Part 25 (1/2)
In the forward compartment he found a keypad and controls, but he had no idea how to program destinations. Up at the top he saw a red b.u.t.ton marked ”Return” and poised his hand above it. I don't know where this will take me, or how long it will take for me to get there, but any-where is better than here. He hit the b.u.t.ton and sat back in the hope he'd enjoy the ride.
34.
That's it, then. Loor smiled and killed the sound accompany-ing the holographic images of Nawara Ven's press confer-ence. The Twi'!ek had said the phrase. The New Republic would become Loor's new home. It's just as well Corran Horn is dead--our being on the same side would have killed him anyway.
Loor folded up a small transportable datapad and slipped it into his pocket. Once he left his office he would use a public access site to plug in and send the directions for his pickup to Nawara Ven. Sending it from his office would have been easier, but would have increased the probability that a copy of the message would fall into Isard's hands.
Though he planned to be hidden well away by the Rebels by the time she discovered he was missing, he wanted as much time for his disappearance to take place as possible.
At his desk he copied files from his desktop datapad to a datacard.
”Helvan, come here.”
One of his Special Intelligence operative cell leaders en-tered his office. ”Sir.”
Loor held the datacard out to him. ”There has just been an announcement concerning the Celchu trial that leads me to believe there will be a fair amount of attention centered on the proceedings today. We shall take advantage of that. These are the plans and authorization for a strike at the largest of the Republic's bacta storage areas, the one in In-visec.”
”The one guarded by Vorru's militia?”
”Is there a problem with that?”
”No, sir, the target is no more secure than any other Rebel facility. It is just that we have refrained from hitting targets he is guarding so far .... ”.
”Indeed.” Loor shrugged. ”An oversight on my part. Vorru thought himself immune to our wrath. He learns now he was wrong.”
A smile tried to squirm its way into the SIO man's face, but failed to do more than tug at the corners of his mouth. ”Sir, when do we strike?”
”Court begins early in the morning. Time the strike to occur with the first witness. That gives you approximately five hours.”
”It's done, sir.”
”Very good, Helvan. You make me proud.”
”Thank you, sir.”
The SIO man turned and practically ran from the office. Loor would have laughed, but he feared that might have betrayed his true intentions. The attack he had designed would call for a strike force of thirty SI operatives--three cells' worth. He designated a bacta facility as the target be-cause he knew lsard would approve of it and might set aside, even for a moment, her fears about him. He chose Vorru as a target both to strike at the man's vanity and so be could hurt the man personally before he sold him out to the Rebels. Stick the vibroblade in and modulate the oscillation rate.
Loor prepared the plans for transmission to Isard by adding a note stating he intended to personally supervise the operation, and then sent them. He shut down his datapad, then took one last look out the window of his sanctuary at the brilliant galaxy of synthetic stars bek)w him. There will be other towers and other chances to rise to such heights.
On a whim he turned on all of his lights and left them burning like a beacon in the night as he abandoned his office and set out on the most dangerous mission he had ever un-dertaken.
Rubbing sleep from her eyes, leila Wessiri entered Halla Et-tyk's office.
”You look as haggard as I feel.”
Halla looked up at her with bloodshot eyes. ”You don't know the half of it. Nawara Ven called me just past mid-night. l've spent two hours meeting with him and various Provo Council members. This is all madness.”
”Why tractor-beam me into it?”
Halla smiled. ”Because you've been the one who's har-bored little doubts about Tycho Celchu's guilt. We've got a witness now who can confirm his innocence. We have to bring him in, and you're going to help Nawara do the job.”
Iella blinked her eyes. ”A witness? Lai Nootka came forward?”
”Nope.” Halla sat back and mischievous light played through her brown eyes. ”Someone who demanded your presence. Said he'd only trust you to bring him in.”
Who could that be? Iella's eyes narrowed. ”Give me a name.”
”Can't. This office isn't secure enough.” Halla pointed toward the office window and the drapes drawn over it. ”Someone you knew well, once upon a time.”
Iella frowiled. Drapes? Curtains? Her jaw dropped open. Kirtan Loor? ”It can't be.”
”It is. Code name is Behemoth.”
”Right.” He's the biggest Intelligence agent we've brought in so far.
”What's the drill?”
Halla yawned. ”Sorry. Nawara just gave his little media conference so Behemoth knows the deal is set. Nawara will be coming here and will be waiting until Behemoth can get him a message about pickup. I've arranged for you to get an armored airspeeder. You'll take Behemoth to a safe house, Nawara Veil will depose him, then you'll pack him up and bring him here in time for court. We want him in and out fast--we're counting on secrecy because he should have enough information about Imperial ops that almost anyone could want him dead.”
Iella nodded. ”You're not afraid I'll kill him?”
”Not before he clears Celchu of Horn's murder, no, I'm not. Cracken will want him after that, but my only concern is his impact on this trial.”
Halla shrugged, then blew a lock of black hair from in front of her face.
”I've already told you he cut an immunity deal, so the only justice that will be done in this case is getting Celchu off. You know how these deals work.”
”Yeah, they stink worse than Hurt-sweat, but you give something to get something.” Iella sighed. ”Don't worry, I'll bring him in safely.”
”Never was worried about it.”
Iella pointed to the hololink on the office's other desk. ”I need to speak with Diric.”
Halla frowned. ”Not a good idea.”
”If I don't, he'll wait up. He always has, but he's really not that strong anymore.”
”No details, right?”
”Right.”