The Darklighter estate struck Corran as an expensive compromise between the
practicalities demanded by Tatooine and the essence of elegance as defined in
other places within
the galaxy. Fountains and pools would have been a foolish waste, but Huff
succeeded in providing water features by encasing them entirely in
transparisteel. Whereas a simple decorative column in any other home might have
been painted brightly, Huff filled it with water and bubbled air up through it.
Tiles on the thick walls were decorated and colored in such a way that they
created optical illusions meant to diminish the blockiness of the house's
design. Liberal use of transparisteel gave the dwelling an openness that it
would not have otherwise had, yet elsewhere in the house more traditional design
and decoration made Corran feel as if he'd never left Coruscant.
The library into which Lanal guided them was just one such room.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined all the walls except where the doorways split
them in two places. They entered through the south wall, and a closed double
doorway bifurcated the east wall. The shelves and the doors were probably of
duraplast, but Corran couldn't rule out actual wood having been used. If that's
true, it bad to be imported from many light-years away and probably cost as much
as a squadron of X-wings.
Corran felt a chill run through him as he entered the library. Box after box of
datacards filled the shelves, though trinkets and other odds and ends spaced
them out a bit. What made Corran feel odd about the room was that it reminded
him very much of the library in the Lusankya annex facility through which he had
escaped from Isard. Though no trace of it was found after the Lusankya blasted
its way free of Coruscant, the setup had been almost identical to the Imperial
library in the private floor of Imperial Palace. At least it seemed so to Corran
when he viewed a broadcast hologram about the palace.
I suppose a businessman like Huff Darklighter would want a decor that made
Imperial officials feel at home. The briefing files Winter had given Corran
about Huff Darklighter left no doubt that Huff had worked out an accommodation
with the local Imperial officials that had given him free rein to operate on
Tatooine. Those same arrangements also got his son Biggs his appointment to the
Imperial Military Academy
and, in the end, led to Biggs's death. Since Darklighter isn't prone to
accepting blame for anything himself, the favor Imps had done for him was seen
as the cause of his son's death. Conversely, because Biggs is a hero of the
Rebellion, Darklighter is willing to deal with the New Republic.
Gavin looked around at the shelves, then smiled. "Huff's working office is up in
the tower. His negotiating office is next door. Once he ushers out whoever is in
there, we'll get to go in. Once he learns you're from Corellia I bet he finds
you some Whyren's Reserve whisky."
Mirax smiled. "I'll take that and maybe make a side deal for any extra he has
stashed away."
"Sure, but remember our main mission." Corran held up a finger. "We're looking
for weapons, munitions, and spare parts. Anything else we get is extra."
The two of them nodded, then turned toward the eastern doors. One-half of them
slid into the wall and Huff Darklighter entered the library. His belly preceded
him by a second or two, but therein the resemblance to a Hutt ended. A coronet
of white hair surrounded a pate the color of tanned leather. Darklighter's arms
and shoulders looked powerful and were somehow complemented by the luxuriously
full moustache he wore. His dark eyes glittered coldly as he instantly assessed
his visitors, but then the corners of his mouth rose.
"Gavin, it is a pleasure." The tone of voice didn't seem to quite match the
smile as far as Corran was concerned, but the elder Darklighter pulled Gavin
into a polite hug, so he assumed there was no problem between them. Huff
fingered his moustache. "Darken your hair and grow one of these, and you'd be
the spitting image of my Biggs."
Mirax shot Corran a hooded glance. Corran didn't think Gavin and Biggs looked
anything alike, but he realized Huff Darklighter wasn't viewing Gavin through
the same frame of reference. Huff made Biggs into a hero long before the
Rebellion ever did.
Huff drew back from his nephew and smiled toward Mirax and Corran. "I just
stepped in here to let you know I'd be a bit yet. Negotiations are delicate."
"I understand, sir." Corran started forward and extended his hand toward Huff,
but the larger man made no move to match his gesture. "I'm Corran . . ."
Huff held his hands up. "Time for introductions later, I'm sure. Really, I hate
to be rude, but . . ."
Corran's emerald eyes shrank into crescents. "Just as I would hate to report to
the New Republic that one in ten of the freighters bearing Darklighter products
from here burns seven percent more fuel than is necessaryif they're actually
carrying the cargo on the manifest. Suspicious minds might think that means
they're carrying seven percent of their weight in illegal or exotic items, and
the trouble you'd have to go to to straighten that mess out would be more than
rude."
What little was left of Huff's smile melted clean away. "Nasty friends you've
got here, Gavin."
"Corran used to be with CorSec, Uncle."
"Out of your jurisdiction, Corran."
"True, but I can still be trouble." Corran turned toward Mirax. "This is Mirax
Terrik."
"Terrik?" Huff's smile struggled to return to his face. "Related to Booster
Terrik?"
