Read Online Refugee: Force Heretic II by Sean Williams - Free Book Online

steelcrete shields would slide shut over the top for protection, but during more tranquil times it offered a wonderful view of Bakura. The green-blue world hung like a fat moon above a ring-shaped conference table that floated on a bed of repulsors. There were enough seats for everyone who had entered the hall, but only those who’d be involved in the discussions were invited to sit around the table.
    Jaina stood directly behind her parents, her hand on the hilt of her lightsaber. She didn’t like being so far awayfrom reinforcements in such an unknown situation, and having her weapon within constant reach went a long way toward easing her apprehensions. Everyone knew that the Ssi-ruuk were adept at mental coercion; who was to say that General Panib wasn’t a brainwashed slave intending to deliver the delegates from the Galactic Alliance to his masters at the first opportunity?
    The presence of the P’w’eck didn’t particularly reassure her, either. In fact, when two more of the creatures had joined Lwothin, Jaina’s misgivings had intensified immediately. She assumed them to be bodyguards by the way they took up position behind Lwothin, although she had to admit they didn’t look any different in appearance from their superior. They wore odd-looking weapons fastened to their harnesses: flat disks with businesslike snouts protruding from one end. Paddle beamers, she assumed. The energy beams of such weapons couldn’t be deflected by lightsabers, but they could certainly be bent a little.
    Lwothin himself did not have a physique that allowed him to sit on chairs like the others present, so he was sprawled out on an assortment of cushions at his appointed place around the table. This didn’t detract in any way from his intimidating mien.
    “Blaine Harris, the Deputy Prime Minister, is on his way from Salis D’aar,” Panib said by way of preamble. “But we shall begin without him.”
    “I wouldn’t say we’re a captive audience,” Han said, sitting restlessly at Leia’s side, “but we’re prepared to hear you out.”
    “You’ve come at a very awkward time for us. I hardly know where to begin.”
    “You could start with entechment,” Leia said.
    “We know that you think it an abomination,” Lwothin said through C-3PO. “And I can sympathize with yourfeelings. My species has been exploited by it for thousands of years. We know its past evil.”
    “Be that as it may,” Han said. “But I’ve seen plenty of slaves point the same weapons at their masters once they’d won their freedom.”
    “I’ll admit the temptation was strong,” Lwothin said, his beak clicking together at the end of the short phrase. “But perhaps I should tell you the story of how we came to be here. Maybe then you will understand us better.”
    Jaina saw her mother nod for him to continue, then settled back into the large, upright chair to listen.
    “It has been almost thirty years since the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium waged war in this section of the galaxy,” he began. Jaina knew the story. Initially courted by Emperor Palpatine, the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had expanded aggressively into Imperial territories, starting with Bakura. Unfortunately for the Ssi-ruuk, that advance had been immediately repelled by the local Imperial government, with the unlikely help of the Rebel Alliance. Further incursions into the galaxy were discouraged by the New Republic, which forced the Imperium back to its home-worlds. Nothing had been heard from them since. Jaina gathered that everyone assumed they either had learned the error of their ways, or were gradually stockpiling for a more determined surge.
    Just like the Yevetha
, she thought.
    “In fact,” Lwothin said, “our former masters were assessing more than just their tactics in the wake of their defeat.” Ssi-ruuvi society was strictly clan-based, he explained, with each clan designated by the color of their scales. The absolute ruler was the Shreeftut, assisted by the Elders’ Council and