disposal. He’d underestimated the Twi’lek, and it had cost him.
At last Cham finished and asked, “Do you understand?”
Belkor nodded. It felt like surrender.
“Good,” Cham said. “Now for more honesty. If this fails, I’ll expose you.”
“What? I said I’ll give you the assistance you want! But I can’t give you a guarantee of success!”
Cham smiled, but without mirth. “I’m not trying to guarantee success. I’m trying to guarantee your very best efforts. No half measures, Belkor. You’re in fully. We succeed together or die together, each in our way. Understood?”
Belkor could not even bring himself to speak. He just gave a brisk nod of his head.
“Good,” Cham said. “Then let’s get out of here.”
They walked side by side, back through the tunnel, until they could see Isval’s silhouette in the cave mouth. Something struck Belkor. He faced Cham.
“If I hadn’t agreed to this? You’d have killed me, wouldn’t you? Or she would have?”
Cham didn’t hesitate. “I’d have done it, not her. That’s why this cave. It goes back a way. No scavenging animals, and the dry air desiccates a corpse with surprising speed. So I would have just left you back there and saved myself the trouble and dirt of burying your body. No one would have ever found you.”
Belkor stared into the darkness of the cavern behind them, imagining it as his tomb, then back at Cham.
“But it didn’t come to that,” Cham said. “Because you’re smart, Belkor. And now I’m going to tell you something important. You listening?”
Belkor nodded.
“The moment you get out of here, you’re going to start having second thoughts. You’re going to start thinking about how you can turn this around, save yourself, and throw me over. But you can’t. I have people everywhere, Belkor. That’s how I knew about Taa. All the information you’ve ever offered me in the past? I already knew it. I just wanted you to offer it so I could record you doing so, put you in my pocket so that I could take you back out and spend you when I needed to. So now I’m spending you. You slip up, try to flip this, and I’ll know about it the moment it happens. And then I’ll make everything known.”
“You committed those crimes. Not me.”
The words sounded stupid to Belkor even as he said them.
“Yes, but you abetted them. Dead Imperials, Belkor. Lots of them. The Empire will make those your responsibility, and no matter how you spin it, no one would forgive that. So when you walk out of here and the uncertainty sets in, you remember that I’m all you have. That if you betray me, there’s nothing coming for you but an ugly death and more scandal for your family. But—
but
—if you do as I ask, this will work to both our benefits. Taa will be dead, Mors will be disgraced, and we’ll arrange for you to look the hero somehow. Moff Dray. Sounds good, no?”
“I’ll still be in your pocket,” Belkor said.
“But you’ll be alive. And a Moff. That’s better than the alternative.”
Belkor said nothing.
“Good-bye, Belkor. Start making arrangements. I’ll be in touch soon. Oh, and welcome to the rebellion.”
Belkor walked out of the cave, passed Isval without really seeing her, and returned to his aircar. Once inside, he sat perfectly still for a moment before everything exploded out of him. He slammed his fist against the instrument panel again and again and again and again.
“Blast! Blast! Blast! Blast!”
He stopped only when he realized that he was bleeding. The pain helped refocus him. He cradled the hand against his shirt, fired up the engines, and headed back to Lessu in a haze. About halfway, the second thoughts Cham had anticipated started to bubble up. As best as his addled mind allowed, he turned the situation over in his mind, examining it from various angles. Other than collaborating with Cham or turning himself in, he saw only one other option: he could run, take up in some isolated location in the
At last Cham finished and asked, “Do you understand?”
Belkor nodded. It felt like surrender.
“Good,” Cham said. “Now for more honesty. If this fails, I’ll expose you.”
“What? I said I’ll give you the assistance you want! But I can’t give you a guarantee of success!”
Cham smiled, but without mirth. “I’m not trying to guarantee success. I’m trying to guarantee your very best efforts. No half measures, Belkor. You’re in fully. We succeed together or die together, each in our way. Understood?”
Belkor could not even bring himself to speak. He just gave a brisk nod of his head.
“Good,” Cham said. “Then let’s get out of here.”
They walked side by side, back through the tunnel, until they could see Isval’s silhouette in the cave mouth. Something struck Belkor. He faced Cham.
“If I hadn’t agreed to this? You’d have killed me, wouldn’t you? Or she would have?”
Cham didn’t hesitate. “I’d have done it, not her. That’s why this cave. It goes back a way. No scavenging animals, and the dry air desiccates a corpse with surprising speed. So I would have just left you back there and saved myself the trouble and dirt of burying your body. No one would have ever found you.”
Belkor stared into the darkness of the cavern behind them, imagining it as his tomb, then back at Cham.
“But it didn’t come to that,” Cham said. “Because you’re smart, Belkor. And now I’m going to tell you something important. You listening?”
Belkor nodded.
“The moment you get out of here, you’re going to start having second thoughts. You’re going to start thinking about how you can turn this around, save yourself, and throw me over. But you can’t. I have people everywhere, Belkor. That’s how I knew about Taa. All the information you’ve ever offered me in the past? I already knew it. I just wanted you to offer it so I could record you doing so, put you in my pocket so that I could take you back out and spend you when I needed to. So now I’m spending you. You slip up, try to flip this, and I’ll know about it the moment it happens. And then I’ll make everything known.”
“You committed those crimes. Not me.”
The words sounded stupid to Belkor even as he said them.
“Yes, but you abetted them. Dead Imperials, Belkor. Lots of them. The Empire will make those your responsibility, and no matter how you spin it, no one would forgive that. So when you walk out of here and the uncertainty sets in, you remember that I’m all you have. That if you betray me, there’s nothing coming for you but an ugly death and more scandal for your family. But—
but
—if you do as I ask, this will work to both our benefits. Taa will be dead, Mors will be disgraced, and we’ll arrange for you to look the hero somehow. Moff Dray. Sounds good, no?”
“I’ll still be in your pocket,” Belkor said.
“But you’ll be alive. And a Moff. That’s better than the alternative.”
Belkor said nothing.
“Good-bye, Belkor. Start making arrangements. I’ll be in touch soon. Oh, and welcome to the rebellion.”
Belkor walked out of the cave, passed Isval without really seeing her, and returned to his aircar. Once inside, he sat perfectly still for a moment before everything exploded out of him. He slammed his fist against the instrument panel again and again and again and again.
“Blast! Blast! Blast! Blast!”
He stopped only when he realized that he was bleeding. The pain helped refocus him. He cradled the hand against his shirt, fired up the engines, and headed back to Lessu in a haze. About halfway, the second thoughts Cham had anticipated started to bubble up. As best as his addled mind allowed, he turned the situation over in his mind, examining it from various angles. Other than collaborating with Cham or turning himself in, he saw only one other option: he could run, take up in some isolated location in the
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