“Interesting.” He looked up at Pellaeon again. “Where did the ship go?”
Pellaeon looked in turn at Tschel. “According to the last report, it was headed south,” the lieutenant said. “It might still be in range of our tractor beams, sir.
Pellaeon turned back to Thrawn. “Shall we try to stop it, Admiral?”
????? with Thrawn looked down at the data pad, his face tight concentration. “No,” he said at last. “Let it land, but track it. And order a tech team from the Chimaera to meet us at the ship’s final destination.” His eyes searched the line of Noghri dynasts, came to rest on one of them. “Dynast Ir’khaim, clan Kihm’bar, step forward.”
The Noghri did so. “What is your wish, my lord?” he mewed.
“One of your people has come home,” Thrawn said. “We go to his village to welcome him.”
Ir’khaim bowed. “At my lord’s request.”
Thrawn stood up. “Order the shuttle to be prepared, Captain,” he told Pellaeon. “We leave at once.
“Yes, sir,” Pellaeon said, nodding the order on to Lieutenant Thchel. “Wouldn’t it be easier, sir. to have the ship and pilot brought here to us?”
“Easier, perhaps,” Thrawn acknowledged, “but possibly not as illuminating. You obviously didn’t recognize the pilot’s name; but Khabarakh, clan Kihm’bar, was once part of commando team twenty-two.
Does that jog any memories?”
Pellaeon felt his stomach tighten. “That was the team that went after Leia Organa Solo on Kashyyyk.”
“And of which team only Khabarakh still survives,” Thrawn nodded. “I think it might be instructive to hear from him the details of that failed mission. And to find out why it’s taken him this long to return home.”
Thrawn’s eyes glittered. “And to find out,” he added quietly, “just why he’s trying so hard to avoid us.”
Chapter 10
It was full dark by the time Khabarakh brought the ship to ground in his village, a tight-grouped cluster of huts with brightly lit windows. “Do ships land here often?” Leia asked as Khabarakh pointed the ship toward a shadowy structure standing apart near the center of the village. In the glare of the landing lights the shadow became a large cylindrical building with a flat cone-shaped roof, the circular wall composed of massive vertical wooden pillars alternating with a lighter, shimmery wood. Just beneath the eaves she caught a glint of a metal band encircling the entire building.
“It is not common,” Khabarakh said, cutting the repulsorlifts and running the ship’s systems down to standby. “Neither is it unheard of.”
In other words, it was probably going to attract a fair amount of attention. Chewbacca, who had recovered enough for Leia to help into one of the cockpit passenger seats, was obviously thinking along the same lines. “The villagers are all close family of the clan Kihm’bar,” Khabarakh said in answer to the Wookiee’s slightly slurred question. “They will accept my promise of protection as their own. Come.”
Leia unstrapped and stood up, suppressing a grimace as she did so. But they were here now, and she could only hope that Khabarakh’s confidence was more than just the unfounded idealism of youth.
She helped Chewbacca unstrap and together they followed the Noghri back toward the main hatchway, collecting Threepio from her cabin on the way. “I must go first,” Khabarakh said as they reached the exit. “By custom, I must approach alone to the dukha of the clan Kihm’bar upon arrival. By law, I am required to announce out-clan visitors to the head of my family.”
“I understand,” Leia said, fighting back a fresh surge of uneasiness. She didn’t like this business of Khabarakh having conversations with his fellow Noghri that she wasn’t in on. Once again, there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. “We’ll wait here until you come and get us.”
“I will be quick,” Khabarakh promised. He palmed the door release twice, slipping outside as the panel slid open and then shut again.
Chewbacca growled something unintelligible under his breath. “He’ll be back soon,” Leia soothed him, making a guess as to what was bothering the Wookiee.
“I’m certain he is telling the truth,” Threepio added helpfully. “Customs and rituals of this sort are very common among the more socially primitive prespaceflight cultures.”
“Except that this culture isn’t prespaceflight,” Leia pointed out, her hand playing restlessly with the grip of her lightsaber as she stared at the closed hatchway in front of her. Khabarath could at least have left the door open so that they would be able to see when he was coming back.