The Duty Operations officer stifled a yawn. The corridors and rec area now lay almost deserted, the frantic activity of the dummy alert having died down ages before: the off duty ground crew, pilots and other personnel long since tucked into their beds and snoring soundly.... exactly where he wished he was. Occasionally there was some movement as the graveyard shift tinkered with their various tasks. Reeis gave in to another yawn then tried to rub the tiredness out of his eyes with the palms of his hands. They remained stubbornly sleep laden.

One of the junior officers appeared at his side, a steaming cup if kaffin in one hand and a data pad in the other. He held the pad out to Reeis, "These need your stamp, Sir." Reeis took the pad, eyeing the mug, but the younger man was already continuing, "And I made some kaffin, Sir," setting the container down on the desk.

"You're a life saver," Reeis grinned. He lifted the mug, relishing the heat that seeped into his fingers. But a sharp movement from the other end of the bank of consoles drew his attention before he'd even taken the first sip.

"Commander, incoming message." Reeis looked longingly at the kaffin, then placed it lovingly on the desk, walking swiftly across to the communications console as the woman continued, "Priority Three... coded, Sir!"

"Get Commander Anders!" Reeis ordered, slipping into the already vacated seat as she rushed to obey. He punched in his recognition code, leaning forward for retinal verification, the first of two codes that would be required to access the signal. Priority Three, he thought. Goddess, what had happened? Behind him he heard Anders ordering someone to alert General Rieekan as she moved across the room. The acceptance message flashed onto the screen as the Commander joined him at the console. Reeis moved to stand up but she motioned him to stay seated, punching in her code, leaning across him for the ret-scan.

Elhen Anders stretched aching fingers as they waited for the second acceptance message to appear, pulling the heavy coat more tightly round her slender frame. She hated Echo Base, hadn’t been able to get warm since she arrived. The cold had seemed to lodge in her bones and she had been watching the clock, counting the few hours until the end of her watch when she could get back to her nice, warm cot. And then this excitement had arrived and even though she knew that it meant not getting to the longed for warmth of her bed, the professional in her rose to the excitement. It wasn’t every day that they got something intriguing as this.

Curiosity burned through Reeis. But he said nothing, knowing that it would be useless to ask the Intelligence Commander any questions. He had tried that only once before. She had turned that school-teacher look on him, her eyes sparking mischievously, and had gently told him to mind his own business. Anders’ code acceptance winked briefly before being replaced by rows of unintelligible blurb. She moved aside to allow her Artoo unit to link with the console, handing Reeis a data strip as the unit down loaded the message into its memory. Reeis pushed the strip into the coms console then punched in the commands to transfer the message to external data storage. The little droid unplugged itself, retracting the arm and trundled towards Rieekan's office at the far end of the ops room… Moment's later a transfer complete flag flashed on the screen and Reeis withdrew the strip, sealing it and handing it back to Anders. Then he erased the signal from the console, logging the time before following the Commander. Regulations stated that no one was left alone with a Priority Five message, or above, until it had been seen by one of the Command Level staff.

The Artoo unit had already plugged itself into another computer console in the office and was burbling quietly to itself as it decoded the transmission. Anders sat down in Rieekan's chair, dropping the data strip onto the desk, pushing an errant curl of greying hair behind her ear. Reeis perched himself on the edge of the desk, swinging a leg absently as they waited for the decode. The curl dropped back against Anders cheek and Reeis smiled. No matter how perfectly she turned herself out, her hair always managed to fall into that unkempt halo of curls, reminding him of his mother’s younger sister. He pushed down the sudden stab of homesickness and grief, shoving it back behind the barriers. Two years, and the memories still reared up, threatening his sanity.

The droid mewled at them, pulling him away from the unwanted train of thought. A hard copy printout appeared from the computer. Anders snatched it, reading greedily.

"FALCON'S LITTLE FRIEND AT RESCUE IDENTIFIED. STOP. RANKING PERFORMER KWIA WISHES FAMILY RE-UNION. STOP. REQUESTS LIMITED FUNDS PARTY IN FRIENDLY TOWN. STOP. AWAITING. STOP. PTH OUT."

Stunned, Anders read the message again, just to make sure that her eyes weren't deceiving her. But there it was, exactly the same as before! Performer was the current code name for the Executor, Flagship of the Imperial Navy. KWIA was short for know-it-all - her counterparts on the other side, an Imperial Intelligence Officer. Goddess, but this meant that a high ranking Intelligence Officer from Vader's ship wanted to defect! Somehow she managed to keep her expression neutral. Her voice, when she spoke, was surprisingly calm, "Commander, I'm sorry, but this is very sensitive information..."

