[Hand Of Thrawn] - 01(139)

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 spaceship-style bed, with storage compartments filling the space 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 competitor of yours-“

“Keep your voice down,” Karrde growled. “I don’t want the others hearing that name. And Car’das wasn’t a competitor. 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.”

“Oh, that’s comforting,” Calrissian growled. “And all the more reason to get the Caamas issue resolved as quickly as possible. if there’s even half a chance Car’das can help, someone has to go see him.”

“And you’re suggesting I should be that someone?”

“You’re the one who knew him,” Calrissian pointed out.

“That may not be an asset,” Karrde said. “In fact, it could be quite the opposite.”

There was the soft sound of a slightly exasperated sigh. “Look, Karrde, I don’t know what went on between you and Car’das. What I do know is that we’re facing Grand Admiral Thrawn here. And not just us-you’re facing him, too. Don’t forget be specifically said he’d be coming after you.”

“Scare words,” Karrde murmured.

“I don’t remember Thrawn ever relying on scare words the last time,” Calrissian said. “Everything he said was backed up with action. But since you’ve brought up the subject of scare words, what are you so afraid of, anyway?”

There was the sound of footsteps moving toward the window. “You never met Car’das, Lando,” Karrde said quietly. “If you had, you’d understand. In his own way he was more ruthless even than Jabba the Hutt.”