11 ATC
"Imperial Intelligence has leaked documents to the SIS suggesting that one of our trustworthy agents has been… traumatized."
"You objective is to earn their confidence, uncover their plans, and eliminate Ardun Kothe himself."
"This sort of work can be psychologically taxing."
"Bury your loyalties for this one, Cipher."
"Code name Hunter. Strategic Information Service."
"Factory doors are sealing!" "Relax. There's a speeder pad close by. Move fast enough, and you might even make it."
The words swirled in Cipher Nine's head as he entered the SIS base.
"Imperial Intelligence has leaked documents to the SIS suggesting that one of our trustworthy agents has been… traumatized." Six months had passed since Eradication Day, and the agent had thought he'd gotten past it. The last few months, he hadn't woken up in a cold sweat once, and Vector hadn't made one comment about how Cipher Nine's aura reached out for nothing. Then it was like those words set off something inside him.
"Traumatized," Keeper – once Watcher Two – had said, in that tone of almost-sympathy she was so good at. But she didn't understand. Only Vector understood. Both men were tied into the flow of life in the galaxy, in their own way. They'd felt every life snuffed out, every life that flickered and eventually gave up under the barrage of the Eradicators. Every life that Cipher Nine was responsible for ending.
"Traumatized," Keeper had said. She didn't know even a fraction of it.
The base was plain in architecture, but so beautifully alive, like every building and street and pile of rubble on Nar Shadaa. It felt fundamentally different from entering the Imperial Intelligence base more than a year ago. Even without Darth Jadus present to spread his poison, Imperial Intelligence had always been a subdued place, especially in contrast to the riot of power within the Sith Sanctum so nearby.
A human male and female twi'lek sparred on one side of the room. He was dim and flickered every time she attacked, where she was solid and unyielding. Nearby, a droid sat across a dejarik table from Hunter.
Now Hunter, he was a weird one. No, not weird. Disturbing. Because she looked exactly like Cipher Nine did – a solid core, imperfect and a little battered, but strong, sheathed in a layer of malleable water. It flowed as she spoke in that bizarrely deep voice, just as it did for Cipher Nine. He'd never met somebody he distrusted so quickly. It didn't help that she kept a shield generator up even in her own base. That spoke volumes of how much she trusted SIS's newest recruit.
Hunter introduced each of her compatriots. "Saber," she said, pointing dismissively at the twi'lek woman.
"Four years sniper training," Saber said by way of greeting, hefting a powerful sniper rifle. "We should swap stories."
Cipher Nine hadn't actually fired a sniper rifle since training. He disliked the focus it required, how it drew his mind to a single point when he should be able to see everything around him. Still, he gave a polite nod as Hunter continued her introductions.
The human male was Chance, the slicer, and the droid was an official member of the team, named Wheel. "He" was the technology specialist.
Cipher Nine gave a small smile. "This might actually be pleasant," he joked, "providing I don't have to work with Hunter too often."
They laughed and Saber said, "eh, he'll grow on you."
"No doubt you have plenty of experience working with people you're not fond of," interrupted a radiant force-sensitive man behind Cipher Nine.
Cipher Nine turned, just like any sighted being would do, to face the jedi.
"Ardun Kothe, head of division," the jedi said. "Come with me."
The head of the SIS division Cipher Nine had been chosen to infiltrate was a jedi.
Keeper wants me dead, the Cipher thought, it's the only possible explanation.
He couldn't even bring himself to be scared. With an internal sigh, he followed Ardun Kothe into the next room.
"Four months ago, I start getting messages from a source in the Empire," Kothe started as Cipher Nine entered the room. "Claims to be a Cipher agent."
Four months of prep work. Had Cipher Nine been the agent in mind from the start? Probably not. They would have informed him months ago in that case. He could have had far more time to prep.
"Now a factory's in ruins and here we are. I'm starting to think you might be real."
"I'm used to hostility, sir," Cipher Nine admitted. He wasn't going to risk lying to a jedi. "Take all the time you need. I'll keep proving myself."
Kothe raised an eyebrow. "I got a copy of your personnel file. Says you were traumatized on Eradication Day. Ten thousand people dead, so you could finish a mission. That what made you want to flip?"
Ten thousand people. That was wrong. The correct number was 10,231. A number like that didn't deserve to be rounded. It meant something. Kaliyo could laugh and marvel at the body count like it was some sort of record, but when she got enough drinks in her, even she would spit on the name of Imperial Intelligence and the casual way they'd thrown away so many lives. The casual way Cipher Nine had thrown away so many lives.
"Is that all the file said?"
"It's all you need to know that I know," Ardun Kothe said reasonably.
"No," said Cipher Nine, reaching up to pull back a hood he was told matched the colour of Sith robes, "it isn't."
He ran a hand through hair that was, "blond, like the sand of Alderaan's sea shores," and released the clasps on his headgear, the equipment that hid his eyes behind a computer display for the sighted and gave him perfect integrated communications technology. The clasp clicked open, he closed his mouth and slid the lower band off his chin, pulling the entire contraption from his face like the mask it was.
If Kothe was surprised, it didn't show. He didn't even flicker, let alone flinch. It was just like Vector had reacted. That was comforting, somehow.
"My… species..." Telkwa forced out the words, suppressing the shame as best he could, trying to throw up a mask even as he bared himself to a stranger, and failing miserably. "I am force-sensitive… to a degree. Nothing like a Sith, but enough to 'see', after a fashion. Enough to have felt every death I caused that day. Ten thousand, two hundred and thirty-one because it would make a good distraction."
