The problem was his new enforcer. Darth Vader had appeared out of nowhere. Sauro felt him like an electrojabber in his side. Vader was standing between him and the Emperor, and he couldn’t have that.
Vader was consolidating his power, planet by planet, system by system. He was bringing governments in line. Already his name was spoken with fear.
Sauro didn’t know where Vader had come from, but he knew he wasn’t a politician. He didn’t know how to maneuver his way through powerful blocs and strategic alliances. In the end, that would bring him down. He was just a thug.
Palpatine needed someone with elegance and subtlety. Someone like him.
Sauro believed in careful plotting. He didn’t act in haste. He needed to outmaneuver Vader, but it would take time. It might take years. He would wait. If Vader was proving to be the Emperor’s enforcer, Sauro would be the Emperor’s strategist. Eventually he would demonstrate to Palpatine that he should be his second in command, not Vader.
The trick was to find out what he needed to do to impress Palpatine. He had to go above and beyond what he’d done in the past. He had to anticipate. Not answer the needs of yesterday, but the needs of tomorrow.
He was good at that.
His comlink signaled at last. The miniaturized hologram of Bog beamed onto his desk.
Bog bowed. “Everything is going according to plan, good friend.”
“And what does that mean?” Sauro asked. Bog was always vague. He seemed to think that if he wasn’t pinned down, he could be seen as marvelously efficient.
“The Jedi is under surveillance. The sensor tag adhered to his boot as he stepped forward to greet me, just as I’d planned. Unfortunately a seeker droid tracking him because I believe in backup met an unfortunate accident. Smashed into a building. The traffic in the space lanes is unruly because of this situation ”
“You idiot, it smashed into a building because the Jedi wanted it to,” Sauro said. “It wasn’t an accident. If you’ve got a sensor in his boot, what do you need a seeker for? He’ll spot it no matter what it does. Just track him with the sensor. Where is he?”
“In the Hundred Seventh District. It’s in the northwest area of the city ”
“I don’t care where it is I want to know if he’s found anything!”
“Hard to know,” Bog said.
“It’s your job to know,” Sauro said irritably. “Find out.”
He cut the communication abruptly. He’d have to monitor Bog more closely. Sauro himself didn’t get where he was today by underestimating a Jedi, even a failed Jedi like Ferus Olin.
He swung his datapad closer. He tapped on the keys. He was taking no chances. He doubted that Ferus Olin was following the Emperor’s orders without his own plan.
Sauro placed a secret code in his files. A neat booby trap. If someone tried unauthorized access, he’d know it immediately.
No one must be allowed to interfere with his plans.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Wil and Arnie dropped Solace, Trever, and Oryon off on a bluff overlooking the Imperial hangar and adjacent landing platform. Due to the large number of vehicles and troops needed for the garrison, it had been built on the outskirts of Ussa, on an empty plain that stretched toward the foothills. Solace, Oryon, and Trever lay flat, watching the traffic below.
“If we can get to the holding pen for the airspeeder transports, we can go in that hangar door,” Solace said. “It’s not being used that much.”
To Trever, it looked as though it was being used every few minutes. Leave it to a Jedi to say something was easy when it was so clearly impossible.
Solace gave him one of her rare smiles. “I can see you doubt me.”
“I never argue with you or Ferus,” Trever said. “What’s the point?”
“Good philosophy.” Solace slipped her liquid cable out of her utility belt. “Ready?”
Oryon nodded. “I’ll take Trever.”
Great. The next thing Trever knew, he was hanging on to the strong broad back of Oryon and falling through thin air, the wind whistling past his ears. They landed on the ground with a bump. They were concealed here by boulders, and they quickly snaked through them until they were close to the hangar door.
Two stormtroopers were conferring near the entry. After a moment, they both turned to walk inside.
Now, Solace signaled.
She ran across the few meters of open ground. Trever followed, expecting at any moment to be blasted into oblivion. But they reached the safety of the wall. Solace peered around the corner into the interior of the hangar.
She signaled, and slipped inside. Trever followed. The hangar was connected to docking bays that ran the length of the structure. Arcs of durasteel rods held the plastoid retractable roof in place. They stood behind an equipment loader and scanned the space.