Star Wars_ Darksaber - Kevin J. Anderson [74]
Durga, though, seemed surprised and uneasy. “We need not rush a decision as important as this,” he said. “We must take great pains to ensure that all are satisfied with our alliance.”
Leia pursed her lips. “I see,” she said, realizing that Durga was just stalling to keep them off balance. His initial overture to her on Coruscant had merely been a ruse to gain access to the Imperial Information Center for the Death Star plans. It was clear now that he didn’t want an agreement; he just wanted to keep them chasing false leads while the Hutt superweapon was under construction. Leia was determined to learn the site of the secret project and how far along they had managed to get.
“I noticed your battle fleet near our system, Madam President,” Durga continued. “I can’t help but express my concern—”
Leia raised her hand out of the water with a splash, and trickles ran down her wrist. “Oh, don’t worry, they’re just engaged in routine military exercises. They could train anywhere, I suppose, but they wanted to accompany me. You know how overprotective bodyguards can get.” She sighed. “Nothing to be concerned about—we’re going to be allies, remember? If we can work out a deal, of course. I wouldn’t let a little thing like a few warships engaged in simulated combat bother you.”
Durga chuckled again and raised his stubby hands out of the bog water. “Bother me? No, you misunderstand. I merely thought there must be some crucial political brushfires on recalcitrant worlds in your New Republic. I’m surprised you have excess warships that can be wasted on games.”
“We haven’t had any problems with the Empire at large for a couple of years,” Leia said. “Even so, our fleet needs to keep in practice.”
Durga widened his eyes and laughed. “Hoo, the Empire may be doing more than you think.” His voice boomed in the enclosed catacombs. “To show you my good intentions, let me offer you a service, something for which the Hutts are justly famous.”
“And what is that?” Leia asked, not particularly interested.
“Our network has many good sources of information—certain data that could be valuable to your New Republic. While you’re here on Nal Hutta, allow me to offer you the services of one of my information brokers. I’ll instruct him to check up on what the Empire has been up to recently. I think you may be surprised.”
Han grew suddenly tense and alert beside Leia; under the water his hands clenched into fists. Although she assumed the entire offer was merely another diversion, a ploy to distract them from other lines of inquiry, Leia clasped one of Han’s hands and nodded. “I gratefully accept your offer, Lord Durga. The galaxy functions on the basis of accurate intelligence.”
She stood up, dripping in the water. “For now, though, I think I’ve been in the bath too long,” Leia said.
Threepio bustled off to get towels.
CHAPTER 25
As night fell outside the opulent palace of Durga the Hutt, the other inhabitants of the bog planet went about their desperate lives. Disguised in tatters, with dirt and weariness smeared across his bearded face—just like any other downtrodden victim of Nal Hutta—General Crix Madine slipped through the gathering gloom with his destination firmly in mind.
With liquid movements he had developed during years of covert operations, Madine worked his way through the dim streets between rundown prefab shacks in a squatters’ village. Locked-down warehouses shone like military bunkers under the wan moonlight and harsh security beams around the heavily guarded spaceport.
Distribution centers busily processed the raw materials torn from Nal Hutta’s surface and shipped the supplies to the moon Nar Shaddaa. Madine watched chains of light, the trails of regular supply ships, lifting through the cloud-strewn skies to the Smugglers’ Moon and returning with cargo holds filled with black-market goods that were purchased and laundered on the