by Timothy Zahn
Han adjusted his grip on his blaster, feeling sweat gathering on his forehead. "Yeah, that's kind of the point, isn't it?" he said.
The holo shook his head. "You misunderstand, Captain," Thrawn said. "You have nothing to fear from me. All I want is a few words with you, and then you and your companions will be free to go your way." He nodded toward Lando. "Ask Captain Calrissian. I allowed him to leave my Star Destroyer."
"This isn't exactly the same," Lando said tightly. "This is your hidden capital. You aren't going to want anyone knowing where it is."
"Come now, Captain," Thrawn said, rather scornfully. "Do you really think I would expect knowledge of Bastion's current location to die with you? The seat of Imperial authority has been moved before, many times. It can certainly be moved again. Still, you apparently need more persuasion."
A movement at the corner of his eye caught Han's attention. He looked up
To see a row of stormtroopers lined up along the rim of the landing bay's storage area roof, blaster rifles trained on them.
He sighed. They should have made a dash for the Lady Luck when the holo first appeared instead of letting Thrawn stall them this way. Too late now. "How'd you find us?" he asked, setting the blaster's safety and laying the weapon on the ground in front of him.
"It wasn't difficult," the holo said as Lando reluctantly followed suit with his slugthrower. "I knew none of you had the slicing expertise needed to invade the Special Files. I suspected you were using a Verpine for that, and so instructed my men to run a scan on those comm frequencies."
"Looking for an echo," Han said, nodding. "I would have sworn we cut that off before you could get a fix."
"You misunderstand, Captain. I wasn't looking for an echo." Abruptly, the holo vanished
And from around a stack of storage crates to their right Thrawn himself appeared, his white uniform dazzlingly bright in the afternoon sunlight.
But no more dazzling than the gleaming armor of the six stormtroopers flanking him in guard position. On second thought, Han decided, a mad dash for the Lady Luck wouldn't have been such a clever plan after all.
"I was merely seeking confirmation that your slicer was a Verpine," Thrawn continued as he walked up to them. "Once you supplied that confirmation by blanketing those biocomm frequencies, all I had to do was search the spaceport records for a ship that had supposedly landed here eight, twelve, or seventeen days before the drone probe you followed in from the Parshoone Ubiqtorate contact station."
"Wait a minute, you've lost me," Han said, frowning. "Eight, twelve, or seventeen days?"
Thrawn smiled. "Those are important numbers to the Verpines," he said. "Not consciously, perhaps, but nevertheless anchored deeply within them. It was obvious that your Verpine was the master slicer of your group; therefore, he would have been the one to make any alterations in the spaceport records to hide your ship's location. Need I go on?"
"No," Han said, a cold chill running through him. Back at his and Leia's Orowood Tower retreat Lando had claimed to have seen Thrawn; had claimed it, had argued it, had maintained it despite all the evidence and arguments to the contrary. Han had wondered then how his friend could have been so easily spooked.
Now, finally, he understood.
"Good," Thrawn said, peering at him with a depth of understanding Han didn't care for at all. "Then let us get down to business." He raised his voice slightly. "Major?"
From behind another stack of boxes to the left a youngish man wearing major's insignia appeared, his eyes wary on the prisoners. In his right hand he held a blaster; in his left, a datacard.
"As you may recall our last conversation, Captain Calrissian," Thrawn went on as the major walked toward them, "you suggested that if I wanted to save the New Republic from its current crisis I should simply give you a complete copy of the Caamas Document."
"Yes, I remember," Lando said as the major came to a stop a meter in front of him. "You told me that would take too much time."
"Less time than I thought, as it turned out," Thrawn agreed. "There it is."
The major held out the datacard. "What do you mean, there it is?" Lando asked, looking at the datacard like he expected it to explode in his face.
"The Caamas Document," Thrawn said simply. "It's yours. Take it."
Slowly, hesitantly, Lando took the card. "What's the catch?" he asked as the major took a step back.
"There's no catch," Thrawn assured him. "As I told you before, I merely wish to help."
