"A small battle only," Thrawn assured him. "And the battle was
instigated from Thyne's side, as both sides' recorders will bear out.
The record will also show the Imperials were in the area solely because
of information their commander received suggesting a Rebel force was
gathering in the forest there."
"Information which you supplied, of course?" Vader asked.
"Of course," Thrawn nodded. "And since there can be no possible link
between the verification code I used and any of your forces or
contacts, Prince Xizor will be unable to create any connection between
you and the mysterious informant."
"Yet Imperial troops were involved," Vader persisted.
"His first thought will certainly be of me."
Thrawn shook his head. "In fact, my Lord, the marginal Imperial
involvement will actually tend to exonerate you in his eyes. He would
expect you to launch either a full-fledged Imperial attack which he
could easily trace back to you---or else to scrupulously avoid Imperial
forces entirely, relying perhaps on your quiet bounty hunter or
mercenary contacts. The ambiguity of the actual event will leave him
confused and uncertain. Which, I believe, was one of your key
objectives."
"It was," Vader said, sounding a little uncertain. "But as you say,
Xizor knows of my bounty hunter connections.
Even though Jodo Kast is not among them, your assassination of Thyne
while disguised as Kast will again lead his attention to me."
Thrawn smiled. "Yes, but I didn't assassinate Thyne. I was able to
leave his fate in the hands of a pair of undercover CorSec agents."
Vader cocked his head slightly to the side. "I don't recall Corellian
Security ever being mentioned in our discussions, Admiral."
"The two agents attached themselves to my group," Thrawn said.
"And it was obvious right from the start that they were in Coronet City
for the specific purpose of getting to Thyne. It presented such a
perfect opportunity that I decided to modify the original plan so that
they would be the ones to deal with him."
"Then Thyne isn't dead?"
Thrawn shrugged. "At the very least he's out of power," he said.
"Actually, having him in CorSec custody would actually serve your
purposes better than a quick death. It would leave Prince Xizor
wondering if the Corellians were digging any dangerous secrets out of
him. A major distraction; and distraction, I believe, was another of
your key objectives."
There was a tone from the comm. Stepping to the console, Niriz keyed
it on. "Niriz," he said.
"Hangar Bay Control, sir," a voice said. "Reporting as per orders that
the Hopskip has just left."
"Thank you," Niriz said. "Signal the bridge to watch its vector when
it jumps to lightspeed."
"Yes, sir."
Niriz keyed the comm off. "I gather the smugglers and their Rebel
friends performed their part adequately?" Vader asked.
"Quite adequately," Thrawn assured him. "They provided the necessary
excuse for me to move Thyne's men out and clear the way for the CorSec
agents."
The unseen eyes behind the black mask seemed to bore into Thrawn's
face. "And the other part of your plan?"
Thrawn cocked a blue-black eyebrow at Niriz, "Captain?"
"Yes, sir," Niriz said. "A homing device has been installed inside
each of the hidden blasters they were smuggling."
"And the boxes repacked exactly as they were?"
"To the millimeter," Niriz confirmed. "They'll have no way of knowing
the boxes were even opened, let alone tampered with."
The Dark Lord nodded. "Excellent," he said.
The comm pinged again. "Captain, this is the bridge.
The Hopskip just jumped to lightspeed. Their vector's confirmed for
the Shibric system."
"Thank you." Niriz looked at Thrawn, lifted his eyebrows.
The Grand Admiral nodded. "Have them prepare a course back to the
Unknown Regions," he instructed.
"Our task here is finished."
"Yes, sir." Niriz gave the order and keyed off the comm.
"Unless," Thrawn added, looking at Vader, "you'd like me to deal with
Prince Xizor directly for you."
"It is indeed a tempting thought," Vader said, his voice dark with
veiled menace. "One alien against another? But no. Xizor is mine."
"As you wish," Thrawn said. "Incidentally, I doubt that Shibric is the
final destination for those Rebel blasters.
From their vector, and other bits and pieces I gleaned along the trip,
my guess is that their ultimate collection point will be somewhere in
the Derra system."
"The homing devices will show us for certain," Vader said. "But the
Derra system is rumored to have a strong Rebel presence. I'll make
sure to have some forces waiting there."
