connection Solo had mentioned was real, the pirates should be turning off anytime now.
But to her growing surprise, they didn't. Instead, the Kakkran continued east, angling northward only after the palace was far behind them. They reached the outskirts of the city and headed out into the wooded hills that bordered the area to the north, and Karoly found herself dropping farther and farther back as the traffic thinned out.
The pirates changed roads twice more, curving farther and farther north, and Karoly began to regret she'd never gotten around to picking up a map of the area. The road they were on seemed to be taking them in a circle around the city, which made no sense to her at all unless they were trying to come up on the palace from behind.
She was still toying with that thought when the Kakkran suddenly pulled to the side of the road and disappeared into the trees.
She pulled off, too, slipping out of her Ubrikkian and heading into the woods on foot. She'd gone only a little ways when the sound of the repulsorlifts ahead of her cut off.
'You sure this is it?' a rough voice drifted back toward her through the trees. 'Doesn't look like any escape route I've ever seen.'
'Trust me, Captain,' a more cultured voice assured him. 'I scoped the place out thoroughly the last time we were here.' Karoly got a glimpse of movement through the trees, headed for the cover of a squat bush—
'Here it is,' the cultured man said; and as Karoly dropped into a crouching position behind the bush she saw one of the six pirates reach out an arm and swing away some hanging branches from a tree growing out of the rocky cliff face. 'Your typical Imperial rat-run.' Zothip grunted, ducking down to peer inside. 'Couple of landspeeders stashed away in there. The tunnel wide enough for 'em, Control?'
'I presume we'll find out,' the cultured man said. 'Grinner, get it started.' The pirates disappeared beneath the hanging branches, and a minute later there was the sound of a repulsorlift powering up. The sound revved, then faded away into the distance. Karoly gave them a count of ten, then eased to the tree and ducked under the branches.
She found herself in a small room, no more than twice as wide as the tile-walled tunnel that extended into the hills from its rear wall, with a small Slipter landspeeder parked along the side. In the distance, she could see the reflected glow from the other landspeeder's lights receding rapidly down the tunnel.
Using her inciter, she started up the Slipter, hoping the sound of the pirates' own vehicle would cover up the extra noise. Swinging it around, leaving the lights off, she headed off in pursuit.
* * *
'Report from Security Team Eight, sir,' the young trooper at the comm monitor said, his voice academy crisp. 'Three possibles have been spotted in a landspeeder outside the Timaris Building. Security Team Two reporting two possibles have just entered a jewelry store on the fourteenth block of Bleaker Street.'
'I've got data feeds from both teams,' the trooper at one of the computer displays added.
'Running facial matches now.'
'He'll be running them against the complete Fleet record system over at Ompersan, Your Excellency,' the lieutenant standing beside Disra explained. 'If they've ever crossed paths with the Empire, their faces will be in there.'
'Very good, Lieutenant,' Disra said, looking around the darkened palace situation room with a mixture of satisfaction and envy. Satisfaction, because the command team he'd installed here a year ago was working with the kind of speed and efficiency that had once been the proud hallmark of the Imperial military. Envy, because it wasn't him they were performing for. 'Any suggestions, Admiral?' Standing behind the main comm monitor station, Thrawn lifted his eyebrows politely. In the dim lighting his glowing red eyes looked even brighter than usual. 'I suggest, Your Excellency,' he said, the word 'suggest' carrying just the barest emphasis, 'that we first allow the analysis staff to do their work. There's nothing to be gained by showing our hand until we're sure who the spies are.'
'Maybe they all are,' Disra countered, suddenly tired of the polite condescension. In character or not—dangerous or not—it was high time he took the con man down a stroke or two. 'Coruscant has been trying to learn Bastion's current location for a good two years now. I doubt they would waste that hard-fought knowledge just to drop one or two spies on us.'
He could feel Tierce's eyes on him, and the heat of the Guardsman's disapproval of his verbal challenge. But Thrawn's blue-black eyebrows merely lifted politely. 'What do you suggest, then, Your Excellency? That a saboteur team has been sent in to bring down our planetary shields in preparation for a major attack?'
Disra stared at him, the sudden jolt momentarily sidetracking his irritation. That was precisely the scheme they themselves were working against the Bothan homeworld of Bothawui. What in the Empire was Flim doing talking openly about such a thing here?
He was saved from his sudden confusion by the trooper at the computer console. 'Report from Ompersan, Admiral,' the other announced. 'Suspected possibles have been cleared. All are listed as Imperial citizens.'
