'll be back soon, Admiral,' she told Ackbar. 'Either this afternoon or tomorrow.
'Good-bye, Councilor.' There was just a brief hesitation-'And to you, Captain Solo. Thank you for coming.'
'Good-bye, Admiral,' Han said.
They stepped from the room and started down the wide corridor, the G-2RD taking up position at the door behind them. 'That must have hurt,' Han commented.
'What must have?' Leia asked.
'Thanking me for coming.'
She frowned up at him, but there was nothing but seriousness in his face. 'Oh, come on, Han. Just because you resigned your commission-'
'He considers me one step up from a complete traitor,' Han finished for her.
An obvious retort about persecution complexes flashed through Leia's mind. 'Ackbar's never been what you'd call an outgoing person,' she said instead.
Han shook his head. 'I'm not imagining it, Leia. Ask Lando sometime-he gets the same kind of treatment. You leave the military and you might as well be tauntaun spit as far as Ackbar is concerned.' Leia sighed. 'You have to understand the Mon Calamari ethos, Han. They were never a warlike species at all until the Empire started enslaving them and ravaging their world. Those wonderful Star Cruisers of theirs were originally passenger liners, you know, that we helped them convert into warships. Maybe it's not so much anger at you for quitting as it is some sort of residual guilt at himself and his people for taking up warfare in the first place.'
'Even if they were forced into it?'
Leia shrugged uncomfortably. 'I don't think anyone ever goes into a war without the nagging feeling that there might have been,some other way. Even when every other way has already been tried and hasn't worked. I know I felt it when I first joined the Rebellion-and believe me, people like Mon Mothma and Bail Organa had tried everything. For an inherently peaceful race like the Mon Calamari, the feeling must be even worse.
'Well...maybe,' Han conceded grudgingly. 'I just wish they'd work it through for themselves and leave the rest of us out of it.
'They are,' Leia assured him. 'We've just got to give them time.' He looked down at her. 'You haven't told me yet why you and Chewie left Kashyyyk and came back here.'
Leia squeezed thumb and forefinger together. Eventually, she knew, she would have to tell Han about the deal she'd made with the Noghri commando Khabarakh. But walking down a public corridor of the Imperial Palace wasn't the place for that kind of discussion. 'There didn't seem any point in staying,' she told him. 'There was another attack-'
'There what?'
'Relax, we fought it off' she soothed him. 'And I've made arrangements that should keep me safe, at least for the next couple of weeks. I'll tell you about it later, when we're someplace more secure. She could feel his eyes boring into her; could sense the suspicion in his mind that there was something she wasn't telling him. But he recognized as well as she did the danger of speaking secrets out in the open. 'All right,' he muttered. 'I just hope
