[Thrawn Trilogy] - 01(15)

“I’m sure Thrawn has some ideas as to the mechanics of it,” Karrde assured her. “Dankin and Chin will know how to poke around for details.”

Her eyes seemed strangely hooded. “Yes,” she muttered, her voice conceding defeat. “I’m sure they will.”

“And in the meantime,” Karrde said, pretending not to notice, “we still have business to discuss. As I recall, you were going to list some improvements you would make in the organization.”

“Yes.” Mara took another deep breath, closing her eyes … and when she opened them again she was back to her usual cool self. “Yes. Well-“

Slowly at first, but with ever-increasing confidence, she launched into a detailed and generally insightful compendium of his group’s shortcomings. Karrde listened closely as he ate, wondering again at the hidden talents of this woman. Someday, he promised himself silently, he was going to find a way to dig the details of her past out from under the cloak of secrecy she’d so carefully shrouded it with. To find out where she’d come from, and who and what she was.

And to learn exactly what it was Luke Skywalker had done to make her so desperately hate him.





Chapter 4


It took the Chimaera nearly five days at its Point Four cruising speed to cover the three hundred fifty light-years between Myrkr and Wayland. But that was all right, because it took the engineers nearly that long to come up with a portable frame that would both support and nourish the ysalamiri.

“I’m still not convinced this is really necessary,” Pellaeon grumbled, eyeing with distaste the thick curved pipe and the furscaled, salamanderlike creature attached to it. The pipe and its attached frame were blasted heavy, and the creature itself didn’t smell all that good. “If this Guardian you’re expecting was put on Wayland by the Emperor in the first place, then I don’t see why we should have any problems with him.”

“Call it a precaution, Captain,” Thrawn said, settling into the shuttle’s copilot seat and fastening his own straps. “It’s conceivable we could have trouble convincing him of who we are. Or even that we still serve the Empire.” He sent a casual glance across the displays and nodded to the pilot. “Go.”

There was a muffled clank, and with a slight jolt the shuttle dropped from the Chimera’s docking bay and started its descent toward the planet surface. “We might have had an easier time convincing him with a squad of stormtroopers along,” Pellaeon muttered, watching the repeater display beside his seat.

“We might also have irritated him,” Thrawn pointed out. A Dark Jedi’s pride and sensibilities are not to be taken lightly, Captain. Besides-” he looked over his shoulder “-that’s what Rukh is for. Any close associate of the Emperor ought to be familiar with the glorious role the Noghri have played over the years.”

Pellaeon glanced at the silent nightmare figure seated across the aisle. “You seem certain, sir, that the Guardian will be a Dark Jedi.”

“Who else would the Emperor have chosen to protect his personal storehouse?” Thrawn countered. “A legion of stormtroopers, perhaps, equipped with AT-ATs and the kind of advanced weaponry and technology you could detect from orbit with your eyes closed?”

Pellaeon grimaced. That, at least, was something they wouldn’t have to worry about. The Chimera’s scanners had picked up nothing beyond bow-and-arrow stage anywhere on Wayland’s surface. It wasn’t all that much comfort. “I’m just wondering whether the Emperor might have pulled him off Wayland to help against the Rebellion.”

Thrawn shrugged. “We’ll know soon enough.”

The gentle roar of atmospheric friction against the shuttle’s hull was growing louder now, and on Pellaeon’s repeater display details of the planet’s surface were becoming visible. Much of the area directly beneath them appeared to be forest, spotted here and there with large, grassy plains. Ahead, occasionally visible through the haze of clouds, a single mountain rose above the landscape. “Is that Mount Tantiss?” he asked the pilot.

“Yes, sir,” the other confirmed. “The city ought to be visible soon.”

“Right.” Reaching surreptitiously to his right thigh, Pellaeon adjusted his blaster in its holster. Thrawn could be as confident as he liked, both in the ysalamiri and in his own logic. For his part, Pellaeon still wished they had more firepower.

The city nestled against the southwestern base of Mount Tantiss was larger than it had looked from orbit, with many of its squat buildings extending deep under the cover of the surrounding trees. Thrawn had the pilot circle the area twice, and then put down in the center of what appeared to be the main city square, facing a large and impressively regal-looking building.