Slave Ship

14

On the flight back to the Kuat Drive Yards, business arrangements were finalized.

"This hasn't been done before," said Kuat of Kuat. The in-transit time wasn't long, so he had immediately gotten down to details." At least, I'm not aware of a fellow member of one of the ruling households having served as the corporation's head of security. Certainly, with my immediate predecessors, there had always been someone hired from off-planet." He raised one eyebrow." And after a considerable search and test of qualifications as well, I might add." His own words evoked a bitter laugh from Kuat." Not that it did much good, it seems." The memory of Fenald's betrayal still burned deep within him.

Kodir of Kuhlvult leaned back in the passenger-area seat next to his." You're wondering if I'm qualified for the job?" She smiled at him." How much more proof do I need to give you?"

"None." Kuat shook his head." You had enough moves back there at the ruling households' gathering place to indicate that you know how to act in an emergency. And. . . you hadn't gone along with the others and fallen for that scheme of Khoss's. Now, that either indicates a pretty sharp analytical mind-which is

always a good thing for a security head to have-or perhaps. . ."

"Perhaps what?"

It was his turn to smile." Perhaps a few inside sources? Khoss of Knylenn might not have kept everything as much of a secret as he would have liked-or as he thought he had. A little snooping around, a little following up of hints and leads-such as word of unusual deliveries to the Knylenn household, things like that-and a smart person might have known even before I did that the Knylenn Elder was dead."

"Oh, you're right about that." Kodir nodded slowly." A smart person would have known about that. And. . ." She looked more than pleased with herself." A smart person also knows how to keep her own secrets."

"Fair enough," said Kuat." As long as it doesn't interfere with your duties. But there's more to determine than just your qualifications."

Kodir turned her gaze back from the small viewport beside her seat." Such as?"

"I need to know exactly why you would want to be the security head for Kuat Drive Yards. My head of security."

She gave a shrug." There's all sorts of answers I could give you. Maybe I should just say that wanting to be where the action is. . . that's sort of a Kuhlvult household trait. And right now, Kuat Drive Yards has a lot of action happening around it."

"If you just want action, go join the Rebel Alliance. Then you'll get all the action you could ever want."

"Saving our own skins is also something of a trait with Kuhlvults." Kodir shook her head." I don't know if going up against the Empire is compatible with long-term survival."

"I don't know anymore if being on the Emperor's side is good for one's health." An old, familiar weight pressed again on Kuat of Kuat's shoulders." I'm just trying to keep Kuat Drive Yards intact and independent, no matter who wins."

"That's one of the things I admire about you," said Kodir." You demand loyalty from others, but you're not an idiot about giving it away."

For a moment, he wondered if she was being sarcastic. Then he had to admit the wisdom of what she had just said." The loyalty that Emperor Palpatine extracts from his followers is not the loyalty of free creatures. It's no more than the fear shown by slaves."

"It would be worth your life," Kodir spoke quietly," if I were to make your sentiments known to the Emperor."

"But you're not going to." All smiles had faded, from both his face and hers." Which means either that you're not afraid of Palpatine, or you're loyal-enough-to me. Or. . ."

"There always seems to be another 'or. '"

"It's a complicated galaxy we live in," said Kuat." Or you have your own reasons for being on my side. Things you want, that you would be more likely to achieve if I were to stay healthy and in charge of Kuat Drive Yards." He peered closer at Kodir." So exactly what is it that you want?"

"Answers."

One word, flatly stated; Kuat nodded in appreciation." Those can be hard to come by," he said." Unlike questions, which are about as plentiful as hydrogen atoms in the universe."

Kodir gave a slight shrug." Mine are pretty specific."

The personal transport would be at the Kuat Drive Yards docking area soon. And there were still a few things that Kuat wanted to settle with his new head of security before being surrounded by other creatures.

"Be careful," warned Kuat." Sometimes questions are asked, and answers are given-but they're not the ones that you might want to hear."

No emotion showed on Kodir's face." I'll take that risk."

"Then ask away."

She leaned closer to Kuat, as though the answers might be written at the dark centers of his eyes. A moment passed before she spoke. Then:" What happened to that girl?"

The question puzzled him." I don't know what you're talking about."

Anger seeped into the flat tone of Kodir's voice." Don't play around about this. We can have a business arrangement together, or we can be enemies. Your choice."

That flash of temper provoked his curiosity. It's something important to her, thought Kuat; he just didn't know what it was-yet.

"Tell me," said Kuat mildly," just what girl you're referring to. And we can proceed from there."

"The dancing girl. At the palace of Jabba the Hurt."

