The Bacta War (30 page)

Vorru knew he could fall victim to Erisi’s charms, because she realized that it was possible to play to his vanity and desperation. He had always been vain, but he had kept it in check. His age attacked both his vanity and ambition, reminding himself that he had little time to accomplish ail the goals he had set out for his life. His time on Kessel had gotten him no closer to the heights he had once seen as his due, and now he knew that unless he acted quickly, his chances of even approaching them would wither and die.

“That possibility cannot be discounted, of course, Madam Director—nor can it be proven, as you are well aware. The fact is that Antilles has been very cautious throughout his career. That he has lived this long is ample proof of that. The precaution taken against our interference could have been nothing more than a concern over whether or not he could trust his trading partner.”

Isard turned so she could watch both him and Erisi. “Yes, his trading partner. I want Karrde dealt with.”

Vorru shook his head. “Under no circumstances. If we treat Talon Karrde any differently than we do now, he will realize we have an agent among his people, and we lose a very valuable resource. Moreover, Karrde’s loyalty can be bought. We will have him when, if, and however we want him.”

He opened his hands. “As for your assertion that Commander Dlarit is to blame for the failures of her pilots, this, too, is disingenuous. Her pilots were inappropriately matched against Rogue Squadron. Captain Convarion always believed the appearance of his vessel would strike terror into the hearts of his enemies. He expected them to panic and run precisely because they ran the first time he ambushed them. Antilles has not lived this long by repeating mistakes. Convarion should have insisted on having the best pilots possible flying with him. He did not, because he assumed their contribution to his victory would be incidental.”

Isard brought her head up. “Ah, well, then it seems I am wrong about everything!” The rising ironic tone in her voice did nothing to hide her anger. “Perhaps you would like to tell me how things are going to go from now on and what we should do about them.”

Vorru smiled and took a half step toward Isard as he turned to face her. “I would guess, despite the possession of the War Cruiser, Antilles and his people will continue their”—he glanced at Erisi—“as the pilots so colorfully put it, ‘hit-and-hype’ raids. In actuality you’ve seen those raids are minimally effective. I would imagine they will also try to infiltrate some of the tanker crews so they can hijack more shipments. Our losses—and we will have some—should be minimal.”

Isard’s eyes half-closed. “
Minimal
losses to us will still be enough to let them finance their war against us.”

“True, but the fact is that time runs in our favor, not theirs. We have a number of ways to deal with them, but their threat will not be ended until we locate their base and destroy it.”

Isard pressed two fingers against her lips for a moment.

“The elimination of their base has always been the way to deal with them. What other plans do you have in mind?”

Vorru smiled hesitantly. “The prime method of eliminating their ability to fight against us is for us to open up our storage wells and make an abundance of bacta available.”

“No!” Erisi and Ysanne looked at each other in surprise as their joint denunciation of that suggestion echoed loudly through the room. Isard shook her head. “That would kill the price of bacta and loosen the dependency of others upon us.”

“Agreed, but we can survive the momentary weakness, Rogue Squadron cannot. The strength of the bacta price is their strength. Take it away, and they are left penniless. Karrde won’t speak with them. They will be unable to maintain their spacecraft and will no longer appear to be friends worth protecting. Make bacta abundant, offer a reward to bring Antilles and his people in, and hint that bacta will remain abundant if they
are
captured or betrayed to you and Antilles is done.”

Even as he outlined the plan, Vorru knew Isard would reject it.
It is the easiest and most bloodless of the plans needed for getting rid of Antilles. She will reject it because it does not satisfy her sense of revenge. She wants him to suffer, not wither. I doubt she recognizes she should reject it because of the backlash she will suffer among the Xucphra people when their standard of living crashes
.

Isard slowly shook her head. “Antilles has defied me directly and has killed one of my Destroyers. I want him dead, I want Horn dead and the others, but I want them to know I was the hand behind it, not market vagaries. Moreover, relinquished power is power that is not easily recovered. Next.”

“The other plan is the current one—a plan that requires vigilance and patience. We keep seeking information and then pounce when we know where he is.” Vorru shrugged stiffly. “The problem with this plan is that it is frustrating, since we cannot act until we know where he is based. That could take three months, six, a year.”

