Yonka raised his hands. He heard the comlink clipped to the leader's faceplate
buzz, but he could make out none of the words. The man nodded, then reached up
and removed his helmet. Despite the sweat pasting brown locks to the intruder's
forehead and the edges of his face, Yonka immediately recognized the man. It
can't be . . .
Yonka felt his chest tighten, yet fought to keep his voice even. "You needn't
have had her shot, Antilles."
"Wouldn't do to have witnesses, would it?" Wedge nodded toward her without
letting -his blaster waver from Yonka's direction. "We could have killed her,
but unnecessary bloodshed is not something we revel in. In fact, we don't like
it at all."
Eliminate me, and you assume my ship won't function at all well. Yonka found
himself flattered, but he was too much of a realist to allow vanity to lift his
spirits. "One man does not mean much on a Starship."
Wedge smiled. "You underestimate your worth, Captain Yonka. Like it or not, as
you go, so goes the Avarice."
"Killing me will only have a minor effect on the Avarice."
"I agree, Captain Yonka."
"Yet you have come to kill me."
"Kill you?" Wedge shook his head. "I've come to offer you a deal."
Yonka blinked in amazement. "Deal? What kind of deal?"
Antilles positively beamed. "A deal that starts with making you a very rich
man."
30
Fliry Vorru strode slowly down the ramp from the belly of his Lambda-class
shuttle then stopped midway as he saw Erisi Dlarit waiting for him at the edge
of the landing pad. She wore a smile that seemed inviting, though her blue eyes
seemed focused distantly, well beyond him. He found both her smile and presence
pleasing, but his natural wariness prevented him from drawing any true
enjoyment from either.
He nodded in her direction and began walking again, this time not fighting
gravity but allowing it to make his step more brisk and lively. "Commander
Dlarit, so nice of you to greet me."
Erisi easily returned his nod. "My pleasure, Minister Vorru."
Vorru matched her smile. "Did I detect a hint of wistful-ness in your expression
as you waited here?"
The hint of a frown threw a twitch through her brows, then she shook her head.
"No, no, I just thought it rather ironic that a man as dangerous as yourself
should be content with piloting so docile and meek a ship."
"Meek?"
"I would have seen you flying an Interceptor, certainly, or a gunship, not a
Lambda-class shuttle."
Vorru nodded. "Ah. I'm afraid, though, this is anything but a normal shuttle. I
have made a number of modifications that make this ship far more lethal than it
appears to be."
"I see. I should have expected such clever deception from someone as intelligent
as you."
"You refer to me as clever and intelligent." He shook his head. "I fear you've
found my weakness, Erisi. Flattery will win you much."
"How much to make you willing to act as a shield for me during another tantrum
thrown by 'She Who Cannot Be Defied'?"
Vorru smiled up at her, then offered her his arm. "Even you, most beautiful
Erisi, could not flatter me that much. You were summoned, too?"
"Yes." Erisi's voice sank into a harsh growl. "The convoy that the Avarice had
been escorting appeared back in-system, though three tankers were missing."
Vorru nodded as they walked through the tall gray corridors. Isard's vehement
demand that he return to the capitol immediately had not been accompanied by any
explanation, but more interference by Rogue Squadron seemed to be the only thing
that could make Isard so angry. "What was Captain Yonka's explanation of their
loss?"
"I don't believe he offered any." Erisi shook her head. "As nearly as I can
determine, the Avarice did not return with the convoy."
Vorru shivered, and the hair at the back of his neck began to rise. "Could
Antilles have gotten the Avarice'? He does have the Alderaanian War Cruiser."
"I don't believe he could have, even with the War Cruiser. There have been no
reports I know of that indicate any battle took place out there. You, Minister,
would have better sources in that regard than I."
"Call me Fliry, Erisi. Compatriots in Iceheart's rage should not use titles
between them." Vorru punched a turbolift button and stepped into the box when
the doors opened. "As nearly as I know, all things have gone perfectly with the
Avarice. Captain Yonka made his rounds, visited his mistress on Elshandruu
Picahe's seeing the Moffs wife, though the
Moff believes he's bedding the owner of a local resort. The Avarice left orbit
on schedule and continued the circuit as it was supposed to."
"Clearly something went wrong, Fliry." Erisi gave his arm a little squeeze as
the turbolift stopped its ascent. "Now we just have to determine who will catch
the blame."
Vorru reached out and punched the emergency stop button on the lift before the
doors could open. "I have the turbolifts regularly swept, so I know we are safe
for the moment. I ask you this, realizing I now place us at more risk than ever
before. Do you feel, as I do, that Madam Director Isard is not viewing the same
reality we are?"
Erisi's eyes narrowed. "Do I think she is insane?"
"Yes."
