of your operatives still on Coruscant were swept up in the aftermath of your
departure."
"He was certainly the cause of the sweep, though it appears he gave the
information up voluntarily." Isard's eyes narrowed. "He attempted to use an
operation of his own to
deal with the bacta convoy headed for Coruscant through the Alderaan system."
"The convoy that Warlord Zsinj hit." Vorru nodded slowly. "Loor had told me he
had a squadron of X-wings painted up to represent Rogue Squadron. He wanted to
use them to strafe the squadron's headquarters, but I stopped him. So the Rogues
that Zsinj destroyed there really belonged to Loor. Amazing."
"Indeed." Her eyes flashed pitilessly. "Loor realized, after the disaster, that
I had leaked word of the convoy to Zsinj so he'd strike at it. I assumed his
need for revenge upon Rogue Squadron would make him hit it and destroy them. It
would have, too, had the real squadron not been delayed. Loor apparently assumed
I would realize he had attempted to deceive me, since his transmission of the
report about the convoy and his plans to deal with it came too late for me to
countermand them. He chose to run over to the Rebels and seek sanctuary with
them."
Vorru nodded. "There are ways to deal with him. Boba Fett could find and kill
him, I have no doubt."
"His skills will not be necessary." Isard smiled in a way that managed to mix
glee with cruelty. "I had learned from another agent of mine about a secret
witness to be brought forward in the Celchu treason trial. I thought it was
General Evir Derricote and set traps to prevent him from reaching the Imperial
Court. You'll recall I asked you to post a dozen people at various places in
Imperial Center."
"Yes." And I only sent three to each location, since I needed the rest to
evacuate my bacta storage facility. "None of them found Derricote."
"No, he probably was not there after all. Loor was their witness. I had thought
Derricote had escaped from Lusankya, but he apparently died at the hands of
Corran Horn, during his escape. Horn killed your men in the Galactic Museum, in
fact." Isard pressed her hands together, fingertip to fingertip. "The agent I
set as my failsafe to stop Derricote instead shot and killed Loor and, in turn,
was killed by his own wife. She was one of Loor's escortsshe had known him from
Corellia."
"Iella Wessiri." Vorru felt a moment's pang of sympathy for her. She had been an
influential and intelligent member of the cabal that succeeded in stripping away
Coruscant's planetary shields and opening it to the Rebel invasion. Though her
background with the Corellian Security Force made him view her as an enemy, he
did admire her skill and dedication. If she had to shoot her husband, it will
tear her up inside. She does not deserve that sort of pain.
Isard smiled. "I find it rather delicious that she was forced to shoot Diric. He
was useful, but really just a pawn. His love for her was enough, apparently, to
get him to reinterpret some of my orders to him, though, ultimately, he
belonged to me, not to her. I hope that hurts her more than killing him did."
Vorru frowned. "If Loor was killed, how did Alliance Security sweep up your
agents?"
"Loor apparently encoded a datacard as a safeguard against them just killing
him. It seems the key, which he believed known only to himself, was also known
to Corran Horn."
"Ah, and Loor believed Horn dead." Vorru chuckled lightly. "I find the irony
something that would have tortured Loor."
"Yes, but now his stupidity tortures me. The information coming to me from
Imperial Center is severely limited. The official information service tells me
more than my spies. This Horn has much to answer for."
"I could have told you he would be trouble, but even / believed you'd killed
him. Horn's father and even his grandfather were very driven men. Of course,
you have ample evidence of his drive, and now it's focused on us, here."
The color in Isard's red eye seemed to flare for a second. "You refer to the
mass resignations from the squadron and their vow to liberate Thyferra?" Her
laughter, which sounded quite genuine and unforced to Vorru, nonetheless had few
of the pleasing tones usually associated with laughter.
"I appreciate the contempt you might feel for their effort, but it cannot be
discounted. Yes, we have three destroyers, two of the Imperial, one of the
Victory-class, and a Super Star
Destroyer to defend us, but your confidence in them is as misplaced as the
Emperor's misjudgment of the Rebel Alliance."
Isard's face became a frozen mask. "Oh, you think so, do you? You think I am
repeating the mistakes the Emperor made?"
Vorru met her stare openly. "You undoubtedly don't see it that way, but it is my
place to remind you of the errors others have made so you don't repeat them. You
are correct, Horn, Antilles, and the others have nothing right now, and it does
seem apparent that the New Republic does not support their effort, but that
could change. And, yes, we control the bacta output for the galaxy, but we must
be careful. If we make it too dear, forces will join to oppose us, and the
former Rogues are in an excellent position to make the most of that opposition."
Isard stared at him for a moment or two more, then abruptly broke her stare off.
"Your caution is noted."
