«Star Wars: Fool's Bargain», Timothy Zahn

It had been drizzling as the stormtroopers of the Imperial 501st Legion assembled at their various jump points for what all hoped would be the final battle of this latest war. By the time the orders had been given and the individual companies began to make their way to their parts of the assault line, the drizzle had widened into a full-scale storm, complete with driving winds and a sky nearly black enough to turn the twilight of the city and surrounding countryside into full night.

"Looks like something out of a bad legend," Choral of Unit Aurek-Four murmured from the right-hand line of stormtroopers seated on the rack benches against the wall as the disguised troop carrier rolled cautiously along the quiet city streets.

"What does?" Dropkick of Aurek-Three asked from half a dozen men down the line.

"What do you think?" Choral countered, nodding toward the viewscreens showing the scene out the transport's nose.

Behind his helmet faceplate, Twister, unit commander of the four-man group designated Aurek-Seven, frowned slightly as he studied the image. Choral had a point, he had to admit. The fortress rising out of the ground at the edge of the city had always had something of a ghostly, unreal air about it. Now, as brief glimpses of the gray-and-red towers came to them between the city's buildings, the whole scene lashed by winds and surrounded by sporadic flashes of lightning, that sense of otherworldliness seemed even sharper.

On Twister's left, his unit-mate Watchman gave a soft snort. "Personally, I've always liked tackling legends," he said. "It's so much fun to let the air out of them." He gestured toward the viewscreen. "I just hope the son of a lizard is actually in there."

"Well, if he isn't, this is going to be a serious waste of effort," Cloud grumbled from Watchman's far side. "Especially with the Eickaries finally on the move. If it were up to me, I'd give them another month to chase the Lakra back into these reinforced beetle holes of theirs, then drop all two hundred of 'em into piles of rubble and go home."

"And how many more Eickaries would die in another month of fighting?" Shadow, Aurek-Seven's fourth man, asked from Twister's right. "If we're going to arm a people and then turn them loose against oppressors, we have a certain obligation to see they don't just go charging into a meat grinder."

"I understand that," Cloud agreed. "But Kariek is their world, after all, not ours. After putting up with the Warlord and his thugs all these years, it seems to me they should have the honor of kicking them out."

"Kicking them out or executing them," Watchman said. "I imagine Eickarie common law will demand a particularly gruesome death for the Warlord."

"I'd buy a ticket," Cloud said dryly. "That still doesn't explain why we don't just blast the whole fortress to rubble. Getting buried by a few tons of rock ought to be a gruesome enough death to satisfy even the Eickaries."

"I'm sure the generals have their reasons," Twister said, putting just enough edge to his voice to warn the other three to drop the subject.

"I know," Cloud muttered, apparently not yet quite ready to let it go. "I just don't think this guy is worth any more Imperial lives than he's already cost."

Twister didn't answer. The others took the hint, and the conversation finally subsided.

But the question, he could tell, was still weighing on them. It was weighing on everyone in the transport, for that matter.

It wasn't just the forty men of Aurek Company who were involved in this. Not by a long shot. There were hundreds of Imperial troops setting up for battle, including three more companies of the 501st. Most of them were out in the woods and plains on the other side of the fortress, preparing for a straight-in assault with massive air and ground support. The Empire of the Hand was making a serious effort to capture the tyrant who had oppressed this world and its people for the past fifty standard years.

But why?

Cloud had a point. Strong though these ancient Eickarie fortresses were, they hadn't been designed to withstand the kind of firepower the Empire of the Hand could bring to bear. If Intelligence thought he was in there, a couple of hours of serious bombardment would turn the fortress into a heap of charred rock, dead Lakran mercenaries, and an equally dead Warlord. Once the leader himself was out of the way, the remaining pockets of resistance would be easy enough to deal with, especially with the whole planet finally united against the mercenaries. It would be quick, efficient, and a lot easier on the stormtroopers and other ground soldiers.

Obviously there was some very important reason why the Empire of the Hand wanted or needed the Warlord alive. The question was: what was that reason?