Allegiance by Timothy Zahn Page B

organization. Keeping a wary eye on the rest of the room, staying in the shadows behind the stacks of crates, she moved closer.
    She had reached a spot two stacks away from Caaldra when the pirate arrived. Sinking into a crouch, she eased an eye around the edge of the lowest crate and stretched out with her sensory enhancement techniques.
    “—almost done,” the pirate was saying. “Be glad to get those furs out of here.”
    “Not much profit in it,” Caaldra commented.
    “Any profit’s fine with me,” the pirate countered. “Floogy things take up way more room than they’re worth.” He gestured to Caaldra. “So you got our next targets?”
    “Right here,” Caaldra said, pulling out a data card and handing it over. “Ten ships, the first and third for me.” He paused. “That’s
everything
in the first and third, Shakko. Make sure the Commodore explains to your people what’ll happen if there’s any, shall we say, leakage this time.”
    Commodore
. Mara’s lip twisted in contempt. Pirate chieftains did so enjoy taking on pseudo-military titles and airs.
    “Yeah, yeah, I’ll tell him,” Shakko growled. “Don’t worry—I’ll take the first target myself.”
    “Fine,” Caaldra said. “It leaves port in three days, with your optimal ambush point in five. Plenty of time. And the other targets should be in easy range of your other ships.”
    “Plenty of time if we can get these flanked smugglers hoofing, anyway,” Shakko muttered, turning back. “Hey! Tannis!”
    One of the other pirates detached himself from the section of wall he’d been leaning on and strode over. “Yes?”
    “Take Vickers and one of the speeders back to the ship and send this list to the Commodore,” Shakko ordered, handing him the data card. “Then comm Bisc and tell him he’s got half an hour to finish picking up the supplies and get them stowed.”
    “Want me to start engine prep?”
    “Might as well wait till we’re finished here,” Shakko said. “I’ll comm and tell you when.”
    “Okay.” Tannis headed for the warehouse door, grabbing one of the other men along the way.
    Mara didn’t wait to hear any more but quickly retraced her steps through the shadows toward her satchel and her private entrance. It was clear that the smugglers, the pirates, and Caaldra would soon be going their separate ways, and even the Emperor’s Hand couldn’t follow three quarries at once.
    She could, of course, return to her ship and call it in. But even if there were Imperial forces in the area who could react quickly enough, it was unlikely they would be set up for the kind of subtle tracking and surveillance work that was called for here. For all intents and purposes, Mara was on her own.
    Fortunately, there wasn’t any real question about which way she should go on this one. Intriguing though Caaldra might be, it was clear the pirates were about to head off on a frenzy of attack and murder. That was where the immediate danger to the Empire and its citizens lay, so that was where Mara would go.
    Besides, Caaldra had told Shakko that the first and third targets were his. It would be interesting to find out what those targets were.
    Three minutes later she was back in her borrowed landspeeder, following the two pirates at a discreet distance as they drove along the storage facility’s outer drive.
    Shakko’s ship was parked in a docking bay on thewest side of the storage complex, close enough to the warehouse for easy access but far enough away that a casual observer wouldn’t immediately make the connection between it and the smugglers. It was a Corellian HT-2200 medium freighter: almost sixty meters long with four climate-adjustable cargo holds, a solid pack beast of a ship. As with the smugglers’ vehicle, though, appearances were undoubtedly not to be trusted.
    The pirates hadn’t left any guards on outside duty, but it was quickly clear that there was at least one man still inside. Even before Tannis coasted the