"I will also point out that we still have the Ashern to deal with here. They may
be a minority among the Vratix, but they have struck in the past at key
production facilities. Their strikes over the past year or so have become more
precise and effective. I think they will become even more so because of the
rumors that some Zaltin personnel have joined them."
"Yes, the Black-claw Rebels are a bother, but that's why I have deployed
stormtroopers to defend our facilities."
Vorru smiled. "That was a good move, as was restricting them to play a defensive
role. Establishing a Thyferran Home Defense Corps that will allow Xucphra
volunteers to fight the Ashern themselves was also brilliant."
"Thank you. Xucphra's people will come to see themselves in an alliance with my
stormtroopers in no time. Once a THDC force gets in over its head and my people
rescue them, the humans here will see my stormtroopers as the stalwart white
line that separates them from death. Those who are dubious about us will be won
over." Isard spread her hands apart. "Erisi Dlarit is heading up the fighter
wing I have given to the THDC. She is a hero among her people, and
having her so elevated proves to the Thyferrans that I understand how superior
they are."
Vorru nodded slowly. There is no denying it, she is excellent at analyzing and
utilizing the psychology of a subject people against themselves. Still, when
there is someone she can't break down, like Horn or Antilles, she has no way to
defend against what they might do. He looked up at her. "And what are your
thoughts on this rylca Mon Mothma pronounced a cure for your Krytos virus?"
"Propaganda, clearly, meant to calm the masses. The fact is that its existence
and efficacy against the virus are immaterial
. If Derricote had been successful
in creating the virus I asked him to create or if Loor had delayed the conquest
of Imperial Center, the New Republic would have been broken beyond repair. As it
is now, they are hard put to deal with the demands their populace is making on
them. As we restrict bacta flow to the New Republic and its worlds, we will
alienate member states."
"You mean we will be playing the same game we did on Imperial Center but on a
larger scale here?"
"Exactly." Isard glanced up, looking well above his head. "My goal has always
been to destroy the Rebellion, then move to rebuild the Empire. In effect, by
letting them take Imperial Center, we have destroyed the Rebellion. They are no
longer an elusive force that can strike at will. They now have to take
responsibility and deliver on the promises they have made. When they fail to do
that, the people will look for the sort of stability they had before. If we play
things carefully, we will not have to reconquer Imperial Center, we will be
invited back to resume our rightful place at the head of the Empire."
"Interesting analysis, and accurate, I think, except in one thing."
"And that is?"
Vorru's dark eyes shrank to bare slits. "Antilles, Horn, and the others. They
have the freedom the Rebels once had. They are a problem we will have to deal
with and deal with swiftly."
"Or else?"
"I was in a position to see them render Imperial Center defenseless." Vorru's
voice hardened. "If we don't deal with them I fear they will become a problem
with which we cannot deal."
4
It didn't surprise Corran Horn to find Iella Wessiri in the Corellian Sanctuary,
but the expression on her face threatened to crush his heart in his chest. Her
light brown hair had been pulled back into a single braid and her broad
shoulders were hunched forward. She sat on the front bench in the small chamber,
leaning over and balanced precariously enough that he expected her to fall at
any second. The way her grief pulled at her face, arching the corners of her
mouth downward, made it seem as if gravity would, in fact, tug her to the floor.
Corran hesitated in the doorway of the small domed building. Because of the
hostile relationship between the New Republic and the Corellian Diktat,
repatriating Corellians who died away from the planet of their birth had become
impossible. The Sanctuary had been created by exiled Corellians to give their
dead a resting place. Unlike Alderaanians, who often sealed their dead in
capsules and shot them into orbit within the Graveyard, allowing them to float
forever amid the debris that marked where their planet had once been; Corellians
cremated their dead exiles and used industrial-grade gravity generators to
compress the carbon
residue into raw synthetic diamonds. This imparted a physical immortality to
the dead. The diamonds were then brought to the Sanctuary and imbedded in the
black walls and ceiling to create a glittering series of constellations as seen
from Corellia.
The sheer number of diamonds glinting in the ceiling sent a shiver through
Corran. We've given a lot to the Rebellion, though other worlds have given as
much or more. As beautiful as this display is, it is also horrible. The
Imperials who wished to make the galaxy over in their own image have, in fact,
created here a small galaxy that is entirely given over to mourning.
Corran walked forward and slid onto the bench next to Iella. She didn't look
over at him, but melted against his shoulder and chest as he put an arm around
her. "It's going to be okay, Iella, really."
"He never hurt anyone, Corran, never."
"I don't imagine Kirtan Loor would agree, but I'll concede the point."
