“I’m sorry, sir. I cannot let you land without clearance.”
“I gave you my clearance!”
“And it’s outdate — that is, it’s not correct, sir.”
“What was that? What were you going to say?”
Dorne just sighed.
“You were going to say outdated,” snapped the shuttle pilot. “That means you do know who I am, and you know I have permission to land!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but protocols demand–”
“Hang the protocols!”
“Dorne, what seems to be the problem?” Theron came to lean over her, squinting at the readouts on her console.
“Some unknown pilot giving me trouble over clearance policy, sir. There’s no danger; there’s nothing he can do with a shuttle that size. He’d just bounce off our shields if he tried to land.”
“Yes, yes, but… who is it?”
They were gathering an audience. Lana appeared at Dorne’s other shoulder, and she felt the Commander’s eyes on her back from his desk across the room. “He’s, er, using a hailing pattern that is usually assigned to Havoc Squad.” She took a deep breath. “The only problem, sir? I am Havoc Squad. We were grounded nearly a month ago. He can’t possibly be one of us.”
“Theron, let the ship land,” said Lana suddenly.
“Are you crazy?” said Theron. “Some unknown pilot, using one of our secret codes? For all we know he’s a bomber trying to take out the entire base!”
“It’s just a shuttle, Theron.”
“Excuse me, but have you ever been on a covert operation, Beniko?”
“Yes, I do believe I have, Shan,” said Lana, flaring her nostrils.
“Then you should know some random shuttle is likely anything but!”
“What’s going on over there?” came the Commander’s growl.
“Everyone, stop it!” suddenly snapped Dorne, and everyone looked at her. She rubbed her face, took several breaths, and folded her hands; the outburst was very uncharacteristic for the normally prim Lieutenant, and for the moment, the two spy masters stopped arguing.
“Uh, Dorne?” asked Theron after a moment.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m fine. It’s just that… I recognize the code.”
“Yes, you already said it was one of Havoc Squad’s–”
“Yes,” said Dorne. She swallowed. “It’s the old major’s.”
Theron stared at her, then stared at Lana.
Unimpressed, the Sith raised her eyebrow at him.
“Right, uh… allow the ship to land,” said Theron. “I’ll, uh… inform the Commander.”
“About time,” said Lana, but she might as well have been speaking to the pilot over Dorne’s shoulder, as she turned back to console with her. Dorne glanced at her, and Lana winked.