Chapter 10

I'd been an Agent for two years, but still Watcher Four stammered and shook like a frightened bunny whenever we spoke in person. I could see the fear in her golden eyes every time I approached her cubicle in Imperial Intelligence, couldn't help but note the way she twitched and flinched like I was a predator, and she was my prey. In some ways it didn't bother me. Realistically, I was a predator—the only problem was that she was never my prey. I'd never given her any reason to think I might be a threat to her. I'd never even so much as raised my voice in her direction.

Still, I couldn't really blame her. It wasn't just me she was afraid of; it was pretty much everything. If she seemed to fear me especially, it was probably a result c of her job as my Watcher. More than anybody else in Imperial Intelligence, she knew what I was capable of. It was her job to analyze footage of me during missions, to delete and replace that footage to hide my presence where needed. But that meant she often had to see it, see me during acts of assassination and torture or a plethora of other violent actions.

Her constant anxiety made going over mission parameters that much harder, though, and more often than not I had to struggle to ignore her jittery tone and stumbling words just to get to the heart of whatever my latest mission might entail. If she weren't such a damned good Watcher when I was on missions, I'd probably have requested Keeper reassign her.

"A-as I was saying," she said, careful to avoid my eyes as though meeting my gaze would mean her immediate demise, "Agent Fourteen's last mission in the Republic uncovered evidence of a new design of an advanced stealth system. A-according to his information, it will allow Republic vessels to enter any star system completely undetected."

That was enough to pique my interest. It was obvious why we couldn't allow the Republic to finish such a project. Underestimating a tactical advantage of that magnitude would be a mistake the Empire could not afford. The ability to fly into Imperial held space without even alerting the Empire to their presence? The Republic could send legions of soldiers and Jedi or whatever they needed onto key planets before the Empire had the time to mount a proper defense. That the Empire and the Republic were in an uneasy ceasefire didn't matter. The ceasefire would eventually break, and any advantage the Republic had when it did would become a problem the Empire had to deal with.

"Agent Fourteen found this information? Shouldn't he be assigned the followup mission?" I asked.

It's not that I didn't want the mission, nor did I want to disrespect Keeper's decisions regarding mission allocation, but being assigned a mission based on another agent's discovered intelligence was unusual. It either meant that Agent Fourteen had been killed in the line of duty, or, even more bizarrely, that Keeper had chosen me over him to complete the followup mission. If ever in my missions I uncovered information that might lead to another, they had always allowed me to undertake those as well. Giving me a mission that should by rights have been assigned to Agent Fourteen was not the usual protocol, and given that the guy was basically perfect, I couldn't see any good reason I should be chosen over him.

"O-oh," Watcher Four didn't seem to know what to say. "Keeper didn't mention—"

"I chose you specifically for this task, Agent Nine," Keeper's voice sounded behind me. Knowing him, he'd probably been listening to our conversation from his office through his many listening devices. I rarely saw him in the flesh, yet he always seemed to know everything about me, knew every word I ever uttered no matter where I was in the galaxy. Once, it had been surprising to find out just how little escaped his notice, but then, as Keeper of Imperial Intelligence, that was his job. If he was appearing before me in person to discuss the mission, it meant he'd be paying special attention. Failure, as always, would not be an option.

Keeper didn't greet either me or Watcher Four as he approached. That wasn't out of character for him, either. His job was stressful and high-pressure, and observing any niceties would waste time that he didn't have.

"Agent Fourteen's expertise differs vastly from your own," he said simply. "You remember I once told you of his combat skill and cunning?"

Of course I did. The day I'd passed the final exam, surviving a death arena of trainees all as equally well-trained as I was. It had been the highlight of all my time in the Empire, the justification for every decision I'd made since leaving Nar Shaddaa. It was the proof that this was the life I was meant to lead. I was too good an Agent to be anything else. Even if I could never exceed Fourteen's talent in any area of expertise, I would always prepare more thoroughly for an assignment than he would. Keeper considered it my most invaluable characteristic.

"This mission will require a delicate touch," Keeper continued. "There is no room for mistakes, no opportunity for missteps. I've only one agent with an innate ability to plan for every situation—to overcome and adapt to a situation, no matter how it may change. I believe you to be the only Agent under my command with any chance of success."

I appreciated the compliments, of course, but in all honesty they didn't really feel appropriate. What could be so complicated about investigating a stealth system on a starship? It didn't really matter what the mission parameters would be, whether they wanted me to sabotage their plans, steal the ship itself or simply collect the data so that the Empire could replicate the plans for themselves—I had definitely completed missions more dangerous. In my brief career I'd assassinated warlords without making a sound, had boarded Republic cruisers to bug them with signal scramblers and listening devices, even stalked Jedi to the far reaches of the outer rim, and all without ever being noticed. Surely this mission couldn't be more dangerous than those…

"Sir, I don't mean to question your decisions, but I don't understand," I said, shaking my head once. "What is it about this mission that requires me specifically?"

Watcher Four turned in her seat in front of her monitor to interrupt, though she still wouldn't meet my eyes. "I, uh, there's something about this mission that I haven't yet mentioned…"

I raised my eyebrow, but since she wouldn't look at me, she probably didn't notice.

"The stealth ship that the Republic is developing? It's being researched, designed and built at Kuat Driveyards," she said, her voice small and weak. She shied even further away from me, as though believing I might strike her for withholding the information for so long.

Probably should have led with that. After two years as an agent, I'd traveled halfway around the galaxy for different missions. All around Empire held space, all around the Outer Rim in every quadrant of the galaxy, but never the core inner rim of planets. No Agent traveled to those planets—they were the absolute strength of Republic power in the galaxy, all of them near impossible to infiltrate. The skill of an Agent was not the relevant factor. Heading to the inner rim on behalf of the Empire was tantamount to suicide.

Kuat in particular would be unbelievably well protected. The orbital ring surrounding the planet was the biggest and most efficient starship base in the galaxy, producing every ship for the Republic Fleet. Because the galaxy was suspended in a long Cold War of arms and technology production between the Republic and the Empire, it would be one of the Republic's highest security priorities. Asking me to travel to Kuat with the express purpose of infiltrating a secretive Republic facility was absolute proof that I was one of Keeper's most elite agents. It also meant a rather high risk of my death.

"I don't need to explain to you the importance of this mission," Keeper said. He met my eyes with an intensity to match a Sith Lord's. "We cannot allow the Republic to finish this technology. Your mission is to steal the blueprints for this starship for our own engineers, and to sabotage their efforts to finish their own. Do you accept?"

Keeper's question sounded genuine, but I knew it was rhetorical. I didn't have the luxury of rejecting a mission because I feared it might be too dangerous. Keeper was putting his faith in me. He believed my skill set would allow me even to infiltrate Kuat Drive Yards, finish the mission, and make it back to Dromund Kaas alive. Even if I had my own doubts about my ability to do that, I couldn't betray his orders, nor did I want to. An Imperial Agent does not fear death, only failure.

I had determined long ago that I would never fail.

"When do I leave?"

Being a teenaged agent was both a blessing and a curse. In some missions it was unbelievably helpful, after all, most people were likely to overlook a sixteen-year-old who was a little on the small side as no threat at all. Other times, like now, it was a hindrance. There weren't many reasons for someone as young as me to be entering Kuat Drive-yards alone, especially the more secure areas where I would need to go. I'd stick out like a sore thumb, making planning that much more difficult. Given the resources of the Empire, however, I was confident that was a weakness I could rectify.

"Do we have assets on Kuat?" I asked Watcher Four.

