Star Wars_ MedStar 01_ Battle Surgeons - Michael Reaves [66]
He had to be get-ting help from higher up. Den just hadn’t realized how high up the help was.
Of a moment, he did a fast revision of his plans.
Looks like I won’t be acquainting the admiral with your iniquities after all, you sack of slime. Certainly not until he was more knowledgeable about Bleyd’s in-volvement. The rot had spread higher than he’d thought. If he went tripping into the admiral’s presence and began blathering about Filba’s crimes to his partner in those crimes, who just happened to be somebody who could have him shot with a wave of his hand - well, that could be a fatal error.
Don’t tell me you’re surprised, his mind whispered mockingly.
The admiral dismissed the troops and personnel. Col-onel Vaetes, accompanied by Captains Vondar and Yant, joined Bleyd to walk him through the operating theater.
Sooner or later, Bleyd would find time to speak to Filba alone. And Den was determined that they wouldn’t be as alone as they thought they were...
23
Back in his cubicle Den pulled a small box from under the bed, thumbed the recognizer lock, and opened it. It was time to bring out the big guns-or, rather, the small ones. The smallest one, in fact, and it wasn’t a gun, though it did "shoot."
Den held the tiny device close to his eyes and admired it. It was a tiny spycam disguised as a flying insect, known as a moon moth. The entire thing barely cov-ered his thumbnail, but its biomimetic design allowed it to fly about undetected, letting its operator hear and see everything its sensors could pick up, from up to ten thousand meters away. He’d used it a few times before. It had a built-in state-of-the-art confounder that would nullify tangle fields, sensor screens, or other electro-magnetic obstructions either Bleyd or Filba might be wearing. And, with all the winged pests buzzing around the base anyway, one more would hardly be noticed. It had cost him three months’ pay, but the first time he’d used it, back when he’d done the story on the Wild Space smugglers, it had paid for itself.
"Off you go," he murmured as he activated the de-vice. The moon moth flew through the open entrance and vanished as Den slipped on the virtual headset that would allow him to control it.
He let himself enjoy the feeling of flying for a few mo-ments, climbing high over the base for a panoramic view of the swamp, then swooping down low to buzz one of the many clones in sight. Then he leveled out and headed for Filba’s domain.
The door was shut, but there were plenty of tiny openings where the heat-warped plasteel was joined with the duralloy framework. He squeezed the moon moth through one. Not a moment too soon-Bleyd was already there, facing the Hutt, and from the looks on both their faces Den didn’t expect either one to whip out holos of the kids anytime soon. He steered the bug-cam to a landing on a nearby shelf.
What was that old Kubaz saying about wishing one were a buzz-beetle on a wall...?
Filba had evidently prepared for this confrontation by finishing most of a keg of what looked like Alder-aanian ale. His skin folds had that rubbery look that Hutts got when drunk.
Bleyd, on the other hand, was not at all intoxicated, unless anger could be considered an intoxicant. He was speaking in a low, level tone, and seemed-to Den, at least-ready to slice and dice Filba.
Den turned the gain up on the sound enhancers.
"-things are too hot right now," Bleyd said through his fangs. "I don’t want Black Sun coming back anytime soon. Until this affair with their missing emissary is set-tled, we have to lie low."
"Easy for you to say," the Hutt rumbled. "Your profit margin’s far higher than mine." He took another mighty swig of the ale; despite his distended gut, he was evidently nowhere near capacity. "I’m taking all the risks, and you’re getting all-"
"There’ll be no profits for either of us if Black Sun moves in, you bloated imbecile! If you