Chapter 13
The stage lighting inside the Galaxies Opera House on Imperial Center illuminated the center of the spherical room with bright beams of golden light. Colorful holographic fish drifted throughout the room, dancing in time to the rhythm of the music. The audience sat in wonder as the audio-visual display encapsulated them.
The audience attending the opera was filled with well-to-do business leaders from throughout the galaxy, the one percent of the one percent. Much of the rest of the audience was made up of Imperial officials; including admirals, generals, and Moffs. One of them, an older man from Kuat, clapped loudly when he noticed the choir rising from the center of the stage. Despite representing a diverse cross-section of the galaxy, including Mon Calamari, Bith, Twi'leks, and humans, the singers managed to weave their voices into a harmonious melody. They reached a crescendo in unison, and when their voices ceased the stage lighting disappeared in an instant. A moment of silence filled the room before thunderous applause erupted.
Normal ambient light returned, allowing the cast of the opera to bow before their audience. After basking in the applause for a moment or two they parted as the director, a lioness-like Cathar named Nequi 'Quam, rose from the center of the stage behind them. She bowed, a long braid of her white hair falling almost to her knees.
"Thank you, thank you," she said, her voice being picked up by the opera's sound system and projected to the audience. She paused a moment, allowing the audience's applause to die down a bit. "It's always been a dream of mine to play here, the most prestigious Opera in the galaxy, to the most prestigious audience in the galaxy."
Her flattery gained her more applause. She responded with a large smile, which came across slightly predatory, equipped as she was with her species' sharp feline-like teeth.
"And while I have your attention, I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words…" she paused for dramatic effect, watching as the smiling faces of the mostly human audience looked down at her. She glanced past them for an instant towards an empty private box at the top of the Opera. It belonged to Emperor Palpatine himself. "The Caamas firestorm was not a natural disaster," she shouted. The expressions of the audience turned from happiness to shock in an instant. "The Empire murdered a world, and all of you have turned a blind eye." The Opera was now filled with dead silence.
Nequi turned away from the audience and walked off the stage, pushing through the members of her choir, petrified as they were with fear. She hurried through the dark backstage area, ignoring the wide-eyed stares of the stagehands. This was not the first time she had spoken out publicly against the Empire, but it was the first time anyone in the audience had witnessed it. All of her other protests had been blacked out by the state-censored media. Let them try to black out this...her performance in the galaxies most prestigious opera house had been broadcast live across the planet and the galaxy, through the holonet. She doubted they would be able to block it everywhere.
She exited the backstage area and hurried through a short and narrow corridor until she reached an exit. She pushed open the door and found herself on a walkway overlooking the beautiful Imperial Center skyline. No, the Coruscant skyline, she reminded herself. Sometimes even she couldn't keep the Imperial propaganda from penetrating her subconscious. Two Imperial security guards wearing blue armor glanced at her as she passed, but made no move to intercept her. Either they had no idea what had just transpired inside the Opera or they had been told not to apprehend her. She had not expected to make it this far…
oOoOo
Ysanne Isard watched as Nequi exited the Opera House. She was sitting in the rear compartment of an Imperial Intelligence surveillance transport. From the outside it appeared to be a standard maintenance vehicle. There were even two detachable repair droids, which were transported on outer hull sockets, working on a damaged power conduit. But the inside was filled with the most state-of-the-art surveillance equipment in the galaxy. The vessel could monitor almost all forms of wireless communication in a one hundred kilometer radius, all the while with a direct link to Imperial Intelligence's data centers. Dekai was standing behind her, leaning against the hull.
"She's leaving the Opera House," Isard announced.
"It was a good performance," Dekai said.
"It was idiotic and meaningless. She must know we are planning to exterminate her." Nequi 'Quam had been on Imperial Intelligence's watchlist for over a year now. The brilliant director had spoken out against the Empire after almost every performance...including one that the Emperor had been watching over the holonet. The censors had prevented most people from viewing her antics, but word was beginning to get out, at least amongst the segments of the population that were no longer enamored of the 'peace' the Empire had brought the galaxy. When Isard noticed 'Quam's name go onto the kill list she had immediately reserved the case for herself. And then she had allowed Nequi to continue to speak out, so that she would be become even more infamous. What good was it to make an example of someone if nobody knew about it?
"I'm sure she does," Dekai said dryly. "You know what the word martyr means, surely?"
Isard looked back at Dekai with an odd expression on her face. She wasn't used to someone making fun of her. She wasn't sure if she was angry or pleased about it.
