The Old Republic_ Fatal Alliance Part 5

"I will do anything you wish, Master. "

"You will go to the court of Ta.s.saa Bareesh and uncover everything you can about the Cinzia and its contents. You're to travel incognito in order to minimize our apparent interest in the sale. You will report what you find to me directly, and I will decide what to do with that information. You will leave this evening. "

Her voice was brisk and matter-of-fact, belying the significance of her words. This was a major a.s.signment, cutting through the thick of a complex political knot. Were he to fail, it would reflect badly on the Jedi Order, and perhaps hinder the entire war effort. The responsibility was considerable.

Coming so soon after his disappointment of that morning, however, it was impossible to silence a nagging, doubtful voice.

"Are you sure I'm the right choice?" he asked, dragging the words out as though they were made of lead. "After all, the Council believes me unfit for the trials. There must be someone else better qualified who can do this for you. "

"Are you telling me you don't want to go, Shigar? That you're not ready?"

He bowed his head to hide his mingled pride and uncertainty. "I trust your judgment, Master, better than my own. "

"Good, because I believe my reasoning is sound. Your face is unknown on Hutta; you will therefore find it easier to pa.s.s unnoticed. And I have faith in you. Remember that. I am certain that this is the path laid down for you. "

"So you have seen something!"

He tried to read her expression in the flickering lights of the city. She could have been amused, concerned, or completely blank. It was hard to tell. Perhaps all three.

He swore to himself that he would make her proud. "What about the situation here-the gangs, the poverty?"

"That's the responsibility of the local authorities, " she said, fixing him with a firm stare. "They are doing their best. "

He heard the warning in her voice. The Jedi's role in the galaxy led them outward, to Tython; he had been told many times before that the Republic's many social problems should not be his, even if this time Mandalorians were involved. Until Mandalore declared himself a particular enemy of someone, he could be considered more or less neutral. "Yes, Master. "

"Go now. There's a shuttle waiting for you. "

Shigar bowed and went to walk away.

"Be kind, Shigar, " his Master added. "Some roads are harder than yours have been. "

When he turned back, Satele Shan was gone, vanished into the night as though she had never been there at all.

With relief, Larin saw Shigar striding along the thoroughfare toward her. He had been gone less than half an hour, but it felt much longer than that. After the encounter with the Senate Security Officers, she had spoken to no one and avoided catching anyone's eyes, feeling more out of place than ever. When he returned, she promised herself, and when he had finished a.s.suring her that he had spoken to his Master about the situation down below and she would do something about it, Larin could vanish back down her hole again, just as the Zabrak had advised her to.

It wasn't that she thought the Zabrak was right. On the contrary.

She just didn't know where to fit in anymore, up here. At least she had something to do in the old districts. Ever since her discharge, she had committed herself to protecting the weak and disenfranchised, those whom even the justicars ignored, to the extent her meager resources allowed. Unlike the justicars, she was interested in something more important than territory, and if that meant working alone, so be it.

"How did it go?" she asked Shigar when he reached her.

"Well. I think. "

"Are you sure about that?"

She didn't know him well enough to be able to tell what troubled him, but he didn't seem remotely content. His brow was knuckled, and the blue chevrons on his cheeks were twisted out of shape by the clenched muscles beneath. Perhaps the rea.s.surance she'd been hoping for wasn't coming after all.

"I have to go somewhere, " he said. "Will you walk with me, part of the way?"

"Sure. Where are we going?"

"Eastport. "

"I thought you only just got to Coruscant. "

"That's right. " He glanced at her, as though surprised that she had remembered. "I've been traveling all my life-since Master Satele took me on, anyway. "

They walked at an easy pace through the temperate night. A light breeze ran its fingers through her short hair, and she was reminded of one good thing about life topside: weather. The last time anything had rained on her was when a sewage line had burst two levels up.

"I haven't seen another Kiffar for years, " she said to break the silence. "Were you on Kiffu during the Annexation?"

"No. Master Tengrove, the Jedi Watchman of that sector, found me the year before. I was on Dantooine when it happened, helping my Master dig through some ruins. "

"Find anything interesting?"

"I don't remember" He glanced at her again. "What about you? The Annexation, I mean. "

"I was there, although I don't remember it clearly. I was too young. My parents slipped me into a shuttle and got me offworld before the worst of it hit. The shuttle took me to Abregado-rae, where a host family adopted me. They had taken on a lot of kids after the Treaty of Coruscant, but there was always s.p.a.ce for another. It was a madhouse. "

"What happened to your parents?"

"They died in prison on Kiffex. "

"I'm sorry, " he said.

"Don't be. It's just more ancient history. What about yours?"

"Dead, too-from a vacuum seal accident on a Fresian shuttle, though, nothing to do with the Annexation. "

They walked in silence for a while again, he looking fixedly ahead and she down at her booted feet. She felt the usual mixture of relief and sorrow whenever the matter of her parents' sacrifice came up. She hadn't known it at the time, but she had worked out later how much her narrow escape had cost them. With Imperial warships crowding their home planet, they must have bribed an Imperial gunner to overlook an escaping shuttle, plus the shuttle pilot and who knew how many s.p.a.ceport guards? They had given up everything, just to save her.

And how had she repaid them?

"I have to go to Hutta, " he finally said.

"Why?"

"One of the cartels has discovered something. I need to find out what it is. "

"Is this connected to that Mandalorian?"

"Seems so. But he's off Coruscant now and won't be bothering you again. "

"Are you sure he won't come back?"

