A Deceased Agent

Dromund Kaas: Apartments

"Now some of you have said to me "The Jedi are Guardians of the Republic! They will not let it fall to ruin!" But I ask you to open your minds and look at the evidence presented before us! How soon after the Sacking of Coruscant did the Jedi abandon us? They encouraged the peace between the Empire despite the Sith betraying it in the first place! And after that they left Coruscant entirely and settled down on a backwater planet to lick their wounds.

You may think that they might have at least brought order to that planet but no! On Tython, at this very moment, villagers and visitors are besieged by monsters and the Jedi do nothing to help them! You may not want to acknowledge it, but I believe the evidence speaks for itself. Despite the Jedi claiming to serve the Republic they have shown themselves to be nothing more than hypocritical monks who would rather hide than fight!"

Cipher Nine shut off the vid as those in attendance to the governor's speech began applauding. He rested his head on his hand. He'd been researching Toran Erid for the past few hours to try to a sense of how the man thought and acted as well as to see if he displayed any traitorous tendencies.

Yet after watching nearly a dozen speeches with topics ranging from military matters to politics, he kept coming to the same conclusion: this man was not a traitor. Cipher Nine had seen traitors and turncoats before and once one looked closely at them or into their past it became clear why they had become traitors. And despite extensive research, Cipher Nine could not come up with a realistic motive for betrayal that fit with the governor's personality.

Erid had claimed in the message that it had been the eradicator's attack that had driven him to defect. But Cipher Nine no longer believed that. If all it took was a single unexpected attack to convince him to turn, he would have defected immediately after the Sacking of Coruscant. As it turned out, he had defected to the Empire four years after the peace treaty was signed.

It was possible that he was a double agent all along and was told to defect to gather information. But not only would it have been an extremely costly operation, but after watching his speeches and doing thorough research, Cipher Nine didn't see how he could be a double agent and keep up the act for almost a decade. Either Erid was the best actor he'd ever seen or he was exactly who he said was. The final point against this theory was that if he was a double agent, the Republic or SIS would have set up specific protocols in the event that it became too dangerous. He highly doubted that contacting the Jedi was sticking with protocol, and even if it was, sending a message directly to the Grand Master was too obvious and was guaranteed to attract attention. The SIS may not have been as large as Imperial Intelligence but they were not idiots.

Cipher Nine looked at the datapad in his hand. Immediately when he returned to the apartment he had spent some time creating a list of documents to read and speeches to watch for researching Toran Erid. Imperial Intelligence always gave the required information to operatives being sent on missions, but Cipher Nine preferred to do his own research. It never hurt to have an edge over his enemies and he sometimes discovered valuable information. Or lack of it in this case.

He had marked off the majority of the list but still had a few speeches to go along with some documents written by the governor. But now he didn't see the point. He didn't think that he'd find anything that would give a clue to his motivations. Although…Perhaps he was looking at the wrong person here.

The Jedi who'd responded to Erid – Romendo, perhaps he was the one that should be looked at more closely. Cipher Nine sighed, he had a limited amount of time before he had to leave and he wanted to get some sleep before leaving. However, if there was a chance that the Jedi's history provided some clarification on this mission, it might be worth going the night without sleep. It wouldn't be the first time.

He began accessing the Imperial Intelligence database when a knock interrupted him. Cipher Nine frowned and put the datapad down. In all the time he'd stayed on Dromund Kaas (Which, admittedly wasn't much), no one had come to him unannounced. He got up and went over to the doors security panel. He pressed a button and an image of Watcher Two appeared on the screen. He raised an eyebrow, interesting. It wasn't like Watcher Two to do anything unannounced. Something must have come up.

He quickly unlocked the door which slid open quietly to reveal Watcher Two, still in uniform, standing outside. "Watcher Two-"he began but was cut off when she put a finger to her lips. He clamped down on further questioning for the moment. She went inside his apartment and took a device from her belt. Cipher Nine recognized it as a multipurpose handheld scanner, though it appeared that this one was heavily modified.

She went wherever the scanner was leading her and stopped when she came to the small sink in Cipher Nine's kitchen. She knelt down and reached into the storage area underneath the sink and pulled out a black circle the size of a small coin. She tossed it to him wordlessly.

Ah, she was searching for listening devices. Cipher Nine went over to the table where he had been working, reached under the table and pulled out a similar looking listening device. He held it up for Watcher Two to see. She looked at him, a question in her eyes. He shook his head, he'd explain later. She nodded. Both of them worked together to gather all of the listening devices within the apartment. Watcher Two took the listening devices and went out onto the small balcony then promptly threw them over the edge.

"We can speak freely now." She told him, walking back in.

Cipher Nine crossed his arms, "What's going on?"

"Hopefully nothing." She sighed, "But if so, no one can hear about it."

