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“I believe we’re all agreed on this matter,” Mon Mothma said, and forced a weak smile, “for once. We shall set up a rescue and occupation force to go to Maw Installation. We must move decisively, as soon as possible, but not so quickly that we make mistakes.”

As Mon Mothma looked around, she seemed to want nothing more than to leave the chamber and return to her quarters where she could rest. Wedge frowned in concern.

“If there is no other business,” Mon Mothma said, “this meeting is adjourned.”

9

The Imperial Star Destroyer Gorgon entered planetary orbit like a wide-bladed knife ready to strike. Flanking the flagship on either side rode the fully operational cruisers Basilisk and Manticore.

Commander Kratas relayed a message from the navigation console. “We have achieved orbit around Dantooine.”

Daala clasped her gloved hands behind her back and turned to survey the bridge crew. “Sensor sweep,” she said, and waited as the lieutenant calibrated his instruments to scan the visible face of the planet.

“A very primitive world, Admiral. No detectible industry. A few nomadic settlements …” He paused. “Wait. At the terminator I detect a cluster of people.”

Daala studied the swirling olive, blue, and brown face of the planet, observing the edge of daylight creeping across the surface.

“I’ve found what appear to be the ruins of a larger base that seems mostly abandoned now. The inhabited area is not very well developed—mostly small prefabricated dwellings.” The lieutenant scratched his short brown hair and bent closer to his glowing screen.

“I see excavations where new superstructures are being set up,” he said, looking up at Daala. “This configuration is consistent with a large transmitting dish. Perhaps even a shield generator.”

Daala’s brow furrowed as she pondered how her former mentor Grand Moff Tarkin would have handled this situation.

Commander Kratas seemed to sense her hesitation and offered, “It doesn’t appear that they could muster much resistance,” he said.

Daala pursed her lips. “Even if they did resist, we would still defeat them. That’s not the point.” She ran a slender finger along her chin, then brushed her coppery hair back behind her shoulders. “To start with, we will target the abandoned base from orbit and level it with our turbolasers. It will be a spectacular display.”

Daala’s Star Destroyers controlled enough power to turn entire planets to slag, but she didn’t want to do that here. “Dantooine is too remote for an effective demonstration,” she said, “but we can make use of it nonetheless. Commander Kratas, I want you to lead a strike force. Take two AT-ATs from the Gorgon and a pair from each of the other two ships. Six Armored Transports should be enough.”

“Me, Admiral? But surely General Odosk or one of the other Imperial Army commanders—”

“Do you have a problem with my orders, Commander?”

“No, Admiral. Not at all.”

“I want you to show your versatility. Didn’t they put you through those exercises on Carida?”

“Yes, Admiral,” Kratas said, “I simply thought it would be more efficient just to blast them from orbit.”

Daala fixed him with her emerald stare. “Consider it an exercise, Commander. We’ve been cooped up guarding Maw Installation for too long, and we won’t have another opportunity to catch the New Republic so unprepared.”

Now that he was a hopeful colonist, Warton got up in time to watch Dantooine’s peaceful pastel sunrise. He stretched and stepped outside his prefab self-erecting home unit, enjoying every moment of dawn. He felt safe and at peace for the first time in his life.

His bones ached, but it was a pleasant soreness from gratifying work. He would never recover completely from his hard life on the tortured world of Eol Sha, but just spending a day without earthquakes or lava flows or scalding geysers made his life happy.

The other colony units, made of brightly colored polymers set with transparisteel windows, looked across the whispering savannas of