After accepting the mission, my Watcher and I absconded to one of the many briefing rooms off the side of the main mission hub. As with all rooms in Imperial Intelligence, it wasn't at all decorated, a room meant more for efficiency and practicality than comfort. It had a simple table with a holoprojector, along with a computer system connected to the Empire's main intelligence systems. Most often, Watcher Four and I would plan my missions in these rooms, though it was ever really easy with her fidgety, stammering anxiety.

Yet Watcher Four was like a different person entirely when positioned in front of a computer. It was clear why she'd chosen Imperial Intelligence for a career. In slicing into systems and uncovering information with nothing more than a computer system and some quick fingers, Watcher Four was unparalleled. The rest of her family were probably Sith Lords, or at the very least Sith acolytes, but I couldn't imagine any of them could serve the Empire any better than she could. Nobody could pull seemingly unattainable information out of the void like she could. Despite her mannerisms suggesting it might be a poor fit, Imperial Intelligence was the place for her. She'd guided me out of critical situations on missions more than once.

"Yes," she replied, no hint at all of her earlier anxiety now that she was doing what she did best. She flicked along the holographic projector with well-practiced ease until there were numerous character profiles floating in the air over the holoprojector next to the computer. "None that are experienced with assisting an Agent in the field. Most operate in the wrong areas of the Driveyards." She swiped away the glowing blue profiles as if flicking away a bug.

"They're just informants?" I asked, quickly scanning over the remaining profiles. "None with any real training or experience?"

Watcher Four nodded once. "They send reports from the Drive-yards about what ships the Republic is working on, and how many they might add to their fleet. They're not trained, and they don't have access to the research labs or the experimental engineering bays."

Damn. Not what I wanted to hear, but about what I expected. I'd had to work with informants rather than more trained Intelligence operatives in the past, and they always made things more difficult. Most of the time, the informants weren't even working with the Empire out of any sort of loyalty. Mostly it was about money, or about fear of the Empire once the war was over and the Empire had won. Nobody wanted to live in a galaxy where the Empire had won the war and they'd been on the opposing side. All that added up to an informant who would not go the extra mile to help. Hell, even if they were willing, it meant they'd probably be unable. Most of them were willing to hand over only information and not risk themselves in any actual way. Any action would be up to me.

"Have we at least any idea where this stealth ship might be?"

Watcher Four nodded, tapping her fingers along the buttons of her system. "Yes, or at least an estimate. Agent Fourteen's information showed the ship was near completion in a most unassuming section of the Driveyards. Long range scans of the base suggest that it would be here."

With a few taps of her fingers, Watcher Four produced a holographic view of the base, a ring of metal that surrounded the entire planet of Kuat like a giant disc hanging just out of orbit. She pointed her finger at an area of the base above the southern pole of the planet.

"Shields, security protocols and energy output seem to be at an unusual peak in this area of the base—significantly higher than what should be needed. From what our informants have been able to tell us off the base, there's no large-scale ship manufacturing that occurs anywhere near there. It is unusual for this level of security considering there's nothing reported here to be of any worth."

Watcher Four sounded confident, but I was not impressed. Estimates and guesswork for what was likely to be the most difficult and dangerous mission of my career with Imperial Intelligence. While true that there was always going to be many unknowns in a mission taking place in core Republic space, I wasn't used to working with so little information. Keeper expected me to make a plan to infiltrate a highly secure military area of Republic Space with what? Nothing but maybes and wishes?

"That's all you've got? The ship might be there?" I couldn't help but keep the mixture of shock and disappointment from my voice.

It was enough to make Watcher Four reveal her more anxious self, despite that she was still seated before the computer systems that would usually grant her more confidence.

"I-I'm sorry. There's only s-so much I can do…" her voice was small and shaky, and her body language shifted so it was like she was unconsciously trying to protect her more vulnerable body parts as though I might pull my vibroknife and sink it through her spine.

I let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. "It's not your fault. Just another problem we have to solve."

I didn't want to be honest about my low chance of success out loud. Not only would it be admitting possible failure to myself, but it would almost certainly get back to Keeper. Losing his faith was the last thing I wanted to do. He'd always expected a lot out of me, but so far I'd always met his expectations. I didn't intend to break that streak.

No doubt he knew this mission was a long shot anyway, but an Agent is taught to be confident above all else. I could never attempt half of what I did in missions if I wasn't confident. I couldn't go into this mission with a mindset of failure.

"So, we can't control everything…" I continued. "Let's look for the things we can control. What's my best point of entry?"

Watcher Four turned away from her system and the holographic map of Kuat Driveyards both to face me, though it seemed to take every ounce of her courage to do it. It was rare that I got the chance to look directly into her eyes considering how much she tried to avoid me, but every time I did their intensity always surprised me. Her eyes were gold and piercing, like all members of her race, but unlike them, there was nothing cold in them at all. If she weren't so obviously Sith in her other characteristics, it would be easy to believe she wasn't born to her race at all.

"Also unknown… This holographic map lacks any real detail. We've only been able to get the general information through long range scans, and potential locations through Agent Fourteen's information and what our scans tell us about heat signatures," she said. Her voice was as steady as she could manage, but I still had to strain to hear her.

I let another sigh. "What about our informants? Is there anything in their reports that might help?"

Watcher Four turned back to her system with a swivel of her metallic chair and began tapping buttons. Soon, different areas of the holographic map were being highlighted.

"This is where each of them work. Like I said, most on the wrong side of the Driveyards," two areas on the far side became highlighted in bright orange light. "They're general work hands in the more manufacturing based areas where the Capital Ships are built—none are likely to be of any use. Another, here," she pointed to an area closer to the target, but still probably too far to be of any help, "is an engineer. We've probed him for any information on the stealth ships, but he claims to know nothing. There's no reason to suspect that he's lying."

The final area of the map was highlighted as Watcher Four continued with her data search. It was much closer to what was most likely the area where the Republic Engineers and scientists were developing their stealth starship.

"And this one? Anything unusual or interesting from the informants' reports?"

Watcher Four shook her head slightly, surveying the information on her screen at a rate far faster than I could process. My Watcher really was beyond skilled. In training I'd to read, analyse and remember information faster than most, but Watcher Four's skills made me look like a rank amateur.

"This one is just a scrapper. They use this area of the Driveyards as a scrapyard for damaged and outdated Republic starships. The starships are taken there so that any useful parts or scrap metal can be recycled and reused as much as possible. Outside of that information, his reports have included nothing of any use to us."

Nothing of worth?

That was suspicious in itself. Not that an informant might not have any pertinent information, but more that this informant would have nothing of value to say. Considering Agent Fourteen's information from his own mission and the Empire's long range scans had revealed a significantly heightened security presence and energy output from the area in which he worked, theoretically the informant should have picked up on something out of the ordinary. Imperial Intelligence didn't make a habit of using informants who were unobservant or stupid, but they did occasionally have issues with informants who were happy to take payments without actually doing their job. These were usually the desperate, happy to take the money but unwilling to really place themselves between the Empire and the Republic.

"Nothing in the reports? With that level of security?" I asked, one eyebrow arched in question.

My Watcher frowned as she thought about what I was implying. Instead of answering, she tapped her fingers along the screen rapidly, and began flicking through the informant's reports. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say she was a droid with how fast she could scan through information and take it all in. Honestly, it wouldn't be surprising to find out she had some sort of implant in her brain that allowed her to sift through information at magnitudes the rate of a normal person. If any group in the galaxy would have the access and the need of such technology, it was Imperial Intelligence.

"There's very little here beyond him informing us he works in a scrapyard. 'Another day scrapping small Republic vessels. Nothing of importance to note,'" Watcher Four read from one report. "Most say something along those lines. There's no mention of increased security or any suspicion of a development project near where he works."

Moving past the holographic projection of Kuat Driveyards, I picked up a datapad near Watcher Four's system. It held the same information as her system, but this way I could look at some long range surveillance images for myself. It took little more than a cursory glance at the differences in the images to figure out that our informant was being less than truthful in his reports.