"Meaning that I have to make myself scarce when Rieekan arrives?" he smiled.

She nodded, "Yes."

As if on cue the tall frame of General Rieekan appeared in the doorway. Both officers rose to their feet, Reeis disappearing out of the office with a cheery, "Good morning, Sir."

Rieekan muttered something that could have been, "Good morning," then strode into the office, waving at Anders to sit down, "Too early in the morning for all this pomp and discipline,” he told her, his voice gravely with sleep. She grinned, but waited for him to drop into the chair before sitting down herself. "Well, Commander," he demanded, "what's so important you have to drag me out of bed at three in the morning?"

"A priority three coded transmission, Sir, from our people on Pethusaan." She leant across the desk, handing him the printout, "I haven't had time to fully translate it but it appears that a high ranking Imperial Intelligence Officer wishes to defect."

Rieekan stared at her for a moment on blank amazement, all hint of fatigue evaporating. Then he looked down at the decode. Anders explained, "Performer is the current code for the Executor..."

His head snapped up, "Vader's ship?"

"Yes, Sir. And KWIA is an Intelligence Officer..."

He handed the copy back to her ordering, "Translate this, Commander. Now!"

Wedge surfaced slowly from a blissfully dreamless sleep. He heard someone moving beside him and opened his eyes, wondering if Karrik had stayed. But the smile of greeting died on his lips as he saw only a droid with its back to him. He closed his eyes again, sighing, thoughts wandering back to the previous evening: the surprise on her face when he'd kissed her, his own unaccustomed doubt at her surprise. Then the gentle, calming caress of her hands against his hair as he'd damn near coughed up his lungs....

For the first time in years he found himself doubting the old charm, confused by his feelings. Usually it was so simple: wine them, dine them.... then whatever else. But never allowing himself to get involved, always making sure that they knew the score, moving on when they started getting too involved. Getting involved wasn't fair on them, or him.

At least he knew himself well enough to understand his own motivation. He'd never wakened hoping that someone was still there.... not since Alderaan, when he'd vowed never to get involved again. If they were still there in the morning it was a bonus. But this... this had him.... scared. He wasn't in control of the situation and it unsettled him.

So why did he find himself wanting to see her again, wanting to feel the soft touch of her hands through his hair? He reached up, lifting the mask away from his face, asking the droid, "What time is it?"

"Oh-three-fifty-two hours, Sir."

Too early to do anything... which left him lots of time to think - unfortunately. On impulse he asked, "When did Tennan leave?"

"I'm not sure, Sir, but there was a Beta Drill called. She would have had to leave for that."

"Thanks."

Anders handed the translation to General Rieekan, "We're only ninety percent sure that it is Tennan. Little friend is a fighter. And the only Rescue that we know the Millennium Falcon has been involved in is the Taspin incident. We're running a check through our Imperial personnel files to corroborate."

Rieekan nodded then read the translation. A member of her family - the intelligence officer, had identified Karrik Tennan. They now wished to join the Rebel Alliance and wanted Tennan to bring them in: the meeting place to be somewhere in Tennan's hometown. Another wave of elation threatened and he pushed it resolutely down, refusing to allow it to claim him until this had been thoroughly investigated... There was something that made him uneasy, something he couldn't put his finger on...

"Do you want me to talk to Karrik, Sir?"

Rieekan shook his head, reading the transmission again, "I'll talk to the Command Staff first..." Goddess, if this was true it would throw them light years closer to defeating the Empire. An immense piece of good fortune dropped on their laps.... Or maybe not, he thought, something still niggling him. He lifted the hard copy of the decode, "When did this come in, Commander?"

"About thirty minutes ago, Sir. Do you want the exact time?"

"Yes." He rose, following her across to the coms console. She checked the log, "Oh-three-twenty-three, General."

Suddenly he realised what was troubling him: the time frame. "When did Solo and Tennan return from Taspin," he asked Reeis.

The Commander turned towards the Traffic Control but Sergeant Loole, at the console, was already paging back through the movement log entries. Loole highlighted the relevant time, telling Reeis, "Twenty forty-three hours, day before yesterday, Sir."

Reeis turned back to the General and Anders, doing a quick calculation in his head, "Approximately thirty-two hours ago, Sir."

"And the flight time from Taspin to here?"

"Four hours sixty two minutes, Sir," Anders answered almost immediately. She had been involved in planning the flight from Devariis to Hoth. The figures and details had not yet faded totally from her memory. As the General began to pace the Ops room Reeis glanced at Anders, curiosity ripping at him. What in the hells was going on? Less than thirteen hours ago one of the pilots had been busted for the Taspin stunt. Then a priority three comes in and all of a sudden Big Brass is asking questions about Taspin again!

