Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(29)

“You’re right,” Anakin said, running a finger over one of the ingots.

“Is that metal valuable on your worlds?”

“It is on some of them,” Anakin said. “But mostly it’s used in manufacturing. Pieces this thin would probably be used in extruding machines for making wire or parts of high-performance circuit modules.”

“Machines of that sort will have many uses.”

“True,” Anakin said. If this was a Techno Union ship, gold ingots implied droid manufacturing. But Thrawn was right: Wires and circuit modules were used in everything from household cookers to major warships. The fact that the Separatists were moving metals didn’t tell them anything.

“Still, knowing the ship’s destination is a manufacturing facility tells us a great deal,” Thrawn said. “It indicates that Batuu is not simply a way point for finished products. Nor is it being used as a transfer point for data or personnel.”

“I suppose,” Anakin said. Fine; so it told them more than he’d thought. “I guess that’s it.”

“There may yet be more.”

“And you’re welcome to poke around as much as you want,” Anakin growled. “I’m going back to the command deck and see if Artoo’s found anything.” He turned and headed for the cargo bay hatch.

“A moment,” Thrawn said.

Anakin turned back, pushing back a flush of irritation. He’d just said there wasn’t anything more to learn back here. “What?”

Thrawn was standing in front of one of the other crates. “Do you recognize this one?” he asked, pointing to it.

“Of course I recognize it,” Anakin said with strained patience. “I recognize all of them. They’re the crates in here that we’ve just seen.”

“Indeed,” Thrawn said. “The interesting part is that we’ve seen this one twice.”

“What are you talking about?”

“A crate with these same markings was aboard one of the smugglers’ land vehicles.”

“Similar markings on similar packages isn’t that unusual—”

“Not similar,” Thrawn interrupted. “Identical.”

Slowly, frowning at the crate, Anakin walked back to him. “Are you sure?”

“Very sure,” Thrawn assured him. “Perhaps we should see what’s inside.”

“Perhaps we should.” Again, Anakin used the Force to lower it to the deck, then sliced off the top with his lightsaber. “Whoa,” he said, feeling his eyes widen as he caught sight of the thin plates inside.

“You recognize them?” Thrawn asked.

“I recognize the metal,” Anakin said. “It’s quadranium. Very hard, very dense, very valuable. It’s used for hull plates, heavy armor, and anything else you really want to stand up to blasters and laser cannons.”

“Interesting,” Thrawn murmured. “I wonder how the smugglers came to own an identical crate.”

“Yeah,” Anakin said darkly. This one, at least, was obvious. “Let’s find out.” Igniting his lightsaber again, he sliced off the front of the crate.

Just as he’d suspected. The top two layers were quadranium plates. Below that, the box was filled with scrap metal. “There you go,” he said, gesturing to the scrap. “Seems our smugglers are also thieves.”

Thrawn gazed at the crate for a long moment. “Indeed,” he said. “So we’re dealing with two groups of opponents, not one. That explains a great deal.”

“Really?” Anakin asked, frowning. “What specifically does it explain?”

“In a moment,” Thrawn said. “First, I believe you wished to see if your droid had identified this ship’s destination or origin.”

“Okay,” Anakin said. There was clearly something here the Chiss wasn’t saying. But the ship’s history—and hopefully Padmé’s location—was his first priority. “Sure. Come on.”

R2-D2 had indeed found something.

“Huh,” Anakin said, frowning at the display. “Cermau. Never heard of it.”

“Bear in mind that knowledge of this ship’s destination does not necessarily mean your ambassador traveled there,” Thrawn reminded him.

“Oh, she’s there, all right,” Anakin said with a grimace. “She and Duja both, probably.”

“That seems foolhardy for an ambassador.”

“It’s foolhardy for anyone,” Anakin said. “But that’s Padmé. She never bothers with the odds when there’s something that needs to be done.”

Thrawn was silent a moment. “She sounds like a remarkable person,” he said. “I look forward to meeting her. Still, there’s more we need to know before we travel there.”

“Fine—you stay here and study the situation,” Anakin said. “That’s my ambassador out there. I’m going.”

“A moment,” Thrawn said.

Glowering, Anakin turned back. “What now?”

Thrawn was staring at the display where R2-D2 had put up Cermau’s planetary data. “You said this information was stored in the ship’s navigational computer.”

“Yes, of course.”