When the New Republic task force arrived in orbit over Bavinyar, General Kaice came and delivered the news with a dark, resolved expression on his face. He said that the Republic flagship had volunteered to send a shuttle down to retrieve its staff. Syne acknowledged that with a tilt of the head and remained in her office. She never had any intention of presenting herself to whatever soldiers the Republic sent down to Cephalia.

She was, therefore, taken by surprise when another BDF officer came and told her that the head of the New Republic task force had come down to the planet with the retrieval team requesting a private conversation with her. It was a request Syne couldn't bring herself to refuse; she told the officer to hold her visitor for three minutes while she prepared.

It had been easy enough to learn that the task force was being led by Etahn A'baht. She'd expected her old Dornean commander to comm her when he arrived in orbit, but when that hadn't come she'd assumed he wouldn't talk to her at all. It has been years since she'd spoken with him; A'baht was a senior staff officer in the NRDF now and she had no way of knowing how that would effect his behavior, his decisions. He might have become a whole different being.

Yet when he walked alone into her office and she looked at his broad, leathery, aubergine face, she realized that Etahn A'baht was already far older than she'd ever be, and he hadn't changed at all.

She resisted the urge to salute him. "Thank you for coming down to speak with me, General."

"I figured I owed that much," said A'baht, without specifying to who or what he owed. To her, perhaps, or to the Republic that he'd become part of.

"I've given you back Gavrisom and most of your diplomatic staff," Syne reminded him. "I've shown I have no ill will against your Republic."

"You're still holding Senator Behn-Kihl-Nahm and the Jedi hostage."

She shook her head. "They agreed to stay. Do you really think Behn-Kihl-Nahm would abandon his world?"

"I think that you're making a mistake," A'baht said. "A terminal one."

She grimaced. She should have known better than to expect A'baht to blunt his words. "So, what do you want to do, General? Lay down all arms? Tell the BDF to disband, hand over all the rights my people have gained since coming back to Bavinyar?"

"Princess Leia believed your intentions were good, that you wanted a compromise where all Bavinyari could live as one. I can't tell you how disappointed she is."

"We have no ill will toward Organa Solo, or to you. We just want to clean up our own mess without someone else interfering."

"Who is 'we',' Captain?"

The use of her old rank made her flinch. "The people of Bavinyar."

"The humans, you mean?"

"All people. Extremists- Cerean and human- have let this situation spiral out of control. The only way to bring it back under control is to strike hard and eradicate them both. The democratic, civilian power structure the Republic forces on us isn't enough."

"I understand your BDF has Palt-Ri-Gen trapped in the mining facility at Leonal."

"That's correct."

"And what about Aviran Kolin and the rest of the BIL leaders? Where are they?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I will find them."

A'baht took a step closer. "Let's try and find a compromise, Captain. If you agree to step down, surrender martial law, and reinstate Korr-Mad-Narr as head of the BSA, my forces will complete your operation at Leonal."

"Not good enough. You'd rob us of every power we've gained here."

"We. Us. Are you even bothering to speak for the other half of Bavinyar's population, Captain?"

"Of course I have more sympathy for the humans," she snarled. "Do you want me to lie and pretend I don't? I always have and always will. But I'm still committed to ending this. That means stopping the CPF and the BIL, on our own."

"I've brought a handful of Jedi with me," A'baht said.

She stared. She'd never told the old Dornean that her father had been a Jedi, but perhaps Organa Solo had. Perhaps he hadn't meant anything by the statement other than a warning.

She licked dry lips and asked, "What will you do with those Jedi?"

"That remains to be seen, but they've been left at my disposal."

"Will you send them into the hell beneath Leonal?"

"I may."

She had to admit the idea had some attraction. The Jedi might be able to save hostages, maybe even capture Palt-Ri-Gen in those dark tunnels. When she sent the next wave of BDF troops down, she knew she'd only end up with even more bloodshed. At the same time, the BDF would be furious with her. They'd see it as a betrayal of their role as Bavinyar's primary defenders, and they wouldn't be wrong.

"Please, Captain," said A'baht, "Let us start there. I am trying to help."

