"No," Ibani replies, exhaling. "Forgive me, my friend. My fatigue must be getting to me."

"They must be stopped, at any cost. None of my people can come with me, they're all tied up on other fronts." She gestures at the stack of holopads.

"If they do not flee, I will not be able to afford mercy, Ben. Capture would, in their case, not be a kindness. There are...limits in what I can control when I am not directly present." Her tone turns bitter at that last sentence.