The Star Destroyer Rabid Pursuit limped through hyperspace back to the nearest Imperial shipyard, which was located in the Lantillies system, the sector capital of the Maldrood sector. The shipyards at Lantillies paled in comparison to the other major shipyards in the galaxy, which included Kuat and Bilbringi, but a series of expansions shortly after the Clone Wars enabled them to service capital ships as large as a Star Destroyer.
The normally pristine bone white hull of the ship was blackened and crumpled where the gravity bombs had impacted. Although the ship's engineers had worked around the clock to enact repairs bits of clouds debris and smoke still drifted out the ship's damaged sections.
Lorne Krom sat in the ship's upper deck lounge at a table in the corner, alone and fuming. He held a tall glass of Corellian black ale, which he had yet to drink from. A datapad sat on the table in front of him, displaying a message from Imperial Center demanding he immediately return to the capital.
Krom had already reported to his superior via holonet relay during the hyperspace jump back to civilized space. He had attempted to put as much of the blame for the failed attack onto Captain Praide as possible, and, after he had considered how the operation had unfolded, onto the various other elements of the navy who had taken part. Krom did not consider himself a coward, and he did not blame others out of pure spite. But he knew that taking responsibility for failure was not the route to a long and happy life in the Empire.
He was sure that somewhere, somehow, the details of the operation had been leaked to the pirates. Although he had planned for such things by compartmentalizing information, releasing details and timetables only shortly before it was time to act, and only transmitting information through trusted operatives using secure channels, the enemy had known exactly when their attack was coming.
How else could they have positioned bombs into the Rabid Pursuit's entry vector into the system? And where could they have obtained such powerful weapons. They were not common, by any means.
An alert from his comlink snapped him out of his reverie.
"Agent Krom, your shuttle is ready," a navy officer informed him.
"Good, I'll be there in a moment," he answered. He left the ale and picked up his datapad, the only possession he had brought aboard the ship.
He arrived in the hangar prep room in only a few minutes and was greeted by the sight of Ysanne Isard leaning with her back against the transparisteel window the looked out into the hangar.
After his briefing with Imperial Intelligence back on Imperial Center Isard had been eager to take part in the operation, even though her role had mostly been as an observer and consultant. She had treated Krom, who was fifteen years her senior, with a mix of respect and deference.
He had not seen her once since the battle, as if she had vanished into thin air. Now he read only dismissal on her impassive face as she watched him arrive on the deck. She must blame him for the failure of the operation. He wondered how harsh her report to her own superiors must've been.
"It appears as if we will be sharing a shuttle," Krom said in greeting.
"So it seems," she shrugged.
"Perhaps you can send a message to Imperial Intelligence for me?" Krom asked.
"What message would that be?"
"Next time their agents can bungle their own operation instead of interfering in ours," Krom snapped at her.
He expected her to be taken aback, and hoped for a little bit of anger, but instead her face remained impassive.
"I'll give my father your message. I may not be able to speak with him right away, however. He could be busy briefing the Emperor about failed attacks on pirates."
Krom didn't know if she was bluffing or not, but he turned away from her in disgust and walked into the hangar where their shuttle awaited.
oOoOo
Kel took his new identification badge to the personnel office, the same one where he had initially conducted his interviews with Senior Operative Khol. Cereen waited outside while he went to the front desk and showed the clerk his new i.d badge.
The rather dry looking man in a drab grey uniform ran the badge through his computer terminal.
"Junior Attendant Kellen Pereth," the man said. "What can I do for you?"
"Uh, first I need clearance to go off facility," Kel announced. "And then I would like to know where I am supposed to be staying. I'm guessing I'm moving on from the recruitment dorms."
"Yes," he said, glancing at his screen. "Temporary accommodations have been assigned to you on level 44-d. There is a desk on that level, give them your badge and they will assign you quarters. As far as clearance to leave the facility…" he pressed a few buttons on his terminal, "you are cleared for up to twelve hours with periodic check ins or a tracking bracelet, until your first performance review. Do you have a preference?"