"He's my father."
"I see."
"I'm sure you do, sir. Something else you should see is that we're here to
negotiate with you for weapons, munitions, and spare parts you have left over
from the looting of an Imperial weapons cache several years ago."
The smile blossomed in full on Huff's face. "Imagine that. My current visitor
was inquiring about the very same things. This could be amusing."
Corran saw Huff's eyes glaze over just imagining the profit potential. "Hey, no
one is going to make you a better deal for that stuff than we are. No one."
"Oh, how interesting." Huff walked back toward the doorway and rested his left
hand on the door that remained closed. "I have some people here who want what
you want. They say no one can make me a better deal. Fascinating, no?"
Corran heard a bellow from the other room. Huff shoved
the other door open to reveal a huge, powerful man freeing himself from the
clutches of a spindly chair. The man, whose hair was a short bristle of white
and gray, dwarfed Gavin and even made Huff look small. Where his left eye had
been, burned a red replacement, though his right eye was a normal brown. "Come
to deal, have you?"
Corran gave him a hard stare. "Listen pal, you can leave right now because your
dealing days are over." Thinking back to the cantina, he let a smile slowly
spread across his face and jerked a thumb over his shoulder back at Mirax.
"That's Mirax Terrik, Booster Terrik's daughter. If you know what's good for
you, you'll go."
The large man stopped, his jaw hanging open, then he reared his head back and
laughed.
Corran turned and looked at Mirax. "How come that scared people at the bar, and
this guy laughs?"
"It worked on the people at the bar because they're afraid of my father." Mirax
smiled sheepishly at him.
"And what's wrong with this clown?"
"Well, Corran," she winced, "he is my father."
7
"Oh," said Corran, without missing a beat, "I guess you take after your mother."
Though he saw mirth and astonishment mix on Mirax's face, and saw a smile begin
to blossom on Gavin's face, Corran wished for nothing so much as a chance to
inhale and suck those words out of everyone's ears. Could there have been a more
stupid remark you could have made? A dozen different candidates flashed through
his mind, including several that could have reminded Booster of his stint on
Kessel. Okay, it could have been worse, but not by much.
Booster Terrik's laughter died. "Mirax, who is he, and why shouldn't I show him
why others fear me?"
A smile fitted itself on her face, but her eyes tightened. "This is Corran
Horn."
"Horn?" Booster's voice descended into bass tones. "This is Hal Horn's boy?"
Corran turned to face Mirax's father. "I am."
Booster's hand's balled into fists the size of Corran's head. "So, then, there's
no reason I shouldn't give him the beating I owed his father. If you don't mind,
Huff."
The rotund Darklighter shook his head. "I'd prefer it to happen outside,
otherwise, beat away."
Mirax stepped up beside Corran. "There is a reason, Father."
Booster's face slackened for a moment, then he frowned. "I've heard that tone of
voice before. You don't want me to take a round out of him. You even want me to
like him, but there's no reason in the galaxy why I'd like him."
"Yes, there is."
"Why am I going to like the son of the man who sent me to Kessel?"
"Because I do."
"What?!"
Mirax slipped her hand into Corran's. "You heard me. Corran's saved my life,
I've saved his, and we like each other. A lot." She gave his hand a squeeze.
"You can jump in any time, Corran."
"Me? You're doing fine."
Her father's face went through all sorts of contortions. "No, no, not a daughter
of mine. If your mother weren't dead, this would kill her, you know that."
Booster snarled, then spitted Corran with a stare. "And you! Your father would
be mortified. Your grandfather would tear his hair out. A Horn keeping company
with my daughter! It's unthinkable."
Mirax's face twisted down into an angry mask the equal of the one her father
wore. "It's not unthinkable at all, at least not for someone who is willing to
use more than one synapse on it. Wake up, Father. The Emperor is dead. It's a
new galaxy."
Booster shook his head, then looked toward Huff. "The Emperor dies, and the
natural order gets its double helix all twisted the other way. Next thing you
know it will start raining here on Tatooine, and you'll have tourist trade for
seaside resorts."
Huff smiled. "Actually, I have some sites picked out to cover that eventuality."
"I bet you do." Booster frowned at his daughter again. "A Horn! Hal Horn's son!
I wouldn't have wanted this for you for all the glitterstim in the galaxy."
"What you want for me, and what / want for me have
long been different, Father." Mirax let Corran's hand fall away, then walked to
her father and gave him a big hug and kiss. "That doesn't diminish my pleasure
at seeing you again."
Booster returned the hug and swung his daughter off her feet so his broadly
muscled back hid her from Corran's sight. Corran couldn't hear what father said
to daughter, but the smiles on their faces as they again turned around told him
their exchange had not been acrimonious.