He felt her chest convulse once, then she looked up at him with red-rimmed brown
eyes. "No, you're right." Her mouth made a weak attempt at twisting itself into
a smile. "As much as he admired your drive, Corran, Diric really appreciated
your sense of humor. He said it marked your resiliency. He thought that as long
as you could laugh, especially at yourself, you'd always heal from any trauma."
"He was a wise man." He tightened his embrace a bit. "You know he'd hate to see
you like this, to think he was causing you this much pain."
"I know. That hasn't made it any easier, though." She dabbed at tears with a
handkerchief. "I keep thinking that if I'd seen something there, I could have
prevented what happened. He wouldn't have been a traitor."
"Whoa, wait, Iella, that is not your fault. There was nothing, absolutely
nothing, you could have detected or done to help him." Corran shivered and felt
his flesh pucker. "I know what Isard did to those she wanted to warp and
convert into her puppets. I resisted, I don't know how. It could have been
personality or genetics or training or anything.
Tycho and I both proved unsuitable for heras did a few others, but I think she
would have had an easy time of breaking Diric down."
"What?" lella's hissed question carried with it undercurrents of betrayal. She
tried to pull away from him, but he held on.
"That's not a strike against Diric, honestly it isn't. Diric was a victim, and
you have to know that he resisted her mightily because even after his capture
Imperial Intelligence didn't find you. I think he built a mental reserve around
you and was willing to sacrifice everything to protect you. Even altering her
orders at the end was designed to protect you, and in his mind, sacrificing
himself to do so was not too much to pay."
Corran frowned. "The one thing about Diric that characterized him was his
curiosity. We both saw it in the way he'd ask us about cases and push us to look
at other explanations. He was thoughtful and thoroughespionage was a natural
place for him. You said yourself that Isard first placed him in Derricote's lab
to spy on the General. She probably suggested to him that his success in that
role determined whether or not she'd let you live. She undoubtedly told him that
lie concerning any actions he took after he rejoined you."
lella's defiance melted into despair. "Great, now you're. telling me that he'd
not have been in that position except for me."
"No! You had nothing to do with where he ended up that was entirely due to
Isard and no one else." Corran sighed. "Look, think about the good Diric did.
Aril Nunb pointed out that he was the only person in Derricote's lab that was
kind to her and who helped her through her recovery from the Krytos virus. And
after he came back, he was a great comfort to Tycho through the trial. He even
pushed you to look for evidence to break the frame Isard had settled around
Tycho. And, like it or not, he did kill Loor, and I can't fault him for that."
"He thought he was shooting Derricote but knew it wasn't him. He was happy he'd
gotten Loor."
"Well, I did kill Derricote and I'd have been more happy
to kill Loor myself." Corran brushed a hand along her cheek and wiped tears away
with his thumb. "Diric wasn't happy existing the way he did, but he regained
himself in defying Isard and doing all the little things that sabotaged her
&
nbsp; plans. In the end he won. He'd often complained his life had no meaning . . ."
"But it did."
"Agreed, and at the very last he finally got to see how much it meant. He'd
saved you, he saved Aril, he saved Tycho. He's at peace, and he'd want you to be
at peace with his death, too."
"I know, but it's just not going to be that easy, Corran. I was there, I held
him as he died from wounds I'd inflicted." Iella sniffed, then swallowed with
difficulty. "Your father died in your arms. How did you get through it?"
Corran felt his own throat thicken. "I won't kid you, it wasn't, isn't, easy.
There are things you expect, like seeing him again in the morning or at night or
being able to call him to tell him about your day or to ask a question, and then
he's not there. You know you feel hollow inside, but you don't know just how
hollow until things like that help you define the edges of the void."
She nodded slowly. "There are things I see or hear and I think, 'Diric would
like that or would be intrigued by that,' then his death comes crashing back in
on me. It seems to me that such things will never stop happening."
"They won't. They go on forever."
A tremor shook Iella. "Great."
"The thing of it is, Iella, they become transformed. Now you feel the loss and
the grief, and part of that will always be there. In addition to it, though,
shining through it will be the triumph of having known Diric. When I hear that
stupid Lomin-ale ditty or eat part of a ryshcate, I remember my father. I
remember his booming laugh and that secret smile of contentment he could flash
you when things were good."
"And the way that smile would carry on up into his eyes and how, with a slight
shift, it would harden into something that would make the most fearless of Black
Sunners begin to
tremble in interrogation." Iella gave out a little sigh. "I can see it with your
father, but not Diric."
"Not yet."
"No, not yet."
"But you will." Corran kissed her forehead. "It won't be easy, but the only way
I got through it was because of you and Gil and my other friends."
"You didn't ha ve any other friends."
"Yeah, well, that may be, but you do. Mirax and Wedge and Winter and all of us,
we're here to help you. You're not alone. We can't feel the same depth of pain