“May I at least offer you something to—”
“Tell me, Ambassador,” Vader interrupted again, “do you ever leave this compound of yours, with its high sensor-studded walls and company of armed sentries?
“Of course.”
“Then no doubt you have seen the obscene scrawlings and defacements displayed on every other building between here and this planet’s wretched excuse for a spaceport.”
She showed him a sardonic look. “My lord, as quickly as I have them expunged, new ones spring up.”
“And what of the criminal rabble that cluster on every corner?” Tarkin asked.
She laughed shortly. “They proliferate even more quickly than the defacements, Governor Tarkin. The moment Black Sun moved out, the Crymorah moved in.”
“The Crymorah,” Vader said.
“Actually a local affiliate known as the Sugi.”
Vader seemed to tuck the information away.
“You need to make an example of them,” Tarkin said.
The ambassador looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “You think I haven’t tried?”
Tarkin cocked an eyebrow. “Meaning what, exactly?”
She started to reply, then blew out her breath and began again. “I’ve made appeal after appeal to Moff Therbon for additional stormtroopers, to no avail.”
“And if we see to it that you have additional resources, you’ll do what must be done?”
She continued to regard Tarkin with skepticism. “Excuse me, Governor, but I don’t think you understand the situation fully. Officiating here has been like serving a sentence for a crime I didn’t commit. The stormtroopers have a saying, Better spaced than based on Belderone, and we’re a far cry from Belderone.” She blew out her breath. “Yes, I can leave this compound, but my life is at risk whenever I do. Hence, the white wardrobe.” She glanced between Tarkin and Vader. “Maybe you two haven’t noticed, but Murkhana isn’t Coruscant. The population here hates me. I sometimes think Murkhana hates me. I’m held responsible for every Imperial tax increase and every minor change to the legal system. The smugglers are the only ones who garner respect, because they’re the only ones providing goods — even if at exorbitant rates. As for the crime lords, they’re the only ones powerful enough to provide protection from the thieves and murderers this planet has bred since the war ended.”
Vader took a step in her direction. “I will be sure to let the Emperor know of your dissatisfaction, Ambassador.”
She didn’t retreat. “I sure as hell wish someone would. I mean, I’m humbled that the Emperor deemed me worthy to serve him, but this assignment—”
Vader thrust his forefinger at her. “Allowing a cell of dissidents to operate under your watch is not what I would call serving the Emperor, Ambassador.”
“Dissidents?” She shook her head in genuine bewilderment. “I don’t understand.”
Instead of explaining, Vader turned his attention to the Koorivar. “You are the intelligence asset?”
“I am Bracchia,” the Koorivar said in little more than a whisper.
Tarkin knew that it was nothing more than a code name, but it was the only name Deputy Director Harus Ison had been willing to provide. “You were a Republic operative during the war.”
Bracchia nodded. “I was, Governor Tarkin. I assisted in your anti-Shadowfeed operation here.”
Tarkin adopted a thin-lipped expression of wariness. “Tell us about the Corporate Alliance building — the former medcenter.”
The Koorivar nodded in deference. “Before entering, I watched the building every day for a week, Governor Tarkin. When I determined it to be unoccupied, I entered and made a quick inventory of the devices as directed.”
“As directed?” Tarkin asked in surprise.
But before Bracchia could respond, Vader said, “You entered how?”
The Koorivar turned to him. “Through sliding doors, Lord Vader. I’m not aware of any other entrance, and the devices were just where I was told I would find them.”
“How could you fail to notice the turbolift?” Vader said.
The Koorivar looked at the floor. “My apologies, Lord Vader. I was fixated on investigating the devices.”
Tarkin placed himself deliberately between Bracchia and Vader. “Are you saying that you didn’t make the discovery on your own?”
“No, Governor, I did not. I was merely tasked with verifying a report sent to me from Coruscant.”
Tarkin’s brow furrowed. “From Imperial Security?”
Bracchia nodded. “From my case officer at ISB, yes.”
Tarkin had his mouth open to pursue the matter when his comlink sounded and he prized the device from its belt pouch.
“We’re at the building, Governor Tarkin.”
Tarkin recognized the voice of Sergeant Crest. “At what building?”
“Back at the Corporate Alliance building, sir.”
“You’re not at the landing field?”
Crest took a moment to reply. “Sir, you told us to return here after we’d off-loaded the devices at the corvette.”
“Who told you?”
“You, sir.” Crest sounded as confused as Tarkin.
“I sent no such orders, Sergeant.”
“Excuse me, sir, but the order came by holotransmission from you just after we’d transferred the last of the devices you marked for the ship. Without the gunship, we had to commandeer an airspeeder at the landing field.”
“Who is with the ship?” Vader stepped in to say toward the comlink’s audio pickup.
“Two of our group, Lord Vader, in addition to the corvette’s captain and comm officer.”
Tarkin felt blood rush from his face. “Sergeant, return to the ship immediately.”
“On our way, sir.”
Vader looked at Tarkin while he was contacting the Carrion Spike’s captain. “A second feature from the makers of the false holovid transmitted to the moon base?”
“In which I am now the principal actor,” Tarkin said, trying not to sound too rattled. Checking the comlink again, he added: “I can’t raise the ship.”
“That happens all the time, Governor Tarkin,” the ambassador said. “If it’s not the city’s power grid, it’s the communications array.”
He glanced at her with his mouth open, an uneasy feeling beginning to coil in his chest. Fingers dancing over the comlink’s keypad, he opened a second channel that allowed him to communicate with the corvette itself, and entered a code that commanded the Carrion Spike’s slave system to prevent anyone from so much as approaching the ship. But the system didn’t respond.
“Nothing,” he said to Vader. “Not from the command cabin, not from the ship itself.”
Vader whirled on the ambassador. “Contact Coruscant by HoloNet immediately.”
She spread her hands in apology. “Lord Vader, Murkhana hasn’t had HoloNet communications since early in the Clone Wars.” She cut her eyes to Tarkin. “The HoloNet was destroyed during the first Republic assault.”
Tarkin recalled. The relay had been destroyed as a means of disrupting Dooku’s Shadowfeeds to worlds along the Perlemian Trade Route. His thoughts reeled.
“Send a subspace transmission,” Vader was saying.
“Governor Tarkin,” Crest said from the comlink, “we’re back at the landing field.” He fell silent for a long moment, and when he spoke again his voice betrayed astonishment. “Sir, the Carrion Spike is nowhere in sight.”
Tarkin stared at the comlink. “What?”
“It’s not here, sir. It must have launched.”
“Impossible!” Tarkin said.