Star Wars_ The Adventures of Lando Calrissia - L. Neil Smith [100]
“Were it simply my position, I would tell them—well, I hold this office quite voluntarily—quite unnecessarily if the truth were told. I like it, but not so much that I’d betray a fellow sabacc enthusiast and gentleman adventurer I admire.”
Bassi Vobah squirmed uncomfortably in the chair she’d been ordered to take.
“Why do I have the feeling you’re going to find another reason to betray me, then, old bureaucrat?” Lando asked. “That’s what you’re leading up to, isn’t it?”
The Administrator Senior sighed. “I’m afraid so, my dear fellow. I offer no excuse. Means have been found to exert leverage upon me which my scruples cannot withstand. I do not ask you even to understand my position. I am attempting to arrange things so as to minimize the damage the situation inflicts on us both. I’ll thank you to believe that much, at least.”
Lando shrugged again, noncommittally. “How much does a hangman’s apology count for, Administrator Senior?”
Doluff grimaced uncomfortably, then nodded. “You’re quite right, sir. But look here, this is how I am prepared to hold up my end of a bad bargain.” He turned to Waywa Fybot.
“Listen to me, you ridiculous creature, and listen well—”
“Adminis—” interrupted a shocked and outraged Bassi Vobah.
“Hush, child, I’ll get to you in a moment. Are you listening to me, you absurd collection of flightless feathers?”
The Imperial narcotics agent blinked stupidly. Apparently the position it had been forced to assume triggered some reflexive sleep reaction. It shook its head, peered at the Administrator Senior, but said nothing.
“Very well, then, and you can inform your mercantile-class sponsors that I gave you this direct order: you may arrest Bohhuah Mutdah, I haven’t the power to stop you. But you will return him to me, alive and in condition to stand trial in the Oseon, or I’ll have you plucked, dressed, and roasted for Founder’s Day. Am I making myself clear?”
The bird-creature nodded, a look of hatred latent in its large blue eyes.
Doluff turned to Bassi Vobah. “And as for you, my dear, remember who it is you work for. Your orders are to see that my orders are carried out. And you are to use that oversized chicken-roaster of yours”—he indicated her energy pistol—“if the occasion calls for it, on whomsoever merits it.”
He nodded significantly toward Waywa Fybot.
“Now, Captain Calrissian—Lando—this is what you are to do. As you probably are aware, it is perilous in the extreme, and also illegal, for ships to travel from asteroid to asteroid in the Oseon during Flamewind.”
As if to underline the Administrator Senior’s words, lightning flared briefly outside the window, washing the colors from every object in the room. The flash subsided.
“Nonetheless, I am required to instruct you to take this pair of law-enforcement officers to Oseon 5792, the home and estate of Bohhuah Mutdah, so that they may make their arrest.”
Lando shook his head. “I don’t get it. Why not just—”
“Because, my dear Captain, it seems he must be caught in the act. His enemies lack sufficient evidence at the moment, and even they dare not move without it. You are the goat because of your avocation as captain of a tramp freighter. It must appear that you are taking him his regular shipment of the drug; apparently he supplies himself every year under the cover of the Flamewind, and—”
Lando stood up suddenly. “Now wait just a minute, Admin—”
The bureaucrat slammed his large hands down on the arms of his chair. “You wait a minute, Captain! I have no latitude in this; my instructions are clear, detailed, and unavoidable. We will provide you with a large amount of lesai, which has been seized from Mutdah’s regular connection. You will make transit to the next Belt inward, to the particular rock owned by Bohhuah Mutdah, and sell him the drug. You will be observed doing so by Officer Waywa Fybot and Oseon Peacekeeper Bassi Vobah, who will then seize both drug shipment and payment and take Mutdah into custody. That is how it has been ordained; that is how it shall be done.” Doluff subsided once again and took two or three deep breaths.