26

The apathetic mask Fliry Vorru had fitted onto his face cracked. He’d managed to keep his expression utterly impassive as Ysanne Isard dressed down Erisi Dlarit. Both women had maintained rigid control at first, wielding civility and titles with razor-kiss efficacy. Polite phrasings bottled up vitriol; but Vorru knew if he’d tossed a pair of lightsabers between them, they’d have minced each other in a nanosecond.

Then Ysanne Isard had said, “High Admiral Teradoc has withdrawn the Aggregator from my service and that is your fault!”

Erisi exploded. “My fault? What algorithm did you use to calculate that conclusion? Sir.”

“The calculations were simple enough that I would have thought any provincial mind could have grasped them.” Isard’s eyes narrowed as her hands balled into fists. “Your pilots were on both the Aggregator and the Corrupter. It was your pilots who were supposed to deal with the snubfighter threat. They failed, costing me the Corrupter and now making me the laughingstock of the galaxy. Teradoc had the gall to say to me that he’d only lend me toys if I would promise they would not return broken! The Emperor would have had his guts for floss over such a remark. Because of you, I am subject to such indignities!”

“Begging your pardon, but the orders placing my pilots on those ships came from you. I asked you to use our Elite pilots for the mission, but you picked a green unit.”

“Their evaluations—reports you prepared—were outstanding.”

“Yes, but they’d not seen combat before.” Erisi’s blue eyes burned intensely. “You sent them out after a unit that is arguably the best fighter squadron in the galaxy.”

Isard raised an eyebrow. “Even with your participation no longer needed or welcome?”

The sniped quip seemed to pass unnoticed by Dlarit, but Vorru had no doubt she’d cataloged it. “My Elite Squadron is the equal of Rogue Squadron. If you had sent us after them, Teradoc would be prostrate before you, begging you to accept his allegiance. He is laughing because you destroyed three squadrons, because you didn’t heed the warning he offered by refusing to send his own pilots against Antilles.”

Vorru saw Isard preparing for a counterargument and knew if Isard were not checked Erisi might pay with her life for her frank audacity. In the space of a heartbeat, he examined his options. If he said nothing, Isard would destroy Erisi Dlarit, throwing the Dlarit family into further disrepute. The fact that the Ashern had humiliated her father clearly fueled her desire for retribution on the forces arrayed against the Bacta Cartel. She had wanted to fly on the mission to Alderaan, but Isard had refused that request. To turn around and then blame Erisi for the mission’s failure was frustrating enough that Erisi might wish for death.

Intervening on her behalf would open him to Isard’s wrath, but the price might be worth it. Erisi and her family still had considerable influence within the Bacta Cartel. If Isard had to be removed, having Erisi as an ally might make such an operation possible and certainly would smooth over the consequences of it on Thyferra. I could even claim to the New Republic that I joined Isard specifically to work against her from the inside like this. The idea that the New Republic would have to accept him as the leader of the new Bacta Cartel broadened the grin Erisi’s defiance had put on his face.

“I think, Madam Director, you cannot discount the fact that the Rogues clearly had planned ahead against the eventuality of betrayal. Granted an Alderaanian War Cruiser is an antiquated ship, but coupled with the X-wing squadron’s strength, it was enough to make Captain Convarion pay for his recklessness.”

Isard rotated her head around to glance at him over her shoulder. “You presume Convarion made a mistake to blind me to the fact that if our operation was betrayed to Antilles, it was doubtless through a spy you have failed to locate.”

Vorru caught Erisi’s eye, and in a moment he felt he had earned her gratitude. Part of him began to list the various ways she could make it more manifest. Because of her beauty and strength, the idea of a physical union to consummate their alliance in opposition to Isard came to mind, but he dismissed it. He had no doubt it could happen—and might well happen yet—but their need for each other had higher purposes than sating lust. If we are to be allies, our first conjunction must be full of purpose and confirmed by reason, not dictated and muddled by emotional involvement.

Vorru knew he could fall victim to Erisi’s charms, because she realized that it was possible to play to his vanity and desperation. He had always been vain, but he had kept it in check. His age attacked both his vanity and ambition, reminding himself that he had little time to accomplish all the goals he had set out for his life. His time on Kessel had gotten him no closer to the heights he had once seen as his due, and now he knew that unless he acted quickly, his chances of even approaching them would wither and die.

“That possibility cannot be discounted, of course, Madam Director—nor can it be proven, as you are well aware. The fact is that Antilles has been very cautious throughout his career. That he has lived this long is ample proof of that. The precaution taken against our interference could have been nothing more than a concern over whether or not he could trust his trading partner.”

Isard turned so she could watch both him and Erisi. “Yes, his trading partner. I want Karrde dealt with.”

