Free The Last Command by Timothy Zahn

sir,” he managed.
    “Good. Then you’re dismissed, Captain. Return to the bridge.”
    “Yes, sir.” Pellaeon turned and headed across the room, the muscles in his throat feeling tight. Yes, he understood, all right. Thrawn would come to an arrangement with C’baoth… or he would have the Jedi Master killed.
    If he could. It was not, Pellaeon decided, a confrontation he would like to place any bets on.
    Or, for that matter, be anywhere near when it happened.

Chapter 4
    Poderis was one of that select group of worlds generally referred to in the listings as ‘marginal’: planets that had remained colonized not because of valuable resources or convenient location, but solely because of the stubborn spirit of its colonists. With a disorienting ten-hour rotational cycle, a lowland slough ecology that had effectively confined the colonists to a vast archipelago of tall mesas, and a nearly perpendicular axial tilt that created tremendous winds every spring and autumn, Poderis was not the sort of place wandering travelers generally bothered with. Its people were tough and independent, tolerant to visitors but with a long history of ignoring the politics of the outside galaxy.
    All of which made it an ideal transfer point for the Empire’s new clone traffic. And an ideal place for that same Empire to set a trap.
    The man shadowing Luke was short and plain, the sort of person who would fade into the background almost anywhere he went. He was good at his job, too, with a skill that implied long experience in Imperial Intelligence. But that experience had naturally not extended to trailing Jedi Knights. Luke had sensed his presence almost as soon as the man had begun following him, and had been able to visually pick him out of the crowd a minute later.
    Leaving only the problem of what to do about him.
    “Artoo?” Luke called softly into the comlink he’d surreptitiously wedged into the neckband of his hooded robe. “We’ve got company. Probably Imperials.”
    There was a soft, worried trill from the comlink, followed by something that was obviously a question. “There’s nothing you can do,” Luke told him, taking a guess as to the content of the question and wishing Threepio was there to translate. He could generally pick up the gist of what Artoo was saying, but in a situation like this the gist might not be enough. “Is there anyone poking around the freighter? Or around the landing field in general?”
    Artoo chirped a definite negative. “Well, they’ll be there soon enough,” Luke warned him, pausing to look in a shop window. The tail, he noted, moved forward a few more steps before finding an excuse of his own to stop. A professional, indeed. “Get as much of the preflight done as you can without attracting attention. We’ll want to get off as soon as I get there.”
    The droid warbled acknowledgment. Reaching to his neck, Luke shut off the comlink and gave the area a quick scan. The first priority was to lose the tail before the Imperials made any more overt moves against him. And to do that, he needed some kind of distraction….
    Fifty meters ahead in the crowd was what looked to be his best opportunity: another man striding along the street in a robe of similar cut and color to Luke’s. Cautiously picking up his pace, trying not to give the appearance of hurrying, Luke moved toward him.
    The other robed figure continued to the T-junction ahead and turned the corner to his right. Luke picked up his pace a bit more, sensing as he did so his shadower’s suspicion that he’d been spotted. Resisting the urge to break into a flat-out run, Luke strolled casually around the corner.
    It was a street like most of the others he’d already seen in the city: wide, rock-paved, reasonably crowded, and lined on both sides with graystone buildings. Automatically, he reached out with the Force, scanning the area around him and as far ahead as he could sense—
    And abruptly caught his breath. Directly ahead, still