"Very well." Cipher Nine acknowledged and pulled up a seat for her at the table.

"Did you know those were there?" She asked as she sat down. Cipher Nine assumed she meant the listening devices.

"Yes, I found them the first time I stayed here." He answered honestly.

"And you didn't do anything." She inquired with a frown.

"I checked one out. It was an Imperial Intelligence listening device." Cipher Nine explained, "I figured that they were placed as an extra way of keeping track of me. I had nothing to hide so I let them stay."

Watcher Two folded her hands, "Most people would get rid of them. Regardless of who placed them."

He shrugged, "It's not like I stay here much anyway." There was a few moments of silence.

Watcher Two looked over the datapads on the table with curiosity, "What have you been doing?"

"Research." Cipher Nine answered, sitting down, "On the traitorous governor."

"I'm impressed you managed to collect so much information." she said with a guarded tone "Did you find anything?"

He grimaced, "I've found out that Toran Erid's sudden defection doesn't make any sense and goes against every statement he's made. Something is missing here." He looked at her intently, "Is that the reason you're here?" She looked like she was going to say something else, but then thought better of it.

"Yes," she finally answered, "that briefing that Keeper gave was just a false lead for anyone that might be listening."

Cipher Nine nodded, "Then is the governor not a traitor?"

She shook her head, "That has not been determined yet, but there was an embedded code in the message he supposedly sent." She explained, "They're used by Imperial Intelligence for encryption. It was how we were able to decrypt it so easily."

"So a traitor within Intelligence?" Cipher Nine asked, incredulous.

"Unlikely." Watcher Two answered slowly, "That specific code hasn't been used in over ten years. There was only one who used it and it was retired when he died."

"Who used it then?" Cipher Nine asked.

"Cipher Seven," Watcher Two answered with a strange tone in her voice, "One of the Empire's best operatives."

Cipher Nine frowned, "I've never heard of him."

"There's a reason for that." Watcher Two answered, "Apart from dying ten years ago, most of his career was above top secret. Only a few within the Empire even knew he existed."

"You knew him." Cipher Nine stated.

"Yes." She acknowledged, "Both of us took basic training together."

"Must have been a small group."

"Not exactly," She grimaced, "both of us were outcasts of a sort, me because of my genetics and him because he was a chiss. It wasn't obvious, but people tended to avoid us."

Is that right. Cipher Nine thought, interesting. Aloud he spoke, "A chiss? Was he from the Ascendancy?"

She frowned, "He never mentioned an Ascendancy. For that matter he never told me anything about his past. Why, did you come from one?"

Her ignorance was understandable. Despite being official allies of the Empire, the Chiss were an extremely secretive species. One of the terms of the treaty between them was that no Sith would ever walk on Csilla, the Homeworld of the Chiss and Capital of the Ascendancy. Even after the treaty tensions between Chiss and Sith were high. Many citizens treated Chiss the same as the other alien races in the Empire, which is to say, poorly. Cipher Nine figured that it was only a matter of time before the Chiss broke off relations with the Sith altogether. Which would be a shame, in his opinion. Both factions could learn much from each other.

"I was part of the Defense Force before enlisting in the Empire," he told her, "and I received my training at the Chiss Ascendancy." Before she could question him further he asked, "So what was he like? You must have known each other well."

"Brilliant," she stated with a humorless laugh, "there is no better description. Even in basic training he possessed a tactical mind that outmatched his instructors. He regularly asked for one-vs-two and one-vs-three training exercises and never lost once. He completed basic training in half the time everyone else took."

"'Brilliant' is not a word I hear you use often." Cipher Nine noted.

"I may be enhanced," Watcher Two answered, "But I was designed to process and analyze data. Tactics are a field in which I am just as competent as you. But Cipher Seven was born to command a battlefield."

"So what happened after basic training?" Cipher Nine asked.

"By the time I being trained as a Watcher, Cipher Seven was promoted to Cipher Agent. In that time his newest skill began to emerge: manipulation."

"All agents must use it in some capacity." Cipher Nine pointed out.

She shook her head, "This went far beyond normal. He was a wordsmith who apparently planned out everything he said and worded it in such a way so there would be no disagreement. In all the time I knew him, no one questioned him, not Keeper, not the Sith, nobody. It was if they were incapable of defying him."

"That doesn't sound natural." Cipher Nine pondered, "Were any of his suggestions bad?"

She shook her head again, "No, that's just it. His strategies and opinions made perfect sense. So much so that no one could object."

"Was he force-sensitive?" Cipher Nine asked, these traits seemed similar to how Darth Jadus had operated.

"No." she snorted, "Nor was he enhanced in any way. Those traits would have been spotted in basic training."

"Did he often manipulate people?" Cipher Nine asked.