“Unacceptable.” Isard shook her head adamantly. “I am not going to sit back and allow Antilles free rein while I just wait. This situation cannot be allowed to mature further. We
need action. I want to kill something, and I want to use
her
pilots to do it.” Isard pointed an unwavering finger at Erisi. “If your pilots are truly elite, killing something should not be beneath them.”

Vorru felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
Halanit was a disaster, yet she would repeat it
. “Madam Director, a raid right now would be a waste of people, parts, munitions, and goodwill.”

“But it will show High Admiral Teradoc and that fool Harssk that they should not trifle with me and laugh at me. And what need have I of goodwill? Do I not own all the bacta there is? Others should please
me
with their actions, not seek to be pleased by me.”

Vorru held his hands up. “There is no question you have power others would do well to respect, but attacking another place like Halanit will inspire more fear than you want.”

Isard gave Vorru a predatory smile, all sharp tooth and pitiless. “But fear is exactly what I want, Minister Vorru. However, I take your point. I will still have my attack, and Commander Dlarit’s people will do it, but we’ll spare off-worlders for the moment.”

She blithely turned her attention on Erisi, and the Thyferran woman paled. “You will plan a mission that punishes the Ashern for their boldness in resisting me. Their antics have been hardly damaging, but I want them to know that to defy me is to court death. Find something—a munitions dump, a rebel camp, a sympathetic village, anything. Find it and destroy it. No warning, no mercy.” She smiled. “No question who the true power here is.”

27

Mirax Terrik found herself surprised by the delighted smile on Talon Karrde’s face. A crescent lined with white teeth split his moustache from his goatee and gave him the rakish air of a space pirate. What surprised her was not that Karrde could smile so handsomely, but that he dared to, given the scowl on her father’s face.
Karrde can’t be ignorant of my father’s temper, so he thinks he’s anticipated our trouble
.

Karrde, alone in his cabin, waved both of the Terriks to chairs. “I’ll dispense with greetings because I suspect you’d doubt my sincerity after what happened at Alderaan.” Karrde came around to the front of his desk, then leaned back on its edge, crossing his long legs.

Mirax sat in the chair she’d been offered, but her father remained standing. He rested his hands on the back of his chair, then leaned forward to bring his eyes down to Karrde’s level. Mirax knew the posture well—her father lowered his head like a thirst-mad bantha preparing to sprint to a watering seep. She’d seen other creatures begin to cringe as Booster did that, but Karrde did not.

“Karrde, I’ve been over the details again and again. I’ve checked my people.” Booster tapped Mirax’s shoulder with
his thumb. “I’ve even had her CorSec suitor look some material over to check this out.”

Mirax covered her reaction to her father’s statement. Booster had asked
her
for advice about making a final check on his security records, and
she
had brought Corran in on it. Booster had not been pleased when he found out that “CorranSec” had gone over things, but he accepted Corran’s conclusions.
Now he makes it sound like he solicited Corran’s advice. We’re going to talk about this
.

Karrde held a hand up. “I know what you’re going to say.”

“Yeah?”

“I think so.” Karrde’s eyes actually twinkled. “You’ll tell me that the leak to the Imps came from my organization.”

Booster’s head came up. “You knew?”

“Not before the fact, no. I had no idea. Afterward, though, it was rather obvious.” Karrde shrugged. “Melina Carniss sold you out.”

Booster straightened up to his full height. “Have you killed her, yet?”

“No. I didn’t want to precipitate action that could not be reversed.”

Booster chuckled deeply. “You are studying her to find her connection to Isard.”

“Actually I wanted to see how far she had spread Isard’s influence in my organization; but, yes, I have been watching her.” Karrde folded his arms across his chest. “Now that you’re here, I thought I would allow you to determine how you want to deal with this situation. Shoving her out into space would probably be the most expedient method of killing her. I heard about a renegade band of Twi’leks who used to run electricity through a vat of bacta, torturing their victims to the point of death, then turning off the electricity and allowing the bacta to heal them up.”

