"I'll have it done, first thing." Booster regarded me carefully. "Mara Jade is here. She and Calrissian arrived asking questions about Jori Car'das. Lando is up on the Diamond Level attempting to break the bank."

Irritation underscored his words.

"How close is he?"

Booster shrugged. "Not very, but closer than I'd like. I think, though, I will introduce him to your friend Keevy."

"Sure, just tell Keevy this is his chance to get Lando's perspective on having helped Wedge Antilles blow the Death Star at Endor."

"Oooh, even your father wasn't that cruel, CorSec."

"You bring the best out in me, Booster." I glanced over at the Headhunter. "Is Mara angry about her ship?"

"Doesn't seem to be, but she does want to speak with you. She seemed to know you were on this shuttle before you sent word." His eyes narrowed.

"She couldn't be using Jedi stuff to help Lando win, could she?"

"Frankly, I think she'd like to buy Lando for what she thinks he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth." I smiled. "I don't think she's helping him."

Beyond Booster I saw a turbolift open and Mara Jade emerged from it. She headed straight for the two of us with just a hint of stiffness in her gait. That didn't strike me as odd about her, but her selection of clothes did seem inappropriate. The black slacks and copper tunic seemed a bit mannish, though the way she wore the short black cape slung so it covered the right side of her torso only did seem rather fashionable. I didn't see her lightsaber in evidence, but it could easily have been concealed beneath the cape.

Booster bowed. "I shall leave the two of you to talk while I see to Calrissian's comfort."

Mara growled. "Don't concern yourself that much with it."

I arched an eyebrow at her. "Aren't you in some sort of business with him'?"

"Some sort, yes." She gave me a disgusted look and plucked at her clothes. "We arrive here and he offers to get me more suitable attire, carting away what little of a wardrobe I already have. The tailor here sent up to my suite a whole rack of gowns and other things Lando wishes I'd wear around him. I retaliated by raiding his clothes closet. He's got good taste in fabric, but the tunics are a bit tight in the shoulders for me." I laughed.

"I bet he loves that."

"He doesn't, which is why I'll keep borrowing his stuff from time to time." The slight hint of a smile on her face slowly died. "How was Luke when you left the academy?"

I shrugged. "Physically he's recovered from his ordeal."

Mara gave me a sidelong glance. "Mentally?"

"He's got questions, some of which he knows he has, some which he doesn't." I folded my arms across my chest. "He was pleased that you checked to make certain he was going to be all right before you left Yavin 4; but he was confused that you didn't stay until he was up and about again. You actually spent more time with me during my recovery than you did with him."

Her head came up. "He doesn't think there's something between you and me, does he?"

"I saw no indication of that being the case." I smiled and started walking over to the Headhunter. "He knows the two of us and knows it would never work between us. You and I, we can be comrades in arms and even friends."

"Right, but inside we're coiled springs that are wound in the opposite directions." Her smile struggled back onto her face as she fell into step with me. "If we got close, it'd be an awful mess."

I nodded. "And we'd end up broken."

"And then your wife would kill us."

"Another good point." I shivered. "Back to your question, though: Luke is enthused about the academy and how well the students did in defeating Exar Kun. When I left, though, I did kind of give him a turbolaser critique of the school and, well, everything, I guess."

"Everything?"

I frowned and leaned against the Headhunter's forward landing gear. "Luke suggested that if I left the academy when I did, I'd be making a huge mistake and that I'd fall prey to the dark side. I pretty much let him have it, pointing out that I've been to the dark side and walked away plenty of times before. I think Luke worked so hard to win his father back, and then found himself won back by his sister's love that his perspective on the dark side is skewed."

She watched me very closely. "What do you mean?"

I opened my arms. "Let's suppose Jedi are like everyone else except in their Force sensitivity. If they are, then there are going to be some folks who pretty much are born to the dark side and that's where they stay. They like it there and they never learn there is another place to go. Let's say this is ten percent of the population. Then there is another ten percent at the other end of the spectrum who start on the good side of things and just never head over toward the bad side.

"The rest of us fall into the middle. Given the right stimulus, we could go over to the dark side, but the lure is going to have to be more substantial for some than for others. Luke went over to save the galaxy.

I can imagine Darth Vader did the same thing. Both of them came back. The fact that Luke paid a high price for going over and coming back means that he feels everyone is as vulnerable as he was; and he worries a lot about that."