"Besides enemies? There was one admiral who steadfastly refused to acknowledge any alien species and would go out of his way to impede any aliens in the Empire. He was furious whenever Cipher Seven was brought in to give an analysis or be briefed. It got to the point where the admiral attempted to sabotage the mission Cipher Seven was on."

"I imagine he wasn't happy." Cipher Nine muttered.

"Everything seemed normal at first. Cipher Seven completed the mission, of course and seemingly knew exactly who had sabotaged him yet said nothing. Later, he asked the admiral for a private meeting so they could settle their differences."

"Did he kill him?"

She pursed her lips, "The admiral came out of the meeting as white as a sheet. Cipher Seven came out afterwards and told Keeper, then me, that the situation had been resolved. The next day the admiral was found in his quarters, dead due to an apparent overdose of spice." She paused to let the implications sink it.

Watcher Two clearly thought that Cipher Seven had convinced the admiral to suicide by words alone. While certainly plausible as a force-user, which Cipher Seven had apparently not been, Cipher Nine wasn't as sure. There were many ways to drive a man to death, such as threatening family members or loved ones. The only ones he knew of that could literally talk someone into suicide were force-users.

Watcher Two was brilliant, no question about it. But she was designed. Her mind was created for a singular purpose: to analyze data and draw instant conclusions. In essence, she had a literal one-track mind. Instead of deciding on an answer by considering multiple sources, she would simply use her observations and hard data instead of considering outside influences. This led to her seeing answers that weren't there despite seeing the end result. It wasn't her fault, she was just designed that way.

Still, the fact that Cipher Seven had supposedly convinced an admiral to kill himself, whatever the means, was an impressive feat. "Did the admiral have any relatives or friends?" He asked, clasping his hands together.

"A daughter." Watcher Two answered frowning, "But he couldn't have threatened her. She was found dead before he killed himself."

"Is that right." Cipher Nine said, a new answer beginning to show itself, "Just how much time before?"

"A few days before. In fact," she quipped with surprise, "It was during the same time Cipher Seven was completing his mission. Why do you want to know?"

Cipher Nine decided to let it drop, that pretty much confirmed his suspicions. He shook his head, "So what happened after that?"

"We saw each other less and less, but he was promoted until he was reporting directly to the Minister of Intelligence. He was involved in planning Operation Blackout. That should tell you enough."

Cipher Nine's eyes widened. Operation Blackout was the code name for what was now known as the Sacking of Coruscant. If Cipher Seven had been involved in any way, it showed how high he had advanced."

"Are you certain that he didn't just fake his death?" he asked. "It certainly seems as though he'd be more than capable."

"If we hadn't found his body, I might agree with you." She said sadly, "But we did, believe me, we ran every test imaginable on it and it was, without a doubt, the body of Cipher Seven."

"So the question is: who used Cipher Seven's code." Cipher Nine stated.

"That it is." Watcher Two agreed.

Cipher Nine had a list of questions to ask her. He started, "Did anyone have access to his code?"

"Only Keeper and the Minister of Intelligence." She shook her head, "Not to mention Keeper retired the code after Cipher Seven died. No operative has used it since." Cipher Nine made a note of that.

"Did he have many enemies?" Cipher Nine asked.

"I didn't think so." She answered slowly, "When we both spoke regularly, he never mentioned making any enemies."

"He could have just decided not tell you." Cipher Nine pointed out.

She shook her head in dismissal, "Not then, he had always told me everything that happened. But after he started reporting directly to the Minister we spoke less and less. He must have made an enemy of someone though."

"Why is that?"

"He died in a vehicle chase." She said flatly, "Witnesses claim that his transport was shot down by several armed ships. He never had a chance."

"Did you catch them?"

"No. They escaped."

A long silence followed.

"Do you think it's he's alive?" Cipher Nine finally asked.

She looked torn between hope and brutal reality, "I don't know." She sighed, "Everything I see tells me that he died ten years ago. But if anyone could survive, it would be him."

"So what are my orders?"

She looked up in confusion, "Sorry?"

He cocked his head, "That's why you've come isn't it? If by some miracle Cipher Seven is not dead, Keeper would have specific orders for me. What are they?"

She ran a hand through her short hair, "Right, of course. If or when you meet him you'll need to confirm his identity. Keeper and I have two questions for you to ask him: For the first, ask him "Su cuy'gar, Cipher. Vaii ganar gar dar?" He should respond "Cui ogir'olar, gotal haar ba'slan shev'la."

"Mandalorian?" Cipher Nine asked, "Interesting."

"I don't know why Keeper choose that." Watcher Two agreed, "It must have been a phrase only they knew. The second thing you'll ask: Where the black room is. He must answer: Imperial Intelligence, storage room 2112A-1245P. If he answers either of those questions differently then you must kill him."

