Two days later at the New Republic Academy,

"The war is over, but the battle continues. The battle against evil never ends, but it does change forms. We, the citizens of the New Republic, must remain vigilant against terror and persecution for only then will peace become a reality. We cannot afford to renounce our defense even in times of peace unless we are willing to make ourselves vulnerable to another disaster such as Alderaan. The Empire is now at peace with us, but we must prevent the rise of a new menace. This is the reason we founded the New Republic Military Academy here on Dantooine. This academy is here to train you to be the new generation of officers in our military. Here you will be trained in military exercise, but more than that you will learn the perspective necessary to prevent needless violence. You are a talented gathering of individuals, and you all bring strengths to the New Republic, strengths it needs to endure. Remember you can either choose to do or do not. There is no going halfway in this battle. May the Force be with you," Leia gazed over the audience at the newly dedicated New Republic Military Academy.

Applause filled the auditorium and she could hear the holo-documentarists erupt in chatter in the background. Leia stepped back from the podium and left the stage.

Leia found a group of familiar faces and smiled warmly at them. General Wedge Antilles gave Leia a small salute and grinned. General Airen Cracken nodded to the Chief of State. The director of New Republic Intelligence seemed abnormally uneasy. Leia turned toward Admiral Ackbar, who aped a smile to show his approval of Leia's speech.

"You're speaking skills have improved with time, Councilor Organa Solo," Ackbar said in his gravelly voice, "You have generated new waves of enthusiasm in these new recruits. But even with your speech there will be currents of fear washing up over this new school. People fear military growth, that the New Republic will become what the Empire was."

"The only way to prove that will not come to pass is by example, Admiral," Leia said firmly, "The New Republic must not allow the fear of inspiring fear to hinder its actions."

"Leia's right, Admiral," Wedge said excitedly, "We must show our actions to be planned, but not oppressive. It is better to have the people disagree with our policy now, than for countless lives to be lost later because this institution did not exist."

"Easy, General Antilles," Ackbar replied, "I am not against this academy. It's just the timing of its opening that concerns me. There would not be such public dissent if the academy's doors had opened while the Empire was still a menace. The issue is at deliberation in the Council, as Councilor Organa already knows, and the academy may be closed so that the Empire does not have the chance to take this institution as a threat."

"The Council seems fairly supportive," Leia said, "but the issue has yet to be discussed in full. The Council will not be in full session for another three weeks."

"Then we will take such time to show that there is nothing to fear from this school of fish," Ackbar replied, "General Cracken, I believe you had an issue you wanted to float before us?"

General Airen Cracken nodded slowly, but he did not speak. He turned around sharply and exited the auditorium. Wedge looked at Leia, shrugged, and followed the general. The others followed more slowly. They found Cracken leaning against a tree some distance from the New Republic Military Academy with Wedge standing nearby.

Cracken slowly opened his green eyes and looked at the small group gathered around him. He drew himself up and gave Admiral Ackbar a long salute. He stared deeply into the eyes of the group.

"I brought you here for security purposes," General Cracken began, "The auditorium was not checked for listening devices for there was no reason to protect the content of Leia's speech. Also, many people take such action as an indication that we do not trust the Empire. At this moment that trust must not be broken, for we have a greater problem at hand."

Leia looked mildly startled, but she kept here composure in tact. Wedge looked openly worried, as if already wondering what this new problem could cost his units and himself. Ackbar merely motioned for Cracken to continue. Leia had the feeling the Mon Calamari already knew most, if not all, of what was bothering the director of New Republic Intelligence.

"In the past four weeks there have been a series of seemingly unrelated, but disturbing events. There have been three, in particular, that demand attention. The first occurred on Coruscant about twenty-seven days ago.

A technician from one of the hanger bays disappeared. He was found two weeks later in a medical bay, but the medical droids were unable to confirm when he arrived or what was wrong with him. The technician returned to work the next day and during the lunch break he suddenly assaulted the Vratix overseer. Luckily the other technicians threw the attacker to the ground before the overseer was seriously injured. They turned the would-be assassin in, but before the suspect could be questioned he died suddenly of a heart attack."

Cracken took a deep breath, "To make matters worse, no one can decipher the meaning of his final words."

"What were they?" Leia asked.

