Elzar left her to it and walked as purposefully as was possible toward a tactical display that had been erected on the other side of the room. Stellan stood in front of the screen, scrolling through reports, but looked up as Elzar approached to glance over at Samera. “Should I ask what that was about?”

“Probably not,” Elzar answered honestly, making a show of studying the board. “How are things going with the Togruta intel?”

“We’re expecting it back any minute,” Stellan said, scratching his beard. “The encryption is remarkably advanced. Which brings us to our next problem.”

He tapped the screen, bringing up a new display. Elzar peered at the report and sighed.

“They have a pipeline into the Republic.”

“So it would seem. Official communications lines. Data packages. Ship-to-ship communication. We’ve no idea how long they’ve been listening. Just something else to add to the list of things we don’t know about them, including how they do this.”

Another tap of the display brought up an image of a Nihil ship jumping into Valo’s atmosphere.

“Arriving that close to a gravitation field should be impossible. At the very least, they should crash and burn.”

“Some did,” Elzar pointed out.

“So we know the process isn’t foolproof, but if even one ship can make it past planetary defenses …”

“So how do we find out?”

“That is the all-important question.” Stellan killed the footage of the Nihil junker, pulling down a picture of an Aqualish. “This is Vam Targes.”

“The designer of the Innovator.”

Stellan gave another nod. “Padawan Zettifar tells me that Targes was working on a way to predict the Nihil’s incursions.”

“Fantastic. Where is it?”

“With him at the bottom of the lake. A team of diver droids are being sent down to see what they can find, along with any bodies they can recover.”

“Have you thought about bringing in Keven Tarr?” Elzar asked, thinking of the shy technician he’d met in the aftermath of the Great Disaster.

“Tarr?”

“He was behind the calculations on Hetzal. The guy’s a genius.”

“I’ll mention it to Vice Chancellor Reza.”

Elzar studied his friend’s face. Even ignoring the bruising, Stellan looked beat.

“You can do this, you know that, don’t you? We’re all behind you. The chancellor, the Republic. Me. Anything you want, you just have to ask.”

“A cup of uneti tea.”

“I’m sure it can be arranged.”

Stellan smiled, before peering a little harder at Elzar. “What about you, El? What do you need?”

So the moment had finally come. He knew it would. Stellan was preoccupied, yes, but could read Elzar like a datapad, no matter how he tried to bury it.

Elzar forced himself to meet Stellan’s gaze.

“I think I need help.”

Stellan didn’t say anything, just waited for Elzar to continue.