Wasn’t it Lando who always insisted that women couldn’t resist a rogue?
That’s why the gambler had grown his mustache, claiming it gave him a rakish, piratical air. Han decided to keep the scar for now. After all, it was a conversation piece … or could be. He pictured himself in some of his favorite haunts on Nar Shaddaa, telling the story to some lovely, fascinated lady….
Next stop, Nar Shaddaa, Han thought. Wonder if Jabba missed me?
10
What Goes Around …
“Away with you!” Durga Besadii Tai rolled his bulbous eyes and motioned the small Ubese chime player to vacate his throne room.
“Enough!” The high-pitched, chaotic notes were pleasant, but did nothing to help him work up the fortitude necessary to do what he had to do.
Month after frustrating month, hour after inconclusive hour …
nothing he had done had brought him any closer to a definitive answer about who had arranged the murder of his beloved parent. Durga had run into a wall as blank as the metal partitions that he now activated to drop from the ceiling and seal off the room from potential eavesdroppers. Tapping his comm unit, Durga grimly activated its privacy field, too. He didn’t want anyone to know what he was about to do. Zier … Osman, his majordomo .
. . no one.
After all his work, all his searching, Durga had been unable to establish even a tenuous link between Aruk’s death and either Teroenza or Desilijic; nor was there any evidence to establish collusion between them.
It was time. The sour churning in his gut grew stronger, and he wriggled a bit to ease the pressure. His tail jerked and twitched, the Hutt equivalent of nervous pacing. I can manage to keep my head out of the noose if I’m just careful enough, he told himself. Even so, the price will be very, very dear. But I can stand the uncertainty no longer….
The privacy field was established, and the walls around him were secure.
Durga ran one final security scan, and turned up no possibility of surveillance or a leak. Activating the comm system, the Hutt lord routed the signal through the most secure channel. Perhaps Xizor will not be there …. he thought, almost hoping.
But it was not to be so simple. The Hutt was routed from one subordinate to another, each more obsequious than the last. Just as Durga was beginning to suspect that this was some kind of run-around, the haze of the transmission coalesced into the translucent figure of the Falleen prince. Xizor’s dusky greenish complexion brightened slightly as he recognized his caller. He smiled affably. Was there a hint of smugness in that smile? Durga told himself not to be paranoid ….
Now that he’d committed himself to this, the Hutt lord wanted to get on with it. He bobbed his head at the Black Sun leader, and said, “Prince Xizor … greetings.”
Xizor smiled, and his eyes, made even more baleful by the light shining through the image, shifted to contemplate the Hutt. “Ah, Lord Durga, my dear friend. So many months have passed … over a Standard Year. Are you well? I was growing worried about you again. To what do I owe the honor of this communication?”
Durga steeled himself. “I am fine, Your Highness. But I still have no definitive proof as to the identity of my father’s murderer. I have considered your offer of assistance in discovering my father’s killer, and would like to accept it now. I wish for you to use your intelligence networks and operatives to either confirm or lay to rest my suspicions.”
“I see …” Xizor said. “This is most unexpected, Lord Durga. I thought you were under a family obligation to discover the killer’s identity yourself?”
“I have tried,” Durga admitted stiffly, hating how Xizor was fencing with him. “Your Highness … you offered Black Sun’s help once before. Now I would like to accept your offer … if the price is right,” Durga added.
Xizor nodded and smiled reassuringly. “Lord Durga … have no fear, I am at your service.”
“I must know who killed Aruk. I will pay your price … within limits.”
Xizor’s smile vanished, and he drew himself up. “Lord Durga, you do me wrong. I want no credits in return, only your friendship.”
The Hutt stared at the image, trying to read the real message through the prince’s verbal sleight-of-hand. “Forgive me, Your Highness, but I suspect you want more than that.”
Xizor sighed. “Ah, my friend, nothing is ever as simple as we would like, is it? Yes, there’s something I would request of you. A simple act of friendship. As head of Clan Besadii, you are privy to the planetary defenses of Nal Hutta. I would like a complete rundown of the weapons and shields, with exact strengths and locations.”