Vision of the future

is.'

'What they want is revenge,' Flim said soberly. 'Like everyone else these days.'

'Revenge against whom?' Disra asked.

Flim shrugged. 'The story around the fringe is that their world was devastated in a war with person or persons unknown some number of decades ago. The money the Mistryl earn hiring out their services still supposedly goes to support the survivors.'

'What's the name of the world?' Disra asked.

'I don't know,' Flim said. 'They keep it very quiet. Probably afraid whoever did it will come back and finish the job.'

'She said something about revenge for Lorardian,' Tierce mused. 'Could that be the system?'

'I have no idea.' Flim shrugged. 'I don't even know who or what Lorardian is.'

'What do you mean, you don't know?' Disra said, frowning. 'You sounded like you knew all about it back there.'

'I also sounded like I knew she was hiding behind the door the whole time,' Flim countered patiently. 'The whole trick behind being a good con man is convincing the target you know more than you really do.'

Disra grimaced. Con men. 'Of course. I forgot.'

'Don't go all high and nobly indignant on me, Disra,' Flim warned, his face darkening. 'Your Cavrilhu Pirate raids on New Republic shipping were as much a con as this is. So is your precious little Vengeance movement, for that matter,' he added, shifting his glare to Tierce. 'A few Imperial agitators pretending to be a huge group of civilian malcontents. Not to mention this whole Thrawn charade. You don't like cons? Well, too bad. You're up to your necks in them, both of you. Not that you've got any choice. Not with the shape the Empire's in.'

He dropped his feet back onto the floor with a muffled thud and stood up. 'And I'll tell you something else,' he added. 'If and when you ever get to the point where you've got all the military strength you want, you're still going to need me.'

He slapped at his chest. 'I'm the only one of this group who knows the fringe. Who the pirates and mercs are, where to find a good bounty hunter on short notice—you want to hire more privateers, you'll have to come to me. I'm the one who could finger D'ulin as a Mistryl just by the way she fought.'

'We're not arguing,' Disra said, a little taken aback by the fire of the con man's tirade. 'So what are you trying to say?'

'I'm saying that if and when this Hand of Thrawn of yours shows up, you might not need my Thrawn masquerade anymore,' Flim shot back. 'But you'll still need me.' For a long moment the room was silent. Flim glared back and forth between the two of them, breathing a little heavily.

Tierce broke the silence first. 'You finished?' he asked mildly. Flim studied his face, and some of the stiffness seemed to leave his back. 'Yes,' he muttered. 'I just... this is going to stir the pot, Tierce, from Coruscant to the Outer Rim. Unless the Hand of Thrawn is living under a rock, there's no way he's going to miss this.'

'I told you before that we could protect you from him,' Tierce said. 'And we will. Don't worry about it.'

'Yeah.' Flim took a long drink from his glass. 'Yeah. Sure.'

* * *

Lando pulled back the hyperdrive lever, and in front of them the stars of Bastion's sky stretched into starlines. 'Well,' he said. He'd meant the word to come out sounding casual, but all it sounded was hoarse. 'I guess he really meant it. About letting us go.' Beside him, Han didn't answer. For that matter, he probably hadn't said ten words since Thrawn had walked out of the docking bay. Lando looked sideways at his friend, wondering if it was time he started worrying about him.

Han must have felt the other's gaze. 'It was really him, wasn't it?' he said quietly, his own gaze still on the swirling patterns of hyperspace.

Lando nodded, his throat feeling tight. 'Perfectly calm, perfectly in control, three steps ahead of us the whole way,' he said. 'No one else but Thrawn.'

'I wouldn't have believed it.' Han looked at Lando, his mouth twitching. 'I guess I didn't believe it,' he amended. 'Whatever I said to you back at the Orowood Tower—'

'Forget it,' Lando said, waving the apology away. 'I was right there that first time, and I