Star Wars_ Shadows Of The Empire Part 20

Good response, Leia thought.

"And, as I mentioned, we are in sympathy with the Alliance. We have...

aided you a number of times. In fact, we have recently aided the Alliance in obtaining the plans for a supersecret Imperial construction project, by way of the Bothan spynet."

"Really? I hadn't heard that."

"It was very recent. The news would not have had time to reach here."

Hmm. Leia leaned back, tried to mimic Guri's relaxed pose. That would bear investigating. She wasfairly certain that if Black Sun had given something of great value to the Alliance, there would be something asked in return. If not now, then later.

Guri leaned forward. "I regret that I must ask if it might be possible to continue this meeting later. I have pressing business on one of the local moons, and I'mafraid my launch window is coming up soon."

"Of course," Leia said. Whether Guri had such busi-ness or not was hardly important. If she did, then she could attend to it. If not, then cutting short the meeting was a gambit, and Leia would accept the move, to see where it led.

"Perhaps we can talk again in, say, three or four days?"

"I will look forward to it," Leia said, smiling.

Guri stood, smooth as an acrobat in peak condition.

Smiled, gave Leia a nod that was something a little softer than a military bow, and left. After she was gone, Lando and Chewie came into the room.

"What do you think?" Leia said.

"Man, she's a smooth piece of work," Lando said. "You could stack ice cubes on her head and they wouldn't melt. Unarmed, unless she was hiding a weapon somewhere / couldn't spot it. Very attractive, too, but there's something spooky about her."

Leia nodded. She was glad that Lando had noticed.

"Threepio?"

"I was unable to place her accent," he said. "Which is decidedly odd, given my extensive experience in languages. Her Basic was flawless, her inflection precise, but I am afraid I cannot tell you her planet of origin."

Chewie said something. n.o.body spoke for a moment. Leia said, "Well, is somebody going to tell me what he said?" Threepio got it out first: "Chewbacca says the woman made him very nervous."

"He didn't say 'very,' " Lando said. "Just plain 'nervous.' "

"Excuse me," Threepio said. "I inferred the modifier from his tone.

Wookieespeak allows for such shadings."

"You saying my Wookieespeak is bad?" Lando said.

"Don't start again, you two."

"Very" or not, few things made a Wookiee nervous. Certainly not normal women. Something to consider.

Maybe the next time the woman from Black Sun visited they ought to prepare their reception a little better.

20.

Princess Leia leaned back in her chair and smiled. She looked relaxed, comfortable, in charge. Guri leaned forward. Told Leia that she had to break the meeting off now. Leia was not the least nonplussed. "Of course," she said. Again the small and polite smile.

"Freeze it right there," Xizor said.

The holoproj of Leia shuttered and held, sharper as a single image than it was as a moving one. Perhaps he would have this particular frame installed as a permanent holographic duplicate on one of his private chamber walls. It would be better, perhaps, had she been nude, but it was fine just as it was. It seemed to catch the essence of the woman. He could get the nude one later.

Without taking his gaze from the full-size three-dimensional picture on the floor in front of him, he said, "What did you think of her?"

Behind him stood Guri. "She's adept at meaningless small talk, as befits a skilled diplomat. She revealed nothing of what she really wanted except that it might have to do with intelligence gathering. She is physically attractive for one of her species and related species. She is intelligent."

"And...?"

"And it would seem more than coincidental that this woman who is known to be close to Luke Skywalker is probing Black Sun."

Xizor glanced away from the holoproj at his most trusted lieutenant.

There was a dry understatement. A man who believed in such heavy coincidences was a fool. Somehow, Leia-he was already beginning to think of her on a first-name basis-somehow she had figured out more than she should have been able to figure out. Although he had taken great pains to separate himself from the planned a.s.sa.s.sination of Skywalker, she had happened upon the plot and managed to connect it to Black Sun. It was not good, but it was somewhat amazing. Another point in her favor.

"Your suggestion?"

"Kill her. Kill her Wookiee and gambler companion. Wipe the protocol droid's memory and melt it down. Eliminate Avaro as well, just to be sure. And anybody in the casino who might have recognized her."

Xizor smiled. Guri was ruthless and efficient; that was part of her charm. If she had to flame a building to rid it of termites, so be it.

Given leave, she would do exactly what she suggested.

"I think not," he said. "Go back and meet with her again. We should find out exactly how much she knows and to whom she has told it, if anybody."

"I can get that information before I terminate her."

"No, I would rather conduct this particular interrogation myself. I want you to bring her to me."

Guri was silent.

"Go ahead, speak your mind."

"You are attracted to this woman in a romantic way."

"So?"

"Such attractions have been known to cloud the minds of otherwise rational beings."

He laughed, something he did all too seldom these days. n.o.body but Guri would have the nerve to speak thus. Another of her endearing traits. "Do not fear, my dear Guri. She could never replace you in my affections."

Guri did not speak. He didn't think that thought had crossed her mind.

She was immune to jealousy as far as he'd been able to determine. Guri would stand by and hold the clothes of his mistress while Xizor had his way with her, apparently unaffected by what she saw. "Princess Leia will surely be useful in locating Skywalker, one way or another. After that, then you can dispose of her."

