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Her blue-green eyes narrowed as she studied the screens of data. The Empire was definitely building up strength in this sector. Did that mean the Imperial commanders were anticipating some kind of rebellion here in the Corellian system?

She found herself wondering how long her group could manage to hold off the Empire if it attacked in force. Two days? A week?

In the end, they’d all be slaughtered, she knew that. Their small group of rebels was growing every month, as the people of her world grew restive at being ground beneath Palpatine’s relentless heel. But there was no way they were ready yet to take on the Imperial forces.

From a very small beginning, though, they’d made good progress over the past three years. Their movement had started with barely a score of unhappy dissidents gathering for clandestine meetings in cellars, and had grown by leaps and bounds, until they now had cells in most of the major cities on the planet. Bria had no idea how many rebels there were on Corellia, but it had to be several thousand.

The reason she had no idea how many rebels were on Corellia was that it was not necessary for her to know. Even though she was fairly high-ranking in the rebel hierarchy, she was not part of personnel or recruitment. Information about the rebel groups on her world was doled out sparingly. Only one or two commanders knew the whole picture. Individual members were informed strictly on a “need to know” basis. The less they knew, the less they could be forced to reveal under torture.

Bria’s current assignment was in intelligence. She didn’t particularly like spying, but she was good at it. She preferred her old job, though, that of making contact with rebel groups on other worlds. It was obvious to her that if the rebels were to really oppose the Empire, they’d have to unite.

But, so far, they’d barely begun reaching out to other groups. Communication was monitored, travel was restricted—it was so difficult to maintain links between groups on different planets. As fast as their rebel group devised codes, the Imperials broke them.

Just last month one cell of rebels had been raided during a meeting on the eastern continent. They’d disappeared as completely as though a krayt dragon had opened its mouth and swallowed them whole. Bria thought that she’d much prefer to be gobbled alive by a monster than caught by the Emperor’s security forces …

Her friend Lanah had been one of those taken. Bria knew she’d never see her again.

Bria was worried that her entire homeworld would wind up as a police state. Corellia had always been an independent world, a proud world that governed itself. So far, the Emperor had not appointed an Imperial governor to usurp all power on Corellia. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t someday. The Empire did not allow pride or independence in the worlds it claimed.

One of the reasons for Palpatine’s not overtly taking over the Corellian government was that Corellia had such a large human population. The Empire made no secret of the fact that it regarded nonhuman species as inferior, incapable of governing themselves.

Two alien species shared the Corellian system worlds with their human inhabitants, the Selonians and the Drall. If Corellia had been inhabited solely by those nonhuman sentients, they’d have been a much more inviting target for repression—possibly even being declared a slave-labor planet. Look at what had happened to Kashyyyk. The proud Wookiees captured and led away in binders and shackles …

Bria’s fingers tightened on the edge of her desk. She hated the Empire, but even more than the Empire, she hated slavery. Having been a slave on Ylesia (though at the time she’d called herself a “pilgrim”), Bria was determined to do everything she could to destroy the Empire that allowed slavery, that used and owned beings.

When that task was done, she would devote whatever remained of her life to freeing every slave in the galaxy.

Her lovely mouth turned down at the corners as she thought about