[Bounty Hunter Wars] - 03(110)

Which meant-for now, at least-concealing exactly how much she had remembered of her own past. Until she could be sure of Kodir’s connection to it.

“You’re better off here with me.” Kodir had taken her hand away; she turned and walked back to the chair. “It’s … safer that way.”

Safer for whom? wondered Neelah. “Where are we going?” She asked that question aloud, watching as Kodir rested one hand on the chair’s curved back and raised her gaze to the private quarters’ ceiling, as though deep in thought.

“Where?” Kodir glanced over her shoulder. “Shouldn’t you have guessed that by now? We’re going to that place that you most want to arrive at, the place where all your answers are waiting for you.”

“You mean, we’re going to Kuat?” The words slipped out of Neelah’s mouth before she could stop them.

Kodir’s brow creased as she studied Neelah for a moment. Then she smiled. “Very near there,” said Kodir. “So close, you’d almost be able to reach out and touch the world of Kuat-if that’s what you meant. But there’s another Kuat-a man, Kuat of Kuat-and we won’t be seeing him just yet. There’s a little more business that needs to be taken care of before that can happen. And then both of you will be in for a bit of a surprise.”

Neelah listened, but did not reply. But inside her, the twin strands of caution and suspicion grew and knotted around each other.

“You were correct in your suspicions, sir.” The comm specialist made his report to Kuat of Kuat. “There has been another person added to the Rebel Alliance fleet currently above our facility. Nonmilitary, but of considerably high rank, from what we’ve been able to determine; possibly of negotiating attache level.”

Kuat sat near the bank of transparisteel overlooking

the

KDY construction docks. Stroking the silken fur of the felinx curled in his lap, he had listened to the report without turning to look at the comm specialist. “When did this attache arrive?”

“About six minutes ago, sir. Commander Rozhdenst personally smuggled in the attache-or attempted to, but our spy units managed to penetrate their operation without them knowing. Both Rozhdenst and this attache-the name is Wonn Uzalg, from what we’ve been able to determine-are currently aboard the base station unit.”

“Indeed,” said Kuat. The felinx murmured beneath his gently moving hand. “And do we have access to what’s going on in there?”

The comm specialist smiled. “Excellent access, sir. From this close a range, we had no problem sending out a micro-probe unit with stealth auguring capabilities. It’s already penetrated the base unit’s hull and tapped into the interior monitoring circuits. We can hear everything that’s said in there.”

“Very good; I commend you and your staff on the quality of your work.” Kuat gave no compliment beyond that, but he felt an undeniable measure of gratitude toward the comm specialist, and to the other personnel of Kuat Drive Yards. Their loyalty was still unquestioned. “And what is being said at this moment?”

“Not much,” admitted the comm specialist. “Or at least nothing that our security analysts feel is significant. Both Rozhdenst and this attache Uzalg appear to be waiting for the arrival of another person, with whom they’ll be having some kind of meeting.”

“And do we know,” said Kuat of Kuat patiently, “who that ‘other person’ is?” Both his gut instinct and logic told him it had to be someone important; the Scavenger Squadron’s commander wouldn’t have gone to the effort of sneaking in a Rebel Alliance attache if the individual in question was some nonentity.

“That’s the critical part, sir.” The comm specialist stood with his hands clasped behind the back of his standard-issue, insignia-less overalls. “And that’s why I thought it best to make this report to you personally, rather than routing it through the usual security division channels.” He hesitated nervously for a moment. “It’s possible-but unlikely-that Rozhdenst discovered the bug device we’ve managed to place aboard their base station, and that he and Uzalg are using it to feed us false information. As I indicated, our own analysts feel there’s little chance that the micro-probe has been found yet; it didn’t trip any of the base unit’s perimeter alarms. So there’s a definite probability that Rozhdenst and the Rebel Alliance attache are indeed waiting for the person whose name we’ve overheard in their conversation so far.”

Kuat swiveled the chair about and regarded the comm specialist. “And what name is that?”