Star Wars_ X-Wing 07_ Solo Command - Aaron Allston [27]
“I mean, no, sir,” she said, and was annoyed to feel herself blush. Genuine embarrassment—how long had it been since she’d felt that?
“Don’t worry about it. Why no?”
She said, “You’ve suggested that we need to operate on principles of maximum paranoia. Well, you don’t just march in to their records center—or access it via a terminal—and say, ‘Who owns this company?’ Let’s assume they’re as paranoid as we are. They might have set things up to flag queries like that.”
“Well, I was thinking more about an anonymous check, or something using an intermediary. Are you recommending that we slice the network and try to steal the information?”
Lara shook her head. “No, save that tactic for critical information. What I’m suggesting is that we find out whether the information you’re talking about is flagged; that fact itself would be valuable to know. We just lead with a safe question—from a different questioner—so we have a standard of comparison for behavior. For instance, let’s say you, Face, decide to make the Binring query. Before you do, I go in, find out the name of a corporation we think is completely straight and above board, and ask the same question about it. I note what they do and how long it takes them to answer that question, and report that back to you. Then, when you go in—”
“I have a standard of comparison.” Face nodded. “I get what you’re saying. If they take a lot of extra time or vary their routine in some substantial way, we know they’ve been alerted.”
“We also tail you on your exit, in case they decide to do the same thing. We can slip their tail or take him out, but we don’t let him follow you.”
“Right. You make a lot of sense. Anyone tell you you’re a natural for intelligence work?”
Lara shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
“All right,” Face continued. “If we get that piece of information, we pursue it to see what else Zsinj might own on Saffalore—”
“No,” Lara said. Then heads turned her way again and she felt herself flush red once more.
Face’s voice remained calm. “Why not?”
“Well … on the Wraiths’s other missions, we often found the name Zsinj was using on-planet, but never found any other major business enterprises owned by those names. Either he’s investing in one business per planet, or he’s using multiple names for multiple businesses. If history is any indication, there’s no use in running down those names—not yet. If we ever want to try to mess with his accounts, his assets, using that name is good. For what we’re doing with this mission, though, it’s just a distraction. Something to cost us time his people may be using to hunt us down. In fact, I don’t recommend that first bit, about finding the name he’s using in his association with Binring, until after we’ve done our major raid, or maybe simultaneously. It may not be an important enough piece of information to risk anything on acquiring it.”
Face considered. “Maybe you’re right. Very well. Lara’s right. We will be staging a raid on their major fabrications facility, in the hope that he’s following true to form and has a special Zsinj facility tucked away in there somewhere—or at the very least in the hope that we can figure out where the secret facility is from data in the public facility. So we’ll follow our standard member assignments and protocols—”
“No,” Lara said. Several Wraiths and Rogues laughed outright.
Face put his head down for a moment, then raised it, his expression one of long suffering, and turned to Wedge. “Is this what it’s like for you?”
Wedge smiled. “You have no idea.”
“From the bottom of my heart, I apologize, most sincerely, for every time I spoke up in a mission briefing. I mean it.”
Wedge nodded. “I appreciate that, but I have to tell you: you’ve only just started to suffer.”
“I believe you.” Face turned back to Lara. “No, what?”
She gave him an apologetic look. “We’ve changed protocol already. We have Rogue Squadron on hand to look out for us. If we don’t integrate this resource—this very, very dangerous and capable resource—”
Impassive, Tycho gestured, waving for