"Nassine punishes failure," Cracken replied, "but no one can tell me who or what Nassine is."

"What are the other two events?" Wedge asked.

Cracken sighed, "Well, one of them is actually two events, but I consider them one because they happened on the same day at roughly the same place. The events occurred eleven days ago and also on Coruscant.

Cavarid Varada, a young New Republic weapons engineer from Kuat, had been speaking on a new weapon he has been instrumental in developing at a meeting attended by Admiral Ackbar and myself. Cavarid finished his presentation and went back to his quarters near the Imperial Palace. Admiral Ackbar and I discussed his project and found we had some further questions, so we tried to contact the young engineer.

Cavarid failed to answer his comlink, so I personally went to his room. The doorframe had scorch marks on it and the door had been forced open. Inside the room, papers were strewn everywhere, the bed was in shambles, and Cavarid was nowhere to be found. A small holo-projecter was in the corner, and it had amazingly recorded part of the struggle.

In the rough footage, it was possible to identify the two intruders. One was of abnormal height and the other was about Wedge's height. They had burst into Cavarid's room and taken him by force. The taller individual wore a pendant bearing the initials G. N. and carried a wicked looking weapon resembling a lightsaber. None of the security guards were able to recall the pair entering or leaving the vicinity.

Elsewhere that day, my new aide, Jenari Estraya, was keeping tabs on a potential information leak from one of my snitches, which happened to be her sister Celia. In her last comlink communication, Jenari reported that her sister was under attack by an individual who bore a striking similarity to the shorter humanoid present in Cavarid's kidnapping. Against my advice, Jenari decided to aid her sister. Nothing has been heard from either Estraya sister since then.

The final event in this series took place yesterday in the vicinity of Kessel. A squadron of A-wings was making a routine surveillance run while escorting a group of freighters. One of the A-wings peeled off from the front of the squadron's formation. This fighter then proceeded in dropping behind the A-wing on the far right of the formation. The rogue A-wing fired upon the one in front of it, scoring a direct hit upon the engines. Half the snubfighter was blown away and the cockpit spiraled down towards Kessel. Fortunately, the ejection system was still intact, and the pilot ejected. The rogue A-wing made a broad-signal and then self-destructed.

The message, as recorded by several of the unit's astromech droids was this: So shall all who support any government be dealt with, and anarchy will once again rule."

General Cracken stared at the NRMA and sighed, "The pilot whose A-wing was destroyed by this terrorist was my son Pash. He's in critical condition at the medical bay here. He has lost the use of his right hand and they don't know if that can be restored. He also suffered severe injuries to the back of his head and neck. I'll be departing for the medical bay shortly. If I could have a few words alone with General Antilles it would be appreciated."

Leia, Ackbar and Wedge stared at Cracken mutely. Admiral Ackbar nodded his approval and Wedge slowly followed General Cracken towards the medical bay. Wedge struggled to find words to say.

"My condolences about Pash, General Cracken. He's a good man, and I know he'll pull through all right. What did you want to talk to me about?" Wedge asked.

Cracken glanced sideways at Wedge, "I just got the forensics data back from Folor. The remains of Captain Ooryl Qyrgg's X-wing have been examined and there exists no evidence to suggest that Ooryl was in the X-wing when it exploded."

"But there was no way he could have survived the explosion, everyone in my squadron can testify to the magnitude of that explosion."

"Oh, it did explode," Cracken said, "but forensics shows that it exploded a full five minutes after you reported it did-time enough for Ooryl to have ejected."

Wedge ran a hand through his hair, "Are you suggesting that Ooryl faked his own death? Or worse that my people are lying about the entire incident?"

"Not at all," Cracken said softly, "I put several of your pilots through lie detector tests during their debriefings. They all believed that what they saw happened when they reported it to, including Corran Horn, Ooryl's own wingmate and clandestine Jedi. Whoever set the whole thing up was very clever and very good. Now this conclusion is based only on gut feeling, but I believe Ooryl's accident is related tot he events of the last month."

"Who could have fooled the squadron so completely?" Wedge asked in dismay.

"That's what I don't know, General Antilles," Cracken said gruffly, "Unless this is Isard back from the dead, in which case I begin to question Rogue Squadron's skills, or there is a new menace surfacing that makes Darth Vader look like a mischievous puppy."