Astri looked at the regulations as they flashed on the screen. “I’ll have to check in personally over in the control office.” She stood.
“If they figure out we stole this ship, you could get arrested. I’ll go.”
“No, I’ll have a better chance to escape notice.” Astri tucked a small blaster in her boot. She straightened.
“Leave your comlink open so I can hear what goes on.”
She nodded. “If anything goes wrong, leave without me.”
Clive glanced at her. She held his gaze.
“I mean it,” she said. “No heroics. It’s too important to get the information to Ferus.”
Should he leave her if they were spotted?
Sure. Too much was at stake.
Would he leave her?
No way.
She waited for him to agree. Clive felt something momentous happen inside him. Something he’d never felt before.
He wasn’t going to lie.
“I’m not going to leave you,” he said.
“You have to.”
“It would be easy for me to say yes,” Clive said. “But I’m making a pact with you now. Now, before we begin. I’m not going to start it with a lie.”
Astri’s face flushed. “Begin what? Our journey?”
“That’s not what I mean.” He turned his back on her and fiddled with a control. He couldn’t say what he meant, or felt. Couldn’t say the words. He could only hope that she knew already. If they survived all this, they would be together.
He felt her hesitate behind him. Then she put her hands on the back of his chair. “I know what you mean,” she said. “So we’ll start out with some rules. We won’t lie to each other. And we won’t leave each other behind.”
He felt her go, a breeze against his neck. He heard her boots thumping down the ramp. Clive smiled. Everything had changed. Everything looked different now. This dusty wreck of a spaceport, the thick orange sky. He had been in this struggle to fight the Imperials because he owed it to his friends, because he owed Ferus his life, because deep down the Empire just ticked him off.
Now he had something else to fight for.
Astri.
She wanted to be annoyed at Clive for distracting her, but Astri felt warmth spread through her as she walked to the control office. She hadn’t realized her feelings about Clive had changed so much until he’d spoken. At first she’d disapproved of him, then she’d grudgingly accepted that he wasn’t such a bad guy. And then that had shifted into something else. She didn’t know what was ahead, but she knew she’d face it with Clive. She had a partner now.
She walked into the office. A junior Imperial officer sat at the desk, looking bored. She wondered what he’d done to get assigned to this outpost in the middle of nowhere.
“Papers?”
She handed over her documents. She pretended to scan the horizon, but she was actually trying to study the data screen in the reflection of the transparisteel. She couldn’t read it but she knew from experience that if there was a problem the screen would flash. If that happened, she was prepared to fight her way out.
How far would she go?
Would she shoot this officer? She looked at him more closely now and saw the way he’d tried to comb his hair over his large ears. He was young. Blond stubble glinted on his cheek. She peeked at his insignia. A low-level officer. He could have come from many of the planets in the galaxy that had little resources or wealth. For young people on those kinds of worlds, the Empire was a way out. Lune had told her about some of the young boys and girls at the new Imperial Academy. He’d said for some of them, their good reflexes were the only thing they had. It wasn’t so much that they joined the Empire—they just wanted to fly and see the galaxy.
“Not much to look at out there,” the officer said.
“You don’t seem to get many visitors.” She gazed at the reflection. She didn’t see anything flash, and the officer didn’t change his posture.
“Having trouble with the transmission,” he said. “It can get slow on this planet. Atmospheric haze with ion particles...hard on comm systems.”
Astri flashed him a smile. He seemed almost human. “So you get to be in the middle of nowhere, and you can’t even call out.”
“You got that right.”
“So, how’s the cantina? Will I survive if I have some grub there?” Astri asked. She was beginning to feel nervous. This was taking too long. She could see that Clive had finished refueling.
“You take your chances.”
“Listen, what if I just go pick up some food? By the time I come back, my clearance might come through,” Astri said. “What do you say? Give a girl a break—I’ve been living on protein pellets.”
He gave a last glance at the screen. “I don’t know...”
