Before the Storm - Michael P. Kube-McDowell [35]
“Now, Colonel—”
“Do you take me for wounded prey?” the Hortek demanded, showing his teeth. “We are prepared to assemble an assault team tailored to whatever challenges the vagabond presents. I am not prepared to assemble one based on who thinks it would be fun to go along.”
“Do you have a lockpick?”
“What?”
“You said you’re ready for anything,” Lando said. “But it’s been my experience that when someone in uniform says that, he really means ‘We have little guns, we have big guns, we have bombs of all sizes.’ There are other ways to get past a locked door. Are you as ready to pick a lock as you are to blow one up? As ready to wheedle as you are to demand? As ready to coax as to capture? If not, you’d better think again about how ready you really are.”
“My tactical team has over fifty years’ intelligence experience—”
“Listen, Colonel,” Lando said, coming to his feet and thrusting his face close to the Hortek. “I’m sure you have good, solid veteran players on your team. But I’ve got some ringers on mine. I’ve got a human with a machine interface, a droid with a universal linguistic interface, and a droid with a universal machine interface—”
“There is nothing special about your staff’s abilities.”
“Maybe not in the specs,” said Lando. “But they know how to play together, and they know how to win. We beat Darth Vader, and we beat the Emperor, on their turf and on their terms—”
“Ancient history. And you were lucky.”
Lando smiled. “Any gambler knows you don’t bet against a lucky man. If you keep my players out of the game, and you lose, you’re going to have a hard time explaining that to the people who sent us out here.”
“A commander’s burden.”
“I wouldn’t want yours right now,” Lando said. “Look, Colonel—no matter who or what’s inside the vagabond, we have to be able to outthink them. Because if we don’t, we lose both ways—if we have to destroy that ship, or it has to destroy us.”
“I am very aware of that.”
Lando pointed toward the door. “Well, that’s R2-D2 and C-3P0 out there, Luke Skywalker’s personal droids. And Lobot and I made a living making fools of Security and Intelligence in one system after another. We’ve beaten tricks your people haven’t even thought of yet. How sure are you that you don’t want us on your team?”
Pakkpekatt’s nostrils flared. Then he bowed his neck, the Hortek counterpart to a nod of agreement. “Very well. We will work together.”
“Good. That’s all I want,” Lando said.
“I do not believe that. I know who you are,” Pakkpekatt said with a menacing stiffness. “Do not think I do not. I will be watching you.”
Lando kept his mind clear. “We’re going to get along just fine, Colonel. You’ll see.”
Chapter 5
On the morning of her first meeting with Nil Spaar, Leia climbed out of bed with an aching shoulder, tired eyes, and a blanket of fatigue in her limbs that made her feel as though she was on the verge of being ill.
Anakin had awakened from a terrifying nightmare in the small hours, and Leia had allowed him to climb into bed between her and Han in the hope that it would help him sleep. But the unfamiliar presence of a third little body had forced her into unnatural sleeping postures. Worse, Anakin had become a restive sleeper, and she had found herself aware of his every move, coming fully awake time and again as he turned and squirmed beside her.
Han, Leia had been annoyed to discover, slept through it all, including his own snoring.
Her grogginess persisted through breakfast. As she dressed for her meeting with the viceroy of the Duskhan League, she thought only about falling back into the now empty bed for a nap. It was the kind of morning that sorely tempted her to break her own rule about stimulants and take a cup of naris-bud tea or chew a stick of brightgum.
The temptation got stronger once she reached the final briefing. The conference room seemed to be full of bodies, and everyone seemed to be talking to her at once.
“Try to get emergency transit and landing rights on a provisional basis, as a stepping-stone to full navigation rights. We