Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance (6 page)

"What
was the name and class of the ship?"

"First
Blood, a modified Kuat D-Seven. "

"Destination?"

"Unknown.
"

"Tell
me about Lema Xandret. "

"We
have no record of that name. "

"Nothing
at all?"

"Once,
" she said, "information flowed freely across the galaxy,
ebbing and flowing as readily as light itself. We prided ourselves on
the ease with which we knew all things. Then the Empire came, casting
a shadow across the Republic, and the constant shine of knowledge was
shattered. Much we would know now comes sluggishly, and in incomplete
forms. Our task is as much to reconstruct as to gather. "

"That's
a no, then, " said Ula testily. He was very aware of the state
of information in the galaxy, and he didn't like the Empire being
blamed for it. From his point of view, the Republic had never gotten
it right, and only the establishment of Imperial rule would enable
the right and correct flow of data to everyone.

He
wasn't getting very far with the alien, but he had one question left.

"What
about the third name: Cinzia?"

"We
have three appearances: two from the Senate and one from an allied
spy network. Both point to the same source. "

More
spies, Ula thought with distaste. He hated that word. "Who are
the Senators?"

"Bimmisaari
in the Halla sector and Sneeve in the Kastolar sector. "

"Can
you tell me their source?"

"Readily.
There are no security warnings attached to this subject. " The
Ithorian tapped again. "Both Senators and the spy network report
on an unusual auction in Hutt space. Tenders have been called for. "

"Where
does the name Cinzia fit in?"

"It
appears to be a vessel of some kind. "

"Anything
else?"

"Speculation
varies among the three parties. I can offer you no hard facts. "

Ula
thought quickly to himself. So Dao Stryver was real, and the Cinzia,
too. But what was one doing on Coruscant while the other was in Hutt
space? How did the greed of a species of malignant criminals connect
them?

"Thank
you, " he said. "You've been some help to us. "

The
Ithorian walked him back to the atrium and left him there. The
secretary waved cheerfully as he left. A film of sweat covered Ula
from head to foot. It could have gone much worse, he told himself, if
they had only known what he really was...

Ula
had a contact in the office of the Senator from Bimmisaarian. He made
an appointment by comlink as he walked. With luck, he hoped, this
whole thing could be wrapped up before day's end and life would
return to normal.

*
* *

"Oh,
I know exactly what you're talking about, " breezed Hunet L'Beck
over a pot of traditional ale. He had insisted on meeting for lunch,
and Ula had found it impossible to talk him out of it. Ula didn't
like eating in public. It was one of the things he preferred to keep
to himself, without worrying about what other people thought.

"Go
on, then, " he said, moving scraps of yot bean fry-up around his
plate. "Tell me everything. "

L'Beck
had finished eating long ago and was on to his second pot. That made
him even more loquacious than normal, which wasn't a bad thing. Ula
needed him to talk.

"The
Senator's offices on Bimmisaari received a communique from Tassaa
Bareesh seven days ago. Do you know who she is?"

"A
member of the Bareesh Cartel, I presume. "

"Only
the head, the matriarch. She has close ties to the Empire, so we keep
an eye on her as best we can. There's nothing we can do about the
smuggling, but open slavery is something we try to crack down on. "

Ula
nodded. Bimmisaari's home sector butted directly on Hutt space, so
the behavior of the cartels could have a hugely destabilizing effect
on the local economy. "Go on. "

"The
communique was a pitch, really, and a fairly unsubtle one at that.
Bareesh was attempting to interest us in something one of her pirates
had found in the Outer Rim. Information, apparently, and an
unspecified artifact. She didn't say where they had come from,
exactly; way out past Rinn was the only hint she dropped. We didn't
pay it much heed at first, naturally. "

"Why
'naturally'?"

"Well,
we receive dozens of offers from the Hutts every day. Most are scams.
Some are traps. All are full of lies. Not so different from what we
receive from the Resource Management Council, but at least that's
supposed to be on our side. " L'Beck toasted his own cynical
witticism and ordered another drink.

"So
you ignored the communique, " Ula prompted.

"And
that normally would have been the end of it. Except another one
arrived, and then another, each adding a little to the story until
eventually we had to pay attention. It was quite a clever campaign,
actually. We wouldn't have accepted it if it had arrived all at once,
but doled out bit by bit, letting each piece of the puzzle tall into
place before offering us the next one, eventually it was enough to
get even the Senator himself interested. "

"In
what, exactly?"

"The
Hutts found a ship. The Cinzia. There was something inside it,
apparently, an artifact they're trying to sell, but that's not the
most important thing. What really makes this interesting is where the
ship came from. "

Ula
was getting tired of playing games. "Just tell me, will you?"

"I
can't. That information is what the Hutts are selling. " L'Beck
leaned forward. "We've been trying to generate interest in the
Senate. Support is spreading for an official response, but not fast
enough. The auction is in a few days' time, and I'm afraid we'll miss
out. " L'Beck's voice lowered until it was barely audible over
the background noise. "How would you like to be the one to hand
the Republic a previously unknown, resource-rich world, ripe for the
picking?"

Ula
kept his expression neutral. So that was what the fuss was about. New
worlds weren't especially hard to come by, but anything steeped in
minerals or biosphere was fiercely contested between the Empire and
the Republic. If the Hutts had stumbled across the location of one
such world, there was indeed a real chance to profit from the
knowledge.

