The Carrack cruiser Decimator approached the hangar of the Executor. Onboard, Adams, along with his "visitors" exited onto the floor of the dock. They were met by about ten stormtroopers pointing their weapons at them.
"Look, don't worry. This is standard procedure." Adams explained to them. "Just some questions and you will be on your way." He led them each to white rooms with chairs and told them to sit for a while. He walked into a room with several monitors. In it were a couple technicians, Captain Kunsch, and Lord Vader.
"Ok commander, what was so important that you needed me to come down here." Vader asked.
"Well, I came across these people on Laikar. They said they need to make contact with the republic immediately." Adams explained.
"Well, I can see that. They are dressed in phase II clone trooper armor and are wearing Jedi apparel." Kunsch added.
"This brings me to act number two." Adams continued, "I believe they are Jedi." Vader perked up.
"They have the apparel, plus I confiscated lightsabers from them." He continued. He put four lightsabers on the table.
"Whoa, there are three possible Jedi and four lightsabers." Kunsch pointed out.
"Don't look at me, I can't sense the force." Adams said. They turned to Vader.
"If they are Jedi, they will make excellent assets." Vader said in a plotting voice. He walked out of the room and down the hall.
"100 credits says he just jumps in on it." Kunsch said. Adams perked up.
"Speaking of which, can I get my paycheck today instead of tomorrow?" He asked.
"You don't get your paycheck until the end of the month. You know that." Kunsch said.
Cao was sitting in the white room when it walked in. It wore completely black armor, had a black flowing cape, and had an odd bug-eyed helmet.
"What the-." Cao began. It was making a breathing sound like an air filter and was surrounded by the dark side. Then, as suddenly as he entered, he left.
Vader walked back into the room.
"Three of them are Jedi." He said, "Get information out of them and I will take it from there." They scurried out of the room and into separate rooms.
Adams sat across the table from Cao, he had changed into his black dress tunic.
"What was that that came in here a couple minutes ago?" He asked.
"What was what?" Adams asked, playing dumb.
"You know, forget it." He muttered.
"Good, because I have some questions for you." Adams said, "It won't take long."
"Shoot." Cao said and reclined and folded his arms.
"Ok, the first few are simple." He said and pulled out a clipboard, "Specie?" Kato thought, he had not seen him in action.
"Human." He lied. Adams wrote on the clipboard.
"Hair color: black. Eye color?" He asked. He lifted the hair out of his eyes.
"Gold." He said and wrote down, "That's new." He muttered.
"Name and planet of origin?" He asked.
"Cao, and Anaxes." That bit was true. Although he was Codru-ji, he was born on Anaxes.
"Oh, that's nice." He wrote that down. "That's where I'm from."
"Ok, birthdate?" He continued.
"Year 0." Adams stopped.
"After?" He asked.
"The Great ReSynchronization." He said. Adams had a puzzled look.
"How old are you?" He asked, with a bit of seriousness in his tone.
"16, why? What year is it?" Cao asked.
"3 years after the Battle of Yavin. Or in RS, Year 39." He said. Kato sunk in his chair.
"22 years." Kato muttered.
"Ok, either you're lying and you're 39. Or something happened 22 years ago." He said. Cao sighed and told him.
"So let me get this straight, you got sent back in time by a bunch of droids." Adams asked. Cao nodded. He thought for a moment.
"I need to go… Over there." He said pointing to the door. He got up and left the room. He immediately went to the control room with Kunsch and Vader.
"Wow." Kunsch said looking up from a holocam screen. "Do you believe him?"
"Bring up information on the Battle of Laikar, Clone Wars." Adams told him. He typed in a couple of words and a screen flashed up.
Adams stared at the words "3 Jedi missing" for a long time. He walked to a console and started typing.
"What are you doing?" Kunsch asked.
"Looking them up in the old Jedi archives." He replied.
"You don't honestly think they're just going to let you into the archive remains, did you?" Kunsch said when a screen asking for a password came up.
"Well…" Adams thought. He turned around, "Hey Vader, what's your password for what's left of the Jedi Archives?" He turned toward them.
"I don't have a password." He said, "I will ask the Emperor." He picked up a communicator and dialed a number.
"Yes my master, I need to ask for a password into the archives." He said. They heard the emperor on the other end.
"What do I need it for? Umm… Why don't you ask Commander Adams?" He asked and tossed it to Adams. He was sweating in his tunic.
"Hello?" He said, trembling.
"Why is it you want the password for the Archives?" The Emperor said in his raspy voice.
"Well, we have some Jedi in our custody and we are looking to get some background information on them." He managed to squeeze out. Vader suddenly started shaking his head quickly.
"I will send a couple Dark Side Adepts to join you. They will handle it from there." Vader slapped his helmet as if to say "why me?"
"That won't be necessary. Vader has it covered." Adams said. There was no reply. He looked at the phone, puzzled.
"Why does he do that?" He asked. Vader shrugged
"I don't know why he didn't let me do this." Vader said. He walked out of the room.
"Great. Dark Side Adepts." Kunsch said, continuing to watch the footage from the cameras.
The Lambda-class shuttle entered one of the Executor's hangars. Adams and Vader watched it land.