Kel thought for a moment. At first the idea of willingly putting a tracker on his body seemed reprehensible. However, he had no desire to attempt escape, and nothing to conceal by keeping his movements private. And he didn't want to think about what would happen if he missed a check in, as he was required to do every four hours.
"Yeah, I think I will take the bracelet," Kel informed him.
"Okay, report to the security desk, floor 2, main wing. I will inform them you are on your way."
"Always another kriffing desk to check in at," Kel shook his head.
"What was that?" the man asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Nothing."
Cereen accompanied Kel to the security desk where he received his bracelet.
"I'm surprised you chose that," she commented, looking it over.
"Seemed less of a hassle. Besides, I'm not planning on running for it or anything," Kel told her.
The bracelet was a black, soft, plastoid band with a shiny metal disk underneath his wrist. It almost looked like a wrist chronometer.
The entered the public lobby, the huge room covered in Geonosian granite, and headed for the landing pad.
"I got us a ride," Cereen told him as the exited the enormous building.
"Yes!" shouted Kel as the sunlight hit his face for the first time in over two weeks.
"Really?" Cereen asked, laughing.
It was the dying light of the late afternoon, nearly half in the shadow of the Imperial Palace, but Kel took what he could get.
He walked underneath the long covered causeway that led out onto the landing pad. But instead of turning left onto the public landing area Kel had arrived in with agent Dekai, they turned right.
Here a number of taxi speeders awaited their passengers. Cereen led him past these towards a section reserved for private speeders. A sleek green two seater stood out, which possessed two massive engine turbines behind the open air cabin. The gear head inside of Kel immediately became excited.
"Is this yours?" Kel asked, immediately walking behind it to get a look at the engines.
"Yup, its my baby," Cereen answered proudly. "I'm going to have to put in storage after tonight."
"Is it a Sorosuub?" Kel asked.
"That's right, Y-7 model. Modified," she confirmed.
"You added afterburners," Kel noticed. "What's the propellant?"
"Liquid tibanna gas."
"Wouldn't that explode?"
"I think it's diluted. Hey, don't poke around in there," she admonished him as he began to examine the backside of her speeder.
"Sorry," Kel apologized. "Couldn't help it. It's been too long since I've been able to play with an engine."
"Would you settle for flying in it?" she asked as she jumped over the side and into the pilot's seat.
"Sure."
She asked the traffic tower for clearance and took off as soon as they gave it to her. The repulsor units lifted the speeder off the landing pad and she let it hover for a moment before accelerating away from the Imperial Intelligence building and into the sky lane.
"You ever been on Imperial Center before?" she asked as they accelerated past a large hover bus.
"Nope, this is my first time. Went straight to headquarters as soon as I got here," Kel answered.
She flew around a droid piloted cargo speeder and glanced upwards at the layer of traffic above them. Finding an opening, she hit her accelerator hard, triggering the afterburner. Kel closed his eyes and listened to the engine vibrate underneath him. It had a nice, satisfying, rhythmic hum. He could tell it had been finely tuned by a professional mechanic. He knew she hadn't done the modification work herself, or at least not without a lot of assistance.
They gained altitude until they flew above the general flow of traffic and were even with the highest levels of the skyscrapers around them. Kel could see for kilometers in every direction, and the sheer scope of the city staggered him once again.
"Okay, so," she said, glancing around. "Behind us is the Imperial district. Over there is the Senate district." She pointed to their left, and Kel recognized the famous domed, mushroom shaped structure. "South of that is the "CoCo" district."
"CoCo?" Kel asked.
"Commercial Commons. You can see the Imperial Museum, the building that looks like a mini Imperial palace."
"Where are you from?" Kel asked.
