[Bounty Hunter Wars] - 03(111)

Another fraction of a second passed before the comm specialist spoke. “It’s Kodir of Kuhlvult, sir. That’s who it appears they’re waiting for. And she’s on her way; we’ve picked up the approach signals from the cruiser she’s aboard.”

“Kodir?” One hand froze where it had been scratching behind the felinx’s ear. “That’s impossible. Our analysts must have misunderstood what Commander Rozhdenst and the Rebel Alliance attache said … or there’s something wrong with the bug you’ve planted.” Kuat shook his head firmly. “There’s simply no way that Kodir could be rendezvousing with them. Not without notifying me first.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” The comm specialist stood his ground. “The facts remain. Our analysts did a thorough spectral breakdown of the signals we recorded from the base station probe. And there’s no other interpretation of the data: the person that Rozhdenst and the attache said they’re waiting for is Kodir of Kuhlvult.”

“And her cruiser is presently on its way here?” “Either here, sir-or to the Scavenger Squadron’s base station.”

“Establish a comm unit hookup with her. Immediately,” ordered Kuat of Kuat. “I need to speak with her now.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, sir.”

“And why not?”

“We’ve already attempted raising Kodir’s cruiser on both the secured and unsecured transceiving bands.” The comm specialist gave an apologetic shrug. “The communications equipment seems to be working-we know that the cruiser received our signals-but Kodir has apparently given orders to her own crew not to respond. They’re effectively maintaining link silence-or at least they have been since their last transmission, which we just managed to detect before the micro-probe bug was activated. That transmission was to the Scavenger Squadron base station.”

The felinx stirred beneath Kodir’s hands; it could sense its master’s tension.

“Sir?” A few moments had passed in silence. “Do you have orders for us?”

Deep inside Kuat, his brooding thoughts had grown darker. “Yes,” he said slowly. “I’ll need to speak to the a-foreman and B-supervisors out in the construction docks. It’s time…”

The comm specialist frowned in puzzlement. “Sir? Time for what?”

“Don’t worry.” Kuat closed his eyes as he stroked the soft fur of the felinx. “Everything will be all right. You’ll see…”





17


“This is very serious,” said the Rebel Alliance attache. “We’re indeed grateful that you brought it to our attention.”

“Sometimes,” replied Kodir of Kuhlvult, “one has to do what’s right. No matter what the cost might be to oneself.”

The three figures-Kodir, the attache Wonn Uzalg, and

Commander Rozhdenst-sat circling an improvised conference table aboard the Scavenger Squadron’s mobile base unit. The table was little more than a durasteel access panel that had been taken off its hinges and laid flat across a pair of plastoid shipping crates that had once held foam-wrapped weaponry fuses. In the center of the bare metal sat a glossy black, rectangular object; its contents had been extracted as well, and run through the portable data scanners that Uzalg had brought with him from Alliance headquarters. A hard-copy printout on several sheets of flimsiplast detailed the atmospheric sampling and olfactory bio-analysis that had been broken out of the spy device that had originally contained the evidence.

“Of course, it’s obviously fabricated.” Uzalg’s hairless skull was reflected in the black container’s sheen. “There’s no question about that.”

“What the attache is saying”-Commander Rozhdenst made a dismissive gesture at the items on the conference table-“is that there’s no way anybody in the Rebel Alliance is going to believe that the late Prince Xizor had anything to do with this Imperial stormtrooper raid that this thing caught.” One corner of his mouth curled downward as he shook his head. “The responsibility for that particular raid has been established beyond a shadow of a doubt. It all came direct from Darth Vader’s personal command. Our own information sources, both within the Empire and the Black Sun, have confirmed that. Xizor had nothing to do with it.”

“That does seem to be the case.” Uzalg spoke much more calmly and soothingly than the Scavenger Squadron commander; Kodir could understand how he had risen to a high diplomatic position

inside

the

Alliance. “Nevertheless, this evidence-no matter how fraudulent it is in essence-still has some significance for us.”