Tarkin stepped out from between Amedda and Vader to place himself where everyone in the chamber could see him.
“As regards the matter of whether ISB, Naval Intelligence, or some combination of our various intelligence agencies should be tasked with the investigation, I offer no opinion. I will allow, however, that the concerns of Deputy Director Ison and Vice Admiral Rancit are warranted. A base under my command was recently attacked by unknown parties. The attack followed the successful sabotaging of a HoloNet relay station and the insertion of both prerecorded and real-time holovids, in an attempt to mislead us into dispatching reinforcements to a secondary base. The details of my after-action report are available to anyone here with proper clearance, but suffice it to say that if a connection exists between the discovery on Murkhana and the sneak attack on the base, then it stands to reason that something more nefarious than anti-Imperial propaganda may be in the works.”
Ison nearly groaned, and the Emperor’s advisers conferred in confidence before Dangor said: “With all due respect, Governor Tarkin, it is my understanding that this base you go to some lengths to leave unidentified is far removed from Murkhana — on the order of several sectors.”
Tarkin gestured negligently. “Irrelevant. Communications devices are cobbled together in one place to be deployed elsewhere. What’s more, we’ve seen incidents of attack in many sectors these past five years.”
“By pirates and outlaws,” Greejatus said.
Tarkin shook his head. “Not in every instance.”
“The Separatist war machines were shut down,” Dangor went on. “Their droid warships were confiscated or destroyed.”
“Most were,” Tarkin said. “Clearly, some escaped our notice or were made available by insiders to a host of new enemies.”
Ison glared at him. “Are you accusing ISB—”
“Review my report,” Tarkin said, cutting Ison off.
“Furthermore, not every Separatist warship was crewed by droids,” Rancit said. “As Governor Tarkin can attest, our navy was still chasing Separatist holdouts as late as a year ago.”
Sate Pestage, who had remained silent throughout the meeting, spoke up. “Governor Tarkin, we’re curious to know how you knew you were being deceived at your base of operations.” With his shaved head, pointed chin beard, and raking eyebrows, Pestage resembled some of the pirates Outland had chased through the Seswenna.
Rancit stepped forward before Tarkin could utter a word. “May I, Wilhuff?”
Tarkin nodded and stepped back.
“Governor Tarkin—Moff Tarkin,” Rancit began, “back when he was merely Commander Tarkin, was personally instrumental in frustrating Count Dooku’s propaganda efforts. I know this to be fact because I was the case officer who supplied him with counterintelligence operatives. No doubt he was able to identify specific elements of corruption in the false holofeed — corruption even the Separatists were unable to purge from their intrusion signals.” He turned to Tarkin. “How am I doing?”
Tarkin nodded in appreciation. “My lords, that is the long and short of it. I recognized telltale noise in the holovid and knew then that the feed was originating at the HoloNet relay station and not being transmitted from our auxiliary base.” He paused to glance around the chamber. “Regardless, my first recommendation to the Joint Chiefs would be to issue an advisory to our base commanders that they should double-check the encryption codes of all Imperial HoloNet transmissions.”
Again the advisers leaned toward one another to confer, while Ison exchanged rancorous looks with Rancit and Screed. Tarkin returned to where he had been standing with Vader, who simply cast a downward gaze at him. After a long moment, Mas Amedda’s staff struck the floor with finality.
“The Emperor will take the matter under advisement.”
As above, so below
“RISE, LORD VADER.”
Vader stood from his genuflection and joined his Master, Darth Sidious, at the railing of the central spire’s west-facing veranda. Roofed but otherwise open to the sky, the small balcony — one of four identical overlooks, each oriented to a cardinal direction — crowned a finlike architectural projection located several tiers below the spire’s rounded summit. The air was thin, and a persistent wind tugged at Sidious’s robes and Vader’s long cape.
The briefing in the audience chamber had ended hours earlier, and just now that part of Coruscant was tipping into night. The long shadows of distant cloudcutters seemed to reach in vain for the gargantuan Palace, and the sky was swathed in swirls of flaming orange and velvety purple.
When the two Sith Lords had stood in silence for some time, Vader said, “What is thy bidding, Master?”
Sidious spoke without turning from the view. “You will accompany Moff Tarkin to Murkhana to investigate this so-called cache of communications devices. You will report your findings directly to me, and I will decide what if any information needs to be conveyed to our spies and military. I won’t have Ison and the others muddying the waters by conducting their own inquiries.”
Vader took a moment to reply. “The governor’s presence is unnecessary, Master.”
Sidious swung to his apprentice, his eyes narrowed in interest. “You surprise me, Lord Vader. You have carried out previous missions with Moff Tarkin. Has he done something to prompt your disfavor?”
“Nothing, Master.”
The Emperor exhaled with purpose. “A reply that conveys nothing. Provide me with a satisfactory reason.”
Vader looked down at him, the sound of his regulated breathing diminished by the howl of the high-altitude wind. “Moff Tarkin should be ordered to return to Sentinel Base and resume his duties there.”
“Ah, so you’re arguing on Tarkin’s behalf, are you?”
“For the Empire, Master.”
“The Empire?” Sidious repeated, miming surprise. “Since when do you put the needs of the Empire before our needs?”
Vader crossed his gauntleted hands in front of him. “Our needs supersede all, Master.”
“Then why do you contradict me?”
“I apologize, Master. I will do as you have commanded.”
“No — not good enough,” Sidious snapped. “Of course you will do as I command, and of course Moff Tarkin needs to resume his duties on the Sentinel moon. The sooner the battle station is completed, the sooner you and I can devote ourselves to more pressing matters — matters only you and I can investigate and that have little to do with the Empire.”
Vader allowed his hands to hang at his sides. “Then why is Murkhana important, Master?”
Darth Sidious moved from the railing to a chair snugged up against the spire’s curved wall and sat down. “Do you not find it intriguing that both you and Moff Tarkin have ties to the very planet where this newly discovered cache of jamming devices has been found? Tarkin, to quash Dooku’s Shadowfeeds, and you — in one of your first missions, I seem to recall — to effect an execution. Or perhaps you feel that no connections exist, that this is mere coincidence.”
Vader knew the reply. “There are no coincidences, Master.”
“And that, my apprentice, is why Murkhana matters to us. Because the dark side of the Force has for whatever reason brought that world to our attention once more — as you should well understand.”
Vader turned his back to the railing, and the wind wrapped his cape around him. “Which of us would be in command of the mission, Master?”
A sudden glint in his eye, Sidious shrugged. “I thought I would allow you and Moff Tarkin to work that out.”
“Work that out.”
“Yes,” Sidious continued. “Reach a compromise, of sorts.”
“I understand, Master.”
Sidious’s tortured face was a mask. “I wonder if you do … But let us return to Moff Tarkin for a moment. Has it never struck you that all three of us — you and Tarkin and I, the Empire’s architects, if you will — hail from worlds that occupy but a narrow slice of galactic space? Naboo, Tatooine, Eriadu … all within an arc of less than thirty degrees.”