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.Fett’s ice-water blood definitely ran in her veins.Leia watched warily as if she was expecting Mirta to change her mind.Fett replaced his armor and stood by the window again, watching the police activity in the city beyond, blaster at his side.Leia broke the silence.“Now everyone’s calmed down, I’ll talk to Jacen again; we’ll arrange to recover the body, and then you can leave.” She walked out into the kitchen and Han followed, wondering if he’d hear blasterfire the second his back was turned.“When did you become Fett’s best buddy?” he whispered.“Remember that little vacation I spent encased in carbonite thanks to him? Okay, so he saved the day when the Vong—”“Han, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think it’s going to be Fett who bears the grudge.” She stared at the comlink as if she dreaded talking to their son again.“I’m not sure you’re even going to believe me.”“I’m not a mind reader.What do you know that I don’t?”“Jacen killed Fett’s daughter.Personally.”“Yeah?” Han lowered his voice still further.“That’s the idea.She was going to kill us.”“He killed her while he was interrogating her.”Han had to think about that for a couple of seconds.Jacen was more of a stranger with every passing day.He was becoming the Alliance’s bullyboy, the head of their secret police, although there was nothing very secret about them.But he didn’t kill prisoners.He couldn’t.Only monsters did that kind of thing.Jacen couldn’t be a monster.He was his boy, his sweet kid.“No.”“I think he tortured her, Han.”“No.”“So you see why we have a problem.”“I refuse to believe that.”“Do you think I want to believe it? How does anyone accept that their kid turns into something terrible?”“It had to be an accident.”“I want to believe that, too.Right now I’m just waiting for Fett to ask who actually did it, because he’ll want to know sooner or later.You would.We both would.”“He hadn’t seen the woman since she was a baby.You think he cares?”“I’m going to assume he does.People have feuds within families, but when an outsider gets involved, they tend to gang up.What do you think Fett’s going to do? Shake your hand and say, Okay, Han, so I handed you over to Jabba the Hutt and your son tortured my daughter to death, so we’re even.you think he’ll say that?”Han’s brief relief at knowing Thrackan would no longer be around to harass him and his family was rapidly being replaced by the fear that Boba Fett would put him at the top of his vengeance list.Fett had a reputation for never giving up.He never had.Han leaned back against the wall, not sure what scared him most: having Boba Fett as a real personal enemy, or knowing his son had turned into a killer.He settled for the latter.“Jacen?” Leia’s voice was all calm reason.Han wondered how she did it, but she was a lot tougher and cooler than he’d ever know how to be.“Jacen, I need you to do something for me.It’s important.”CHIEF OF STATE’S OFFICE, SENATE BUILDING.CORUSCANT.“Well,” said Cal Omas.“Where does this leave us?”Senator G’Sil rubbed his forehead with one hand, and Jacen watched him carefully.Luke, in turn, watched Jacen.He could feel his uncle’s focus on him, his suspicion, his dread, his calculation.There’s nothing you can do about it, Uncle Luke.You had your chance.Now we’ll do things the Sith way.“This wasn’t our doing,” G’Sil insisted.“The Intelligence Service definitely had no hand in assassinating Sal-Solo.That man had so many political enemies that Corellian Security will be interviewing suspects until Mustafar turns into a ski resort.”“We still have agents in Coronet, though?”“Of course we do.But it’s still not our handiwork—we wouldn’t be so stupid as to hand Corellia a free pass to recruit other planets to its cause.”“We’re not being believed,” Luke said slowly.Omas looked exhausted.“People believe what they want to believe.So who do we have to deal with now? Who’s really running the show in this multiheaded beast of a coalition cabinet?”“Dur Gejjen,” Jacen said.So Dad really did it.I don’t believe it.He killed Thrackan.“And he came to my parents before Sal-Solo was killed with a suggestion that a regime change might be in the cards.”Omas looked to Luke as if expecting some input.“What does Intelligence have to say about him, then? I can just about remember his father in the Human League days.”“Don’t expect him to disarm any faster than Sal-Solo,” said G’Sil.“Forget the assassination, except as an accelerant to finding Corellia more allies.The overall situation hasn’t changed.”“Where’s Niathal got to, by the way?”Jacen looked up.“She’s on her way.She’s being briefed by the commanders.”The blockade was biting.Corellia could feed itself, but for everything manufactured it relied on its orbiting industrial stations, which were now mostly cut off by Alliance pickets
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