Tavira nodded. "He would be elected by his own people to fill this slot?"

Remart aped her nod. "Yes, Admiral."

With the quirt pressed thoughtfully against her lips, Tavira rotated and looked at my squadron. "All those in favor of Captain Idanian joining Bolt Squadron, please raise a convenient appendage."

Nine hands rose down along the line. Mine did not.

Tavira frowned. "You oppose your election?"

"I have responsibilities to my people."

"You have responsibilities to me. I want you in Bolt Squadron."

"As ordered, Admiral."

She glanced at Remart. "Now you would tell me that he must be elected the leader of Bolt Squadron, yes?"

"That is the way it is done, Admiral."

Tavira's smile blossomed full of teeth. "And the position of commander of this squadron is one you covet for yourself, yes'?"

Remart's whole body stiffened. "I would be your most faithful and fierce servant, Admiral."

Tavira slapped the quirt not so gently against Remart's stomach. "And yet you might be, but I don't want you commanding the Bolts. The pressures of command might wrinkle that brow, and I would not like to see that happen to you. All those in Bolt Squadron in favor of Captain Idanian a.s.suming command, please raise an appendage."

Nine hands went up and, after a quick quirt lash, Remart's hand joined them.

Tavira smiled graciously. "Though I despise democracy, it is nice to see this quaint custom result in unanimity. Congratulations, Captain Idanian.

You have a new command. You now can relay your plans directly to the Invidious."

"It is a privilege I will be careful in exercising, Admiral."

Her violet eyes narrowed. "Why do I have the feeling that I may just have made a mistake in having you elevated?" I kept my expression open.

"I have no idea, Admiral."

"See to it, Captain Idanian, that you give me no reason to think on it again."

"As ordered, Admiral." I bowed my head toward her and did not lift it again until she and her entourage had clomped away with Tyresi to introduce her to her new command. I shot a glance at Remart and saw him tremble with anger. I'd give her no reason to think she'd made a mistake.

Remart, on the other hand, most certainly would. Because of that, I knew then that when our inevitable confrontation came, only one of us would walk away.

Taking over Bolt Squadron for Tyresi Gurtt proved both more and less difficult than I would have thought. Jacob Nive approved of the choice, which cut the resentment of some of the Bolts. Most of them waited to see how well I could fly, and while the sensor data from the flight against Tycho and shooting the torpedoes down certainly convinced most, a few holdouts waited until we had a chance to practice against each other.

Remart and two others-with the other replacement pilot from Slash Squadron soon joining them-staunchly opposed me. I gathered them into three flight and couldn't wait until I could toss them at Rogue Squadron or Pash Cracken's A-wing group. I knew that was a decidedly un-Jedilike desire on my part and felt uneasy about it, but having Remart scheming away about getting me in trouble added stress I didn't need to my life.

Fortunately for him and me, the Invidious didn't call on anyone for missions for over a month, leaving us to languish on Courkrus. We all a.s.sumed it was taking that long for Tyresi to get the Invidious' fighter group back together. Invidious' lack of action didn't prevent Admiral Tavira from showing up on Courkrus for meetings with the various gang leaders from time to time, though no missions from those meetings pa.s.sed down to me.

Aside from working with my new squadron, I used the down-time to go over the various events of the Xa Fel raid. We learned later, through various channels, that the New Republic had not been at Xa Fel waiting for us.

The New Republic had staged a surprise raid on Xa Fel to trap officials of Kuat Drive Yards. KDY had been under various judicial orders to stop polluting the planet and start ma.s.sive clean-up campaigns, but had done almost nothing to comply. During the Thrawn raids, little had been done to enforce the rulings-ditto the turmoil concerning the Reborn Emperor.

KDY had gotten complacent, so the New Republic stepped in, used an Interdictor to keep all ships in the system, and were in the process of checking every-thing out when we showed up.

