Vision of the future

danger, and we may come,' Barkhimkh said from her side, his voice slightly puzzled. 'But he warns that all is not as expected.'

Leia frowned. Not as expected? 'What does that mean? Isn't Garm there?'

'I do not know,' Barkhimkh said, climbing into the landspeeder and keying its repulsorlifts. 'I could see only that the ship was indeed small, as you had already ascertained, and that it bore no markings.'

'No markings?' Leia asked carefully. 'None?'

'None that I could see,' Barkhimkh said again, easing the landspeeder through the trees. 'Perhaps at a closer distance they will be visible.'

Aside from a dilapidated grain freighter at the far end of the field, the newcomer was the only ship in sight. It was indeed a small vessel, probably a two-person craft, with the lines of a diplomatic shuttle but of a design Leia couldn't remember ever having seen before. At the bow, where a diplomatic ship would have carried governmental markings, there was nothing. Midway along the side, the hatchway stood open, with a short ramp leading down from it to the permacrete. 'Has Sakhisakh gone inside?' she asked.

'Yes,' Barkhimkh answered. 'He is waiting with the pilot and passenger.' Pilot and passenger? Leia nodded mechanically, her eyes on the ship's bow. Now, as they neared the craft, she could see for the first time that there were indeed faint markings on the hull where some sort of insignia had once been.

And even with just the outlines visible, there was something vaguely familiar about the design. Something that was triggering an equally vague but nevertheless disturbing memory... The landspeeder came to a stop at the ramp. 'Councilor Organa Solo,' Sakhisakh called down gravely from the open hatchway. 'Your visitor humbly requests the honor of your presence.'

'Of course,' Leia said, matching the Noghri's formal tone. Sakhisakh knew Bel Iblis quite well; who could be in there that would make him go all formal this way? 'Would my visitor like to present his request in person?'

'He would,' Sakhisakh said, bowing slightly and stepping back out of the hatchway. And as he did so, a new figure stepped into view. A tall humanoid, covered with soft golden down, with subtle purple markings around his eyes and shoulders. 'Peace to you, High Councilor Leia Organa Solo,' he said, his voice smooth and rich, yet with an undertone of deep and ancient sadness to it. 'I am Elegos A'kla, Trustant for the Caamasi Remnant. Will you join me aboard my ship?' Leia swallowed hard as the memories came flooding back. Her visit as a child to the secret Caamasi refugee camps on Alderaan, and the hundreds of colorful flags flying Caamasi family crests that she'd seen there.

Crests like the one that had been removed from the bow of Elegos's ship. 'Yes, Trustant A'kla,' she said. 'I would be honored.'

'Please forgive my intrusion upon your privacy,' the Caamasi said, backing away as she started up the ramp. 'I am told you and your bondmate came here for rest, and I would not normally have violated your aloneness. But I greatly wished to speak with you; and the one whom I brought with me said his errand was important to the point of terrible urgency.'

'And that person is?' Leia asked as she stepped into the ship, stretching out with the Force. There was definitely someone else here. Someone familiar...

'I believe you are acquainted with him,' Elegos said, stepping out of the way to the side. And there in a chair in the back of the room, squirming nervously under Sakhisakh's watchful eye—

'Ghent!' Leia exclaimed. 'What in the name of the Force are you doing here?'

'I needed to talk to you right away,' Ghent said, his voice sounding even more nervous than he looked as he bounded out of the chair. 'I wanted General Bel Iblis, but he's missing and I can't get hold of him. And you're President of the New Republic and all, so—'

'I'm not actually President at the moment, Ghent,' Leia interrupted him gently. 'I'm on a leave of absence. Ponc Gavrisom is in charge of the government.'

Ghent blinked in surprise, and in spite of the seriousness in his manner Leia had to fight to keep from smiling. Ghent had once been Talon Karrde's top slicer, with such an awesome talent for breaking into and otherwise manipulating computer systems that Bel Iblis had made it his personal goal to lure the kid away from Karrde's organization. In the years since the general had succeeded in doing so, Ghent had proved himself over and over, rising steadily through the ranks until he now held the post of Crypt Chief.

But away from his beloved computers, the young man was about as naive and innocent and lost as it was humanly possible to be. The fact that, living in the heart of Coruscant, he'd still managed to miss Leia's leave of absence entirely was just about normal for him.

'Perhaps she can still be of assistance,' Elegos suggested, stepping into Ghent's embarrassed consternation with typical Caamasi aplomb. 'Why don't you tell her why you're here?'

'Yeah, sure,' Ghent said, recovering his voice and digging a datapad out of an old and worn holder on his belt. 'You see, General Bel Iblis gave me a datacard—'