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“Care to know how much bacta we hauled away?”

“I have my estimates. I also know where you sent a great deal of it.”

Mirax smiled. “It doesn’t take a genius to know we’ve shipped a lot to Coruscant.”

“But it will take a genius to get the rest of it, eh?” Karrde set his glass of wine down. “What sort of numbers are you looking at with your equipment?”

Booster leaned back in his seat. “Three hundred launchers and sensor packages: fifty should be snubfighter systems, the rest can be capital ship systems. Right now I want two thousand proton torpedoes and a thousand concussion missiles, though I expect those numbers to change.”

“Upward, of course.”

“Of course.”

Karrde’s expression sharpened. “You going to be arming your freighters, Booster?”

“Try taking one of them off and find out, Karrde.”

Talon Karrde smiled broadly. “I’m a smuggler, not a pirate.”

“Thin line between them.” Booster thrust his chin forward. “Pirate steals from his suppliers, smuggler just cheats them.”

“You’ve distilled that difference to its essence, Booster.” Karrde sat back in his chair. “You’ll be paying with bacta?”

Booster nodded. “Not a problem, I assume?”

“Not really. The price now is so high that much of what I would be trading for is being sold to buy bacta from the cartel. Oddly enough, with the New Republic somewhat strapped for liquid capital, military surplus and munitions are actually dropping in price. It’s a buyer’s market. I shouldn’t be telling you that, of course.”

Mirax laughed. “Except you know we already know that, and you want to rub in the fact that you’ll be gouging us on the prices.”

Karrde’s eyes glittered with amusement. “She’s very sharp, Booster. You should be proud.”

“I am. You can get us what we want?”

Karrde nodded. “Not all at once, of course.”

“Installments are fine.” Booster glanced at a thumbnail, then looked back up. “Delivery will be a bit peculiar. We’ll arrange for exchanges at various places where your ships will offload material for us. We’ll be transporting it to our final destination ourselves.”

“Not that you don’t trust me.”

“But we don’t trust you.” Booster smiled. “I know you’ve already learned more about our operation than I wanted you to, and I also know that Vorru is trying to learn as much about us as he can. I don’t want you to find we’re a commodity you can trade to him for a profit.”

Karrde held his hands up. “So far I have avoided taking sides in the civil war, and I see this as a simple extension of it even though Antilles has resigned from the New Republic’s military. Since the cartel really isn’t interested in selling bacta to me, and since you need my services, it isn’t going to do me any good to sacrifice you to them.”

“Provided we still are a profit center for you.”

Karrde frowned. “Booster, you make it sound like I don’t value our history together.”

“Oh, I think you do, and the history of your making a profit off me is what you value.”

Mirax raised an eyebrow. “The fact that either one of you would sell the other for a bucket of warm dewback drool isn’t really germane here. Betting against Wedge Antilles’s abilities lost Iceheart the Imperial homeworld and sent her packing for Thyferra. Talon, you’re too smart not to back him, especially since his victory will break the cartel and open up the bacta trade. A little gratitude toward you from the Ashern rebels won’t hurt when distribution is set up.”

“Point taken.” Karrde picked up the datapad on his desk and punched a few keys. “I’m going to have you liaise with Melina Carniss on the delivery details.”

Booster frowned. “Carniss? I don’t know her. Never heard of her.”

“She worked for Jabba on Tatooine. She filled a niche that would have been in the middle of his security apparatus, but she was Jabba’s own agent. Formally, she was his dance coordinator. Good head on her shoulders. She understands a lot of the business, but is a bit shy on experience.” Karrde stood and waved his left hand toward the doorway. “Here she is. Come in, Melina, my dear. This is Booster Terrik and his charming daughter, Mirax.”

Mirax