Star Wars - Thrawn Trilogy - Dark Force Rising 02 by Timothy Zahn Page A
Authors: Timothy Zahn
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her captor, the tubing fell with a muffled clank onto the ground.
He was good, all right. The tubing had hardly even finished its fall before he'd dropped to one knee, spinning around and spraying the area behind him with a splattering of quick cover fire as he searched for whoever was sneaking up on him. It took less than a second for him to recognize his mistake, and with another spray of blaster fire he spun back again.
But one second was all Mara needed. His desperate blaster spray was still tracking toward her when she shot him neatly in the head.
For a long moment she just stood there, breathing hard, muscles trembling with reaction. Then, glancing around to make sure no one was running to see what all the commotion was about, she holstered her weapon and knelt down beside him.
There was, as she'd expected, precious little to find. An ID-probably forged-giving his name as Dengar Roth, a couple of spare power clips for his blaster, a backnp vibroblade knife, a data card and data pad, and some working capital in both local and Imperial currency. Stuffing the ID and data card into her tunic, she left the money and weapons where they were and got back to her feet. "There's your twice of nothing," she muttered, looking down at the body. "Enjoy it."
Her eyes shifted to the piece of shield tubing that had saved her life. She'd been right. The twitches of power, as well as the hunches, were back. Which meant the dreams wouldn't be far behind.
She swore under her breath. If they came, they came, and there was nothing much she could do except endure them. For the moment she had other, more pressing matters to deal with. Taking one final look around, she headed for home.
Karrde and Dankin were waiting when she arrived back at the townhouse, the latter all but pacing the floor in his nervousness. "There you are," he snapped as she slipped in through the back door. "Where the blazes-?"
"We've got trouble," Mara cut him off, handing the Dengar Roth ID to Karrde and brushing past them to the still largely disassembled communications room. Pushing aside a box of cables, she found a data pad and plugged in the card.
"What kind of trouble?" Karrde asked, coming up behind her.
"The bounty hunter kind," Mara said, handing him the data pad. Neatly framed in the center of the display, under a large 20,000, was Karrde's face. "We're probably all in there," she told him. "Or at least as many as grand Admiral Thrawn knew about."
"So I'm worth twenty thousand now," Karrde murmured, paging quickly through the card. "I'm flattered."
"Is that all you're going to say?" Mara demanded.
He looked at her. "What would you like me to say?" he asked mildly. "That you were right and I was wrong about the Empire's interest in us?"
"I'm not interested in laying blame," she told him stiffly. "What I want to know is what we're going to do about it."
Karrde looked at the data pad again, a muscle tightening briefly in his jaw. "We're going to do the only prudent thing," he said. "Namely, retreat. Dankin, get on the secure comm and tell Lachton to start pulling the drop apart again. Then call Chin and his team and have them go over and repack the stuff in the equipment dumps. You can stay and help Mara and me here. I want to get off Rishi by midnight if at all possible."
"Got it," Dankin said, already keying the encrypt codes into the comm board.
Karrde handed the data pad back to Mara. "We'd better get busy."
She stopped him with a hand on his arm. `And what happens when we run out of backnp bases?"
He locked eyes with her. "We don't give up the Dreadnaughts under duress," he said, lowering his voice to just above a whisper. "Not to Thrawn; not to anyone else."
"We may have to," she pointed out.
His eyes hardened. "We may choose to," he corrected her. "We will never have to. Is that clear?"
Mara grimaced to herself. "Yes."
"Good." Karrde flicked a glance over her shoulder to where Dankin was speaking urgently into the
He was good, all right. The tubing had hardly even finished its fall before he'd dropped to one knee, spinning around and spraying the area behind him with a splattering of quick cover fire as he searched for whoever was sneaking up on him. It took less than a second for him to recognize his mistake, and with another spray of blaster fire he spun back again.
But one second was all Mara needed. His desperate blaster spray was still tracking toward her when she shot him neatly in the head.
For a long moment she just stood there, breathing hard, muscles trembling with reaction. Then, glancing around to make sure no one was running to see what all the commotion was about, she holstered her weapon and knelt down beside him.
There was, as she'd expected, precious little to find. An ID-probably forged-giving his name as Dengar Roth, a couple of spare power clips for his blaster, a backnp vibroblade knife, a data card and data pad, and some working capital in both local and Imperial currency. Stuffing the ID and data card into her tunic, she left the money and weapons where they were and got back to her feet. "There's your twice of nothing," she muttered, looking down at the body. "Enjoy it."
Her eyes shifted to the piece of shield tubing that had saved her life. She'd been right. The twitches of power, as well as the hunches, were back. Which meant the dreams wouldn't be far behind.
She swore under her breath. If they came, they came, and there was nothing much she could do except endure them. For the moment she had other, more pressing matters to deal with. Taking one final look around, she headed for home.
Karrde and Dankin were waiting when she arrived back at the townhouse, the latter all but pacing the floor in his nervousness. "There you are," he snapped as she slipped in through the back door. "Where the blazes-?"
"We've got trouble," Mara cut him off, handing the Dengar Roth ID to Karrde and brushing past them to the still largely disassembled communications room. Pushing aside a box of cables, she found a data pad and plugged in the card.
"What kind of trouble?" Karrde asked, coming up behind her.
"The bounty hunter kind," Mara said, handing him the data pad. Neatly framed in the center of the display, under a large 20,000, was Karrde's face. "We're probably all in there," she told him. "Or at least as many as grand Admiral Thrawn knew about."
"So I'm worth twenty thousand now," Karrde murmured, paging quickly through the card. "I'm flattered."
"Is that all you're going to say?" Mara demanded.
He looked at her. "What would you like me to say?" he asked mildly. "That you were right and I was wrong about the Empire's interest in us?"
"I'm not interested in laying blame," she told him stiffly. "What I want to know is what we're going to do about it."
Karrde looked at the data pad again, a muscle tightening briefly in his jaw. "We're going to do the only prudent thing," he said. "Namely, retreat. Dankin, get on the secure comm and tell Lachton to start pulling the drop apart again. Then call Chin and his team and have them go over and repack the stuff in the equipment dumps. You can stay and help Mara and me here. I want to get off Rishi by midnight if at all possible."
"Got it," Dankin said, already keying the encrypt codes into the comm board.
Karrde handed the data pad back to Mara. "We'd better get busy."
She stopped him with a hand on his arm. `And what happens when we run out of backnp bases?"
He locked eyes with her. "We don't give up the Dreadnaughts under duress," he said, lowering his voice to just above a whisper. "Not to Thrawn; not to anyone else."
"We may have to," she pointed out.
His eyes hardened. "We may choose to," he corrected her. "We will never have to. Is that clear?"
Mara grimaced to herself. "Yes."
"Good." Karrde flicked a glance over her shoulder to where Dankin was speaking urgently into the
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