Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [70]
The questions he couldn't answer for reasons that had nothing to do with the coma were where the treasure was hidden and precisely what part the Envoy would play in finding it. In the years he had flown for the Republic Group, Jadak had insisted on never being given the details of his missions. The less he knew, the less he could reveal if exposed as a spy and captured. But in the Senate Annex on that fateful day, the Senators had provided more than the usual information, and the phrase restore Republic honor to the galaxy was somehow a thread to unraveling their revelations.
Arrived at the visitor registration station, Jadak submitted their request.
“Rej Taunt,” the Falleen guard said. “Do you have an appointment?”
“Just visiting.”
“You're visitors.”
Jadak swapped looks with Poste. “What, as opposed to guests?”
The Falleen regarded them for a moment, then pointed to a bench and said: “Take a seat and I'll let you know.”
“Maybe they're holding him in solitary,” Poste ventured.
Jadak shook his head. “Not by the sound of it.”
For more than a standard hour they watched a HoloNet screen and sipped at sweet drinks purchased from a machine. Finally, the guard summoned them to the station.
“Taunt will see you now.” He slid two electronic passes forward. “Hook these to your belts. Follow the floor routing lines to the west building, then follow the red line to its end. Someone there will tell you what to do next.”
“Taunt will see us now?” Poste said as they set out.
Jadak shrugged. “Maybe he was busy knocking out illuminator covers.”
The walk took a solid quarter hour. The doors they passed through slid every which way—up, down, and to both sides. Some were barred and some were a meter thick. The guards and few prisoners moving through the sterile corridors looked as miserable as Carcel itself. Even the droids looked unhappy.
Ultimately a human guard led them to Taunt's cell, which, oddly, was sealed by a greel wood door that had to be two hundred years old. The door concealed a palatial suite of rooms covered with fine carpets and filled with furniture and antiques dating back to the late Old Republic era. An assortment of beings was busy at tasks while several human and humanoid females lounged languidly on divans and sofas. Well over a century old, Taunt was sitting like a Hutt on a huge pillow in the center of the least occupied room.
“I'm Sorrel, and this is Mag Frant,” Jadak said, using their new identities.
The Askajian gave them the once-over. “Do I know you gentlemen from somewhere?”
“We've come from Nar Shaddaa.”
Taunt glanced at Poste. “You're from Nar Shaddaa.” His gaze flicked to Jadak. “You … you're from …”
“All over.”
“That would have been my first guess.” Taunt's tone remained conversational. “So what brings you here all the way from Nar Shaddaa? Business?”
“Information,” Jadak said.
Taunt smiled faintly. “That's business, isn't it?”
“This is old business. It concerns a YT-Thirteen-hundred freighter called the Stellar Envoy.”
Taunt's expression changed, and he took a long moment to reply. “The Second Chance” he amended.
“That's what I meant.”
Taunt studied Jadak. “Who did you say sent you?”
“No one sent us. But it was Bammy Decree who told us where to find you.”
“The mechanic. How is he?”
“Still hobbling around.”
“He was a young man when I first met him.”
“He told us he rebuilt the Envoy for you.”
“That he did.” Taunt smiled with his eyes. “Did he tell you what happened?”
“Some of it.”
Taunt motioned for them to grab pillows and make themselves comfortable.
“At first, the Imperials wanted to execute me for the deaths of the cruiser's crew members and clones. Instead a military court sentenced me to life. For the next couple of years, I was transferred from one penitentiary to the next—Agon Nine, Fodurant, Delrian, I saw the inside of all of them. Meanwhile, Bammy Decree learned that I'd taken a contract out