[Hand Of Thrawn] - 01(49)

“I won’t hold my breath,” Karrde said. “We’ll do this on account, then. We can set the price later.”

“You’re all heart.”

“I know,” Karrde said. “Who shall I report to, you or Luke?”

“Better make it me,” Han said. “Luke may be out of touch; he’s gone off on a little pirate hunt of his own.”

“Really,” Karrde said, frowning. “Who’s he going after, if I may ask?”

“The Cavrilhu gang. He got the location of one of their bolt-holes from New Republic Intelligence-it’s an asteroid cluster in the Kauron system-and he decided to sneak in and take a look around.”

“I see,” Karrde said. “Too late to call him back, I suppose?”

“Probably,” Han said. “Don’t worry, Luke can take care of himself.”

“That wasn’t the part I was worried about,” Karrde said. “I was thinking more along the lines that his sudden appearance might chase them underground where we can’t get at them at all.”

“Well, if they scare that easily, they can’t be much of a threat, can they?” Han suggested.

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.” Karrde paused, and a shadow seemed to pass over his face. “Speaking of Luke, how is he doing these days?”

Han studied the smuggler, trying to decipher his suddenly changed expression. “All right, I guess,” he said cautiously. “Why?”

“A feeling,” Karrde said. “Mara’s been oddly restive lately, and seemed a bit touchy for a while after we ran into Leia on Wayland. I thought it might have something to do with him.”

“Funny you should bring that up,” Han said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “I got that same feeling about Luke the last time I mentioned Mara to him. Coincidence?”

“Perhaps,” Karrde said. “On the other hand, they’re both rather strong in the Force. Maybe there’s something going on there that they’re both sensing.”

“Could be,” Han said slowly. Though that wouldn’t explain the other stuff Luke seemed to have been going through at Iphigin. Would it? “These clones, maybe?”

Karrde shrugged. “I’ll try to talk to her about it. Maybe find a way to get the two of them together.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while since they’ve talked,” Han agreed. “I’ll try to work on Luke at this end when he gets back.”

“Good,” Karrde said. “In the meantime, I’d better get on this pirate matter. Tell Leia good-bye for me, if you would, and tell her I’ll be in touch.”

“Sure,” Han said. “Happy hunting.”

Karrde smiled, and the display went blank.

Han leaned back in his chair, gazing darkly at nothing in particular. Caamas. It was, as he’d said to Karrde, all that the New Republic needed right now.

Because it wasn’t just Caamas, though Caamas by itself was certainly bad enough. The bigger problem was that dragging Caamas back into the light again was going to dredge up memories of a thousand other atrocities that had been inflicted by one group or another over the years. Old grudges, old feuds, old conflicts&mdashthe galaxy was riddled with them. It was what had made it possible for people like Karrde-and him and Chewie, for that matter-to make a good living at smuggling. There were so many sides of s o many conflicts for smugglers to sell stuff to.

For the last couple of decades the need for a common resistance to the Empire had kept most of those resentments buried under the surface. But not anymore. The Imperial threat was so small now as to be laughable. If this Caamas thing got all those old problems boiling to the surface again …

He started as the door to his left hissed open. “Hi,” Leia said softly as she came into the room.

“Oh. Hi,” Han said, scrambling to his feet and throwing a belated look at the intercom display. Engrossed first with Karrde and then with his own thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed Leia’s guests departing. “Sorry-I got distracted.”

“That’s all right,” Leia said, stepping into his arms for a quick hug.

Or not so quick. She remained there, pressing close to him, holding him tightly. “I just talked to Karrde,” Han said, her hair tickling his lips. “He told me what you found out about Caamas.”

“We’re in trouble, Han,” Leia said, her voice muffled by his shirt. “They don’t realize it yet, most of them. But this could be the biggest threat the New Republic has ever faced. It could literally tear us apart.”

“It’ll be okay,” Han soothed her, feeling just a tiny bit smug despite the seriousness of the moment. Most of the Senators in there hadn’t spotted the danger of the Caamas thing, but he had. “We got through that Almania rebellion okay, didn’t we?”