NAL HUTTA
CHAPTER 34
Though See-Threepio was miffed that Durga the Hutt had cut short the diplomatic visit so suddenly (after offering a wealth of excuses and apologies), Leia felt an oppressive weight leave her shoulders as soon as the fat slug was off the planet.
It had become clear that Durga either had no overall authority from the Hutts or no inclination to enter into a bargain with the New Republic—as Leia had suspected. Their negotiations had gone exactly nowhere, and Durga feigned ignorance every time Leia mentioned the subject of secret weapons.
“We are businessmen, not warriors,” Durga had said. “Our battles consist of under-the-table negotiations, not blasters and detonators.”
Although Han glanced at Leia with an I-told-you-so expression, she could tell that she had managed to shake Durga. The birthmarked Hutt had hoped to stall longer, and he seemed decidedly uncomfortable throughout their “diplomatic” visit—but Leia had not given him any easy opportunity to get rid of them.
Han and Leia were both surprised, however, when even after his speedy departure, Durga did provide access to one of his private information brokers—true to his word. Before Leia and Han departed in their diplomatic ship, Korrda the emaciated Hutt ordered one of the brokers brought in to “service” them.
Gamorrean guards dragged a cart with creaking wheels into the dining hall. The carrion birds still perched on their ledges, waiting for dropped food or for a guest to stop moving long enough that they could pounce.
The cart was old and stained with clumps of decomposing refuse, as if someone had mistaken it for a garbage receptacle. A huge, spiral-shaped mollusk shell filled the cart, its ridges worn and covered with algae. The opening to the corkscrew shell was black and foul-smelling. Leia wasn’t sure she wanted to know what lurked within.
Korrda slithered forward to rap briskly on the shell with a thin stick. With a sound like a long stream of sand poured into thin mud, a fleshy appendage nudged out of the open hole in the corkscrew shell, protruding like a long tongue. The creature emerged like a worm from a piece of rotten fruit, sickly tan-gray with a cluster of five milky white eyes on its smooth rounded head. “What do you want?” the creature said in a surly voice.
Korrda reared up to glare at the shell creature. “Lord Durga commands that you provide information to these guests. They need to know about Imperial activities.” Korrda finally seemed filled with self-confidence, now that he spoke to a creature even lower in the pecking order than he was.
The information broker grumbled. “Information on Imperial activities, eh? Couldn’t narrow it down a little, I suppose? Noooo, that’s too much to hope for, isn’t it? We could at least limit ourselves to current Imperial activities, couldn’t we?”
“Yes,” Leia said. “We want to know what the remnants of the Empire are up to right now.”
“Oh, good—that’s much easier, isn’t it?” the shell creature said sarcastically. “I suppose you require a specific listing of every individual’s activities—I have records of five billion or so, and that’s without even looking hard—or would generalizations be good enough, hmmm?”
“Generalizations would be sufficient,” Leia answered tightly.
Without a word, the smooth head slipped back into the dark opening with a wet pop.
Leia heard muffled rummaging sounds as the creature stirred about, as if it were searching through a labyrinth inside the enormous shell. She wondered what the creature could be doing in there; then the damp head popped up again and turned its eye cluster toward Leia.
“You’re in luck, aren’t you?—plenty of schemes afoot. Imperial forces have been unified, squabbling warlords executed. Starship construction increased tenfold, new soldiers appearing by the tens of thousands—that the sort of thing you’re looking for? Imperial military forces have clustered around a single commander, and it would appear that even women and aliens are allowed to serve to the extent of their abilities—a vast change from the Emperor’s way of thinking, wouldn’t you say? Charming to see an enlightened Imperial commander, isn’t it?”
Han looked over at her, and Leia sat up straight. The alien information broker had piqued her interest, despite her initial resistance. Could it actually be telling the truth? Leia suspected this entire charade was still part of Durga’s scheme, a distraction to keep them concerned about one threat while the Hutts completed another one. But even Durga’s ulterior motives did not preclude an actual Imperial plot.
Leia said, “Do you know what their plans are? Has the Empire formed some sort of strategy?”
The information broker wavered in the air. “Scattered Imperial fleets have come together with such a buildup of weapons they are almost certainly planning a major assault against the New Republic, wouldn’t you think? Specific target unknown, so it’s no use asking, is it?”
The information broker swiveled its eye cluster toward Korrda. “May I go now? I have a lot of work to do—you can see how busy I am, can’t you?”
“Wait,” Han interrupted. “Who is this new Imperial commander? I need to know.”
The information broker rumbled deep inside its body. “Oh, that’s all you want, is it? Why not ask for the number of sand grains on the beaches of Pil-Diller, or ask me to count the leaves in the forests of Ithor, eh?”
Korrda rapped the shell with his gnarled stick again. “Shut up and answer the question.”
“All right, all right, I was just getting to that, wasn’t I?” the information broker said, and slithered back into the shell, where it rummaged around for an interminable time before it finally popped out again. “Daala,” the creature said. “The admiral in charge of the Imperial forces is named Daala, you see? But that’s all—I’ve scraped the walls, haven’t I? Since I have no more information, good night!”
With that, the fleshy head popped back into the shell, leaving Leia and Han to gape at each other in amazement. Leia had expected nothing like this.
Han looked sickened. He blinked his eyes uncomprehendingly. “But how could it be Daala?” he mumbled. “She’s … dead.”
Leia met his eyes and decided she didn’t want or need an explanation right now. “Apparently not,” she said. “This puts a whole new spin on things—doesn’t it?”