"General."

Hilter Afdol reached out pumped the Corellian's hand vigorously, the result of an ever growing political reflex. As the elected head of state of an entire world, the formality of greeting dignitaries was becoming more and more natural and intuitive.

"Hilter Afdol, Overliege of Ukio, and part-time Union sounding board."

Hilter grinned. He usually kept his emotions to himself, but part-time barely seemd to apply conisdering the role Hilter played for the Union, and the GLF in particular.

"I am here on behalf of the Committee, to aide and assist you in developing an effective strategy for removing the Imperial presence from your homeworld."

Hilter paused as he noticed that Bel Iblis was not carrying a weapon. He had expected the general to be using the firing range personally, as opposed to merely watching the insurgents who were pounding away at the distant targets.

"This is quite the facility you've got yourself here."

"General Kyle C. Bel Iblis."

The General's eyebrow arched slightly as the overly exuberant hand shaking began. The man, Hitler Afdol, seemed very much the political puppet that such a group as the Union would use. For all intensive purposes he seemed the normal politician, but beneath the facade Bel Iblis saw the workings of something more sinister. A small blaze burning behind icy eyes.

But the General was not one to be impolite. While no diplomat by any stretch he was not without common courtesy.

"Your Committee's interest is appreciated. As is the considerable donations to our cause. This station would most certainly have been beyond our reach, should you have not been so... charitable."

The General paused for a moment. Considering completely ignoring the first of Afdol's statements. He did not like the idea of the Union interfering in his plans and influencing his tactics. It was not in his nature, however, to be so rude and he seriously doubted the point could be avoided. It seemed his true purpose in meeting him, as opposed to the standard inspections prior Union minions had done.

"I suppose we should get to the point as swiftly as possible, the Empire does not give us time to meander about in discussion. What are your ideas Overliege?"

"Your Committee's interest is appreciated. As is the considerable donations to our cause. This station would most certainly have been beyond our reach, should you have not been so... charitable."

"General, rather, Director, it is not my Committee. If anyone's, it is the Chairman's committee. But, unless I was misinformed, you have accepted a seat at the table. Thus the Committee is as much yours as mine.


"I suppose we should get to the point as swiftly as possible, the Empire does not give us time to meander about in discussion. What are your ideas Overliege?"

"Please, call me Hilter. I deal with rigid formalities enough that when the opportunity presents itself I prefer to dispense with the stilted pretenses.

And while I agree that the Empire is a pressing issue, I don't think taking a few moments to tell me about this station and your organization will hurt too much."

Besides... how am I supposed to come up with a plan if I don't know what your objective is.

Hilter noticed one of the Corellians removing his practice gear.

"Mind if I take a few potshots?"

The General stared at the Union operative for a moment. Sizing him up. He weighed the negative consequences to storming out at the man. Stating for all to hear that if he had had his druthers he would not have accepted the Union's offer at all. That he considered them a spot.. a blemish on the galaxy. That in all truthfulness he despised his position on their committee and would never call it his own.

Bel Iblis, however, managed his feelings and restrained himself. Letting out a breath of resignation at having to deal with this man coming out. Looking away for a moment the General saw a man finishing up his practice at the range. His attention was rediverted back to Hitler by his statment:

"And while I agree that the Empire is a pressing issue, I don't think taking a few moments to tell me about this station and your organization will hurt too much."

Again Bel Iblis had to struggle not to relieve all his pent up stresses from this whole affair on the Union's minion. If he had any sense at all he would stifle such ridiculous statements and spare Bel Iblis added frustration. But he would play along with this man for the time being. He may not like where he obtained aid, but Bel Iblis seldom failed to show gratitude, in whatever form it may be... for this man it was in a courteous, but straightforward dialogue on the station and its capabilities.

"Mind if I take a few potshots?"

The man Kyle C Bel Iblis had seen earlier was now finished and had left the gear on the rack beside the range he was at. Bel Iblis chuckled.

