He broke off at a quiet beep from the desk. "What's that?" Flim asked.

"My private comm," Disra said, frowning as he opened a drawer and looked at the access code. What in the Empire-?

"You going to answer it?" Film prompted.

"Stay out of sight," Disra said curtly, keying for the connection. "Both of you." He straightened up and faced his desk display, arranging his expression into something hard and regal. The status report that had been on the display cleared and became a face&mdash "All right, Disra," Captain Zothip snarled. "Let's hear it. What in blazes is going on?"

"It's Your Excellency, Captain," Disra corrected him. "And I was about to ask you that same question. You know the rules about contacting me this way."

"Vader take your rules! I want to know-"

"You know the rules," Disra repeated, the sheer iciness of his tone somehow silencing the other. "This channel is never to be used except in case of emergency." He lifted his eyebrows. "Or are you trying to tell me something has happened that the Cavrilhu Pirates can't handle?"

"Oh, it's been handled," Zothip said viciously. "It cost me two men and one of my best bases, but it's been handled. What I want to know from you is how and why Luke Skywalker just happened to drop in for a visit."

Disra frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't twist me around, Disra," Zothip warned. "Skywalker was at Kauron, asking about your precious clones. Got out of our Jedi trap, and we wound up having to blast and bust."

"I mourn with you in your loss," Disra said sarcastically. "What does this have to do with me?"

"What doesn't it have to do with you?" Zothip shot back. "First you pull out all your clones-no explanation-and now suddenly Skywalker drops in for a visit." The pirate's eyes hardened. "You know what I think? I think you decided you don't need us anymore and pointed Skywalker our direction to try to close us down. What do you say to that?"

"I say I'm looking at a pirate chief who's lost his nerve," Disra said bluntly. "What in the Empire would I have to gain by eliminating the Cavrilhu Pirates? Even a.s.suming I could pull off such a feat?"

"You tell me," Zothip grated. "I hear Admiral Pellaeon's people have been sniffing around the boots of our financial a.s.sociates on Muunilinst and Borgo Prime. Maybe you're trying to burn your skyarches behind you before he connects us together."

Disra snorted. "Let me tell you something. Not only am I not worried about Admiral Pellaeon, neither you nor anyone else in the galaxy has reason to worry about him, either.

Not for long, anyway."

"Really," Zothip said, scratching under his s.h.a.ggy black beard. "I thought good Imperials didn't a.s.sa.s.sinate each other anymore."

"He's not going to be killed," Disra a.s.sured him with a smug smile. "He'll simply stop being a threat, that's all."

At the side of the desk, Tierce muttered something under his breath and snagged Disra's datapad. "Yeah, sure, whatever," Zothip said. "So then what was Skywalker doing here?"

Disra shrugged, watching Tierce out of the corner of his eye. The other seemed to be writing a message at furious speed. "Perhaps he identified you during that botched job at Iphigin," he suggested to Zothip. "You said yourself that the ships that drove you away were a YT-1300 and an X-wing. Solo and Skywalker?"

"Could be, I suppose," the pirate conceded with ill grace. "He still knew I'd been using your clones."

Disra waved a hand in dismissal. "He was hunting shoal darters, Zothip. Trying to make a connection-any connection-between you and the Empire. He doesn't know anything."

"Maybe nothing about you," Zothip growled. "But what about me? He's a Jedi Master, remember? He could have picked up all sorts of dirt from my men."

"Then you'd better bury yourselves somewhere for a while, hadn't you?" Disra suggested, feeling his patience starting to shred around the edges. He didn't have time for this.

"Someplace where big bad Jedi can't find you."

Zothip's face darkened. "Don't try to dismiss me like a child, Disra," he said, his voice rippling with soft menace. "Our partnership's been extremely profitable, for both of us.

But you don't want me as your enemy. Trust me on that."

"That works both directions," Disra countered. "Fierce had finished whatever he was writing and had stepped around behind the desk, holding the datapad just over the display where Disra could read it. "Trust me on that," the Moff continued, leaning casually forward as he tried to talk and read at the same time. "There's no reason to end our relationship over something this trivial."

"Trivial?" Zothip echoed. "You call the loss of a major base trivial-?"

"Besides, I have another job to offer you," Disra said, leaning back in his seat again and throwing Tierce a faint smile. Score another one for their master tactician. "If you're interested, that is."

Zothip studied Disra's face suspiciously. "I'm listening."

"In approximately three weeks Admiral Pellaeon and the Chimera will be leaving Imperial s.p.a.ce for a secret meeting at Pesitiin," Disra said. "I want you to attack him there."

