[Legacy Of The Force] - 08(55)

Just one more push. Just one more, to break the back of resistance. Make an example of Fondor.

The Imperial Remnant was joining him, and that made all the difference.

Caedus’s sense of standing on the brink of a pivotal mo-ment was growing stronger. The state of galactic alle-giances might not have looked in his favor numerically, but the recruitment of the Moffs to his cause was a coup. Their military weight was what he’d wanted most, but their sphere of influence-which also included the banking centers of Muunilinst and Mygeeto-was a prize in itself.

I have resources, should I need them, but I can also choke off the resources of others…. economics is a weapon, too.

“Tahiti, “he said. “Where have you been?”

Tahiri sat down in the chair facing his desk, now looking the ideal junior lieutenant. She’d even pinned up her hair. “I thought you could tell. Can’t you detect me?”

Caedus activated the holochart and magnified the Fon-dor system, moving asset icons into different positions. “I don’t have time to keep an eye on everyone. And talking of detection, are you any farther forward with locating the Jedi Council’s base?”

“No, I am not-sir.”

“Why?”

“There’s a lot of galaxy to search, and the StealthX needs regular maintenance. I lost one day already.”

“I realize the service schedule seems to have been stepped up, but that doesn’t explain the lack of results from a Jedi.”

“Sir, that’s unfair.” Tahiri was taking her new military status seriously; she hadn’t called him Jacen in days. “If this is a priority, then you have far more powerful Force senses than me, and you should be able to locate them. I still think they’d bolt to one of their old haunts.”

Caedus didn’t think Luke was so unimaginative, and would know that, of course; so he might do it, and head for somewhere like Hoth or Endor, as much to relive some sad nostalgia for his youth as to hide. But Luke would also know that searching Hoth or some Force-forsaken wilderness would tie up Caedus’s scarce elite resources, and so he would be happy for Caedus to believe he was a fool, or have him lock himself into indecision trying to guess Luke’s strategy.

I will not give Luke the satisfaction. He’s yesterday’s man. I do not dance to his tune.

“He’ll want us to waste time searching his old haunts, “Caedus said. “So we won’t.”

He moved Star Destroyers and frigates around the Tapani sector chart with his fingertip, considering his options for bringing Fondor back into line. In some ways, it mattered more than Corellia. Corellia had always been a thorn in every government’s side, a planet of hobby dissidents who didn’t care who ran the show or what the policies were as long as they could rebel against them. Perhaps the worst thing to impose on Corellia was a regime in Coruscant that agreed with them on their every whining objection, sending them into a spiral of confusion. But Fondor was psychologically different. It was a regular world, usually a compliant and responsible world, and so its secession from the GA was a more dangerous signal to others in the GA. Caedus was sure this had emboldened other systems to break ranks. He had to be seen to crack down now, something he should have done months ago had he not been distracted by more domestic matters.

I haven’t thought about Allana for hours. Or Tenel Ka.

If I try hard, I can forget them, in time.

“After we take back Fondor, I’ll join you in hunting him, “Caedus said. He didn’t plan to make the same mistakes as he had with Corellia, by listening to weak-willed bureaucrats who didn’t have the stomach for a fight. I told Cal Omas that we should crush Corellia right away, and nip the rebellion in the bud. It’s his fault for limiting me. And Niathal’s. I’ve proven my point. Either you put out a forest fire right away, or it goes on burning underground even when the surface vegetation is ash. Caedus knew all about forest fires now. He liked the analogy. Just as the real forest fires on Kashyyyk would enable new healthy growth to spring up again, so did purging the old order of chaos and petty planetary politics. “‘After Fondor. Are you spending any time around fleet personnel?”

“Sorry?”

“I meant-do you listen to the mood on the lower decks?”

“I-I ate in the mess at HQ a couple of times, yes.”

“And?”

Caedus made himself forget Fondor for a moment and stepped back, eyes closed, to quiet his mind and focus on a randomly chosen point in time and space, the junior ratings’ mess in Fleet HQ. If he shut out everything else, he could sense the collective mood of fleet personnel, taste the blend of anticipation, fear, curiosity, loneliness, even the worries about pay and promotion-as if it was one entity. He sank deeper into the swirl of light, sound, and texture, sensing the mess as white noise, and then snatches of specific emotions and chatter welled up from the blur in sharp clarity. I don’t believe it.