"Look at these images. Two months ago, barely so much as a Republic Cruiser overhead. The new images show two Republic capital vessels and increased heat signatures on the base itself in a localized area. If it isn't the stealth ship, then the Republic is definitely doing something," I said. "I have to speak to our informant myself. He knows more than he's telling us, and he'll have access I'm going to need."

Even with only half the information I needed, I was already formulating a plan. Our informant was a middle-aged human with dark hair, and I was a teenager with dark hair—not exactly enough to pass a paternity test, but should be well enough to fool anyone into thinking we were related. I couldn't pass as an adult scrapper myself, but as a relative I might just be able to get access.

"Okay," I drawled, my mind ticking over with ideas. I was still reading over reports from other informants on the Driveyards, including safety plans other informants had sent through from their positions on the base. "I'm going to need two things if I have any chance of success."

Watcher Four turned away from her glowing monitor to look at me, giving me her undivided attention no matter how nervous she looked when not at her operating system.

"First, I need you to get me to the planet Kuat. From there I can interrogate our informant and get my way to the Driveyards," I said. "I'll worry about getting myself to the Driveyards itself, but it'll be easier if I'm already planetside."

That part would probably be easy. There was nothing much of worth on the planet itself, so simple faked identification would probably be enough.

There was a long silence as I continued to think about the next part of my plan. It was hardly foolproof, but given the limited information I had, it was all I could come up with.

"A-and the second?"

I let out a sigh and placed the datapad back down.

"I'm going to need a Sith Dreadnought."

She looked at me like I was insane.

Like I'd hoped, getting to the planet Kuat itself didn't prove difficult. While the planet's defenses would be nearly impenetrable for any invading fleet and army, it wasn't overly troublesome for one seemingly innocent teenager to get planetside. It's where an Imperial Agent shined most. We weren't intended to do the job of an army or a fleet. Alone we could be invisible, move like a ghost to do the Empire's bidding. All Watcher Four had to do was organize standard transport from an Outer Rim planet and one fake Republic citizen identification card. But those would only get me to the planet. If I wanted to get to the shipyards in the orbital ring above, I needed more. Watcher Four wouldn't be able to help me with that. Not even her spectacular skills would allow her to slice into the Republic's intelligence system from afar.

The Imperial Informant's apartment wasn't difficult to find, either. He lived in a small apartment in the slums of Kuat city. Rodents scurried through the streets and in heaped piles of trash that littered the ground. There was a damp, stale stench that hung heavy in the air. For those Agents who had grown up on civilized Imperial planets, this district of Kuat city might have been considered one of the worst in the galaxy. Since I grew up on Nar Shaddaa, it was more comfortable to me than somewhere like Dromund Kaas. Compared to the smoggy polluted air of Nar Shaddaa, this was practically a paradise.

His apartment was on the third floor, and it was child's play to slice into the door controls. The metal door slid open with a hiss. The interior wasn't much, just a room with a flimsy bed frame, thin mattress and a bathroom. Clearly, working as a scrapper on a Republic shipyard didn't pay particularly well. It was strange, though—working for Imperial Intelligence as an informant meant that we paid him at least well enough to move to a better neighborhood. Why else be an informant? Given the lack of information in his reports, it wasn't because of any real loyalty to the Empire.

A brief glance around his apartment gave me the answer I was looking for. On the table by the bed lay a thin metallic straw with traces of an orange-colored powder around the rim.

Spice.

A spice addiction explained his situation completely, especially if it was one of the more expensive and potent varieties like Glitterstim. An addiction to that would be enough to drain anyone's finances into oblivion—and probably prove to be the reason he'd agreed to be an informant at all.

It also potentially made any plans involving him much more precarious. Even if I could goad or threaten him into helping, spice addicts were notoriously unpredictable. I'd seen it countless times on Nar Shaddaa. If he'd been taking spice excessively, it would degenerate the nerves in his brain, potentially resulting in loss of sight, twitching, nervousness, or the most common, paranoia. Even one of those symptoms was unacceptable for an Imperial informant.

Finding his stash was easy. He might be an informant for Imperial Intelligence, but subtlety and cunning definitely weren't his strong points. The Glitterstim was in a clear bag, stuck to the back of his privy with sticky resin. Anybody with half a brain in their head that knew he was a spice addict would look there first. My hopes of him being any sort of real help to me were fading fast. I didn't need him for much, but if he was anxious and paranoid, even what little I was going to need from him might prove too much.

My best hope was to threaten to take away his glitterstim. I could keep it from him, only giving it out in little bits to keep his focus up. True, addicts were unreliable, but if I had control over his stash, I had control over him. Given the state of his apartment, I couldn't imagine he cared much about anything else but getting his spice. Perhaps if he wasn't so lost to his addiction as I hoped, I could promise him more before I left. There was no way to tell until meeting him. A combination of fear and hope usually works wonders.

I wasn't waiting for him long. I sat at the end of his bed on his hard mattress, waiting with a small blaster, and his bag of glitterstim rested across my thighs. My age and size sometimes made it difficult for me to appear immediately threatening on sight, but the blaster usually helped. All I had to do was remain calm, cold and calculated, and he'd know I meant business.

He had his head down as he walked through his door, and he sniffed and rubbed a hand through his thinning brown hair. Just as I thought he might, he looked awful. His hair was dry and unwashed, and his clothes were dirty with oil and grime. The smell of him wasn't any better, and I got the impression that it wasn't just from his work. I wasn't surprised that he was a scrapper. Doubtless it was the only job he'd be able to keep. I could tell from a mere glance that he wasn't worth much more to anyone than meaningless manual labor, and only that for so long.

He lifted his head as his door slid shut behind him, eyes widening when they landed on me sitting on his bed. He stumbled back at the sight of me, tripping and falling back against the door. He coughed and sputtered. I remained where I was, watching him emotionlessly.

"What are you doing in my house?" he asked, voice filled with panic. His breathing was labored and his pupils dilated. Apparently, I didn't need the blaster in order to scare him. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. I didn't really need him for much more than access to the Driveyards, but him at least having some spine wouldn't hurt.

"Jai Baric," I said his name. "You haven't been entirely forthright with us."

Perhaps scaring him more wasn't the best idea considering how panicked he was at the mere sight of me, a sixteen-year-old boy a little below average size for my age, but I needed him to know I meant business.

"Did you think the Empire wouldn't find out you were leaving details out of your reports? We had a deal. You give us information on everything you see in your work, and we pay you handsomely for it."

Jai whimpered and leaned further back into the door as though he was trying to phase through it to escape me.

I picked up the blaster and held it in my hand as I whirled it in a lazy circle over my shoulder. "We have held up our end of the bargain, haven't we? You've clearly been making enough money from us to pay for four walls over your head and an expensive spice addiction, but we have not been getting our fair due."

At the mention of his spice, he finally rose to his feet, spotting his stash sitting on my lap.

"G-give that back," he said, stifling a sniffle. "I need it."

I tapped my chin as if pondering the idea. I shook my head. "No, I think I'll keep this. You spent credits you didn't earn to pay for it, right? I think that means it belongs to the Empire."

Apparently desperation was enough to overcome his fear, and he lunged at me. It was clumsy. He nearly tripped on the way, and I had ample time to get to my feet and out of his way. I grabbed his collar from behind and kicked at the back of his knee. He buckled to the ground and cried, his tears spilling onto the sticky, filthy carpet.

"Did you really think I would be such an easy target?"

"I n-need it," he cried. "Please, I'll do anything…"

That was more like it. Just the words I was looking for.

