Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 04_ Agents of Chaos 01_ Hero's Trial - James Luceno [73]
“Wrong. In exchange, you keep me apprised of the Peace Brigade’s future dealings with the Yuuzhan Vong.”
“And if I refuse to keep my side of the bargain?”
“I’ll bring everyone down on you—military and New Republic Intelligence. After the stunts you’ve pulled, you’ll be lucky to get a life sentence on Fodurant.”
“Cards on the table, huh? So why do you want to see this defector returned?”
The telbun laughed shortly. “Did you throw in with the enemy only for the credits, Reck?”
“Credits scammed are twice as sweet as credits earned.”
“That’s cute, but I don’t accept it. Doubtless, credits figured into your decision, but you know as well as I that there are larger issues at stake.”
“What larger issues?”
“The New Republic is going to lose this war, and there’s nothing to be gained by being on the losing side. Play this right, Reck, and both of us will come out winners.”
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a tempting offer,” Reck said tentatively. “But since you had no trouble getting to me, that must mean that NRI already has the Peace Brigade under surveillance.”
“You leave that to me.”
“To you … And when do I get to know who you are?”
“When the time’s right—and I make that decision.”
Reck took a slow breath. “All right,” he said at last. “I’m willing to give this a shot.”
“You won’t be sorry.” The telbun paused briefly. “The defector and her companion are being relocated to Bilbringi aboard an old starliner called Queen of Empire. I’ll furnish you with their travel plans and keep you updated on additional details as I learn them. But I suggest you grab them before they reach Bilbringi.”
“You leave that to me,” Reck said, glad for the chance to even the score.
“One more thing: you keep quiet about where you received this information—even with your Yuuzhan Vong controllers. For the time being, this is strictly between you and me, and your two cronies.”
“I can do that—on a trial basis anyway.”
“I know you won’t disappoint me, Reck.”
A hand touched Reck’s shoulder. Then, with a rustling of fabric, the telbun stood.
“I’ll be in touch. Don’t attempt to follow me.”
Reck stayed put but his eyes swept the room for signs of the telbun’s accomplices. When no one rose to follow the robed figure out the restaurant’s back entrance, he swung to Ven and Wotson.
“Quick—after him!”
Reck was one step beyond the pair as they plowed through the rear doors, only to confront a sunken courtyard filled wall to wall with identically attired telbuns.
Warbling sirens signaled an all-clear as C-3PO hurried past the open-air launch pads of Ord Mantell’s primary spaceport. Defense shields had protected the city from aerial bombardment, but to the north—in the direction of the planet’s renowned junkyards—thick columns of oily black smoke climbed into a smudged sky.
“Thank the maker,” C-3PO muttered as he walked. “Thank the maker.”
Secreted with her vigilant Noghri bodyguard, Mistress Leia had tasked C-3PO with assuring that their spacecraft hadn’t suffered damage during the Yuuzhan Vong attack, and indeed that had proved to be the case. But several ships had been caught unawares, and the sight of their scorched and punctured hulls had given C-3PO an unshakable flutter.
He shuddered to think what might have been his fate had the New Republic task force failed to foil the enemy attack. Why, he might well have ended up in a scrap heap or, worse yet, at the bottom of a pit filled with incinerated droids, such as he had witnessed on Rhommamool, after a brief but disquieting encounter with the late Nom Anor.
“Your existence offends me,” the political troublemaker had told him, with a minatory look that was permanently burned into C-3PO’s memory core.
It was one thing to be shunned by Gotals, whose impressionable sensory organs tended to become overloaded by the energy output of droids, but it was quite another to be singled out for deactivation or annihilation. Of course, there had been cases where