Her voice back under complete control, she commed Reece, "The Heir requires your presence immediately, Reece- and that of Hallin. In the Throne Room."
"The Throne Room?" She could hear his nervousness - how much did he already know? "Court isn't in session today, Commander Jade- and.. I was under the impression that The Heir had not yet returned from Mosiin Barracks."
"He arrived a short time ago... for a critical meeting regarding command structure." Would he understand?
There was a long pause... "Will the Emperor be attending?"
Mara sighed just slightly, understanding the question, "The Emperor is.. no longer here."
Again Reece paused, clearly as unwilling to speak on an open channel as Mara, but recognising the necessity, " Hallin's attendance is..."
"Crucial." Mara said.
She switched off the comm, knowing Reece would already be on his way. She had an Empire to secure.
Chapter 34
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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
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In the event, Mara had very little to do; everything was apparently already in place, and it was Reece in the Palace and Admiral Joss onboard the Patriot who moved everything forward with the kind of planning and precision which had clearly been months if not years in the making.
She was in fact, politely but firmly excluded; sidelined - advised that she would be of most value staying with The Heir and keeping Reece updated on his condition - and even that tentative, since by the time they arrived by back corridors and covert passageways at Hallin's dedicated medi-center, a group of ten plain-clothes men, all obviously military but none of whom Mara recognised, were waiting outside the surgery by Reece's command, appointed as The Heir's new bodyguards.
So it came as no surprise to Mara when Reece was already waiting in the recovery room by the time Luke left surgery; thoughts only on Luke, she hadn't contacted Reece yet, but there were clearly several others who had.
Members of the 701st, easily recognised by the dark blue pauldron on the shoulder of their white armour, were scattered about the area now, concealed just inside the medi-center doors out of sight of casual passers-by, the ten plain-clothes bodyguards doing their best to look inconspicuous in the corridor beyond.
How many more were in the Palace, Mara wondered, already smuggled down from the Patriot in orbit? How many more were ready to move at a moment's notice; how many had already responded to coded messages?
She stepped quickly forward as Luke was moved from the gurney onto a high-dependency bed, eyes and thoughts instantly on him. Deathly pale, covered with cuts and bruises, still connected up to life-support following surgery, he looked terrifyingly fragile.
"Well?" Reece asked tightly as Hallin activated the scanning monitors over the bed.
"Well he's just had five hours of surgery." the medic said distractedly, eyes locked on the readouts. "There is, not surprisingly, very little information available on how to treat lightsaber wounds."
"Surely they're similar to any laser wounds." Mara prompted, making Hallin glance up at her momentarily.
"You'd think, wouldn't you?" he said, voice dripping with patronizing sarcasm. He wasn't a shy man at the best of times, and had great faith in his own medical abilities- fortunately he was right. "The wound left an sloping exit high enough to puncture his left lung, introducing air into the chest cavity every time he drew breath, filling the cavity in which the lungs normally expanded and restricting lung capacity; he was suffocating with every breath-"
"Nathan," Reece cut through the irrelevant explanation, greater things on his mind. "I need to know whether to send the transmission out."
Hallin sighed, turning back to the unconscious man, "I really can't tell you at this point."
Mara frowned, "What transmission?"
Both men ignored her, "That's not good enough. I need an answer."
"I can't give you one. He has severe abdominal trauma- I've just packed a hole through his stomach which ran front to back, patched his lung back together and directed three surgical droids tying up the loose ends for the last two hours. I have no models for this kind of surgery- the only remaining information is kept by the Emperor's medical staff and I think they'd be understandably reluctant to part with it, don't you?"
"So there is information available? If I sent a team over there now..."
Hallin shook his head, "And tell them what? You'd never contain that kind of information request- they wouldn't release it without Palpatine's express permission and even if they were willing, I'd bet it's code-restricted to Palpatine, Pestage, Amedda and a few others, and when you couldn't get that code people would start asking questions. You may as well announce to the whole galaxy that the Emperor is dead and The Heir - the only person capable of standing against him - is seriously wounded. It's hardly a stretch to put that information together and come up with the logical conclusion, Wez."
Mara glanced at Reece, "Is that so important? You'll have to announce the Emperor's death anyway."
"But it's hardly the time to let slip that his Heir is seriously injured." Reece said in agreement with Hallin, "The information would be unstoppable; it would be out of the Palace within minutes- we'll be lucky to contain it as it is."
"We can protect him." Mara stated, very sure.
"No." Reece said decisively, looking to Hallin. "We stick to the plan. Nothing changes until we have two loyal Super Star Destroyers and four Destroyers in orbit and at least two thirds of the 701st in position- as well as all key supporters. The codes have gone out - the Patriot's presently in orbit and the, the Dauntless, the Executor, the Peerless and the Avenger have already responded - I need nineteen hours to implement everything. We put out the announcements based on that schedule and we ease this in as planned. Which means I have to know his prognosis- I can't very well start disseminating images of The Heir assuring that everything is under control only to have everyone find out that he died two hours previously."
Mara frowned, "What images?"
Reece ignored her, attention on Hallin, "So I need assurance."
"I can't give it!" Hallin hissed, "You're asking me to give guarantees which I'm not in a position to know."
Mara took a step back, outraged by the surreal image of Luke's two most trusted advisors arguing over his unconscious body about whether or not he was going to make it through the next few hours- not out of concern, but on the grounds that they needed to manage the HoloNet.
"What the hell are you doing!? Listen to yourselves- listen to what you're saying!"
Both men turned, but it was Reece who found his voice first.
"I'm doing what The Heir charged me to do, Commander Jade- I'm stabilising an Empire which could very well descend into anarchy and civil war if there's the slightest indication of vulnerability." Reece paused pointedly before stating frostily. "The Heir had a rare clarity of vision in such things; he placed the greater good before himself."
Hallin narrowed his own eyes at that; it sounded a little too close to a eulogy. "He's not dead yet." he pointed out.
Reece brought his face back to the medic, eyebrows raised expectantly. Hallin glanced back down to his patient, then pursed his lips determinedly, "He'll survive. He's young and he's strong and he's made it through far worse than this."
"Thank-you, Nathan." Reece said emphatically, and Mara felt everyone's temper calm a little at the medic's assurance, the burst of adrenaline-laced tension which had been building since Luke had arrived here finally burned away in the brief dispute.
"If you'll excuse me, I have a very long day ahead." Reece paused at the door to add pointedly; "And incidentally, I spoke in error- he's no longer The Heir."
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