While I was happy to see Xa Fel on the way to getting cleaned up, the nature of the raid and our stumbling into it took on a greater significance for me. Tavira's people missed the New Republic forces because those forces were not there to trap the Invidious. Those forces had a different target. This meant that Tavira's advisors were able to read threats directed toward her, not the future in general. They were sensing the same hostile intent I'd gotten from Tycho, only they got their warning a bit in advance. Unless something was a direct threat to Tavira and the Invidious-and, by extension, the advisor himself-it just didn't register.

As good as they might be at using the Force, they seem timid,half-trained.

My fruitless consideration of how to use this discovery against Tavira occupied a lot of my free time, and it wasn't a problem I could share with my friends. It got knocked offline one afternoon when Jacob Nive called me into his office. I knew the pilots who had been at Xa Fel had been being called into their various headquarters to answer questions about the battle, but the process had left the Survivors for last. The pilots in the other bands remained quiet about what went on in the interrogations, but I gathered none of them really had a clue about what had happened to them.

I entered the office, tossed Captain Nive and Admiral Tavira a salute, then moved to third chair in the set before Nive's desk, the one with its back to the door into a connecting office. Admiral Tavira, wearing a pilot's black jumpsuit with a short jacket and cape to match crossed her legs and let her booted left foot bounce somewhat impatiently. "Thank you for joining us, Captain Idanian."

I nodded once. "My pleasure, Admiral. How can I be of service?"

"I am making inquiries about the Xa Fel battle. As you are aware, in the past my advisors have been rather shrewd about keeping the Invidious out of danger." Tarira regarded me through half-lidded eyes, beguiling eyes.

"At Xa Fel they failed but there they sensed a presence."

"A presence?" I frowned. "I'm not certain I understand."

"Do you know what a Jedi Knight is?" Her question came soft and almost seductive. The pink tip of her tongue wet her lips as she waited for my reply, her gaze gaining in intensity. Her manner and bearing and tone of voice suggested rewards for the truth, and I found myself surprisingly willing to indulge her. Exar Kun's promise to let me have her flashed through my mind, followed quickly by the image of Mirax, sending a little jolt through me.

In the wake of that jolt I felt a presence creeping into my mind. It came tentatively and gently, a roly-poly lint-neff rolling and hopping over the surface of my consciousness. Had I not been trained in the ways of the Force I never would have noticed it, or I would have put it down to the Admiral's penetrating gaze. As it was, even with my rudimentary skill in the Force, I felt its intrusion and sought to deflect it away from any deep probe.

I recalled how Luke had entered my mind by making his thoughts flow along with mine. I reversed this technique. Since the prober was looking for information about the Force and Jedi Knights, I'd supply it. I dredged up every memory of Jedi Knights from every trashy holodrama and news doc.u.mentary I could remember. I created a pool of such images, allowing the prober in, then encysting her in that wealth of data.

"I do, Admiral." I blushed and glanced down. "I used to be quite a fanatic on the subject as a child. I watched whatever I could because it infuriated my family. I didn't understand then the risk to my family I posed, nor the risk that Jedi posed to the Empire. I know the New Republic claims to have some and I believe one of them was responsible for the destruction of Carida."

"So he was." Tavira's eyes brightened slightly. "At the battle of Xa Fel, my people had indications of the presence of a Jedi. Do you know anything about that?"

I threw my head back and laughed. "It all makes sense, now."

She frowned. "What does?"

"The proton torpedoes. Those would be what he used against the Invidious."

Nive shook his head. "Again, with help files."

I looked openly at the both of them, feeding shock into the pool of memories in my brain. "The Jedi, Luke Starkiller, Adam Darklighter, Biggs Skywalker, whatever, the one who destroyed the Death Star at Yavin-he used proton torpedoes. It makes sense that he shot them at your ship when going away. I was flying against Rogue Squadron, and he was the founder of Rogue Squadron, after all."

I felt the same surprise on Tavira's face roll down the connection in my brain. That presence withdrew itself as Tavira's surprise melted into an appreciative smile. "I am impressed, Captain Idanian. No one else has connected Rogue Squadron with the Jedi."

"Not even your advisors?"

