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towers that faced the sea could be seen above the nearby buildings. Reaching out with the Force, Luke did a quick reading of the people passing by. Nothing. “You heading anywhere in particular?” he asked Karrde.
    The other shook his head. “Wandering the city,” he said casually. “You?”
    “The same,” Luke said, trying to match the other’s tone.
    “And hoping to see a familiar face or two? Or three, or four, or five?”
    So Karrde knew, or had guessed, why he was here. Somehow, that didn’t really surprise him. “If they’re here to be seen, I’ll find them,” he said. “I don’t suppose you have any information I could use?”
    “I might,” Karrde said. “Do you have enough money to pay for it?”
    “Knowing your prices, probably not,” Luke said. “But I could set you up a credit line when I get back.”
    “
If
you get back,” Karrde countered. “Considering how many Imperial troops there are between you and safe territory, you’re not what I would call a good investment risk at the moment.”
    Luke cocked an eyebrow at him. “As opposed to a smuggler at the top of the Empire’s locate-and-detain list?” he asked pointedly.
    Karrde smiled. “As it happens, Calius is one of the few places in Imperial space where I’m perfectly safe. The Berchestian governor and I have known each other for several years. More to the point, there are certain items important to him which only I can supply.”
    “Military items?”
    “I’m not part of your war, Skywalker,” Karrde reminded him coolly. “I’m neutral, and I intend to stay that way. I thought I’d made that clear to you and your sister when we last parted company.”
    “Oh, it was clear enough,” Luke agreed. “I just thought that events of the past month might have changed your mind.”
    Karrde’s expression didn’t change, but Luke could detect the almost unwilling shift in his sense. “I don’t particularly like the idea of Grand Admiral Thrawn having access to a cloning facility,” he conceded. “It has the long-term potential for shifting the balance of power in his favor, and that’s something neither of us wants to see happen. But I think your side is rather overreacting to the situation.”
    “I don’t know how you can call it overreacting,” Luke said. “The Empire has most of the two hundred Dreadnaughts of the
Katana
fleet, and now they’ve got an unlimited supply of clones to crew them with.”
    ” ‘Unlimited’ is hardly the word I would use,” Karrde said. “Clones can only be grown so quickly if you want them mentally stable enough to trust with your warships. One year minimum per clone, as I recall the old rule of thumb.”
    A group of five Vaathkree passed by in front of them along a cross street. So far the Empire had been only cloning humans, but Luke checked them out anyway. Again, nothing. “A year per clone, you say?”
    “At the absolute minimum,” Karrde said. “The pre-Clone Wars documents I’ve seen suggest three to five years would be a more appropriate period. Quicker than the standard human growth cycle, certainly, but hardly any reason for panic.”
    Luke looked up at the carved towers, their sunlit red-orange in sharp contrast to the billowing white clouds rolling in from the sea behind them. “What would you say if I told you the clones who attacked us on the
Katana
were grown in less than a year?”
    Karrde shrugged. “That depends on how much less.”
    “The full cycle was fifteen to twenty days.”
    Karrde stopped short. “What?” he demanded, turning to stare at Luke.
    “Fifteen to twenty days,” Luke repeated, stopping beside him.
    For a long moment Karrde locked eyes with him. Then, slowly, he turned away and began walking again. “That’s impossible,” he said. “There must be an error.”
    “I can get you a copy of the studies.” Karrde nodded thoughtfully, his eyes focused on nothing in particular. “At least that explains Ukio.”
    “Ukio?” Luke