I let go of his collar and took a few steps back, more to spare myself from his smell than the fact that I thought he could harm me. If his effort to get his spice back was any sign, he'd been addicted for so long it was affecting him physically. Before long he wouldn't even be able to do his job, and he'd be useless to the Empire, anyway. At least now I still had a chance of using him while the Empire might benefit from it.

"Fortunately for you, I need a man with your access."

Jai whirled around, hope flaring in his eyes. "Yes, I'll do anything."

He really was pathetic.

"So, be honest… your work has changed recently, hasn't it? Extra security, engineers installing new shielding?"

He nodded, staring at the bag of spice in my hand.

Good. The confirmation meant we at least likely had the right location. Now if I could just use him to get there…

"Tomorrow when you go to work, I'll be going with you. If anybody asks, I'm your nephew, here from off-world. Your brother, my father, is a scrapper as well, so I know what I'm doing and I'm there to help you for a few days."

He shook his head slowly. "But I don't have a brother."

I nearly rolled my eyes at his stupidity, but restrained myself. I simply stared at him until he nodded.

"Do your job well, and I'll give you back your spice. Do it poorly and I'll have you tied up while a guard gives you the tiniest sliver of spice once a week for the rest of your life. You've experienced withdrawals before, right? How comfortable do you think you'd be dealing with them for the rest of your life with no escape?"

The blood drained from his face.

"Can I have just a little, now?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised that he'd push his luck so far after my threat.

"It's just, I'll be suffering withdrawals by tomorrow if I'm not allowed to have any, and you want me to do my job well, right?"

He had a point. Apparently enough of him was still in there that he could make a coherent thought if he wanted. I shrugged my shoulders, and he immediately reached for the bag. I slapped him across the face, hard enough to throw him back onto his mattress.

"You'll get what I give you, and no more. I don't need you sniffing so much spice that it cooks your brain."

He sat up, rubbing his reddened cheek as I opened the bag and let out a thin strip of the orange powder on his bedside table. I stepped back, just in time to avoid his second lunge. He grabbed the straw like it was his only chance at survival and stuck it up his nostril. The spice was soon gone. Jai let out a sigh of relief. The bottom of his nostril was flecked with the orange powder, but he didn't seem to care.

Pathetic.

He looked alert now, like he'd been asleep before but had finally woken up. Spice had that effect. He'd be hyper-focused, capable of thinking more coherently. Spice also made people unpredictable though, so relying on him completely in that state would be a big mistake. Still, I had questions, and I had a better chance of getting answers out of him after he was already high on the glitterstim.

"Alright Jai, you're going to answer some questions for me."

It wasn't until I spoke that he seemed to remember that I was there at all. He looked down at me and frowned.

"Aren't you a little young to be working for the Empire?"

I let out a sigh and lifted my pistol so to aim at his chest. "You really think I'm here to answer your questions? You better pull yourself together quickly. If I decide you're worthless to me after all, how well do you think you'll be treated?"

He swallowed, looking me up and down like he was finally deciding whether I was a legitimate threat. One look at my icy gaze and the blaster barrel aimed at his face were clearly enough to decide for him. He nodded slowly.

"What do you want to know?"

"Are you ready?" I asked Watcher Four through my earpiece. I was sitting at the back of the transport with Jai Baric, on our way up to the scrapyard on Kuat Driveyards after passing some simple security checkpoints. He boarded the same ship every day with about twenty other scrappers, but none of them even batted an eye as I boarded the transport behind them. I sat at the back, urging Jai to come along with me so I could talk to Watcher Four with no one realizing.

When I was on mission Watcher Four showed none of the nervousness she did when we were face to face. There was no hint of hesitation in her voice, no sign of the girl that was terrified to even be in my presence.

"Yes," she answered. "I'm prepared. But the base has a closed system. I can't offer you any help unless you slice me in."

I already knew that, but it bore repeating. I'd grown used to her help on missions. Normally she would have the blueprints to wherever I was, or she'd be able to use Imperial equipment to scan for enemies or guide me in the right direction using their cameras. I wouldn't have that now, not in the heart of Republic space. Everything was on me, and I could only plan for so much. I wasn't used to going anywhere blind, but that's exactly what this mission was, at least from this point forward. I'd enacted plans to get me inside the engineering labs, but it was impossible to plan any further than that.

Jai looked down at me quizzically, but a stern glare had him looking the other direction. Anybody in front of us would simply assume I was talking to him, rather than Watcher Four.

"And the Dreadnought?"

"Already finished its task. You've got less than thirty minutes before impact."

Thirty minutes. Not much time considering I wasn't even at the scrapyard yet. I'd only have a limited window to get inside, find the blueprints to the stealth ship and get out. My plan required me to work on a timeline, and if I didn't work within it, I'd be dead or captured by day's end. If it was a straight path to the entrance of the research base the ship was in, it would be fine, but I wouldn't be that lucky. Jai had told me that a heavily damaged Republic Cruiser had arrived to be scrapped just days prior, and it had been lasered apart into so many pieces that a clean path through the scrapyard was impossible now. I'd have to get through an obstacle course just to reach the entrance, and I was already short on time.

The transport arrived at the scrapyard. I looked out the window, but beyond the Republic Cruiser that Jai had told me was there, I couldn't see much. I looked out into space, just beyond. Two Republic Capital ships hung overhead. How Jai believed the Empire could miss that something was going on here if we inspected, I had no idea. That Republic capital ships were hanging over a scrapyard was suspicious in itself.

Jai looked pale as he rose from the seat and followed his fellow scrappers out the doors of transport. His breathing was quick and shallow, probably terrified at the thought of being caught out as an informant by the Republic troopers awaiting outside. I wasn't at all worried. Passing security checks was easy for me now, unless I was in a restricted area with no evidence I belonged. Passing as a scrapper for a day, or at least a scrapper's nephew, would be easy.

I'd been to many Space Stations in my time as an Imperial Agent, but none like Kuat Driveyards. Every other station in the galaxy would be safe only in the interior, but not the Driveyards. Somehow it had been built with gravity generators and tech that not only created a standard level of gravity so people could comfortably walk around the exterior, but also somehow provided a field of breathable air around the orbital ring itself so to make that possible without a spacesuit. I had to admit; it was a remarkable feat of engineering. The Empire had nothing quite like it.

Stepping off the transport felt strange. Not physically, which was amazing considering that the gravity and oxygen both were artificial, but just the feeling that I was so close to standing out in the vacuum of space was a strange realization. Somehow, despite not actually being any closer to them than when I would be on a starship, I felt like I could reach out and safely float amongst the stars.

What lay before me on the Driveyards itself was decidedly less impressive. It was basically a starship graveyard, some demolished so thoroughly that they were just a pile of scrap metal and broken parts, others close to looking perfect other than being lasered into separate pieces to allow the scrappers easy access to the parts inside. Most of the ships were one-man fighters or small freighters, but it was the larger Republic military vessel to the right that concerned me the most.

It was huge. Not the size of a capital class ship, but big enough to make me worry about sticking to my timeline. If it had been placed elsewhere, it wouldn't have been a problem, but they'd placed the carcass of the incredibly damaged vessel directly in the path I needed to take to reach the secret base. Perhaps if it weren't so damaged, it wouldn't be a problem, but this was a ship that had seen battle, and the damage was extensive. Holes filled the outside hull, and from what I could make out of the interior, it was a bungled mess of twisted metal and wires that made a straightforward path through nonexistent.

"Identification?" The guard that spoke was clearly tasked with checking the scrappers' identities as they stepped off the transport. He held a datapad up before him. He was armed only with a pistol in a holster at his side. He looked bored, like he'd done the same thing a thousand times before with absolutely nothing ever going wrong. I couldn't help but smile. Getting past this sort of security was child's play. I could have done it at eight years old and no Imperial Training. Usually a guard's boredom went hand in hand with a lack of scrutiny, and that was just what I needed.

