Slowly, carefully, Leia eased her head to the right, hoping to get a look at the newcomer through the dark mesh of the booth window. No good; they were all still over by the double doors, and she didn't dare get her face too close to the mesh. But even as she eased back to her previous position there was the sound of measured footsteps...and a moment later, in the center of the dukha, the Grand Admiral came into view.
Leia stared at him through the mesh, an icy chill running straight through her. She'd heard Han's description of the man he'd seen on Myrkr-the pale blue skin, the glowing red eyes, the white Imperial uniform. She'd heard, too, Fey'lya's casual dismissal of the man as an impostor, or at best a self-promoted Moff. And she'd wondered privately if Han might indeed have been mistaken.
She knew now that he hadn't been.
'Of course, my lord,' Khabarakh answered the Grand Admiral's question. 'Why should I not be?'
'Do you speak to your lord the Grand Admiral in such a tone?' an unfamiliar Noghri voice demanded.
'I apologize,' Khabarakh said. 'I did not mean disrespect.' Leia winced. Undoubtedly not; but the damage was already done. Even with her relative inexperience of the subtleties of Noghri speech, the words had sounded too quick and too defensive. To the Grand Admiral, who knew this race far better than she did...
'What then did you mean?' the Grand Admiral asked, turning around to face Khabarakh and the maitrakh.
'I-' Khabarakh floundered. The Grand Admiral stood silently, waiting.
'I am sorry, my lord,' Khabarakh finally got out. 'I was overawed by your visit to our simple village.'
'An obvious excuse,' the Grand Admiral said. 'Possibly even a believable one...except that you weren't overawed by my visit last night.' He cocked an eyebrow. 'Or is it that you didn't expect to face me again so soon?'
'My lord-'
'What is the Noghri penalty for lying to the lord of your overclan?' the Grand Admiral interrupted, his cool voice suddenly harsh. 'Is it death, as it was in the old days? Or do the Noghri no longer prize such outdated concepts as honor?'
'My lord has no right to bring such accusations against a son of the clan Kihm'bar,' the maitrakh spoke up stiffly.
The Grand Admiral shifted his gaze slightly. 'You would be well advised to keep your counsel to yourself, maitrakh. This particular son of the clan Kihm'bar has lied to me, and I do not take such matters lightly.' The glowing gaze shifted back. 'Tell me, Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar, about your imprisonment on Kashyyyk.'
Leia squeezed her lightsaber hard, the cool metal ridges of the grip biting into the palm of her hand. It had been during Khabarakh's brief imprisonment on Kashyyyk that he'd been persuaded to bring her here to Honoghr. If Khabarakh blurted out the whole story 'I do not understand,' Khabarakh said.
'Really?' the Grand Admiral countered. 'Then allow me to refresh your memory. You didn't escape from Kashyyyk as you stated in your report and repeated last night in my presence and in the presence of your family and your clan dynast. You were, in fact, captured by the Wookiees after the failure of your mission. And you spent that missing month not meditating, but undergoing interrogation in a Wookiee prison. Does that help your memory any?' Leia took a careful breath, not daring to believe what she was hearing. However it was the Grand Admiral had learned about Khabarakh's capture, he'd taken that fact and run in exactly the wrong direction with it. They'd been given a second chance ... if Khabarakh could, hold on to his wits and poise a little longer.
Perhaps the maitrakh didn't trust his stamina, either. 'My thirdson would not lie about such matters, my lord,' she said before Khabarakh could reply. 'He has always understood the duties and requirements of honor.'
'Has he, now,' the Grand Admiral shot back. 'A Noghri commando, captured by the enemy for interrogation- and still alive? Is this the duty and requirement of honor?'
'I was not captured, my lord,' Khabarakh said stiffly. 'My escape from Kashyyyk was as I said it.'
For a half dozen heartbeats the Grand Admiral gazed in his direction in silence. 'And I say that you lie, Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar,' he said softly.
'But no matter. With or without your cooperation I will have the truth about your missing month ... and whatever the price was you paid for your freedom. Rukh?'
'My lord,' the third Noghri voice said.
'Khabarakh clan Kihm'bar is hereby placed under Imperial arrest. You and Squad Two will escort him aboard the troop shuttle and take him back to the Chimaera for interrogation.'
There was a sharp hiss. 'My lord, this is a violation-'