"No, not even them." Her quirt cracked against her gloved palm. "How is it that you were able to come up with this answer'?"

I narrowed my eyes. "That X-wing pilot almost got me. I knew he was from Rogue Squadron, but when a.n.a.lyzing my performance after the fact, I realized I needed to know more about all of them. Their history makes for fascinating reading. You're even mentioned in it."

Her head came up and her gaze became icy. "I've run afoul of them several times, but never with a Jedi flying with them." I tried but could not suppress a shiver.

She caught it and smiled. "You've survived an encounter with them, as have I. Does that make us kindred spirits?"

"It makes us both survivors."

"And you take pride in being a survivor?"

I shook my head. "I take pride in being a victor."

Her eyes widened slightly. "And do you always win?"

"So far."

"Perhaps you have not been properly challenged." She pursed her lips for a moment. "Perhaps I should find a challenge for you."

Captain Nive shifted uneasily in his chair. "If you wish, I can . . .

I held a hand up. "Begging your pardon, sir. May I speak frankly, Admiral?"

Tavira blinked at me. "This is different. Proceed."

I stood. "I have great respect for you, Admiral, as a tactician and for being able to hold together this coalition. Your ability to keep the Invidious intact while the New Republic is hunting her is nothing short of miraculous. And, without meaning to sound forward, I think you're stunningly beautiful. Fact is, though, I joined the Invids to be a pilot and to make money. If the challenge you're thinking of offering me tests my pilot skills, I'm your man. If not, I'm not interested in the job."

Nive looked stricken and I'm pretty certain he thought he was going to be ordered to have me killed right then and there.

Tavira looked surprised. For all of a second. Then she rose to her feet and lashed me across the face with the quirt. I knew the stinging blow was coming-no need even for the Force to tell me that-and I just took it.

The pain sank into my flesh and heat rose to replace it in my right cheek. I didn't feel any trickle of blood, but I knew I'd have a nasty welt for a day or so, and an ugly bruise after that.

"That is for your presumption, Captain." Tavira brought the quirt back and pressed it up under my chin. "If I were to find you attractive-and though you are far from ugly, you are not of a type I favor-and I wanted you to attend me, you would. Ut-ut, no speaking here. Know that what I tell you is a fact pure and simple." Her eyes all but closed as she stared up at my face. "Pity you're so very blond. I've always found blonds to be a disaster for me."

She spun away abruptly, letting the quirt rasp against my throat. "As for pilot challenges, those I will present to you. Within a week, I think, I will have the Survivors spearhead an action for me. Do you think you will be up to that challenge'?"

"I will do as ordered, Admiral."

Tavira turned back toward me, slowly, with a coy smile on her face. "I imagine you will, Captain, which means there is hope for you of a future.

Do not displease me, Captain. You won't like what happens to those in whom I am displeased."

I retreated from Nive's office, pa.s.sing Timmser, who was waiting to go in next, and walked out into the sunlight. I started to head toward a little restaurant I liked, but as I started thinking, my wandering became aimless. So many things had happened in that meeting that I needed to sort them out and figure out how to proceed.

First and foremost I'd had confirmed what I suspected: Tavira's advisors were Force-sensitive and schooled in some uses of the Force. I was pretty sure my deflection had gone unnoticed, which meant her advisors were not very skilled in that sort of probing. It could have been that their talent for uncovering threats was a pa.s.sive one, working only on threats directed at them. That meant they were largely reactive, which was akin to being a counter-puncher as a fighter. It's not bad, but it means you have to get hit first before you can hit back.

The fact that they had detected my Force use in the battle did disturb me, and made me thankful I'd been working to keep my Force-sensitivity shielded otherwise. If Luke's early a.s.sumption that Mirax had been taken to forestall action on my part were true, because my Force presence could identify me, I'd all but announced to my enemies that I was here. The fact that they were willing to accept the Force presence at the battle as that of Luke Skywalker didn't clear this problem up-it just meant they had no way to differentiate me from Luke for the moment.

It also struck me as odd that I never had a sense of Tavira's advisors before the probe in the office, or during the battle. If they could detect me, they were within my range to detect them, or so it would seem.

