The track outside the officers’ gymnasium at Fleet Headquarters wound its way for a kilometer over hilly, wooded ground. Secured, shielded, and privacy-screened, it had been used many times for discreet, deniable meetings-not least by the man for whom Admiral Ackbar waited in the cool morning air.
Ackbar stood at the edge of the line of trees, a few strides from the cinder track, and looked back toward the rising sun as a solitary runner crested a small rise.
As the runner drew near, Ackbar stepped out from the trees. “I see you are still a creature of habit, Hiram, ” he said with cheerful gruffness.
Admiral Hiram Drayson slowed from his brisk jog to a walk. “I see you’re still as slothful as ever. It’s been a long time since you’ve been in the gym. “
“I do not much enjoy coming here, but sometimes I have no choice, ” Ackbar said, falling in beside Drayson. “Will you take pity and walk with me a while? “
“I think I can accommodate myself to your pace, ” said Drayson. “What’s new? “
“I had a visit last night from the senior analyst of Asset Tracking, ” said Ackbar.
“Indeed. “
“So-you have already heard. “
“I heard there was a disturbance at your residences-nothing more. “
“I will choose to believe that, ” Ackbar said. “Ayddar has uncovered something which concerns me, and about which I would like your counsel. But I did not want to be seen coming to your office, or allow this to be placed on the Fleet net. “
“Go on. “
Even at their modest pace, Ackbar was beginning to pant. “Ayddar has been studying the Imperial order of battle taken from theGnisnal a month ago. He has found a discrepancy. “
“Another Katana? “
“Nothing so large or clear-cut, ” Ackbar said. “What the young man has discovered is this. There are an unusual number of vessels assigned to the Empire’s Black Sword Command which we cannot account for. “
“Black Sword Command defended the
center of the Empire’s
Rim territories, ” Drayson noted. “Praxlis, Corridan, the entire Kokash and Farlax sectors. “
“Yes, ” Ackbar said, nearly gasping for breath. He placed a hand on Drayson’s shoulder and turned him.
“Please-may we stop? “
“Of course. “
“Thank you, ” said Ackbar, his neck and upper chest heaving. “I apologize. The older I get, the harder it is for me to keep my lungs wet in air. “
“Apology not necessary. You were saying-“
“Yes, of course. ” Ackbar glanced up and down the track, then dropped his voice. “According to Ayddar, the order of battle for Black Sword includes forty-four capital ships which we have not seen nor heard of since the fall of the Emperor. None smaller than a Victory-class Star Destroyer. Three are Superclass vessels. “
Drayson whistled. “What do you think of his analysis? “
“I find it indisputable. “
“You know that that’s more than enough firepower to overwhelm any planetary system in the New Republic, ” said Drayson. “Coruscant included. “
“Yes, ” said Ackbar. “If those ships still exist, they would represent a serious threat. “
“If? “
“If, ” Ackbar repeated. “You see, there are many wrinkles to this matter. All but five of the forty-four were either newly laid keels or in a yard somewhere for refit or major repairs. “
“Which yards? “
“Ayddar cannot say. The names given are either not known to us, or are unknown code names for places we do know. “
“Or they may not exist at all the yards or the ships, ” said Drayson.
“Don’t rule out the possibility that the order of battle is padded with paper assets. If neither Daala nor Thrawn could lay hands on these ships to throw at us-“
“That is a consideration. “
Drayson frowned. “What are the chances that some or all of them were simply renamed, and we have seen them since? We’ve certainly known Imperial Command to play that game. “
“Ayddar tells me that, at most, that could account for five of the missing vessels. “
“Which would still leave a substantial force unaccounted for, ” mused Drayson. “How long after the destruction of theGnisnal did the Black Sword Command withdraw from the Rim? “
“Less than a year. “
“Long enough for at least some of those vessels to have been completed or repaired, ” said Drayson.
“More than half, if the projected commissioning dates in the order of battle were met. “
“So the Empire may have taken upwards of twenty more ships than we knew back with them to the Deep Core. “