The Old Republic_ Fatal Alliance Part 3

Then a thought struck him, and the conflicted look on his face eased.

"I wonder, " he mused, tapping his chin with one long digit. "Just yesterday, a report arrived from our informer in the Republic Senate. The Hutts claim to have gotten their hands on something valuable, and they think the Senate would like to bid for it. Against us. I searched diplomatic dispatches and learned that we've received exactly the same offer, but couched in the opposite terms, of course. Ordinarily I would dismiss such an approach as unworthy of attention, but the fact that it came from two widely different sources does lend it some credence. And now this. "

"I fail to see how the Hutts are connected. They are compulsive liars. "

"Undoubtedly. But you see, Darth Chratis, this is where it gets interesting. The s.h.i.+p from which the Hutts claim to have retrieved this mysterious, ah, artifact, data, what have you-that s.h.i.+p is called the Cinzia. And I note in the file you accessed that this is the girl's birth name. "

Darth Chratis nodded. "There must be a connection. "

"That the s.h.i.+p was named after Lema Xandret's daughter and a Mandalorian is asking after both of them? I think so. "

"But it helps us very little without knowing what the Hutts are auctioning. "

That took some of the triumph out of the minister's expression. "I will pursue that information immediately, Darth Chratis. "

"I trust you will, Minister, as a matter of principle. "

The long-distance audience ended with a shower of static.

It took Eldon Ax almost a minute to realize. Disconnected phrases filled her head like birds, looking for somewhere to roost.

... a potential lead...

... named after Lema Xandret's daughter...

... the girl's birth name...

It occurred to her only then that the name she thought of as hers was nothing but a version of her mother's initials.

What have you been doing these last fifteen years. Mother?

"Tell me what you remember, Ax. "

"I don't want to remember, Master. "

"Why not?"

"Because it's nothing to do with who I am now. So what if Lema Xandret was my mother? If I met her tomorrow, I probably wouldn't recognize her. I've never known her, never needed her. "

"Well, you need her now, Ax-or at least, you need her memories. "

Her Master came so close, she could feel the deathly cold of his breath. "It appears that knowledge of Lema Xandret and her missing droid makers is important to the Mandalorians. That means it's important to the Empire, too, for what strengthens another weakens us. Anything you can remember about your mother's whereabouts might be crucial. I therefore suggest you try harder. To reward you, I will put the block back in place afterward, so the memories will disappear again, like they never existed. "

"All right, Master, " she said, although her head hurt at the thought. What if nothing came? What if something did? "I'll try. "

"You'll do better than try, " Darth Chratis told her with chilling finality. "In ten standard hours I expect to be standing before the Dark Council with you beside me. If you let me down, both of us will suffer. "

CHAPTER 3:.

On a good day, Ula Vii didn't talk to anyone. He just listened. That was what he was good at. In his time off, he would sit in his quarters and replay the week's recordings, scanning whole conversations for anything important. Important things were happening all the time on Coruscant, of course, but isolating items of greatest significance was a critical part of his job, and he liked to think that he was very good at it. Ula was an Imperial informer in the Republic Senate. He bore that responsibility with pride.

On a bad day, he was thrust out of the shadows and into the light: the trouble with playing a part was that sometimes Ula had to actually play it. As a senior a.s.sistant to Supreme Commander Stantorrs, Ula was often called upon to take notes, conduct research, and offer advice. All of this placed him in a unique position to a.s.sist the Empire in its mission to retake the galaxy, but at the same time he was forced to perform two demanding jobs at once. On bad days, his head ached so much that it felt like it would crack open, spilling all his secrets out onto the floor.

The day he heard about the Cinzia was a very bad day indeed.

The Supreme Commander had had a busy morning: countless visitors, endless supplicants, the eternal buzzing of his comlink. Ula didn't know how he stood it. Then came the request from Grand Master Satele Shan for an audience, throwing the Supreme Commander's schedule completely out of whack.

"Can't you put her off?" Stantorrs asked his secretary, with a look that signaled annoyance. The longer Ula occupied his role, the better he was getting at understanding the expressions of aliens, even noseless, moon-faced Duros like this one. "She was here only an hour ago. "

"She says it's important. "

"All right, all right. Send her in. "

Ula had never formally met the Jedi Grand Master before. He regarded the Jedi with suspicion and dislike, and not just because they were the Emperor's enemy.

She strode into the palatial office and offered the Supreme Commander a bow of respect. With a finely boned face and gray-streaked hair, she was not a tall woman, but the position she occupied in the Republic hierarchy was considerable.

Stantorrs stood and offered a nod that seemed much slighter in comparison with hers. Like Ula, he didn't approve of Jedi, but his reasons had nothing to do with philosophy. Many in the Republic placed the blame for the Empire's ascendance firmly on the Jedi Council's collective shoulders. The Treaty of Coruscant had wrenched the galactic capital out of the Emperor's control once more, but only at great cost to the Republic and its allies, and at terrible loss of face. The Council's retreat to Tython hadn't helped.

"How can I help you, Master Shan?" he asked in gruff Basic.

"I've received a report from my Padawan of a possible bounty hunter loose in the old district, " she said in measured tones. "Running riot among the criminal cla.s.ses, apparently. "

"That's a minor issue. Why bring it to me?"

"Your brief is restoring security on Coruscant. Furthermore, the bounty hunter is a Mandalorian. "

Ula didn't need to read minds to know what Stantorrs was thinking now. A Mandalorian blockade of the Hydian Way trade route in the last decades of the Great War had crippled the Republic and very nearly led to its ruin. Since his defeat, Mandalore had lost many of his raiders to the gladiatorial pit fights on Geonosis, but Ula wasn't the only person on Coruscant who knew that Imperial operatives had been behind the anti-Republic action, and that he was still looking for a fight. If he was considering making a move on Coruscant itself, it had to be addressed immediately.

