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them?”
    Barev turned away from the window. “Scout droids are already deployed. As soon as the Jedi are sighted and their exact location is calibrated they will be overwhelmed by our forces.”
    It seemed a sound enough plan. “Don’t send humans against them,” Durd said, raising a warning finger. “Droids only. Jedi can’t sense droids. You must exploit their weaknesses. They don’t have many, so you can’t afford to miss even one.”
    Barev’s mouth pinched at the corners. “General, I am an experienced soldier. Your advice is—appreciated—but unnecessary, I assure you.”
    A strong sense of self-preservation
and
pride. This Barev would be easy to control. “You’re offended, Colonel?” he said, feigning regret. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intent. I’m merely trying to save you from Count Dooku’s wrath. If he ordered me to kill you, I’d be obliged to obey. And after Colonel Argat…” He pretended to shiver. “Well. It would be a great pity.”
    Eyes watchful and frightened, Colonel Barev snapped to attention. “Do not concern yourself about the Jedi, General Durd. They are dealt with. Now, is there anything else I can do for you?”
    “Indeed there is, Colonel,” he said, lacing his fingers over his middle. “Thanks to—” He smiled. “—Colonel Argat, this facility is fatally compromised. For all I know the Jedi are lying low somewhere close by, intending to return and sabotage my work. And should they elude your forces they might well succeed. I want the stage-two facility prepared for immediate occupation. Doctor Fhernan and I must be able to move in there no later than midday tomorrow.”
    “Midday,” said Barev, his voice tight. “Yes, General.”
    “And Colonel?” he added, just as Barev reached the office door. “I meant it when I said I didn’t want to be faced with the task of—recalling you. So for both our sakes I think that what has happened on Lanteeb should be kept quiet. We can contain this situation without distressing Count Dooku. Agreed?”
    Colonel Barev stared at him in silence. Droid patrols challenging one another’s identities was the only sound for quite some time. And then the human nodded. “Agreed.”
    As soon as he was alone again, Durd made his way upstairs to Dr. Fhernan’s criminally generous accommodation. He nearly fell over six droid patrols on the way. Another ten droids guarded the corridor outside the doctor’s room. Five more were stationed inside it.
    The woman got off her chair and looked at him with dull hatred as he closed the door behind him. “I want to see the rest of my family and friends,” she said flatly. “I want to know they’re all right.”
    If she hated him it was
nothing
to what he felt for her. Striking his prisoner to her knees, Durd heard her sharp grunt of pain and felt warm pleasure blossom.
    “Don’t test me, Doctor,” he said, standing over her. “Not after what you’ve done.”
    Red human blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Weak tears filled her eyes. “What happens now?”
    He bared his gums at her. “Now we finish our Project. But not here. We leave this facility tomorrow. Pack up the lab.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “Why should you care?” he said, and kicked her in the ribs. Carefully. Bruises, not breakage. That was the goal. “All you need to know is that the Jedi will never find you. They’ll be dead soon. And if you don’t do exactly what I say, when I say it, they won’t be the only ones.” He nodded at the holodisplay on the table, which was playing a continuous loop of her friend Samsam’s execution. The droids guarding her were under orders to make sure she didn’t touch it, or walk away, or close her eyes. “You understand?”
    Her gaze shifted to the little figure in yellow as it plummeted into the lake. “Yes.”
    Bending, he captured her ugly human face between his fingers and pressed and pressed until the bones beneath her flesh threatened to give