I shrugged. "Dealing with the dark side has been a big part of his life, especially his life as a Jedi. Of course it concerns him. Even so, to suggest everyone will make a journey to the dark side isn't clear thinking."

"I understand what you're saying." Mara nodded and reached up, tugging one of the monster claws from the Headhunter's nose. "Remind me never to lend you anything else."

"The beastie that left that in the ship was thinking of making a snack of Luke." I scratched at my beard. "Do you think he makes too much of the dark side?"

"Having seen the Emperor work, I'm not sure one can over-emphasize the dangers of the dark side." Mara ran her thumb along the smooth top of the claw. "I think Luke may be looking for evil to be more profound than it is. You've seen it. Evil can be pretty plain."

"True enough. Some may have a talent for it, but you don't have to be talented to wallow in it." I glanced down. "Your thinking along these lines is not that far off my own. That was just part of why I left, however. I also couldn't stay with Kyp being heralded as a Jedi Knight while having avoided, in my mind, punishment for Carida and the other system he destroyed. I know that his going after unreconstructed Imperials is popular in some circles, but murder is murder in my memory cache."

Mara's face became impa.s.sive. "Is that problem going to be one you can resolve?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Carida expatriates will set up a judgment tribunal and render a verdict. I don't feel justice has been done here, but to tell the truth, I'm not sure what justice would be in such a case. That's all in the future, however.'?

"So the real reason you left the academy was to go after M irax?"

I nodded. "I had things to figure out and directions to travel to get me closer to her. On the way I visited CoreIlia, and I've got some data for you on that Jorj Car'das guy you asked about during my Bacta dip. It's all of CorSec's old files on him, if that will help."

"Certainly can't hurt." She gave me a quick nod. "I've heard nothing new about Mirax, and the situation on Nal Hutta has changed."

"I know, but at least I have a place to start." I gave her as confident a smile as I could muster. "I may still be looking for a quark in a mole of deuterium, but I'm narrowing the area I have to search in and right now that's solid progress. I'll get there; I'll find her. No try, just do."

The positively jubilant expression on Booster's face reminded me of previously painful situations where he'd managed to find a way to embarra.s.s me in front of my wife. Since there were no other witnesses in his office, however, I suspected that look of malevolent glee was reserved for someone else. He waved me in toward his desk. "Come on, I have something here."

As I approached, he hit a b.u.t.ton on the small datapad on which he worked, and a holoprojector popped up the image of a Corellian Corvette. "This image comes from the data you pulled in when taking the Tinta Blue Seven out of the ambush. The Identify Friend/Foe transponder tagged this ship Captain's Ladder."

I nodded. "I'm with you so far, but I have to note, that particular IFF signal was undoubtedly used for that run alone."

"Why don't you just tell a Hutt how to smuggle spice?" Booster looked up at me through the hologram, his real eye rolling toward the ceiling.

"Son, I was swapping out IFF tran-sponders on ships before your father even thought about having kids. As you know, IFF isn't the only way to identify a ship. The readings you got here were good enough that my people managed a spectral a.n.a.lysis of the ship's sublight ion exhaust. If you get a good reading, and these were very good, you can get a fairly unique a.n.a.lysis for the ship, and that can be matched against other ships' data to pick out a match."

"And you found one?"

Booster nodded and hit another b.u.t.ton on his datapad. Another image of the corvette appeared beside the first, with both of them slowly rotating to show off every detail. "It's the Back-stab."

I closed my eyes for a second. "The name's familiar but I can't place it."

"The Eyttyrmin Batiiv pirates operating out of the Khuiumin system owned her. They got busted up in an Imperial operation-fewer than three hundred out of the eight thousand pirates in the gang survived the Imp strike.

Jacob Nive, the Backstab's captain, became the leader by default. The Survivors, as they call themselves, went merc for a bit, striking at Imps, but with the death of the Emperor they've reverted to their pirate ways and the discipline Nive inst.i.tuted has slackened. They are part of the Invids and have provided Tavira with some of her best clutch pilots."

I stroked my goatee. "Anyone surviving the band's slaughter had to be a hot hand. I can see why Tavira is happy to have allied with them. Any idea where they are?"

"I have a very good one. The Khuiumin system was too dangerous for them after the Imps. .h.i.t them, so they were basing themselves near their employers. Now, with Nal Hutta proving to be a place where some Invids are known to ship from, Nive and his people have gone back to Khuiumin, basing themselves on the fourth planet again. A number of other ships and crews have gone there, too, which leads me to believe it is the new Invid base."