"You have to do the explaining." Vader said to him he turned to leave.
"Ani!" Someone yelled. Vader stopped and muttered something. He turned around and saw two guys walking towards them; one was about 40 and the other about 17.
"I thought I told you never to call me that." He replied and walked up to him.
"Well, I think we both know the time I stranded you in the dune sea was childish and immature. So, what do you have?" He asked.
"Yes, Lieutenant Adams has captured a trio of Jedi Padawans on the planet Laikar. Adams, this is Destructor," Vader closed in on him. "His real name is John Smith." He whispered.
"Pleased to meet you, you're not a clone, are you?" He asked and shook his hand.
"No." He replied.
"Good, well this is Fel, an Adept in training. So I guess show us to the spot." He said. They walked down the hall and into the surveillance room. Kunsch turned around.
"A group of surviving troops have returned, My Lord." He said.
"Yeah nice. I am going down to get something to eat, try to turn them over to the dark side." Vader said and left.
"Ok, first we are going to try something simple: making their anger swell until they fall to the dark side. We will just do it with a typical stormtrooper telling the story of the Empire. Only where the rebels are the bad guys." Destructor said.
"Captain Achenbach has just returned, we'll get him to do it." Kunsch said.
"So how do you and Vader know each other?" Adams asked.
"Oh, we went to school together on Tatooine. We used to torture the poor kid, but now he's on top. Little Ani came out on top." He replied. A stormtrooper walked in.
"You wanted to see me sir?" He said.
"Yes, I want you to go into the room with the younger male and tell him the story of the Galactic Empire. We are trying to turn him to the dark side." Adams said.
"Ok." He replied and walked out and into the interrogation room.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, but I have been sent to get you up to speed on the time period." Achenbach said on the screen.
"Ok, I'm listening." Richo said.
"Ok, so let's start at the end of the clone wars." He told. "During the final battles of the Republic, the Jedi confronted Chancellor Palpatine due to a belief that he was Darth Sidious, the Sith responsible for creating the Confederacy of Independent Systems. This turned out to be true and he killed Windu and the others with the help of the newly fallen Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader. He then ordered all Jedi to be murdered by clone troopers…" He explained.
"WHAT IS HE DOING!" Destructor yelled.
"He's telling the story truthfully." Kunsch said.
"Great, so now if he turns he'll go after the Empire." Fel said.
"Have him terminated." Destructor said.
"…So boom goes Alderaan." Were the last words he said before a couple guards escorted him out.
"Fel, see if you can't do it right to the female." He said. Fel nodded.
"Archives say she's from Alderaan. This should be good." Adams said watching the screen.
It went well for the most part, he blamed the fall of the Republic on the Jedi and that the "New Republic" managed to take back control. And now the Rebel Scum are looking to bring an absolute dictatorship with human centership. Vader walked in.
"I don't know where you get those troops, Vader, but Achenbach is pretty stupid." He said. Vader looked confused.
"Achenbach is one of our best tacticians, he just wouldn't mess something up." He said. Fel told her how the rebels "blew up Alderaan." She began to cry on his shoulder.
"I think we have a winner." Adams said. She then seemed to be falling asleep.
"Uh oh." Destructor said nervously. He leaned down on her and a pair of tentacles popped out from his cheeks. Vader quickly ran out. The tentacles almost made it to her nose when Vader burst in and started force-choking him. Yune staggered back as Vader led him out.
"Really? You have an Anzat apprentice?" Kunsch said to Destructor. He ignored him.
"Do you have a Plan C?" Adams asked. Fel sat at the other end of the room with a neckbrace.
"We are developing a gun that amplifies the dark side, but it might not be ready." Destructor said.
"It's still inconclusive." Fel pointed out, "The last time you tried it out, the target pissed his pants and forgot who he was." Destructor thought this through. He had no choice.
"Alright… go and get it."
A pair of stormtroopers wheeled a massive gun-like device into Cao's interrogation room.
"What the hell is that?" He asked.
"Just and eye exam. Nothing big." Destructor said, walking in. Cao glared at him, he was surrounded in the dark side. He was just about to spring up when a pair of cuffs came up from the chair and locked him in. He tried to break them with the force, he couldn't.
"It's useless to struggle." He said and flipped a few switches on the machine. It started humming and he inserted a crystal into a chute at the top.
"This'll make your problems go away. You'll join us, whether you like it or-," his eyes suddenly went wide, as though sensing what was going to happen, "You're a-"
Cao suddenly threw out his lower arms and ignited their lightsabers. He sliced the tip of the machine and cut his cuffs. The stormtroopers ran out screaming. Destructor pulled out his own.
"Codru-ji… Impressive." He made a lunge, Cao blocked his red blade. "If you kill me, I won't need that machine."
"Going by the textbook?" He said and pushed him away. Suddenly the bug-eyed black thing burst in and got him in a force-choke hold. Cao felt his windpipe getting crushed, until he passed out.
"Take him away." Destructor said to a pair of guards that came in, "Have him and his friends terminated."
"Whatever happened to making them assets?" Vader asked.
"They know too much. If they do turn, it won't be in our favor." He replied and quickly walked out.