Vision of the future

'More likely wanted to see what kind of craft and pilot they were dealing with,' Mara suggested.

'That was the conclusion I ended up with, too,' Luke agreed, stretching out with the Force to lift Artoo over the shattered stalactite. 'Anyway, they waited until we were a few kilometers from the High Tower and then opened fire. I ducked into that series of canyons your record showed and managed to lose them.'

Mara was silent a moment. 'You said they told you to stay with them. They spoke Basic?'

'Eventually,' Luke said. 'But they started off with the same message you and Karrde picked up when that other ship buzzed by Booster Terrik's Star Destroyer.'

'Karrde gave you that, I take it,' Mara said, her emotions turning suddenly darker. 'Did he give you the rest of it?'

'He gave me your landing data,' Luke said. 'Was there more?'

'Yes, and none of it good,' Mara said. 'Point one is that Thrawn's name is buried in that message. Point two is that your sister recovered a damaged datacard near Mount Tantiss that was labeled 'The Hand of Thrawn.' '

The Hand of Thrawn. 'I don't like the sound of that,' Luke said.

'No one else who's heard it does, either,' Mara agreed grimly. 'The question is, what does it mean?'

'You were called the Emperor's Hand,' Luke reminded her. 'Could Thrawn have had that kind of agent?'

'That's the first thing everyone else has asked, too,' Mara said, and Luke sensed a brief flicker of annoyance from her. 'That, or whether it could be a superweapon like another Death Star. But neither of those were really his style.'

Luke snorted. 'No, his style was to rancor-roll some brilliant strategy over everyone.'

'Succinctly put,' Mara said. 'Still, the datacard came out of the Emperor's private storehouse, so it must mean something. Palpatine wouldn't have created disinformation just for his own private amusement.'

'Well, whatever it means, it would seem our friends in the High Tower are somehow connected to Thrawn,' Luke said. 'I wonder if they could be a group of his people.'

'Oh, there's a cheery thought,' Mara growled. 'Let's just hope the whole species doesn't have the same tactical genius he did.'

'Yes,' Luke murmured.

But even as he ignited his lightsaber to clear more of the rock from their path another sobering thought occurred to him. If the Hand of Thrawn hadn't been an assassin or special agent...

'You're thinking again,' Mara cut into his musings. 'Come on, let's have it.'

'I was just thinking that maybe the Hand of Thrawn might have been a student,' Luke said, turning to look at her. 'Someone he might have been grooming to take his place if anything happened to him.'

'So where is he?' Mara asked. 'I mean, it's been ten years. Why hasn't he shown up before now?'

'Maybe the Hand didn't think he was ready yet,' Luke suggested. 'Maybe he thought he needed more time or training before he could take Thrawn's place.'

'Or else,' Mara said, and in the harshly shadowed light of the glow rods her face was suddenly tight, 'he's been waiting for just the right moment to make his move.' Luke took a deep breath, the cool cavern air tasting suddenly a little colder. 'Like the moment when the New Republic is poised to tear itself apart over the Caamas issue.'

'It's exactly how Thrawn would take advantage of the situation,' Mara said. 'In fact, with Imperial resources whittled down to practically nothing, it's about the only thing he could do.' For a long moment they just looked at each other, neither speaking. 'I think,' Mara said at last,

'we'd better get into that tower and see just what's going on up there.'

'I think you're right,' Luke said, turning his glow rod in the direction of their travel and boosting its power another notch. About five meters ahead, the passageway they were in seemed to open up into a large chamber, large enough at any rate to swallow up the glow rod's beam. He took a step forward—

And paused as a subtle sensation tickled at the back of his mind. Somewhere up ahead...