Hi guys,

I'm really glad you're sticking with me this far. I'd really appreciate any feedback you'd care to leave in the reviews; tell me what's good, bad, needs improvement, any ideas you have, whatever!

I'll be out of town next week, so there won't be another update until Friday 20th. Sorry for the delay.

Tulak Prog

/

Imperial Intelligence Headquarters

Dromund Kaas

Keeper barely blinked when the body of one of the Minders landed on his desk, fetching a loud crack to the head and scattering datapads all over the floor. He signed off on the report in his head, and calmly rose to his feet. "Good evening, my lord. How can I help you?"

He calmly surveyed the young Pureblood on the far side of his office, seemingly unperturbed by her pulsing yellow eyes and livid expression. "Does Lord Reliyk have a complaint about our handling of his case? If so, I must request that he take it up with Darth Jadus rather than-"

"Shut up," Loka snarled. Keeper raised an eyebrow, but fell silent. He watched as the Sith crossed to his desk, and started scanning his datapads. "I'm afraid those are confidential information, my lord," he said, his voice still level but firm. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Loka slammed the datapad back down onto the desk, and turned to face him. "Where is Watcher Three?"

"Watcher Three?" Keeper frowned. "I believe he is in a meeting with the other Watchers. I can summon him now, if you wish." He keyed a quick sequence into the number pad on his desk. "Watcher Three, please report to my office at once. There's a Sith to see you."

He turned his inscrutable stare back to the apprentice, impatiently pacing his office. "May I ask what he has done to warrant such a violent reception?"

"I think we'd better wait 'til he gets here, don't you?" said Loka, her voice carrying that all too familiar festering cadence of Sith fury. "How long will it take?"

"Not long, my lord," said Keeper, turning to watch the entrance to his office. "The briefing room is only a quick- ah, here he is."

Watcher Three entered the room, his expression guarded. Then his eyes flashed across to the Sith, now no longer pacing, and though his face still gave nothing away, the Force allowed Loka a moment of insight, a brief flash of apprehension and dawning fear.

Gotcha.

The Watcher stood at ease before the desk. "You summoned me, sir?"

Keeper nodded. "Our esteemed guest wishes to speak with you, Watcher Three. Though about what, she refuses to say."

Watcher Three shrugged, seemingly nonchalant. "I'm sure it's nothing important, sir. Can I help you, my lord?"

Loka's eyes narrowed, their piercing yellow light boring into the man before her. "You can explain why you ordered one of your agents to attack me, yes."

Keeper's eyes widened, as a brief moment of shock slipping past his professional mask. "Watcher…?"

"I have no idea what she is talking about, sir," Watcher Three said, blasely. "My conduct in office has been nothing but exemplary."

"Don't lie," snarled Loka. "Agent Darick told me everything. You ordered him to follow me, and steal the… package I was carrying."

"Did I?" Watcher Three's face betrayed no sense of alarm, but through the Force his emotions told a different story. "I know Darick. Very eager. Though why he took it into his head to attack you, I have no idea. Perhaps he wanted to impress me."

"Why did he decided to attack me?!" said Loka. "Gee, I don't know… maybe because you ordered him to?!"

Watcher Three turned to Keeper. "Sir, these accusations are baseless. I don't know why Agent Darick wants to implicate me- I personally suspect a plot by a rival agent to unseat me- but I assure you that I have had nothing to do with this."

Keeper did not need to be a Sith to see that Loka's emotions were beginning to get the better of her. "Darick tried to kill me!" she snarled. "Did you order him to do that as well?"

"I really have no idea what you are talking about, my lord," said Watcher Three, a shade irritably. "And besides, you will never be able to prove it."

Loka's eyes flashed. "I don't need to prove it."

Her hand flexed into a vice like grip. Watcher Three was cut off mid-retort, and began to gasp for air. "Don't… be… stupid…" he managed to splutter, before his eyes began to glaze over, and he dropped to his knees. Loka towered above him, her usually cheerful face twisted into a snarl worthy of a tuk'ata. "No-one tries to rob me like that, Imperial."

Keeper looked on calmly as his subordinate began to turn an interesting shade of blue, his professional mask never slipping. He coughed. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to release my Watcher, my lord," he said softly, moving so that he stood just behind the Sith's shoulder.

Loka barely spared him a glance. "Request denied," she said.

"You misunderstand me. It wasn't a request."

The choke-hold lessened slightly, so that Watcher Three could desperately grab a few rasping breaths, and Loka turned her head to face the unassuming middle-aged man beside her. "I'm sorry? Not a request? You know the law, Keeper. I am entitled to seek my revenge in any way I choose."

