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galaxy, and live out his life in obscurity. Cham could still expose him, of course, but he’d be long gone.
    But by the time he saw Lessu’s lights in the distance, he’d dismissed the idea of running. He’d always been compromised. So, he was in Cham’s pocket. He could manage that; he could manage Cham. They’d need each other when he was Moff.
    And all it would take was the murder of one Twi’lek senator.
    Belkor could live with that.
    —
    Cham and Isval watched the dark and distance swallow Belkor’s aircar.
    “He didn’t mention Vader or the Emperor?” Isval asked.
    “He didn’t. I gave him the opportunity and he was off balance. He’d have said something or I’d have seen it in his face. He doesn’t know.”
    Isval exhaled. “Then the intel is good. Vader and Palpatine are coming with Taa.”
    Cham nodded. “It could still be a trap. Belkor just might not be in on it. They could suspect him of collaborating.”
    “No,” Isval said. “We’ve been careful and so has he. And Mors is an idiot. She’s sat up there on that moon for years and let Belkor run the show, undermining her at every turn. No, they just haven’t told her that Vader and the Emperor are coming. They’re replacing her, Cham, and making a big show of it. Probably bringing a garrison of stormtroopers, too. We’re overdue for some heavier boots.”
    Cham nodded. “I think you’re probably right.”
    “Then we’re a go?” She was bouncing on the balls of her feet.
    “We’re a go,” Cham answered. “And pity poor Belkor. When he learns what he’s actually signed on for…”
    Isval stiffened. “He’s filth, Cham. Imperial filth. Don’t be sentimental. Not about him. Not about them. Not ever.”
    Her vehemence didn’t surprise him, given what she’d experienced in her youth. “It’s not sentiment. It’s principle. What am I without that?”
    “On the winning side, I hope,” Isval said. She changed the subject. “Now what?”
    “Now we get everything ready,” Cham said. “And I mean
everything
. This is the operation we’ve been waiting for. Mobilize everyone and get all the weapons and ships ready for use. We’ll have full Imperial patrol schedules so we can move things into place. Let’s find out if we’re as good as we think we are.”
    “We are,” she affirmed. “Consider it handled. But hear me, I’m heading back to Lessu for a day or two. I’ll see to matters from there.”
    Cham turned to face her. Her beauty rarely registered with him, so often was it hidden behind the mask of her anger. But right then, in the dim light of the moons, she looked as vulnerable as she had the day he’d first met her. And as beautiful. He quieted the feelings for her that sometimes bubbled up. They were a complication he couldn’t afford. She’d said not to be sentimental. He wouldn’t be.
    “What’s in Lessu?” he asked, concerned.
    The mask came back up. “It’s just personal business. All right?”
    He didn’t pry. He had no right to pry. “All right. Just be careful.”
    “I’m always careful.”
    “Sure you are,” Cham said, smiling.
    —
    Isval had rented another small garret in an underground housing complex in a poor part of Lessu. The thin walls allowed in noise from the adjacent rooms, shouting from one, shrill laughter from another. The smell of someone’s dinner leaked through the shared ventilation system. Isval found she was hungry, but not for food.
    The sight of Dray—with his impeccably combed hair, his unwrinkled, sharply creased clothes, his intolerably smug, self-assured expression—had made her need more acute. She’d felt it coming on days before, like one of Ryloth’s sandstorms, brewing red and blurry on the horizon, until finally it exploded in violence.
    She’d told Cham she’d be in Lessu two days, but she planned to use only the one. The need was too strong, the pressure, the agitation. She couldn’t wait two days. She had to do it tonight. She had to. She’d be