The Sith Lord's Cartographer
A Star Wars Story
Written by: GhostPhoenix84
Chapter Soundtrack: Blackbird- The Beatles, Danse Macabre- Camille Saint-Saens
Chapter One: Day of the Darkest Sun
The Clone Wars were raging against the backdrop of the galaxy at large, and planets form the Deep Core to the Outer Rim Territories were building their planetary defenses, should the dreaded forces of Confederacy droids drop out of the sky and wreak havoc on an unsuspecting populace. At the behest of Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, local governments began training locals and there was a dramatic uptick in armed civilians, even among the more peaceful sectors.
As the Clone Wars continued, local attitudes towards the increasing arrivals of refugees with suspicion and fear. It was feared that the new arrivals would take jobs and drain the economy, so they were forced either into run down Republic camps dependent on handouts or mobs of anti-alien humans would run them out of town at the very least. Those who weren't so lucky were forced to constantly move from planet to planet, despite the promises of the Republic to care for them during the time of war. The Jedi Knights, supposed peace keepers, found themselves often times caught up in these fraught situations. As the Jedi Code forbade getting involved in these sorts of things, waves of anti-Jedi sentiment rose up. Protests sprang up in many urban centers, hecklers teased them on the Holonet and there was open mockery and fear mongering on many news and talk shows. Indeed, it seemed that the tide was turning against the Jedi Order, even as they bravely fought the enemies. More and more began calling for the dissolution of the Jedi Order and in some extreme cases the death of all the child stealers. For as everyone knew (it was assumed), the Jedi stole children from families to brainwash into their monastic orders. Palpatine, in his role, did nothing to quell the anti-Jedi sentiment, nor did he punish the conspiracy theorists, much to the chagrin of the Jedi Council, who had to deal with the war (most of their best were on the front lines) and there was a rumored Sith Lord (excluding Count Dooku) somewhere. They had no time to quell rumors, true or otherwise.
Of course, the common populace was frightened of the Jedi Knights and for a very good reason. Rumors leaked out from the Unknown Regions that whole villages were being razed, and only small children and youths who showed any amount of Force sensitivity were abducted and never heard from again. As Sith Lords were unknown to all but students of history, it was immediately presumed that the Jedi were losing more troops than being reported by the news, and they were so desperate they had turned traitors and using child soldiers in a desperate effort to win the war. Paranoia and hysteria created mass migrations, but the razing still happened. It was claimed by the most ardent anti-Jedi pundits that the whole scheme was a rehash of the disastrous Ruusan campaign some 1,500 years prior. There had been no apology then, so obviously they were doing this again since the pain had faded from the collective memory of civilized society.
Two years into the Clone Wars, Palpatine began organizing his vision of the galaxy under what would be known as the Imperial Empire. The Jedi were to be annihilated and any Force sensitives were to be trained in the ways of the Sith to do his bidding. Anyone less Force sensitive could be put to good use elsewhere or killed outright. Infants and toddlers were the easiest to take from already hysterical families. Of course, it helped if the city he was going to burn the ground was heretical in thought and/or deed. It helped that his new apprentice, Darth Vader, was a double agent for the Jedi Order. Already, he had the Coruscanti government acting at his whim and then covering it up, or making opposition officials guilty of treason. How easy the galaxy was to manipulate this way. Even his own apprentice would eventually give up his secret wife, Senator Amidala of Naboo. Sheev knew this, as he had foreseen it.
For the planet Kuat, it truly was the best and worst of times. Ship production orders were through the roof, so to speak. Of course, with all of the production of ships outside the planet's atmosphere on its orbital ring, torrential rains were creating week's long periods of thunderstorms over the northern climes, leading to weak wheat harvests and spikes in seasonal depression. In some areas, suicide rates jumped by rates as high as 8%!
It was the end of the open theater season in the city of Sinam Luar, situated on the Expiry Peninsula on Kuat's northernmost continent. It was an unusual and beautiful city, it was laid out like a giant amphitheater- each district shaped in a strict semi-circle pattern. Each district was slightly smaller and connected by funiculars and at the very center of the city and the flattest part of the valley that Sinam Luar had been dug into, was a gigantic marble disc half a mile across. Every solstice, a large outdoor festival was held and all the music would echo off of the white marble buildings that would reverberate with such a deep resonance, it sounded like the gathering of no more than 300 symphonic orchestras. Such a thing had not been heard anywhere else in the galaxy, so this is why Siman Luar was Kuat's art capital.
Not only because of the amazing acoustics, had all of the white buildings had numerous holes in them with crystals positioned in such a way that when the sunlight was reflected through, you had a prism effect on the surrounding architecture. Also, there were lush public gardens on every level where children played, lovers met and servants gossiped during their free time. Autumn was the best if you were a child, the leaves turned wonderful colors, and they crunched delightfully under your feet. The smell of wood smoke wafted through the air and the promise of hot, steaming food was always a good thing.
