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[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(83)



“What happened at Tangrene?” Han asked.

“We blasted a major Ubiqtorate center into fine powder,” Bel Iblis told him with obvious satisfaction. “And then waltzed out right under the collective nose of the three Star Destroyers that were supposed to be guarding the place. I think that was when they finally woke up to the fact that we were more than just a minor irritant. That we were a group to be taken seriously.”

“I’ll bet they did,” Han agreed, shaking his head in admiration. Even getting within sight of one of Imperial Intelligence’s Ubiqtorate bases was a tricky job, let alone blasting it and getting out again. “What did it cost you?”

“Amazingly enough, we got all five warships out,” Bel Iblis said. “There was a fair amount of damage all around, of course, and one of them was completely out of commission for nearly seven months. But it was worth it.”

“I thought you said you had six Dreadnaughts,” Lando spoke up.

“We have six now,” Bel Iblis nodded. “At the time we only had five.”

“Ah,” Lando said, and lapsed back into silence.

“So after that was when you started moving your base around?” Han asked.

Bel Iblis eyed Lando a moment longer before turning back to Han. “That was when mobility became a top priority, yes,” he corrected. “Though we hadn’t exactly been sitting still before that. This place is, what, our thirteenth location in seven years, Sena?”

“Fourteenth,” Sena said. “That’s if you count Womrik and the Mattri asteroid bases.”

“Fourteen, then,” Bel Iblis nodded. “You probably noticed that every building here is built of hi-state memory plastic. Makes it relatively simple to fold everything up and toss it aboard the transports.” He chuckled. “Though that’s ben known to backfire on us. Once on Lelmra we got hit by a violent thunderstorm, and the lightning strikes were hitting so close to us that the edge currents triggered the flip-flop on a couple of barracks buildings and a targeting center. Folded them up neat as a set of birthday presents, with nearly fifty people still inside.”

“That was terrific fun,” Sena put in dryly. “No one was killed, fortunately, but it took us the better part of the night to cut them all free. With the storm still blazing on around us.”

“Things finally quieted down just before daylight,” Bel Iblis said. “We were out of there by the next evening. Ah.”

The bartender had arrived with the next round of drinks. Twistlers, Bel Iblis had called them: a blend of Corellian brandy with some unidentified but very tart fruit extract. Not the sort of drink Han would have expected to find in a military camp, but not bad either. The Senator took two of the drinks off the tray and handed them across to Han and Sena; took the other two off-

“I’m still good, thanks,” Lando said before Bel Iblis could offer him one.

Han frowned across the table at his friend. Lando was sitting stiffly in his lounge chair, his face impassive, his glass still half full. His first glass, Han realized suddenly-Lando hadn’t had a refill in the hour and a half since Bel Iblis had brought them here. He caught Lando’s eye, raised his eyebrows fractionally. Lando looked back, his expression still stony, then dropped his gaze and took a small sip of his drink.

“It was about a month after Tangrene,” Bel Iblis went on, “that we first met Borsk Fey’lya.”

Han turned back to him, feeling a twitch of guilt. He’d gotten so wrapped up in Bel Iblis’s storytelling that he’d completely forgotten why he and Lando had set off on this mission in the first place. Probably that was what had Lando glaring crushed ice in his direction. “Yeah-Fey’lya,” he said. “What’s your deal with him?”

“Considerably less of a deal than he’d like, I assure you,” Bel Iblis said. “Fey’lya did us some favors during the height of the war years, and he seems to think we should be more grateful for them.”

“What sort of favors?” Lando asked.

“Small ones,” Bel Iblis told him. “Early on he helped us set up a supply line through New Cov, and he whistled up some Star Cruisers once when the Imperials started nosing around the system at an awkward moment. He and some of the other Bothans also shifted various funds to us, which enabled us to buy equipment sooner than we otherwise would have. That sort of thing.”

“So how grateful are you?” Lando persisted.

Bel Iblis smiled slightly. “Or in other words, what exactly does Fey’lya want from me?”

Lando didn’t smile back. “That’ll do for starters,” he agreed.