Tales From The Empire

by Peter Schweighofer

to get back right away."

  "Wait a minute, wait a minute," Grobber said. "What attack?

  Who's attacking?"

  "Who do you think? The frinking Imperials, that's who."

  Grobber threw a startled glance at selty. "The Imperials?"

  "Started out as some anti-Rebel operation," Control said. "At least,

  that's what they told us. Then someone took a shot at them, and

  suddenly here they are, burning their way through the east wall."

  "Skrag! Where's Thyne?"

  "I don't know--we can't find him."

  "Must have gotten out," Selty muttered.

  "Or ducked into some private bunker," Grobber said.

  "All right, Control, we're on our way. Skinkner?"

  "We're packing up, too," Skinkner's voice confirmed.

  "You want us to do anything with these other sleight boxes?"

  "To blazes with the boxes," Control snapped. "We need you here."

  "No, pack 'em up and bring 'em along," Grobber said.

  "Grobber--"

  "They're worth a fortune," Grobber growled.

  "Thyne'll have our heads if we leave 'em behind. Come on, how much

  trouble can a few Imperials be?"

  Faintly over the comlink came the sound of a distant explosion.

  "That answer your question?" Control snarled. "Get the frink back

  here."

  And with a sudden hiss, the comlink went dead.

  "They're jamming it," Grobber growled, shoving the cylinder back into

  his belt. "Selty, you take Promk and Bullkey and get these two and

  their landspeeder back to the fortress. Everyone else, back to the

  airspeeders. Move it!"

  The others scattered. "Don't get any ideas," Grobber warned softly,

  glaring from under creased eyebrows at Riij and Maranne.

  "We're a long ways from being done with you two yet."

  With that he stomped off after the rest of his mob, disappearing just

  as they had appeared back into the shadows again. "Get over here,"

  Selty snapped, Waving Riij and Maranne forward. Somewhere in the

  distance an avian or insect whistled, sounding strangely out of place

  in the urban setting. "Bullkey?"

  "I'm on 'em," a deep voice came from behind Riij, the confidence backed

  up by a blaster nudge in the back.

  "Com on, move it."

  Riij started forward; and as he did so, Maranne veered slightly toward

  him and nudged him with her elbow. "Get ready," she murmured, just

  loud enough for him to hear.

  At the landspeeder Promk, under Selty's direction, had picked up the

  box containing the Durindfire gems and was carrying it back toward the

  storage compartment.

  The strange avian whistled again; and suddenly, inexplicably, one of

  the bottom edges of the box split open, spilling the gems out onto the

  ground.

  "Promk!" Selty squeaked, aghast. "You stupid idiot."

  He jumped forward, grabbing at the box as Promk tried to turn it upside

  down. For a moment they both fumbled with it, the prisoners

  temporarily forgotten-

  And from behind Riij came a short gurgle and a

  muffled thump.

  Beside him, he sensed Maranne preparing to charge.

  "Not yet," he muttered, touching her warningly as he lengthened his

  stride. Preoccupied with the spilled gems, Selty and Promk hadn't yet

  noticed what had happened over here. Another four paces . . .

  three . . . if they'd just fight with the box another few seconds...

  one ....

  "Now," he murmured; and jumping forward, he put his left palm down on

  the landspeeder's hood and leaped over the vehicle to slam both feet

  hard against Promk's chest.

  The thug didn't even have a chance to gurgle as he hit the ground, the

  sleight box spinning out of his hands into the darkness. Selty did

  have time for a startled curse and a grab for his holstered blaster

  before he went down with Maranne on top of him. A savage jab with her

  knee, and he went limp.

  "Are you injured?" Pairor rumbled from behind them.

  "No, we're fine," Riij assured him, regaining his balance and turning

  around. Behind the Tunroth, the third thug was lying in an unnaturally

  crumpled heap. "Nice job with Bullkey," he added.

  "Not to mention the box," Maranne added, retrieving their appropriated

  blasters from Selty's belt and tossing Riij's back to him.

  "How'd you manage that one?"

  "That was mine," Trell said, stepping out from behind one of the other

  parked landspeeders and crossing to them. "Just an exquisitely

  well-thrown molecular stiletto."

  "A whistle code and a molecular stiletto," Riij said, shaking his head

  wonderingly. "You two are just full of tricks, aren't you?"

  "The stiletto was a gift," Trell said, crouching down beside the

  sleight box. "Blast--the blade's broken."

  "Never mind the blade," Maranne said, crouching down beside him.

  "Get the gems."

