Wedge's Gamble by Michael A. Stackpole Read Free Book Online

the point where it seemed to drag on them and tire them out.
    Wedge smiled as he watched a herd of wilder-nerfs spread out and over a far hill like an inky black stain on the golden carpet. He recalled a promise he had previously made to himself to return to Noquivzor and take some time to relax. He had wanted to remember what hewas fighting for, and this world had seemed the sort of place where he could find some peace. Now I’m back, but there’s no peace to be had .
    “Would that some of this tranquillity would sneak into our deliberations.”
    Wedge spun around. “Highness.”
    Leia smiled at him. “Wedge, please, not so formal. We’ve known each other for too long to stand on ceremony.”
    He nodded sheepishly. “I know that, but things have changed. Look at you. I can still see the Leia Organa who waited anxiously for Luke’s return from the Death Star at Yavin, but the others, they all see you as Alderaan’s representative to the Provisional Council. I have no intention of seeming familiar or disrespectful.”
    “Things may have changed, Wedge, but not us.”
    “I don’t think I can agree with that idea entirely.” Wedge hung his jacket over the back of a metal chair and leaned heavily upon it. “Yavin was over seven years ago. I’ve gone from being a pilot who thought he was very good to someone who leads a squadron of hotshots and aids an Admiral in planning assaults on the Imperial capital.”
    Leia nodded and drew a chair up beside the one upon which Wedge leaned. “Back at Yavin we didn’t have any Admirals.”
    “We barely had any ships at Yavin. We had General Dodonna, but he’s gone.” Wedge seated himself beside her. “You’ve gone from being the youngest person ever to be elected to the Imperial Senate to the fusion reactor for the whole Rebellion. Mon Mothma may lead us, and Admiral Ackbar may fight for us, but you’re the one who keeps all the disparate parts of the New Republic working together. How you do that, I can’t even begin to guess.”
    She laughed lightly and Wedge smiled in response to the sound. “Keeping Han and Luke out of trouble has often been far more easy, to be certain. There are times itfeels as if this Rebellion could be measured in decades, not years.”
    “I was thinking centuries, but your point is well taken.” Wedge shook his head. “Are all the Council meetings this difficult?”
    “Some are. This one in particular is prickly. Borsk Fey’lya has some issues he wants dealt with and he has taken steps to see to it that he gets his way.”
    “I think Admiral Ackbar is holding his own.”
    “That’s because Fey’lya is playing for a longer game. He has things well thought out, and he is a stickler for details.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Leia looked at him with a mixture of surprise and pity in her eyes. “Oh, Wedge, you wouldn’t believe how well Fey’lya has orchestrated things to work against Admiral Ackbar.”
    “Try me.”
    “You’re on.” Leia swept a hand out to take in the nearly treeless landscape. “Fey’lya arranged for this meeting to be held here, on Noquivzor. He is right at home here—these savannahs closely resemble his home range on Bothawui. Mon Mothma, you, me, and the other humans find the climate and setting pleasant enough that we are at ease. Kerrithrarr, the Wookiee Councilor, does not like a world with wide blue skies and a lack of trees. Asking him to live underground is to come within millimeters of violating his personal honor, and you know how touchy Wookiees are about that.”
    “Yeah, now that you mention it, Noquivzor and Kashyyyk have very little in common. Admiral Ackbar and the other Mon Calamari don’t like the dry air here.”
    “Sian Tevv and his Sullustans find it a bit hot here.” Leia shrugged. “As a result, most of those who oppose Borsk Fey’lya are ill at ease here. It will be easy for tempers to flare and people to decide someone …”
    “Admiral Ackbar …”
    “Right, someone is