The Living Force by John Jackson Miller

Author:John Jackson Miller
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2024-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

RIFTWALKER HEADQUARTERS

VALBORAAN

Zilastra hurried through the halls of the Riftwalker base on Valboraan, with Burlug trailing behind her. He’d nearly caught up to her when she skidded to a stop and abruptly started scaling a ladder.

“Zil, wait up!” The Feeorin began to climb. “Where are you going?”

She didn’t answer. Arriving on the upper level, she headed for the makeshift command center. There she found Ventner, her resident know-it-all, hunched over the terminal through which he kept tabs on the region. She slapped the back of his scaly Rodian head. “Wake up!”

Ventner groaned and looked at her. “What is it, boss?”

“What do you have on the other crews?”

“Our crews?”

“No, nerf herder. The other gangs!”

“Not a lot.” He rubbed the back of his head where he’d been struck. “I’d have more if you let me put up the receiver array for more than a minute at a time.”

“Ventner!”

“Fine, fine.” He shook his head and pulled up a status screen. “Here’s what we have.”

Zilastra pored over the information. Burlug arrived as she was reading.

She chuckled. “Yeah. They’re still tearing the flesh off each other,” she said. “And lashing out, looking for anyone to hit.”

“We knew that.” Burlug crossed his arms. “I thought you were gonna kill the Jedi!”

“The Jedi,” she muttered. “How could they be so foolish?”

“What are you talking about? What do we do with Billaba?”

“Oh, I’m going to kill her. Don’t doubt that. But there’s something else—and it can’t wait another second.” Zil pointed at the screen. “That’s enough of this. Show me the other gangs’ personnel.”

Ventner yawned. “Why?”

“Personnel!”

“All right, all right.” The Rodian made the adjustment and looked to the Feeorin. “What’s this all about?”

“You got me,” Burlug said.

Zilastra scanned the names. They all belonged to high-ranking members of the other four gangs—or people that the Riftwalkers suspected to be in those positions, at any rate. “These red ones are confirmed dead?”

Ventner shrugged. “To the extent anything can be. It’s from intercepts and rumors passed from our people, so it’s spotty.”

Zilastra nodded. She didn’t know if she was alone among pirate bosses in keeping tabs on such information, but it had certainly benefited her. Without it, she never would have been able to pull off the scheme with the cases that had started the chaos to begin with.

“The cases,” she said. “Months. Months we put into collecting and filling those silly cases!”

“What’s your problem?” Burlug’s patience was long gone. “It was genius, Zil. It was a great idea, and you got what you wanted. We blew a hole in the sides of the other four gangs, so we could have easier pickings. Maybe we can sweep up some of the goodies they dropped in the wreckage. It was worth the investment.”

“But I haven’t collected that pot yet. Nobody even knows for sure that I was responsible. Do they?” She grabbed Ventner’s collar. “Do they?”

“What? No!” He shook his head. “No, no. They think you’re dead, too.”

Zilastra nodded as she stared at the screen. “They don’t know I did it.”

“Well, you sure can’t tell them you did,” Burlug said.

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