  "Forget the gems," Riij told her, peering off in the

  direction Grobber and the others had gone. The rescue had been remarkably quiet, but if

  Grobber took it into his head to fly over this spot on the way back to

  Thyne's fortress, the four of them could still end up fertilizing a

  patch of razor grass. "Let's just get out of here."

  "But--" "No, he's right," Trell said through clearly clenched teeth.

  "If whatever's going on back at Thyne's place dies down fast enough we

  could still find Grobber's buddies camping out in the Hopskip's cargo

  bay. Just grab the box and whatever's still left inside."

  Maranne hissed something vile sounding, but she nevertheless stood up,

  the now half-empty box in her hands.

  "Fine," she said bitterly. "What about the spice?"

  "Leave it here," Trell told her. "Corran said we wouldn't want to get

  caught shipping spice, and I'm rather inclined to agree with him."

  "We can call CorSec on the way and tell them where to pick it up," Riij

  added. "Now let's go."

  They all piled into the landspeeder. "Speaking of Corran and CorSec,"

  Trell commented as he spun the vehicle around and kicked power to the

  engines. "Turns out they're one and the same."

  "Corran's with Corellian Security?" Maranne asked, frowning at him.

  "You're joking."

  "That's how he and Hal were talking, anyway," Trell said. "Last we

  saw, they were heading off after Thyne."

  Riij winced. "In the middle of Thyne's fortress? They haven't got a

  chance."

  "That was also our estimation," Pairor agreed. "But counting the

  number of Thyne's warriors here and those fighting the Imperials

  outside his stronghold, it seems likely the core areas within may have

  been nearly deserted."

  "'Nearly' might not have been good enough," Maranne said. "And what

  about Kast? He was still there, wasn't he?"

  "I've given up trying to guess what kind of game Kast is

  playing," Trell said, twisting the landspeeder hard to get around a

  Herglic-parked speeder truck. "All I know is that he's the one who

  gave Corran the molecular stiletto that got us out of there."

  "And we do not believe it was merely a trap," Pairor added. "We were

  challenged by Imperial TIE bombers as we left the stronghold; yet upon

  identification, we were permitted to pass."
/>
  "That had to be Corran and Hal's doing," Trell said.

  "CorSec's supposed to be working pretty closely with the Imperials

  these days."

  "Yes," Riij murmured, thinking back to the brief argument he'd had with

  Corran about the Rebellion. And now to find out Corran was actually

  CorSec. Could he have guessed Riij's true loyalties from that

  conversation?

  "We were both permitted to pass," Pairor reminded him softly.

  "I understand," Riij told him. "I also understand that the way

  everything else here's been going, that doesn't mean a whole lot. If

  we get to the Hopskip without running into an ambush--from any of the

  sides of this crazy powerplay--then maybe I'll believe we've gotten

  away with it."

  "Gotten away with what?" Maranne asked.

  Riij spread his hands. "With whatever in blazes we did here."

  There was indeed no ambush poised outside the Hop-skip. Nor were any

  of their former companionsCorran, Hal, or Kast--waiting there.

  What was there was a single datacard.

  "Looks like the same stuff that Kast used to stick the molecular

  stiletto to Corran's cell bars," Trell commented, poking experimentally

  at the bits of adhesive residue that had been left on the datacard.

  "Should we read it here, or inside?"

  "Inside," Riij said firmly, taking the datacard from him and glancing

  around. "And not until we're out of here.

  You and Maranne get the pre-flight started; Pairor and I'll check to

  make sure no one left us any surprises."

  Trell had the engines nursed and sputtering to life, and Maranne had

  the nav computer working on their course, when Riij and pairor returned

  from their tour of the ship.

  "Looks clean," Riij told the others as the two of them took their

  seats. "Or at least, there's nothing obvious. You talked to the tower

  yet?"

  "We're third in line to leave," Maranne told him. "You want to read us

  a sleepy-time story now?"

  "Sure," Riij said. From behind Trell came a faint rubbing sound--Riij

  getting the last bits of adhesive off the datacard, probably--and then

  the brief scraping as he slid it into his datapad.

  "It's from Kast," Riij said. "'To the crew and passengers of the

  Hopskip: well done."

  "Well done!" Maranne growled. "What in blazes--?"

  "Shh," Trell cut her off. "Go on."

  "'You have adequately completed the mission that was assigned you,"

  Riij continued." 'You may return now to the Admonitor and retrieve

  your cargo. This datacard will serve as proof to Captain Niriz that

  you have fulfilled your side of the bargain and may have your cargo

  returned to you." Then it's signed with his name and what looks like

  some kind of ID mark."

  "So he's not going back, huh?" Trell said, an odd feeling stirring in

  the pit of his stomach. "I'm not sure I like that."