They had to be shielding themselves as well, remaining hidden. Given that until a half-dozen years before, being a Jedi was a quick way to slow death, the ability to remain hidden was a virtue. For me, however, this virtue meant I could be standing right next to a dangerous enemy and not know it.

Second, and equally important, I'd learned Tavira did not like being crossed. I blunted the prelude to a proposition, she punished me for it, then told me I'd never defy, her again. She did not admit I'd headed her off, and she did not relinquish control in the situation. She clearly felt she had come out the victor, and I didn't want to know how she was going to reinforce her victory.

I found myself before the Crash and descended into the cool depths. I gave my eyes a chance to adjust to the dim light, then made my way toward the back, to a table where Timmser sat with Caet. Before I could get there, however, Remart landed a hand heavily on my left shoulder.

I turned toward him, shrugging his hand off. "You want something?"

The big man smiled slyly at me. "Just to buy you a drink."

"Got a special on Alion neurotoxins, do they?"

The bartender, a guy who had enough sores on his face to be from Xa Fel, laughed. "We're not Margath's. Sasyru is buying. What'll you have?"

"Local lomin-ale, thanks." I looked at Remart. "Why so generous'?"

"I don't want any misunderstandings between us, Captain." He raised a scarlet brandy in my direction as a salute. "No hard feelings."

"Sure." I accepted the ale from the bartender, nodded at Remart, then continued on my way to the back. Timmser slid a chair out with her foot for me. "What's going on with Remart?"

Timmser snorted and Caet growled. "Sasyru came in to Nive's office after me, to meet with the admiral and Captain Nive. Came out of the meeting all happy. Seems the admiral thinks she's going to let Remart show her a good time after our next outing."

"Oh." I sipped some of the ale and let the carbonation attack my tongue.

The ale soured in my mouth, but I knew it wasn't anything to do with the brewing. I didn't like the idea of Remart with Admiral Tavira, and turned to glower at him.

Caet let a low growl roll from her throat. "Jealousy does not suit you, Jenos."

I looked at her, blinking in surprise. "Jealous? Me? Of Remart? No way."

Timmser shook her head. "Got it bad, pretty clearly, Jen."

"No, you're wrong." I frowned at the both of them, then drank. I tried to tell myself I didn't like the idea of them being together because Remart would cause trouble for me with Tavira. "With Tavira backing him, Remart will be a terror."

Timmser gave me an exaggerated nod. "I copy, Captain Idanian, but I think your sensor data is reading wrong."

Caet agreed with a smile. "Seek the truth, Jenos. Don't fly blind."

My frown deepened as I considered the possibility of being jealous. I knew it was insane. I didn't want her-I had Mirax and was very happy. I'd refused her, and I could easily see her turning to Remart as both a way to salve her ego and to get under my skin, since our dislike for each other was well known. Yet even though I didn't want her, I wanted her to be with him even less.

I am jealous!

I shivered. Part of me knew my jealousy was all preprogrammed and genetic. By winning a female, a man guaranteed his own genetic survival, and all other men are de facto rivals in that quest for immortality. As much as I wanted to believe I was removed from my animal nature-as much as I clung to Yoda's dictum that we are not crude creatures of matter-I still didn't like Remart. I also had a powerful attraction to Leonia Tarira.

I had to admit it. Part of the reason I'd cut her proposition short was because I did find her desirable. She was easilv cla.s.sed as eye-candy, and her cunning enhanced her attractiveness. Her capriciousness was dangerous, but that very danger was a challenge: Could I, in relating with her more closely, avoid her wrath ?

Before letting myself follow that line of thought, I pressed my mug of cold ale up against my right cheek and let the chill soothe the fire there. I felt more of a sting as some of the ale slopped down over the abraded flesh, but I let it remind me of Tavira's petty and venial side.

Am I so far gone here that I truly want her? It drove a sting like a vibroblade into any desire I had for her. I hoped it had left a mortal wound, but I wasn't sure of it.