"Sure you do," Han put in, his words sounding harsh in his ears after the Grand Admiral's more urbane tones. "Like you helped wreck the Combined Clans Building on Bothawui?"
The glowing red eyes focused on him. "Explain."
"There was an Imperial team behind that riot," Han said stiffly. Beside him, Lando was making shushing noises, and he had to admit that accusing Thrawn to his face like this was probably not the most politic thing he could have done. But it had been his neck on the line there, his and Leia's, and he was not going to just stand here and let Thrawn get away with making conciliatory noises. Not after all the death and destruction that riot had caused. "We found the redirection crystal they used with their Xerrol Nightstinger sniper blaster."
He had hoped for a flicker of guilt, or at least a twinge of recognition. But instead Thrawn merely gave him a brittle smile. "Yes, a Xerrol Nightstinger," he said, his voice tinged with bitterness. "Apparently still a favored tool of assassins and saboteurs. But in this case, you're looking the wrong direction. The Empire's last five Xerrols were stolen six months ago from a Ubiqtorate cache on Marquarra."
His eyes glittered. "If you want to find them, I suggest you search the private estate of High Councilor Borsk Fey'lya."
Han exchanged startled glances with Lando. "Fey'lya?"
"Yes," Thrawn said. "It was his private army who stole them."
"No," Han said, the word coming automatically. "That's ridiculous."
And yet...
Fey'lya had known he and Leia were going to the Combined Clans Building to check out the true state of Bothan finances, a job they'd somehow never gotten around to finishing after the riot. And it was just the sort of back-blading stunt the Bothans were famous for.
Thrawn shrugged. "I'm not going to try to convince you. The truth is there for you to find if you care to. In the meantime" He nodded toward the datacard in Lando's hand. "Good day, gentlemen. Have a good voyage."
Without waiting for an answer he turned and headed for the exit, half of his stormtrooper guard falling into formation around him. The remaining three stormtroopers and the major waited until he was out of sight before turning and following. As they too vanished through the doorway the row of stormtroopers above them turned and headed away across the roof.
And a moment later Han, Lando, and Lobot were alone.
Han turned to Lando, found the other staring at him from under hooded eyelids. "Well, Lando," he said, trying to keep his voice calm. It wasn't one of his better efforts. "I guess I owe you an apology."
"Never mind the apologies," Lando said, stooping to retrieve their weapons as he ran a quick glance around the empty rooftop. "Let's just get out of here, okay?"
"Yeah," Han said, taking Lobot's arm and turning him toward the Lady Luck's ramp. "Let's."
* * * "You should have seen their faces," Flim said, swirling his drink around in his glass, his moody voice in odd contrast with what should have been gloating words. "They were so petrified, and trying so hard not to show it. It was really rather funny."
"I'm sure you could hardly keep from breaking out laughing," Disra said sourly. "The question is, did they buy it?"
"They bought it," Tierce assured him, sliding a datacard out of his datapad and picking up the next one from his stack. Alone among the three of them, he seemed to have no doubts about Flim's performance. "Our Grand Admiral was as smooth as polished transparisteel. He didn't even flinch when Solo threw the Bothawui commando team in his face."
"The Bothawui t
eam?" Disra demanded sharply. "Our Bothawui team? Navett's group?"
"Relaxhe was talking about them in conjunction with the Combined Clans Building riot," Tierce said. "There was no indication they know Navett's back there now."
"I hope not," Disra growled. On the other hand, that whole scheme was listed on the datacards that Pellaeon had stolen from him. Still, it was unlikely Pellaeon would run straight to Coruscant to warn them, even if he stopped sifting through the financial data long enough to notice it was even there. "How did they find out we staged the riot?"
Tierce shrugged. "Who knows? It doesn't matter, thoughthe Admiral deflected them nicely." He looked over at Flim. "What was all that about a weapons cache being stolen from Marquarra? I don't remember hearing about that."
Flim sipped at his drink. "You don't remember," he said, "because I made the whole thing up. I figured it would"
"You made it up?" Disra cut him off. "What kind of fool stunt was that?"
"One that got Solo off my back," Flim said stiffly. "Why? You disapprove?"