Guri nodded once.

"Go."

When she was gone, Xizor considered what she had said, then dismissed it.

He walked the cold road, and his pa.s.sion was always safely leashed until he let it free. Guri worried; that was her job and how she had been programmed, to protect him at all costs, even if it extended into his love life. He did not need to be protected there. In such matters a Falleen was quite capable of taking care of himself.

And in this case, it would be a pleasure to do it, too.

Luke's X-wing dropped from hypers.p.a.ce in the vicinity of the planet Kothlis. The world had three small moons, was the fourth of seven planets circling the local primary, and did not appear to be swarming with Imperial Navy, at least not where Luke was. He scanned the local comm bands and picked up normal traffic, nothing alarming.

"Artoo, lay in a course for the rendezvous Melan gave us."

Artoo whistled his acknowledgment.

Darth Vader's spies told him that Xizor had gone once again to see the Emperor. The man was involved in something dangerous to the Empire, he was certain of it. But he had to have proof before he went to the Emperor. Xizor was currently enjoying favor, and if Vader wished to stop that, he must find out exactly what the Dark Prince was up to. He must have evidence that was irrefutable.

"Bring one of my dueling droids," Vader said to the air. "No. Bring two of them."

The Rebel fighter squadron bore in, a dozen Y-wings led by a single X-wing, and a larger unidentified and heavily armed vessel.

The target of the attack took evasive action and opened fire.

The fight was furious but over quickly. The pilot of the X-wing came in fast and crippled the freighter by killing its main engines after the larger s.h.i.+p had destroyed half of the attackers.

"I think we've seen enough," the Emperor said. The recording of the attack, taken from within the freighter and without sound, vanished.

"It went exactly as we planned, I see," Xizor said. "They had to work a little for it. We didn't want it to seem too easy."

A long silence pa.s.sed before the Emperor spoke. "I do hope you know what you are doing, Prince Xizor. I agreed to allow the plans for the new Death Star to fall into Rebel hands on your advice. You had best be right."

Xizor said, "I am, my master. Once the Rebels find out exactly what it is they have been given, their trust in me will be complete. It will be an easy matter to lure the leaders of the Alliance into your grasp. I will deliver the Rebellion and you can crush it at your pleasure."

The Emperor said nothing, but Xizor heard the unspoken threat: If you are wrong, you will be most sorry.

To someone watching from outside who knew even most of what Xizor knew, his position might seem precarious. As with a juggler who had half a dozen b.a.l.l.s in the air, disaster seemed imminent. But Xizor had the skills and, more important, the will to keep the b.a.l.l.s flying smoothly.

All part of the game. And what made it so interesting. Anyone could juggle with fewer items; it took a master to do what he was doing.

"You sure this thing is going to work?" Leia asked. Chewbacca, busy working on the doorjamb with a small power wrench, said something. It sounded snide.

Threepio quickly translated: "He says that if it doesn't, it won't be because it was improperly installed."

Leia turned and looked at Lando, who shrugged.

"The guy who sold it to me said it was top-of-theline," he said. "Got the latest doppraymagno scanner, full-range sensor, a self-contained power supply good for a year. It better work, it cost me enough."

"Hardly a dent in your winnings, I would think," Leia said.

"Oh, it was a dent. I hope it's worth it."

So do I, Leia thought.

Chewie gargled something.

"He says it is ready for testing," Threepio said.

Leia walked to the desk and sat behind it. The computer inset into the desk was off, and she switched it on. "The unit is under the file 'Bioscan,' " Lando said.

Leia opened the program. A hologram appeared over the desk.

"Nonholographic mode," she said. "Flatscreen only."

The image vanished. She looked down at the desk. The words "Scanner offline" appeared on the screen. It would be invisible from the chair opposite the desk. "Bioscan on," she said.

The screen lit up with an image of an eye, an ear, and a nose. Oh, how cute.

"Okay, everybody out. Let's test it."

Threepio, Lando, and Chewie trooped out into the hall.

"Close the door."

They did.

"Okay," Leia yelled. "Lando, you come in first."

The door opened and Lando sauntered in. He turned around as if modeling the latest fas.h.i.+ons. "Here I am. Enjoy." Leia grinned. He was endearing for a rogue. She looked down at the screen.

The scanner newly inset into the frame of the door picked up Lando's image, and it appeared on the screen. An infocrawl moved up the side of the image as the sensors examined Lando and fed the result to the computer: Human, male, armed with a blaster and a small vibro-s.h.i.+v in his pants pocket on the left side, heartbeat, respiration, muscle tone index, height, weight, body temperature. Even a refractive index indicating how old his skin was, plus or minus a standard year.

Lando, according to this device, was a little older than he looked.

No bombs or poison gas or commactive material hidden upon his person. No hidden holocams or recording devices.

"Seems to be working on you. Chewie, come on in." Again the device scanned and reported. She didn't know what the normal readings for a Wookiee were, but the program that came with the scanner apparently did, and it told her that Chewie was within normal limits for one of that species.

She was sure Chewie would be happy to know that.

Finally she called Threepio in. The program had no trouble at all recognizing him as a droid.

"Well. It seems to be working just fine," she said.