"What are your conditions for sending the Jedi into Leonal?"

A'baht's eyes narrowed as he considered. Then, to her shock, he said, "I have no conditions."

It was not like A'baht to be generous. His hard Dornean face stared right at hers, betraying nothing.

"I have no conditions," he repeated. "Just pull the BDF troops out of the mining facility. I will send our Jedi and NRDF ground forces in their stead. We will capture Leonal with as little bloodshed as possible. I promise you that, Captain."

"And then, I suppose, we meet again for another talk."

"That's right."

"Have you been authorized to make that decision by Organa Solo?"

"She left the entire operation plan to me."

Syne tilted her head. "It seems you've gained her trust, General."

"Yes," he said, "I've earned it."

Unlike her. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply in and out, and said, "Very well. I will inform General Kaice to begin pulling troops out of the facility. But you may only land troops at Leonal. Any attempt to send troops to Cephalia will be considered an act of war against the Bavinyari people."

A'baht nodded. "And if any of your ships in orbit fire on ours, that, too, will cross a line."

"I know that. But for now, we have an agreement, don't we?"

"I suppose we do. I'll have my people send you the most up-to-date information on the Leonal facility." Syne looked down at her hands. Awkwardly, she extended on to shake.

A'baht reached out, taking her small white hand in his large, rough one. He squeezed it hard, and she squeezed it back.

As he stepped for the door, A'baht said, "Thank you for being reasonable, Captain."

"Thank you, General," she said quietly and watched him go.

When he left the room, Major Brenner stepped inside with a question on his face. She told him, "Go find General Kaice. Bring him to me."

Brenner saluted and left. Syne settled back into the chair behind her desk and waited for her general to come. He'd put up a fight, of course, but she'd get him to honor her deal with A'baht. She had to. If she didn't, things would only get very worse.

-{}-

Deep within the NRDF headquarters facility on Coruscant, the observation room was abuzz with activity. Staffers swarmed around the edges of the chambers while senior command staff leaned around the broad central table, where operational data from Intrepid was being fed back to the capital with a split-second's delay and recreated as a tactical holo that detailed positions of all Republic and BDF ships now hanging in orbit over Bavinyar.

The sight of so many warships ready to fight was enough to make Leia feel sick inside.

Her husband leaned along the table beside her and whispered in a low voice, "Maybe there won't be any fighting."

"I wish I could believe that."

"Well, A'baht just got back from the planet. Maybe he cut some deal with Syne."

Leia wished she could believe that too, but in the end, A'baht's first warning had been right. Despite everything in her past, or possibly because of it, Jadesei Syne was a Bavinyari patriot above all else, with no deep loyalty to the New Republic.

A tactical officer called, "Transmission incoming from Intrepid, audio-only."

"Please, bring it up," Leia called.

After a second, a scratchy, familiar voice said, "This is Battle Group Command. Do you copy, Coruscant?"

"Loud and clear, General," Leia said. "What's your status?"

"I've spoken with Prime Minister Syne," said A'baht. "She's ordered her ships to hold position and agreed to let some of our people land."

Muted cheers rang around the table but the tension didn't leave Leia. "What kind of landing? Can we retrieve Behn-Kihl-Nahm and Gavrisom?"

"Gavrisom has come back to Intrepid with me. Unfortunately, she insists on retaining possession of some our people in the consulate," A'baht said, and Leia watched the joy drain from the faces around her. "She has, however, pulled her BDF troops back from the facility on Leonal and is allowing us to insert a team of commandos in their place. Masters Hamner, Solusar, and Katarn will be going down to assist. I hope we can defuse the hostage crisis that way."

"Thank you, General. You've done well so far. Keep your ships in position over the planet."

"Of course, Princess. We'll relay a comm feed with the ground team so we can keep you updated."

"Thank you, General."

"Battle Group Command, out."

-{}-

The last light had fled the sky and a chill was starting to settle in Cephalia's damp air. The city lights were bright behind them but ahead there was only dark escarpment, rocks and shrub ascending gradually toward the volcanic peak that made up the high point of the island.