Before she could respond a voice, belonging to one of Isard's field agents, came over their comm system, informing them that Nequi 'Quam had boarded a taxi speeder. "...the speeder is en route to the Uscru district spaceport," the agent said.
"Acknowledged," Isard answered into her comm.
"If I can ask, I'd like to know how you ensured that the sabotaged transport is going be the one that she purchases a ticket on," Dekai said.
Isard abandoned her growing annoyance towards Dekai in order to inform him of the ingenuity of her plot. "The Uscru spaceport is the closest one to the Galaxies Opera House, naturally it would be her quickest route offworld. I had the spaceport's ticket system hacked...the first and only available transport scheduled to leave the system after Nequi's performance would be the transport we sabotaged, and any tickets she may have purchased for other transports will be rerouted."
"If all customers were rerouted to this transport, then it will be overbooked. They may not let her on," Dekai pointed out.
"I have agents inserted at the spaceport. They won't begin boarding until she arrives and they will ensure she has a seat."
"Very thorough…" Dekai said admiringly. "But what if she doesn't go to the spaceport at all. What if she decides to lay low for awhile and book an anonymous or illegal flight offworld?"
"If the taxi deviates from its course to the spaceport or she disembarks, the agents I have tailing her will open fire and leave her smoking corpse on the street for all to find…"
Dekai raised his eyebrows at Isard's display of gleeful bloodlust, but didn't say anything further. He also declined to point out that by rerouting all passengers to the sabotaged transport she would be magnified the innocents who would be murdered…
But as they watched Nequi's taxi arrived at the spaceport and the director entered the massive complex. The lost video footage, as the surveillance droid could not fly too close to the spaceport or follow her inside. But they received short updates from the agents stationed inside the spaceport. The cathar seemed to be behaving exactly as Isard predicted she would.
"...she has boarded the transport," an agent said over the comm. A malevolently gleeful expression came over Isard's normally expressionless and cold demeanor. She couldn't contain her excitement over what was about to happen as the transport lifted off. Dekai, however, kept his expression neutral. He also place one hand behind his back, where his concealed blaster lay.
Video surveillance returned as the transport rose through the atmosphere, this time from a specially equipped tie fighter. It followed the transport as it entered low orbit above Imperial Center.
"Transmit the detonation code," Isard ordered. She watched as the ship exited the stream of traffic leaving Imperial Center and oriented towards its hyperspace exit vector. The transport's momentum seemed to pause as it engaged its hyperdrive and then...nothing. The ship disappeared without a trace, just as any ordinary ship entering hyperspace would.
A few moments of silence ticked by inside the transport before Isard reacted. "What happened?" she asked over the comm channel.
"We are checking," one of the agents responded.
"Did it blow up?" Isard asked, her frustration beginning to mount. "Is there supposed to be a debris trail or did it blow up in hyperspace?"
"As far as I know it's supposed to explode before entering hyperspace," Dekai answered vaguely.
"I want answers," Isard shouted, rising from her seat and slamming her fists into her command console. The other intelligence officers in the back of the surveillance craft jumped in fear. Except for Dekai, of course.
"We requested a status update from the transport through the b.s.s," an agent answered, referring to the Bureau of Ships and Services, the bureaucratic agency that regulated and monitored intergalactic hyperspace travel. "It will take a moment…"
Dekai knew what the answer would be before it came a few tense minutes later. "It's confirmed, the transport is en route to Alderaan as scheduled. The captain reported energy fluctuations from their hyperdrive, but nothing serious. Do you want to request an interdictor to intercept them from the Navy?"
"An interdictor won't be able to get in position in time, too short of notice," Dekai said quietly. "And the Alderaanians are certainly not going to apprehend her for us.
"Negative," Isard said over the comm. channel. "We will deal with her later…" she seemed to deflate, her anger souring and turning into bitterness. "Everyone out," she ordered after a moment of staring down at the command console. The other intelligence officers obeyed, except for Dekai, who remained leaning against the hull of the transport.
"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" Isard asked angrily, once they were alone. She was still facing away from him.
"I didn't know positively…" Dekai answered. "But I suspected...yes."
"You set me up," Isard shouted, turning suddenly and brandishing a vibroknife.
Dekai reacted instantly, pulling his blaster out from behind him and pointing it at her face before her knife reached his chest. "I allowed you to set yourself up. You were clumsy to bet the success of such a high profile assassination onto the back of an untested technology."
"You suggested the hyperdrive sabotage program," she shouted back at him. "That was your idea."
