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The Prince-Admiral pursed his lips, then nodded. “I can deliver that message.”

“And shed a tear?”

“I was a fighter at the Academy, not in the Thespian Union like Kepporra.”

“No matter, we will slice in suitably altered material.” Isard turned quickly and paced back the way she had come. “The second thing we will do is release a series of files that will show that you do not have the resources in the Hegemony to build such a project. One of them, the Corvis Minor file, will have been tampered with.”

Krennel smiled. “Ah, yes, your little trap for Rogue Squadron. Perhaps this new bait will be more to their liking.”

“Indeed, I hope so. When they are gone, of course, the New Republic will hit Corvis Minor rather hard. At that point, the third step goes into play. You will attack Liinade Three, hammering their garrison forces. We will insert insurgents who will undertake a covert war against the New Republic forces and, if we are fortunate, will inspire a popular uprising that will force them to devote more troops to holding the place than they ever intended.”

“Their moral justification is undercut, a storied unit is dead, and I show I have steel to back the political integrity of my realm.” Krennel slowly nodded. “It could work. It must work.”

Isard smiled very coldly. “It will work. And once you’ve shown the galaxy that it is possible to oppose the New Republic, you will be seen as the Emperor’s rightful heir. At that point we will both attain what we most desire.”

17

Though Gavin Darklighter’s eyes burned with fatigue, the image of Delak Krennel coming in over the recreation room’s holoprojector held his attention and kept him awake. The projector rendered Krennel three-fourths his real height, but because Gavin was seated on a couch next to Asyr, he had to look up at the man’s image. Krennel had abandoned a military uniform and instead had adopted well-made civilian clothes, but stayed away from the robes long associated with the Emperor’s intimates.

“So now I am faced with the onerous task of rebutting the charges Mon Mothma and the New Republic have made against me. To many of you it would be inconceivable that such researches were taking place on a world under my control without my knowledge of it.” Krennel’s expression remained open, his eyes guileless. “I concur, and I tell you that I had no knowledge of these researches. I would point out that the New Republic has offered no proof that I knew of them and, in fact, has offered no proof that anyone knew of these researches prior to the New Republic’s conquest of Liinade Three.”

Gavin frowned. “What reason in the galaxy would the New Republic have for faking a lab and accusing you of doing Death Star research?”

The other pilots in the rec center nodded in agreement with Gavin’s question.

Hobbie laughed. “Not like we didn’t have better things to do when pacifying the planet.”

“It wasn’t that hard, Hobbie.” Myn Donos stretched his arms and rolled his wrists around. “I mean, we did have some spare time—an hour or two—in which to plan and execute such deception.”

Krennel’s flesh and blood hand rose innocently. “In suggesting the New Republic fabricated this evidence against me, I would be as remiss as they are if I did not offer you proof of their perfidy. Why would they want to discredit me so? By accusing me of Sate Pestage’s murder they’ve already provided themselves with as much justification as they needed to launch an invasion of my Hegemony. These charges against me serve only to unite the New Republic by making the Emperor’s ghost haunt my activities—a New Republic that apparently was not united behind the attack in the first place. In fact, there was much more division in the New Republic than anyone could have imagined, and that very division is what prompted this move.”

Krennel’s chin came up. “In keeping with my pledge to provide land and shelter and a future to any beleaguered population within the galaxy, I have been involved in negotiations with the leadership of the Alderaanian refugee population.