Mirax swallowed against the bile rising in her throat. “Easier just to let the word get out that Melina was a binary-agent: She sold the Imp ambush to us just the same way she sold us to Isard. Let the bacta witch deal with her.”

Karrde nodded. “I also have a Wookiee in my employ who could …”

Booster shook his head. “No, no Wookiees. Armpits are convenient for lifting corpses and moving them to dump sites.”

“I’ll loan you any weapon you want to deal with her. I have things from all over, including a recently acquired Sith lanvarok that promises to be truly elegant,
if
I’ve figured out correctly how it’s supposed to work.” Karrde frowned. “But you’re not left-handed, so that will complicate things.”

Mirax raised an eyebrow. “You really have a lanvarok?”

“Yes, do you have a buyer?”

“A collector.”

“Good.”

“And he’s left-handed.”

“Even better.”

“If you will give me details on the lanvarok and authenticate its Sith origins …”

Booster cleared his voice. “We have current business to discuss before you get going on this deal.”

“Of course, Booster, of course.” Karrde smiled. “We can holograph the lanvarok in use and that should help spike the price …”

Booster shook his head. “No.”

“You prefer another method for dealing with traitors?”

“I do.” Booster smiled broadly. “I want you to keep her alive and working.”

Karrde frowned. “Why?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Not good enough, Booster. You’ll have to do better if you want her to stay alive. She betrayed one of my customers to an enemy, causing harm to my customer, my people, and my reputation. She has to die.”

Booster’s protestations confused Mirax. She looked up at her father. “Why do you want her to live?”

Karrde’s eyes narrowed. “I believe, for one thing, your father will suggest that with Carniss still in place, Isard won’t try to infiltrate a new spy into my organization.”

Booster nodded. “Better the Hutt you have tagged than one you don’t.”

“Agreed, Booster, but I’m still afraid I can’t accommodate you in this.”

“What?”

“Oh, please, don’t act so incredulous.” Karrde shook his head gravely. “I can’t have her threatening my customers. It’s bad for my reputation and bad for morale and puts me at a serious disadvantage in my business dealings. She’s going to die.”

“You gave me a choice of how she dies.”

“Old age is not one of the options I had in mind.” Karrde waved away Booster’s comment. “No, she has to die. There is no retreating from this point.”

“No?” Booster arched an eyebrow over his artificial eye. “I have more things to buy. I can always take my business elsewhere.”

“If I had a credit for every time I heard that sort of empty threat, I could buy and sell Thyferra and Isard a dozen times over.” Karrde snorted. “I believe our old business is concluded. Now about that lanvarok …”

“Don’t be so anxious here, Karrde.” Booster slowly smiled. “You’ve got our munitions business already—though that
could
change. This is something more.”

“It would have to be special if you expect to buy Me-lina’s life with it.”

“I think it is. I was going to give it to Billey—pitch some work his way for old times’ sake.”

Karrde nodded. “Dravis, the new guy working for him, is good.”

“So I’ve heard, but you’re better.”

Karrde smiled. “So I’ve heard.”

“Anyway,” Booster growled, “I want a gravity well projector.”

Mirax covered a smile as Karrde coughed and regarded her father with disbelief.
So you can be surprised, Karrde. Not easily, but possibly
.

“A gravity well projector?” Karrde shook his head. “Billey can’t get it for you.”

Booster nodded. “It’s impossible to get one, I know, but I could use it, and so I thought I’d start asking. If you can’t do it …”

“Reverse thrust there, Booster. I just said Billey couldn’t get it.”

“You can?”

Karrde lifted his chin. “Easily.”

“Sure. That’s the deepest bucket of sithspit I’ve ever heard being sloshed about.”

“I can, and I will, and it will cost you.” Karrde’s eyes narrowed. “But giving me that purchase order doesn’t get you Melina Carniss’s life.”

Booster smiled. “Does it give me six months of her life?”

Karrde closed his eyes for a moment. “Two months, but she’ll be isolated from most of my operations.”

“I see. I also need parts for a squadron of TIE fighters. I want some Y-wing ion cannons and circuitry refit kits that will allow me to put the cannons in the starfighters.”