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“Nor I about your performance.” Bror pumped Corran’s hand. “I would give you another chance at such a contest, but I do not want even the slightest hint of division within this squadron.”

“I concur.” Corran nabbed a small piece of cake from the serving tray on the table and popped it into his mouth.

Everyone followed Corran’s lead and as he chewed, just for a second, Wedge felt himself back on Yavin 4, catching a hasty last meal before he and his friends went off to attack the Death Star. He knew it wasn’t the taste of the ryshcate that brought the memory back—on Yavin 4 there had been no time and no ingredients to create something so indulgent. No, it’s the sense of unity that takes me back. The core spirit, it was there before Rogue Squadron was ever formed. It was the squadron’s soul and it’s still here. This is Rogue Squadron, not reborn, just continuing as it should.

“I’d like to offer a toast, my friends, if I may.” Wedge raised his glass and the others joined him. “To Rogue Squadron, to the friends we’ve lost, the battles we’ve fought, and the utter fear our return will bring to our enemies.”

Epilog

Kirtan Loor dropped to one knee before Ysanne Isard’s life-size hologram. “Please forgive my disturbing you, Madam Director, but you said you wanted to be informed immediately on any developments.”

She frowned impatiently at him. “I have seen General Derricote’s requisition request for more Gamorreans. Has there been a breakthrough?”

“I am not certain.”

“But you approved the request.”

“Yes, Madam Director.” Even though she was projecting her image from her tower office nearly three kilometers above and away from his cramped workspace, the distance did not insulate him from her ire. Somehow her eyes seem to project venom through the holonet. “You will forgive me, Madam Director, but General Derricote is still upset about the loss of his facility on Borleias. He said you promised him it would be returned to him if he completed his work within your parameters.”

“And so it shall. The Alliance stewardship of Borleias will be of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.” Isard’s image stared hard at him. “So, there is no breakthrough with Derricote?”

“None to my knowledge, Madam Director.”

“Then what would have prompted your call to me, Agent Loor?”

“Our agent in Rogue Squadron has provided us with some useful information. Rogue Squadron will be moving to Borleias and the base will become a major staging operation for a move Coreward.”

Isard tapped her teeth with a fingernail. “This was not unanticipated.”

“It was also reported that the best of the new pilots, Bror Jace, will be returning to Thyferra to visit his family.” Loor reached back and pulled a datapad from his desk and glanced at it. “Given the precarious balance of loyalists and Rebel sympathizers on Thyferra, it seems to me that having a hero of the Rebellion visit will not be a good thing. Since his course of travel has been communicated to us, I have prepared orders for the Interdictor cruiser Black Asp to intercept and destroy him.”

“Very good thinking, Agent Loor.” Isard nodded slowly, her eyes focusing distantly. “Amend the orders to have him taken alive if possible. I have a facility that is most successful in convincing ardent Rebels they really should be on our side. I have room at Lusankya for this Jace. He will prove very useful in the future.”

“I have the intercept set for a system where enough smuggling goes on that the Black Asp’s presence makes sense. An increase in general interception activities will hide our foreknowledge of Jace’s course.”

The ruler of Coruscant looked quizzically at him. “Do you truly think so?”

“I do not follow your meaning.”

“Don’t you think your Corran Horn will be suspicious?”

He thought for a moment, then bowed his head. “He will be, but he is not so single-minded that he cannot be distracted.”

“That concurs with my reading of his datafile.” She smiled slightly. “But it would take information of sufficient import to distract him, yes?”

“Yes, Madam Director.”

“Good.” She clasped her hands