Part 36 (2/2)

”And never more than a small fraction of the Empire fighting against us,” Lando pointed out, his eyes on Karrde. ”I don't think we realized back then just how much of their energy was going to keeping all these little planetary vendettas and rivalries from blowing up in their faces. Now we're in that same situation, and in my opinion, we simply don't have the resources available to take on whatever Thrawn has planned.”

”That of course depends on what he has planned,” Karrde said. He was eyeing Lando closely, Han noticed suddenly. As closely as Lando was eyeing him. ”So what do you suggest as your next move?”

”Our next move,” Lando said, leaning on the word, ”is to get this blasted Caamas issue out of the way so we can focus on Thrawn. And that means finding out exactly who the guilty Bothans were.”

”That could be a problem,” Karrde said, his voice studiously calm. ”As far as I know, the Imperials have only two complete sets of records left-one at the Ubiqtorate base at Yaga Minor, the other at the current Imperial capital on Bastion.”

”I don't suppose you'd happen to know where Bastion is,” Leia said.

”I'm afraid not,” Karrde said, glancing at her and then returning his attention to Lando.

”Bastion's proper name is one secret the Imperials have managed to keep.”

”I wasn't necessarily talking about the Imperials,” Lando said. ”I was thinking someone else might have the records we're looking for.”

Han blinked at Lando. Suddenly the other's insistence that he join them here tonight for their talk with Karrde was taking on a whole new dimension. ”You mean that Karrde-?”

”I don't have the records, Calrissian,” Karrde said. ”If I did, I'd have offered them to you long before now.”

”I know that,” Lando said, his voice heavy with significance. ”I was referring to a different source entirely.”

”Who also probably doesn't have them,” Karrde said coldly.

Lando's expression didn't change. ”But who might.”

For a pair of heartbeats the two men continued to gaze at each other. Han threw a frown at Leia, saw his same puzzlement mirrored in her own face. ”Is there something here we need to know about?” he asked carefully.

”No,” Lando said. ”Or maybe I should say not yet.”

”Leia, Calrissian and I need to have a short talk,” Karrde said, getting abruptly to his feet. ”Is there a place where we can have some privacy?”

”You can use the boys' bedroom,” Leia said, pointing down the hallway. ”Last door on the left.”

”Thank you.” Karrde gestured Lando to the hallway. ”After you, Calrissian.”

Shada had added an extra anchor to her safety line about two meters above her, on the a.s.sumption that if and when the Noghri got reinforcements up to the rooftop they might simply cut the line without bothering to haul her up first for the formality of questioning. Now, dangling a hundred meters above the ground, she eased her low-light eyepiece around the edge of the darkened window beside her and peered inside.

It was a child's bedroom-a children's bedroom, she corrected herself, spotting the second bed pushed against the far wall. Currently unoccupied; and since none of the three Solo children had followed their parents out of the airspeeder, it was reasonable to a.s.sume the room would stay that way.

Replacing the eyepiece into its jumpsuit pocket, she pulled out one of her three Zana M6W-9 molecular stilettos and extended its invisibly slender blade. Like a lightsaber, a molecular stiletto could cut through nearly anything. Unlike a lightsaber, though, the Zana's blade was incredibly delicate. A quick thrust against an a.s.sailant nearly always resulted in a broken blade-along with a dead a.s.sailant, of course-and even the most painstakingly careful cutting job was as likely as not to end up ruining t he tool.

Fortunately, the task facing her wasn't going to be large enough to push the odds. With most buildings on Coruscant she would have had to cut away an entire window to get inside, but the Orowood's designers had incorporated traditional Alderaanian swing-out panels to allow for free air flow. All she had to do was maneuver the stiletto blade between the panels and slice through the catch, and she would be in.

After, of course, finding and disabling whatever alarms the Noghri had installed.

That task turned out to be easier than she'd expected. The window carried only a single alarm, ranged to watch for incoming airspeeders. Apparently, it hadn't occurred to the Noghri that someone might be crazy enough to rappel down from the rooftop the way she had.

Though of course, to be fair, they had put a guard up there.

Two minutes later she was inside the darkened room, pulling the window closed behind her and listening bard. There were the usual soft mechanical noises of any modern dwelling, along with the m.u.f.fled sounds of conversation coming from elsewhere in the apartment. The words were impossible to decipher through the closed door, but she could hear at least four distinct voices.

She stood just inside the door, frowning with sudden indecision. She'd seen Solo and Organa Solo and their droid arrive in their T-81, and had spotted Calrissian waiting for them; but who was the fourth voice? Some random friend who'd happened to drop in? Hardly.

A business a.s.sociate of Calrissian's? Maybe, except that he'd been skulking alone in the shadows before the Solos arrived.

One thing was sure: given how furtive all three of them had been behaving outside, this was clearly a meeting they'd taken great pains to keep secret. A meeting she doubted any of them would appreciate being crashed by a total stranger.

Abruptly she tensed. The conversation had paused, and in its place was a new sound.

Footsteps. Heading her direction.

She was across the room in four quick strides, kneeling beside the bed by the far wall. It was a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p-style bed, with storage compartments filling the s.p.a.ce beneath the mattress itself. But she hadn't planned on hiding under it anyway. Getting a grip on the storage handles, she pulled.

There must have been a lot of junk in those drawers: even with Mistryl-honed muscles behind the tug the bed moved barely twenty-five centimeters away from the wall. But it would be enough; and at any rate, with the footsteps already paused outside her door, it would have to do. Lunging up from her kneeling position, she half dived, half rolled across the bed and slid silently down on her side into the narrow gap.

She just made it. Even as her shoulder and hip settled against the cool floor the bedroom door slid open and two sets of footsteps came inside. The glow panel blazed on, and the door closed again.

”We had an agreement, Calrissian,” an unidentified male voice said. Unidentified, yet definitely familiar. Shada searched her memory&mdash ”Which I haven't broken,” Calrissian said, his voice sounding a little defensive.

”Really?” the other voice asked coldly. ”You've as good as told them there's a secret here. Do you think either of them needs more than that to gather their little shovels together and start digging?”

-and then abruptly the memory clicked. It was the smuggler chief, Talon Karrde.

”Frankly, Karrde, I think they've both got more important things to worry about right now,” Calrissian said tartly. ”And to be honest, I never understood why you were so obsessed about secrecy on this thing in the first place. So Jorj Car'das was once a compet.i.tor of yours-”

”Keep your voice down,” Karrde growled. ”I don't want the others hearing that name. And Car'das wasn't a compet.i.tor. He was something else entirely.”

”Fine,” Calrissian said. ”Whatever. The point is that we can't afford the luxury of silly games anymore. Not with-”

”Silly games?” Karrde cut him off. ”Calrissian, you have no idea what you're talking about.”

”I know exactly what I'm talking about,” Calrissian retorted. ”I'm talking about the genius who came this close to taking down the whole New Republic ten years ago. Whatever Thrawn's got planned, he has to be counting on the Caamas issue to keep us divided.”

Shada felt her breath catch in her throat. Whatever Thrawn had planned? But Thrawn was dead.

Wasn't he?

”Thank you for the historical review,” Karrde said. ”I was there, if you'll remember.

Let's not act like the whole New Republic's on the edge of desperation and collapse, though, all right?”

”Are you sure we're not?” Calrissian countered. ”After all this time, do you really think Thrawn would have shown himself if he wasn't ready to pounce?”

”If he intends to pounce,” Karrde argued. ”There are many other things he could be planning besides an overt attack.”

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