It took Kuat a moment to recall what she was talking about. The hologram, he finally realized. From the hyperspace messenger unit that Khoss of Knylenn's spying had captured him watching. Back at the ruling households' gathering place, Kodir had watched that hologram-within-a-hologram replay of the past events at Jabba's palace. Watched, and had seen something in it that she considered important. But what?

"She must have died," said Kuat." When Jabba threw her to his pet rancor beast; that's what was in that pit with the retractable grid over it. And nobody survives coming into that close contact with a rancor."

"I'm not talking about that dancing girl." Kodir snapped out her words with impatience." Who cares about some Twi'lek female? I mean, it's too bad, but that's not what's important. It's the other one, the other pretty one, that you could see there in the hologram of the palace-the one off to the side. That's the one I want to know about."

Kuat searched his memory, trying to dredge up the details that he had previously considered unimportant. His attention, when he had first watched the holographic replay that the hyperspace messenger unit had brought him, had been focused on the comings and goings of the bounty hunter Boba Fett in Jabba's palace. That had been the whole reason for the autonomic spy setup that had been smuggled in there; anything else that had been recorded was incidental to Kuat's original purposes.

"You're right," he said, nodding slowly." I guess there was another dancing girl there." Kuat shrugged." Jabba always kept a small troupe of them in the palace. Given the way he fed his pets, there was a pretty high turnover for them. It wasn't the kind of position that came with a high life expectancy attached."

"But that one lived." Kodir spoke with unexpected ferocity." The other one, the one that Jabba didn't throw to the rancor."

"How do you know that?" He still didn't understand Kodir's interest in an anonymous dancing girl on some far-off world like Tatooine." Something else might have happened to her before Jabba was killed. And even afterward. . . that's a pretty hostile environment for anybody to survive in."

"I know she's alive." Kodir's words came through her tightly clenched teeth." I can feel it. Even this far away."

Puzzled, Kuat looked at the young woman sitting beside him. A few more pieces fell into place as he now managed to recall the face of the other pretty dancing girl in the hologram. The holographic recording had caught, for just a few seconds, the image of her watching the Twi'lek female fall into the rancor pit before Jabba's throne platform, and listening to the terrified screams that had preceded the unseen death in the darkness below.

Kuat saw now, as he gazed at Kodir of Kuhlvult, what he had missed before. But even this much of an answer only deepened the mystery.

"Yes," said Kodir softly. She had obviously discerned the realization in Kuat's eyes, his sudden awareness of the familial resemblance." The girl, the other one there in Jabba's palace-she is of my blood, my family; the household of Kuhlvult. That's how I know she's still alive. She has to be. . ."

There was more, Kuat knew. Now he spoke softly, almost tenderly." What is her name?"

Kodir squeezed her eyes shut as she answered." Her name," she said," her true name, is Kateel of Kuhlvult." The words came slowly, as though they had been lodged close to Kodir's heart." But when she was but a child, and speaking as a child does, she couldn't pronounce such a name; she would just say Neelah instead." Kodir's voice had dwindled to a whisper." And that is what we called her."

Kuat regarded the woman beside him with something close to pity." And you think I can help you find her."

"Oh. . . you will." Kodir turned a fierce gaze toward him." I don't have any doubt about that."

A glance out the viewport beside Kuat showed

that the Kuat Drive Yards docking area was already in sight. He turned back to Kodir." My resources-and my time-are limited. I don't know how a child of one of Kuat's ruling households wound up in Jabba the Hurt's palace. And I have more pressing concerns than finding out the answer to that question."

"No, you don't." Kodir spoke with ominous certainty." I assure you-there's nothing more important for you than this."

"You seem pretty confident about it."

Another nod from her." I have reasons to be."

Kuat raised an eyebrow." Such as?"

"Very simple," said Kodir," and very compelling reasons. You've already spoken of your suspicions that I might have other sources of information-and good sources, too. The truth is that you're correct about that. It's how I knew that the Knylenn Elder was dead, even before you figured it out. I've spent a long time building up and working those information sources; some of them I inherited, as part of the Kuhlvult bloodline. And they're how I know things about you, Kuat of Kuat. Important things."

"Really." He gazed back at her coldly." Go on."

"You've managed to keep it a secret from everyone else-including your former head of security. But I know at least some of what you've been up to. Khoss of Knylenn was right when he made his accusations that your schemes and plans had gotten you-and Kuat Drive Yards-into some pretty dangerous territory with the Empire and the Black Sun organization. But Khoss wasn't aware of what I've been able to find out about those schemes of yours." A trace of sympathy, and even of admiration, showed in Kodir's own gaze." Khoss just wanted to use the little scraps of information that he had for his own ambitions, to take over control of Kuat Drive Yards. Even if he had been aware of what I know, he would still have tried to do that. But I know what you were trying to do with those schemes. They may have been dangerous, but you had no other options available to you. Not if you wanted to save Kuat Drive Yards."

