[Thrawn Trilogy] - 01(116)

“Over here,” Karrde told him. “Go get a chair and join me.”

“This is okay,” Aves said, coming over beside him and sitting down cross-legged on the ground. “I’ve got to get back to Central pretty soon, anyway.”

“The mystery message?”

“Yeah. What in the worlds was Mara thinking of?”

“I don’t know,” Karrde admitted. “Something clever, though.”

“Probably,” Aves conceded. “I just hope we’re going to be clever enough to decrypt it.”

Karrde nodded. “Did Solo and Calrissian get bedded down all right?”

“They went back to their ship,” Aves said, his voice scowling. “I don’t think they trust us.”

“Under the circumstances, you can hardly blame them.” Karrde reached down to scratch Drang’s head. “Maybe pulling Skywalker’s computer logs tomorrow morning will help convince them we’re on their side.”

“Yeah. Are we?”

Karrde pursed his lips. “We don’t really have a choice anymore, Aves. They’re our guests.”

Aves umphed. “The Grand Admiral isn’t going to be happy.”

Karrde shrugged. “They’re our guests,” he repeated.

In the darkness, he sensed Aves shrug back. He understood, Aves did-understood the requirements and duties of a host. Unlike Mara, who’d wanted him to send the Millennium Falcon away.

He wished now that he’d listened to her. Wished it very much indeed.

“I’ll want you to organize a search party for tomorrow morning,” he told Aves. “Probably futile, all things considered, but it has to be tried.”

“Right. Do we defer to the Imperials in that regard?”

Karrde grimaced to himself. “I doubt if they’ll be doing any more searching. That ship that sneaked out from the Star Destroyer an hour ago looked suspiciously like a stripped-down assault shuttle. My guess is that they’ll set up in Hyllyard City and wait for Mara and Skywalker to come to them.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Aves said. “What if we don’t get to them first?”

“We’ll just have to take them away from the stormtroopers, I suppose. Think you can put a team together for the purpose?”

Aves snorted gently. “Easier done than said. I’ve sat in on a couple of conversations since you made the announcement, and I can tell you that feelings in camp are running pretty strong. Hero of the Rebellion and all that aside, a bunch of our people figure they owe Skywalker big for getting them out of permanent hock to Jabba the Hutt.”

“I know,” Karrde said grimly. “And all that warm enthusiasm could be a problem. Because if we can’t get Skywalker free from the Imperials … well, we can’t let them have him alive.”

There was a long silence from the shadow beside him. “I see,” Aves said at last, very quietly. “It probably won’t make any difference, you know, in what Thrawn suspects.”

“Suspicion is better than unequivocal proof,” Karrde reminded him. “And if we can’t intercept them while they’re still in the forest, it may be the best we’re going to get.”

Aves shook his head. “I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I. But we need to be prepared for every eventuality.”

“Understood.” For another moment Aves sat there in silence. Then, with a grunted sigh, he stood up. “I’d better get back, see if Ghent’s made any progress on Mara’s message.”

“And after that you’d better hit the sack,” Karrde told him. “Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

“Right. Good night.”

Aves left, and once again the soft mixture of forest sounds filled the night air. Sounds that meant a great deal to the creatures who made them but nothing at all to him.

Meaningless sounds …

He shook his head tiredly. What had Mara been trying to do with that opaque message of hers? Was it something simple-something that he or someone else here ought to be able to decrypt with ease?

Or had the lady who always played the sabacc cards close to her chest finally outsmarted herself?

In the distance, a vornskr emitted its distinctive cackle/purr. Beside his chair, Drang lifted his head. “Friend of yours?” Karrde inquired mildly, listening as another vornskr echoed the first’s cry. Sturm and Drang had been wild like that once, before they’d been domesticated.

Just like Mara had been, when he’d first taken her in. He wondered if she would ever be similarly tamed.

Wondered if she would solve this whole problem by killing Skywalker first.

The cackle/purr came again, closer this time. “Come on, Drang,” he told the vornskr, getting to his feet. “Time to go inside.”