[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(149)

“I want you to leave tonight for the Trogon system,” he said, handing her the data card. “Best guess is that’s where Aves will have holed up. Make contact and tell him I want everything we have that can both fly and fight to rendezvous with me at the Katana fleet as soon as possible.”

Mara took the card gingerly, her fingers tingling at the touch of the cool plastic. There it was, in her hands: the Katana fleet. A lifetime’s worth of wealth or power : “I may have trouble persuading Aves to trust me,” she warned.

“I don’t think so,” Karrde said. “The Imperials will have reinstated the hunt for our group by now-that alone should convince him I’ve escaped. There’s also a special recognition code on that data card that he’ll know, a code the Grand Admiral couldn’t possibly have extracted from me this quickly.”

“Let’s hope he doesn’t have a higher opinion of Imperial interrogation methods than you do,” Mara said, sliding the data card into her tunic. “Anything else?”

“No-yes,” Karrde corrected himself. “Tell Ghent I’d like him to come to Coruscant instead of going to the Katana fleet. I’ll meet him here after all this is over.”

“Ghent?” Mara frowned. “Why?”

“I want to see what a really expert slicer can do with that suspicious lump in Ackbar’s bank account. Skywalker mentioned a theory that the breakin and deposit happened at the same time, but he said that so far no one’s been able to prove it. I’m betting Ghent can do so.”

“I thought this involvement in New Republic politics was supposed to be a one-shot deal,” Mara objected.

“It is,” Karrde nodded. “I don’t want to leave an ambitious Bothan at my back when we leave.”

“Point,” she had to concede. “All right. You have a ship for me to use?”

There was a tap at the door. “I will in a minute,” Karrde said, crossing to the door and pulling it open.

It was Skywalker’s sister. “You wanted to see me?” she asked.

“Yes,” Karrde nodded in greeting. “I believe you know my associate, Mara Jade?”

“We met briefly when you arrived on Coruscant,” Organa Solo nodded. For a moment her eyes met Mara’s, and Mara wondered uneasily how much Skywalker had told her.

“I need Mara to go on an errand for me,” Karrde said, glancing both directions down the corridor before closing the door. “She’ll need a fast, long-range ship.”

“I can get her one,” Organa Solo said. “Will a reconnaissance Y-wing do, Mara?”

“That’ll be fine,” Mara said shortly.

“I’ll call the spaceport and make arrangements.” She looked back at Karrde. “Anything else?”

“Yes,” Karrde said. “I want to know if you can throw together a tech team and get it into space tonight.”

“Councilor Fey’lya’s already sending a team,” she reminded him.

“I know that. I want yours to get there first.”

She studied him a moment. “How big a team do you want?”

“Nothing too elaborate,” Karrde told her. “A small transport or freighter, perhaps a starfighter squadron if you can find one that doesn’t mind risking official wrath. The point is not to have Fey’lya’s presumablly handpicked crew the only ones there.”

Mara opened her mouth; closed it again without speaking. If Karrde wanted Organa Solo to know that his own people would also be coming, he would tell her himself. Karrde glanced at her, back at Organa Solo. “Can you do it?”

“I think so,” she said. “Fey’lya has built up a lot of support in the military, but there are enough people who would rather have Admiral Ackbar back in charge.”

“Here are the coordinates,” Karrde said, handing her a data card. “The sooner you can get the team moving, the better.”

“It’ll be gone in two hours,” Organa Solo promised.

“Good,” Karrde nodded, his face hardening. “There’s just one more thing, then. I want you to understand that there are exactly two reasons why I’m doing this. First, as gratitude to your brother for risking his life to help Mara rescue me; and second, to get the Imperials off my back by eliminating their chief reason to hunt me down. That’s all. As far as your war and your internal politics are concerned, my organization intends to remain completely neutral. Is that clear?”

Organa Solo nodded. “Very clear,” she said.

“Good. You’d better get moving, then. It’s a long way to the fleet, and, you’ll want as much head start on Fey’lya as you can get.”