"Hirkenglade prefecture, west of CoCo." She tilted the speeder to gain a view of the traffic below and dipped downwards once again. She turned south at a great intersection between two of the districts and sped down the lane, just underneath the general flow of traffic.
"What are the traffic regulations anyway?" Kel asked. He tended to lean away from her every time the seemed about to crash into another speeder. Which was often.
"Don't fly over one hundred fifty kilometers per hour, don't run into anything, don't stop, don't fly against the stream of traffic. And don't get closer than two meters to another vehicle," she added as she swerved between a transport a holo board.
"Are you sure about that last one?" Kel asked, gripping his safety harness a little tighter.
"I was a security officer, remember," she laughed.
She turned west at another large intersection, which was marked by a large permacrete monument featuring a green disc with a chromium lining. At the center of the disc was a holographic sphere which shone brightly with an inner light.
"This is Hirkenglade," she announced.
"What happened there?" Kel asked, noticed a shipping building that looked bombed out. It stood out amongst the other buildings, which looked upper class to his untrained mid rim eye.
"That's my story," she smiled. "You tell me part of yours I'll tell you mine."
"I was told not to," Kel shook his head.
"You're no fun," she said, rolling her eyes at him. She turned down a smaller causeway, which ran between two rows of residential buildings. She slowed down a bit as they grew closer to a pair of wide walkways that was crowded with people.
"I used to live up there," she announced, pointing up a nearby residential building. Kel looked where she directed him and saw a narrow tower clad in burnished desh metal. It was nice looking, although it didn't rise to the dizzying heights of some of the towers in the districts they had passed. "Mid level, just below the metal panelling."
"Used to?" Kel asked.
"I sold my apartment this morning, after recruitment ended. Didn't have much that mattered in it. A few things that did matter I had shipped to my father."
"Your father? Is he your only family?"
"Yeah, mother died in the Clone Wars," Cereen told him sadly. "He lives over in the Manarai mountain district."
"Wow," Kel said, amazed. He wasn't familiar with everything on Imperial Center, but even he had heard of that place. It was one of the wealthiest districts outside of the Senate area.
"He lives mid level, trust me," she smiled. "He got a nice retirement package from the precinct," she explained.
"So he was a security officer as well?" Kel asked.
"Yeah, I was legacy." She dipped her speeder once again and they fell beneath the main level of the district. This area was in the darkness of night already, although it would only receive sunlight near noon, being in the shadow of the neighboring buildings. The causeways in these levels were actually more crowded than the ones above, and Kel spotted a marketplace or two crowded with shoppers.
"Where are we going?" Kel asked. He probably should've asked that a long time ago, but he had been distracted.
"The Painted Rancor, one of my favorite clubs," she told him. At the word 'club' he grew worried.
"I'm not going to have to do anything rhythmic am I? To the tune of music?"
"What? Dance?" she laughed. "No, I wouldn't force you into that kind of torture. I'm not a dancing type."
"Neither am I," Kel agreed.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
He hadn't been thinking about food much in the last couple weeks. But now that his certain death was looking a little less certain, he felt that he could use a decent meal. He nodded and she decelerated and turned into a parking garage. She landed the speeder at the nearest space she could find.
A droid zoomed down from overhead, a little bulbous thing with two large eyeball-like scanners on either side.
"5 credits for the night, please," it demanded of them, politely. It repeated the request in a couple of other languages.
"I don't have any cash," Kel shook his head.
"We can take care of that in a little bit," Cereen said. She retrieved a data card from her jumpsuit and allowed the droid to scan it.
It asked Cereen if she would like a receipt, and after she declined it zoomed up and out sight.
"Efficient," Kel commented.
"What are you hungry for?"
"Meat. And some jappa fruit, if I can get it," Kel answered.
"Jappa fruit?" she asked.
"Something from home," he told her.
"I doubt you are going to be able to find it," she shook her head.