Booster kept his left arm draped over Mirax's shoulders and posted his right
fist on his right hip. "I was sorry to hear about your father's death. No love
lost between us, but I respected his tenacity."
"And my father respected your ingenuity." Corran gave Booster a thin-lipped
smile and got the same one in return. He lifted his chin. "Huff indicated that
you're here to negotiate for the remains of an Imperial arms cache. I'd gotten
the impression from Mirax that you were retired and only dealt in collectibles."
"You'd be surprised what prefall Imperial artifacts are going for today."
"Lots of weapons collectors out there?"
Booster shrugged. "You Rebels made going to war against the government so
popular that everyone is taking it up these days."
"So you'll supply them?"
Booster smiled. "I'm merely a broker."
Huff rubbed his hands together. "So, we can have an auction here. Opening bids."
Corran shook his head. "No bids. We need what you have. We get it."
Booster blinked his eyes in surprise. "You need? You need? You're not on
Corellia, Horn. You have no authority here. Your needs are immaterial."
Mirax twisted out from beneath her father's arm. "It's not Corran who needs this
stuff. Wedge needs it."
The elder Darklighter's smile broadened. "Good, get Wedge Antilles here, and
then we'll have our auction."
"Wedge, eh?" Booster frowned at Mirax, then glanced over at Huff. "Give it to
them."
"Fine, if you don't want in, that's all right by me." Huff's smile shrank as he
turned toward Corran. "What I have will cost you two million creditsfour if you
Booster reached out and slapped Huff on the shoulder. "I told you to give it to
them."
"I am."
"No, you're negotiating when I said you should be giving."
Huff looked confused for a moment, and Corran could sympathize. "You want me to
give it to them for free"
Booster nodded. "If not, I think you'll find that records of certain
transactions that could be considered Palpatinistic could come to light."
"That's extortion."
"No, that's deal making. I have something you want my silenceand you have
something I wantthe weapons to go to Wedge. We exchange wants and everyone is
satisfied."
Mirax interposed herself between Huff Darklighter and her father. "Extortion or
deal making, it doesn't make a difference. We're not doing it that way, period.
If we take things away without compensation, we're as bad as the Imps. 'If we
let ourselves pay inflated prices, we'll be as stupid as the Imps. That isn't
what's going to happen. We're going to be fair about this."
She pointed a finger at Huff. "You will get me a complete inventory of the
material we're looking at and will let us inspect the merchandise, choosing
random bits to examine ourselves. My father will prepare a list of the prices
for all these things in the prevailing market. We'll pay something below the
going price because everyone knows the father of Biggs Darklighter wouldn't try
to make a profit off his son's comrades, but you will be capitalizing assets for
which you have little use here on Tatooine. We'll pay half now and half when we
take possession of the item
s."
Huff's jowls quivered as he shook his head. "You'll pay fifteen percent over the
current"
Mirax held a hand up. "Stop. I said we'd be fair, I never said we were
negotiating. If you want to negotiate, we'll start from my father's position and
work down to the details of your paying the freight to move the goods we're
taking off your hands."
Huff Darklighter stared at Mirax, his jaws agape. "Do you know what you're
asking?"
Mirax smiled sweetly. "Only what's fair."
Gavin laughed. "Admit it, Uncle Huff, you'll accept her terms, because you're
not going to get anything better."
"True, I accept." Huff nodded his head slowly. "Listen to me, young lady. If you
ever find yourself in need of a steady job, please come see me. You have talents
I could use."
Huff Darklighter invited them to remain as his guests for the duration of their
visit to Tatooine. They acceptednot only were the accommodations he offered far
nicer than those they had booked in Mos Eisley but Gavin's family traveled from
their farm to see him. With Booster's presence and the extended Darklighter
clan getting together, the visit began to feel like a big family vacation.
Corran enjoyed meeting Gavin's parents. His father, Jula, looked similar to Huff
Darklighter in the face, but the lack of a moustache on Jula made telling them
apart rather simple. Likewise, the fact that Jula's hard work on a moisture farm
had left him harder and more weathered than his prosperous brother helped
differentiate them. There definitely seemed to be affection between the
brothers, though Huff tended to keep Jula in his place by referring to the cost
of this item or that and feigning astonishment when Jula said he didn't own one.
Jula, for his part, showed incredible restraint and even resignation over his
brother's lack of manners. Corran shook his head. //1 had a brother and got that
treatment from him, my sister-in-law would be a widow. Jula's responses were
polite, and in some ways his forbearance seemed to bother Huff more than any
direct confrontation would have.
Gavin's mother, Silya, could have been Lanal Dark-
lighter's twin. Her concern for Gavin rolled through every question and comment,
though she managed to avoid tears all but once or twice. In the way she looked
at Gavin, Corran recognized the same expression his mother wore when he
graduated from the Corellian Security Force Academy. Pride and feara mother's