Telkwa shuddered. Kothe's aura flickered this time.
"Every death you caused?"
Telkwa nodded. "My Watcher came up with the plan. Darth Jadus needed codes only I had to activate the Eradicators. Without them, they would have fired blindly on civilian targets. Jadus would have killed us and escaped to try again. Instead, I gave him the codes he needed, and survived long enough for the Dark Council to send reinforcements… He broadcast the cries for help across the entire ship."
Kothe looked like he was about to say something, but Telkwa continued on, louder. "They reprimanded me for allowing military infrastructure to be damaged, then gave me a medal for saving the Empire! Because all the Dark Council or Imperial Intelligence cared about was keeping the right Sith in power!"
The room went silent. It occurred to Telkwa only then that he could have been overheard, but the rest of Kothe's people had left.
Eventually, Kothe nodded and pressed a button on his desk. "Saber?" Energy flickered above the terminal, presumably a holographic image of Saber. "Tell the deck another card is in play. Code name: Legate."
"Acknowledged. Tell him congratulations."
The hologram flickered out, and Kothe rounded his desk towards his newest recruit. "I'm prepping operations on the planet Taris, couple of other places. Join up with our forces there, I'll give you your first job," he said. "You're on my team now, Legate. A double agent inside the Empire… someone to help me win this war."
Telkwa nodded. He'd said all he needed to say.
"One more thing before you go," said the spymaster, "and I'm sorry to say this. Keyword: onomatophobia."
Keyword: onomatophobia.
"Thesh protocol, phase one."
Thesh protocol, phase one.
His head – why couldn't he think straight? His body went numb.
"Thesh protocol engaged," said Telkwa's mouth. "Shutting down."
His legs bent, and he knelt. He raised his head towards Kothe, and the radiance of the world dimmed and blackened.
"I don't know if you can hear me anymore..." And then he couldn't.
For a time, he didn't know how long, Telkwa's world was so silent he couldn't hear his own heartbeat, so dark he couldn't see himself or Kothe or even Vector. He almost forgot what taste was, wasn't even sure he still had a body to feel. He idly realized his nose had a smell that he'd just tuned out his entire life. Then the hallucinations started – his own mind trying to cope with the lack of input. He could swear he heard voices, Chance and Watcher X. He saw the insidious darkness of Darth Jadus, smelled the electric damp of Dromuun Kaas, felt the firm grip of the Imperial troops who'd taken him from his family.
Then he was back.
"-half an hour. Wake up."
Kothe's radiance had distracted Telkwa from the cracks in the man, the twists and blackened edges. He should have known.
Now, he stood up as he was ordered. He didn't even try to attack. What would be the point, against a jedi who'd somehow managed to take control of the spy's body?
It wasn't even the loss of control that hurt, or the feeling of betrayal itself. It was the loss of hope. Telkwa had been willing to turn his back on the Empire, had even been looking forward to helping take down a nation so corrupt it let creatures like Darth Jadus rise to their highest seats of power.
It had taken less than a day for the Republic to prove it was no better.
What he wanted to know was, why?
"I am awake. Awaiting orders," he said with a salute.
That wasn't right.
"Let's walk through some exercises," Kothe said. "Sit down."
Telkwa walked over to the seat at Kothe's desk and sat down.
"Now jump, please."
Before Telkwa could sarcastically ask how high, he'd sprung to his feet, as high as he'd ever jumped in his life.
"Aim your rifle."
In a smooth and practiced motion, Telkwa's hands grasped his rifle and drew it, placing it against his shoulder and pointed directly at Kothe.
Telkwa didn't even bother taking the safety off. It appeared there was some room for interpretation of his orders. No point making a show of hostility now, so he might as well make a test instead.
"Revert to phase zero. You can talk now."
Whatever phase zero was, it allowed Telkwa to ask his question. "Why?"
Kothe flickered again, and he winced in momentary guilt. With a wave of his hand, he caused Telkwa to holster his rifle. "You won't be able to tell anyone about us or your programming. You also won't be able to hurt members of my team. It's all a precaution, in case your real loyalty is still with the Empire."
Telkwa wanted his mask back on now, this very instant, but he still couldn't move without Kothe's say-so.
"Is there anything else I should know," was all he asked.
"The team will be given your keyword," Kothe volunteered. "They will be just as capable of giving you orders as I am. Aside from that, nothing you need to know."
"You betrayed me," Telkwa spat. "You never even gave me a chance."
"I'm sorry," Kothe said, and he almost seemed sincere. "They say principles are the first casualty of war. I still need you, Legate. You head to Taris, and we can beat the Empire together. With the lives we save, maybe we'll both find redemption. Dismissed."
It took a second and a shiver down his arm for Telkwa to realize he could move again. He picked up his headgear, contemplating the energy running through the equipment, and said, "all I wanted was a chance at redemption."
He raised the piece so that it almost touched his face. "Ten thousand. Two hundred. Thirty-one lives."
He'd never counted the lives he'd taken from Jadus' own crew-
Facing Kothe, Telkwa slipped on his mask, snapped the clasps tight, and pulled up his hood.
-and he never would.
"Give those lives back, and you can have your Imperial droid, Ardun Kothe," said Legate.
Then the agent turned away from the Imperial in Jedi's clothing and left.