They exited the garage and joined the crowd outside. For the first time since he had arrived on planet, since he left had Jappa really, he was walking within a crowd that was not majority human. He spotted a hammer headed Ithorian, a twi'lek with her twin lekku head tails, a green skinned rodian wearing a spacer's outfit, and a few species he did not recognize.
Cereen steered him towards a market place that was underneath a large fabric canopy. Natural fire lanterns, made of paper, were hung in midair by mini tractor beams. Kel could make out the chirping of birds up in the canopy, the first sign of wildlife he had experienced on the overpopulated capital.
"Over there," Cereen said, pointing towards a large durasteel column. Kel noticed a holographic sign that read 'cash terminal' in aurebesh.
He logged into the terminal and brought up his account, which had been awarded to him early during the recruitment process. There weren't many credits in his account, just enough for meals. He hadn't used it yet, since he had only eaten in the Imperial Intelligence cafeteria before now, which was free.
"What is this place anyway?" Kel asked after he had withdrew some credits and logged out of the terminal.
"Tarai's market," Cereen told him. "It's wonderful isn't it. Tarai's a bothan, and she can cook like no other. She has a cybernetic implant, but it's minor. I've been told she uses it to adjust her recipes for each species. Everyone has different tastes and tolerances."
They made their way to a crowded area at the center of the canopy. A number of beings were seated at a long curved hardwood countertop, behind which sat a number of grills and cooking surfaces, as well as piles of fruit and spice barrels. Kel noticed clouds of steam rising from the grills, and finally caught the scent of simmering meat.
Cereen found an open space at the countertop and flagged down one of Tarai's assistants, a Bith.
"Is the boss in?" Ceren asked.
"No, cyar'ika," the assistant answered with the Huttese slang word for darling.
"Ah, kark," Cereen sighed. "Well, can I get some Selkath soup, spicy," she ordered.
"Right up," the assistant agreed. He, or she, Kel wasn't sure, whistled back to another assistant, a human, who was grilling. She barked orders in a language he couldn't follow.
"What for you?" the Bith asked, her basic a little shaky, as it looked at Kel.
"Um, I don't know. Do you have noodles? Can you serve them with sizzled nerf steak?" Kel asked
"Eniki, right up," the Bith answered positively.
"Ask," Cereen prompted.
"Oh, do you have jappa fruit?" Kel asked.
"Jappa? No jappa. Zoochberry, very good," came the answer.
"Zoochberry? Can you turn it into juice?"
"Eniki," the Bith nodded.
They took seats at the countertop and waited for their food, with Cereen telling him about life on the capital. He soon realized that her district alone had nearly as many residents as the capital city on Jappa. He couldn't fathom an entire planet filled with so many people, and all the things people required, such as markets like the one he found himself in now.
Their food was served, they both paid, and Kel finally got what he considered his first real meal away from Jappa. Tarai's market made the cafeteria back at Imperial Intelligence seem like a joke.
He finished his noodles and then drank the broth out of the wooden bowl they had been served in. Cereen had already finished her soup.
"How was it?" she asked.
"Amazing. I think they might actually be the best noodles I've ever had. The nerf was fantastic," Kel said.
"Are you ready?" Cereen asked. Kel drank the last of his juice and they headed back out onto the causeway.
"Do we have to go to this place?" Kel asked. "I feel like the market was good enough on its own."
"Yes. I will abandon you in the city, don't make me," Cereen chided. "It will be fine."
They walked down the street, weaving their way through a decent crowd of beings, made up of more species than Kel could count. Each being had a different smell as they brushed past, some sweet, and some foul, at least to his tastes.
Overhead a holoboard was advertising vacation homes on a colonies region world Kel had never heard of before. A woman narrated the ad over alternating images of a beach and a luxury cruiser drifting through the stars. The cruiser landed directly into the water and giant text advertising private cabins popped out of the water like some kind of aquatic life.
