[Hand Of Thrawn] - 01(14)

Other Noghri settlements on Wayland had transported their ancient clan dukhas from Honoghr, making them the honored focal points of their villages on this world just as they had been back home. But the Mount Tantiss settlement had a specific mission to perform; and part of that mission was to never forget what the Empire and Emperor had taken from the Noghri people. Their clan center, freshly built from local lumber and stone, was a permanent and graphic reminder of that loss.

The dukha door was flanked by a pair of straight-backed Noghri children, performing their door-warder duties with the seriousness of generations of custom and ritual. One of them pulled open the door, and Cakhmaim and Leia stepped inside.

The clan center consisted of a single large room, roofed with heavy wooden beams, with walls on which the history and genealogy of the settlement had begun to be carved. Two-thirds of the way back was the throne-like High Seat, the only chair in the room.

And seated on the floor at the foot of the High Seat, dressed in dirtstained clothing, was a Devaronian. “Ah,” he said, favoring Cakhmaim with a thin smile as he got to his feet. “My kindly host. I hope you brought food; I am beginning to get hungry.” He shifted his attention to Leia. “And you, I take it, are the wandering decision-maker I was promised?”

“This is New Republic High Councilor Leia Organa Solo,” Cakhmaim identified her, his voice edged with knives. “You will speak to her with respect.”

“Of course,” the Devaronian said dryly, touching the rightmost of his two forehead horns with the fingertips of his right hand. “I would never speak otherwise to an official of the New Republic.”

“Of course not,” Leia said, matching his tone as she stretched out toward him with the Force. Male Devaronians were avid travelers and a common sight in the spaceports of the galaxy, but there had been few if any of them in the Rebel Alliance and she had never had much personal contact with the species. “And your name?” she asked, trying to get a reading on his thoughts and emotions.

“I am Lak Jit, Councilor. A simple seeker of knowledge and truth.”

Leia smiled. “Of course,” she said, focusing a bit harder on his thoughts. There was no change she could detect that would indicate a lie, but given her unfamiliarity with the species that didn’t mean much. More than likely it was no more than a bending or embellishment of the truth, anyway. “Tell me about this dispute, Cakhmaim.”

“This alien was discovered near Mount Tantiss by one of the cleansing teams,” Cakhmaim said, his gaze hard on the Devaronian. “He had been digging through the soil in the fault line area and had found six datacards. When the team attempted to take them from him, he claimed possession under the Debble Agreement.”

“Really,” Leia said, eyeing the Devaronian with new interest. The Debble Agreement was a slice-of-the-moment compromise deal she’d worked out between the Noghri cleansing teams, who had sworn to eradicate every memory of the Emperor’s presence on Wayland, and Garv Debble, a New Republic archaeologist who had insisted that items plundered from other worlds should be returned to their proper owners. The agreement had been informal and reasonably private, hardly something a casual treasure hunter would know about. “Tell me, Lak Jit, how did you come to know about the Debble Agreement?”

“Quite honestly, Councilor, I assure you,” the Devaronian said. “I am associated with a human who I believe has had some dealings with the New Republic. Talon Karrde.”

“I see,” Leia said, keeping her voice and face expressionless. To say that Talon Karrde had had dealings with the New Republic was to vastly understate the case. Smuggler chief and information broker, with an organization that stretched across the known galaxy , Karrde had reluctantly thrown in with the New Republic during the massive Imperial counteroffensive led by Grand Admiral Thrawn. More than that, he’d put together an unlikely coalition of fellow smugglers that had played a significant role in stopping Thrawn’s advance and ultimately defeating him. The coalition had drifted apart over the years, but Leia had made an effort to keep somewhat in touch with Karrde himself.

A presence brushed at the back of her mind, and she turned as Jacen came into the room. “Mom, when are we going to the mountain?” he asked, throwing an incurious look at the Devaronian. “You said we’d be going to see the mountain after the other tour.”

“We’ll go soon, honey,” Leia said. “Just a little business to clear up first.”

Jacen frowned. “I thought we weren’t going to have any business here.”