[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(66)
“Yes, sir,” Pellaeon said grimly. The word capture had reminded him of why he’d come here in the first place. “Admiral, the report on Khabarakh’s ship has come in from the scanning team.” He held the data card over the double display circle.
For a moment Thrawn’s glowing red eyes burned into Pellaeon’s face, as if trying to read the reason for his subordinate’s obvious tension. Then, wordlessly, he took the data card from the captain’s hand and slid it into his reader. Pellaeon waited, tight-lipped, as the Grand Admiral skimmed the report.
Thrawn reached the end and leaned back in his seat, his face unreadable. “Wookiee hairs,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Pellaeon nodded. “All over the ship.”
Thrawn was silent another few heartbeats. “Your interpretation?”
Pellaeon braced himself “I can only see one, sir. Khabarakh didn’t escape from the Wookiees on Kashyyyk at all. They caught him : and then let him go.”
“After a month of imprisonment.” Thrawn looked up at Pellaeon. “And interrogation.”
“Almost certainly,” Pellaeon agreed. “The question is, what did he tell them?”
“There’s one way to find out.” Thrawn tapped on the comm. “Hangar bay, this is the Grand Admiral. Prepare my shuttle; I’m going to the surface. I’ll want a troop shuttle and double squad of stormtroopers ready to accompany me, plus two flights of Scimitar assault bombers to provide air cover.”
He got an acknowledgment and keyed off. “It may be, Captain, that the Noghri have forgotten where their loyalties lie,” he told Pellaeon, standing up and stepping out around the displays. “I think it’s time they were reminded that the Empire commands here. You’ll return to the bridge and prepare a suitable demonstration.”
“Yes, sir.” Pellaeon hesitated. “Do you want merely a reminder and not actual destruction?”
Thrawn’s eyes blazed. “For the moment, yes,” he said, his voice icy. “Let them all pray that I don’t change my mind.”
Chapter 12
It was the smell Leia noticed first as she drifted slowly awake: a smoky smell, reminiscent of the wood fires of the Ewoks of Endor but with a tangy sharpness all its own. A warm, homey sort of aroma, reminding her of the campouts she’d had as a child on Alderaan.
And then she woke up enough to remember where she was. Full consciousness flooded in, and she snapped open her eyes—
To find herself lying on a rough pallet in a corner of the Noghri communal bake house. Exactly where she’d been when she’d fallen asleep the night before.
She sat up, feeling relieved and a little ashamed. What with that unexpected visit last night by the Grand Admiral, she realized she’d half expected to wake up in a Star Destroyer detention cell. Clearly, she’d underestimated the Noghri’s ability to stick by their promises.
Her stomach growled, reminding her it had been a long time since she’d eaten; a little lower down, one of the twins kicked a reminder of his own. “Okay,” she soothed. “I get the hint. Breakfast time.”
She tore the top off a ration bar from one of her cases and took a bite, looking around the bake house as she chewed. Against the wall by the door, the double pallet that had been laid out for Chewbacca to sleep on was empty. For a moment the fear of betrayal again whispered to her; but a little concentration through the Force silenced any concerns. Chewbacca was somewhere nearby, with a sense that gave no indication of danger. Relax, she ordered herself sternly, pulling a fresh jumpsuit out of her case and starting to get dressed. Whatever these Noghri were, it was clear they weren’t savages. They were honorable people, in their own way, and they wouldn’t turn her over to the Empire. At least, not until they’d heard her out.
She downed the last bite of ration bar and finished dressing, making sure as always that her belt didn’t hang too heavily across her increasingly swollen belly. Retrieving her lightsaber from its hiding place under the edge of the pallet, she fastened it prominently to her side. Khabarakh, she remembered, had seemed to find reassurance of her identity in the presence of the Jedi weapon; hopefully, the rest of the Noghri would also respond that way. Stepping to the bake house door, she ran through her Jedi calming exercises and went outside.
Three small Noghri children were playing with an inflatable ball in the grassy area outside the door, their grayish-white skin glistening with perspiration in the bright morning sunlight. A sunlight that wasn’t going to last, Leia saw: a uniform layer of dark clouds extending all the way to the west was even now creeping its way east toward the rising sun. All for the best; a thick layer of clouds would block any direct telescopic observations the Star Destroyer up there might make of the village, as well as diffusing the non-Noghri infrared signatures she and Chewbacca were giving off.