"That is so," Keeper conceded, his voice dropping to a murmur. "However, may I ask you to consider your position? You are here, alone, in one of the most secure buildings in the galaxy, surrounded by men and women who are very good at very particular skills. You might be interested to know that you are not the first Sith apprentice who, in the heat of their passion, has decided to settle a score with Watcher Three."

Loka's eyes widened, and Watcher Three convulsed suddenly under the surge of rage that had just constricted itself around his neck. "Are you threatening me, Imperial?"

"Of course not, my lord," said Keeper. "I am merely stating the facts as they are."

Loka felt a niggling in the Force, and glanced behind her. They were still alone in the office, but the corridor outside was much busier than she remembered. Half a dozen beings, some in a uniform, others in street clothes, were milling causally about, leaning on the lockers, chatting with each other, their tones completely innocuous. None of them seemed to be armed.

Loka felt a chill run down her spine, and she released her grip. Watcher Three collapsed to the floor, lungs heaving, and Keeper sat himself back down, nodding in satisfaction. "I'm glad we were able to resolve this without bloodshed, my lord. Rest assured, your complaint will be thoroughly investigated through the proper channels. Give your master my compliments."

He returned to the datapads he had been reading when Loka came in. Loka suddenly felt very drained, and very foolish. She could just imagine what her master would say if he ever found out about this; Reliyk was always telling her that a Sith must be in control of their emotions, not the other way around. She doubted that he would be pleased to learn that his apprentice had stormed Imperial Intelligence in a fit of fury, and attempted to execute a high-ranking officer in front of the spymaster himself. She scolded herself silently. You can rely on me, indeed!

She headed for the exits, but on the way out, she paused. Watcher Eleven was co-ordinating with one of the security droids at exit to the landing pad, seemingly taking some sort of status update on his datapad. She leaned back against the doorway, waiting until he had finished his task and was walking back inside, before stepping out to meet him. "Watcher? Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Watcher Eleven looked startled at the sudden appearance of a Sith, but managed to regain his composure in time to sketch a respectful bow. "Of course, my lord."

"Thanks." Loka gathered her thoughts. "If an operative were to be given a mission, I assume that a record would be kept, yes? For bureaucratic reasons?"

Watcher Eleven nodded. "Yes, my lord. We keep exhaustive records of all activities, in case we need to trace people or connections in future operations."

"So it's not just regulation: it also serves a practical purpose?"

Watcher Eleven nodded.

"So, hypothetically speaking, were an operative to be given a mission that was, shall we say, unofficial in nature, a record of that would be kept to?"

He seemed to think about it. "I think so, my lord," he said. "Maybe not in the main database, but I've been here long enough to know that everything leaves some kind of data trail. It shouldn't be hard to trace, if you knew what you were looking for." His eyes darkened with sudden suspicion. "Why?"

"Don't worry about it, Watcher," Loka said quickly, before the whole thing could degenerate into a re-enactment of her unfortunate scene with Darick an hour or so earlier. "I just want you to do some digging, that's all, find out what you can concerning Agent Darick, any connections with Watcher Three, and so on."

Watcher Eleven's frown deepened. "That's against regulations, my lord. Watcher Three is my superior; I doubt he'd appreciate me digging around in his private files."

"The last I checked, Intelligence served the Sith," said Loka. "I am quite within my rights to request that you find this information. In fact, I could command it." A vision of what might happen should he refused her command rose up in her mind like a spectre, and she hurriedly changed tack. "But don't feel like you have to. I'd just appreciate it, that's all."

Watcher Eleven watched her thoughtfully, before nodding slowly. "I will give it due consideration, my lord," he said.

"That's all I ask," Loka said. She began to walk towards the bridge that led back to the Sith Sanctum, then stopped and looked back. "And, for the record, a tuk'ata would totally beat a vine cat. Come to Korriban some time, and see what I mean."

Watcher Eleven smiled. "Visit the Kaas jungles, my lord, and see how long you last without needing an emergency kolto injection." He bowed again, in farewell, and went back inside. Loka chuckled gently, feeling her natural good humour return, and made her way down to the Sith Sanctum's transport hub, where she would get a shuttle to take her to her master's stronghold on the other side of the jungles. She was beginning to think like a real Sith again; mindless rage was all very good on the battlefield, but the Dark Side worked best through deception and subtlety. If Darth Reliyk had wanted someone to solve problems by bashing down doors and murdering people he would have picked a warrior for his apprentice, not her. She would accomplish much more by being patient and gathering data than she ever would meeting her problems head on.

She glanced at her watch. Still two hours of what you might loosely term evening left. Her little detour had cost her, but provided she left right away she didn't think Reliyk would mind too much. And if he did, she had a whole shuttle trip to think up a good excuse.