Part 21 (1/2)
Chapter Thirteen.
Mara's training had included a basic overview of stars.h.i.+p operation, but most of that had been geared to military craft. Fortunately, Tannis seemed to know his way around civilian s.h.i.+ps like the Happer's Way, as did the two men Colonel Somoril had sent with her.
Mara had dealt occasionally with ISB men and generally found them to be rather cold fish. But even by that standard Brock and Gilling were exceptional. They were unbendingly formal, keeping to themselves and away from both her and Tannis as much as possible. Even when accepting and carrying out orders, they spoke no more than necessary, often completing a job in complete silence. They asked no questions, made no comments, indulged in no idle chatter. For all their companions.h.i.+p, Ozzel might as well have given her a pair of maintenance droids.
As a result, Mara focused on Tannis, spending as much free time with him as possible as she tried to learn everything she could about this nest of gundarks she was flying into.
The BloodScars had apparently been on Gepparin for only two years, having taken over the big mining complex at that time. They had set up their base in one half, Tannis explained, leaving the other half still pulling out low-grade ore as a cover for their other activities. Most of their loot was taken directly to the base, where it was sorted and repackaged into ore crates and sent out either directly to buyers or to various warehouses like the Birtraub Brothers operation on Crovna.
”But there are a few cargoes that go directly to Caaldra,” Tannis added as he sketched out a floor plan of the base. ”This s.h.i.+p was supposed to be one of them, actually. Taking it to Gepparin could get us in trouble.”
”Blame it on Shakko for dying with that data instead of surrendering like I told him to,” Mara said.
”Blame it on anyone you want, but it's going to be trouble,” Tannis warned. ”I hope your buddies back there are good fighters. And that they don't start blasting before they have to.”
”Captain Ozzel wouldn't have given us anyone but the best,” Mara a.s.sured him, wis.h.i.+ng she actually believed that. Knowing ISB, it was more likely Somoril had picked a pair of expendables. ”How many crew are typically at the base?”
”Depends on whether there are any s.h.i.+ps there,” Tannis said. ”There are only thirty or so full-timers, but a couple of unloading s.h.i.+ps could double that.”
”Any idea how many s.h.i.+ps might be there right now?”
Tannis shook his head. ”With all these other gangs Caaldra and the Commodore have been bringing into the nest, your guess is as good as mine.”
Mara nodded. Apparently they would have to find out the hard way. ”So what's behind all this, anyway? I a.s.sume Caaldra is smart enough to realize that creating a huge pirate gang just begs Shelkonwa and Imperial Center to come down on you.”
”Caaldra is mostly noise,” Tannis said contemptuously. ”Well, noise and credits.”
”Any idea how much he's dropped on the whole operation?”
”Not really,” Tannis said. ”But it's one to five million straight up front to every group that signs on, plus a bonus if they've got a lot of s.h.i.+ps or special skills or something.”
And Moff Glovstoak had sh.e.l.led out a good six to eight hundred million in embezzled money for the artworks Mara had found in his safe. Depending on how much of that Caaldra and the BloodScars had gone through, they could be looking at a coalition of more than a hundred raider gangs.
All of them apparently in this single sector. What was so special about this sector? ”Well, I'm sure the Commodore knows all that,” she said.
Tannis snorted. ”Question is, can you get him to tell you?”
Mara shrugged. ”We'll find out.”
Gepparin was a cold, dark world circling a red star, one of a trinary system that also included a small yellow star and a brilliant blue-white one. Tannis had threaded them neatly between the two brighter stars and was bringing them in toward the planet when the first challenge came.
It was, not surprisingly, perfectly civil. ”Incoming Rendili freighter, this is Gepparin Landing Control,” a cultured voice said. ”Please identify yourself and your parent transport corporation.”
”Hey, Capper, it's Tannis,” Tannis said. ”Is the Commodore around?”
