Part 39 (1/2)

Karrde shrugged. ”I didn't expect them to be quite so upset about it, either,” he said.

”Of course, to be fair, I didn't know about Thrawn until this evening.”

Shada shook her bead. ”It's hard to believe he survived.”

”Agreed,” Karrde said. ”On the other hand, it's equally hard to believe the Empire would pull a dangerous stunt like this purely as a bluff. Either Thrawn's really back, or somebody somewhere has a Pure 23 hidden in his vest.”

Shada seemed to ponder that. ”Suppose this Thrawn is actually just a clone,” she said.

”Would it be as skilled as the original?”

”I suppose it would depend on how much of his tactical ability was innate and how much was learned.” Karrde considered. ”And whether or not they used a flash-teaching imprint taken from Thrawn's own mind, and how good the pattern was. I just don't know.”

”Because if they have one clone of Thrawn, why not fifty?” Shada went on. ”And if they have fifty clones of Thrawn, why not a hundred clones of that crazy Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth, too?”

Karrde winced. That last possibility hadn't even occurred to him. ”Why not, indeed?”

Shada didn't pick up on his rhetorical question, and a dark silence descended on the airspeeder. Karrde flew mechanically, not really seeing Coruscant's magnificent horizon-to-horizon lights.

Or rather, seeing the total destruction of those lights superimposed on his view. Thrawn had threatened such destruction the last time he attacked the planet. This time, he might actually do it.

They were descending toward the rea.s.suring bulk of the Wild Karrde when Shada spoke again.

”So who's this Jorj Car'das we're looking for?”

With an effort, Karrde shook off the vision of a circle of Star Destroyers closing in on him. ”He's someone who used to be in the same business I am,” he told her. ”Probably still is, actually.”

”But not a compet.i.tor?” she prompted.

”You were certainly paying attention in there,” he complimented her. ”Incidentally, just out of curiosity, where in the bedroom were you hiding? I didn't notice any place where anyone bigger than a Noghri could have been tucked away.”

”I was on the floor, between the back bed and the wall,” she said. ”A gap like that always looks smaller than it really is. If Car'das wasn't a compet.i.tor, what was he?”

Karrde threw her a smile. ”Persistent, too. I like that in my people.”

”Delighted to hear it,” she said. ”If he wasn't a compet.i.tor, what was be?”

Ahead, the Wild Karrde's hangar door was sliding open to receive them. ”Ask me on the way into the Exocron system,” he told her. ”a.s.suming we make it that far.”

Shada snorted under her breath. ”So, what, you're asking me to risk my life on nothing but your word?”

”You don't have to come,” Karrde said mildly. ”If you want to leave right now, you're free to do so.”

She looked away from him. ”Thanks for the permission. I'll stay.”

The airspeeder settled with a m.u.f.fled dunk into its slot in the Wild Karrde's hangar. ”As you choose,” Karrde said as be shut down the engines. ”Out of curiosity, why exactly did you leave Mazzic?”

She twisted her shoulders out of the restraints. ”Ask me on the way out of the Exocron system,” she said sardonically. ”a.s.suming we make it that far.”

Without waiting for a response she popped her door and dropped feetfirst onto the deck.

”I'm sure some of us will,” Karrde murmured, watching as she threaded her way between the other vehicles toward the exit.

The only question was which ones.

CHAPTER 23.

This time, the alarm didn't come in the middle of dessert. It came instead in the middle of the night.

Wedge jerked awake, hand flailing for a cutoff switch that wasn't where it was supposed to be. His knee twitched to the side, coming up short against something solid; and as the brief stab of pain jolted him fully awake, he remembered where he was. As per orders-and one of General Bel Iblis's hunches-he and the rest of Rogue Squadron were sleeping in their X-wings.

From the sound of the alarm still blaring away, the general's hunch had apparently paid off.

He slapped at the alarm switch, hitting it this time, and keyed the comm. ”Antilles,” he snapped.

”Full scramble,” Commander Perris's voice snapped back. ”We've got a panic call in from Bothawui.”

”Terrific,” Wedge muttered, hitting his engine prestart. Trust the Bothans to ruin a good night's sleep. ”Okay, Rogues, you all heard the man. Let's get em in the air.”

There was a chorus of acknowledgments, and the whine of engine prestarts began to fill their corner of the Di'tai'ni Diplomatic Landing Circle. Someone wearing a maintenance coverall-a Trintic, probably, though it was hard to tell in the dim light-was lumbering across the field toward the X-wings, gesturing frantically at this no doubt unauthorized noise. Wedge gestured him back and keyed in his repulsorlifts. ”What is it, another Clan Building riot?”

”Get a good grip on your helmet,” Perris said grimly. ”According to the Bothans, a Leresen attack force is on the way.”

Wedge blinked. ”A Leresen attack force?”

”That's what they say,” the fighter coordinator confirmed. ”A full-cla.s.s war fleet, and don't ask me what their problem is.”

”Pick one,” Rogue Three grumbled. ”There are so many reasons nowadays to hate the Bothans.”

”Let's not sink to the lowest divisory here,” Wedge admonished. The X-wings were all in the air now, forming up around Wedge as they pulled for s.p.a.ce. ”Perris, where's the general?”

”He's on his way up,” Perris said. ”C'taunmar and her A-wings are flying escort for his shuttle, just in case. We're going to be a few minutes behind you, though, and he said for you to go on ahead.”

”And do what?” Rogue Five asked. ”Bluff the Leresai until you get there?”

”Sure,” Perris said dryly. ”Unless, of course, the dazzling Rogue Squadron reputation routs them completely.”

”Oh, yeah, right,” Rogue Five came back, just as dryly. ”Isn't it lucky for the Bothans that we and our dazzling reputation just happen to be only two systems away from them?”

Wedge frowned. It was lucky, now that he thought about it. Suspiciously lucky, in fact.

”Perris, can you pull the original order that brought us here?” he asked.

”Already pulled,” p.e.n.i.s said. ”According to Coruscant, the Di'tai'ni government specifically asked for General Bel Iblis to mediate this dispute with their resident non-Tai'ni workers.”

”Any idea whether the Di'tai'ni government owes favors or large amounts of money to the Bothan government?” Rogue Nine asked.