Aryon Ven was grateful they didn't have to go all the way to the top. It was difficult enough to scramble up to the transmission tower; he took the lead, with Rev Lessex behind him and Asyr Sei'lar at the rear. Apparently Bothans had better night-vision that humans, but even she repeatedly slipped and fell, sometimes catching herself with her forward paws and other times tearing the sleeves of her clothes on sharp rocks or jutting roots.

Ven wished they could use the night-vision helmets that BSA special operations teams had, but as it was, all they had to help them was the hand-held flashlight Ven normally kept at his belt. Flashing it too often would alert any guards at the transmission tower to their approach, so he only used it when he found it absolutely impossible to discern a way up the terrain. As a result, they'd all picked up their shares of ugly scraped and bruises, but thankfully no one had twisted an ankle or broken any bones.

When they finally reached the point where the base of the transmitter was visible, Ven ducked low, stomach against the dirty slope, and looked behind him. He saw Asyr and Lessex scramble up to meet him but his eyes went beyond them, to the brilliant skyline of Bavinyar's capital, lit up in the night. He'd spent almost his whole life in that city, but it had never taken his breath away like it did now.

Lessex seemed to notice his gaze. The other human crawled up beside Ven and said, "It almost looks normal, doesn't it?"

It did. A little darker, perhaps, but the gorgeous skyline gave no indication of the turmoil taking place in its government offices or the streets left barren by the fear of martial law.

Asyr came up on Ven's other side and said, "What now? Are there guards?"

"A good question," Ven said, and wished once again that he'd had a set of macrobinoculars on his person when this whole mess started.

"I can't see much of anything," Lessex said.

"Let's me try to get a little closer," Asyr said. "I can see better than you and I'll be harder to spot."

Ven couldn't deny either count. "Go ahead. Do you have your pistol?"

"I do."

"Is it set to stun?"

After a tiny pause, Asyr said, "Yes."

"Good. I don't want to kill anyone if we don't have to. First, scout it out. Then come back to us."

"Understood. Stay here."

Ven watched the black-furred, dark-clothed Bothan woman scrambled up the rocks. Even as he tried to keep an eye on her movement, Asyr quickly disappeared into the dark.

"Handy having her, isn't it?" Lessex whispered.

"Very." Ven drew his own sidearm and checked to make sure it was set to stun.

"I really wish I had one of those," muttered Lessex.

"I hope you won't need one," Ven said. He had no idea if Lessex actually knew how to shoot one or if he was just being overeager. He appreciated that the man was trying to be helpful, but Ven's short police career had also taught him to distrust civilians who thought they could do his job for him.

As for Asyr, she was different. He still didn't know the NRI agent's backstory, but everything from her body language to her sharp, direct questions marked her as having a military background. Once this was over, he looked forward to getting her whole story.

The silence between them felt ominous. There was no sight of Asyr and no sound of talking or weapons-fire, which was a good thing, but Ven couldn't help but be on edge.

Apparently trying to break the tension, Lessex asked, "If we get that recording to the New Republic, do you really think it will end this?"

"I don't know," Ven admitted.

"I never really… trusted the Republic. I mean, I never had anything against them. I just… I don't know. I was always taught Bavinyari could only look out for each other."

Ven had been taught they too; they all had. Maybe it was how they'd gotten into this damned mess in the first place.

"All I know," Ven whispered, "Is that without this, there's no evidence at all that the BDF helped kill Pohl-Had-Narr."

"What do you think that Cerean partner you have is doing now?"

Ven had no idea. He didn't even know what Sham-Vi-Diin's circumstances were when they'd last talked.

"The right thing," Ven said. He was sure of that, and nothing else.

He watched Lessex's silhouette nod beside him, but the other man said nothing else. The silence that draped over them felt a little less ominous this time. They settled down, and they waited.

He didn't know how long they waited, but eventually the sound of a body scampering back down the scree could be heard. Ven raised his pistol just in case, but sure enough a black Bothan appeared right in front of them.

"What did you find?" asked Ven.

"I saw two guards making rounds," said Asyr.

"We have two pistols. Perfect."

