A Gold and Honey Trap (Rebels & Jedi)

[Byl Laprovik]

It had taken me a week to excuse myself from Coruscant, and I didn't take moving around lightly. It wasn't easy for one. The lion's den was big and porous, but there was death waiting at every corner and the possibility of being made. Traveling in and out of Imperial territory took creativity.

But the order came from Dan, so my hands were tied. He was a major player, and when he spoke, I listened.

I booked public transit to the mid-rim, hooking up with a Rebel operative on Malastare, and slipped off the grid, making a staggered hyperjump to the Rebel fleet. I was once again a ghost.

A day later, I debarked from the small freighter on a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, the Dauntless. It was a shock going from the dingy freighter to the bright and immaculate Calamari warship, and it took me a few minutes to adjust to the organic contours.

[General Dan]

"Byl, good to see you."

Dan stood alone in the observation deck of the Dauntless, awaiting the Rebel operative's arrival.

"Can I get you a drink?"

[Byl Laprovik]

"Maybe."

I looked around, and back to Dan with an arched eyebrow.

"What's this about? It took a lot of time and money to get back here, and put my plans in jeopardy."

[General Dan]

"You've got a frank and damn-near insubordinate mouth on you, don't you?"

Dan crossed his arms standoffishly.

"Good thing neither of us are the type to pull rank. I appreciate cynics, Captain. I need your keen ability to cut the crap, and I need it close to me."

[Byl Laprovik]

"I figured you needed me well enough from the summons. What for?"

[General Dan]

"You come highly recommended from Alliance intel. Director Van Derveld mentions you by name more than a few times in executive reports. I need to make sure, before I tell you what this is about, that you don't hold any particular loyalty to Allied Intel. I need a Rebel first, and a spook second. That I can't explicitly trust Van Derveld or Belargic in this means that it's more sensitive than it should ever be."

[Byl Laprovik]

"I think I'm ready for that drink now. Double Cristolla, measure of tonic, and a measure of Blue Rylla, neat."

Dan's assistant nodded and went to work.

"You're healthily paranoid. Why me?"

[General Dan]

"Because you're more paranoid than I am, and if I kill you, nobody would miss you."

Dan glanced to his minder.

"Kessellian Tequila. The usual."

Once the drinks were served, Dan led Byl into an adjacent doorway, which led to a private office.

"I think we have a mole."

[Byl Laprovik]

The idea of a mole wasn't one that was farfetched. Any outfit as large as the Rebel Alliance was bound to have a few individuals who's allegiances were compromised. It could be for money, it could be for asylum, it could be for blackmail. The reasons weren't all that important. Finding them was paramount.

"Who do you suspect?"

I took a drink. It was crisp, dry, and strong. Kept me alive and dulled my senses all at once.

[General Dan]

"Fleet command, Intel, all of our high commanders, & high level support."

Dan downed half of his drink, shrugging.

"They have the access to the most sensitive information."

[Byl Laprovik]

"What about the Jedi?"

I asked plainly over my drink.

[General Dan]

"I wouldn't think they'd be suspect. They're mystics and people of faith. They don't have the same priorities as you or I might."

[Byl Laprovik]

"If I recall, it was a Jedi Knight who got us into this whole damn mess. I don't think any of them are anywhere near being beyond reproach."

[General Dan]

Dan paused. It seemed rather cold blooded to put the Jedi under the same suspicion, but Dan was impressed at Byl's refusal to omit on a hunch.

"If you feel you're onto something, look into it. Even me. At this point, I'm willing to leave no stone unturned."

Dan took another drink, and handed Byl a flimsy from his desk.

"In the past six months, we've attacked Tanaab, Nllkon, and Uro. Before each of these attacks, the fleet command channel has been used to send out a multi-band pulse, encrypted to hell and back. None of our cyphers can touch it, and I can't get a yes or a no from anybody about it. At each of these attacks, we've arrived in system to either find our target has moved, or to find the Empire has redoubled their defenses.

I want you to figure out who's tipping off our attacks. As I've said before, it has to be somebody upwardly mobile, and use your best discretion on looking into whomever you suspect."

[Byl Laprovik]

"And when I find them?"

[General Dan]

"That's the real onion, isn't it?"

All traces of warmth drained from Dan's face.

"If it's somebody high enough, we can't guarantee that incarceration will solve the problem. Somebody well connected could still beat the system, or simply buy enough time to recirculate into the Empire.