"Got it." Cipher Nine replied, committing the questions and answers to memory. "And if it is him?"

"Then proceed very carefully," Watcher Two cautioned, "Cipher Seven is very dangerous, he will likely try to convince you to help him with whatever he has planned. Do not listen to him. He'll try to get in your head and I've told you how manipulative he is. You will have to take him alive and bring him back to Dromund Kaas for interrogation."

"I doubt he will go peacefully." Cipher Nine pointed out ruefully.

"Subdue him by any means necessary." Watcher Two ordered, "We have to know what he's been up to – in a location that we control, not him."

"I'll do my best." Cipher Nine promised.

She gave a small smile, "I know you will, you've proven that much." He smiled in return and both of them looked outside and observed the storm in Kaas City for a few minutes. He noticed that Watcher Two kept opening and closing her mouth slightly as if she wanted to add something. He decided to give her a slight nudge.

"What there anything else?" He asked, breaking the silence.

She shifted uncomfortably, "You lied on an official report to protect me. I…was not expecting that."

He winced slightly, "It retrospect that was something I could have done differently. Not taking credit for that idea," he added quickly, "but…perhaps making sure you did the same. Trying to protect someone only truly works if both are on the same page. I should have known that you would have given a full report."

"You were that worried about me?" She asked curiously.

He shrugged, "I had no way of knowing how the Dark Council would respond. I prepared for the worst case scenario. It would have been better for only me to take the punishment rather than both of us."

"Why you?" she asked.

"In the end, I'm the one who made the final call." He answered, "Like I said, I believed it would be better for me to take the fall rather than both of us."

"I see." She answered neutrally, "I appreciate the gesture."

"I made the best call I could." Cipher Nine answered truthfully, "Intelligence wouldn't be the same without you."

"True." She answered thoughtfully, "But it also not be the same without you in it, Cipher Nine." She glanced at the clock, and her eyes widened slightly, "I apologize Cipher, I didn't see the time."

He shook his head, "No problem. I enjoyed this chat."

She got up, "You have a long day tomorrow and I won't take up any more of your time. I'll send you what I can on Cipher Seven, though I doubt it will be much." Both of them walked to the door. "Take care of yourself out there." She told him, "It would be terrible to lose you after everything that has happened."

"I'll do my best." He promised and she left, leaving him to prepare for the mission the following morning.

Supplementary Material

Codex: Chiss-Imperial Relations

When the Empire first encountered the Chiss Ascendancy, they expected to go to war. They never imagined that the chiss would instead ask to begin negotiations. Suspecting a trap, the Empire sent a delegation of diplomats, officers and Sith to conduct negotiations. When they were finished, the Empire had a new ally: The Chiss Ascendancy. The terms of the treaty were simple: The chiss would provide additional intelligence in the outer rim as well as the full might of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force if needed. Chiss who wished to join the Empire would be free to do so in the spirit of cooperation. In return, the Ascendancy would retain full autonomy over its territories and no Sith Lord would ever step foot on Csilla, capital of the Ascendancy and homeworld of the chiss.

Reactions to the treaty are mixed. Within the Empire, many in the Imperial Military see the CEDF as a potential threat, yet at the same time realize that they are essential for keeping order in the outer rim without using Imperial resources. Because the chiss were the only alien species to officially ally with the Empire, it has placed them in a unique and uncomfortable position within Imperial society. Many Imperial citizens feel the same way about the chiss as any other alien species, which is second-class citizens at best and slaves at worst. However, due to their status as allies, they segregation of the chiss is far more subtle in the Empire. The chiss appear to realize this as well, as only a few have ever decided to join the Empire officially.

As a result, seeing a chiss openly in an Imperial city is as strange as seeing an alien Dark Council member. The chiss that enlist almost exclusively join Imperial Intelligence which has accepted them with open arms in contrast to the rest of the Empire. The chiss have proven themselves invaluable as Intelligence agents, some of the greatest men and woman of Imperial Intelligence have been chiss and as a result, slowly convinced them to begin employing other non-human agents.

To date there has never been a chiss Sith Lord. Some are even skeptical that chiss can be force-sensitive due to a seeming lack of force-users within the Ascendancy. It is unknown if force-sensitivity is exceptionally rare or non-existent within the chiss or they simply just shield them from the Empire to use for themselves. Whatever the case it highlights the strained relations with the factions as of late.

There have been rumors that the Ascendancy is looking to distance itself from the Empire either due to differences of opinion or simple practicality. The secrecy within the Ascendancy has frustrated those in the Empire and the Empire's lack of respect for the chiss has not endeared them to the Ascendancy either. If the chiss decide to annul the treaty, it is unlikely that the Empire could conquer the Ascendancy and prepare for an engagement with the Republic at the same time. Right now, both factions only watch each other, waiting for galactic events to decide the fate of their alliance.