“Well done,” Khabarakh said.
“Yes,” Leia murmured … and finally she understood the odd sensation she’d felt a few minutes ago. “So this is the surprise Cakhmaim promised.”
“Yes,” Khabarakh said. “The Wild Karrde, with your allies Talon Karrde and Mara Jade aboard.” He eyed her, almost furtively. “I trust you are not displeased?”
Leia smiled tightly. Talon Karrde: genteel smuggler chief, onetime ally of the New Republic, considered untrustworthy by the majority of the High Council. Mara Jade: former agent of the Emperor, Karrde’s second-in-command, and aside from Leia herself, Luke’s first attempt at teaching the ways of the Force. Also considered untrustworthy. “No, Khabarakh, I’m not displeased at all,” Leia assured him. “Like the Noghri, I too remember the past.”
***
The Gymsnor squatted in the clearing, canted slightly to one side on a crumpled landing skid, its hatchway open and surrounded by a group of Noghri. “I wouldn’t have believed you could force a ship down like that,” Leia commented, running a critical eye over the freighter. “Not without wrecking half of it in the process.”
Beside her, Talon Karrde shrugged modestly. “Cakhmaim said relatively undamaged,’” he told her. “We do try to please.”
“And you generally succeed,” Leia agreed. A pair of Noghri appeared at the hatchway, conversed briefly with the others standing guard outside, then disappeared back inside. “I’m glad you happened to be on Wayland. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Business,” Karrde told her. “I’ve been experimenting with hiring Noghri to help protect my contact people in some of the more dangerous or unsavory parts of the galaxy.”
Leia frowned. “I hadn’t heard anything about this.”
“We’ve been keeping it quiet,” Karrde said. “I’m not exactly welcome on Coruscant these days; and given your close ties with the Noghri, we didn’t want your reputation and influence damaged by association.”
“I appreciate your concern,” Leia said. “But I can take care of my own reputation, thank you. And as far as New Republic hospitality goes, there are still quite a few of us who haven’t forgotten your part in stopping Grand Admiral Thrawn.”
“I don’t think any of the High Councilors or Senators have actually forgotten,” Karrde countered, an uncharacteristic touch of bitterness seeping into his voice and mood. “The point is that most of them resented my organization’s assistance even at the time we were providing it.”
Leia looked up at him, noting the hard set of his face and the equally hard edge to his emotions. She’d been aware that official ties between Karrde’s smuggler friends and the New Republic had been growing more and more distant over the past few years, but she hadn’t realized he felt this strongly about it. “I’m sorry,” was all she could think of to say. “What can I do to help?”
He waved the offer away, and as he did so the bitterness faded into a kind of wry resignation. “Don’t try;’ he said. “Smugglers are pan of the fringe, just like mercenaries and con men and pirates. Try to defend us, and all you’ll accomplish will be to get muddied alongside us.”
“As I’ve already said, my reputation is my own concern.”
“Besides which,” Karrde continued quietly, “drawing any attention to me at this point would also put the Noghri at risk. Or don’t you think some in the High Council would consider hiring themselves out to a smuggler to be an unacceptable activity?”
Leia grimaced. But he was right, and with the Noghri still under their self-imposed cloud of penance for their years of service to the Empire, the clan dynasts would be extremely sensitive to any such charges. “I’m sorry,” she said again.
“Don’t be,” Karrde advised her. “If the New Republic doesn’t need me, I certainly don’t need it, either. Ah-here we go.”
Leia looked back at the freighter. A new group had exited the hatchway: three Noghri, a sullen-looking Lak Jit, and Mara Jade, her red-gold hair glistening in the sunlight. In her hand was a dirtstained datacard. “Incidentally, what ever happened with Mara’s independent trading company?” Leia asked. “I heard it had failed, but never heard why.”
“It didn’t fail; it was simply closed down,” Karrde said. “Actually, it was never meant to be anything permanent-I wanted her to have some experience running a small company directly, so we set her up with one. All part of the process of grooming her to take over my organization someday.”