Rieekan paced. Thirty-five hours.... almost thirty-five hours... was it enough? Could this person have identified Tennan, got in touch with the operation on Pethusaan, and then convinced them that he was genuine: so much so that they sent a priority three signal? Finally he turned to Anders, "Send a priority Two to Pethusaan. Ask them to confirm the details of the contact." As she moved away to comply he told Reeis, "My complements to the Princess Leia, Major-General Karth, Major Derlin and Major Tazhak - and my apologies for the hour. Ask them to meet me in my office."

The Lord Vader was deep in meditation and Jurgen stood, waiting for the Dark Lord to acknowledge his presence. After a few moments the massive capsule split open, the chair in the centre turning Vader towards him. Jurgen took a step forward, “My, Lord?”

“What news do you have?”

“A shuttle has been dispatched from the Vindicator with Verl Tennan, My Lord. He should be here within the next few hours. Our sources on Pethusaan confirm that the information has been received and dispatched by the Rebels.” He held out a sheaf of hard copy printouts, “I have a transcript of the message and the decode. As predicted we were unable to trace the destination of the transmission. The Rebels are awaiting reply and our sources will contact us as soon as they have it.”

“Everything else is in place?”

“Yes, my Lord. The files have been altered and dispatched to our sources on Pethusaan.”

“Have the transcript and decode transferred to my terminal here! Bring Commander Tennan to me as soon as he arrives!”

“Yes, Lord Vader,” Jurgen assured him as the chair swung back towards the observation windows. He turned walking out of the room, leaving Vader to his darkness.

Vader stood, striding across to look out at the stars. So much rested on this one message and how the Rebels would receive it. And yet it was the only way he could guarantee obtaining his son without alerting Palpatine. Present the Rebels with a defection they could not ignore.... he had been so certain that they would snatch hold of it. They had been hounded across the galaxy, turned at every corner. The last base had been abandoned only hours before his Destroyers had arrived, so close that they had managed to lay traps, one of which had ultimately snared Karrik Tennan.

Mon Mothma, Organa and the others may be fools, but they were devious. He had long ago learned not to under-estimate them. And now, as time dragged on and this last plan slowly dropped into place piece by piece, he found a growing concern that the defection may look too good for them to believe. He acknowledged that the desire to procure his Son was strong, to show him the power and passion of the Dark Side of the Force, to ultimately have Luke join him and stand at his side. But was it possible that he had allowed this desire to overshadow his reasoning? He turned, striding back towards the capsule, readying himself for meditation. This line of thought would gain nothing. If the Rebels refused the defection another way would be found. He sank to the floor. He would deal with that eventuality when it occurred.

The office was crowded and Rieekan waited at his desk, politely deflecting questions until everyone was present. As Major Derlin, the last to arrive, perched on the edge of a computer console, Karth asked eagerly, "So what exactly is this all about, General?"

"It appears that the incident at Taspin has caused some rather interesting developments..."

Leia's guts lurched. Karth harrumphed, indicating his disapproval of the whole Tennan situation. Leia held her breath, waiting to hear the worst as fear began to surface, a guilty voice at the back of her mind accusing her of having been wrong, that she should never have listened to Han and Luke, that the Empire must know about the base... But General Rieekan was continuing, "It appears that one of Tennan's relatives somehow recognised her and now wishes to cross from the Imperial ranks to the Rebel Alliance."

Relieved, Leia sighed. Then glanced round the room guiltily to see if anyone had noticed her reaction. But everyone else was preoccupied with what the General had just told them. All their attention was solely on Rieekan. The General was looking at Derlin, “Sorry Major, there was no time to inform you... and I’m afraid I waylaid your Commander to find out more information.”

“Not a problem, Sir...” He was Officer in Command of the Hoth base's small Intelligence section - Anders’ senior officer, and he knew Anders would fill him in later on exactly what had gone on. Instinct, however, told him that there was something more to all of this. Slowly he asked, "How was she recognised, Sir?"

Rieekan shrugged, "As yet we don't have that information. But," he paused for a moment and then let the bombshell drop, "as a ranking Intelligence Officer on the Imperial Flagship Executor, anything is, I suppose, possible." The stunned expressions on the faces before him brought a small, tight smile to his lips, "Exactly my reaction when I was told," he admitted.

“What sort of confirmation do we have?" Derlin asked.

"A priority three coded transmission from our operation on Pethusaan. I've instructed Commander Anders to reassert their position and confirm the transmission. She'll join us as soon as it comes through."