"They're both walking around the perimeter. They're not going fast and they don't look very alert either."

"The hard part will be timing it so we drop them simultaneously." Ven tapped the flashlight he'd hooked to his belt. "How about this? I'll take the south end and you take the north. Mr. Lessex, when I'm in position and have a clear shot, I'll flash this once against the ground so only you can see it. Then you give a wave so Asyr can see you."

"And then what?" the Bothan asked.

"Then we both wait five seconds, then we take our shot."

Asyr thought for a moment; then her head bobbed an affirmative. "All right. I can do that."

"Can you to that, Mr. Lessex?"

The human nodded too. "You can count on me."

Ven found himself glad they'd brought the civvie on after all. "Okay," he said, "Let's get going."

-{}-

Once again, Sham-Vi-Diin muttered quiet gratitude to the Imperials who'd taught him so many good tricks so long ago. After setting up the landspeeder in the basement garage as a long-range transceiver, he'd managed to do the rest from his little office. The BDF apparently hadn't thought to remove his privileges from the BSA's central database system, which was how he was able to access the secure transponder frequencies for such top-level personages as the deposed Korr-Mad-Narr and even the Prime Minister herself.

When he sent the Prime Minister a message, it would come across on the upper-band freq that he'd used to call Aryon Ven. Unlike the detective, Syne wouldn't automatically know how to receive a BSA emergency signal. She was, however, a former naval officer with the Dorneans and the New Republic, and he hoped she'd figure out how to adjust her own comlink to properly receive his message.

It was a gamble. It was also a gamble that she wasn't in the middle of some high-level conversation with General Kaice or Major Brenner. It was a gamble that her comm wasn't bugged by the BDF. It was a gamble she'd listen to him at all. But in the end, he needed to try talking to the Prime Minister, and this was the only way he had to do it.

His heart nearly burst from his chest when the comm line clicked and a female voice said, "This is the Prime Minister. Who the devil is this?"

"Madam, this is Sham-Vi-Diin, acting director of the BSA," he whispered. "Can we speak right now?"

After pause, she said in lowered voice, "Director, this is most unusual. Why are you contacting me like this?"

"Madam, I don't think I'd be permitted to talk to you via normal channel. We have to speak quickly. This is very important."

"What is important? Director, we're in the middle of a crisis-"

"I know, but it's not the crisis you think it is. Madam, I have very strong evidence that elements in the BDF killed Pohl-Had-Narr."

After a long, long pause, she asked, "What evidence?"

"A holo-recording one of my detectives retrieved from Cephalia's landing complex. It shows Major Brenner, in plainclothes, purchasing equipment from a smuggler named Pedric Cuf, who's already been named as supplying the BIL with New Republic weapons."

"I know who Pedric Cuf is," Syne said sharply.

"I'm sending the package now," Sham-Vi-Diin said, and tapped a button on his comlink. While it transferred he said, "Review it yourself, Madam. Brenner can clearly be recognized at the end. I strong suspect General Kaice put him up to it."

"General Kaice is my most trusted officer." Syne asked bitterly. "What proof do you have?"

"A gut feeling, Madam."

"And how do you know this man is Pedric Cuf?"

Sham-Vi-Diin didn't know exactly, so he breathed, "It's a very long story, but my partner, Aryon Ven- a human- put this together."

"And where is Detective Ven now?"

"Honestly, Madam, I don't know. That's not the point. The point is, the sale on the recording you see was made just hours before Cuf made another longer stop at Leonal, probably to pass more weapons to the BIL. But he made this short sale to Brenner, the BDF, first. Madam, this happened just days before Pohl-Had-Narr was killed."

There was no sound over the comlink for almost a minute. He said, "Madam, have you watched the recording?"

Her sigh crackled over the link. "No, but I will look into it right now. Director… Thank you for this. I know it was a risk."

"I just want to do what's best for Bavinyar. For all Bavinyar."

Another sigh. "Thank you, Director. I'm glad someone is."

