[Hand Of Thrawn] - 01(28)

Tierce turned his gaze onto Disra, the emotional turmoil retreating behind a mask of stone. “Explain,” he said darkly.

“You said yourself the Empire needed a leader,” Disra reminded him. “What better leader could we have than Grand Admiral. Thrawn?”

Slowly, reluctantly, Tierce looked back at the false Grand Admiral. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“As His Excellency told you, my name is Flim.” the other said. His voice was subtly changed, his manner no longer the powerful, almost regal air of a Grand Admiral. Precisely the same transformation, Disra realized suddenly, as the one Tierce himself had gone through a few minutes ago up in the private office, except in reverse.

Perhaps Tierce recognized that, too. “Interesting,” he said, taking a step forward and peering closely at Flim’s face. “It’s uncanny. You look exactly like him.”

“He should,” Disra said. “It took me nearly eight years of searching to find someone who could pull off such a masquerade. I’ve been planning this a long time.”

“So I see.” Tierce gestured. “How do you do the eyes?”

“Surface inserts,” Disra said. “Self-powered to provide the red glow. The rest is just skin and hair coloring, plus a remarkable voice control and natural acting ability.”

“I’ve done many such impersonations,” Flim said. “This is just one more.” He smiled. “Though with considerably greater potential for reward.”

“It’s remarkable,” Tierce said, looking back at Disra. “There’s only one problem. Thrawn is dead, and everyone knows it.”

Disra lifted his eyebrows. “Ah, but do they? He was reported dead, certainly, but that may or may not mean anything at all. Perhaps he was merely comatose from Rukh’s knife wound. Perhaps he was taken to some secret place where he has spent the long years in recovery.” He nodded toward Flim. “Or perhaps it was actually an impostor like Flim who died on the Chimaera’s bridge. You said you were expecting an attack on him at Bilbringi; perhaps Thrawn was, too, and made private arrangements of his own.”

Tierce snorted. “Farfetched.”

“Of course,” Disra agreed. “But that doesn’t matter. All we need to do is present Thrawn, and wishful thinking will do the rest. The entire Empire will rush to believe in him, from Admiral Pellaeon on down.”

“Is that your plan, then?” Tierce asked. “To present the Grand Admiral to Pellaeon, reinstate him aboard the Chimaera, and use him as a rallying point for the Empire?”

“Basically,” Disra said, frowning. “Why?”

For a moment Tierce was silent “You said you had other resources besides the Braxant Sector Fleet,” he said. “What are they?”

Disra glanced at Flim. But the con man was merely looking interestedly at Tierce. “I have an arrangement with the Cavrilhu Pirates,” he told the Guardsman. “They’re a large and highly sophisticated group working out of-“

“I’m familiar with Captain Zothip’s gang,” Tierce said. “Not particularly sophisticated, to my mind, but certainly large enough. What sort of arrangement?”

“One of interlocking interests,” Disra said. “I use Imperial Intelligence reports to locate useful New Republic shipments, which Zothip then attacks. He gets whatever booty he can; we get further destabilization of our enemy.”

“And a share of the SoroSuub Preybirds being turned out by Zothip’s production line?” Tierce suggested.

Disra pursed his lips. Either Tierce knew a great deal more than he should about the Moff’s secrets, or he was a lot sharper than Disra had expected. Either way, he wasn’t sure he liked it. “We’re getting all the Preybirds, actually,” he said. “Zothip has all the starfighters he needs.”

“How are you paying for them?”

“With the kind of expert assistance Zothip can’t get anywhere else,” Disra said, favoring the other with a sly smile. “I’m loaning him some very special warrior-advisers: groups of Thrawn’s own Mount Tantiss clones.”

He had the satisfaction of seeing Tierce’s jaw drop a fraction. “There are still some of them left?”

“There are whole nests of them left,” Disra told him sourly. “Our clever little Grand Admiral scattered groups all over the New Republic under deep cover. What he intended to do with them I don’t know; there wasn’t anything in his records specifically concerning-“

“You found Thrawn’s records?” Tierce cut him off. “His personal records, I mean?”