Vorru shook his head. “Under no circumstances. If we treat Talon Karrde any differently than we do now, he will realize we have an agent among his people, and we lose a very valuable resource. Moreover, Karrde’s loyalty can be bought. We will have him when, if, and however we want him.”

He opened his hands. “As for your assertion that Commander Dlarit is to blame for the failures of her pilots, this, too, is disingenuous. Her pilots were inappropriately matched against Rogue Squadron. Captain Convarion always believed the appearance of his vessel would strike terror into the hearts of his enemies. He expected them to panic and run precisely because they ran the first time he ambushed them. Antilles has not lived this long by repeating mistakes. Convarion should have insisted on having the best pilots possible flying with him. He did not, because he assumed their contribution to his victory would be incidental.”

Isard brought her head up. “Ah, well, then it seems I am wrong about everything!” The rising ironic tone in her voice did nothing to hide her anger. “Perhaps you would like to tell me how things are going to go from now on and what we should do about them.”

Vorru smiled and took a half step toward Isard as he turned to face her. “I would guess, despite the possession of the War Cruiser, Antilles and his people will continue their”—he glanced at Erisi—“as the pilots so colorfully put it, ‘hit-and-hype’ raids. In actuality you’ve seen those raids are minimally effective. I would imagine they will also try to infiltrate some of the tanker crews so they can hijack more shipments. Our losses—and we will have some—should be minimal.”

Isard’s eyes half-closed. “Minimal losses to us will still be enough to let them finance their war against us.”

“True, but the fact is that time runs in our favor, not theirs. We have a number of ways to deal with them, but their threat will not be ended until we locate their base and destroy it.”

Isard pressed two fingers against her lips for a moment.

“The elimination of their base has always been the way to deal with them. What other plans do you have in mind?”

Vorru smiled hesitantly. “The prime method of eliminating their ability to fight against us is for us to open up our storage wells and make an abundance of bacta available.”

“No!” Erisi and Ysanne looked at each other in surprise as their joint denunciation of that suggestion echoed loudly through the room. Isard shook her head. “That would kill the price of bacta and loosen the dependency of others upon us.”

“Agreed, but we can survive the momentary weakness, Rogue Squadron cannot. The strength of the bacta price is their strength. Take it away, and they are left penniless. Karrde won’t speak with them. They will be unable to maintain their spacecraft and will no longer appear to be friends worth protecting. Make bacta abundant, offer a reward to bring Antilles and his people in, and hint that bacta will remain abundant if they are captured or betrayed to you and Antilles is done.”

Even as he outlined the plan, Vorru knew Isard would reject it. It is the easiest and most bloodless of the plans needed for getting rid of Antilles. She will reject it because it does not satisfy her sense of revenge. She wants him to suffer, not wither. I doubt she recognizes she should reject it because of the backlash she will suffer among the Xucphra people when their standard of living crashes.

Isard slowly shook her head. “Antilles has defied me directly and has killed one of my Destroyers. I want him dead, I want Horn dead and the others, but I want them to know I was the hand behind it, not market vagaries. Moreover, relinquished power is power that is not easily recovered. Next.”

“The other plan is the current one—a plan that requires vigilance and patience. We keep seeking information and then pounce when we know where he is.” Vorru shrugged stiffly. “The problem with this plan is that it is frustrating, since we cannot act until we know where he is based. That could take three months, six, a year.”

“Unacceptable.” Isard shook her head adamantly. “I am not going to sit back and allow Antilles free rein while I just wait. This situation cannot be allowed to mature further. We need action. I want to kill something, and I want to use her pilots to do it.” Isard pointed an unwavering finger at Erisi. “If your pilots are truly elite, killing something should not be beneath them.”

Vorru felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Halanit was a disaster, yet she would repeat it. “Madam Director, a raid right now would be a waste of people, parts, munitions, and goodwill.”

“But it will show High Admiral Teradoc and that fool Harssk that they should not trifle with me and laugh at me. And what need have I of goodwill? Do I not own all the bacta there is? Others should please me with their actions, not seek to be pleased by me.”

Vorru held his hands up. “There is no question you have power others would do well to respect, but attacking another place like Halanit will inspire more fear than you want.”

Isard gave Vorru a predatory smile, all sharp tooth and pitiless. “But fear is exactly what I want, Minister Vorru. However, I take your point. I will still have my attack, and Commander Dlarit’s people will do it, but we’ll spare off-worlders for the moment.”

She blithely turned her attention on Erisi, and the Thyferran woman paled. “You will plan a mission that punishes the Ashern for their boldness in resisting me. Their antics have been hardly damaging, but I want them to know that to defy me is to court death. Find something—a munitions dump, a rebel camp, a sympathetic village, anything. Find it and destroy it. No warning, no mercy.” She smiled. “No question who the true power here is.”