“General Kyte was the only one who reacted to his entrance,” Pellaeon said. “As such, he’s my prime suspect With luck, he may panic and lead my Intelligence team to some of the others involved.”
“Kyte won’t panic,” Ramic said. “But he might think it wise to alert them.”
“Either way will suit me,” Pellaeon said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to spend a few minutes with Lord Graemon.”
“Pulling on another thread of the web?”
Pellaeon smiled grimly. “Something like that. I’ll see you and the others in an hour.”
“Very well, sir.” For a moment Ramic studied his face. “I’d advise you to be careful, though. Every web has something nasty in the middle … and whoever’s in the middle of this one could well decide that with a peace treaty in the works the Empire doesn’t need a Supreme Fleet Commander anymore. Especially one who’s pulling pieces out of his web.”
Pellaeon looked over at the room where Lord Graemon waited. “Yes,” he said quietly. “That thought has occurred to me.”
***
The secret door slid open, and Disra looked up as Tierce strode into the room. “Well?” he demanded. “Did you get through to Dorja?”
“Finally, yes.” Tierce nodded. “He reports the mission was more or less successful.”
“More or less’?”
Tierce shrugged. “Dorja said he had full-spectrum jamming going from the moment he emerged from hyperspace. but that some of Colonel Vermel’s signal might have gotten through before they took his Corvette aboard.”
Disra hissed between his teeth. “Sloppy.”
“That observation has already been expressed to him by our Grand Admiral,” Tierce said. “Apparently there were some X-wings and an unidentified yacht off Morishim that happened to be hanging around the Corvette’s incoming vector when he dropped out of hyperspace.”
Disra snorted. “In my experience, X-wings don’t just happen’ to hang around places.”
“I agree,” Tierce said. “My guess is that they spotted the incoming ships somehow and went out to take a look. Possibly using the old Imperial spy center we abandoned on the surface, though how they would have located it I don’t know.”
“Did Dorja have any idea how much of Vermel’s message might have gotten through?”
“A few words at the most,” Tierce assured him. “And that assumes one or more of the nearby ships even had the right equipment, which is unlikely.”
Disra pondered. “Yes,” he conceded. “And even if they did, a few words aren’t going to grab anyone’s attention. No one who counts, anyway.”
“Especially considering how many other crises are about to come down on their heads,” Tierce agreed.
“Right,” Disra said. “What did you have Dorja do with the ship and crew?”
“He’s currently en route back here, doing a quick interrogation on the way. Most of the crew, I suspect, will have had no idea what Vermel’s mission was; those we can bring back into service with vague intimations that Vermel was up to some sort of treason. As for Vermel himself-” He shrugged. “I thought we’d lock him up somewhere quiet for the moment. We might find a use for him later.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Disra said. “Any word from Trazzen and the others?”
“We’ve received their last scheduled report,” Tierce said. “They’ll be out of contact from now on until summoned.”
“Um,” Disra grunted. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.
And yet, this whole thing with Vermel and his possibly leaked message bothered him somehow. Surely no one could have caught any of it; and even if they had, surely they would dismiss it out of hand as smugglers or a simple theft-and-defection attempt gone bad. “It occurs to me, Major,” he said slowly, “that perhaps we ought to push up our timetable a little. Just in case.”
There was a long moment of silence. “I suppose that would be possible,” Tierce said. “But I really don’t think it’s necessary. No one’s going to pay many attention to the incident over Morishim.”
Disra stared hard at him. “You’re certain of that?”
Tierce smiled thinly. “I guarantee it.”
***
The recording ran through to the end for the third time, and finally General Garm Bel Iblis shut it off. “About as clear as roiled mud,” he commented to Lando. “Still, I would have bet you couldn’t have gotten even this much through all that jamming. Very nicely done.”