"Hopefully you'll do better than just potshots, but feel free to. This area was designed for the purpose of taking our recruits, who come from all walks of life, and giving them basic infantry training. Training them to combat the Imperial forces occupying our homeworld... Learning HOW to fight for their and their family's freedom."

The General paused for a moment. "Our facilities for advanced training are elsewhere and are slightly more... impressive. And once you are finished with target practice I will show you them."

Bel Iblis hoped the target practice would be short... he was a busy man, and no matter what this man thought, time was of the essence. His movement and its headquarters would not be hidden forever, and while he had the advantage he planned to continue to press onward.

He squeezed the textured grip of the training blaster firmly, stopping just short of strangling the weapons stock. Hold on too tightly, and the tinniest of motions would throw off your aim, too loose and the recoil (a slight as it was compared to that of a slugthrower) could send the bolt errant. Trained soldiers would have used both hands to steady the weapon, but Hilter never pretended to be a marksman. Holding the weapon with two hands made him feel awkward, so he fired in the much less accurate style of a freestyle smuggler or criminal. There were advantages to firing one handed (primarily the fact that you had your other appendage free to do something important) but when it came down to it, if Hilter Afdol was in a situation in which he needed to fire a blaster pistol in anger, it probably didn't matter what technique he would be using.

He squeezed the trigger several times, letting a series of red coherent beams of energy down the range toward his vaguely humanoid shaped target.

He frowned as a nearby computer screen flashed his results: three misses and two non-fatal hits. Yeah, if he had to resort to his shooting skills he was as good as done and it would be only partially due the fact that he had the blaster skills of a drunken, half-blind Gamorrean.

He spent a few minutes more sending low-powered bolts down the length of the range, noticing that he was precise if not accurate; he had managed to scorch a small section of the wall behind the target with repeated misses.
He replaced the blaster, and turned toward Bel Iblis, who had watched the pathetic display in silence.

"General, I think I've demonstrated an impressive capacity to hold the left side of the line."

The Corellian smiled, but like most of his actions, the gesture seemed somewhat forced. Hilter had begun to read the famed Senator's son: he was not particularly happy to put up with Hilter... and maybe the Union itself as a whole. It was subtle little things, the small sighs and deep breaths, but it was evident if you looked hard enough.

He doesn't have to like it, as long as he give the Imperials hell.

There were several Directors who weren't particularly enamored with their positions, men who used the Union (and were used in turn) to advance their agenda, but for various reasons did not enjoy the fact that they were often summoned to the Midas for meetings of a group of the Galaxy's elite. Rico Belgardi was a perfect example- without the Union his company would just be another second rate purveyor of low quality spacecraft and a flow of tourists to Pavo Prime to make any credits. Belgardi might not relish his seat at the Midas'stable, but his namesake company was a leader in field as vast and disparate as medicine, agriculture and banking. More importantly, Belgardi was too afraid of the consequences of what would happen to his company (not to mention himself) if he crossed the Union.

For some reason, Hilter didn't think Bel Iblis tremble at the notion of betray or otherwise defying the Union.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

A wise adage, and although cliché, it still rung true. Bel Iblis may not like the Union, but he would quickly find out that without them, his chances of freeing Corellia from the Imperial's grasp would be virtually impossible. And as long as Hilter was working for the GLF (though most people didn't realize it, Hilter's association with the GLF was more as a result of his friendship with Brutus Nogoth and the intellectual challenge facing the Empire provided than anything ideological- he could and probably in time move on) anyone that hurt the Empire was his logical ally.

Bel Iblis made motioned for Hilter to follow, and began leading Hilter deeper into the interior of Liberty Base. Hilter paid attention to the running commentary, noting the sophistication of the base, and marveling at the ingenuity of its design. Corellians had a reputation as excellent engineers, and their handiwork lived up to the lofty things Hilter had often heard.