“I’ll be back in three minutes. Promise.”
“All right.” He turned back to the screen.
She walked out and headed toward the cantina. Clive’s voice came from her comlink. “Making friends in there?”
“What should we do?”
“Play it out. I can see that the comm system is down.”
“But Clive, what if...”
He paused. “You do what you have to do. I’ll be right behind you. Wait...I just got a clear signal...”
“I’ll go back.” Astri hurried toward the control office. When she entered, the officer was just returning to his desk.
“Okay, we’re back up to speed.” He glanced at the screen and this time Astri didn’t have to squint in order to see the flashing alert.
He looked up and his eyes met hers. Time seemed to stop. The moment extended while neither of them moved.
She reached down, took out her blaster, and fired.
One of the things Hydra liked about her job as an Imperial Inquisitor was the attire. She liked feeling enveloped in the robe that swept the floor and the hood that, if worn properly, completely shadowed her face. She had been raised in a tiny hut with a silent, savage uncle, and darkness brought her not comfort, but a sense of where she belonged.
She had been scratching out an existence on her homeworld, serving her uncle and enduring him, when Palpatine had risen to power. She had seen him on the HoloNet news when he declared himself Emperor.
“Just what we need,” her uncle had said, and spat on the floor. “Another politician in charge. Nothing to do with us.”
But something in Hydra thrilled to it. One person taking on the challenge of ruling a galaxy.
As she cleaned the floor that day, as she herded the animals the next, as she lay awake in the cold night, it had slowly come upon her that her situation prepared her exactly for this new way the galaxy had turned. She knew how to serve power. She knew both cunning and subservience. Now she could use her skills to serve a better master.
She had left that day. She knew where she belonged.
It had taken her months to find the right way to break in. She had found work, but no opportunity to rise. She wasn’t a talker, and she had never learned the art of subtle flattery, advancing your cause by breathing compliments in a dullard’s ear. She was only good at watching. And efficiency. She came to see that the Empire valued efficiency more than anything else. And that was what would transform the galaxy, she was sure. Efficiency would streamline travel and communication and industry, and the galaxy would be a beautiful thing, running like an enormous BRT computer, a humming majesty of a thing.
Her efficiency was noticed finally. Lord Vader put her on the Inquisitor’s team and checked in with her, making sure she was advancing and receiving important assignments. That had puzzled her, because one of the things she admired about him was that he didn’t seem to be the type to care about those things. Then she realized that he had placed her there for another reason. It was simple: He wanted her to tell him what the other Inquisitors were doing, who was close to Sano Sauro, and if any assignments came from the Emperor himself.
Hydra was pleased to do this. Lord Vader was next to t
he Emperor. It gave her a thrill to be valued by someone so powerful. When she was made Head Inquisitor she obtained her reward. Her first reward. She knew there would be more to come.
This was the first time he’d given her an important assignment. Of course she had reported to him on Ferus Olin’s activities, but that had just involved keeping her eyes and ears open. She hadn’t come up with much. And her work on Alderaan hadn’t pleased the Emperor. Hydra had felt her status slide, and it had made her sick inside. She couldn’t fail at this job. She had nowhere else to go.
But now Lord Vader had asked her to do something that was obviously important. If she did well, no doubt he would pass along word of her prowess to the Emperor.
Then I might have need of you, he had said. Hydra thrilled to the memory of it.
The comm unit signaled, and she answered it. She was in luck. The ship had been spotted. It had been snared in a routine stop that was starting to be instituted in the Core. Imperial ships would pick a quadrant and order all ships to report to a nearby space station. There they would wait in rows until their registries and papers were checked. It was a massive inconvenience for so many, but it showed everyone who was in charge.
Apparently a mechanic on an out-of-the-way spaceport had sent out a message. The ship had filed false registry numbers and had taken off without clearance. It was just luck that it had been caught in the snare.
No, not luck, Hydra thought. Efficiency. Put enough controls on gateways in the galaxy and you were bound to catch what you were looking for.
