Karrde rubbed a finger gently across his lower lip. “Any signs of landing craft or fighters?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Aves shook his head. “But from his insertion angle, I’d guess he’ll be dropping some soon-downpoint probably somewhere in this part of the forest.”
Karrde nodded thoughtfully. Such propitious timing … for someone. “Where did we wind up putting the Millennium Falcon?”
“It’s over on pad eight,” Aves said.
Back in under the edge of the forest, then. That was good-the high metal content of Myrkr’s trees would help shield it from the Chimera’s sensors. “Take two men and go throw a camo net over it,” he told the other. “There’s no point in taking chances. And do it quietly-we don’t want to alarm our guests.”
“Right.” Aves pulled off his headset and headed out of the room at a brisk trot.
Karrde looked at Mara. “Interesting timing, this visit.”
She met his gaze without flinching. “If that’s a subtle way of asking whether or not I called them, don’t bother. I didn’t.”
He cocked his head. “Really. I’m a little surprised.”
“So am I,” she countered. “I should have thought of it days ago.” She nodded toward the headset. “You going to talk to him or not?”
“I don’t suppose I have much choice.” Mentally bracing himself, Karrde sat down in the seat Aves had just vacated and touched a switch. “Captain Pellaeon, this is Talon Karrde,” he said. “My apologies for the delay. What can I do for you?”
The distant image of the Chimaera disappeared, but it wasn’t Pellaeon’s face that replaced it. This face was a nightmare image: long and lean, with pale blue skin and eyes that glittered like two bits of red-hot metal. “Good afternoon, Captain Karrde,” the other said, his voice clear and smooth and very civilized. “I’m Grand Admiral Thrawn.”
“Good afternoon, Admiral,” Karrde nodded in greeting, taking it in stride. “This is an unexpected honor. May I ask the purpose of your call?”
“Part of it I’m sure you’ve already guessed,” Thrawn told him. “We find ourselves in need of more ysalamiri, and would like your permission to harvest some more of them.”
“Certainly,” Karrde said, a funny feeling starting to tug at the back of his mind. There was something strange about Thrawn’s posture … and the Imperials hardly needed his permission to come pull ysalamiri off their trees. “If I may say so, you seem to be running through them rather quickly. Are you having trouble keeping them alive?”
Thrawn raised an eyebrow in polite surprise. “None of them has died, Captain. We simply need more of them.”
“Ah,” Karrde said. “I see.”
“I doubt that. But no matter. It occurred to me, Captain, that as long as we were coming here, it might be a good time for us to have a little talk.”
“What sort of talk?”
“I’m sure we can find some topics of mutual interest,” Thrawn said. “For example, I’m in the market for new warships.”
Long practice kept any guilty reaction from leaking out through Karrde’s face or voice. But it was a near thing. “Warships?” he asked carefully.
“Yes.” Thrawn favored him with a thin smile. “Don’t worry-I’m not expecting you to actually have any capital starships in stock. But a man with your contacts may possibly be able to acquire them.”
“I doubt that my contacts are quite that extensive, Admiral,” Karrde told him, trying hard to read that not-quite-human face. Did he know? Or was the question merely an exquisitely dangerous coincidence? “I don’t think we’ll be able to help you.”
Thrawn’s expression didn’t change … but abruptly there was an edge of menace to his smile. “You’ll try anyway. And then there’s the matter of your refusal to help in our search for Luke Skywalker.”
Some of the tightness in Karrde’s chest eased. This was safer territory. “I’m sorry we were also unable to help there, Admiral. As I explained before to your representative, we were under several tight scheduling deadlines at the time. We simply couldn’t spare the ships.”
Thrawn’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “At the time, you say? But the search is still going on, Captain.”
Silently, Karrde cursed himself for the slip. “Still going on?” he echoed, frowning. “But your representative said Skywalker was flying an Incom X-wing starfighter. If you haven’t found him by now, his life support will surely have given out.”