There was a brief silence. ”What are you doing here, Tannis?” Capper asked. He didn't sound nearly so cultured now. ”Where's Shakko?”
”Still with the Cavalcade-they had some work to do on it,” Tannis told him, throwing Mara a sideways look. ”We've got some possible new allies aboard.”
”Possible allies?” Capper said ominously. 'You brought them here and they're only possible allies?”
”Laser cannons coming online,” Brock murmured from the sensor station behind Mara. ”Where?” Mara murmured back. ”Midway up those drill derricks,” he said, pointing at the intricate framework of buildings and support structures on the main display.
”Hey, chill out, Capper,” Tannis chided. ”They want to join-trust me.
They just need to work out the details.”
”Fine-we'll play,” Capper said. ”Pad Eight. Don't lower your ramp until the reception committee gets there.”
The comm clicked off. ”What kind of s.h.i.+ps are we reading down there?”
Mara asked.
”Aside from five small insystem ore transports, I see two actual freighters,” Brock reported. ”Probably both are pirates.”
”They are,” Tannis confirmed tightly. Now that he was no longer having to play a role, the tension was back in his voice. ”That size, I'd say fifteen to twenty crewers each. Means there could be as many as seventy pirates total on the ground.”
”I'm more interested in this reception committee,” Gilling said darkly.
”Were you expecting an open door and the key to the Commodore's quarters?” Tannis growled back. ”They don't trust you. I wouldn't, either, if it was me down there.”
”Calm it, everyone,” Mara ordered. ”We go in unarmed and let them convince themselves we're harmless.”
”What do you mean, unarmed?” Gilling demanded.
”The word is straightforward enough,” Mara told him. ”No weapons, no equipment that anyone might think could be weapons, no harmless devices that could be turned into weapons.”
”They'd take anything like that away from you anyway,” Tannis said.
”Exactly,” Mara said. ”And above all, relax. We're nor here to start a fight. We're here to talk politely with possible allies, pull a little information, and leave.” She looked at Tannis. ”Peaceably,” she added.
Pad 8 was a circle of heavy gridwork mesh surrounded claustrophobically on three sides by derricks and catwalks and connecting support girders.
It was a difficult area to get into and would be even harder to get out of.
Tannis, fortunately, was up to the challenge, easing them through the obstructions without trouble. As he set the freighter down in the center of the grating, Mara could see the promised reception committee emerging from the buildings and maintenance hangars in front of them. There were about two dozen men and aliens total, half of them crowded into a pair of approaching land-speeders, the others spreading out on foot a cautious distance back. All of them were armed with belted sidearms, blaster rifles, or both.
”And they'll have heavier stuff pointed at us from the derricks and catwalk supports,” Tannis warned as he shut down the systems. ”Try anything, and you'll be slagged where you stand.”
”No one's going to try anything,” Mara promised, peering out the canopy.
The structural maze around them, plus the relatively dim light from Gepparin's red sun, was creating a labyrinth of small shadows that stretched all the way across the mining area to the pirate base half of the complex. ”As soon as you finish shutting down, get to the ramp,” she ordered Tannis as she headed to the c.o.c.kpit door. ”Brock, Gilling, go with him.”
”Where are you going?” Tannis asked suspiciously. ”I'll be there before you have to open up,” Mara told him and left.
The pirates, she knew, would be watching the hatches and access panels for any tricks their visitors might have planned. Fortunately, Mara had something else in mind.
She reached the engine room and popped the maintenance access cover leading to a thermal vent beneath the engines. Pulling a pair of black combat gloves from her dark green jumpsuit, she slipped one over each end of her lightsaber haft, leaving only the middle few centimeters of s.h.i.+ny metal uncovered. In the relative darkness out there, the gloves should adequately s.h.i.+eld the weapon from unfriendly eyes. Sliding the weapon into the opening, she used the Force to maneuver it down the narrow pa.s.sageway and around the corner toward the outlet.