As they made there way down a hallway that appeared almost totally completed, Hilter interrupted Bel Iblis.

"General, I must admit that I am impressed. The Union will most certainly benefit from the addition of such a well-organized and well-led organization."

The praise was probably unnecessary, but Hilter had learned from his political forays that there were few bad things that could come as the result of a compliment.

"I have some information I would like to share with you."

Hilter produced a datapad from one of his pockets. The Union had sources and contacts across the Galaxy, benefiting from the work of crime syndicates, intelligence operations and corporate enterprises. Many didn't even know that the information they were passing along eventually reached the Union, but that didn't diminish the quality of the intelligence.

"We have received feelers from an Imperial officer, Colonel Jazon Teraroc, who is trying to defect. He is currently stationed on Selonia, but is of Corellian descent. He was recently slated for promotion to Lieutenant General, but in the interim has attempted to resign his commission twice, an act that has been denied due to the fact has handled sensitive information. He has attempted to contact the Coalition, without success. The datapad contains more pertinent information."

Hilter handed Bel Iblis the datapad.

"I am also available to aide you in contacting and extracting Teraroc in any way that I can."

Bel Iblis took the datapad slowly. Scanning it for a few moments in silence. Looking at Afdol from beneath bushy eyebrows that had for the moment taken on a kind of bemused slant.

"I'm not sure about this. A child of Corellia he may be, but to say that he would give up such a promising career to defect seems a bit odd."

The General knew that such a thing was not without precedent. Crix Madine had done the same thing before the Battle of Endor. Han Solo had been a rising star in the Imperial Navy, before he rescued a wookie named Chewbacca and became a rogue, a smuggler, and later a Rebel. Kyle Katarn, Davin Felth, the list went on. But that was another time, another Empire. Now things seemed... different. Perhaps time and being under constant Imperial scrutiny for so long had made Bel Iblis overly cautious. The Sons needed something of this sort. Someone who had been on the inside and had the proper information to get the ball moving. It was fine to have a top notch base of operations and a growing militia, but to have readouts on bases, shipping routes, base schematics, holodocuments, evidence of atrocties committed, financial records, and troop manifests and deployment records. Any of those things was invaluable. This mans knowledge could get the snowball rolling down the slope. The last image that passed by Bel Iblis' minds eye was a giant boulder of snow crashing into an ebony stone wall. There was an explosion of white and then the wall was gone. That wall was the Empire, and soon its presence on Corellia would be like the stone wall, wiped clean, no longer to darken the lands over which it stood domineeringly.

Whether Afdol had said anything in the time Bel Iblis had been thinking, he wasn't sure. He didn't really care. He had reached a decision now, and he was sure that it was the one Afdol had wanted anyways.

"I want to make the extraction as soon as possible. We can screen him later for his intentions and rationale for defecting."

The General paused for a moment stroking his beard thoughtfully. He was quickly assembling a plan of action. Generally this had been his favorite aide's strength during the Galactic Civil War, but Bel Iblis was still fairly skilled at rapid mobilization and movement of troops. He was much more effective when he had time to think, but at the moment he felt a keen sense of urgency to act. Historical examples of past defections also showed that the Empire's reaction would be swift and devastating. An entire Corellian city was nearly leveled in the Empire's attempt to prevent Crix Madine's escape... and Bel Iblis didn't want to give the Empire time to coil up for a strike of that scale.

"I have a couple recruits in mind for this job. I'd like you to accompany them on the mission if you have no other pressing engagements for the next few weeks."

Again the general's mind was made up and he didn't really listen to the answer. Instead he waited till Afdol had finished responding to order, "Follow me. I want you to wait outside the briefing room and meet the two soldiers I'm assigning to this mission. I'm giving you command during this operation."

Bel Iblis paused and looked at Afdol, as though sizing him up.

"Though if you should engage the enemy you might want to defer command to one of the troops."

Soon the real work would begin...