I leaned on the back of the chair by Booster's desk. "Most people deserted the world after the Imps broke the pirates, right?"

"Sure, all except those who couldn't afford pa.s.sage or couldn't afford to be spotted on a more civilized world. With the pirates' return, the folks required to supply goods and services are flowing back there." Booster smiled. "I figure we cruise in, threaten to vape a city, and get them to produce Mirax."

I frowned. "You aren't serious?"

"Corran, the Eyttyrmin Batiiv pirate company died when two Imp Victory-cla.s.s Destroyers hammered them. This is an Imp-star Deuce. The Survivors'll cave."

"I don't think that's the plan we want to use, Booster." I shook my head slowly. "I don't think they know where Mirax is, but I do think they're a s.p.a.celane for getting there."

Booster sat back, putting his big booted feet up on his desk. "So, you think you'll just meander on in there, ask some questions, get some answers and leave again? I don't believe it-no way your father could have had a kid who is so dumb."

I suppressed a growl. "First off, I'm not and he didn't. Second, I don't lecture you on IFF transponders, you don't lecture me on infiltrating a criminal organization."

Booster held his hands up. 'Tll grant you that you've got experience in hutting your way in where you aren't wanted, but these pirates aren't dewback-drivers. They're hard and nasty and have all their bytes in the right place and locked down tight. I don't know if they can outfly you, but most of them probably have as many combat hours as you do. They're close to the top of the Invid food chain, so walking in there will be tough."

"Then I'll just have to be tougher." I straightened up and gave him a wink. "Don't worry, Booster, I know how to soften them up. I'll just bring Jacob Nive a big welcoming present and he should be happy to see me."

The fourth planet in the Khuiumin system was called Courkrus for reasons known only to those who had settled it a long time ago. The largest city, Vlarnya, toward which I flew, looked like the morning after of a party that had been interrupted by a sandstorm. The world itself was not entirely arid, though the section where Vlarnya had been located really was. Irrigation and modern agricultural techniques had allowed farms to spring up in the area, but once the pirates left and the economy collapsed, the area had largely reverted to being a dustbowl.

Still, it was the dustbowl that had s.p.a.ceport facilities, so that was where I headed. I didn't bother to comm down for landing permits or berthing rights; I just did a flyby, picked a docking bay and settled down into it. This seemed to alarm some individuals, but since that was the purpose of the exercise, I was pleased with the effect. I shut the Tinta Blue's main drive down, opened the gangway, then wandered out of the c.o.c.kpit and settled into the Premier cabin. I helped myself to a lomin-ale, sat back and watched the local holochannels on the entertainment monitor.

Booster and I had discussed how the theft of the shuttle should be handled. I felt bad about taking it, but sending a message to Siolle to explain could have resulted in the search for it being called off. If the Survivors learned that the shuttle hadn't been stolen, my cover would collapse. We settled on Booster getting word to my grandfather about what had happened, then my grandfather would decide how to proceed from there.

It didn't take that long for several of the Survivors to storm the ship with blasters drawn. I gave them a smile, raised my ale toward them, then drained my gla.s.s. They didn't seem to find this as amusing as I did, so they hauled me out of the shuttle and through the streets to a building that, despite the collapse of the east wing, looked impressive enough to have once been very important. They took me up some stairs and around to a grand office, where I was unceremoniously plunked down in a chair and my identification card was tossed onto a big desk.

All but two of my escorts retreated to the door, leaving me alone with two men and a woman. The first man I recognized from files as Jacob Nive.

Tall and well built, with long blond hair gathered into a thick braid, he looked very much the sort of dashing, handsome holograph of a pirate presented in entertainment media. As close as I was I could see the dirt under his fingernails and the light scars on his face from battles past, but I still found the bright eyed man somehow engaging. I'd seen his type before and knew he could be quite charming.

Next to him stood a woman about as tall as Lando Calrissian and much darker complected. She wore her black hair very closely cropped and had sharp dark eyes. I didn't find her hard at all to look at save that her right hand appeared to be a mechanical construct over which she wore no synthetic flesh. Its clicks as she worked a triangular credit coin back and forth between her fingers underscored her impatience.

