The being across from her simply broke into a smile when Lumiya stated the obvious:
"Your connections have truly helped us, Nom Anor."
The representative of the peaceful Yuuzhan Vong race bowed respectfully.
"I am glad to hear that, Lady Lumiya. I am confident your plan to resolve the galactic conflicts will be successful."
Of course it would.
Carnor Jax had been embedded in the inner circle of Palpatine's clone, who was losing his grip on reality, and was in close proximity to the clone of Ysanne Isard — the Emperor's attack dog.
That wasn't exactly what was needed.
Or rather — it was the complete opposite of what they had been aiming for.
Jax was supposed to ingratiate himself with Palpatine's inner circle and stay on Byss.
Because that was where, as Lumiya suspected, Palpatine was growing his sexually mature copies.
Copies was right.
Everything Jax had managed to learn before being transferred to the Lusankya to guard the Isard clone was that the Emperor — who visibly aged and then grew young again before their eyes — had an enormous stockpile of his own clones.
Which he swapped out like gloves the moment his body aged.
And, judging by the frequency of body changes, the unbridled power of the resurrected Emperor was destroying his vessels very, very quickly.
Lumiya saw in this the very opportunity that would help her end the Emperor's life.
She needed to destroy his clones.
Or at least sabotage them.
In short, she was continuing the plan that had been buried after the Emperor executed Sarcev Quest.
It was a good plan, but not perfect.
And Jax's reassignment away from Byss was just the tip of the iceberg.
There were other problems.
The Imperial Ruling Council had been almost completely brought under control thanks to Nom Anor's connections with Xandor Karivus, who fancied himself the future Emperor.
But Imperial Space was rapidly losing its conquered territories.
Their army and fleet were shrinking fast.
Not to mention that Palpatine had taken some of Orinda's already modest holdings and transferred them to the Pentastar Alignment's control.
The Imperial Remnants were retreating, while the Alliance and the New Republic were rolling over them like an unstoppable wave.
Not to mention that, according to Nom Anor, the Dominion wasn't sitting still either and was actively advancing into the sectors caught between the northern parts of the Hydian Way and the Perlemian Trade Route.
She frankly didn't care about Pellaeon's maneuvers, but two things caught her attention here.
First — on the Dominion's invasion path lay worlds rich in ancient Sith secrets, like Korriban.
Second — Nom Anor somehow managed to obtain information from various regions of the galaxy.
And this despite the fact that the HoloNet systems — the representative somehow got information as quickly as possible from the other ends of the galaxy.
As if he had his own communications network.
And this was very, very suspicious.
Nom Anor's extremely skillful integration into the conspirators' plans within the Imperial Ruling Council was alarming.
Lumiya had learned a simple lesson in her life: if something looks like a rancor, smells like a rancor, and has the spikes and claws of a rancor, then it's a rancor.
The peaceful Yuuzhan Vong race was helping the Empire too strongly and deliberately to completely collapse by destroying Palpatine.
It wasn't hard to imagine what would happen next.
The continuation of the Imperial Civil War, which had quieted down recently due to the death of most of the major players and some opaque hints from Byss to stop this nonsense and focus on exterminating the common enemy.
Lumiya didn't consider Palpatine a sieve.
Not after he had cheated death and, instead of pursuing Sith goals, had left everything to his subordinates, focusing only on recruiting the young Skywalker.
Who, admittedly, had proven far stronger at resisting the seductions of that experienced seducer, Darth Sidious.
Lumiya wanted the Sith to rise again.
She wanted to restore their power.
And she understood perfectly that she needed strength and influence for that.
Most likely — not as overt as Palpatine and Vader's had been.
She could easily place a controllable, well-trained puppet like Carnor Jax on the Imperial throne, while she herself — as befitted a Sith — operated from the shadows.
But in any case, she needed strength and allies if she intended to join the fight for the Imperial inheritance.
Nom Anor…
Just someone who needed to play his part, nothing more.
And then she would erase him and his "peaceful Yuuzhan Vong race" from the face of the galaxy.
Why?
Because she didn't trust anyone she couldn't feel in the Force and whose thoughts she couldn't control.
* * *
"This is a disaster," Leia dropped her head onto her hands resting on the table. "How… How could this possibly happen?"
"I'm sorry, Princess," Winter, whose face almost never showed emotion, now looked genuinely distressed. "I was reviewing documents to prepare a briefing for you and General Solo for the second half of the month when Master Galen came to me. He said you had sent him for data on the raiders in the Alliance's rear."
