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“And well we should have been.” Inyri gestured toward where Krennel had been standing. “If we had not come here and someone hadn’t tried to kill Corran, we would not have found that lab. A year from now, or two, Krennel could show up over Coruscant with his Death Star and cause a lot of trouble.”

Myn held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not saying Krennel is right, but I do think there will be plenty of folks who will be given cause to wonder.”

Asyr shifted from beneath Gavin’s arm and sat forward on the couch. “Humans, you mean, Myn.”

“Not necessarily. Take the Bothans, for example.” Myn nodded in her direction. “You’re a sophisticated people who have sacrificed much to help the Rebellion. You’re politically astute, have colony worlds and a thriving economy. What if an indigenous people of one of those colony worlds decides it wants the Bothans gone and the New Republic decides to back this independence movement—largely because of a vote organized among species who don’t care for Bothan politics? You Bothans would immediately be put into the same situation some humans might be feeling squeezed by right now.

“And there are humans who saw the blacker depths of the Emperor’s heart, too. One of the Wraiths came from Toprawa. The Imps reduced them to puling animals. Folks might wonder why we’re not liberating them instead of fighting over worlds that haven’t asked for our help. I mean, I have no more love for Krennel than the rest of you, and I do think he has to go down, but using the idea of Pestage’s murder as justification is rather thin.”

Gavin shook his head. “Myn, if I hear you right, you’re suggesting that because the New Republic says one thing, and Krennel says the exact opposite, most people will wonder if the truth isn’t really somewhere in the middle?”

“Right. They have cause to wonder who’s right.”

Tycho stood. “It’s called the gray fallacy. One person says white, another says black, and outside observers assume gray is the truth. The assumption of gray is sloppy, lazy thinking. The fact that one person takes a position that is diametrically opposed to the truth does not then skew reality so the truth is no longer the truth. The truth is still the truth.”

He nodded slowly. “The truth in this case is simple: Krennel is an unreconstructed Imperial who has been shown in the past to have a penchant for cruelty and murder. We’ve found a lab that indicates he might be trying to build a new Death Star-type station, and maybe that’s as far as it’s gone. The fact that we don’t know means we have to keep checking, keep pursuing. Even if Krennel’s right, he didn’t have anything to do with this lab, I don’t doubt for an Imperial minute that he’d use such a station.”

Inyri raised an eyebrow. “Even after what he said about his friend from Alderaan?”

Tycho snorted lightly. “I attended the Academy at Prefsbelt Four well after the two of them. Krennel’s name appeared on a few trophies for unarmed combat. Kepporra was supposed to have been some engineering whiz. I don’t see them being the best of friends, but even assuming they were, it would take more than a tear to make me believe Kepporra’s death had that much effect on Krennel.”

Inyri folded her arms across her chest. “Do you really think you can judge what went on in Krennel’s heart based on one holocast?”

“Nope, just going by what I know of him in the past. He strafed a crowd at Axxila and murdered Pestage on Ciutric.” Tycho’s eyes narrowed. “More telling, though, is the fact that he didn’t leave the Imperial service until four and a half years after the death of his friend. Alderaan’s destruction caused me to defect immediately, but you’d expect that because I’m from Alderaan. Others took longer to come over, a month, a year, a couple of years, but eventually they did. Krennel remained with the Empire even after the second Death Star’s destruction and only left when he was able to usurp Pestage’s Hegemony. Someone with that track record only cares for himself.”

Gavin let Tycho’s words sink