"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."