"Yes, I disapprove," Disra bit out. "It's out of character. Thrawn didn't go around making things upif he didn't know something, he said so."
"Calm down, Your Excellency," Tierce said. But he didn't look all that happy, either, as he gazed at Flim. "He had to say something we can't be offering Coruscant the Caamas Document with one hand and helping foment riots with the other. At least he's bought us the time it'll take them to check up on it."
Disra snorted. "However little that is."
"However little it is will be enough," Tierce said firmly. "In seven days the New Republic's civil war is set to begin. At that point, no one's going to care about a few riots and a handful of Xerrol Nightstingers."
He nodded back toward the secret door. "And speaking of buying things, how did your talk go with our guest? Are we going to be able to buy their services?"
"I don't know," Disra said, his mouth tightening briefly. "Mistryl don't work for Imperialsshe must have told me that fifteen times. On the other hand, she did agree to call one of their leaders to come talk to us. And there is something they very much want, but I wasn't quite able to get her to tell me what that is."
"What they want is revenge," Flim said soberly. "Like everyone else these days."
"Revenge against whom?" Disra asked.
Flim shrugged. "The story around the fringe is that their world was devastated in a war with person or persons unknown some number of decades ago. The money the Mistryl earn hiring out their services still supposedly goes to support the survivors."
"What's the name of the world?" Disra asked.
"I don't know," Flim said. "They keep it very quiet. Probably afraid whoever did it will come back and finish the job."
"She said something about revenge for Lorardian," Tierce mused. "Could that be the system?"
"I have no idea." Flim shrugged. "I don't even know who or what Lorardian is."
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Disra said, frowning. "You sounded like you knew all about it back there."
"I also sounded like I knew she was hiding behind the door the whole time," Flim countered patiently. "The whole trick behind being a good con man is convincing the target you know more than you really do."
Disra grimaced. Con men. "Of course. I forgot."
"Don't go all high and nobly indignant on me, Disra," Flim warned, his face darkening. "Your Cavrilhu Pirate raids on New Republic shipping were as much a con as this is. So is your precious little Vengeance movement, for that matter," he added, shifting his glare to Tierce. "A few Imperial agitators pretending to be a huge group of civilian malcontents. Not to mention this whole Thrawn charade. You don't like cons? Well, too bad. You're up to your necks in them, both of you. Not that you've got any choice. Not with the shape the Empire's in."
He dropped his feet back onto the floor with a muffled thud and stood up. "And I'll tell you something else," he added. "If and when you ever get to the point where you've got all the military strength you want, you're still going to need me."
He slapped at his chest. "I'm the only one of this group who knows the fringe. Who the pirates and mercs are, where to find a good bounty hunter on short noticeyou want to hire more privateers, you'll have to come to me. I'm the one who could finger D'ulin as a Mistryl just by the way she fought."
"We're not arguing," Disra said, a little taken aback by the fire of the con man's tirade. "So what are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that if and when this Hand of Thrawn of yours shows up, you might not need my Thrawn masquerade anymore," Flim shot back. "But you'll still need me."
For a long moment the room was silent. Flim glared back and forth between the two of them, breathing a little heavily.
Tierce broke the silence first. "You finished?" he asked mildly.
Flim studied his face, and some of the stiffness seemed to leave his back. "Yes," he muttered. "I just... this is going to stir the pot, Tierce, from Coruscant to the Outer Rim. Unless the Hand of Thrawn is living under a rock, there's no way he's going to miss this."
"I told you before that we could protect you from him," Tierce said. "And we will. Don't worry about it."
"Yeah." Flim took a long drink from his glass. "Yeah. Sure."
* * * Lando pulled back the hyperdrive lever, and in front of them the stars of Bastion's sky stretched into starlines. "Well," he said. He'd meant the word to come out sounding casual, but all it sounded was hoarse. "I guess he really meant it. About letting us go."
Beside him, Han didn't answer. For that matter, he probably hadn't said ten words since Thrawn had walked out of the docking bay. Lando looked sideways at his friend, wondering if it was time he started worrying about him.