"This way," Cereen said, leading him towards the entrance to a large turbolift. They got on the lift and waited as it filled up with more people before it descended. They went down five or six levels and exited the platform. This level was little dingier than the one above. Steam and moisture hung in the air in a persistent fog.
They took a walkway over the chasm between the monads of the city blocks. There was a wide alleyway between two of the enormous structures up ahead, which Cereen led them towards. A red banner, featuring a colorful cartoon rancor chasing a landspeeder, hung across the alley.
Half of the alley turned into a long, widely set staircase. A line of beings stood on the stairs, awaiting entrance into the unseen club below. Cereen skipped the line and continued down the stairs.
They descended until the entrance, a wall lit with red holographic light within which was set an enormous pair of bulkhead doors, appeared. One half of the doorway was open, and Kel could see into the club beyond it. It looked already to be nearly full.
Cereen walked up to the team of security standing at the front of the line confidently, looking a little out of place in her Imperial jumpsuit. Most of the other patrons, from what Kel could see, were dressed more for a party. Most of the females were scantily clad. For his part, Kel wore a plain black shirt and a pair of grey trousers.
"Hey boys, and girl," Cereen greeted, nodding towards a large muscular Mirialan woman, whose green skin contrasted sharply with the red light enveloping them.
"Ah, Cereen," one of the men, a Zabrak, greeted. He wasn't as tall as the Mirialan, but his biceps were nearly as big. "It's been awhile. You back on your beat?"
"No, retired," Cereen answered.
"Already?" he asked.
"Yeah. Moving on to bigger and better things. Will be off world this time tomorrow. Any room inside?"
"Always room for you," the Zabrak said sweetly.
Cereen grabbed Kel, who was hanging back looking more than a little intimidated, and pushed him towards the door. She motioned that they were together and they were allowed inside.
"They just let you skip all of the line?" Kel asked.
"They are preferential to local security. Gets them favors when they need it," Cereen explained, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of the music.
Now properly inside, Kel glanced around. There was a large dance floor immediately ahead of them. The ceiling was tall and vaulted, with two floors of balcony suites ringing the large square shaped club.
Cereen steered him around the dance floor and towards a bar area underneath one of the balconies. They got a pair of seats at the bar, which was long enough to serve over thirty individuals at once. Holopanels behind the bar were showing various sports, including a particularly fierce shockball game. A male human and twi'lek were into the game, shouting profanities in huttese when the goalie of their team took a shockball to the back of the head.
A bartender approached them and asked for identification. Cereen fished her Imperial Intelligence badge from out of her shirt top and flashed it for the multi-armed besalisk. Kel followed her lead.
"Anything you want," the besalisk hurried to say. Cereen ordered something green and carbonated, while Kel shook his head negatively.
"Order something," Cereen prodded him, nudging him with her elbow.
"I don't know what to order. Maybe something simple," Kel pleaded.
"How about a corellian spiced ale?" Cereen suggested.
"I'll try it I guess," Kel gave in. The bartender soon returned with their drinks.
Cereen downed half of hers immediately while Kel choked. She laughed and hit him in the back.
"You alright?" she asked, fighting back more laughter.
"It's a bit...bitey," Kel explained, his voice suddenly deeper and gravelly.
"Do your Empire proud, finish it and I will get you something more feminine," Cereen proposed.
They sat at the bar for a long while, turning in their seats to watch the crowd. Cereen went through two drinks before Kel finished his ale. The pair of men next to them cheered loudly when their team scored a buzzer beating goal, tying the game and sending it to a shoot out.
"What do you think?" Cereen asked, motioning around the room.
"I don't know if this is really my thing," Kel shrugged.
"You are a thousand sectors from home, you need to experience something beside plain Imperial corridors and stuffy officers breathing down your neck."
"Yeah," Kel agreed. He probably would have prefered something more subdued, but he had to admit that the pulsating colors, the loud music, the diverse mix of species, it was a little hypnotic. Or maybe that was his spiced ale.