"Jai Baric," Jai introduced himself. An image of his holographic face floated above the datapad.

"And nephew," I added sourly, immediately donning the facade I thought would allow me through with the least questions asked.

The guard eyed me over his datapad.

Jai laughed nervously, doing an absolutely terrible job at acting like everything was normal. His eyes shifted from side to side and he rubbed the back of his neck, both clear tells that he was lying. His micro-expressions were all over the place, but it was doubtful that's something a simple Republic trooper would notice. If it had been me doing the guarding, I'd have shot us both on the spot.

"Yes, this is my nephew. He's here visiting for a while and wanted to help me out for the day."

Idiot. He couldn't have been more obviously nervous if he was wearing a sign stating it around his neck.

The guard scrunched up his nose and looked me up and down. I crossed my arms and pulled a sullen, unimpressed face.

I scoffed loudly. "As if I want to be here, Uncle Jai," I groaned. "I'd be happy just staying in your apartment all day, but no, apparently I can't do that! I don't know what yours and dad's problem is, honestly. What is wrong with me being on the holonet all day? How is helping at a stupid scrapyard gonna help me?" I rolled my eyes, pursed my lips and looked away from both of them with a huff.

I'd never experienced life in the galaxy as a normal teenager, or even as a child, but I had been to enough economically rich planets to know how one might act in certain situations.

Jai stared between me and the guard, open-mouthed. Words seemed beyond him.

"Well, are we just gonna stand here all day, Uncle Jai? Or did you just want me to come up here and stand around?"

Jai finally seemed to understand what I was trying to do. He let out a loud sigh and turned to the guard. "Is that okay? This kid just wants to stay cooped up all day, but my brother wants him to get out and experience a proper day's work."

The guard no longer seemed to care. He flicked his thumb behind him and stepped aside. Jai thanked him quietly and stepped past, with me close behind.

As soon as the guard was out of earshot, he turned to me and hissed under his breath, "You could have told me you were going to do that. How am I meant to know what you're thinking?"

I could have turned around and killed him on the spot. Every word he uttered made me want to grit my teeth. He grated on my nerves like a service droid that would just not shut up. But I didn't have time to explain myself to him, and though he seemed to think so, I didn't owe him anything. He was merely an informant for the Empire, not an Agent like myself—and I'd already told him how little the Empire valued his services up till now.

"We're going this way," I told him, completely ignoring his protests. Most of the other scrappers were walking straight ahead towards the smaller vessels, moping towards their allocated scrap locations for another day of what must be incredibly boring work. But I'd already spotted a gap between the hull of the Republic cruiser and was preparing to squeeze myself inside.

"But I have to report to my supervisor," Jai announced.

I whirled on him and glared viciously enough that it probably looked as though I was trying to make him spontaneously combust.

"You what?"

His breathing immediately became labored again, and he looked down in an attempt not to meet my gaze. He raised a hand to his chin to rub at his uneven stubble.

"Well, if I don't see my supervisor, he'll come looking for me."

I'll kill him.

"Why in the hell did you not tell me this last night? I told you to tell me your schedule!" my whisper was harsh and cutting, and he shied away at the sound of it. I clenched my fists at my sides. The Empire's training mostly had me calm and logical at all times. But that was when I was prepared for anything. In this mission, I could only make so many preparations, and most of them relied on the information from this absolute fool. Already he'd stripped me of time I'd calculated for. If he'd told me the previous night, I could have had the Sith Dreadnought act a little later—

It wasn't worth thinking about. I had to get moving. Only about twenty-five minutes now until I had to be inside the research base.

"Well, yes, I told you my supervisor had me working over—"

I pursed my lips so tight they were probably pure white from the pressure. I shut my eyes and let out a deep breath, a simple calming technique that was useful no matter how stressful the situation. I unclenched my fists. Being furious with him wouldn't help me. His usefulness was at an end, and yet he could still be the reason for a mission failure. I had no time to see his supervisor to lower suspicion, but I also couldn't let him go off alone. If I was to fail the mission, it was imperative that the Republic never find out I was an Agent of the Empire, and Jai was privy to that information. If I left him to go off alone and he ended up being questioned, he'd talk. I would not be the reason that the ceasefire between the Republic and the Empire ended before the Empire was ready to again wage full war on the Republic. I would not.

"Just come with me. We can deal with your supervisor later."

He opened his mouth to question again, but I silenced him with another glare. My fingers itched to hold a blaster in my hand to get him moving, but I'd had to leave it behind. If I had it, we wouldn't have passed a single security checkpoint. Instead, I stepped closer with one heavy step, more to frighten him into submission more than out of fear I'd be overheard.

"You can come with me now, or live the rest of your days wishing you were dead, but never able to die." My voice was low and dangerously calm. I looked him dead in the eye, so he could see that it was a threat I would make good on if I had to. Keeper was putting his faith in me, and I would not fail him because of someone so completely useless.

I had Jai follow me while I squeezed between the pipes to step into the Republic cruiser. Fortunately, this was something that Jai didn't need to help me with. They built republic Cruisers like this one the same every time, and I'd had to sneak into a few in my short tenure as an Agent. My nature of planning for everything in my missions meant that I knew the blueprints of these ships like the back of my hand. The only thing that might hold me up was how damaged it was.

From where we entered we'd have to pass through what was the engineering bay, but what would now probably resemble little more than scrap metal. The way the ship had been lasered apart, we'd more than likely have to pass through the open areas underneath what were hallways and rooms, but now were probably the only areas wide enough to get through. It had been cut apart so thoroughly that the interior barely even recognized what it had once been.

Jai was sweaty and practically choking on his own breath as he tried to keep up with me as I ducked under pipes and between half-open doors, but I couldn't slow down for him. Once we were far enough into the cruiser he wouldn't be a problem, but until then I needed him to keep up.

"We shouldn't go into the maintenance areas," Jai huffed. I slowed a little to listen to him, but stopping completely wasn't an option, not even for a minute. "Normally the droids are sent in first so they can make sure all they drain the power junctions. If power is still running through those cables…"

I didn't have time to think about the danger, and there was no doubt there would be plenty. Starships of this size have so much power running through them it's highly doubtful all the junctions would be drained of power even after they retire the ship. Even as we squeezed through the gaps, I could hear the dull hum of the electricity in the walls, stray sparks flying between frayed wires. I didn't like that at all. Keeper would not approve. It was reckless, but Jai had cost me precious time by not being exact about how long it would take to reach the Driveyards from the planet itself. Where before I might've had plenty of time to take the long route, now I had to take the shortest possible just to make it on time, and it still might not be enough.

"Go where I go, and you'll be fine," I said. It was an absolute lie, but so long as he feared me more than being electrocuted, and I was confident that he did, then he'd follow my instructions. It was a good thing he was so emaciated from overuse of spice. I could squeeze easily through the gaps and crevices in the thicket of twisted metal and jagged edges, but a fully grown adult would no doubt have more trouble. Still, he was so thin that it made him look sickly and weak, but it also gave him the opportunity to actually follow me, albeit with a clear struggle.

I could feel the cables pulling at the fabric of my clothes, and stray electrical wires threatened to burn at my skin as I made my way through. Careful or fast? I couldn't do both, and careful meant failing the mission. A simple choice.

"If we get spotted by the droids, they'll contact my supervisor!" Jai said behind me, his voice shaky with fear and weak from breathlessness.

I was just itching to silence him, now. Yet another thing he hadn't informed me of, despite how many questions I'd asked him about his work. I'd told him my exact plan, and even after giving him some spice to make him more coherent, his brain was still too cooked from the drug to remember properly. Right now, it was only the adrenaline fueling his fears and making him remember everything that could go wrong.

