The general continued. “Instead, we’re going to move on the capital directly.” She swept a finger over one screen, drawing a line from the New Republic territories near the spaceport into Imperial sectors of the city. “We’ll need to move rapidly or else be surrounded and cut off. Both ground and air units will be at considerable risk. But the tactical droids agree that our goals are achievable. When the job is done—when we take down the governor and occupy the capital ourselves—the enemy will still control considerable portions of the continent. The planet will be in our hands, but anyone hoping to retake it would see an opportunity.”
Tensent was the first to comprehend the implications. “Hell of a plan,” he said. “You think the 204th would come all the way to the Core to retake Cerberon?”
Adan looked to Syndulla. Syndulla nodded to Adan. “I’m handling that side of things,” he said. “I’ll make sure they learn what’s going on. They’ll know Cerberon is valuable enough to fight for and they’ll know precisely how to take it.”
Syndulla picked up the thread. “We’ve got an idea of how to tempt them into action. We’ll leave a back door open in the planet’s defenses—something they won’t realize we know about, that looks like the perfect way for a fighter wing to recapture Troithe single-handedly.”
“Back door have something to do with that last mission, running down the cargo shuttle in the debris field?” Chass na Chadic asked. She was slouched forward, elbows on the tabletop and chin on her folded hands.
“Right now the details are need-to-know,” Adan told Chadic. “But you’ll be briefed when the time approaches. Suffice it to say that we’ll be able to predict exactly when and where Shadow Wing will appear. I wouldn’t worry about the final battle.”
Tensent grinned broadly and nudged Chadic with his elbow. “Because whoever heard of a trap going wrong?”
Adan shot him a furious glance that Quell almost admired for its laser focus. Chadic cackled and Tensent waved it all off as he said, “I like it, though, I do. If we’re taking down the 204th for good, I’d rather do it on our terms.”
“What about reinforcements?” Chadic asked. “For us, I mean.”
“Also need-to-know,” Adan said. “But Lieutenant Quell has put her expertise to good use, and General Syndulla has vetted the plan.”
“No one’s going on any suicide mission,” Quell said. She was surprised by Adan’s graciousness, though she assumed it was for Syndulla’s benefit. “We can defeat Shadow Wing. We’ve proven it before. We’re just here to finish the job.”
Chass na Chadic looked more bored than reassured. Quell couldn’t guess why. Wyl Lark’s fingers were locked together, and he stroked the tabletop as he asked, “Couldn’t it go wrong, though?”
Adan began to answer but Syndulla held up a hand and waited for Lark to continue. After a pause, he did so.
“You said this was the riskier path. We almost lost Pandem Nai because we misjudged the situation. What if we endanger civilians again?”
Syndulla nodded in acknowledgment. “It’s a fair point. But this isn’t Pandem Nai, and we can learn from our mistakes while still judging every situation on its merits. I’m confident the civilian risk, while significant, isn’t meaningfully higher than it would be using another approach. Frankly, it’s our casualties I’m more worried about.” Wyl began to interrupt but Syndulla silenced him. “Taking the capital this way…people will die. The ground troops will take hits they wouldn’t absorb otherwise, no matter how hard we try to prevent it.
“But it’s a good plan, and in war any action—inaction included—could lead to losses. We have to decide what stopping Shadow Wing is worth.”
She didn’t have to repeat herself. Quell heard Syndulla’s words echo in her mind: The last time the 204th followed the orders of a dead leader, millions of people died on Nacronis.
Yet Syndulla wasn’t finished. She shook her head gently and amended, “I have to decide what it’s worth. That’s my responsibility as a general, and I promise you I will do the very best I can.”
The tactical center fell silent. Lark still looked troubled but he nodded to the general. Chadic shrugged, shoulders rising and falling with an exaggerated breath even as her eyes were on Lark. Tensent’s gaze held on Quell, and she had to suppress a flinch—he was studying her, watching her as if he heard the same unspoken words she did.
Kairos stood staring at one of the tactical screens. She turned her body slowly—so slowly, like a tree imperceptibly rotating to bring its branches into sunlight—toward General Syndulla.
It was Adan who broke the stillness. “Besides,” he said, “this whole system’s a war zone. We can’t make these people’s lives much worse.”
* * *
—
“I thought she’d call our bluff about the sightings,” Adan said afterward at a narrow desk surrounded by printouts in his small office. He grasped the sleeve of the coat slung over the back of his seat and rubbed the cloth over a smudge on the datapad occupying his attention. “But you were right. It looks like the general is on our side.”
“It wasn’t a bluff,” Quell said. She stared past him, through the semitransparent walls that looked out onto what had once been the tram tower’s control center. Half a dozen beings reviewed data at workstations or murmured to one another in hushed discussion. Most were un-uniformed and unarmed, but though New Republic Intelligence wasn’t part of the military hierarchy, it was surely part of the war. “We have data—”
“We have speculation.” Adan shrugged. “Which apparently is enough.”
He met her gaze as he darkened the walls to opacity.
Adan had been insufferable enough alone aboard the Lodestar, operating his working group with minimal support from the battle group and the general. Since Pandem Nai, however, Adan had become respected by both the military and New Republic Intelligence. It had masked his most vile traits—she hadn’t seen him shout or curse for a while—but she couldn’t help but read his easy confidence as smug arrogance.
Yet he also appeared more competent than she’d given him credit for. The assignments he doled out to Alphabet Squadron were sensible and consistent with the overall strategy they’d agreed to. His team of analysts regularly revealed paths to military victory that would’ve otherwise remained invisible. If he hadn’t held Quell’s life in his hands, she might have respected what he was accomplishing.