Suddenly there came more angry shouts from the bar. Only these did not sound like the cries of angry shock ball fans. They turned to find a large holo screen a little ways down the bar showing a planet from orbit. It appeared as if the atmosphere was on fire.
"What is that?" Kel asked.
"Looks like an illegal underground holonet feed," Cereen guessed. They couldn't hear it over the music but aurebesh subtitles were visible underneath a blue skinned Aruzan female reporter.
"The Imperial fleet has shut down traffic in the Caamas system. According to the reports of ships who escaped the blockade, the shields to the Caamasi home planet were lowered from the surface, followed by a bombardment. Spokespersons from the Imperial fleet claim a meteorite struck the surface and caused the firestorm, however, navigational charts of the system, one of the oldest of the former Republic, show no dangerous asteroids that could cause such devastation."
"They hit the whole planet?" Kel asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"They were peaceful!" someone shouted, throwing a drink at the screen. More and more patrons around the bar were becoming aware of the news.
A poor quality video feed from a ship, recorded as it exited what was apparently the Caamas atmosphere, showed streams of turbolaser barrages streaking by.
"Imperial government officials within COMPNOR claim the video showing the bombardment is fake. The Caamasi delegation to the Imperial Senate has not been seen since this story began to circulate through underground channels. As you may know, the Caamasi Senator was detained last week for questioning after allegations of sedition surfaced," the reporter continued.
"Kel…" Cereen warned.
He was in shock as the footage of the burning atmosphere was repeated. Caamas was one of the oldest systems in the core, its people known throughout the galaxy as peaceful mediators and leaders of philosophical thought. And the Empire had just burned hundreds of millions of them alive.
"Kel!" Cereen shouted, pulling him towards her just as another glass was thrown in their direction. It struck Kel in the shoulder, spilling a thick nasty liquid across his back.
"Karking Imperial sleemo!" someone shouted.
"We have to get out of here!" Cereen shouted, her other hand covering her face as more drinks flew inbound.
She grabbed Kel by the shirt and began pulling him away from the bar when a large Rodian male blocked their path.
"Where are you going Imperials?" he shouted.
"Out of the way," Cereen snarled. The rodian reached out to grab her by the neck, but she smacked his hand away. She kick out with her left knee, landing the blow to the rodian's midsection. He collapsed in a heap as the air escaped his lungs.
Someone grabbed Kel from behind, their red forearm going around his throat. He was pulled backwards, despite trying to twist away.
"Get off me!" he shouted, desperately pushing backwards. He slammed the unknown non-human into the bar, knocking over one of the shockball fans.
The force of the impact released their grip, but he was promptly grabbed again, this time from the front.
He lashed out with a punch, but his newest attacker ducked underneath his fist with a flurry of blonde hair.
"Kel, it's me!" Cereen shouted.
He tried to apologize but couldn't get it out before the sound of blaster fire erupted from the front of the club. On reflex Kel and Cereen ducked, along with the angry patrons around them.
"It's the bouncers," Cereen said. "Come on." The got to their feet and pushed their way forward.
The fight had broken out of control, with not all of the patrons realizing the cause. Kel felt an enormous tug from his collar as his shirt was grabbed from behind, but he lowered his shoulders and pushed towards the door even harder. He could feel the fabric of his shirt stretch and begin to rip.
He heard an angry cry of pain ahead of him as Cereen was bowled off of her feet by a Weequay. It stood over her, lowering its knee onto her chest.
Kel launched himself furiously, slamming into the Weequay and tackling it to the ground. Kel didn't have the time or wherewithal to determine its gender as its elbow caught him in the face as they tumbled to the ground.
The Weequay hit the ground first but overpowered Kel and twisted him over until they reversed positions. It raised its fist, about to pummel Kel in the face, when a bright blue blaster bolt caught the alien in the chest. The stun shot transmitted into Kel, and for the third time in as many months, he blacked out.