"Quite." Erisi twisted around and faced him fully. "Antilles consumes her. If
he is not dealt with shortly, she could destroy Thyferra. This is not to say I
doubt her ability to eliminate Antillesshe is most dangerous in that regard."
"But you would be in favor of having contingency plans that guarantee the
survival of the Bacta Cartel no matter what happens to her."
"Exactly. You've read my mind."
"Only because our thoughts run in parallel." Vorru again hit the emergency
button and the door slid open. "Let us bravely face out fate and deal with the
future it presents us."
As they neared Isard's doorway, Vorru held a hand up, stopping Erisi. He
preceded her into the room and bowed politely in Isard's direction. "I came as
quickly as I was able, Madam Director." He half-expected her to jump all over
him, but as she turned, she just nodded.
Isard brandished a holoprojector remote control, then let a thin grin tug at the
corners of her flatline mouth. "Good, Commander Dlarit is here, too. I only need
do this once." She stabbed the remote at an unseen receptor and suddenly
Captain Sair Yonka appeared life size, standing before her. "This is a
wonderful display of treachery."
Yonka's figure bowed to the room. "Madam Director Ysanne Isard, I regret not
being able to bring you this message personally, but not that much. In the time
I have been
associated with you I have found you to be sociopathically self-centered, prone
to irrational and impulsive reactions to situations, and prey to a preference
for appearance over substance. I have no doubt these affectations were seen as
skills by the late Emperor, and indeed may have enhanced your ability to comply
with his orders, but by no means are these the traits that make for great, or
even adequate leadership."
Vorru killed the impulse to applaud. The fact that Sair Yonka wore a black suit
of military styling, yet lacking any military insignia, struck Vorru as
appropriate. Yonka was not abandoning his military background, just severing his
connection to Isard. The first mynock to flee a ship burning into an
atmosphere. Yonka's tone of voiceeven, but full of convictionsharply
contrasted with the .fury clearly building in Isard.
"I have, upon reflection, come to the conclusion that further service to you
would be to condone and support an evil that perhaps would seem insignificant
when grouped with the Emperor, Darth Vader, and Prince Xizor. I sincerely doubt,
however, the billions of victims who have suffered because of you would be so
sanguine about you. I hereby resign your service and renounce allegiance to you
and what you represent. The same goes for my crew, save those loyalists you had
aboard the Avarice. When informed of the new order of things, they hijacked a
Lambda-class shuttle and forced us to destroy them."
Yonka clasped his hands behind his back. "I know your intent will be to hunt us
down and exterminate us. There is no doubt that with the Virulence and Lusankya,
you could do just that, but you won't get that chance. Most of my career has
been served in the Outer RimI know of worlds and systems that you could never
find. Seek out the Avarice, and you will leave yourself vulnerable to enemies
who can destroy you."
The image faded to gray static, then evaporated, leaving Isard staring back
toward Vorru. "You once told me he had a mistress, this Captain Yonka."
Vorru nodded. "On Elshandruu Pica."
"Have her killed." Isard spoke softly, surprising Vorru
with her ability to keep her anger from coloring her words. "And any children
she has, any siblings, any family."
"And not his family?"
Isard snorted harshly. "I got this hologram three hours ago. Extermination of
the crew's families began then. Do recall, as Director of Imperial
Intelligence, I have been through this routine before. I happened to notice the
information on Yonka's mistress was not in his file. You were not collecting it
for your own purposes, were you, Minister Vorru?"
The small man half-lidded his eyes. "Merely awaiting confirmation before I
committed anything to bytes, Madam Director." He opened his hands innocently. "I
just wonder at your desire to go after his mistress. You don't imagine she
influenced him in this decision, do you?"
"No, of course not." Isard folded her hands together. "She dies to cause him
pain. Have her death holographedI will play it for Yonka as I work on him."
"As you wish, Madam Director." Vorru bowed as he replied to her, but inside he
felt only contempt for her. Aellyn Jandi will b e far away and out of your grasp
because it will frustrate you, Iceheart. "The Avarice's departure puts us in a
curious position. Our ability to guard our convoys has been halved, unless you
plan to take the Lusankya out of orbit and press it into that duty."
An eyebrow arched over her red eye. "And leave Thyferra vulnerable to an attack
by Antilles or an uprising by the Ashern? You think me more mad than Yonka did."
"Hardly that, Madam Director, just a person faced with difficult decisions."
"This is why I have you to advise me, Vorru." Isard glared at him, her gaze
burning a blush onto his face. "You are correctwe cannot guard our bacta
convoys and prevent an uprising here. Moreover, if we do nothing, Antilles will
get bolder and might convince a number of worlds to throw in with him so they
can take by force what we are afraid to ship out. That would destroy us. In the
face of this I see only one clear choice."
Vorru half-closed his eyes. She won't surrender, so there must be some new
atrocity she is planning.