"Very good," Thrawn said. "One final suggestion, and then I suspect we
must both be on our separate ways. I
understand the general in
command of the Executor's ground forces resigned suddenly a month
ago.
I was able to watch the battle outside Thyne's stronghold for a while
as I waited to make sure the smugglers escaped; and in my opinion the
Imperial officer in command is being wasted in a garrison
assignment."
"Your opinion carries considerable weight," Vader said. "As I'm sure
you know. The officer's name?"
"Colonel Veers," Thrawn said. "From the level of his tactical skill,
I'd also say he's long overdue for a promotion.
Perhaps his political connections within the command structure leave
something to be desired."
"Political connections do not concern me," Vader rumbled, stepping to
the door. "I will see what I can do with this Colonel Veers. Thank
you, Admiral."
"My pleasure, Lord Vader," Thrawn said with a respectful tilt of his
head. "One favor for another. Perhaps we'll have the chance to work
again together."
Once again, the hidden eyes seemed to probe the Grand Admiral's face.
"Perhaps," he said. "Farewell, Admiral."
And with a swirl of his long cloak he was gone. "An interesting
exercise," Thrawn commented, crossing to the R'alla bottle and
refilling his and Niriz's glasses. "I don't know though. I sense that
this Rebellion is more powerful and better organized than perhaps Lord
Vader realizes. I hope our activities here will allow him to deliver a
crushing blow against it."
His glowing red eyes glittered as he took a sip from his glass.
"But that's not our concern, at least for now. Our concern is the
Unknown Regions; and it's time we were getting back."
"Yes, sir." Niriz hesitated. "If I may be so bold, Admiral . . .
your last comment implied that you received something in return for
helping Vader against Thyne and Black Sun. May I ask what that favor
was?"
"A very personal gift, Captain," Thrawn said. "Which was why I felt
the need to personally orchestrate Thyne's
destruction. Lord Vader has turned over to me command of a group of alien commandos who have
proven themselves highly valuable to him over the years. While I won'
t
have much use for them in the Unknown Regions, I have no doubt I'll
eventually be returning to the Empire proper. At that time--well, we
shall see what they can do."
"I never heard of Vader employing aliens," Niriz said doubtfully.
"Are you sure he's telling--well--" "The truth?" Thrawn smiled.
"Indeed he is. Mark their name well, Captain: the Noghri. I guarantee
you'll be hearing more of them."
He drained his glass and set it down. "But now to the bridge.
The Unknown Regions are calling; and we have a great deal of work yet
to do."
About the Authors
After nearly ten years as a newspaper reporter and editor, Laurie Burns
combined hobby with profession to start a West Coast horse magazine,
now in its seventh year of publication. Branching out into writing
fiction, she's had several short stories published in the Official Star
Wars Adventure Journal and is currently at work on her first novel. In
her spare time, Laurie likes to ride horses, climb rocks, and belly
dance--though not all at the same time.
Usually.
Erin Endore practices and teaches pediatric emergency medicine at a
major Southwestern medical school. Most of her previous writing has
been for medical journals. She took a break from writing about the
infectious complications of animal bites and how to recognize child
abuse to create "Do No Harm," her first story for the Official Star
Wars Adventure Journal.
Patricia A. Jackson is an administrative assistant at Jackson (Really!)
Elementary School in York, Pennsylvania. A veteran freelancer with
nine published credits in the Official Star Wars Adventure Journal, she
has learned much in the pursuit of the dark side. In the grip of a
particular love/hate relationship with Jedi Knights--particularly dark
Jedi--she enjoys exploring the sinister, less traveled roads of the
Force with individuals who are no less heroic than their light-side
counterparts. When not furthering the cause of the Empire, she rides
and trains show horses.
With a master's degree in English, she enjoys the complexities of
language and has invented Old Corellian, a rare dialect used among
smugglers and Socorran pirates.
Her first game sourcebook, The Black Sands of Socorro, was published by
West End Games in June.
Charlene Newcomb grew up in South Carolina, then joined the navy to
"see the world." Working as a commu
nications technician/interpreter, her "world" turned out to be Orlando, Monterey, San Angelo, and Fort
Meade--her last assignment: working at the National Security Agency.