"Are
you sure it's real, not another scam?" he asked L'Beck.

"As
sure as we can be, " L'Beck said lightly, taking his third pot
from the waiter and knocking back a hefty swallow. "Supreme
Chancellor Janarus would authorize a bidding party from Bimmisaari,
I'm sure, if we could only get word to him. Do you think you can
help?"

And
there it was, the appeal for assistance in shoring up local politics.
Halla sector wanted not only to be the ones who brought a new world
to the Republic's attention, but access to the Chancellor's coffers
as well. A small percentage would be skimmed off the top to cover
administration expenses, no doubt-providing more ale for the likes of
Hunet L'Beck and his ilk. Thus the Republic doomed itself, and all it
purported to represent.

Ula
suppressed his ideological revulsion. "I'll bring it to Supreme
Commander Stantorrs's attention, " he said. And that was the
truth. He had no choice now. If he returned with nothing, and two
days later the information did reach the Supreme Chancellor's ears
from another source-well, it wouldn't pay to be diminished in
Stantorrs's eyes. Maintaining that contact was paramount.

But
that wouldn't stop him from spreading the information elsewhere
first.

"I
owe you, " said L'Beck as Ula paid the bill and took his leave.
That was the best way to leave an informant: in one's debt. Ula's
coffers, like the Republic's, weren't limitless, but they contained
enough credits to grease the path to Imperial domination, just a
little.

*
* *

Many
means existed of getting secret transmissions off Coruscant. One
could stash an antenna on a little-used building and broadcast when
official satellites were out of range. One could pay a lowlife to
take a recording to orbit, there to send the message farther by more
ordinary means. One could employ a code of such baroque complexity
that the transmission resembled layers of noise upon noise, with no
significant features.

Ula
believed that the best way to arouse suspicion was to go too far out
of his way to avoid it. So his preferred method of contacting his
superiors was to place a call to Panatha, the planet of his birth,
leave a message for his mother, and wait for the reply to come to
him. That way, the burden of guilt was shifted elsewhere. It was much
easier to brush off receiving an illicit communication, one possibly
misplaced, than the accusation of making one.

After
notifying the Supreme Commander that he was hot on the case, he went
immediately to his austere quarters and sent two signals. Ula lived
in Manarai Heights, near his work in the Senate District while at the
same time close enough to the Eastport Docking Facility to make a
quick getaway if he needed to. He had stashes of documents, credits,
and weapons in several locations between home and the spaceport. He
also had a secondary apartment, little more than a closet, really, in
case he needed somewhere to hide for a while. He wasn't one for
taking chances. The illusion of innocence he had wrapped around
himself could be all too easily dispelled. He had seen it happen
before. One mistake was all it took...

The
bleep of his comlink broke him out of the nervous reverie in which he
had spent the last hour. The call was on its way, in response to the
first of his signals. He readied himself by straightening his uniform
for the dozenth time and taking position in front of his
holoprojector. This was the part of his job he liked the least.

A
ghostly image appeared before him, flickering blue with static. There
was little more than a hint of a face, and the voice was both
genderless and species-less. Ula had no idea whom he spoke to on
distant Dromund Kaas.

"Report,
" said Watcher Three.

Ula
summed up everything he had learned in as few words as possible: A
ship from an unaffiliated resource-rich world in the Outer Rim had
been captured by the Hutts, who were offering information about it to
the highest bidder. That same ship was the object of a search by a
Mandalorian, Dao Stryver. Another name, Lema Xandret, was implicated.
The origins of the ship were unknown, as was its cargo, the
mysterious object L'Beck had alluded to. Both were up for auction.

When
he finished, the noisy line crackled and fizzed for almost half a
minute before Watcher Three responded.

"Very
good. This is a matter of concern to the minister. Maintain a close
watch and report all developments. "

"Yes,
sir. "

"Dismissed.
"

The
transmission ended, and Ula sagged with relief. For all he knew,
Watcher Three was a perfectly ordinary person, just another
functionary like him, but there was something about that hollow voice
that made him feel utterly unworthy. Bad enough that he wasn't fully
human, but worse even than that. He felt dirty, unclean, vile, for no
reason at all.

Watcher
Three made him feel like he did when he talked to a Sith.

His
comlink buzzed again. He prepared himself again, with very different
reasons to feel nervous. Whereas the last call had come through
perfectly official channels from the Ministry of Intelligence, this
one had a very different purpose, and bore risks of its own.

This
time, when the holoprojector stirred, it revealed a perfectly clear
image of a woman who still struck Ula as looking entirely too young
for the role she played in Imperial administration.

"Hello,
Ula. How nice to hear from you again. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Ula
swallowed. Shullis Khamarr's smile seemed perfectly sincere, and Ula
had no reason to believe it otherwise. The current Minister of
Logistics was the same age as he and shared his passionate belief
that the Empire was a civilizing force to be reckoned with. They had
discussed this subject at length during a shuttle flight from Dromund
Kaas, the one time he had visited the Imperial capital world. He had
been attending a briefing for members who hadn't qualified to be
Cipher Agents but were still considered useful to the intelligence
arm; she was on her way to be promoted to lieutenant Since then, her
rise had been meteoric, while he remained essentially nowhere.