Isard slowly smiled. "I believe it was you, Minister Vorru, who noted that we
could not destroy Antilles until we determined where his base was. Your reports
in regards to the search for that base, I have been told by you, have been
fruitless because Antilles and his people are very cautious in how they accept
goods from outsidersonly the people he trusts are allowed to come all the way
into his base."
Vorru nodded. "That is the problem, Madam Director."
"No longer. Antilles could operate without taking chances because we gave him
time to do so. I intend to deprive him of that time. The Rebels always worked
best when no pressure was placed on them and they were allowed to operate on
their own time scale."
"You have found a way to make him act faster?" Erisi's questioning tone
underscored Vorru's own thoughts. "Threatening an innocent world might do it,
but to move sufficient forces there to do such a thing would leave Thyferra
vulnerable."
Isard barked a small, triumphant laugh. "You've not seen it, neither of you. I
have found a way to pressure Antilles and make Thyferra more secure. I put
together an analysis of the bacta production here and determined that the bacta
industry needs only one point eight million Vratix to operate all the facilities
we have at one hundred percent efficiency. This means there are a million
surplus Vratix on the world. I have ordered the round-up and internment of a
thousand Vratix a day for the next thirty days. At the end of that time I will
have them all killed and begin collecting two thousand a day. I will continue in
this manner until we have downsized our worker population or Antilles tries to
stop me."
Isard's smile marked how proud she was of herself for coming up with the plan,
and Vorru found himself inclined to agree with her. Its simplicity and elegance
made it a plan that could be implemented immediately, and the deadline factor
meant Antilles would have to react. This could bring him out after us and, if it
does, expose his base to our ships.
Erisi raised a hand. "Madam Director, I am assuming you will present this policy
and plan as something for Thyferran consumption onlymaking it appear as if it
were being
used as a means to suppress the Ashern. To challenge Antilles openly would be to
raise his suspicion. He is not a stupid man, so he will be careful, but there is
no need to make him think things through one more time."
Vorru immediately chimed in. "An excellent suggestion, Madam Director. If news
of the program comes from locals it might appear as if you were trying to keep
it a secret. Antilles will certainly feel the pressure to intervene. An added
benefit is that we will have increased chances to pick up on Antilles's local
covert communication network and disrupt it."
"Indeed, those are added benefits. While I would hate to have it thought I was
cravenly trying to hide information from Antilles, I could affect an air of
disdain, as if the whole thing were, like him, beneath my notice." Isard opened
her hands, then pressed them together, fingertip to fingertip. "I approve of
your amendments to my plan. We implement it tomorrow."
Vorru smiled. "I will alert my operatives to be especially attentive to any of
Antilles's activities."
Erisi mirrored his smile. "And my people will be ready
to pit themselves against
the Rogues, either here or at their lair."
"Excellent." Both of Isard's hands curled down into fists. "A month. Antilles
has a month yet to live. Then, once he is eliminated, the Empire will rise again
and the natural order of things will again be established."
31
Fatigue made Corran's eyes feel as if Tatooine's twin suns had settled into his
skull. He knocked at the doorjamb of Booster's office, but refrained from
leaning heavily against it, lest he fall asleep on his feet. He and Ooryl had
made a run to Thyferra, hitting some interim systems along the way to make it
impossible to backtrack them to Yag'Dhul. A direct trip would have taken them
twelve standard hourstheir course added another twelve to the total. While he
had managed to get a little sleep while in hyperspace, the trip left him feeling
like he'd spent the last two days in the belly of a Sarlacc.
Wedge, seated in front of Booster's desk, looked up. "You could have stopped to
get a meal before you reported in, Corran."
Sure, and have Booster presume I can think only of myself when I've been on an
important mission like this? "Not hungry, Wedge. The news kind of killed my
appetite."
Booster arched a white eyebrow above his artificial left eye. "You were able to
confirm the reports from Thyferra, then?"
Corran nodded. "According to communication intercepts, approximately two weeks
ago Iceheart initiated a pro-
gram in which she's gathering up a thousand Vratix a day and is planning to
execute them when she has thirty thousand total. At that point, if Ashern
resistance to her regime has not ceased, she'll collect more."
Wedge's voice dropped into a low growl. "She finally thinks she's found a way to
draw us out."
Corran shrugged slowly. "I monitored public announcements and privately coded
messages from Iella and Elscol. Everything seems to indicate this program is a
domestic one only. There has been no mention of us or what we've been doing."
Booster barked a harsh laugh. "You think she would say anything directly to
motivate us? That would make us suspicious of a trap."
Corran frowned. "So since she said nothing about us, it is a trap designed to
catch us? You must have a conspiracy theory program working overtime on your
datapad, Booster."
Wedge sat forward and held a hand up to forestall Booster's reply. "Doesn't