"As sure as I can be. "

"Well, that's something, " she said with more satisfaction than she actually felt. Now that she had accomplished everything she'd set out to do that day, she could reasonably retreat to her sanctuary in the old districts and go back to doing what she did best. The trouble was, she wasn't quite ready to cast free of Shigar Konshi. He reminded her of what it was like to be given a new mission: objectives, resources, constraints, deadlines. She missed the days when everything was sharply defined and unambiguous.

"Ever been to Hutta before?" she asked him.

"No. Not the surface. "

"It's vile and dangerous. I was there on a covert op two years ago. Very nearly didn't get out again. "

"You've done covert work?"

"More than I care to think about. " She hadn't told him about special forces and the Blackstars. As far as Shigar knew, she was just an ordinary trooper, taking a temporary break from duty.

"What about slicing?" he asked her, visibly picking up. "Do they teach you that kind of thing, too?"

"The basics. I learned a whole lot more from a girl called Kixi when I arrived here. Now I could do it in my sleep. "

"And you're familiar with some of the rougher gangs that run around the underworld. You'd even pa.s.s for one of them, with a bit of a wash. "

"Hey, watch it. " She threw a punch at his shoulder, which he dodged with surprising ease.

He stopped walking, not joking around at all, and they stood facing each other.

"You could come with me, " he said, as though the idea had just occurred to him. "To Hutta, I mean. "

"I thought you'd never ask, " she said.

He didn't laugh. "I'm serious. You just implied I'd need a guide there, and I could certainly use the help. It's a big job. "

"Will you tell me what we'd be looking for? I don't like being left in the dark, ever. "

"I don't know what it is myself. Not yet. I know as little about it as you do. "

"Well... " She pretended to think about it, although she'd worked out her answer while he had been asking about her covert ops qualifications, just like he had been wanting to ask her ever since he finished talking with his Master. That was what he'd had trouble spitting out this whole time. She could see it perfectly now. He didn't want to ask her outright for fear of putting her on the defensive. And maybe he imagined that she didn't want to ask him for fear of looking desperate. This way, it looked like they were coming up with the idea together. No one needed to be rescued. They were a team.

His transparency both amused her and warmed her to him. She had no choice but to go to Hutta, if only to save him from what was waiting for him there. Sure, the Sith were hard work, but the Hutts would eat him alive if they captured him in this state.

"All right, " she said, "but one condition. "

"What's that?"

"You stop thinking that you're doing me a favor. "

He flushed. "All right. "

"And you buy me a proper meal. I've been living on concentrates for weeks. "

"That's two favors. "

"Think of that last one as good troop management. You don't want me losing my concentration on the job, do you?"

"I guess not. " He smiled in a way that made him look even younger than he was. "Come on, Moxla. We're not getting any closer just standing here. "

She sloppily saluted.

They strode off into the night, and within three paces their steps had unconsciously fallen into time.

CHAPTER 5.

Black on black, and a hint of bright steel.

The twelve Lords of the Emperor's Dark Council stared at Eldon Ax and her Master with the combined force of a glacial avalanche.

"... and so you see, my lords, " Darth Chratis concluded, "how this situation can be advanced by the application of swift and appropriate action: the right people in the right place at the right time. My apprentice and I are the people. The place is Hutta. The time to strike is right now. "

They were standing in a recessed section of the floor, surrounded by the Dark Council. Twelve monstrous visages gazed down at them-some exposed and scarred, others hidden by masks-all radiating cool and constant hate. These were the Emperor's confidants, his most prized servants. They alone saw his face, and now they were seeing Ax's.

She felt her Master's fear for the first time, and it thrilled her.

"Spare us the rhetoric, Darth Chratis, " said one of the Dark Lords, a being that might once have been a woman but whose face now was little more than a s.e.xless skeleton. "We will not be moved by speeches. "

"What is it, exactly, that you want?" added another, his voice a high-pitched stiletto issuing from a featureless iron mask. "Tell us your plans. "

"My apprentice will infiltrate the court of Ta.s.saa Bareesh" Darth Chratis said, "in order to steal the information from the Hutts. I will wait offworld. When she has succeeded, I will proceed to the location of the colony and begin its annexation, to the continued glory of the Empire. "

He bowed low, and Ax was filled with contempt.

"A simple plan, " said another of the Dark Lords. Darth Howl had teeth sharpened to points, and his face was slashed by random patterns of straight lines. "I admire its directness. We do not negotiate with criminals. "

"Ta.s.saa Bareesh has been of use to us, " said another. "It would not be wise to anger her. "

"My apprentice will be circ.u.mspect, " Darth Chratis a.s.sured them. "She is unknown to them. They will not detect her. "

"And the annexation itself. How will you facilitate this? You cannot have sufficient resources of your own to capture an entire world. "

"No, my lords. I will require at least a division to quash any resistance. "

"An entire division?" Dry mutterings circulated around the ring of Dark Lords. "You ask too much. "

"Do you expect significant resistance?"

"Yes, Darth Howl. " Here Ax's Master hesitated. The one point he had downplayed during his summary was at last being dragged into view. "The colony was founded by fugitives from the Empire. "

"What kind of fugitives?"

He outlined everything they had uncovered about Lema Xandret while the Council listened in chilly silence. When he described the connection between Xandret and Ax, all eyes turned to her. She did her best to stare right back, although it caused her physical pain at the back of her eye sockets. It was like meeting the gaze of a black hole.