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The black-furred Wookiee councilor’s bark flowed into a murmur, and Leia’s gold protocol droid translated. “Ambassador Kerrithrarr suggests treating the virus as an enemy against which everyone is enlisted. With discipline and direction the spread can be minimalized.”

Ackbar nodded at the Wookiee. “An apt analogy.”

Borsk Fey’lya’s eyes narrowed. “A military model might well be sufficient to deal with the virus, but do you suggest we use it to curtail black market trading? Having storm-troopers breaking into private homes to deprive people of bacta supplies will hardly endear us to our people.”

Mon Mothma shook her head. “No such thing is advocated. General Cracken is devoting a certain amount of his energy to this problem, and is working to put the New Republic Security Force together. The NRSF will replace the old Imperial Sector Ranger force, and is meant to be a law enforcement and counter-insurgency force. It will be some time before the force will be ready to administer all that needs to be dealt with here, but we have an offer for dealing with our law enforcement needs in the interim.”

Mon Mothma used her comlink. “Please send Vorru in.”

Ackbar saw the hackles go up on Fey’lya and felt his own flesh crawl. The doors to the chamber opened, and through them walked a small human with a thick head of white hair. From his size, which was not that big, even for a human, he could have easily been dismissed as benign, yet a warrior’s instinct told Ackbar that was just an image Vorru sought to project.

He’d met the man once before, when Fliry Vorru, then an Imperial Moff, had been a guest of Tarkin. The two men were physical opposites, but so alike in temperament and spirit that Ackbar had wished they would turn on each other and destroy one another. That didn’t happen, though circumstances soon conspired to get Vorru sentenced to Kessel, where he had remained until he had been freed and returned to Coruscant as part of the Rebel operation to take the planet.

Vorru looked up and Ackbar read pure cunning in his dark eyes. “I thank you for seeing me, esteemed Councilors. I thank you for my freedom. I find myself in a position to repay the debt I owe you.”

Leia’s head came up. “You don’t consider your part in the liberation of Coruscant to have canceled that debt?”

“If the truth be told, Princess Leia, I do not.” Vorru stiffened formally, then bowed his head. “The liberation of the planet would have been accomplished more smoothly and efficiently if not for the treacherous behavior of one of my lieutenants. While I did not know Zekka Thyne was working for Imperial Intelligence agents, I must accept responsibility for his actions. In effect, the liberation proceeded without my help, so my debt to you remains.”

A pained expression passed over his face. “You brought me here in the hope that I could revive Black Sun and turn it into a force that would aid the effort to take Coruscant from the Empire. I did what I could, but the fact is that the Imperial effort to expunge the remnants of Xizor’s organization were as ruthlessly efficient as only Darth Vader’s vengeance could be. What little of the leadership remained was destroyed in internecine battling. When I arrived here there was a paucity of leadership and an insufficient amount of time to once again establish control over the various factions present on Coruscant. Durga the Hurt and others resist unification, so Black Sun is effectively dead.”

Ackbar sat back in his chair. “I would have expected more regret in your voice at that pronouncement.”

Vorru shrugged. “Black Sun was Xizor’s dream, not mine.”

Fey’lya folded his arms across his chest and remained standing. “And your dream is …?”

“Freedom, the same as your dream.” Vorru smiled. “The Empire treated criminals the same way it treated you Rebels. With the Empire’s grip broken, you Rebels have become the New Republic and have gained legitimacy. The criminals who have long been repressed by the Empire are not all evil, but many have been trapped in a cycle of lawlessness precisely because they knew they could expect