"Why didn't you verify that information with me?"
"Your comlink wasn't working," the Alderaanian explained. "Neither was General Solo's."
"Chewbacca?"
"C-3PO reported that the Wookiee was busy working on the Millennium Falcon and didn't know where you were."
"I was at a Congress session, and Han was preparing the ships for the hunt for the Yavin," Leia groaned. "Blast it… What else did he take?"
"Only the data on the Yavin and Calamari raiders," Winter explained.
"He couldn't have gotten far," Leia said with conviction. "We need to inform Kota — maybe he can talk some sense into him."
There was nothing more dangerous than a derailed clone of Galen Marek who had learned the truth: that the pirate complicit in the murder of his beloved and the theft of his ship was operating on Juno Eclipse's vessel in the Galactic Alliance's rear.
What he might do — only the Force knew.
Leia lifted her face from her hands and looked at Chewbacca lying on the couch, whimpering softly while holding a bag of cocktail ice against his face.
The Wookiee looked at her and let out an apologetic growl.
"It's not your fault, Chewie," she comforted the proud family friend. "I'm not sure even I could have stopped him if he wanted to steal the Millennium Falcon. And I'm supposedly a Jedi. Potentially in the same league as him…"
Let alone a Wookiee who had only managed to block the enraged Jedi's path to the ship.
After which he woke up with a closed head injury on the edge of the landing pad, watching the Solos' ship fly away.
"Princess," Winter spoke up. "I know how much I've failed you and—"
"What does this have to do with you?" Leia winced. "I… I don't know what to do. Not only will Han be furious when he finds out about the ship theft, but there's also Galen… I can't even imagine what he'll do when he finds that pirate."
"Then he must be stopped immediately," Winter said. "If he's a threat…"
The Alderaanian princess let out a bitter sob.
"I'm afraid, Winter, that we don't have a single sentient at our disposal who could fight Galen on equal terms when he's beside himself with rage. Even Darth Vader couldn't. How could we?"
* * *
Mon Mothma felt the floor of her private office drop out from under her.
"Wh-what did you say, General?"
The blind Jedi ran a hand over his face.
"Madam Head of State, I thought I was the only one in this room with sensory problems…"
"Please, General Kota," Bel Iblis reined in his subordinate. "Stop clowning around."
"Wasn't even thinking about it," the old Jedi chuckled. "But since you asked, I'll repeat it. We've captured the Belderone sector. Only, as it turns out, it has no connection whatsoever to the Dominion. They weren't even aware that the old Imperial prison in the sector — where we held our prisoners and General Madine — even existed, let alone was still operating."
"How could they not be aware?" the mentioned general frowned. "Dominion privateer ships were passing through their sector."
"Yes," Kota nodded. "And several Belderone worlds had contracts with them for pirate protection. They had no idea those were Dominion ships…"
"We were played," Mon Mothma slumped back into her chair, exhausted. "They dangled bait in the area we were most interested in, provoked us into attacking a neutral sector, and made us out to be aggressors and invaders."
"Our reputation is ruined," General Iblis paraphrased the Galactic Alliance Head's words.
"As if for the first time," Kota chuckled.
"It's not that simple," Madine shook his head. "As long as Belderone was neutral to both us and the Imperials, the latter never even thought about expanding into neutral systems… But now…"
Now, the Empire, the Dominion, the New Republic, or any other state could freely use this precedent to attack worlds maintaining their neutral positions.
Which meant more and more territories, systems, and even entire sectors would be drawn into the war…
"We've just poured fuel on the galactic fire," Bel Iblis concluded, looking at Mon Mothma. "It seems our problems are beginning to outweigh our successes."
For the first time in her entire conscious life, the Head of the Galactic Alliance wanted to break down and cry.
But, trying not to lose face, she held it together.
However, the floodgates burst open when she was informed that the Perlemian Trade Route near the Thanium Worlds and Allied Tion sectors had been blocked using minefields, gravity traps, and Star Destroyers bearing Dominion emblems.
They had been outplayed.
The Dominion had dangled bait in one place, threatening to cut logistics on the Perlemian Trade Route.
Then they struck in another part of that crucial hyperspace artery — in Allied Tion.
It seemed that in the Corellians' favorite card game, this situation was called a "pure sabbacc."