The line clicked off. Sham-Vi-Diin put his comlink on his desk and felt his whole body deflate as he sunk down into his seat. It was over and done with and a huge part of his felt relived, but another part felt disbelief. One short comm conversation was an anticlimax. He didn't even know if Syne would look at his recording or what she'd do once he did, but he'd done all he could. He told himself that and tried to feel good by it.

He heard footsteps in the silence hallway outside. He jerked upright in his seat and reached by instinct for his pistol. When the door slid open the first thing he saw was the tip of a blaser-rifle as he was ready. He caught the first BDF officer in the stomach; the human fell back but the one behind him fired over his fallen partner's shoulder.

That blast caught Sham-Vi-Diin square in the chest, pinning him to his chair. He managed only a tiny, pathetic groan as the blaster fell from his fingers and clattered softly on the carpeted floor. The soldier stood on the other side of his desk, rifle still raised and level, grew blurry as his vision swam.

His head rolled to one side of its own volition. He could make out the gleam of his comlink on the desk and cursed himself for falling back on instinct. In his last moment, he should have had the sense to call Syne and tell her that her comlink was being monitored.

But it was too late. It was too late for everything. He'd failed yet again.

-{}-

When the recording ended and left Major Brenner's face burned into Syne's memory, she began to pace back and forth in front of her office window and tried to decide what to do.

That recording was proof of nothing; evidence perhaps of something, but even that depended on context, and for that she only had Sham-Vi-Diin's word. And even then, the recording could have been faked, either by the Cerean or another party.

Yet she believed it in her heart. She didn't want to, but she did. Since Pohl-Had-Narr's assassination, a creeping feeling had been settling over her, a knowledge that no matter how she tried to steer Bavinyar on a straight course, the more events spiraled beyond her control.

She tried to assess it rationally. First, assuming this Sham-Vi-Diin was correct, and the recording did show Major Brenner buying a selection of weapons from Pedric Cuf, the rest of which he'd soon sell to the BIL, then it was clear there was some connection between elements of the BDF and the BIL extremists. It would explain much; certainly, the use of the New Republic military-grade weapon to kill Pohl-Had-Narr, and the apparent innocence of the BIL in that attack.

And it wasn't beyond the BDF's capability. She had to admit the military had always possessed hard-liners, though she'd never expected them to be so hard that they'd outright assassinate a sitting, democratically-elected president just because he was Cerean.

But no, it was more than that. They'd killed him so they could put a human in power; so they could put her in power. If Brenner had been acting independently in killing Pohl-Had-Narr then they could have never known what would follow: not the terrorist bombings by the BIL, not the CPF's seizure of Leonal, and not the New Republic's vote to intervene with its military.

But they could have anticipated something like all that would happen, and with a human- with Jadesei Syne- in charge, they might have figured they could use the chaos to their advantage and make a move toward the ultimate goal of a Bavinyar independent of any outside govern-ment, a Bavinyar for humans and humans only.

Perhaps. It made grim, awful, humiliating sense, but she couldn't know for sure, not with just this recording.

The one thing she knew for certain was that in letting things come this far and get this bad, in letting herself be used, she'd disgraced her mother's legacy. The burning shame of that probably clouded her judgment, but she knew it wouldn't go away now, and probably never would.

In trying to decide how to move forward, it all came down to what General Kaice knew. Sham-Vi-Diin was correct; Brenner has been brought through the ranks on Kaice's coat-tails and the two officers had remained close throughout this crisis. As much as Syne tried to deny it, as much as she'd trusted Kaice so much up until now, she couldn't believe he wouldn't engineer this situation; he'd always been a hard man, and a human patriot above all else.

She couldn't trust Kaice right now, which meant she couldn't trust anyone else in the BDF either. There was no way to know who he might have involved in this.

The Bavinyar night seemed to encroach around her in her office, leaving her utterly alone, open to threats from all sides. Yet far above the night, she knew, there was still Etahn A'baht, honestly trying to find a way out of this debacle with as little violence as possible.

Syne had known A'baht far longer than she'd known Kaice or anyone surrounding her now. She'd trusted him for just as long.

She stopped her furious pacing and moved for her desk. She connected her comlink to its data port and ran through her head what she could tell A'baht.