After a five-year stint in the navy, and one year as a civil servant,
Char moved to North Carolina, where her linguistic abilities were
clearly not in demand. But the move led her to her second profession:
as a librarian.
Many years of procrastination (and three children and a move to
Florida) later, she finally enrolled in graduate school. In 1996 she
completed her master's degree at the University of South Florida in
Tampa, and now works as a serials cataloger in Kansas. She began her
freelance writing career while in grad school. Her first short story,
"A Glimmer of Hope," appeared in the premiere issue of the Official
Star Wars Adventure Journal. Since then she's written or cowritten ten
stories for the Journal. The world she created for "Glimmer" Garos
IV--will be featured in The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons,
forthcoming from Del Rey in 1998.
Angela Phillips works as a substitute teacher in her hometown of
Hampton, Virginia, but hopes eventually to make a living as a
novelist.
She began studying writing at Duke University in the summer of 1982 at
the age of thirteen.
"Slaying Dragons" was her first short story for the Official Star Wars
Adventure Journal. Her subsequent story in Journal #9, "The Most
Dangerous Foe," told the tale of Vici of Alderaan and her final test
before becoming a Jedi Knight.
As a high-school student, Anthony Russo was writing Star Wars stories
long before it was considered cool (or profitable enough to be claimed
on IRS Form 1040). He was heading down the dark path as your typical
computer consultant when he published his first short story in
Aboriginal Science Fiction magazine. Looking for alternative markets
to break into, a friend directed him to the Official Star Wars
Adventure Journal. He has since appeared in the
credits of a number
of West End Game products, including the Star Wars Live Action
Roleplaying System, where you can play Imperials or Dark Lords and
still wake up in the morning not hating yourself. He is currently
pounding away on his first full-length novel and trying really hard not
to give in to his son's pleas for a full-sized Millennium Falcon for
Christmas.
Michael A. Stackpole is The New York Times best-selling author of the
first four Star Wars X-Wing novels in which he chronicled some of the
later adventures of Corran Horn. "Missed Chance" embodied three
firsts: the first story about Corran, the first published story about
Corran, and the first of Mike's efforts sharing characters with Timothy
Zahn. In addition to Star Wars novels, Mike has worked on and has been
scripting the Dark Horse Star Wars X-Wing Rogue Squadron comic
series.
In his spare time he writes BattleTech novels, fantasy novels, such as
Once a Hero, Talion: Revertant, and A Hero Reborn, plays soccer, and
still forces himself to ride his bicycle for exercise.
Kathy Tyers has contributed six short stories to the Star Wars
universe, in addition to the novel Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura
(Bantam Books, 1994), and several vignettes in The Truce at Bakura
Sourcebook (West End Games, 1996).
Three stories follow Tinian and Daye after "Tinian on Trial," including
"To Fight Another Day" and "Only Droids Serve the Maker" from the
Official Star Wars Adventure Journal (May 1995 and May 1996), and "The
Prize Pelt" in Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters (Bantam Books,
1996). In Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales from Jabba's
Palace, she published "We Don't Do Weddings, the Band's Tale" and "A
Time to Dance, a Time to Mourn, Oola's Tale." Kathy's other Bantam
Spectra novels include Firebird and her 1996 release, One Mind's Eye.
Kathy lives with her husband and son in Southwestern Montana, where she
juggles science-fiction writing,
vegetable gardening and orchard tending, Bible study performing folk music with her husband, an
occasional pit-orchestra gig, and developing a contemporary novel for
the Christian Booksellers Association market. Someday she'll get
organized.
Timothy Zahn is the author of Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising,
and The Last Command, all New York Times best-selling Star Wars
novels.
The first book of his two-part Star Wars saga, Specter of the Past, is
currently available in hardcover; the second part, Vision of the
Future, will be published next year by Bantam Spectra. Tim has been
an
avid supporter of the Journal and West End Games--his contributions to
The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal include "First Contact" in
issue #1 and "Mist Encounter'' in issue #7. He also helped design and
lend support to the DarkStryder game campaign.
Tales From The Empire Page 41