Zothip laughed, a single ranphyx-like bark. "Right, Disra. Attack an Imperial Star Destroyer with a few Telgorn Pacifiers and maybe a Kaloth battlecruiser or two. Sure, no trouble."

"I don't mean attack with any intent of doing serious damage," Disra said patiently. "All that's necessary is for him to come under fire. You can do that, can't you?"

"I can do it, sure," Zothip said. "Question is, why should I?"

"Because I'll pay you twice your usual fee for hara.s.sing New Republic shipping." Disra let his voice drop to a soft purr. "And because if you do, the Cavrilhu Pirates will be first in line to reap the rewards when all of this is over."

"You're expecting there to be enough rewards to be parceled out, are you?"

"More than you can possibly imagine," Disra a.s.sured him. Zothip snorted. "You'd be surprised how much I can imagine," he said. But there was a thoughtful edge to his gaze now. "Okay, I'll run with this a while longer. Pesitiin, you say?"

"Right," Disra said. "One other thing: I want whatever ships you send against the Chimera to be marked with Corellian insignia."

"Do you, now," Zothip said, scratching under his beard again. "Any particular reason?"

"The same reason I don't care whether or not you actually inflict any damage on him,"

Disra said. Why don't you see if you can figure it out for yourself?"

"I'll do that," Zothip promised. "In the meantime, you see if you can figure out how to deposit the fee into our account, all right?"

Disra smiled thinly. "A pleasure doing business with you, Captain Zothip."

"As always, Moff Disra," the other countered. "I'll be in touch."

The display blanked. "Through the proper channels next time, if you please," Disra muttered toward the empty screen, allowing himself to slump slightly in his seat.

Conversations with Zothip always left him feeling drained. "At any rate, that should keep him off our backs for a while."

"As well as performing a useful service for us," Tierce said, taking the datapad back and blanking it. "There's another military virtue for you, Flim: never throw away allies until you're absolutely sure you won't need them anymore."

"We have similar rules in the fringe," Flim said dryly. "Not so eloquently put, of course.

What exactly was that all about?"

"What, Zothip's attack on Pellaeon?" Disra asked.

"The attack itself I understand," Flim said. "You're trying to make Pellaeon think the New Republic has rejected his peace offer and is ambushing him instead."

Disra c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at the con man. "Very good-you're learning. Though of course vision is always clearer in backsight."

"You're too kind," Flim said, tilting his head slightly in a faintly mocking salute. "What I don't understand is why Corellian insignia instead of New Republic ones."

"Because that would be too obvious," Tierce told him. "It would imply all of Coruscant had flatly rejected the idea of a meeting. Pellaeon knows they wouldn't do that, and would guess it was a setup."

"This way it will look like it's just Bel Iblis, who's a Corellian, who is turning him down," Disra added. "Pretending they're Corellian defense ships should also help explain why there aren't any Star Cruisers or other major capital ships in the attack."

"Right," Tierce said. "Also bear in mind that we don't want Pellaeon giving up entirely on this surrender idea, at least not yet. If Bel Iblis has rejected his advances without official sanction, then Pellaeon's next move would be to seek someone else to make his overtures to. That will take time, which plays into our hands. More importantly, it will also require him to leave Pesitiin prematurely. Even if enough of Major Vermel's message got through before he was captured at Morisbim, chances are Pellaeon and Bel Iblis will miss each other."

"It should work quite well," Disra said casually, carefully concealing his own surprise.

That last part hadn't even occurred to him until Tierce brought it up, but he had no intention of letting either of the others know that. Tierce was entirely too self-a.s.sured as it was, and Flim wasn't nearly respectful enough toward either of his superiors for Disra's taste. "In the meantime, in Major Tierce's words, our stew needs a little more stirring. Are we ready for the Bothawui riot yet?"

"If not, we're very close," Tierce said. "We'll use Navett's team, I think-they've been the most successful agitators."

"And we definitely want this one to be memorable," Disra agreed. "I'll order them into position."

"We should also start activating the rest of the sleeper groups," Tierce said. "There's no way to precisely plan our timetable, and we don't want them still asleep when we need them."

"Yes." Disra snorted gently. "Especially considering that if the real Thrawn were in charge, he'd probably have had the whole operation timed down to the minute."

"We'll just have to do the best we can," Tierce said. "And trust our enemies to fill in the gaps for us. Meanwhile, I'll get over to Yaga Minor and see what I can dig up."

"Let's hope you find something useful," Flim said, getting to his feet. "One thing that still bothers me. What was Skywalker doing nosing around a Cavrilhu Pirate base?"

