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Cracken laughed, but Mon Mothma just smiled. “Forgive me, my friend, but as General Cracken will attest, I have not heard many things that make me laugh of late.”

“I understand.” Ackbar sat forward. “I will, of course, clear Rogue Squadron for the mission. Will you be wanting Erisi Dlarit to fly that mission?”

“I should think so. Is there a reason we would not want her on it?”

Ackbar shrugged. “Since she is involved in pushing the Xucphra corporation to sell us a great deal of bacta, I would think putting her in jeopardy on a mission would be contra-indicative.”

Mon Mothma looked at her Intelligence director. “Is she in danger on this run, General?”

Cracken frowned. “We anticipate no trouble.”

Ackbar blinked his eyes. “And if the mission is betrayed to the PCF?”

“We have the Imperial spy, don’t we? Isn’t that why Captain Celchu is on trial?”

“Yes, Chief Councilor.” Cracken’s dark eyes sharpened. “What the Admiral is suggesting is that we cannot be certain Captain Celchu was the only spy in service to the Empire. The potential for betrayal does exist here and on the Ryloth side of things. While sending her out might endanger her, holding her back might be taken incorrectly by officials on Thyferra, dooming that deal.”

“But if she dies, that could also hurt us.” Mon Mothma shook her head. “The lack of clear-cut decisions is what makes this job so difficult. The Thyferrans seem to set great store by Erisi Dlarit’s flying with Rogue Squadron. I suppose we will have to let her go.”

Ackbar nodded. “I concur. That is the tide on which you should sail.”

“And you, General Cracken,” Mon Mothma said, “will have to make certain security around this mission is not breached. We cannot afford to have the mission disrupted, nor can we afford to lose Erisi Dlarit.”

“Of this, I am aware.” General Cracken nodded solemnly. “I understand the gravity of the situation. If there is a leak, we’ll find it—find it and eliminate it. The New Republic can afford for us to do nothing less.”

20

“I am fairly certain, Colonel Vorru, that I do not like this turn of events at all.” Kirtan Loor peered down at the smaller man but clearly did not have quite the intimidating effect on him that Loor wanted. “I invited you here to inform you of my plan as a courtesy, not to allow you to veto it.”

Fliry Vorru shrugged. “Ah, but I have vetoed it.”

No! “No! I cannot allow this.” Loor’s hands balled into fists. “My agreement with you was to let you select domestic targets that help weaken the New Republic’s government. I have abided by your decisions in any case where the target was of that sort. This is not one of those cases.”

Loor stalked around his darkened office, flitting like a moth around the circle of light that anointed Fliry Vorru and made his white hair shine brilliantly. “The destruction of Rogue Squadron has been a priority with me since well before they took Imperial Center, and now, now they are within my grasp. I have a squadron of X-wings here on Imperial Center that I will use to attack Rogue Squadron’s base and destroy them on the ground. It will be perfect and will allow me to finish a mission that has taken far too long to complete.”

Vorru leaned back in Loor’s tall chair and put his booted feet up on the surface of the desk, scattering a stack of datacards. “What were once your priorities do not matter to me. I deem this attack too risky. Cracken will suspect I leaked information about Rogue Squadron’s impending mission to you.”

“No, no he won’t.” Loor’s fingers itched to be punching data up on his datapad—or to be strangling you, Vorru. “I uncovered evidence of a run to Ryloth based on fluctuations in the secondary ryll-derivatives black market. I traced it back to a woman in the medical corps who’s been making extra money producing her own brand of patent medicine. It’s mostly lum, with ryll and a drop or two of bacta in it—useless, of course, but she’s begun to raise the price. It’s assumed that when Rogue Squadron brings the ryll back to Coruscant, its effectiveness against the virus will