Tales from the New Republic Read Online Free Page A

quiet place to go to ground for a while and see just what it was she’d scored.
    Bel Iblis stared across the tapcafe table at the young blond man, a sense of unreality thudding through his brain in time with the pulse pounding in his neck. “What do you mean, you lost it?” he demanded in a low voice. “How do you lose an entire datapack? Especially from within your own coat pocket?”
    “Don’t use that tone with me , friend,” the other growled back, his eyes darting nervously around the half-empty room. “And if you’re hinting that I’m trying to repulsorlift my price, you’d better think again. I took a huge risk getting that stuff and bringing it here. A huge risk. I’m not any happier than you are that it got lifted.”
    Bel Iblis took a careful breath, trying to throttle back his growing anger. He might not be a Rebel field operative like Aach, but he knew how to read people, and the youth’s face and voice had the ring of truth in them.
    Which meant they were both now squarely in the middle of an incredibly dangerous position. The minute the thief realized what it was she’d found… “Is there any way they can trace it back to you?” He asked quietly.
    The young man snorted into his cup. “Sure, if they really want to go to that much effort. Knowing Tarkin’s reputation, they probably will.”
    “Then we’ll just have to get it back.”
    The kid snorted again. “ You can go looking under rocks for it if you want. Me, I’m heading for the tall weeds while I still can.”
    “You run now and they’ll know for sure you were the one who lifted the data,” Bel Iblis warned.
    “Like that’s going to matter any,” the other countered harshly, draining his cup and bringing it back down onto the table with an unnecessarily loud thud. “She’s not going to sit on this long, you know. And the minute she turns it in, the spaceport’s going to be locked down solid while Tarkin’s people fan out across the planet. You want to wait for that to happen, you be my guest.”
    He stood up. “So long, have fun, and forget you ever saw me.”
    He strode across the room and vanished out the door. “I’ll try,” Bel Iblis murmured after him. Taking a sip from his mug, he tried to think.
    Because his erstwhile drinking companion was wrong. The thief wouldn’t hand her prize over to the authorities just like that. Someone cool enough to lift a datapack in the middle of a crowded tapcafe would also be cool enough to try to turn a profit from her acquisition. And that meant selling the datapack.
    Which left only the question of how to persuade her to sell to the Rebel Alliance instead of the Empire.
    Fishing in his pocket for some coins, he dropped them onto the table beside his mug and headed for the door. One thing that was certain was that he wasn’t going to be able to track her down in a city the size of Xakrea by himself. That meant someone with connections in the planet’s fringe population; and that meant getting in touch with Aach’s local contact.
    He hoped the man owed Aach a lot of favors.
    The room was small and dark and sparse, a sharp contrast to the bright lights and scrollwork and expensive glitter that was the norm throughout the rest of the Imperial Palace. It was a shock to most of the uninitiated who came into it, and even those who knew what to expect invariably wasted their first few minutes adjusting their eyes and minds to the contrast.
    Which was precisely how Armand Isard liked it. Offbalance people were vulnerable people, and vulnerability was one of his favorite qualities in enemies and allies alike. For allies, after all, were merely people who had not yet outlived their usefulness to the Empire, the Emperor, and Isard himself.
    Ultimately, invariably, all of them did.
    His comlink pinged. “Director Isard?” his aide’s voice came from the speaker. “Field Operative Isard has arrived.”
    “Send her in,” Armand instructed, allowing himself a smug smile. Not many men,