Part 19 (1/2)

He broke off at a quiet beep from the desk. ”What's that?” Flim asked.

”My private comm,” Disra said, frowning as he opened a drawer and looked at the access code. What in the Empire-?

”You going to answer it?” Film prompted.

”Stay out of sight,” Disra said curtly, keying for the connection. ”Both of you.” He straightened up and faced his desk display, arranging his expression into something hard and regal. The status report that had been on the display cleared and became a face&mdash ”All right, Disra,” Captain Zothip snarled. ”Let's hear it. What in blazes is going on?”

”It's Your Excellency, Captain,” Disra corrected him. ”And I was about to ask you that same question. You know the rules about contacting me this way.”

”Vader take your rules! I want to know-”

”You know the rules,” Disra repeated, the sheer iciness of his tone somehow silencing the other. ”This channel is never to be used except in case of emergency.” He lifted his eyebrows. ”Or are you trying to tell me something has happened that the Cavrilhu Pirates can't handle?”

”Oh, it's been handled,” Zothip said viciously. ”It cost me two men and one of my best bases, but it's been handled. What I want to know from you is how and why Luke Skywalker just happened to drop in for a visit.”

Disra frowned. ”What are you talking about?”

”Don't twist me around, Disra,” Zothip warned. ”Skywalker was at Kauron, asking about your precious clones. Got out of our Jedi trap, and we wound up having to blast and bust.”

”I mourn with you in your loss,” Disra said sarcastically. ”What does this have to do with me?”

”What doesn't it have to do with you?” Zothip shot back. ”First you pull out all your clones-no explanation-and now suddenly Skywalker drops in for a visit.” The pirate's eyes hardened. ”You know what I think? I think you decided you don't need us anymore and pointed Skywalker our direction to try to close us down. What do you say to that?”

”I say I'm looking at a pirate chief who's lost his nerve,” Disra said bluntly. ”What in the Empire would I have to gain by eliminating the Cavrilhu Pirates? Even a.s.suming I could pull off such a feat?”

”You tell me,” Zothip grated. ”I hear Admiral Pellaeon's people have been sniffing around the boots of our financial a.s.sociates on Muunilinst and Borgo Prime. Maybe you're trying to burn your skyarches behind you before he connects us together.”

Disra snorted. ”Let me tell you something. Not only am I not worried about Admiral Pellaeon, neither you nor anyone else in the galaxy has reason to worry about him, either.

Not for long, anyway.”

”Really,” Zothip said, scratching under his s.h.a.ggy black beard. ”I thought good Imperials didn't a.s.sa.s.sinate each other anymore.”

”He's not going to be killed,” Disra a.s.sured him with a smug smile. ”He'll simply stop being a threat, that's all.”

At the side of the desk, Tierce muttered something under his breath and snagged Disra's datapad. ”Yeah, sure, whatever,” Zothip said. ”So then what was Skywalker doing here?”

Disra shrugged, watching Tierce out of the corner of his eye. The other seemed to be writing a message at furious speed. ”Perhaps he identified you during that botched job at Iphigin,” he suggested to Zothip. ”You said yourself that the s.h.i.+ps that drove you away were a YT-1300 and an X-wing. Solo and Skywalker?”

”Could be, I suppose,” the pirate conceded with ill grace. ”He still knew I'd been using your clones.”

Disra waved a hand in dismissal. ”He was hunting shoal darters, Zothip. Trying to make a connection-any connection-between you and the Empire. He doesn't know anything.”

”Maybe nothing about you,” Zothip growled. ”But what about me? He's a Jedi Master, remember? He could have picked up all sorts of dirt from my men.”

”Then you'd better bury yourselves somewhere for a while, hadn't you?” Disra suggested, feeling his patience starting to shred around the edges. He didn't have time for this.

”Someplace where big bad Jedi can't find you.”

Zothip's face darkened. ”Don't try to dismiss me like a child, Disra,” he said, his voice rippling with soft menace. ”Our partners.h.i.+p's been extremely profitable, for both of us.

But you don't want me as your enemy. Trust me on that.”

”That works both directions,” Disra countered. ”Fierce had finished whatever he was writing and had stepped around behind the desk, holding the datapad just over the display where Disra could read it. ”Trust me on that,” the Moff continued, leaning casually forward as he tried to talk and read at the same time. ”There's no reason to end our relations.h.i.+p over something this trivial.”

”Trivial?” Zothip echoed. ”You call the loss of a major base trivial-?”

”Besides, I have another job to offer you,” Disra said, leaning back in his seat again and throwing Tierce a faint smile. Score another one for their master tactician. ”If you're interested, that is.”

Zothip studied Disra's face suspiciously. ”I'm listening.”

”In approximately three weeks Admiral Pellaeon and the Chimera will be leaving Imperial s.p.a.ce for a secret meeting at Pesitiin,” Disra said. ”I want you to attack him there.”

Zothip laughed, a single ranphyx-like bark. ”Right, Disra. Attack an Imperial Star Destroyer with a few Telgorn Pacifiers and maybe a Kaloth battlecruiser or two. Sure, no trouble.”

”I don't mean attack with any intent of doing serious damage,” Disra said patiently. ”All that's necessary is for him to come under fire. You can do that, can't you?”

”I can do it, sure,” Zothip said. ”Question is, why should I?”

”Because I'll pay you twice your usual fee for hara.s.sing New Republic s.h.i.+pping.” Disra let his voice drop to a soft purr. ”And because if you do, the Cavrilhu Pirates will be first in line to reap the rewards when all of this is over.”

”You're expecting there to be enough rewards to be parceled out, are you?”

”More than you can possibly imagine,” Disra a.s.sured him. Zothip snorted. ”You'd be surprised how much I can imagine,” he said. But there was a thoughtful edge to his gaze now. ”Okay, I'll run with this a while longer. Pesitiin, you say?”

”Right,” Disra said. ”One other thing: I want whatever s.h.i.+ps you send against the Chimera to be marked with Corellian insignia.”

”Do you, now,” Zothip said, scratching under his beard again. ”Any particular reason?”

”The same reason I don't care whether or not you actually inflict any damage on him,”

Disra said. Why don't you see if you can figure it out for yourself?”

”I'll do that,” Zothip promised. ”In the meantime, you see if you can figure out how to deposit the fee into our account, all right?”

Disra smiled thinly. ”A pleasure doing business with you, Captain Zothip.”

”As always, Moff Disra,” the other countered. ”I'll be in touch.”

The display blanked. ”Through the proper channels next time, if you please,” Disra muttered toward the empty screen, allowing himself to slump slightly in his seat.

Conversations with Zothip always left him feeling drained. ”At any rate, that should keep him off our backs for a while.”

”As well as performing a useful service for us,” Tierce said, taking the datapad back and blanking it. ”There's another military virtue for you, Flim: never throw away allies until you're absolutely sure you won't need them anymore.”

”We have similar rules in the fringe,” Flim said dryly. ”Not so eloquently put, of course.