"As I told Zothip, trying to connect us to them," Disra said. "Don't worry, he won't be able to."

"But-"

"Besides, it's irrelevant," Tierce cut him off. "Very soon now a few clones and a grubby little pirate gang will be the least of the Rebellion's worries."

CHAPTER 11.

The door slid open, and Karrde stepped onto the Wild Karrde's bridge. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," he said. "How are we doing?"

"Fine, Chief," Dankin said, half turning around in the helm seat to look at him. "We're almost to the Nosken system-just a few more minutes."

"Good." Karrde took a step toward him, sending a quick look around at the other stations&mdash And paused, frowning. What are you doing up here, H'sishi?" he asked the young Togorian female at the sensor station.

She turned to face him. [Dankin asked me to take the station,] she said, her mewling Togorian speech as purringly feline as her appearance. [He said it was time I took some bridge practice.]

Karrde looked at Dankin. The other was gazing studiously at his board against his face in profile, but even so Karrde could see the secret amus.e.m.e.nt bubbling there. "Yes, I suppose it is," he said, taking a second look around the bridge at the other stations. Odonnl, in the copilot seat, was wearing the same expression as Dankin. So was Pormfil at the engine monitor, though on his Kerestian face it was a little harder to spot. Even Chin, who tended to be rather grandfatherly toward new recruits these days, was having to try hard not to smile. "Have you done a status check against the baseline recently?" he asked, looking back at H'sishi.

The Togorian's yellow eyes seemed to cloud over a little. [No, Chieftain,] she said. [I will do one now if you request it.]

"Please," Karrde nodded. "The baseline datacard is in the computer room."

[I obey,] H'sishi said, uncoiling her lithe body from her seat. She padded across the bridge, her claws making little clicking sounds against the metal floor as she walked, and exited.

"All right, gentlemen," Karrde said mildly as the door slid shut behind her. "Am I going to have to guess?"

"Oh, it's nothing much, Chief," Dankin said, radiating a thoroughly unconvincing innocence. "It's just that she's never been to Terrik's place before. I thought she'd get the best view if she was up here when we came out of hypers.p.a.ce."

"Ah," Karrde said. "And you were curious to see how high she'd jump?"

"Well . . . yeah, maybe a little," Dankin admitted.

"We like to think of it as her full initiation into the crew," Odonnl added helpfully.

"I see." Karrde looked around at the others, all of them grinning openly now. "I suppose it hasn't occurred to you that startling a Togorian this way might be just the slightest bit dangerous?"

"Oh, come on, Captain, it's harmless fun," Odonnl said. "Mara lets us do this when she's on the bridge."

"Anyway, Cap't, these are a long tradition," Chin said. "Billey's folk surely cooked up something like it when you joined up with them, hee?"

"Billey's people weren't nearly so creative," Karrde said dryly. "As for Mara, her excuse is that she wants to use the Force to examine how new crew members behave under stress."

"Sounds like a good reason to me," Dankin offered. "Better we check them out here than find out what they're made of when we're in the middle of a genuine crisis."

"You're rationalizing, of course," Karrde pointed out.

"Probably," Dankin agreed shamelessly. "Come on, Chief, give us a break. It's been deadly quiet around here lately."

"An enraged Togorian would certainly break up the monotony," Karrde said, shaking his head. Still, horseplay aside, they did have a point. If H'sishi was going to become a permanent member of the Wild Karrde's crew, they really did need to find out how she reacted when startled. "Be it upon your own heads. I'll watch from over there."

He stepped over to the bulkhead beside Chin, where he had a good view of the sensor station; and as he did so, the door slid open and H'sishi padded back in. [I have the datacard, Chieftain Karrde,] she said, holding it up for his inspection.

"Good," Karrde confirmed, giving the label a quick check. H'sishi had a good grasp of spoken Basic, but her Aurebesh reading skills were still a little shaky. "Go ahead and set it up." [I obey.] She sat down at her console again, clawed hands tapping delicately at the controls.

"Here we go," Dankin said. "Stand by sublight engines."

Gripping the levers, he eased them back. The mottled sky turned to starlines and collapsed to stars...

And there, floating in the darkness directly ahead of them, was an Imperial Star Destroyer.

H'sishi came half out of her seat, hissing something vicious sounding in her language that Karrde didn't catch. Her mouth was stretched wide open, the fangs glistening whitely in the pale bridge lighting. Her fur stood stiffly out from her body, making her look half again as big as normal, and in her yellow eyes was a crazy fire.

"Star Destroyer directly ahead," Dankin called out, as if someone on the bridge might somehow have missed it. "Range, two kilometers."