And she had that edge; Mon had always been a Diplomat and a Fighter; Leia was more a Fighter then a Diplomat, which was a good thing in Madine's opinion; it may well make for a more aggressive future actions. At the moment though, she was still finding her feet and her responses were accordingly cautious.
Which was why he felt a pang of guilt that he had basically forced her into holding this meeting. But if he were to push Mon's last plan forward then time was running short, and purposely so. Firstly because he wanted to limit the amount of time that this information had to get out, and secondly because he needed them to move on this in a hurry- rush things through, not spend too long looking at the minutiae of the plan. That had all been considered long ago by himself and Mon. Now he needed to push it forward and to do that he may have to twist Leia's arm a little.
Which was why he'd requested this meeting of the Chiefs and held firm when she'd asked for details- in truth he didn't want her to dismiss his proposal or have a coherent argument against it before he'd had the option to put the plan on the table before a wider vote.
Everyone settled and fell to polite silence as Leia stood, the picture of calm, speaking for the benefit of the official register. "We'll convene this meeting at seventeen- thirty-two. Officers present are Admiral Ackbar, Admiral Stone, Intel Chief Massa, Commander Solo, General Madine and myself. The meeting has been convened at the request of General Madine, so with your permission Sirs, I'll hand the chair over to him."
It was a little curt, but then Leia Organa wasn't one to be trifled with. Madine stood, reflexively pulling his jacket straight, a leftover from his time in the Imperial Forces, when such things were paramount.
"Sirs... with the launch of the new Super Star Destroyer Invincible now imminent, I'd like to take this opportunity to bring some very important information to the table. Although you were unaware of it for security reasons, there has been a plan in the pipeline for some time now to use this unrivalled opportunity..."
Solo, who was sat directly opposite Madine, was beginning a slow roll of his eyes, settling down to rest his chin in his hand in a lazy slouch. Madine gave him a long, unimpressed stare and continued, losing his point only momentarily; "unrivalled... opportunity... to deliver a major blow to the Empire; one from which they could not recover."
He glanced about the table into a sea of mildly expectant faces; all that was about to change.
"As you are now aware that the ill-fated Bothawuii mission was also to hand over new technology from the Bothans to ourselves; the Empire's DEMP generators. Their intended use was to have been against all Destroyers in Coruscant's orbit when the S.S.D. Invincible was launched from there on its inaugural flight. With the loss of the Dynamic EMP's that plan became unfeasible. However, the Destroyer's launch is still going ahead and the Emperor will still be present on the bridge of the Invincible for its inaugural flight. The opportunity for which we intended the DEMP's is still there Sirs, and I suggest we use it."
"You have a couple of DEMP's in your back pocket?" Solo drawled, and Madine skewered him with a look.
He hadn't wanted him here at all; had argued strenuously against it behind the scenes, but Massa, the Intel Chief, had insisted that there was nothing to substantiate Madine's suspicions that Solo was the Imperial spy hidden among them, stating that his escape from both the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and the mission onboard the Fury was not in itself sufficient proof, and a tad obvious considering that an infiltration specialist generally tried to keep a low profile.
Madine was still watching him... and so, he suspected, was Massa, despite her claims.
"No, we do not have the DEMP's anymore but it still doesn't negate our other advantages. It simply changes the details, not the overall plan. We still have the one thing which the Empire doesn't know about and it was that which was always going to buy us access to the Emperor."
Leia frowned, tiring of these guessing games, "Which is?"
Madine pulled himself up to his full height, smiling tightly. "We have the Command Overrides to the Invincible- the hardwired codes. Having our own DEMP generators would have done nothing more than bought us a way in by disabling other Imperial ships in the area. Once we were in we were going to utilise the Override Codes to bring the Invincible down into the atmosphere without trim- break it apart under stress and burn it up with the Emperor onboard- with everyone in the galaxy watching over the HoloNet. That was the ultimate plan. The plan which Mon Mothma and I worked towards- the plan she gave her life to make possible."
Leia frowned, "How long have you had these codes?"
"Mon Mothma was given the codes by Olin'yaa almost a month before the first attempt on The Heir. As everyone here is aware, Mon Mothma's plan had always been to take him down first, then the Emperor, rather than allow a chain of accession. Now another opportunity has come to make good on this intention and I think we should take it- in Mon's memory."
Oh, that was a low blow, Leia knew, whether he had intended it or not. Now if she declined, she wasn't just refusing him, but the memory of Mon Mothma. She looked to Han, who looked away uneasily; it was Tag who spoke out, sitting to focused attention.
"Let me clarify this- you have the Command Override Codes which are hardwired into the Invincible's systems?"
"Essentially, yes." Madine said.
"Essentially?" Tag pushed, wishing to be very sure.
"The codes aren't literally hardwired in, but they're one of the three back-doors into the system- they override all other commands. They're intended for use by the Emperor to ensure..."
"Thank-you, I know what a Command Code is." She stated tartly, obviously as annoyed as Leia was at being kept out of this loop. "And you're positive that these codes are still active, given that both Olin'yaa and Mon Mothma were in Imperial custody?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Leia's voice was dura-steel.
Madine almost looked to Han but caught himself in time, "You know we have continuing problems with information leaks. Mon Mothma had ordered that this information be kept strictly between myself and her until it was necessary to involve others. I now consider it necessary; I think we're still in a strong position to carry out Mon's intended threat."
Ackbar spoke up, long webbed fingers splayed, "Would the codes not have been nullified when the Empire discovered our access to their DEMP generators, General?"
"No Sir," Madine said, "The codes have nothing to do with the hardware. They don't even originate in the same dockyard and would have been integrated by a completely separate unit in isolation. This is something which even the Captain in charge of the ship would not have been given access to."
"So we can assume that they would have no reason to change them?" Ackbar pushed.
"Yes Sir."
"That's an awfully big assumption." Admiral Stone maintained, shaking her head.
"The codes were checked less than two weeks ago and found to be still active." Madine assured, everyone falling to silence at that, considering.
"So we have the codes- the means to influence the internal systems of the ship." Leia prompted, her own interest rising, "And you're suggesting what?"
"As I said, the original plan was to send the Invincible into the atmosphere; take her down to the umbra under her own power then cut all power to the engines. Destroyers are not designed for planetary gravity; without shear, she'd take an unviable entry and break up as she hit the atmosphere." Madine said, "Obviously without the cover of our own DEMP's to disable the other Destroyers who would be there for the flight that's not possible; they would move in to stop her- disable her engines long before she reached Coruscant's atmosphere and take her under tractor-beam tow. However, I still think that this is an unparalleled opportunity; the Emperor seldom leaves the safety of Coruscant."