Chapter 8
"I need you to find this information at any cost, pursue it to the ends of the galaxy and when you've found out as much as you could, you will return to me and report what you have found," The Emperor commanded the young woman who was currently kneeling at the base of his throne, "I've secured an account of 5,000,000 Credits to finance this quest, you have my permission to any force possible to find out what Organa is hiding. Kill anyone who stands in your way and if you are caught, you are to use the standard explanation. Thought I highly doubt that the Alderaan Security Force as whole will be able to capture you, do you understand all of my orders and conditions Mara Jade?"
The young woman nodded and stood with the prim posture that years in the Imperial Palace had conveyed upon her. She was a beautiful girl with flowing red hair and bright green eyes, but behind that outward stunning beauty was a killer. She was not your ordinary killer; she was a professional assassin and spy and second only to Lord Vader and the Emperor himself in terms of the most powerful people in the galaxy. She always got her target, always, she never failed and she wouldn't fail in this. Getting into the Royal Palace on Alderaan seemed easy enough, but she would have to take care to gain the trust to the Palace Officials before she found what she was looking for. She offered her master and indulging smile and bowed, "I understand Master, and I will not return until I find the information that you require, but may I ask, do I have permission to extract the information from Organa if I feel the need to?"
Palpatine seemed to contemplate this for a moment before he shook his head, "No, he is to remain unharmed and unaware that we are watching him, you are to use uttermost stealth in this mission, is that clear?"
Jade bowed again, "Yes Master."
"Good," He turned and looked outside the window the darkened Naboo Landscape, "You may go now."
Mara nodded once and turned to leave the Throne Room, she had learned long ago to keep her thoughts guarded in his presence and that's why she neither thought anything of his orders nor showed any visible reaction to them. It was only when she was alone could she react. How the hell was she supposed to do this? She had long employed torture to get information from targets, but this was one of the few times that she was forbidden to do it. Organa couldn't be touched, so she would have to find some other way to get her hands on this information. That was easier said than done and even though she was already formulating a plan on her way to the hanger bay of the Palace, she had serious doubts of doing this fast and mess-free. Someone would get hurt, someone would die and someone would have to betray Organa, she knew that and before she could put anything into action, she had to scope those people out and convince them to get into the proper roles. All of this would take time and that ruin her efficiency rate, but seeing as she was the only one keeping track of it, the Emperor wouldn't notice.
Perhaps it wouldn't matter if she took some time with this: she would need time and care anyway to get past the intense security that was around the Royal Family of Alderaan. Regardless of the obstacles, she would always get what she wanted and needed to please her master, nothing could or even would stop her from accomplishing this goal, absolutely nothing at all.
OOOO
Your average Stormtrooper wasn't much of a threat, the only threating thing about them was their blaster and that wasn't so much of a threat if they didn't know to aim it, which most of them seemed to lack that crucial ability in a Soldier. However, when you had massive amounts of them, they were very dangerous. The stray blaster bolts could rack up some serious damage in groups of hundreds. Lord Vader knew this and that's why he had changed official Imperial Military Invasion Policy to fit that little thought.
Land as many troops as possible, having the numbers on your side was imperative. Outnumber the enemy and use your advantage to the fullest.
He had been so used to the proficiency and the agility of the Clone Troopers that it had taken him a few years to realize that the Stormtrooper Army that he commanded was terrible compared to them. He had only wished that the Empire had managed to get the plans from the Cloners on Kamino before they destroyed all of them. That was the reason that they had the Stormtroopers in the first place, but to the public, it was meant to signal the Empire somehow believed in the proficiency of the common man. In reality, the Empire was well aware of the liability of recruiting common people, it's because they were common and if they had their choice, they would have the men that were engineered to be Soldiers and killers.
But they only had inept common people and he'd have to live with it.
"Report," Vader barked at the Commanding Bridge Officer.
"We're entering the Polis Massa Perimeter," Captain Ozzel said, stepping up behind Vader and looking down to a datapad, "I've given orders for the Gravity Well Generators to be brought online and for us to begin landing our ground forces as you ordered previously Lord Vader, anything else?"
Vader shook his head, "No, carry on Captain."
He looked out the viewport at the approaching Asteroid Cluster and began to wonder what he would find there. It was the secret that the Jedi and Bail Organa had kept from him all of these years and the secret that the Emperor was either complacent in or knew about as well. He had found his child, he was only bothering with this for two reasons, to find out the whole story and to find out who he had to hunt down and kill.
"Captain Ozzel, send down an extraction team and a battalion of commandos, tell them to copy every record within the past thirty years, tell them to focus on pregnancy cases," Vader commanded stoically with his massive arms over his chest, "Kill anyone who resists or stands in their way."
Vader always got what he wanted.