Now I couldn't even get rid of him so easily as I hoped. I couldn't get rid of him somewhere he'd be easily found, and the floating surveillance drones they had flying about the place would find it even easier than I did to squeeze between the gaps and find us. My chances of mission success were slipping by the second, and I hadn't even reached the research bay yet. It was too late to change the plan, though. The supervisor would already be looking for Jai, and I couldn't very well turn around and pretend like we'd been there the whole time.

I climbed up some scrap metal and onto the roof of the outside hull of the ship, scanning the area for surveillance drones. There was none to be found, but that wouldn't last long. If I was going to make up ground, now was the chance. I reached down and pulled up the huffing Jai behind me.

"Stay close," I hissed at him. I took off along the sloping roof of the outside hull, jumping over the pierced outer shell with well-practiced ease. Jai was slowly slipping behind.

Now or never. If I didn't make my move now, he'd slow me down to where I'd never make it. I stopped before a sizeable gap where the laser had cut through the ship. Hardly a perfect position, but he'd left me with no options. It felt dreadfully wrong to be acting so recklessly, but I was getting desperate now.

I will not fail.

I was standing next to a large breach in the outside hull, big enough that it looked as though a starship's turbolaser had driven straight through the shields and through to the other side of the ship. It created a chasm inside, fifty feet deep with jagged edges and sharp pipes at the bottom. Sparks shot out of cut wires inside. The ship had been broken into so many pieces that I was reminded of the medieval spike traps that littered the planet Dathomir to fend off intruders.

"What's that noise?" I asked, stopping to peer over the edge of the chasm. Jai slowed to a walk to join me at the edge.

"What?"

I grabbed the back of his neck with such speed and force that he didn't even have time to respond. I threw him straight into the hole, and he couldn't do anything but let out a whoosh of air as he plunged into the darkness. He landed straight onto the jagged edges below with a loud squelching thud; the metal piercing his body in so many places there was absolutely no chance of his survival.

There was no mounting guilt, no seconds of hesitation or remorse I could think about. Jai had been hopelessly, horribly useless. Even in death he could still have my mission become a failure, if a surveillance drone was to come investigating for him and come across his corpse. But he had to die. If there was even the slightest chance of him being questioned if my mission was successful, the Empire's involvement would become known.

The guard we'd convinced of my familial relation to Jai will have already told the supervisor of my presence, and if they found the body, they'd put the pieces together that I was here for other reasons. This close to a secure research lab, they'd have it shut down tight before I'd have the chance to get inside. With what was coming my way in the next fifteen to twenty minutes, that didn't just mean mission failure, it meant death.

I couldn't stop even for a few seconds. I launched myself over the gap where I'd thrown him to his death. The hull of the ship was torn and broken, but there was still enough that I could follow a path over the roof. It was inherently risky, considering that some surveillance drones were probably now looking for Jai, but again, time was against me.

I lifted a hand to my ear to activate my ear-piece to Watcher Four. "How long do I have?" I knew that any time estimate wouldn't be perfectly accurate considering what my plan actually was, but in even giving me a loose timeline, I could at least determine how many more risks I'd have to take to even have the smallest chance of success. If I had the time to be more careful and maybe lower my chance of detection, I'd take it. Being out in the open like this made my skin crawl. It had been a long time since I'd felt so vulnerable.

Probably not since—

I tore my mind away from treacherous thoughts. Thinking of my past—of Harry's past—was a weakness I could not afford right now.

"Minutes. I don't know the range of the scanners on the Driveyards, but they'll know what's coming before long. If you don't make it soon—" Watcher Four's voice was nervous and twitchy in my ear, but not out of her usual fear of speaking to me. She sounded genuinely nervous about me failing a mission, and I couldn't blame her.

"Understood."

So, no time for careful. Finally, the hull of the cruiser sloped down, meaning at least I was on its back half. I kept moving; the minutes dragging into what felt like eternities. The end of the cruiser came into view. I dropped off the edge, looking frantically around for any entrance to any sort of research lab. It'd definitely be built inside the orbital ring itself, and the main entrance would be by hangar bay, but given the structural needs of the base itself, there would need to be an entrance by foot, too. The Republic wouldn't provide only one escape method for such a highly secure research lab. Not to mention that providing the exterior with artificial gravity and oxygen took so much energy that vents had to be placed all over to stop it from overheating. Surely that meant a way in.

There! It was half hidden by scrap metal and busted starship engines, but a small hatch stood out near to where I stood. A door leading down into the ring itself. Outside the doors were armored troopers of the Republic, armed to the teeth with blaster rifles and pistols. Hidden by the scrap as much as they were, I had no way of knowing how many guards there were outside, but too many drastically lowered any chance of success. It wasn't so much that I couldn't take them—I'd fought countless Republic soldiers in my time, but usually I was actually armed. Now I didn't even have my trusty vibroknife. I'd either have to sneak past the guards, or fight them hand to hand, all with probably very little time left.

Just as I started towards them, about to dart between the piles of scrap to stay out of their gaze, sirens blared in my ears.

Shit.

I was too late. Republic scanners had picked up on the meteor shower headed their way, courtesy of the Sith Dreadnoughts massive firepower. All I'd needed it to do was jump out of hyperspace for a few minutes, use its massive firepower to barrage an asteroid field in deep space and send them hurtling towards Kuat. It wouldn't even have been in Republic Space long enough for a scanner to pick up on its presence.

The meteor shower meant the base would go into complete lockdown, and they would put the shields at maximum to defend the Driveyards from any damage. That was fine if I was inside, in fact my plan depended on it, but still being outside meant that I'd be stuck while the asteroid field crashed down on the base, with me right in the line of fire.

I was still about fifty metres away as the door to the base opened, and the Republic guards streamed inside. I could hear a voice over the loudspeaker.

"You have twenty seconds to get inside. The base is going on lockdown. You have seventeen seconds to—"

I sprinted towards the Republic soldiers, whether that meant I'd be visible to them or not. I was moving instinctively now, survival instincts at their fullest. I had no choice but to charge inside. Maybe if they saw me, I could convince them I was just a trainee scrapper who got lost in the outside rubble, heard the alarms and had to get to safety. My age would no doubt help with that, and I'd learned long before my training how useful the power of feigned innocence could be.

I practically had to leap the last metres inside before the door hissed shut and the lockdown protocols locked them up tight. Unfortunately, that meant I'd been loud and noticeable. There were about ten soldiers and every one of them turned at once inside the tight hallway to turn and stare at me. Their hands were immediately on their holsters or lifting their blasters to look down their sights, aimed at my chest.

The lights sputtered out inside, and the alarms blared. Red lights lit up the walls every few seconds, filling the hall with an eerie red glow.

Shit.

Definitely not an ideal situation. Even if I was armed, I'd be dead in mere seconds.

"I'm sorry!" my voice wobbled with feigned fear as I spoke. "Please don't kill me!"

A few of the soldiers immediately lowered their blasters, no doubt seeing me as the innocent teen boy that I absolutely wasn't. I could see sympathy and confusion lighting up in their eyes, though some of them remained hardened with suspicion. These soldiers looked down their noses at me with squinted eyes, fingers still twitching on their blaster triggers.

Loyal soldiers.

They'd been trained well. To them, my age and appearing innocent mattered less than their orders. With a base so secretive and secure as this one, they'd have orders to fire upon anyone entering the base without permission, or perhaps arresting them for questioning at the very least. Either way, getting these soldiers to lower their guards wouldn't be so easy.

"This area is off-limits!" The soldier closest to me barked.

"I'm sorry," my voice came out as a whine. "I was here with my uncle—he's a scrapper—and then I got lost, and the alarms went off and I didn't know what to—" I blurted, trying to throw as much panic into my voice as possible.