The third person seemed to be a reservoir for any impatience she could not burn off with her nervous habit. Taller than even Nive-making him a good head taller than me and probably thirty percent heavier-this guy was handsome and, worse, had no doubt about it at all. His black hair had been cut to a middling length and was so dark that it almost appeared blue-though a shade of blue much darker than the icy hue of his eyes. He wore a moustache and goatee, and had grown his moustaches out like wings that swept back along his cheeks.

Nive looked at me, shooting the cuffs of his jacket. All three of them wore what had once been the uniform of the Khuiumin Survivors-grey jackets with red cuffs, collars and b.r.e.a.s.t.s, gold trim around the cuffs and down the seams of the grey pants-but their clothes had seen much better days. Repairs had been made with big, obvious st.i.tching in gold, as if to mark the scars on the body beneath the clothes. Given the amount of it on Nive's jacket I was surprised he was still standing, and the st.i.tchery circle around the woman's right elbow suggested how high her prosthesis went.

The pirate leader slipped my ID datacard into the datapad on his desk, read for a moment, then looked up. "You are foolish or suicidal, Jenos Idanian, coming here in that shuttle."

"No, just incredibly bold." I settled an easy smile on my face and crossed my legs, as if the pirates were in my office and not the other way around. "Your people went to certain lengths to get the shuttle, and I decided to deliver it."

The dark man laughed. "And you think we will thank you for this?"

After a split second read of the other two's reaction to his speaking, I spitted him with a cold stare. "First, I don't believe that you, in particular, think at all." I deliberately looked back at Nive. "I would apologize for the inconvenience I caused you, but the fact is that you caused me a greater inconvenience first. I needed to be well away from certain people, and your operation would have prevented my getting away.

I could not let that happen, so I took the shuttle and escaped you."

Nive's expression tightened. "What happened to the two men who were supposed to be on board the shuttle?"

"The smaller one is dead. He pulled a blaster on me and I was constrained to kill him. The bigger guy is with friends of mine. If I don't report in on a timely basis, he will be killed." I opened my hands. "You see, I'm not so foolish as you might think, or as your pal here, in his feeble dreams, might wish."

Nive raised a hand and cut off his subordinate's protest.

"And why did you bring us the shuttle?"

I sat forward in the chair. "Your operation impressed me. I've seen the newsnet stories about the raid-the shuttle's escape wasn't even mentioned. You successfully looted the Palette and Rainbow, and the New Republic did nothing, or could do nothing, to stop you. I was on the Palette with those people, so I know what sort of wealth you pulled out of them. An organization that can run such a big operation so smoothly has my admiration. It also can use my aid."

The dark man couldn't contain himself. "Your aid? Ha! We are Khuiumin Survivors. We are the backbone of the Invid force. What in the Emperor's Black Heart makes you think we need you?"

I gave him a smile that was all teeth and in no way pleasant.

"I outflew you, didn't I?"

That brought a more conventional smile to the faces of Nive and the woman. She continued to work the coin through her fingers, though the pace had picked up. "You thought you would offer your services to us? As what?"

"A pilot. The datacard there will confirm I can pretty much fly anything you need flown. I've not driven one of the Tri-fighters yet, but I can learn fast."

She shook her head. "I don't have a vacancy in my squadron."

"Make one." I jerked a thumb at the big guy. "I can take junior's place."

"In your dreams."

"My dreams, your nightmare."

Nive laughed warmly, shattering the chill growing between the two of us.

"Not quite how we do things here, Idanian. Cap-tain Tyresi Gurtt here leads our elite squadron, Bolt Squadron. Members are elected to it based on performance when there is a vacancy. Lieutenant Remart Sasyru here has just been elected to fill the one vacancy in the squadron. Our Tri-fighter Wing does have five other squadrons, and there are vacancies in them. Perhaps, Remart, Rock Squadron would like to have him."

"One more loser won't hurt them."

I again turned a smile loose on Remart. "I'm going to enjoy vaping your b.u.t.t."

"No!" Nive's voice took on an icy edge. "The one thing you better understand about the Survivors, Idanian, is this: we do not prey upon ourselves. Anyone who flies against or kills another pilot is brought up on charges, tried and executed. We aren't murderers like the Imperials.

We are hard, yes, but we don't fear those who are part of us."

"I copy." I glanced at Remart and knew I'd still watch my back. "You'll want to check my records and get me tested on a Tri-fighter, but you'll find I'm a hot hand on a stick."

"That could be." Nive raised a hand and I heard the safety catches on blasters behind me being slipped off. "First thing I have to know, though, is how you found us?"