25

That General Derricote managed to refrain from sweating in the steamy atmosphere of Borleias did not surprise Kirtan Loor too terribly much. The good General was toadlike enough in his demeanor that the Intelligence officer imagined it saved him from melting in the heat and humidity. The bloated, lumpen commander of Imperial forces in the Pyria system fitted his face with a smile—the abrupt curve of his mouth imitated by the sweep of the two chins jiggling beneath it.

“I am pleased to see, Agent Loor, that the past week and a half here on Borleias have not appeared to have taken their toll on you.” The man pressed stubby-fingered hands against the dark wood of his desktop. “You found everything you needed for your survey of our defenses?”

Kirtan nodded once, then froze and stared down at the Imperial officer for a second without saying anything. He waited, silent and unmoving, until the corners of the man’s smile began to quiver. “My security review proved satisfactory. Everything is as it should be here at the installation. Your shield generators are in good repair, your two squadrons of TIE fighters are being maintained at a high level of readiness, and your training schedule has your pilots logging enough time for twice their number.”

“Preparation is the price for constant vigilance, Agent Loor.” Derricote’s voice remained blasé, but his bovine, brown eyes began blinking a bit more rapidly than they should have normally. “We are here to stop the Rebellion, so we must be prepared.”

Kirtan smiled easily, then leaned forward on the man’s desk. “And you are prepared. You have done very well to keep this base secure, and in fact, your computer security is tighter than anything I have seen outside Imperial Center itself. You also work harder than any other officer I have seen since the Emperor’s death.”

“I am all for the Empire.”

“You are all for yourself.” Kirtan tapped the datapad built into the man’s desk. “I took the liberty of visiting your office when you were not here and I pulled the secret files from your datapad. You truly are an artist. You duplicate requisitions, append intricate routing tags to them, and send them off to multiple commands, each of which believes you are under its care. You have successfully drawn enough fuel and ordinance to maintain four squadrons of TIE fighters. Since only two are here, I have to assume the others are at the Alderaan Biotics site.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I sincerely doubt that, General. I have read your file. You studied at the Imperial Naval Academy, but concentrated on biological and botanical subjects. While you are fully qualified to oversee a military installation such as this, you are uniquely suited to making the Biotics site operational again.” Kirtan smiled. “And profitable?”

Derricote’s face became ashen, but his smile did not fully erode. “This has not been unanticipated, Agent Loor. I do have resources.”

Kirtan raised himself to his full height, then looked back down at Derricote. “This does not surprise me, General. The Alderaan Biotics hydroponic facility was barely more than a tax loss for the parent corporation before the tax laws changed. It was abandoned to the care of maintenance droids and forgotten. Then Alderaan was disciplined and the market for goods from Alderaan blossomed. My conservative estimate, based on data about twelve months old, is that if you’ve been operational for two years you should have cleared two million credits.”

“We have been at our fullest production capacity for only fifteen months, but our overhead is low, so we have actually made 2.75 million credits—though much of this is tied up in inventory maintained off-world.”

“Your overhead is low because the Empire is subsidizing your operation.”

The General steepled his fingers. “Think of it as our operation.”

“I could think of it as my operation, General.” Kirtan folded his arms across his chest. “I do not think I could hold it for long, however. In going back over your security system I noticed evidence of what could have been Alliance tampering with holonet messages.”

Derricote’s eyes grew hard and he sat up straighter at his desk. “Bothans. They make runs at all holonet communications. I feed them data and it keeps them happy.”

The edge in the man’s voice surprised Kirtan, as did the physical transformation. Just by sitting up and raising his chin, Derricote had shifted from being a noodle-spined sycophantic failure to the sort of man who could engineer the deception that made his covert agricultural enterprise possible. He showed me what I wanted to see so I would underestimate him.

Derricote touched the screen on his datapad. “Frequency of hits and length of contact is up. Should I correlate that to your visit, Agent Loor, or shall I just assume the Alliance and Empire taking an interest in my little home is a coincidence?”

Kirtan’s eyes narrowed. “The Pyria system is one of a number that fits a profile for being a conduit into the Core for the Alliance.”

“It fits because they don’t know about my defenses.”

“Two more squadrons of TIE fighters will mean little to them.”

“Ah, so there are some things you don’t know about Borleias. Imagine that.” Derricote smiled. “I tell you what, son: You leave the defenses here to me. You’re an Intelligence officer, not a military genius.”

Kirtan pointed to the General’s private datapad. “I saw nothing in there to indicate you’re a military genius, sir.”

Derricote tapped the side of his head with a thick finger. “That’s because I’m smart enough to know that the only data that is safe is the data stored up here. I’ve anticipated a move against Borleias ever since I found the Biotics station in working order, and I’ve planned accordingly.”

The Intelligence officer heard the confidence in the man’s voice and isolated another component in the tone he used. Eagerness. “You’re looking forward to this.”

“I may have my business on the side here, Agent Loor, but I am a loyal son of the Empire.” The large man shrugged. “Besides, I was at Derra IV. I learned to enjoy killing Rebels there, and have formed my plans here to make Borleias just as deadly to the Alliance.”

“A convoy died at Derra IV, General. A laudable event, but it was not a military force.” Kirtan shook his head. “You’ll get their best here, including Rogue Squadron, I do not doubt.”

“Their best or their worst, it does not matter.” General Derricote smiled easily. “They’re expecting to snuff a candle here at Borleias, but when they come, they’ll get burned by a nova.”