"What can you tell me about him?"

"His name is Dao Stryver. He's looking for information regarding a woman, Lema Xandret, and something called Cinzia. "

Ula's ears p.r.i.c.ked up at the latter name. He had heard that recently. Where, exactly?

The Supreme Commander was performing the same mental search. "A report, " he mused, drumming his long fingers on the desk. "Something from SIS, I'm sure. Perhaps you should ask them about it. "

A hint of Grand Master Satele Shan's true authority appeared in her voice. "I am to contact Tython immediately regarding our earlier discussions. General Garza impressed upon me the urgency and secrecy of the matter. I cannot afford to be delayed any further. "

Stantorrs's waxy skin turned a deep purple. He didn't like the Republic's own policies being used against him. Ula hoped for a momentary loss of control, that something might slip about the nature of those earlier meetings. Try as he might, he could learn nothing about them, although he was certain they were of grave importance to his Masters on Dromund Kaas.

Unfortunately Stantorrs's self-control was a match for his temper.

"I haven't got time to investigate every minor disruption, " the Supreme Commander fumed. "Ula! Look into it, will you?"

Ula jumped at the mention of his name. "Sir?"

"Follow up this incident for Master Shan. Report to both of us when you find something. If you find something. "

The last was directed at the Grand Master with a generous amount of ill feeling.

"Of course, sir, " said Ula, hoping that the concession was simply a ruse to get the Grand Master off Stantorrs's back.

"Thank you, Ula, Supreme Commander. I'm most grateful. "

With that, Satele Shan swept from the room, watched resentfully by Stantorrs and his staff. Every department in the Republic was overstretched and understaffed. The last thing anyone wanted was the Jedi sticking their noses in, finding fault, and handing over more work.

Ula's job wasn't to sow dissent, but sometimes he wished it was. Dissent practically sowed itself on cursed Coruscant, where the sky was the same heavy gray as its pedwalks and the pockmarks of war still scarred its artificial face.

The Supreme Commander resumed his seat with a heavy sigh. "All right, Ula. You'd better get started. "

"But sir, " Ula said, "surely you don't-I mean, I thought-n "No, we'd better do exactly as I said, just in case it does turn out to be important. No sweeping anything aside when Mandalorians are involved. If that rabble of troublemakers is helping the Empire make another move on Coruscant, we need to know about it. But don't spend too much time on it, eh? The rest of the galaxy won't wait. "

Ula inclined his head in frustrated obedience. He was dismayed that the Grand Master's minor request was removing him from the Supreme Commander's presence. How was he going to gather the intelligence he needed now? This pointless quest could cost him valuable data.

There was no use arguing, and perhaps some benefit to complying, too. Mandalorians weren't any kind of rabble: their vast numbers of individual clans, each available for hire to the highest bidder, added up to a potent fighting force capable of s.h.i.+fting the balance of power in a major battle, as the Republic had already learned to its cost. The Empire had given the Mandalorians the means of returning to the galaxy and gaining revenge on their enemies, but there was no loyalty lingering between the two sides. With the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant, Emperor and Mandalore had gone their separate ways.

It was worth pursuing this lead, he told himself, even if an hour or two's research proved that someone had been chasing at shadows and business returned to usual afterward.

It would be out of character, too, to do otherwise. Ula Vii, the amenable functionary, always did as he was told. That was how he had gained such intimate access to the Supreme Commander's affairs. With a brisk bow, he smoothed the already impeccable front of his uniform as he left the office and headed for the headquarters of his opposite number in the Republic.

Strategic information systems didn't advertise its offices in the Heorem Complex, but anyone with any seniority in the administration knew where they were. Ula had had reason to visit only once before, while covering for a Cipher Agent, and he'd made a point of avoiding it ever since. The company of other intelligence operatives bothered him, no matter whose side they were on. They were all of the same breed, more or less: observant, quick thinking, used to seeing-or imagining-deception all around them. Creatures of few words, they gave little away, and their eyes were as pointed as the needles of an interrogator droid.

Ula masked his nervousness behind a facade of calm as he entered the s.p.a.cious, cultured atrium. The secretary smiled warmly at him.

"Can I help you, sir?"

"Ula Vii, adviser to Supreme Commander Stantorrs. "

His voiceprint was checked, naturally, but un.o.btrusively. The secretary waved him through. He was met in a conference room by an unreadable Ithorian, possibly female, dressed in simple, black robes bearing no name tags or insignia.

"You're an Epicanthix, " she said bluntly, from both of her mouths.

As conversation starters, it was a disconcerting one. Most people failed to notice that he wasn't fully human. He refused to give her the advantage.

"Supreme Commander Stantorrs requests information, " he said.

"Why doesn't he follow the usual channels?"

"We need an answer quickly, " he said, thinking: So I can get back to my real job. Both of them.

"Ask, " she said.

He gave her the Mandalorian's name, and the other names a.s.sociated with the case.

The Ithorian produced a datapad from beneath her robes and tapped at it with one long, slender finger. Apart from that digit, no part of her body moved. Ula waited with no outward sign of impatience, wondering how the creature breathed.

"A s.h.i.+p registered to a Dao Stryver landed on Coruscant two standard days ago, " she finally said. "It left an hour ago. "

"What was the name and cla.s.s of the s.h.i.+p?"

"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 s.h.i.+ne 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 s.p.a.ce. 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 s.p.a.ce? How did the greed of a species of malignant criminals connect them?

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