If you find them, you'll have to kill them. And discretely. As I said, the suspects are all movers here. We can't have fratricide stories running amok. It needs to look natural, like a suicide, or better yet, they need to just disappear."

[Byl Laprovik]

My eyes narrowed as I took another drink.

"You do realize by even asking this of me, you attract suspicion to yourself. You have something at stake here, whether it's what you say it is or not."

I measured Dan's expression as I spoke. He took my brutal honesty with a straight face, which implied he'd seen it coming.

"I'll look good and hard at you. If I so much as get a hint of stonewalling, I'll pull up stakes and be back on Coruscant the next day. I don't have anything against doing your dirty work, but this game will get played my way."

[General Dan]

"Naturally."

Dan raised his glass in a mock toast, taking another drink.

"Alliance Command will be assembling today for planning our next assault. I want you to stay nearby as an observer. Let me smooth over any wrinkles with Intel. It might be an end run-around, but they'll take it."

[Byl Laprovik]

"Do they know about the possibility of the mole? If they're suspected, it may spook them. My investigation would be for nothing."

[General Dan]

"I'll throw a dog a bone."

Dan shrugged casually.

"There's always some band of hot-heads on some planet that need weapons. You've done that kind of thing before, and it's natural to come to me for it. I'll supply the weapons, you supply whatever names and usual suspects you want to serve up. Keep the weapons, sell them. I don't care. If it gives you a little leverage in your next op, that's just sauce for the goose. I'll take a shot in the wallet for a believable cover.

That should be enough convincing for your minders. You can't start a revolution without a few guns, right?"

[Byl Laprovik]

"That should work. I know a resistance cell on Kuat that can put small arms to use."

I finished my drink in a series of gulps, set the glass aside, and headed for the door.

"I have to place a call to Van Derveld. Handle the rest."

[General Dan]

"Meet on the observation deck in two hours. We'll have a briefing."

Dan waved Laprovik away with a hand as he looked to the stars.

[Byl Laprovik]

After the meeting with Dan, I saw to dealings with his assistant, who checked me into quarters aboard the Dauntless. Once I arrived, I locked the door behind me, and opened up my travel pack, laying out three days worth of clothing, a gun, and a small satchel. Opening the satchel, I pulled out an EM band detection wand, and began to sweep it across my living areas, looking for any active or passive transmission devices that may compromise my security. It was paranoid, yes, but the auspices of my meeting with Dan gave me plenty of reason to be suspicious of him.

After five minutes, satisfied that my quarters were clean, I set my wrist comm to a pre-set encryption key, and opened a link to the Assistant Director.

"I need to meet with you in half an hour. I'm aboard the Dauntless."

[Grace Van-Derveld]

Grace blinked, but not really out of surprise. Byl never liked to report that he was ever on his way back to the fleet. He always showed up unannounced.

"All right, Sergeant. Make sure to get those documents on Belargic's desk in two standard hours. We might have to move troops around to accommodate that raid on Roona." He nodded curtly and departed.

Now alone in her office, the Assistant Director leaned back in her chair and accepted the call. "My office or yours?" She meant his quarters of course. Agents like Laprovik avoided desks like the plague. He would probably put a blaster to his head if she or Belargic ever stuffed him in front of one.

[Byl Laprovik]

"Yours."

There were several reasons. If she was implicated, I needed to quickly ascertain exactly what I could find to incriminate. Then again, if she were a party to conspiracy, she would be prepared for such a house call, especially with my hand tipped. I wanted to see if she was serious, or if she would bluff.

If she wasn't involved, I trusted her quarters for discrete talk far more than my own. Anybody risking electronic eavesdropping on somebody as high as the Assistant Director invited all manners of problems on their head if it were discovered. On a ghost like me, there was little capital risked.

Either way, I would have very little time to make up my mind about Van Derveld. Even then, that didn't clear Allied Intel on a whole. I'd just know in whose company I could open my mouth.

"I'm on my way. Tell the Director I have the Roona file."

I gathered a few things from my satchel, and after a moment's hesitation, reached for my gun. I charged the emitter, and tucked it into my holster, sliding my shirt over the entire rig.

[Grace Van-Derveld]

"I let Belargic know. See you in a few." She disconnected Laprovik and put in a call to her partner, the Director of Rebel Intel. He wasn't available, so Grace left a message about the file and finished some last minute orders while waiting for Byl.