"I suggested the program, I didn't suggest you immediately use it. Certainly not on someone like Nequi 'Quam."
"I underestimated you," Isard admitted. Isard lowered her knife and dropped it on the floor of the vehicle, finally realizing there was no way for her to get the upper hand.
"Of course. I wanted you to." Dekai lowered his blaster, but didn't put it away. If she tried anything he would shoot her, but he wasn't going to continue pointing it at her face.
"Why?" Isard asked, returning to her seat and forcing the anger from her face. "Why sabotage my operation?"
"To get you out of the way. That I.S.B agent failed to eliminate that pirate captain, now you've failed to assassinate a high profile target...your father and the other higher ups will have no other choice but to select my plan now."
"That's it? You just wanted to embarrass me?"
"That's it. And anyway, it's not really as bad as you are making it out to be. You can tell your subordinates this was just a test run, a training exercise. No one will believe you, but you're the director's daughter...what are they going to do about it?"
There was a moment of silence as Isard continued to stare at Dekai before she responded. "You know, no one has ever held a gun on me before. Not outside of a training exercise."
"How does it feel?"
"Refreshing." She crossed her legs and closed her eyes casually, apparently content to wait until Dekai was ready to be done with her.
"Good, let it be a lesson to you," Dekai said, finally putting his blaster away. "Not all of your opponents are going to cower before you, afraid of your father. And don't ever act unless you are sure you control every variable of your plan."
"Are you done with your lesson of the day?" Isard asked with roll of her eyes.
"Just about," Dekai said. "But one more thing? If you are thinking of revenge, I wouldn't if I were you. I knew what you were going to do before you did it today, and that isn't ever going to not be the case. Take that anger and embarrassment you are feeling and channel it somewhere else. Don't make an enemy where you don't need one."
Isard couldn't deny his logic, despite her anger towards him. He had got the better of her. She wasn't as good as she thought she was, he was better...was this what humility felt like? Perhaps it was better that this humiliation happen now, than on the day she finally rose to the top and clawed Imperial Intelligence away from her father. Dekai turned away from her at last and began to exit the vehicle.
"Agent Dekai?"
"Yes?"
"Why is your file empty? Who are you, really?"
He smiled back at her. "Now, it wouldn't be any fun if I just came out and told you, would it?"
oOoOo
Cereen and Kolija arrived near the back entrance to the compound after a few minutes spent traversing the rough terrain of the moon. They walked along the wall while keeping their weapons up and ready. A tuft of smoke rose from a ruined security droid, it's black and white plasteel armor twisted by the heat of the shot it had received from Cereen's sniper rifle. She smiled at her handiwork as they passed.
They arrived at a gap in the wall that allowed entry into the inner courtyard and the landing pad. A handful of ruined droids were scattered about, along with the corpse of an organic guard, more evidence of Cereen's work. The transport that Mav's guests had arrived in still sat on the pad, its boarding ramp lowered.
"Cover me," Kolija ordered. Cereen crouched onto one knee and got her rifle into firing position. She didn't sight down her scope so that she could maintain a view of the entire courtyard and quickly spot any potential trouble.
Kolija jogged towards the transport and removed a grenade from his utility belt. After thumbing the trigger he tossed it up the ramp and then ran back towards Cereen. A few seconds later the grenade exploded, fire and shrapnel shooting out the back of the transport. The transparisteel canopy of the bridge exploded outwards, showering the pad in crystalline debris. "Nobody will be using that thing for awhile," Cereen's commander said.
Kolija crouched down next to Cereen and examined a holographic display on his wrist, which was displaying a map of the compound. "Let's circle around to the back, the target might have a speeder hidden somewhere."
The rose to their feet and began working their way around the main structure of the compound when suddenly all of the security alarms and bright spotlights went out.
"We've cut the power to the compound," R's said over the comm unit.
"Good, work you way towards the vault," Kolija ordered.
"Affirmative," R's answered. Cereen and Kolija turned a corner of the compound to find a series of loading docks meant for terrestrial cargo speeders. They walked up a angled ramp until they reached the nearest door. Cereen covered Kolija as he reached for his breaching detonators when a series of clanking sounds erupted from behind the door.
"Back," Kolija ordered, but was too late. All of the doors opened simultaneously, revealing over a dozen security droids and Mav Av'rya standing amongst them with a surprised expression on his face.
Kolija fired his e-11 carbine, striking one droid in the face as he tried to back away. Cereen fired her rifle at close range into the body of one the droids, sending it flying backwards in a shower of superheated metal and melting plasteel. The droids fired back, one of them striking Kolija in the shoulder. He fell backwards and tumbled off of the loading dock as more shots filled the space his body had just occupied.
