• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

While seeing The Silent there was not a surprise, hearing the whisper from the cowled figure: "We need to talk, Lens," was startling. Almost startling enough to draw a visible reaction.

The spy was too well trained to give anything away, and there was no one else around, in any event. The code name Lens provided all the information necessary to know what, if not who, the being disguised as a Silent was. The disguise was unexpected and clever.

The spy had two code names on this world-one for the Separatists, and the second for the underworld or-ganization Black Sun. To the latter, the spy was known as "Lens."

Anybody who spoke that name aloud could only have gotten it from Black Sun, and they didn’t give such in-formation to anybody but their own.

"My quarters, ten minutes," Lens said, lips unmoving.

When the agent from Black Sun arrived, precisely ten minutes later, in the cubicle, Lens was there and ready to deal with him. That an agent had been sent here was also not a surprise. Lens had information he or she wanted.

The cowl lowered. Lens saw that the face belonged to a Nediji, and that brought a smile.

Another good choice for Black Sun. Few knew of the outfar avian species, and fewer still all that they were capable of. They were fast, ruthless, and clever, and there were only a relative handful of them outside their own system, so their tal-ents were unlikely to be well known. Lens knew, of course. A kind of kinship, albeit not one of blood or ge-netics, existed between the two species.

"I am Kaird."

Lens nodded. To the Nediji’s credit, he did not seem worried that his being here might be a problem. He as-sumed that Lens would not have invited him to private quarters if that was the case. But Lens volunteered it, just to be sure they were on the same trail:

"Unlikely that anyone will ask you anything, but if they ask me, I have decided to write a monograph on the effect of The Silent upon patients in a war zone."

The Nediji nodded, eyes bright and sharp. He said, "I understand there was a death in the family here re-cently."

Lens nodded. "The Hutt was more useful to us dead than alive." As Black Sun’s operative on this world, Lens had been given information pertaining to their op-eration here. That included knowing about Filba, the deal he’d had with the admiral, and the recent loss of the courier sent here to check on the bota. Kaird cocked his head to one side. "Your doing?" Lens nodded. "Of course. Who else? You are aware that I have... other duties, and that these do not con-flict with my responsibilities to Black Sun. Filba was becoming greedy and erratic. His death was only a mat-ter of time, and by hastening it, a certain measure of protection for my position here was provided."

"Interesting," Kaird said. " You disapprove?"

"Not at all. You are here because our organization has trust in your abilities. As long as things get done, how you manage it is not our concern. It’s just that I had a chance to speak with our partner here a short while ago, and it is the admiral’s claim that he had the Hutt rendered inert."

Lens frowned. "Why would he say that?"

"An excellent question. One I feel I should find the answer to before I leave this world."

Lens nodded again. "And what of my mission?"

"The same as before. How goes the charting?"

"Slow, but steady. I have locations for all the major bota fields in this quadrant, many of them in the adja-cent quadrants, and several wild patches on the oppo-site side of the planet that so far have not been officially logged. Nor will they be, unless by accident.

I have caused the records to show those locations scanned and found empty of the plant."

"Excellent. When the Separatists or the Republic finally triumph, we are prepared to deal with either one regarding the bota. If there are unknown sources, so much the better. The more information we have, the stronger our position."

Lens smiled. "You don’t care who wins, do you?"

The Nediji smiled also, a thin-lipped, wicked expres-sion. "This bothers you because