Star Wars_ Tales of the Bounty Hunters - Kevin J. Anderson [68]
The rest of their planning was simple for the moment. After visiting the Wookiee waypost, they would drift into the Lomabu system, fake the orbit of a rapidly moving planet-crossing asteroid, and keep all systems quiet. They would scout using Bossk’s small landing craft, locate the criminal Wookiee colony, and then draw out and trap Solo and his crew. Specific plans would wait until they found the Lomabu system.
Tinian didn’t mention their own plans.
“Until we find Lomabu,” added Bossk, “you will remain in your cabin.”
Tinian shrugged. She had no intention of remaining anywhere Bossk put her, and Lomabu III was no safe world. “We will be boarding with 300 kilos of gear. Which docking bay is your ship in?”
Bossk blinked. She could almost see him wonder what they needed with a 300-kilo weight allowance. “Number six,” he gargled.
“We’ll be there in twenty minutes,” she said.
Chenlambec led Tinian up the passageway, glad to escape Bossk’s brackish stench. He had been called onto this job by Kashyyyk, not just to help Chewbacca escape, but to doublecross Bossk and end his murderous operation. Chenlambec knew that the Trandoshan pelt baiter’s count numbered in the hundreds. He had lured that boast out of Bossk. The heat in Bossk’s eye had warmed Chenlambec’s blood.
Once they put several turns of the passage between them and the Trandoshan, Chen slowed to a stroll.
“Satisfied?” Tinian asked.
Chenlambec had lost brothers and sisters to Trandoshan pelt baiters. He told her it was a beginning.
“It was exciting,” she admitted. “For a few minutes, I felt really alive.”
Chenlambec cuffed the small woman’s shoulder. She understood Wookiee speech and gesture remarkably well, including the soft punch that meant full agreement.
“I thought you probably did, too,” she answered. She turned a gamine grin on him.
He counted echoing gray corridors as he strode past them, then turned up a dim side passage. After twenty long strides, he paused in front of a bulkhead. Tinian loosened her blaster in its low holster and took up a guard position.
Chen crouched in front of a power access point. He extended one claw and pulled off a silver cube that matched the decorations on his bandolier. It would have fit on Tinian’s palm.
“About time,” it scolded in a high, feminine voice. “I’ve been ready for—”
Chen closed one paw around the tiny positronic processor, too small to properly call a droid and too personable to call anything else. Concealing Flirt in his grip, he glanced up.
“Still clear.” Tinian stood like a statue with one hand over her blaster.
Chen clipped Flirt to her secure perch on his bandolier down near his hip.
“Lots of good data,” Flirt chirped. “Inside information on the Millennium Falcon, if you want it. You wouldn’t believe—”
“We’re not going after the Falcon,” said Tinian.
“Aww,” squeaked Flirt. “I wanted to—”
Chen growled another warning. Flirt stopped in mid-squeak. When she stayed quiet, she looked like just one more decorative cube. Chen had had the bandolier made specifically to camouflage her.
He led the way out. They had other luggage to claim before boarding Bossk’s ship.
Bossk hurried to a different terminal in the Executor’s troop quarters area. Working rapidly, he pulled down all the information on Chenlambec he could find. Unfortunately, the creature’s Hunt certificate was current. His acquisition list, filed under the underworld nickname, “The Raging Wookiee,” was impressive. This would only raise the jagannath score on his pelt.
Bossk clawed buttons until he’d called up the incomplete human title, “Tinian.” She hadn’t given a second name. The computer hesitated several seconds before spewing two Wanted designations. One fit this human’s description right down to extremities’ body temperature. Few other races noticed that detail. It was one of many factors that made Trandoshans the best Hunters.
A modest reward for