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Certainly not in connection with the Chimaera. Or with some intriguing information raids on several systems in the Paonnid/Obroa-skai region, either.”
    The eyes tightened a little more. “You’re very well informed, Mr. Karrde,” Pellaeon said, his voice silky but with menace lurking beneath it. “One might wonder how a lowly smuggler would come by such information.”
    Karrde shrugged. “My people hear stories and rumors; I take the pieces and put them together. Much the same way your own intelligence units operate, I imagine. Incidentally, if your shuttles are planning to put down in the forest, you need to warn the crews to be careful. There are several dangerous predator species living here, and the high metal content of the vegetation makes sensor readings unreliable at best.”
    “Thank you for the advice,” Pellaeon said, his voice still frosty. “But they won’t be staying long.”
    “Ah,” Karrde nodded, running the possibilities through his mind. There were, fortunately, not all that many of them. “Doing a little hunting, are they?”
    Pellaeon favored him with a slightly indulgent smile. “Information on Imperial activities is very expensive. I’d have thought a man in your line of work would know that.”
    “Indeed,” Karrde agreed, watching the other closely. “But occasionally one finds bargains. It’s the ysalamiri you’re after, isn’t it?”
    The other’s smile froze. “There are no bargains to be had here, Karrde,” he said after a moment, his voice very soft. “And expensive can also mean costly.”
    “True,” Karrde said. “Unless, of course, it’s traded for something equally valuable. I presume you’re already familiar with the ysalamiri’s rather unique characteristics-otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. Can I assume you’re also familiar with the somewhat esoteric art of safely getting them off their tree branches?”
    Pellaeon studied him, suspicion all over his face. “I was under the impression that ysalamiri were no more than fifty centimeters long and not predatory.”
    “I wasn’t referring to your safety, Captain,” Karrde told him. I meant theirs. You can’t just pull them off their branches, not without killing them. An ysalamir in this stage is sessile-its claws have elongated to the point where they’ve essentially grown directly into the core of the branch it inhabits.”
    “And you, I suppose, know the proper way to do it?”
    “Some of my people do, yes,” Karrde told him. “If you’d like, I could send one of them to rendezvous with your shuttles. The technique involved isn’t especially difficult, but it really does have to be demonstrated.”
    “Of course,” Pellaeon said, heavily sardonic. “And the fee for this esoteric demonstration . . . ?”
    “No fee, Captain. As I said earlier, we’re just being neighborly.”
    Pellaeon cocked his head slightly to one side. “Your generosity will be remembered.” For a moment he held Karrde’s gaze; and there was no mistaking the twin-edged meaning to the words. If Karrde was planning some sort of betrayal, it too would be remembered. “I’ll signal my shuttles to expect your expert.”
    “He’ll be there. Good-bye, Captain.”
    Pellaeon reached for something off-camera, and once again Ave’s face replaced his on the screen. “You get all that?” Karrde asked the other.
    Aves nodded. “Dankin and Chin are already warming up one of the Skiprays.”
    “Good. Have them leave an open transmission; and I’ll want to see them as soon as they’re back.”
    “Right.” The display clicked off.
    Karrde stepped away from the desk, glanced once at Mara, and reseated himself at the table. “Sorry for the interruption,” he said conversationally, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he poured himself some more wine.
    Slowly, the green eyes came back from infinity; and as she looked at him, the muscles of her face eased from their deathlike rigidness. “You really not going to charge