Chapter 8
Even though night had fallen on Coruscant, the city-planet never slept. When the sun went down, lights came on so bright that they could be seen from space. The Senate Building was mostly deserted, save for the night custodians and a few senators still working late. Don Dain was in his office, reading the latest intelligence reports on his computer. He found it to be a boring and tedious task, but it was part of his job.
The only thing of note was that hundreds people in the Outer Rim had been reported missing over the past several months, and civilizations were being found deserted. Several high-ranking officials feared that the disappearances were connected, but Dain did not think so. As far as he could tell, there was no pattern, and people went missing in the Outer Rim every day. Those people chose to live in dangerous places. He would not waste Galactic Alliance resources just to chase a conspiracy theory. Not when he had more important things to take care of – like the Jedi.
Suddenly, the lights in Dain's office went out, and the hum of the HVAC system stopped. He pressed the comlink button on his desk to contact maintenance, but it was not working. He wondered what was going on. Then, the office doors slowly slid open, revealing an armored figure in the doorway prying them open. The figure walked into the room with heavy footfalls, and the whirring of servomotors. He rumbled, "Chancellor."
Dain stood up calmly and said, "You always did know how to make an entrance, AO-327. I suppose this blackout is your doing?"
"My brain is sending out a feedback pulse to neutralize all nearby power sources. Once I leave, everything will turn back on."
The nearly two-meter-tall cyborg bounty hunter was clad head-to-toe in silver armor, with a helmet shaped in the likeness of a skull. Attached to his back was an energy pack that was connected to his concussion rifle by a hose. There were several clips and pockets on the pack for holding other tools and weapons. He removed his helmet to reveal a scarred face with cybernetic eyes. His baldness made it easier to see the blinking red lights in his brain.
AO-327's real name was a secret, but his story was fairly well-known. Prior to his birth, his mother was killed in a speeder crash. The doctors were able to save the child, but he had been born with several birth defects, warranting extensive cybernetic enhancements. His father, a wealthy man, paid for a titanium skeleton, prosthetic eyes, and mechanical brain implants. Prior to his death, he had left behind a trust fund to pay for his son's maintenance and upgrades.
Because of his differences, AO-327 was avoided by his father, his classmates, and everyone who saw him. This caused him to become bitter and angry, often landing him in trouble. When he grew up, he used his enhancements to his advantage to become one of the most feared and successful bounty hunters in the galaxy.
Dain could not help but smile. "Ingenious. It appears you received my message."
AO-327 said, "When someone important calls me for a job, it tends to interest me."
Dain gestured to the chair on the other side of his desk. "Care to sit down?"
AO-327 crossed his arms. "You think because I'm old, I need to rest? My body is fifty years younger than I am. Besides, I'm supposed to be breaking in these new servomotors."
Dain shrugged and sat down. "As you wish." He decided to get right to business. "Over the past year, the Jedi have been acting suspiciously, and I believe they are keeping secrets from me."
"Hmph. Well, you're not exactly the easiest person to talk to."
Dain ignored the bounty hunter's slight and continued, "I need someone to spy on the Jedi for me. I want to know every assignment they give, every topic of discussion in their council meetings, and everything Master Skywalker does outside the meetings."
"That's a tall order. What do you expect me to find out? Who uses the refresher, and when?"
"As a matter of fact, there are several things I want to know. For starters, I want to know everything the Jedi know about the assassins at my inauguration. Then, find out what the Jedi were looking for on Kamino last year, what happened to Master Fadré, why the Jedi tried to attack Dromund Kaas, and anything else you think might interest me."
"What would interest you?"
Dain sighed and leaned forward. "I trust you won't reveal this information to anyone, under any circumstances?"
AO-327 laughed. "What, you think the Jedi will torture me if they catch me?"
"I wouldn't put it past them."
"I've kept your secret for sixty years. You can trust me."
Dain explained, "I believe that the Jedi are plotting to take over the Alliance. All clues suggest that they are attempting to undermine me. If I'm right, then I need to move against the Jedi before that happens. However, I cannot do so without sparking public outcry. I need proof to present to the public to convince them that the Jedi must be destroyed."
"And if it turns out you're wrong?"
"Either way, I will discover the truth. Then, I will expose the Jedi's secrets and let them deal with their damaged public image."
AO-327's eyes narrowed in disappointment. "That's it? No one to fight? No one to kill? In case you didn't know, I'm a successful bounty hunter. That being said, I'm in very high demand. And you want to waste my time and talents on spying? I'm hurt, Dain. Truly, I am." He turned toward the door and said, "Call me when you have an actual job."
As the cyborg began to walk, Dain called out, "I need someone I can trust, someone who can infiltrate the Jedi Temple. You can take other jobs, as long as you work for me in between. I'll pay you handsomely for any information you bring me, and I don't care how long it takes. I've already waited years for this opportunity; I can wait a few more months." As Dain spoke, AO-327 stopped walking and mulled over the proposal. "Do we have a deal, or do I need to sweeten the pot some more?"