"Can I see the transmission, General?" Derlin took the proffered hardcopy, already running the ramifications of such a defection through in his mind. His own desertion to Alliance ranks, not long after the Alderaan catastrophe, had caused not inconsiderable ripples throughout the Imperial intelligence network. But this! This would cause tidal waves...

"The information this officer could give us, General.... the damage to the Empire could be..." Leia trailed off, unable to find the words.

"It could save thousands of lives," Rieekan agreed.

Tazhak quirked an eyebrow, "You don't look convinced, Sir."

The General looked at her, then round the room at the others, "I must admit that it all seems... too good to be true, for want of a better explanation. Something just doesn't seem right. I'm particularly unhappy about the time scale.... from the Taspin rescue to this message arriving we're talking of under thirty-five hours."

"It could be possible, General," Derlin ventured, "It's in this person's best interests to move as quickly as possible, before the rest of the Intelligence community realise who Tennan is, and her relationship to this officer. Especially if they're serving directly under Vader."

"Then this might be a reflexive action?" Karth asked, "They're acting purely in self preservation.... their hand has been forced and coming across is the only way they can see to get out of the situation?"

"It's possible, Sir," Derlin conceded, "but in that case, surely it would be less of a risk to go straight to Vader and denounce Tennan. The Empire likes that sort of thing. They're gambling a lot more doing it this way."

"Do we know who it is, General," Tazhak asked.

"At the moment, no. Although I believe Commander Anders has people running through the latest files..."

Leia looked across at the General, the diplomat in her wondering why he hadn't just used the most straightforward method, "Has anyone asked Karrik?"

"There hasn't been time, Your Highness," Rieekan told her, "I called this meeting as soon as the transmission was translated. Given my reservations, I felt that it was better to discuss the situation before any further action was taken. As yet I haven't even notified Mon Mothma."

The door opened, everyone looking round as Anders entered, "The contact has been verified," she told them, the door closing behind her. "From the information they've been able to get into, Pethusaan have confirmed that he is Intelligence. And they've been able to corroborate his claim that he's... Covert Ops." She paused for a moment as a sudden intake of breath washed round the cramped office, then continued, "That's how he knew about the Pethusaan teams existence. They've taken the necessary precautions, moved location and are requesting pick-up."

"If he's Covert Ops, Sir, with the facilities available to them, the time frame would fit," Derlin told Rieekan, "He'll most definitely want out of there.... ASAP."

"Do we have a name, Commander?"

Anders looked across at Leia, "Yes, Ma'am. Verl Tennan."

"Did Pethusaan say how he recognised Tennan?"

"Yes, Sir," Anders affirmed, turning toward Karth, reading through the printout, "Our guys appear to have been real lucky. The Executor apparently dropped in just before they hyperspace out. He recognised her voice from a recorded fragment of conversation between her and the Millennium Falcon. Having run it through their data base just to be sure, he erased her file."

"If he's erased her records on the Executor we've got a little more time to play with," Derlin commented, "but not much. Anything that's recorded like this, gets sent on to Imperial central database. He won't have been able to get to the information there: her file will still be on record. We've got six days, seven at the most."

"Why now?" Tazhak asked slowly, echoing Rieekan's own thoughts, "I mean, if he's Covert Ops he could have come across to us at any time. He had the means, he knew about Pethusaan... why suddenly decide that he wants to defect now?"

"Because he's finally found someone that he knows he can trust to bring him to us and not deliver him to the Emperor," Derlin offered, appreciating first hand the terror and trepidation that the man had to be going through.

"Simple self preservation," Karth repeated.

Rieekan looked at Derlin. The Major had joined them from the ranks of the Imperial intelligence network not long after his native Alderaan had been destroyed. More than anyone else in the room, Derlin would know and understand how the mind of this particular person worked, "How do Intelligence feel about this? Could they be setting up something for us to walk into?"

The Major let his breath out in a rush, looking at Anders. She shrugged, telling him, "It appears genuine, Major."

Derlin turned back to the General, considering the options for a moment before answering, "I want some more information from Pethusaan and Karrik Tennan before I present a recommendation. But at this moment in time it looks like an opportunity we can't afford to miss. Having someone of this calibre cross over to the Alliance would be a major coups. In addition to the information he could give us, Sir, it would cause havoc throughout the Imperial Intelligence network. It could push our cause forward years."

Rieekan nodded solemnly, "Very well. Ladies, gentlemen, thank you for your time. We'll convene this forum again when the Major has a recommendation to present to us. In the meantime I'll contact Mon Mothma and appraise her of the situation."