Kuat leaned his head back against the padded seat." So you do know."

"Enough," said Kodir." Enough to see that it was an honorable thing you were attempting, Kuat of Kuat. For someone as close to the Empire as you are-close but not a part of it-it was possible to analyze the situation and deduce that the greatest immediate threat to the independence of Kuat Drive Yards was not Emperor Palpatine, but his underling Prince Xizor."

"Exactly so." Even the name of the Falleen nobleman set a hard stone of resentment in Kuat's gut." Xizor coveted the power and the capabilities of Kuat Drive Yards; he wanted more than anything else to bring the corporation under his own dominion. And he saw the way to do that, through the suspicions of the Emperor. If Xizor had been able to supply evidence-either the truth or his own brand of lies-that the leadership of Kuat Drive Yards had been disloyal to the Empire, then Palpatine would have seized the corporation. There would have been Imperial battle cruisers, built in our own construction docks, encircling the planet of Kuat; we would have been taken over and crushed beneath the Empire's heel, as other worlds had been." On the arms of the seat, Kuat squeezed his hands into white-knuckled fists." As all worlds will be, if Palpatine has his way."

"Careful." One corner of Kodir's mouth lifted in a smile." Now you're beginning to sound like a member of the Rebel Alliance."

"If I thought they had a chance-any chance at all of succeeding-then I would join the Rebels. I would turn all the resources of Kuat Drive Yards over to the Alliance, whether the other ruling households agreed with me or not. But they don't have a chance." Kuat shook his head, more in sorrow than any other emotion." The Rebels don't know what they're up against. They may be able to destroy a flawed construction such as the Death Star, but that is due more to the arrogance and the muddleheadedness of the Imperial Navy's admirals than to any real advantage that the Rebel Alliance might possess."

"I wonder about that. I've heard some things in the course of investigating and spying-things about some of the Rebel leaders." Kodir's voice went quiet and thoughtful." On some worlds they speak of this Luke Skywalker as though he was the hero for whom they had been waiting since the overthrow of the old Republic."

"Sentient creatures can believe whatever they want-but too often they confuse their hopes and dreams with cold, hard reality." Kuat's expression had settled into a grim mask." I don't have that luxury. As an engineer, I'm only concerned with what works."

"Too bad your scheme against Prince Xizor was a failure, then. Now you're left with the job of cleaning up the pieces that were left behind."

She had described the situation with admirable exactitude." And you plan to help me with the cleanup, I take it."

"You got it," said Kodir." Xizor wasn't the only one who could have profited from supplying damaging evidence. You did a nice job, from what I've been able to find out, putting together something that would have wound up involving Prince Xizor in some heavy difficulties. Synthesized Falleen pheromones tucked in with a sensory-enhanced video recording of an Imperial stormtrooper raid on a Tatooine moisture farm; a raid in which Luke Skywalker's only family, the aunt and uncle who had raised him from infancy, were gruesomely killed-a neat way of indicating, just subtly enough so it wouldn't seem like a plant, that Prince Xizor had somehow been involved in the raid. So there would have been a good chance that Sky-walker would set out to settle the score with Xizor; he'd have been taking care of his personal accounts while he was also helping the Rebel Alliance by going after one of Emperor Palpatine's main henchmen." Kodir smiled in grim appreciation." Only it was supposed to have been you who'd be the one who would really benefit from all that."

"That's right," said Kuat." Me-and Kuat Drive Yards."

"Of course. Even if Skywalker didn't succeed in eliminating Prince Xizor, he'd have been more than enough distraction to have kept Xizor from advancing his own schemes against Kuat Drive Yards. At least, for a little while."

"Time can be a precious commodity." Kuat smoothed his hands out against the seat arms." You buy as much of it as you can, whenever possible."

"Very wise, Kuat of Kuat. I'll try to remember that." The sympathetic look appeared again in Kodir's eyes." It seems a shame, then, that all those clever plans didn't work out. And that you and Kuat Drive Yards would have been better off if they hadn't even been attempted."

"True. It shows that one cannot guard against every contingency. I had thought that Xizor was the one whose machinations I had most to fear. And then it turned out that Xizor had been his own worst enemy; his cleverness and ruthlessness only succeeded in getting himself killed. Too bad he couldn't have done that before I manufactured the false evidence against him."