"Hey, take it easy, kid," the nearest soldier said. He was one of the few who had lowered their blasters on seeing me, and the face he wore was entirely sympathetic. He leaned down to meet me at eye level.

"We're not gonna hurt you," he promised. One of the other soldiers cleared his throat meaningfully, a clear attempt to dispute that. One look at his severe expression and it was clear he wasn't buying the act. His eyes were narrowed as he looked me up and down as though I might attack him at any moment. Fortunately, though attacking him wasn't out of the realm of possibility, looking at my small, skinny frame likely wouldn't set a muscular Republic soldier like him on edge enough to execute me on the spot. He might be wary of my intentions, but fearful of me given my age and size? Not likely.

"Why were you so far from the rest of your crew?" The suspicious soldier asked, entirely less gentle than his colleague. His hand rested on the blaster pistol at his side. "No scrappers are supposed to be working in this direction."

I put on a small frown. "My uncle said the best parts for scrapping were towards the back of the ship where the engine is," I answered, my mind working through explanations at lightning speed. "But then we got separated, and I didn't know where to go and I—" I put my face into my hands. "What are all these alarms for? Is my uncle going to be okay out there?"

The soldiers shared a look between themselves. It wasn't subtle.

"No!" I cried out. "I have to get back out there and help him!" I turn to beat on the thick metal. "Open the door!"

The guard with the gentle, comforting tone grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around to look me in the eye again. I had fake tears in my eyes now, an act perfected after years of practice and training. Youth, innocence and tears. Usually a winning combination to prove myself nothing but a harmless kid.

"I'm sorry, kid," he said. "There's nothing we can do. The scanners have picked up a meteor shower headed our way. The base is on lockdown and those doors won't open til it ends."

I sniffed. "My uncle. Please, we have to save him…"

"He might find cover in the rubble," the soldier said, hand on my shoulder.

Even if I weren't lying, and Jai was still alive, that was highly unlikely. The asteroid belt the Sith Dreadnought had blasted out in deep space was the biggest in the quadrant, and unless the scrappers got into the interior of the Driveyards in the next few minutes, it was highly likely that everyone outside in this area would die. It wasn't something that bothered me. It meant the base had to use every ounce of power to make sure the asteroids didn't destroy the base, which meant less power to the security checkpoints that would doubtless be inside.

I nodded and wiped at my eyes.

Another soldier stepped forward. "We can't let this kid walk around freely. The Doc will want to make sure he's not a threat."

The Doc? I had to shelve that information away for later. Clearly he was talking about whoever was in charge, but normally that would mean a Captain or Commander from the Republic military. 'Doc' implied the leader was more like a scholar than a military leader.

It was hard to know how to feel about getting dragged in front of the base leader. For one, it would probably put me exactly where I wanted to be, but for another it meant I'd be under guard the entire time, and doubtless the leader would have security of their own. I was already at a tremendous disadvantage in terms of pure numbers and armament, so going someplace where the security might be even heavier with no freedom to make choices would make things exceedingly difficult.

If I was to get out of here with the plans for the starship, I'd need the freedom to make plans. I'd gotten inside, but it was nerve and luck that had gotten me the most of the way. Now that I was inside I was blind, and with the shields at maximum power, Watcher Four's signal couldn't get through to assist. I was totally alone in a secure Republic base with no arms and no proper plan, already under armed guard. It was not something I was at all used to. On a normal mission I would have contingencies on top of contingencies—but here I had no obvious options.

"Alright kid," the kinder soldier stood at his full height. "Just stay close and don't go anywhere you shouldn't. Visitors are not allowed here, and if you go anywhere without an armed escort, we will shoot you."

We will shoot you. Despite that he was being rather naïve by being so kind and assuming my innocence—especially without checking with a superior officer—I had to admit that hard determination earned my grudging respect. Loyalty was what mattered as a soldier. No officer in the Imperial army would tolerate anything but following orders completely, regardless of the situation. Of course, if I were Republic SIS and this was happening in an Empire base, I would fully expect an Imperial soldier to shoot me on sight.

I nodded back at him, sniffling away my fake tears. I was still pressed against the door leading outside. Most of the group moved down the hallway, which as far as I could see in the darkness led to a set of stairs down further into the interior of the Driveyards. Unfortunately, two remained behind to watch me, including the nicer, naïve soldier who was apparently taking it upon himself to look after me while I was here. He beckoned for me to move forward, with him and another soldier stepping after me. It would have been preferable to be at the back so I could make any moves unseen, but I could work with this. Difficult, but definitely not as hard as they could have made it.

Fact is, it was a huge mistake to only leave two soldiers behind me. A more intelligent solution would be to have me right in the middle of the entire group, so everyone could watch my movements at all times. The way it was, I had more freedom than I was expecting. My eyes scanned the soldiers walking ahead of me, looking for any advantage I could use to make my escape. I had to hurry though. I had no way of knowing how big the base was, and for all I knew it would be only a matter of seconds before they had me in front of the leader.

I couldn't take the chance of coming before the leader and being surrounded by guards. Even if they ended up believing my story about getting lost in the scrapyard and losing my uncle, Jai was now dead, and the soldiers would simply escort me back outside once the meteor shower ended. Now was my best chance, when they were least expecting me to make a move. Most of the soldiers seemed to have accepted that I wasn't a threat, and even if they hadn't the only ones who could see me make my move were the two behind me.

I could take them all at once. It'd be noisy, but all I had to do was wait for cover. It'd come soon, surely. The meteors—

The first meteor slammed into the shields outside, and the sound was near deafening. The entire base seemed to shake with the force of it, nearly throwing me off my feet. The explosion resounded down the hall like a planet sized explosion going off right in my eardrums. It was disorienting, but not just for me. I wouldn't find a better opportunity than this.

I darted forward, pulling the blaster pistol out of the holster of the unsteady soldier in front of me. Faster than any of them would ever expect of a random teenager, I spun around, firing one bolt into the leg of the kinder soldier, and another straight into the head of the one walking next to him. He dropped to the floor, dead in an instant. The other soldier crumpled but tried to remain on his feet, and I darted around behind him as the others ahead of me turned, weapons held aloft.

They were all yelling at me to surrender the weapon and raise my hands, but I was already behind my hostage, hoisting him upwards and pressing the barrel of the blaster into the side of his temple. He grunted with pain and held a hand to the smoking hole in his thigh.

"Fuck," he groaned. "I was trying to help you, kid!"

"Does it seem like I need any help?" I whispered slowly in his ear. Another meteor slammed into the shields, but I wouldn't lose my focus.

The other soldiers all aimed their guns at me unsteadily, shaky on their feet from the second meteor. I was squarely behind my hostage, only the slightest bit of my face peeking over his shoulder. It was easy. The soldier was large and muscular, and I was slight. While he was alive and in front of me, the other soldiers wouldn't shoot. Republic soldiers were predictable that way. Killing a fellow soldier was unthinkable to them. In the Empire, success mattered. Compare the life of one soldier to a secret project which might help them win the war? An easy trade-off.

I didn't need to bargain my way out of the situation. Imperial Intelligence trains its agents to search for any potential advantage, any slight detail that might ensure mission success. These soldiers had made it easy. They had their weapons secured at their waists for easy access—not just for them, but for me as well, but each of them was also supplied with grenades.

I waited for the brief darkness between the flashing of alarms. The second the light was out I reached down to grab the fragmentation grenade dangling my hostage's belt with my free hand and brought it to my mouth to pull the pin with my teeth.

A few seconds of time for the grenade to tick and I was rolling it forward, right under the feet of my enemies. There was a shout of 'grenade' as it spun underneath their feet.

I kicked out at my hostage's blaster damaged leg so he'd crumple to the ground. I dragged him all the way down to the floor and dropped behind him, using his entire body as a shield to prevent myself from getting hit.

