[Hand Of Thrawn] - 01(36)

It was something to think about.





CHAPTER


6 She was short, she was furry, she was loud, and she was determined to sell him a melon. “Sorry,” Wedge Antilles said, moving away as best he could in the press of the crowded Morishim marketplace, holding his hands palms outward in front of him. “Not interested in wk’ou melons today, thanks.”

Either the female Morish didn’t understand Basic or else she wasn’t ready. to concede defeat quite yet. She followed along with him behind her produce table, paralleling his retreat, thrusting the double-bulbous, pale red melon toward him and jabbering away nonstop in her own language. “Not today,” Wedge repeated firmly, looking around and trying to catch a glimpse of any of his Rogue Squadron teammates in the crowd of shoppers. Janson and Tycho were supposed to know a little of the Morish language, but neither of them was anywhere to be seen.

But there was a gap freshly opened up in the pedestrian traffic pattern beside him. “Maybe tomorrow,” he called to the wk’ou seller, and made his escape.

“For a big bad X-wing warrior, you’re sure rotten at saying no,” Janson’s voice said from behind him.

“I didn’t buy it, did I?” Wedge countered, turning to face his grinning teammate. “Where were you when I needed you?”

“Oh, I caught most of the show,” Janson said, grinning a little wider. “I especially liked the part where you gave her that palms-outward sign.”

Wedge felt his eyes narrow. “That doesn’t mean no’ here?”

“Not quite,” Janson said, clearly enjoying himself. “It means you don’t want it at that price but that she might want to try a better offer.”

“Oh, well, thanks for telling me that going in,” Wedge growled. “No wonder she wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“It’s a big galaxy,” Janson said philosophically. “There’s so much out there to learn. Come on-I ran into an old friend of yours over here.”

“As long as he doesn’t try to sell me something,” Wedge grumbled as Janson led the way through the shoppers. “Any word from the base?”

“Hardly,” Janson said over his shoulder. “The meeting only started half an hour ago. With a general of Bel Iblis’s standing, they probably haven’t even gotten through the preliminary compliments yet. Here we go. Hey-General!”

A few people away a distinguished-looking man in a black cloak turned around&mdash

“Well, well,” Wedge said, easing through the passersby and offering his hand. “General Calrissian.”

“It’s just plain Calrissian now,” Lando Calrissian corrected, tucking the wk’ou melon he was carrying. under one arm and gripping Wedge’s hand. “My military days are long behind me. Good to see you again, Wedge.”

“You, too,” Wedge said. “What are you doing in this part of the galaxy?”

“Hoping for a chance to talk to General Bel Iblis,” Lando said, nodding his head back toward the pyramidal launch towers of the New Republic Starfighter Base rising up behind the city. “We have got to do something about the pirate activity we’ve been getting out near Varn.”

“Been hitting your ore shipments, have they?” Wedge asked.

“That, and scaring away potential customers,” Lando said. “I don’t know if you knew I added a casino and observation gallery to the Deep Pockets.”

“Sounds like a really big draw,” Janson said dryly.

“You’d be surprised how interesting underwater mining is to watch,” Lando told him. “Actually, at full capacity the casino could probably pay the overhead for the whole operation all by itself. But not if everyone’s afraid to come there.”

“Pirate gangs have been coming out of the stonework just about everywhere,” Wedge agreed. “Even in the Core systems. Have you tried talking to Coruscant?”

“Till my voice gave out,” Lando said sourly. “Didn’t gain me a thing. The bureaucratic bit-sorters there are as bad as the ones we had under the Empire.”

Janson snorted. “Some of them are the same ones.”

“This latest policy reorganization should help,” Wedge said, trying to steer the conversation away from what was a permanent sore point for him and his Rogue Squadron comrades. “Shifting the bulk of political power back down to system and sector levels is definitely the way to go. The Empire already proved the centralized approach doesn’t work.”

He looked up at the clear blue sky overhead. “Funny, isn’t it, how things wind up. I remember when being in a system this close to the edge of Imperial space meant you slept in your X-wing. Instead, here we are, strolling along like we were on Svivren or Ord Mantell.”