  "He must have arranged his payment to be delivered somewhere else,"

  Maranne said. "It didn't look like he and Niriz got along very

  well."

  "Perhaps his payment is in the remainder of the sleight boxes," pairor

  said.

  "I wouldn't count on it," Riij said. "There's a postscript: 'Do not

  return to the Dewback Storage Warehouse for the other sleight boxes.

  They are empty."

  "What?" Trell growled, half turning to glare back at Riij over his

  shoulder. "Come on, now, that's just crazy.

  You're telling me the two boxes you happened to take to

  the Mynock's Haven were the only ones with anything in them? What are the odds of

  that happening?"

  "Not too bad, really," Maranne said grimly. "Not when you consider

  that they were the only two we knew we could open and then reseal

  again. They were leading us around by the nose the whole way, weren't

  they?"

  "The whole way," Riij agreed." 'And don't bother with either the

  Durindfire gems or the spice. Both are counterfeit."

  Trell looked across the cockpit, to find Maranne looking back at him.

  There didn't seem to be anything to say.

  There was another faint scraping behind him as Riij pulled the datacard

  from the datapad. "Look, we got in and out again alive," he reminded

  them, reaching over Trell's shoulder to hand him the datacard.

  "My instructors used to say that no mission you walked away from was a

  complete failure. Maybe we'll meet Corran and Hal someday and find out

  what this whole thing was all about."

  Trell turned the datacard over in his hand. "I doubt it," he said.

  "I'd say chances are good that neither of them knew what was going on,

  either."

  He slid the datacard into a storage slot on his board.

  "Come on, Maranne. Let's get out of here."

  "I know this sort of thing embarrasses you," Captain Niriz said as he

  poured his guest a glass of aged R'alla mineral water, "so I'll only

  say it once. When I heard the reports of military action on CoreIlia,

  I was concerned for your safety. I'm glad to find out my fears were

  unfounded."

  "Thank you, Captain," Grand Admiral Thrawn said, accepting the

  proffered glass and taking a sip. He was still wearing his Jodo Kast

  armor, though without the helmet and gauntlets. "You're wrong, though,

  about expression of concern and support being an embarrassment. On the

  contrary, loyalty is one of the two qualities I value most in my

  subordinates and colleagues."

  "And the other?" Niriz asked, pouring a glass of R'alla water for

  himself.

  "Competence," Thrawn said. "Has the Hopskip's cargo been reloaded

  aboard yet?"

  "It's being done, sir," Niriz said. With most people, he thought

  distantly, the addition of Mandalorian armor would instantly create a

  powerful air of strength and mystery.

  With Thrawn, in contrast, it almost seemed to detract from the sense of

  authority that was already there.

  "The bridge has orders to let me know when they leave."

  He cocked an eyebrow. "Which reminds me: you promised to let me know

  what all this was about when you returned."

  "And I intend to do so," Thrawn assured him. "I'm waiting for one

  other person to join us here first."

  Behind Niriz, the door slid open. Niriz turned, opening his mouth to

  reprimand whoever this officer or crewer was who would dare enter the

  captain's private office without permission-And an instant later was

  scrambling to his feet, the harsh words dying in his throat as if

  they'd been choked to death. The armored figure striding with casual

  arrogance through the door-"Ah; Lord Vader," Thrawn said, rising more

  easily to his feet. "Welcome aboard the Admonitor. We're honored by

  your presence."

  "As we are with yours, Admiral Thrawn," Lord Darth Vader said, a

  distinct edge of challenge in his deep voice.

  "You're nearly six hours late."

  "I know, my Lord, and I apologize for keeping you waiting," Thrawn

  said, nodding his head deferentially.

  "As it turned out, I was forced to significantly modify the plan I

  originally outlined to you."

  "But the objective was achieved?" Vader demanded.

  "It was indeed," Thr
awn said. "Zekka Thyne and the Corellian branch of

  Prince Xizor's Black Sun have been effectively eliminated."

  Niriz looked at Thrawn in surprise. "Zekka Thyne? But I thought--"

  "You thought the Emperor had an arrangement with Xizor?"

  Vader demanded, turning that grisly mask toward him.

  Niriz swallowed. Vader's reputation concerning flag officers who had

  displeased him . . . but on the other hand, Thrawn demanded absolute

  honesty from his subordinates.

  "Yes, my Lord," he said. "I did."

  Vader's stiff posture seemed to ease slightly. "For the moment,

  perhaps, that is true. But such arrangements are made to be

  altered."

  He turned back to Thrawn. "Yet I understood there was Imperial action

  against Thyne's stronghold."