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Corran shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine. I, ah, I just had a confrontation with Tycho. The Empire owns him, I can feel it. I told him that when I got back I’d dig up all the clues concerning the spy in our midst and prove he was involved in getting Bror Jace ambushed and jeopardizing our mission here.”

“I can see how that might have you out of sorts.” She reached out and stroked his arm. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, let me know.”

“Thanks, Erisi, I appreciate it.” He winked at her, then stepped back and let a loud whistle echo through the cavern. “Let’s go, Rogues. It’s time to get moving. Our people will be in position inside fifteen minutes, which means our prey will show up shortly thereafter. Shoot straight and fly fast.”

40

The datapad’s stuttered trilling attracted Kirtan Loor’s attention. He walked over from where he had been inventorying weapons to be distributed to his command and tapped a button on the datapad. The nature of the sound had told him the message was urgent and of a high priority as well. The message the datapad displayed lived up to its billing.

So an Interdictor cruiser has been spotted at the fringe of our system. Those ships are too big and too valuable to use as scouts. Either it is meant to decoy some of our forces out away from this planet or it is the vanguard of an invasion fleet. He knew, without a doubt, the latter case was the truth, but that prospect did not fill him with the dread it might have six months earlier. His reason for existing now required a Rebel invasion and conquest of Coruscant. Our shields aren’t down, so they must mean to make a fight of it or …

Loor hit some more buttons and checked to see if any warnings had come in from the Rogue Squadron spy. He saw nothing, but curiosity and caution caused him to delve a bit deeper. Using a security override program he discovered all messages from the agent inside Rogue Squadron had been reclassified to “Isard Eyes Only.” She had engineered it so all those messages were routed to her first so she could decide their disposition. Loor knew if he challenged her on it, she would say it was done so he would not be distracted during his preparations.

At another stage in his life he would have wasted valuable time and energy trying to work a way around Isard’s action, but no more. What the spy had to say was no longer important to the conduct of his mission. Isard wanted Coruscant to fall into the hands of the Rebellion, so it would. Since he already knew who the spy was, reestablishing contact at a later date would not be particularly difficult, should the need arise.

Best if I assume that the Rogues are up to something. Fine. I wish them all the Force-inspired success they desire. Once they win, once they drop their guard, then we will hit them and hit them hard. He laughed aloud and returned to his work. “Not much longer from now the Rebels will have what they most desire. And shortly thereafter they will learn they don’t really want it at all.”

The black airspeeder raced through the night-dim streets on a course that brought it parallel to the construction droid’s path, then Emtrey cut the wheel left and pulled back. The airspeeder climbed rapidly, then the nose eased down and Emtrey steered in toward the flat landing surface built behind the droid’s control center. “I will have us down in fifteen seconds, sir.”

Wedge fitted the mask over the right side of his head. He spoke the command that inflated the air bladders that clamped the helmet in place. “How do I look?” he croaked.

“Very Imperial, Colonel Roat.” Iella gave him a nod.

Mirax looked less comfortable with his disguise. “You look very cyborg.”

“Good. That lessens my chance of being recognized.” Wedge rode out the slight bump as Emtrey put the vehicle down on the construction droid. A faint hum filled the air, but it grew to a hideous din when the airspeeder’s gull-wing doors opened. Wedge got out of the speeder first, then helped both Mirax and