The grenade's explosion was nowhere near as loud as the meteors hitting the outside shields, but the force of it still shook the hallway and made my ears ring. I darted immediately back to my feet, the sight of the blaster pistol in front of my eye to finish any survivors.

They weren't all dead, but every one of them was off their feet from the explosion. I fired the blaster with deadly precision. Where my eyes caught their struggling movements between the flashing red of the alarm system, I added a second red flash from my blaster. It was only moments before every soldier in the hall was dead. The acrid stench of burning flesh filled my nostrils. It didn't bother me. After years of being an Agent, it was a smell I was accustomed to. My shoes squelched as I stepped through their pooling blood.

My eyes scanned the dark hallway, still only briefly lit every second by the alarms. There was no more movement, and no sound beyond the distant roar of meteors hitting the outside shields. I knew they'd be hitting the orbital ring for tens of kilometers outside, rocking the entire station all the way around the planet. The shields could take it, but it meant I was trapped inside for the time being. Trapped exactly where I needed to be.

I lifted a hand to my ear.

"Watcher Four?"

Nothing but static. Unsurprising, but it was worth a try.

I was a decent enough slicer that I could recover the blueprints of the stealth ship on my own, assuming I could find a terminal with some power, but if I could get Watcher Four in the system instead, she'd be able to do it in a fraction of the time. I just needed to create a backdoor for her into the closed system. If I could do that and escape, it would mean mission success.

I grabbed an automatic blaster rifle off a corpse along with a couple of grenades before darting off down the stairs at the end of the hallway. Given the power of the Sith Dreadnought that had begun the bombardment of Kuat by meteor shower, I had maybe twenty or thirty minutes before they'd be able to reduce the shields to normal and restart all their security systems. If this was a large base, and I had no way of knowing whether it was, I'd be done for. The cameras and scanners would immediately reveal my location when the power returned. But a large base couldn't easily remain a secret. I had a gut feeling that it was small.

Like always, I had to be fast. Unlike always, I had absolutely no idea where to go. The stairwell led deep into the base, and though it was definitely the smarter choice over the depowered elevator I'd passed, I spent enough energy descending the stairs that I rued the fact that I couldn't use it. The stairs ended next to the elevator doors at the bottom into another hall, this one far shorter than the long one above. Unlike above, this hall was fully lit, though only dimly. There were doors on either side of the hallway, but annoyingly none were marked. I didn't have the time to check all of them. More than likely they were just offices, anyway, and I'd have better luck following the empty hallway.

If I was going to find any blueprints for a starship, it'd be towards a hangar bay. Down so far into the guts of the station, the meteors smashing above weren't anywhere near as loud. Audible, definitely, but diminished by all the metal overhead. I had to tread lightly. Guards could come out of those doors, and the last thing I needed was to start a firefight and have an entire platoon of Republic soldiers coming at my position.

The halls were empty and eerily silent but for the dull explosions overhead, like the sound of a distant war. From the looks of things, though, I'd been right in my instincts—this was not a large base. I could see the end of the hall already. On the left wall was a large window. I snuck up along the wall, careful to listen for any movement or voices that might spot me if I got too close.

Voices.

I could hear them now, quiet and muffled, but definitely the sound of conversation. I reached the window and peered carefully around the edge. Nobody there. There was a door near the window leading to the other side, a balcony overlooking a large open room, but I couldn't yet see what was inside. The sound of muffled voices on the other side almost deterred me from entering, but I had to get a better look. The room inside looked huge, well large enough to be a research laboratory or engineering bay. It had to be the right place.

The door hissed open at my approach, and I stopped in my tracks. If there was anybody on the balcony on the other side, they'd have definitely heard that.

I waited several moments, ready to pounce at a potential enemy and silence them before they could alert anyone to my presence. My fingers begged for the familiar weight of my vibroknife. With that, I could be rid of any enemy in seconds. As it was, if I wanted to remain silent I'd have to use unarmed combat, which was always much more of a hassle.

Nobody came.

I stepped through the open door, eyes scanning back and forth for any sign of movement, any sign at all that someone might spot me. My heart was thumping in my chest, making me feel more uneasy than I had on any mission before. Normally I would have Watcher Four in my ear watching the cameras around my permission, telling me if anybody was coming my way or informing me of what lie waiting in my path. Not having her watching my back made me feel like I was missing a limb.

A mixture of hope and triumph blossomed in my chest as I peered over the railing of the balcony. I was overlooking a state-of-the-art engineering bay, most definitely a place where parts could be machined for a medium-sized starship. Computer terminals and manufacturing machines lay scattered around the room.

I analysed the room carefully, immediately spotting the soldiers and guards in different locations below. Ten. No, twelve. Fortunately, they looked bored, not suspicious of the grenade explosion earlier or the fact that there was a meteor shower going on outside. All were armed similarly to those above.

Fools. They were too comfortable in the safety of their secret base. Or, should I say, formerly secret base. I had the element of surprise now, and that I could work with. Finally, I was feeling like I could pull this mission off. I just had to get down there, kill the soldiers and engineers, and slice Watcher Four into the system. A mission unlike any I'd undertaken before, more luck and instinct than planning at its heart, but still nothing beyond my abilities. A cold, arrogant grin spread across my face.

Down below, a female voice was barking orders across the room. Engineers and scientists scrambled about the room, heeding her every word.

The Doc. She was clearly in charge, and almost definitely the one the soldiers above would have brought me in front of. It wasn't until she turned around that I got a good look at her.

I almost let out a gasp.

I recognized her. Not from anywhere I'd seen her in the flesh, but from countless intelligence pictures. Imperial Intelligence had her codenamed only as 'Dr Pip,' a brilliant Republic Engineer and scientist. Imperial Intelligence had spent years trying to investigate her, even to find so much as a real name, but the search had been fruitless. She'd only received her codename from the crumbs she left for Imperial Intelligence to find—probably little more than a joke to her. Regardless, it was all we had to recognize her, and she was too important to ignore. She was almost singularly responsible for the rapid increase in the Republic's technological arsenal. Imperial Intelligence had her marked as a top priority target.

My smile spread even further. Before me now was a brilliant opportunity. Secure the stealth ship for the Empire, and silence Dr Pip once and for all. The Republic would scramble without her engineering prowess pushing their technological agenda, and the Empire's chances of winning the war would explode.

I scanned the room for opportunities. Surprise and silence would be my biggest asset, and with the room only being dimly lit because of the lack of power, I would have a chance to—

Crack!

The sound that split the air was like a cannon going off in my eardrums. I fell back, landing with a loud thump as I hit the floor. I watched with wide eyes as the air in front of me seemed to ignite itself, a small flame that sputtered once before roaring into a second long inferno. It was gone as soon as it appeared, but not without a trace. A white envelope dropped into my lap.

It might've been the utterly baffling display that had me concerned, but it wasn't. I'd seen nothing like it before in my life, not even after living on Dromund Kaas where Sith Lords could make objects float and cast bolts of lightning from their fingertips. It wasn't the strangeness that had my eyes wide and my mind frozen with shock.

On the cover of the envelope read a name I hadn't properly thought of in years.

Harry J. Potter.

"We have an intruder!" Dr Pip bellowed from the lab below. "Fire on sight!"

Notes

So, that took a while! For whatever reason, this chapter was a huge struggle for me, and even now I'll admit I'm not perfectly satisfied with it. But if I sit on it any longer it's going to drive me crazy. Hopefully now, given that ending, I can get to some of the more fun stuff I have planned for this!

Thanks again everyone who is following this fic and everyone who takes the time to review. You've no idea how gratifying it is to spend so much time writing and then to have people review, even if it's just as simple as to say you like the fic.

Dont forget to join the discord! Link on my profile.