The morning of the 16th day of the tenth month began as overcast and slightly damp. In the expansive household of the Hektor household, Master Travis was sitting on the plush burgundy sofa, watching his favorite Corellian serial, Professor Whom. In this latest installment, Professor and his comrade, Duchess Vesper were fighting the forever lethal Kaled Hegemony. They were disgusting creatures, half sea-horse, and half snake. "Get 'em, Prof," Travis squealed excitedly, his dark hair flying wildly as he wiggled under the furze throw he was under. Travis was getting over a bout of Zelonian influenza, and he was bothering the family's Ho'din housekeeper, Partah. "Honestly, keep your feet off of the coffee table. Do you know how many times I have had to stay up cleaning it," she scolded as she moved his bare feet from the millefiori ingrained table laden with catalogues. He just grinned, and mimicked her.
Partah rolled her eyes, she could have been plying the stars as a smuggler, but no! She just had to piss off the wrong Hutt and get sold into slavery. At least with the Hektor family she got enough to eat and earned wages. Those children, though! The thoughtless Travis and his baby sister, Minerva. Travis was a bit spoiled by his parents, who were wealthy industrialists, and happened to have earned their fortune by manipulating the stock markets by using their minimal Force powers. They had also served 4 months at the onset of the Clone Wars. Travis did not have a midichlorian count worth a bowl of refried beans, but he was bright for his age- he was a fourth grader instead of a second grader. His sister, was something else altogether. She was dark haired and paler, like vanilla ice cream still in the bin. She could draw maps that were far too complex for the average toddler. The Force was with her. Partah liked to fantasize about abducting Minerva and smuggling again. However, Theodred and Eowyn, the parents were paranoid about the Jedi finding their precious daughter. There were spies everywhere!
As it turned out, Jedi spies weren't the ones they needed to worry about, it was the Imperial spies who had already infiltrated the city. It had been early spring of that year when they had infiltrated the city as they were flaunting anti-Imperial art. Cities like this, according to Moff Tarkin, should be burned to the ground and let nature reclaim it. A spy had been walking around the park when she spied a little girl, not yet 18 months old, drawing what appeared to be an abstract drawing in the fresh mud. She had tugged at her mother's sleeve, "Look mama! I made a map!" Instead of praising the toddler, the mother had looked around in fear and fled, taking the child to have her diaper changed. Alas, the spy took a photo and used the diaper for a DNA sequence. The idea of a toddler mapmaking wunderkind filled Palpatine and Vader with unholy glee. Such a talent would be easy to manipulate, and she would be under Vader's direct supervision when she came of age, he would make sure of it.
That day in particular, Eowyn wanted the kitchen staff to make a complicated pasta dish that was insanely delicious, and since the children needed fresh air, so Partah was inclined to go to the green grocer's to buy supplies and take the children with her. No sooner were they out the door, Travis ran away shouting, "Going to get ya, Kaled scum!" Minerva laughed and toddled after her big brother, "Mina help Prof! Pow!" She giggled and attempted to make sound effects with her adorable toddler voice. The game of chase lasted a good while, when Partah gazed up at the sun. Something seemed to be off, like an eclipse or something. She shook her head, it was probably someone doing performance art.
It was here that Minerva saw something, an azure and golden bird. It was so soft and cute, she had to toddle after it as fast as she could on her chubby little legs. "Come back, birdy," she called out. As Minerva got further and further away, Travis trailed her as it was his little sister that was running away. Not really caring if he got a scolding from Partah, he laughed and dashed off the find his baby sister. Neither of them noticed that the sun was growing dimmer as a sinister shadow moved from the left and ever so slowly towards the center of the sun.
Partah had left the green grocers, when she stepped into shadow. What was going on? People stepped out of their houses, applauding the artistic stunt! Partah pushed through the crowds, this was no eclipse. ZZZAAAAP! POW! BRRRRIIING!
There were no words to describe what happened next. From nowhere, lasers exploded upon the buildings, leveling stone, glass and flesh. A giant scream rose up as the din grew ten thousand fold and the city collapsed on itself. The very few survivors began to pick amongst the dead, not caring what happened next. Travis yelled out, "Mina? MINERVA!" Frightened that his baby sister had been injured, he slid down the smooth remains towards one of the large gardens… where the private shuttle of Darth Vader had landed, along with a contingent of clone troopers. They were spreading out, looking for survivors. Wait a second, what was Master Skywalker doing here? Making his way down towards the shuttle, he was caught by a Stormtrooper. "What are you doing here, kid," the trooper demanded. Travis, who was already overwhelmed, began to cry. The trooper called for backup, "Take him with the others. He's not the kid we're looking for." No sooner had he said this, than another trooper forced the crying child away towards another of equally frightened children, who were to be adopted by loyal families and trained to be useful to the New Order.
A Stormtrooper was wandering around with two other soldiers when he spied a dust covered toddler, sound asleep on a bench. A strangely beautiful bird was chirping over her, and it pooped on the trooper as he approached. It twittered angrily before flying away. The child was holding a fresh drawing, this was the child. He told his superior, "Inform Lord Vader we found the child."
When they arrived, Vader gingerly held the sleeping toddler as they left Kuat for Coruscant. The remaining orphans would be adopted out as Palpatine saw fit. Within twenty minutes, there was no sign of any Sith involvement, so the Kuati government declared it a natural disaster and from that day onward, that particular day became known as "Day of the Darkest Sun".