'He is indeed,' Thrawn agreed. 'One reason, I presume, why he's such a bad liar. Rukh, perhaps the Dynast Ir'khaim would enjoy the view from the forward section. Please escort him there.'
'Yes, my lord.' Rukh stood up. 'Dynast Ir'khaim?' he said, gesturing toward the forward blast door.
For a moment the other Noghri didn't move. Then, with obvious reluctance, he stood up. 'My lord,' he said stiffly, and headed down the aisle.
Thrawn waited until the door had closed on both aliens before turning back to Pellaeon. 'Khalarakh is hiding something, Captain,' he said, a cold fire in his eyes. 'I'm certain of it.'
'Yes, sir,' Pellaeon said, wondering how the Grand Admiral had come to that conclusion. Certainly the routine sensor scan they'd just run hadn't picked up anything. 'Shall I order a sensor focus on the village?'
'That's not what I meant,' Thrawn shook his head. 'He wouldn't have brought anything incriminating back to Honoghr with him-you can't hide anything for long in one of these close-knit villages. No, it's something he's not telling us about that missing month. The one where he claims he was off meditating by himself.'
'We might be able to learn something from his ship,' Pellaeon suggested.
'Agreed,' Thrawn nodded. 'Have a scanning crew go over it before the techs get to work. Every cubic millimeter of it, interior and exterior both. And have Surveillance put someone on Khalarakh.'
'Ah-yes, sir,' Pellaeon said. 'One of our people, or another Noghri?' Thrawn cocked an eyebrow at him. 'The ridiculously obvious or the heavily political, in other words?' he asked dryly. 'Yes, you're right, of course. Let's try a third option: does the Chimaera carry any espionage droids?'
'I don't believe so, sir,' Pellaeon said, punching up the question on the shuttle's computer link. 'No. We have some Arakyd Viper probe droids, but nothing of the more compact espionage class.'
'Then we'll have to improvise,' Thrawn said. 'Have Engineering put a Viper motivator into a decon droid and rig it with full-range optical and auditory sensors and a recorder. We'll have it put in with the group working out of Khabarakh's village.'
'Yes, sir,' Pellaeon said, keying in the order. 'Do you want a transmitter installed, too?'
Thrawn shook his head. 'No, a recorder should be sufficient. The antenna would be difficult to conceal from view. The last thing we want is for some curious Noghri to see it and wonder why this one was different.' Pellaeon nodded his understanding. Especially since that might lead the aliens to start pulling decon droids apart for a look inside. 'Yes, sir. I'll have the order placed right away.'
Thrawn's glowing eyes shifted to look out the viewport. 'There's no particular rush here,' he said thoughtfully. 'Not now. This is the calm before the storm, Captain; and until the storm is ready to unleash, we might as well spend our time and energy making sure our illustrious Jedi Master will be willing to assist us when we want him.'
'Which means bringing Leia Organa Solo to him.'
'Exactly.' Thrawn looked at the forward blast door. And if my presence is what the Noghri need to inspire them, then my presence is what they'll have.'
'For how long?' Pellaeon asked.
Thrawn smiled tightly. 'For as long as it takes.'
CHAPTER
11
'Han?' Lando's voice came from the cabin intercom beside the bunk.
'Wake up.'
'Yeah, I'm awake' Han grunted, swiping at his eyes with one hand and swiveling the repeater displays toward him with the other. If there was one thing his years on the wrong side of the law had hammered into him, it was the knack of going from deep sleep to full alertness in the space between heartbeats. 'What's up?'
'We're here,' Lando announced. 'Wherever here is.'
'I'll be right up.'
They were in sight of their target planet by the time he'd dressed and made his way to the Lady Luck's