Before she could turn the transmitter on, the doors to her office slid open without warning. General Kaice walked inside. She saw no one behind him. The doors closed, leaving them alone, staring at one another from across the room.

She did her best to keep a straight face. "Well, General? What is it?"

"Fresh news from the Jedi incursion," Kaice said.

"Jedi incursion?"

"The Jedi and Republic troops entering the Leonal facility have met with resistance. Please, Madam, come to the situation room immediately."

She cursed quietly. "Did we get the hostages out?"

"Less than half. There's already been casualties. Come."

"Give me two minutes, General. I'll be down as soon as I can."

Kaice didn't move. "Is there a problem, Madam?"

"No. I just need to take care of one thing. Go on ahead. I'll be right behind you."

She reached out with her meager Force powers and tried to get a sense of Kaice. He was hard to read as always, his emotions guarded. She saw his eyes drift to her desktop and fall on the comlink plugged into the dataport, then felt unmistakeable alarm.

He knew. His hand went to the service pistol holstered at his belt. Syne's went to her own hip-

-and found nothing. She wasn't a soldier anymore.

Kaice's shot caught her in the stomach. The force knocked her back against her window. Her head snapped against the glass but she barely felt it against the pain blossoming over the rest of her body. She slumped down to the floor, shoulders and back still propped against the window.

Syne was a soldier. She knew gut-shots killed slowly and painfully. When the agony became too much she'd pass out, and after that, eventually, her heart would stop beating. Right now the pain was flooding around her body from the locus in her abdomen; it was difficult to even keep her eyes open.

She watched helplessly as Kaice walked around to her side of the desk. He looked down at her, and through the Force she could sense it all bleeding out of him: the pity, the contempt, the tiny twinge of regret. He still clasped the pistol tight in one hand, and she was sure he was about to raise it and put a final bolt in her head, ending her, ending everything.

But he didn't. He sighed and placed his pistol on the top of her desk. Then he pulled her comlink out of the data port and turned on her personal transmission system.

Still looking down at her, still radiating all of it in the Force, he turned on the transmitter and said, "All BDF forces, this is an emergency transmission from General Kaice. I regret to inform you that Prime Minister Syne has been killed by Cerean assassins, acting in collusion with the New Republic and elements of the BSA. For this affront, no quarter can be given.

"All ships in orbit, any New Republic vessel is now considered a hostile. If they attempt to move any closer to this planet or land any more troops, shoot to kill." Kaice swallowed, then added, "All New Republic personnel on Bavinyar are now considered enemies of the state. Apprehend them if possible. All Jedi should be considered especially dangerous and must be eliminated with prejudice.

"Draw strength from your grief in this desperate hour. I encourage you all to fight as long as you can. For Bavinyar, and for our independence. Thank you, and good luck."

He shut off the transmission and took a long, deep breath. He looked down on her again. Her eyes had gotten blurry but she blinked them into focus on his face.

"I didn't want this to happen," Kaice told her, "But you should have stayed loyal to Bavinyar, our Bavinyar. You've disgraced your mother's legacy."

She wanted to respond but breath burned in her lungs. Worse, he was right. She had disgraced her mother, but not the way he'd meant.

And yet, as Syne stared at him and he stared at her, she felt the Force around her more strongly than ever. She felt Kaice's soft regret and hard determination; she felt the familiar room around her and the soldiers so high above as they started to die.

She may have failed her mother, but her father had not failed her, not at the end.

She knew Jedi could move objects with their mind. She'd never been able to do it before but she tried now. She focused her dying thoughts on the sidearm resting atop her desk, its barrel-tip angled toward the window. It was the same standard pistol every BDF officer carried, and she knew every curve of it, every angle.

She willed it, ever so slightly, to point at General Kaice's chest. And to her shock it nudged, ever so slightly, on the desktop.

Then she found the trigger and pulled. There was a flash of light, and a whiff of scorched flesh; one more layer of it over the smell of her own burnt body.

Then Kaice staggered and fell atop her legs, his weight tipping hers so both fell to the floor. Syne felt a meager twinge of satisfaction, and after that, nothing at all.