Part 22 (1/2)

”I prefer a woman's hair to be down,” the Commodore said. ”You sound quite attractive. Are you?”

Mara looked at Bobbler, who merely shrugged. ”Various acquaintances have said so on occasion,” she said.

”Good,” the Commodore said. ”Please don't dismiss me as an eccentric or, worse, insane. What I am doing ft. here is silencing all my other senses, the better to hear your voice and judge your honesty. Does that worry you?”

”Not really,” Mara said, not entirely candidly. Some members of the Emperor's court had experimented with similar sense-deadening tricks for the same purpose, and a few of them had gotten quite adept at it.

Depending on the Commodore's skill, he might even be able to sniff out the lies of a trained Imperial agent.

Or, at least, those of a normal Imperial agent. For Mara, there were tricks of equal subtlety she could use against him. Reaching out with the Force, she began to gently stir the water.

”So: to business,” the Commodore said. ”I understand you like to hijack s.h.i.+ps.”

”We don't necessarily like it,” Mara said. ”But yes, it is our job.”

The Commodore's mouth hardened. ”I understand you like to hijack my s.h.i.+ps.”

”My apologies,” Mara said, starting to stir some of the water in the other direction. The gentle ripples took on an equally gentle Crosshatch appearance as the new pattern collided with the old. ”In my defense, let me remind you that it wasn't yet your s.h.i.+p when we started our operation.

Certainly if we'd known the BloodScars were interested, we'd have kept our hands off.” ”What were you planning to do with the cargo?” ”Sell it, of course,” Mara said, letting her eyes drift. There were a handful of louvered vents s.p.a.ced around the room where the walls and ceiling intersected. Stretching out again, she opened two of the louvers a little farther than the others. ”We ourselves certainly have no use for AT-STs.” I ”Who was your buyer?”

”We didn't have one yet,” Mara said. A light breeze drifted across her face; hastily she closed the vents down a bit. The idea was to add a little distraction to the Commodore's other senses, but at a low-enough level that even he wouldn't be aware of it. ”But we would probably have tried the Hutts first.”

”A highly valuable cargo,” the Commodore said. ”Yet Shakko allowed you to simply fly away with it?”

Mara shrugged. ”The Happer's Way was flyable; the Cavalcade wasn't.

Shakko and I discussed the situation and decided you'd probably prefer having a freighter and cargo to having the cargo alone.”

”Yet Shakko allowed you to simply fly away with it?” the Commodore repeated.

Mara suppressed a grimace. Either he'd heard something in her voice just then, or else the distractions were starting to get to him and he wanted a second take on her answer. ”He did put Tannis aboard to make sure we behaved ourselves,” she reminded him.

”As if Tannis could have stopped you,” the Commodore said contemptuously.

”Well . . . probably not,” Mara conceded. ”Still, we did deliver it intact.”

”Wise of you,” the Commodore said. ”Did Shakko happen to mention that the cargo is not mine, but belongs to our patron?”

”Yes, we discussed that aspect,” Mara confirmed, feeling her heartbeat pick up a little. Patron. Now if she could just get him to mention a name... ”We concluded that-”

”You're lying.”

Mara froze. Had he sensed the sudden heightened interest beneath the words? ”I'm not lying,” she protested, trying to buy a little time. The four nearest bodyguards would have to be taken out first, and she'd have to make sure to get hold of at least one blaster in the process.

”You are,” the Commodore shot back. ”Shakko would never have mentioned our patron.”

And with that, Mara felt her tension wash away. So he hadn't heard anything incriminating but was simply using supposition and logic against her. ”Well, he did,” she insisted. ”He told us someone named Caaldra was waiting for the goods.”

”Caaldra?” Abruptly, the Commodore laughed, the suspicion vanis.h.i.+ng even as the movement sent small waves through the water. ”Oh, no, no. Caaldra isn't our patron. He merely works for him.”

”Oh,” Mara said, putting a little chagrinned embarra.s.sment into her voice. As a general rule, whenever an opponent found a way to feel superior to her, in even the smallest way, she'd found it wise to nurture that misconception. ”Well, the way Shakko talked, he sure sounded like a patron.”

”I'm sure he did,” the Commodore said, the brief flicker of humor gone.

”Tell me how you hijacked the freighter.”

”It wasn't difficult,” Mara said. ”We overpowered the crew-”

”How did you overpower them?” the Commodore cut in. ”Which rooms and stations did you take first? Which of you did which job? I want details.”.

Were Brock and Gilling being separately asked the same questions so that the three sets of answers could be compared? Probably. Fortunately, Mara had antic.i.p.ated this one. ”I'm sorry,” she said. ”Those details are what give us our edge in this business. We don't reveal them to anyone.”

”Even if I order all of you killed as a consequence?”

”If you order us killed, then we die,” Mara countered. ”But that would end any chance of our organizations ever working together, which would mean you'd continue to waste your victims' s.h.i.+ps instead of capturing them intact.”

She raised her eyes to the four sweating men standing at the far end of the pool. ”And trying to kill us would also cost you more of your men than I think you really want to lose,” she added. ”Is that a threat?”

Mara shook her head. ”Merely stating a fact.”

”Of course,” the Commodore said, his voice darkening. ”Facts. Truth, in neatly packaged form. Perhaps I should give your neatly packaged body to my patron. It was his cargo you stole, after all.” He raised his voice.

”What do you think, Caaldra? Would he like a pretty young s.h.i.+p thief to play with?”

”I'm sure he'd find her fascinating,” a familiar voice said from the right side of the room.

Mara turned her head. The five robed men sitting there had thrown off the towels that had been hiding their faces. The one in the middle was Caaldra, flanked by two large men she didn't recognize. At Caaldra's far right, staring at her from a taut and heat-reddened face, was Tannis.

”Who are you?” Mara asked.

”Why, this is Caaldra,” the Commodore said as Caaldra and two of the men came toward the pool. ”The man your stolen cargo belongs to . .. and the man who came here to warn us about you, Celina s.h.i.+p Thief.” He paused dramatically, and something in the half of his face Mara could see warned her that he was suddenly listening very hard. ”Or should I say, Celina Imperial Agent?”

Silently, without any obvious orders, the four men at the head of the pool drew their blasters. With a supreme effort, Mara kept her face expressionless as she looked again at Tannis's pinched expression. So all her instincts not to mention her threats and bribes, had been for nothing. Tannis had betrayed her. ”Oh, so now I'm an Imperial agent?” she retorted, putting some contempt into her voice. There was certainly no point in making this easy for them. ”How very convenient. For someone.”

”What are you talking about?” the Commodore demanded.

”I'm talking about how convenient it is that there's a stranger in town whom your friend can point fingers at.” She eyed Caaldra as he came to a stop a couple of meters from her. ”Let me guess. Things aren't going too well at his end?”

Caaldra's face hardened. ”Nice try, Imperial, but you're wasting your time,” he growled. ”The Commodore knows who I am.”

”I never said he didn't,” Mara countered, intrigued by the intensity of his retort. Did that mean things really weren't going well for him and his patron? ”I'm just pointing out that s.h.i.+fting blame is a time-honored way of trying to wriggle out of trouble.”

She had hoped to goad him into continuing his rant and perhaps saying something useful. But the moment had pa.s.sed, and he was back on balance.

”Sounds just like what you're trying to do right now,” he countered calmly.