Alliances (Star Wars: Thrawn, #2)(63)

“The other two humans in the courtyard?”

“Could be,” Anakin said. “Padmé said the whole family’s as ambitious as they come.”

“Is the duke currently involved with Separatist politics or military?”

“Well, he’s here,” Anakin said. “Aside from that, like I said, I don’t know anything. Other than Padmé’s one comment, I’m not sure I’ve ever even heard his name mentioned.”

“My point precisely,” Thrawn said. “Count Dooku would need someone who wouldn’t be missed to run this facility.”

“And who was ambitious enough to work for promises of future glory,” Anakin said sourly. “I wonder what Dooku offered him.”

“With the highly ambitious, there are many options,” Thrawn said. “What do you propose as our next move?”

“We run a test,” Anakin said. “Hold on a second.” Settling himself cross-legged on the thin mattress of the cell’s bunk, he closed his eyes and stretched out to the Force.

And caught his breath. There she was.

Padmé was here.

Not here in the cells, but definitely somewhere close at hand. On this part of the planet at least, maybe even near the factory.

“She’s here,” he told Thrawn, stretching out to try to pick up every nuance of her mood and emotions. She didn’t seem to be a prisoner, but there was a dark grimness to her sense. “Somewhere nearby. Possibly in some trouble—I can’t tell whether she’s worried or just in the middle of something.”

“Can you communicate with her?”

He shook his head and opened his eyes. “Sorry. It doesn’t work that way.”

“A pity. I wonder what she’s planning.”

“Whatever it is, it’ll be good,” Anakin assured him. “She’s a lot more clever than most people give her credit for.”

“A remarkable person,” Thrawn said. “An equally remarkable association you have with her.”

Anakin felt his eyes narrow. He’d taken great pains to conceal his true relationship to Padmé. “What do you mean?”

“It’s clear from the way you speak that she’s not merely an ambassador of your Republic. There’s a personal bond between you.”

“Of course there is,” Anakin said. “I’ve known Padmé since I was nine years old. We’ve been through battles and prisons—” He felt a flicker of pain as the death of Qui-Gon suddenly flashed to mind. “—and seen a lot of friends and colleagues die. Too many. Not to mention we’ve lived through a long war. Yes, we’re close companions. But that’s all.”

For a long moment, Thrawn was silent. Anakin stretched out to the Force, trying to read the other’s sense, wishing they’d been put together in the same cell so that he could at least see his expression. “I understand,” the Chiss said at last. “The first step in locating her is to escape ourselves. Have you a plan for that?”

“Yes,” Anakin said. “We start by waiting.”

There was another pause. “For what?”

“To see if Padmé heard about the ruckus we just pulled off,” Anakin said. “If she’s free and on her own, she’ll know I’m here and figure out how to get to us.”

“She’ll recognize your weapon?”

“She’ll recognize my style,” Anakin said. “And this is the first place she’ll come looking for me.”

“Is falling into enemy hands part of your style?”

“No,” Anakin growled. Thrawn had a real talent for digging under people’s skin when he wanted to. “It’s just that she’ll start with the most urgent scenario. If I’ve been captured, I’d need help right away. If I’m still free, the situation is a lot less critical.”

“And if she doesn’t come?”

“We’ll give her two hours,” Anakin told him. “If she hasn’t broken in by then, or at least set up a ruckus of her own as a diversion, it’ll mean she isn’t in a position to act. In that case we’ll get out by ourselves and figure out some other way to find her.”

“I see,” Thrawn said. “You clearly know each other very well. As I said, a remarkable relationship.”

Anakin took a deep breath, preparing to again fend off the Chiss’s inferences—

“The local ground vehicle in the courtyard,” Thrawn said. “Did you recognize it?”

“Not really,” Anakin said. “Should I?”

“It appeared to be an ore carrier of some sort,” Thrawn said. “Its surface was marked by dirt and stone damage.”

“So the place is definitely a factory or manufacturing facility and not a staging ground,” Anakin said with a flicker of relief. He hadn’t been looking forward to tackling a whole droid army by himself. The guard complement for a factory, on the other hand, should be much more manageable.

“The layout we’ve seen would support that,” Thrawn said. “But the ore carrier’s cargo didn’t appear to be native rock.”

“Could have been already refined.”

“Perhaps,” Thrawn said. “Yet it looked more like fibrous material, such as raw grain or plants. Could this factory be for the refinement of foodstuffs?”