With one hand, Kodir touched him lightly on the shoulder." Now it's your life that's in danger, Kuat of Kuat; your life and everything you value. Your cleverness is turned against you, like a dagger against your breast. If Emperor Palpatine were to come into possession of that manufactured evidence, he would know immediately that it was false; he already knows that the late Prince Xizor had nothing to do with that raid on the moisture farm on Tatooine. So he would hunt for whoever had falsified the evidence-and it would inevitably be traced back to you, Kuat." She slowly shook her head." It's not likely that the Emperor would look with forgiveness upon those kinds of schemes taking place under his very nose. He will extract a high price from the perpetrator. And get two things thereby: vengeance. . . and Kuat Drive Yards for himself."

The latter was the only thing that mattered to Kuat; he cared nothing for his own life. Machines break and rust, he mused, and beings die. Only those greater entities that built machines and that beings served and died for had a chance of surviving in this universe. The thought that his own hands and mind would be the instruments that brought about the destruction of his beloved Kuat Drive Yards-that set a raging spirit loose inside him. Kuat of Kuat had already vowed that, one way or another, he would make sure that Emperor Palpatine never held this corporation in his foul clutches.

"You have a most excellent understanding of my situation," said Kuat aloud." I congratulate you,

Kodir of Kuhlvult. Your information sources-and your clever brain-have served you well." Carefully, so that his movements would not be discerned, Kuat reached one hand down into a small storage pocket at the side of the personal transport's passenger seat." You do indeed have much to bargain with, to insure my assistance in tracking down this sister of yours who has strayed so mysteriously from her home-world." The puzzle of how a daughter of one of the planet Kuat's ruling households could have wound up a dancing girl in Jabba the Hutt's palace was one that intrigued him. Kuat imagined he might look into it someday. But he had other business to take care of right now; his hand closed around a grip of cold metal." But as you say, I need to eliminate any evidence that would damn me in the eyes of Emperor Palpatine; even evidence that I was responsible for creating." He pulled the blaster pistol from the seat's storage pocket, brought it up, and aimed it straight between the eyes of the female sitting next to him." Consider yourself honored that you'll be the first evidence that I'll have taken care of. Really-you know too much for me to let you go on living."

She moved faster than Kuat could ever have expected. Faster, and smarter. Kodir didn't try to make a grab for the weapon, or duck out of the way of its lethal beam; caught in the confines of her passenger seat, she would have had no chance of accomplishing either before a laser bolt had scorched its path through her skull. Instead, she slammed the butt of one hand against the thin structural panel just ahead of the seats that divided the passenger area from the transport's cockpit. That motion was just enough to instinctively draw Kuat's sight for a microsecond, and away from her. Before he could snap his gaze back to

Kodir, her other hand had grabbed the front of the torn, bloodstained formal robes that he was still wearing. She didn't try to thrust him away or knock the blaster out of his hand; she pulled Kuat toward herself. The press of their bodies together forced his pinioned arm upward; the hand holding the blaster jerked toward the ceiling of the passenger area. He managed to get off one shot before her other forearm clubbed him across the neck and the side of his jaw. The blow was strong enough to lift him partway out of the seat; dazed, Kuat barely managed to keep himself from toppling into the passenger area's narrow aisle.

The personal transport's alarm sirens wailed as Kuat shook his eyesight back into focus. When his vision cleared, he saw Kodir holding the blaster pistol and a charred, ragged-edged hole drilled through the ceiling panel.

"What's going on?" The pilot's urgent voice came over the transport's internal communications system." Technician, are you all right? Answer and confirm-"

"I'm fine," Kuat responded. He pulled himself back the rest of the way into his passenger seat and flopped down into its padding." We just had a little accident. Nothing to worry about." The bolt from the blaster, though lethal, hadn't been powerful enough to pierce the transport's hull. With one hand, Kuat tentatively rubbed his bruised jaw." Carry on."

"We're just approaching the docking area. We'll be down and secured in a minute." The pilot's voice clicked off.

From where she sat, Kodir didn't bother holding the blaster on Kuat. The weapon sat loosely in her palm as she regarded him.

"I think," said Kodir," we understand each other better now."

"Yes. . ." Kuat slowly nodded. The whole side of his jaw ached." We certainly do. . ."

The personal transport docked. Summoned by Kuat, a pair of administrators from the corporation's security division accompanied their new head of operations to her offices. Kodir's duties were to begin immediately.

Even before he had returned to his private quarters and was alone again, his thoughts had returned to the same track as before. In the diminished light of the stars beyond Kuat Drive Yards, Kuat of Kuat returned the heavy formal robes to their stand and thought of the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

The key, mused Kuat of Kuat. He is still the key. . .

To the present and the future-if there was going to be one-of Kuat Drive Yards. And to that past that now seemed more mysterious than it had before.

Kuat sat down in the chair by his lab bench. The felinx jumped into his lap, and he stroked its silken fur, his musings distant in both space and time.

In darkness, he thought about the bounty hunter and the past.