After a minute, AO-327 turned around and stalked toward Dain. When they were standing half a meter apart, he held out his armored hand and said, "Deal." The two men shook hands, sealing their devious pact. The bounty hunter then left the same way he came in. Soon afterwards, the power came back on.
The comlink in Dain's desk began to chime. He pressed the button and answered, "Yes?"
The voice of a security officer asked, "Your Excellency, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Do you know what happened to the power?"
"We believe someone remotely deactivated the power only to your area of the building. Have you seen any intruders?"
"No, none. I trust you will inform me if you find anything suspicious."
"Of course, Chancellor." With that, the officer broke off the transmission.
Dain leaned back in his chair and smiled deviously.
After leaving Dain's office, AO-327 went to the end of the hallway and climbed out of an open window onto a ledge. With a single thought, he switched off the feedback pulse that was neutralizing the power and jumped. As he neared the ground, he activated the jets in his boots to slow his descent. When he landed, the shock absorbers in his legs cushioned the impact.
His eyes then adjusted to thermal imaging, allowing him to see his cloaked ship nearby. As he approached the ship, he sent a signal from his brain to open the rear boarding hatch. To human eyes, it appeared as though a circular portal to the interior of a ship had just magically appeared in the middle of an open area, with a rectangular boarding ramp extending from the portal to the ground. AO-327 strode up the boarding ramp and vanished within the ship. Moments later, the air was filled with the sound of engines firing as the ship lifted off the ground and flew away from the Senate Building. Then, the cloaking device disengaged, revealing the Deceased to naked eyes.
The Deceased had been custom built by AO-327 using bits and pieces of other ships. It began as an escape pod from an old Republic Venator-class attack cruiser, which later became the cockpit of the ship. He then incorporated it into the wide, elliptical body of a cargo freighter, added two extra-large engines to either end, and constructed a forward-facing wedge that housed two hidden rotating blaster cannons and homing missile launchers. In addition, he had fine-tuned the Deceased's circuitry to respond electronically to his own brain, allowing greater control and preventing theft.
AO-327 flew the Deceased to an abandoned shipyard just outside of Galactic City. After the Yuuzhan Vong were driven from Coruscant, no one attempted to reopen the shipyard or salvage any of the ruined ships. AO-327 immediately took the opportunity to use it not only a hideout, but also as a place where he could salvage more components for the Deceased. Finding working parts was not easy, and incorporating them into the ship was even harder, but he had gained a lot of technical knowledge after a lifetime of self-maintenance.
After setting the Deceased down in the middle of the shipyard, AO-327 powered down the ship. Then, it was time to consider his new job. Spying on Jedi was a waste of his talents. He much preferred capturing fugitives – or killing them, if he could – to sneaking around. After all, his appearance did not allow him to blend in anywhere. No doubt Dain was just being paranoid, as usual. Unlike Dain, AO-327 had no personal grudge against the Jedi. But, for the reward Dain was offering, perhaps it was worth indulging his paranoia.
The big question was, how? How would AO-327 go about doing this job? Infiltrating the Jedi Temple was nearly impossible. There were numerous security measures that prevented anyone from entering the temple, not to mention Jedi Knights patrolling the hallways, sensing for intruders. And even if he did manage to get in, then what? Was he supposed to find a hiding place and wait for Force-knows-how-long until someone let slip the information Dain was looking for? AO-327 was a very busy bounty hunter. He did not have time to wait.
Fortunately, he had a solution – an entire crate of them, to be exact.
The cloaked Deceased landed near the base of the Jedi Temple's ziggurat. AO-327 then exited the ship, sending out another feedback pulse with his brain to reduce his chances of being detected. Switching to thermal imaging, he scanned the temple for entry points. The cool marble appeared sky blue amidst an indigo background, except for noticeably warmer spots that appeared green or yellow. Those spots indicated vents where cool air was being sucked in, forcing warm air out.
AO-327 chose the nearest vent and used his rocket boots to fly up to it. With one hand, he held onto the grate by one of the metal bars, and then he planted his feet against the sloped wall. The vent itself was too small for a normal-sized person to crawl through, but AO-327 did not plan to enter the temple himself. A panel in the side of his backpack opened and he pulled out several palm-sized metal disks. One by one, he pushed them through the grate and into the vent.
With a remote signal from his brain, AO-327 activated the spy droids. The metal disks sprouted eight spindly legs and a photoreceptor eye that glowed white. The droids then scuttled down the vent towards their preprogrammed destinations. Once there, they would magnetically clamp themselves to a ceiling and begin recording. The next time AO-327 was near the Jedi Temple, he could remotely download all of the footage.
If the Jedi were keeping secrets, he would uncover them.
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