She was close to the space station. She ordered the official to detain the ship. She would be there soon to arrest its passengers.
“So what do you think will happen to the ship after we complete the mission?” Trever asked Ferus. They were alone in the cockpit. The ship was now in hyperspace, safe for now.
“Good question,” Ferus said. “We should probably talk about that at the meeting. We have two fast, new ships. We can decide who needs them most.”
“I’ve already decided,” Trever said.
Ferus laughed. “Ah, let me guess. Would that be you?”
“Hey, I’m in the resistance. And I need a ship. Therefore...” Trever shrugged. “C’mon, Ferus, let’s take this one. It’s such a sweet ride. These sublight engines really crank. I know we had a little engine trouble, but once we get down there and really get a look at her, we can tweak her. Put in an extra ion drive for a backup system and we’ll be golden.”
“The used parts dealer told me that these new engines sometimes have problems with the transpasitors and magnetic fields,” Ferus said. “It seemed like he was telling the truth—wait a second.” Suddenly he bounded out of his chair. In a moment he’d accessed the engine panel and climbed down.
“Going to check?” Trever asked. “Good idea. Do you need a glow-lamp down there?”
Trever heard Ferus grunt, as if he were trying to use some muscle to loosen a part.
“Need a hand?”
Ferus reappeared, hauling himself up and then sitting on the floor of the cockpit. “We have a problem. There’s a tracer beacon on the ship. When the parts dealer mentioned a magnetic storm, it didn’t make sense. Then I remembered that sometimes tracer beacons have a small magnetic field. If it’s placed close to a transpasitor, it could affect it.”
“An activated tracer beacon?” Trever couldn’t wrap his mind around it. “But how can that be? Do you think it’s some sort of security system that the salesman back on Coruscant didn’t get a chance to dismantle?”
Ferus shook his head. “I wish it were so.”
“But that means...”
“There’s a spy somewhere in our group.”
“But that’s impossible!” Trever said. “Everyone on this ship is a resistance fighter.”
“I know. But someone on the ship is a spy.”
They didn’t say anything for a moment, just stared at each other. Ferus went over the process in his head. Over the past twenty-six hours they’d traveled to three spaceports and picked up twenty-one resistance leaders. He had always been in the cockpit where the engine compartment was located, or Trever had. Except for their unscheduled stop. That was the only time the cockpit had been empty.
“While I was out looking for the part, did you notice anyone go into the cockpit?”
Trever thought carefully. “We were all in the salon most of the time. But then when we were getting ready to move to the cantina, someone could have sneaked in. I didn’t keep track of everyone. I didn’t know...”
“It’s all right, Trever. You had no reason to suspect anyone.”
“What are we going to do now?”
“Well, the tracer can’t work steadily in hyperspace, so we’re all right for the moment. As soon as we leave hyperspace, we’ve got to contact Ry-Gaul and Solace and arrange a meeting together before we get to the asteroid. We need to go over all the ships before we proceed. We can’t assume that the other ships are clear. We can’t bring a spy to the asteroid, so we either have to cancel the meeting or figure out who it is. And we have to do all this fast before we put the whole group in three ships.”
Ferus jumped to his feet and went to the nav computer. “We need someplace close to the asteroid, but not too close. Not a spaceport. Not a planet...”
“A moon,” Trever said.
“An uninhabited moon.” Ferus flipped through the possibilities quickly as the star map hologram flashed. He reached out a finger and pointed. “Here. XT987. Now let’s just hope that Solace and Ry-Gaul are within range.”
After he reverted to normal space, Ferus contacted Ry-Gaul and Solace and was relieved when both responded. Now he had the hard task of informing the resistance leaders that they would have to land. Ferus presented it as a necessary step before proceeding to the base, but there were grumbles and some dissent.
“Every stop we make puts us in danger,” Boar pointed out.
