[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(43)

“A raid?” Luke frowned. He hadn’t heard of any pirate activity in this sector. “Who’s raiding you?”

“Who else?” the man retorted. “The Empire.”

Luke looked at Lando. “Uh-oh,” he said quietly.

“Yeah,” Lando agreed. “Come on.

They left the Mishra and headed out into the wide avenue. Oddly enough, there were no signs of the panic Luke would hayed expected to find. On the contrary, the citizens of Ilic seemed to be continuing about their daily business as if nothing untoward was happening. “Maybe they don’t realize what’s going on,” he suggested doubtfully as they headed for one of the spiral ramps.

“Or else they’ve got a quiet agreement with the Empire,” Lando countered sourly. “Maybe the leadership finds it politically handy to align themselves with the New Republic, but they also want to keep in the Empire’s good graces. Since they can’t pay anything as overt as tribute, they instead let the Imperials come in every so often and raid their stocks of refined biomolecules. I’ve seen that sort of thing done before.”

Luke looked around at the unconcerned crowds. “Only this time it might backfire on them.”

“Like if the Imperials spot the Lady Luck and your X-wing on the landing records.”

“Right. Where did you say Han was?”

“Last I saw, be was on Level Four heading west,” Lando said, digging out his comlink. “He told me not to call him, but I think this qualifies as an unforeseen circumstance.”

“Wait a minute,” Luke stopped him. “If he’s anywhere near this aide of Fey’lya’s-and if Fey’lya is working some kind of deal with the Empire:?”

“You’re right.” Lando swore under his breath as he put the comlink away. “So what do we do?”

They’d reached the ramp now and stepped onto the section spiraling upward. “I’ll go find Han,” Luke said. “You get up to the landing area and see what’s happening. If the Imperials haven’t actually landed yet, you might be able to get into the air control computer and erase us from the list. Artoo can help if you can get him out of my X-wing and over to a terminal without being caught.”

“I’ll give it a try.”

“Okay.” A stray memory flicked through Luke’s mind- “I don’t suppose the Lady Luck’s equipped with one of those full-rig slave circuits you talked about back on Nkllon, is it?”

Lando shook his head. “It’s rigged, but only with a simple homing setup. Nothing much more than straight-line motion and a little maneuvering. It’d never be able to get to me through the middle of an enclosed city like this.”

And even if it could, Luke had to admit, it wouldn’t do them much good. Short of blasting a huge hole through the outer wall, the only way out of Ilic for anything the size of a spaceship was through the exit ducts above the landing area. “It was just a thought,” he said.

“Here’s where Han got off,” Lando said, pointing. “He headed that way.

“Right.” Luke stepped off the ramp. “See you soon. Be careful.”

“You, too.”





Chapter 8


The graying woman took Han to a small office-type room in the Amethyst building, turned him over to a couple of other guard types there, and disappeared with his blaster, comlink, and ID in hand. Han tried once or twice to strike up a conversation with the guards, got no response from either of them, and had just about resigned himself to sitting quietly, listening to the sirens outside, when the woman returned.

Accompanied by another, taller woman with the unmistakable air of authority about her. “Good day to you,” the tall woman said, nodding at Han. “Captain Han Solo, I believe?”

With his ID in her hand, there didn’t seem much point in denying it. “That’s right,” he said.

“We’re honored by your visit,” she said, her tone putting a slightly sardonic edge to the polite words. “Though a bit surprised by it.”

“I don’t know why-the visit was your idea,” Han countered. “You always pick people up off the street like this?”

????? slightly. “You want to tell me who you are and who sent you?”

Han frowned. “What do you mean, who am I? You’ve got my ID right there.

“Yes, I do,” the woman nodded, turning the card over in her hand. “But there’s some difference of opinion as to whether or not it’s genuine.” She looked out the door and beckoned—

And Tav Breil’lya stepped past her into the room. “I was right,” the Bothan said, his cream-colored fur rippling in an unfamiliar pattern. “As I told you when I first saw his ID. He is an impostor. Most certainly an Imperial spy.”