The hologram flashed into nonexistence, the light staining Soran’s retinas and leaving him blinking away spots. His expression fell with the same suddenness as Sloane’s disappearance and he stroked the comm panel with trembling fingers. He had made a bargain that he would surely curse, if not regret. He had recommitted himself and his unit to a losing battle for an Empire not worthy of being saved, for the sake of giving desperate soldiers a brief reprieve from their graves or New Republic prison cells.