The fractures in the group were widening. This was a group who had risked everything to resist the Empire, but they each had their own ideas. They were too used to danger and uncertainty to panic, but they weren’t happy.
Ferus was glad to see Ry-Gaul’s ship and Flame’s cruiser already waiting when he arrived. This meeting would have to be quick. There was no telling where the Imperial forces were at this point, only that they were monitoring his progress across the galaxy. A short stop wouldn’t cause much alarm; something prolonged might cause them to investigate.
He signaled to Ry-Gaul, Solace, and Flame to join him. “We’ve got trouble,” he said. “I’m sure there is an informer aboard my ship. There’s a tracer beacon planted in my ship’s engine. I put a trace scrambler on it for now. It’ll fool whoever is tracing us, but not for long.”
Ry-Gaul didn’t react. He never did. Solace narrowed her eyes, and Flame looked shocked. “That’s impossible,” she said. “They are all heroes.”
“So we thought,” Ferus said.
Solace shook her head. “This means the Empire knows about Moonstrike.”
“It doesn’t matter if they know,” Ferus said. “It only matters if they find out who’s involved. None of the members knew each other before this trip.”
“What was the time frame when you were away from the cockpit?” Ry-Gaul asked. “Do you have any idea who did it?”
Ferus shook his head. “That’s the problem. I can’t narrow it down.”
“We can’t let this derail the meeting,” Flame said. “I promised them all safe passage.” She clasped her hands together. “This is a disaster!”
“Well, we can’t lead them to the asteroid,” Solace said. “That’s clear. Ry-Gaul, let’s check our ships just to be sure.” Ry-Gaul nodded shortly. To Ferus, it seemed that Ry-Gaul had something he wanted to say, but he wasn’t ready to say it. He resolved to ask him privately.
Solace and Ry-Gaul went off to check the ships. Flame turned to Ferus. “Who do you think it is?” she asked. “You must have some suspicions.”
“I
don’t,” Ferus said. “Boar Benu has been argumentative...suspicious of everything I do. It could be a way to throw suspicion off of him.”
Flame nodded slowly. “He was in an Imperial jail for a time. They could have gotten to him there.”
“That’s not a reason to suspect him,” Ferus said. “I’ve been in an Imperial jail. Twice.”
“If Ry-Gaul and Solace find that their ships are clear, maybe we should load all the members—minus the ones you were ferrying—onto one ship,” Flame suggested. “Give me the coordinates and I’ll take them to the asteroid. The Jedi can remain and set up a trap.”
“It’s not a bad plan, but let’s wait and see what Ry-Gaul and Solace propose,” Ferus said.
Ry-Gaul and Solace returned. “My ship is clean,” Solace reported.
“Mine, too,” Ry-Gaul said.
“Flame proposes that she take most of the group on until we figure out who the spy is,” Ferus said.
“We’ve come this far,” Flame said. “We can’t stop now.”
“I think one of us should take my ship and lead them on a wild goose chase,” Ferus said. “That will buy us time.”
“Ry-Gaul, maybe you should do that,” Solace said. “You can leave the ship on an out-of-the-way planet, with the tracer beacon activated. Then Flame will take the resistance leader and pick you up and proceed onward. But first, we have to trap the spy.”
Ry-Gaul spoke for the first time. “The leaders must be getting restless. Solace, Flame, why don’t you see if you can calm them down.”
The two went off to the other two ships. Ferus turned to Ry-Gaul. “Ask Solace to be a diplomat? You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I wanted to talk to you alone.” Ry-Gaul’s silver eyes stayed on Flame as she walked away. “You are assuming the tracer was placed aboard while you were off finding the new part,” Ry-Gaul began.
“That was the only time I left the cockpit,” Ferus said.
“You are making an assumption.”
Ferus thought for a moment. It took him several seconds to catch up to Ry-Gaul. “I’m assuming that the tracer was placed after we got the ship. But we could have obtained the ship with the tracer already on board and activated.”