"Jhompfi just arrived with them," Patriot said. "He's passed them to Migress, who's already on his way to where the missile is being prepared. They'll be installed within the hour."

"Jhompfi being the one the human female was following, I presume?"

Patriot's eyes narrowed. "I've already said she can do us no damage. We'll be leaving this house ring as soon as you fulfill your part of the bargain. All is well."

"Of course," Doriana said. All was well; except that Jinzler could identify Jhompfi by face, and had obviously seen him with the thrusters..

He took another calming breath, keeping his tirade to himself. Yes, Patriot and his fellow conspirators were idiots. But then, he'd known that going in.

"I still don't understand why so many thrusters are needed," Patriot said, a hint of suspicion creeping into his voice. "A normal missile would require only two."

"A normal missile would arc high over the marketplace, where Argente's security forces could destroy it at their leisure,"

Doriana pointed out. "The weapon I've designed for you is known as a slinker: a projectile that will fly at waist height directly through the archway of the administration building, find its way along the corridors to the conference room, and there explode, destroying the traitors and would-be traitors alike."

"So you claim," Patriot said, his tone still suspicious. "I've never heard of a weapon that was able to find its way through a building without a full droid control system."

"That's because no weapon you've heard of has had my special guidance system," Doriana said, pulling a data card from his pocket. "It will locate the outer archway and seek out its targets, wherever they hide."

"Without its sensor emissions being detected?" Patriot asked, taking the card carefully.

"Neither detected nor jammed," Doriana assured him. "It doesn't rely on sensor frequencies the security forces will be monitoring."

In actual fact, of course, the card didn't rely on sensors at all. It was nothing more than a geographically programmed course director that would take the missile on the precise path Doriana himself had systematically paced out on his last trip to Barlok. And far from seeking out the negotiators, if C'baoth suddenly decided to hold the meeting in a different room tomorrow morning, the missile would find itself going to the wrong place entirely. That would be embarrassing, not to mention disastrous.

But that was as unlikely as Patriot and his simple-minded conspirators realizing how thoroughly the flopbrim was being pulled over their eyes. Nothing impressed people more than the perception that they were being entrusted with exotic technology.

"Then our victory is assured," Patriot said, fingering the data card almost reverently.

"It is indeed," Doriana said. "One final matter, then. Were you planning to return to your homes when you leave here this evening?"

"Of course," Patriot said, frowning. "We'll need a good meal, and sleep-"

"And you'll get them as far from your homes as you can travel," Doriana interrupted. "From this time onward, you must stay strictly away from your families and your other friends."

Patriot's whole body jerked in stages, from his feet up to a little whiplash jerk of his head. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that by noon tomorrow, with Magistrate Argente and Guildmaster Gilfrome lying dead, the authorities will descend upon the homes of every member of your guild," Doriana said coldly. "You and your friends must not be there, nor can anyone know where you've gone."

"But for how long?"

"As long as necessary," Doriana said. "Make no mistake, Patriot. From now on you and the others will be fugitives, running and hiding from the very people whose lives and prosperity you will have risked your lives to protect." He lifted his eyebrows. "If you aren't strong enough to pay that price, now is the time to renounce your oath."

Patriot straightened up, the resolve in his face visibly hardening. "We do what is necessary for our guild and our people," he said firmly. "We will pay the price for all."

"Then you are a Brolf of high honor indeed," Doriana said gravely. For some people the prospect of life on the run would be grounds to take a second, harder look at what they were doing. But for Patriot and his friends, such a potentially bleak future merely added to the perceived nobility and glamour of their insane plot.

Which was why Doriana had recruited them for this mission in the first place. Stupid, angry, and malleable, they'd been the perfect pawns for his plan. The deed would be done, and Doriana himself long gone, before any of them realized what had actually happened. If indeed they ever did. "Then here and now we stand together on the path to glory and destiny," he continued. "By tomorrow noon these traitorous negotiations will lie crumbled in the dust of history, and the precious minerals of Barlok will be forever held in Brolf hands."

"And those who would betray us will know the cost of such betrayal," Patriot intoned solemnly. "The Brolf people arc deeply in your debt, Defender. Someday, I swear, this debtwill be repaid."

"And I swear in turn that I will return to collect that payment," Doriana said, though offhand he couldn't imagine anything he was less likely to do. "I have one more small adjustment to make to the missile after the burst thrusters are in place, and then will leave to prepare my own part in this redemption of the Brolf people. Be certain you place the missile at precisely the spot we agreed on. Only there will it be inside the sensor shadow that guarantees it will not be spotted." And only from there, he added to himself, would the pre-programmed path take it where it had to go.

"I will," Patriot promised. "Then to our victory, Defender."

Doriana smiled. "Yes," he said softly. "To our victory."

Car'das had noted on their first approach to Thrawn's asteroid that the base itself seemed remarkably well hidden. It was only as they approached now for the second time that he found out how the commander had pulled off that particular trick.

Instead of being built on the surface, the base was inside.

Inside, in fact, down a long, twisting tunnel, a path theSpringhawk 's helmsman took at a far better clip than was actually necessary. "Impressive place," Car'das said aloud, trying to cover his nervousness as he watched the rocky walls shooting past. "Is this typical Chiss construction?"

"Not at all," Thrawn said, his voice sounding odd as he gazed out the bridge viewport. "Most bases are on the surface. I wanted this one to be more difficult for potential enemies to penetrate."

"Hardly an original idea," Qennto put in. His voice was casual, but Car'das could see a little tightness around his eyes as he paid close attention to the helmsman's maneuvering. "You make the approach tricky so an attacker has to come at you slowly. 'Course, that makes it just as hard to get your own ships out, but that's the price you pay."