Veers was held to an uneasy silence, the tone of Luke's voice demanding no less. "You see, I know what you are, Veers. I know why you're here and I know what you think it will gain you. You invested a great deal of time and effort in paying Lord Vader lipservice while you informed the Emperor of his every move. For whatever reason, he chose to ignore that- I however, am not Vader. I do not tolerate such actions from those close to me."
Veers had paled to ashen white, eyes wide at the direct accusation, "My Lord, I wouldn't dream of..."
Luke set his head on one side, incensed, "DON'T..... don't lie to me, Veers."
The General fell to silence before the outburst and Luke held his eye for long seconds, shoulders tense, jaw tight, voice filled with quiet malice now, so clearly at the edge of exploding.
"If I once catch you delivering information to Palpatine about myself or my crew... I will turn your smug face inside out, Veers. And if you think that your affiliation with the Emperor will buy you any immunity from my wrath, then you are sadly mistaken. If I invested the greater part of every day for the rest of this voyage making sure that your last days were a living hell before I finally ripped you apart, then I can guarantee that the most I would get from the Emperor would be a rap on the knuckles for dividing my attention whilst on duty."
Luke set slowly forward as he spoke, voice low with undisguised menace, uncanny, mismatched eyes narrowed in threat. "You come in here and you have the gall to think that you can stand before a Sith and tell bare-faced lies. You assume that because Lord Vader allowed you that indulgence then I will do the same... You are gravely mistaken, General. I will be watching you very closely. Members of my staff will be watching you very closely. Members of your own staff - those you think you can trust - will be watching you very closely. All day, every day. I am just waiting for you to stumble, Veers, privately or professionally, because the moment that you do... you're mine. Do we have an understanding now, General?"
Veers remained locked in shocked silence for long seconds, intimidation and uncertainty freezing him to the spot as the black-clad man came to a slow halt before him, tense expression completely composed though his eyes were seething and his low voice clipped with barely restrained fury.
"If I were you, Veers, I would say 'Yes Sir' and I would salute smartly, then I would turn around and walk very quickly from this room... and think myself very lucky to have gotten out before that volatile Sithspawn of a Commander lost any last semblance of control. And I would make it my mission for the remainder of this journey to stay the hell out of his way because he is clearly on a very, very short fuse."
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Mara watched General Veers walk shakily from The Commander's ready-room to the aft turbolifts and enter without a sideways glance. Frowning, she made her way to the ready-room and knocked lightly before entering, Skywalker looking up from his desk, that easy, open expression making him seem far younger than his years.
"What did you say to the General?" She asked as she wandered over, "He looked pretty rattled as he left."
Luke shrugged, resting his hand on his chin, fingers steepled before his scarred lips, "Really? Just clarifying our working relationship. Nothing I haven't said to a hundred others like him."
Mara scowled as Skywalker turned back to reading his automemo, though she kept her voice casual, "You don't like him, do you?"
Luke didn't look up, attention seemingly on his work though Mara knew it was nothing of the sort. He had that brittle edginess to him right now, that volatile, quicksilver sense of someone teetering at the brink, like the calm eye in the centre of the storm. it was as compelling, as charismatic as ever to Mara.
"I liked my old General." Skywalker said easily without looking up. "We worked well together. We knew how each-other thought."
"You know how everybody thinks." Mara countered.
Luke shrugged, glancing up. "Yes, but people who understand how I think are few and far between."
"Tell me about it." Mara said dryly, "Maybe you'll get General Reiss back one day."
Skywalker smiled that easy, charming smile, "Yes- I'm sure I will."
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
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"Mon, you need to get up here." It was Leia, voice full of apprehension, making Mon grimace in the privacy of her office.
"On my way." She didn't bother asking what had happened - after the last few weeks, she had a pretty good idea, and the details would become apparent soon enough, no doubt.
Mon entered Ops to see Leia, Ackbar and Massa staring at status screens, the readouts still too far away for Mon to decipher. "Report?"
"They have Toll'daa." Massa said without preamble, "His whole unit."
Mon blanched, stepping forward, "Is this confirmed?"
Toll'daa was the leader of yet another of the deep-cover Bothan spy cells which routinely supplied the Rebellion with information. The arrest of his troop would make a total of five Rebel-biased cells which the Empire had now closed down in the last month. Or rather, the 701st - The Wolf's own private little army.
Ever since he'd been let loose from Coruscant he'd been hounding the Bothhans, covert, plain-clothes units of his 701st turning up everywhere, quietly taking down the deep-cover Bothan spy cells then disappearing back to the Core Systems with their prisoners in tow. Very neat and very professional, as they always were. And it wasn't just complete cells - they were taking the trouble to hunt down individuals, those who worked in isolation, any Bothan who had any connection with the spy rings which served the Alliance.
It was a personal little vendetta being methodically executed against those who had been involved, no matter how insignificantly, in the assassination attempt. Leia's anonymous contact from onboard the Peerless had smuggled out several messages of warning, though he had no specific details. Why exactly it was being visited specifically on the Bothans she didn't know- so far, despite Vader's anticipated clampdown, the Alliance itself had escaped relatively unscathed, but that couldn't be expected to continue.
"They missed a scheduled contact, and then Toll'daa's name just came up in a routine report from the SSD Peerless back to Intel on Coruscant- encrypted of course. Ten others are listed, so they're one short - either someone escaped or they were killed in the raid."
Mon sighed, fighting back her rising panic, "Where are they getting their information from? Someone's supplying this- they didn't already know about all those groups. They couldn't have."
Obviously The Heir had his own informants outside official Imperial Intelligence, but to date they had no idea who they were.
"I would surmise that they've known for several weeks and been taking their time to get in place and watch for any bolt-holes or safe exit routes whilst they were waiting for The Heir to be released from Coruscant." the Intel Chief said, voice calm and unaffected as ever. "This is a planned campaign - it hasn't just happened. The attacks are too close together. The Heir must have been gathering information and assigning tactical groups to their targets whilst he was still in the Palace on Coruscant."
"Then why not take them all down in a single strike?" Leia murmured.
"That I don't know." Tag admitted, eyes still to the information scrolling down the screen. "There must be a tactical advantage, otherwise The Wolf wouldn't do it. I doubt its coincidence and I don't think he's getting information from one group which condemns the next, though that may be what he wants us to believe - that they're breaking under interrogation. Its more likely to be a psychological ploy to panic the Bothans into severing ties to the Alliance. He of all people would know how much we rely on the Bothans- he may be trying to isolate us."