Read Online Tales from the New Republic by Peter Schweighofer - Free Book Online Page A

his skull. Trabler yelped and released him, raising his hands to cover his shattered face. Hal twisted to the right, scything his right leg back through Trabler’s ankles. The big man staggered, overturning a table, then crashed down.
    Hal snaked a hand inside Trabler’s jacket and drew the guard’s Luxan Penetrator. He snapped the safety switch off with his thumb and triggered a quick shot at Glasc. She ducked back with blaster in hand, firing a shot that shattered a plate on a shelf just past Hal’s head. Hal dove to his right and came up in a crouch. Behind him Trabler, whose face was a mask of blood, had drawn a vibroblade from his boot and was scrambling to his feet. Hal drilled him dead center, burning out his heart, then ducked back where the food storage unit could give him cover.
    Glasc triggered a shot that punched through the storage unit. “That won’t protect you.”
    “Didn’t figure it would.” Hal fished the holo of Moranda from his pocket and tossed it into the middle of the floor. He let Glasc see it, then he fired a shot that melted it into a burning black bubble. “That will.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “You Intel types always think you’re on top of the game, but I make my living sorting truth from lies, and I’ve sorted enough here to know that you’re here looking for something a Rebel op stole. He was the blond, and a lifter took whatever he was carrying. She has it now, and that was the holo of her.”
    “And you think that because you’ve destroyed that holo that I’ll have to keep you alive to identify her?” Glasc’s laughter filled the kitchen. “The warrants you brought here to Darkknell for her arrest will yield another holo of her.” She punctuated her comment with another shot that spattered hot metal over Hal’s jacket.
    “Moranda Savich is a master of disguise, so you won’t find her. More important, though, your man Trabler probably killed her. I’d guess that part of the task you sent him off on was to find out if the local police or hospitals had reported her being recovered, right? They didn’t, which means she’s out there and probably has help.”
    “And this will keep you alive why?”
    “Because I know her. I’ve tracked her across a half-dozen worlds. I know how she operates; I know what she looks like in myriad disguises. Without me you’ll never find her—or, if you do, it won’t be in time. ” He stressed the last word to put pressure on the agent, since the desperate measures already employed told him time was of the essence in the recovery of whatever Moranda had stolen. “Give her a chance to catch her breath, and she’ll have the prize sold to the Rebels.”
    “I don’t know that I can trust you to help me.”
    “Ah, excuse me, but I’m the one here who has trust problems, given that your aide tried to tear my head off.” Hal shook his head. Pare-Imp-noia! Just never seems to stop . “Believe it or not, I actually want to catch Moranda. You’re my best bet for doing that. The alternative is for me to shoot you dead and hope I can evade an Imperial murder warrant. I help you, you say Trabler’s weapon discharged accidentally, and we’re both in the clear.”
    “You’re right, of course. You could never escape a warrant for my murder.” A very confident note entered her voice and sent chills down Hal’s spine. “I am Ysanne Isard, the daughter of the director of Imperial Intelligence. You would be hunted forever and your family would disappear.”
    “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Hal sighed as quietly as he could. It couldn’t get much worse, could it ?
    “And you are correct. I am here hunting a Rebel courier. He stole…”
    “Don’t tell me; I don’t want to know. If you told me you’d have to kill me.” Hal closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m here to catch a thief, and that thief has your property. I get her, you get it, I don’t need to know what it is.”
    “Very good, very smart of you.”