Han must have felt the other's gaze. "It was really him, wasn't it?" he said quietly, his own gaze still on the swirling patterns of hyperspace.
Lando nodded, his throat feeling tight. "Perfectly calm, perfectly in control, three steps ahead of us the whole way," he said. "No one else but Thrawn."
"I wouldn't have believed it." Han looked at Lando, his mouth twitching. "I guess I didn't believe it," he amended. "Whatever I said to you back at the Orowood Tower"
"Forget it," Lando said, waving the apology away. "I was right there that first time, and I didn't even believe it. At least, I didn't want to."
Han shook his head. "We're in trouble, Lando," he said. "From now on, we can't trust anything we see. Anything we see, anything we hear, anything we think we ought to do. Not with Thrawn back on the scene."
"I don't know," Lando said doubtfully. "Thrawn or no Thrawn, the Empire is still down to eight sectors. Maybe this is really all he's going for, hoping to confuse Coruscant so badly it just freezes up."
"Who knows?" Han growled, some heat starting to seep into his voice. At least he didn't sound dazed and demoralized anymore. About time, Lando thought. "That's what drives you so crazy about him. You try to do something, and odds are it's exactly what he wanted you to do. You stand still and don't do anything, and he runs a smartrope around you."
"So what do you suppose he expects us to do with this?" Lando asked, holding up the datacard.
"I don't know what he expects," Han said, reaching over and taking it. "But I'll tell you what we're going to do. First, we're going to read it and see if it gives those names everyone's so hot to get hold of. Second, we're going to call Leia as soon as we're in range of the HoloNet and let her know we've got it. And third"
He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "We're going to turn Moegid loose on the thing and have him check it sixteen ways from center. See if he can find whatever surprises Thrawn has tucked away."
Lando eyed the datacard warily. "You think there are surprises?"
"It's Thrawn," Han said simply.
Lando nodded. "Right."
Getting out of his seat, Han gave the instruments one final check. "Come onI don't trust this thing anywhere near the ship's computer," he said, heading for the cockpit door. "Let's get
a datapad and find out what it says."
CHAPTER
24
The first navigational stop the Wild Karrde had made after leaving Dayark had showed nothing ahead. Nothing but the twisting glow of the Kathol Rift and the fiery frozen wisps of ionized gas streamers and miniature nebulae that looked as if they'd been torn from it by violence. So had the second stop, and the third, until Shada had begun to wonder if the legendary lost world of Exocron was truly nothing but a myth.
On the fifth stop, they found it.
"It looks quite pleasant," Threepio commented somewhat doubtfully from Shada's side as they gazed out the Wild Karrde's bridge viewport at the small planet rapidly approaching. "I do hope they will be friendly."
"I wouldn't count on it," Shada warned him, feeling an unfamiliar and unpleasant dryness in her mouth. Down there somewhere, if Jade and Calrissian were right, Jorj Car'das would be waiting for them.
At the helm, Odonnl half turned in his seat. "Shouldn't we have the turbolasers ready?" he asked Karrde. "Just in case they're not happy at having their privacy infringed on?"
Shada looked at Karrde. He was hiding his nervousness well, but she herself had no trouble seeing it. "We're here to talk, not fight," he reminded Odonnl, his voice steady. "I don't want anyone down there getting the wrong impression."
"Yes, but after Dayark"
"We're here to talk," Karrde repeated, his tone leaving no room for argument. "H'sishi, are we picking up any sensor probes? Or transmissions, Chin?"
[No probes yet, Chieftain,] the Togorian said. Her fur, Shada noted, had fluffed out just noticeably. Apparently, she'd picked up on Karrde's mood, too.
"Nothing of transmissions either, Cap't," Chin added. "Perhaps they not see us come in."
"Oh, they see us, all right," Karrde said, a hint of grimness creeping into his tone. "The only question"
He broke off at a beep from the comm. "Incoming starship, this is Admiral Trey David, second-in-command to Supreme Admiral Horzao Darr of the Exocron Combined Air-Space Fleet," a courteous but firm voice said. "Please identify yourselves."