The droids shifted their aim to Cereen who dropped another droid just before she withdrew around the corner. Multiple blaster shots poured into the wall, showering in stone debris. Her rifle was not suited towards close range combat, so she dropped it, letting her shoulder sling catch it. She pulled out her sidearm, a small blaster pistol. She wasn't sure if the small weapon would be able to penetrate the droid's armor.
One of the droids emerged into her field of view from the other side of the loading dock, attempting to get her into its sights. She dropped to her knee, attempting to minimize the size of her body and sighted down the durasteel sight of her pistol. She fired a shot, which struck the droid in the head. Rather than explode like all the other droids did under the power of her rifle, this droid merely fell backwards. The droid sat up and raised its carbine again, prompting a flurry of follow up shots from Cereen. One of the shots finally hit something vital and the droid froze, its blaster still aimed at her.
Cereen checked the ammo counter on her pistol. She had enough gas left for another dozen shots. Probably not enough. Another droid attempted to flank outwards, getting off a couple shots that went above her head. Just as Cereen fired back a cloud of dust enveloped her and the entirety of the loading dock.
She looked up to see a black, Imperial delta-class stealth shuttle hovering a dozen meters above them, it's wings in the act of folding up towards their landing configuration. The security droids switched their attention from Cereen towards the shuttle, their blaster shots splashing uselessly against its black hull plating.
The shuttle's loading ramp lowered, revealing the Inquisitor who had briefed Cereen and the rest of the response team. The Inquisitor ignited one half of his red lightsaber and jumped from the ramp, landing amongst the security droids. Cereen emerged from cover to observe the ensuing slaughter.
The Inquisitor deflected any blaster shots that happened to be on target as he gracefully ran towards the droids. The deflected shots struck the droids who fired them with an accuracy that Cereen couldn't have matched with her pistol, even at such close range. The Inquisitor sliced through the droids nearest to him, separating limbs from bodies and heads from necks with a the grace of a ballet dancer.
With her pistol up Cereen approached the loading bays, getting a better view of the action. One of the the last remaining droids struck the Inquisitor from behind, knocking off his helmet. Cereen was surprised to see the white head of a pau'an man, rather than the human she had assumed the Inquisitor to be. The removal of his helmet seemed to anger him, and he sliced apart the offending droid savagely, abandoning the grace that he had fought with up to that point.
Cereen diverted her attention from the Inquisitor just in time to see Mav Ava'rya attempting to flee back into his compound. She quickly switched her pistol to its stun setting and fired a shot into Mav's back, rendering the bothan unconscious.
"Nice shooting, recruit," the Inquisitor said dryly. She couldn't tell if the congratulations were authentic or not.
"Thank you, sir," she answered, nodding her head in respect. The shuttle behind them finally landed, causing the cloud of dust around them to settle. The Inquisitor stepped over the pieces of security droid littering the floor and walked over to Mav' unconscious body. He knelt down and removed a blue cube from the bothan's grasp. The Inquisitor held the cube up into the light, carefully examining it. He smiled, apparently pleased. "I think I'll be taking this."
Cereen turned from the Inquisitor and walked to the edge of the loading dock. She looked down to find Kolija lying on his back, blood pooling underneath him. She jumped down and knelt beside her commander and put her hands underneath his helmet. She felt a pulse and sighed in relief. "Senior Operative Kolija needs urgent medical assistance," she called over her comm unit.
"I believe that can be arranged," the Inquisitor said, looking over the top of the loading dock, a bit of contempt dripping into his tone. He held the cube into the light once more. "A job well done, a mission accomplished. I think your squad can stand down."
"Yes, sir," Cereen acknowledged. She returned her pistol to her holster and placed her hand on Kolija's wound, attempting to stem the flow of blood. A squad of stormtroopers emerged from the black shuttle and ran into the compound, quickly securing the area. The last stormtrooper to emerge from the shuttle carried a medical bag, and he quickly found Kolija. Cereen backed away so that the medic could administer aid.
She stood and watched as the Inquisitor returned to his shuttle, his full attention on the cube he had obtained from Mav. The rush of adrenaline coursing through her body began to fade, and she finally began to process what had happened. The Inquisitor frightened her, yet if he hadn't arrived when he had she would surely be dead. She decided to count herself lucky that he had. Above her the distant and beautiful sphere of Bothawui began to appear over the horizon, the closest thing to morning the third moon ever experienced.