CHAPTER 1
Dying Light
"Man is not what he thinks he is. He is what he hides."
Iridonia, 15 BBY
Mining District
The air was thick, filled with the black soot that rained down from the searing exhaust vents that towered above. Breathing was never easy on Iridonia, but that made it easy for one to blend in, especially a zabrak…trying to escape the galaxy itself. Its inhospitality warded off Imperial patrols, as some troopers may make half-effort sweeps of the area just to get out as quickly as possible.
Xur was the only occupant of the narrow street that cut between two factories manufacturing minerals and processing whatever the mines could scrounge up. His helmet would tell the untrained eye that he was a bounty hunter, but his mining uniform would easily disprove that assumption. It didn't matter to him. He didn't want to be anything.
There was no one to judge him here anyway.
He felt a buzz on his belt, and a flat device's interface glowed through the hazy night. Without any wasted time, he unclipped it and let his eyes follow the message it had left.
THIRD BROTHER
SURVAILLENCE JAMMED
GOOD LUCK
The zabrak smirked behind his helmet. Another poor bastard was on his way, fully intending on being the one to finally track down and slay the elusive Xur Eon, who was certainly at the top of every Inquisitor's list by now, just as he had been since he barely escaped alive from his duel at the Jedi Temple.
It was such an idiotic idea…to run in without a real plan…even with his immunity to the corruptive energies of the Dark Side of the Force. While the Dark Side offered immense power when he needed it, there was always a price to pay. That time it had nearly blinded him to the fact of how overmatched he was, and that any hope of killing him would have to come in time…when he could truly master both sides of the Force.
That all depended on if he could live that long to see it through.
Danger sense electrified his spine, and Xur had his hilt in his hand and raised in time for it to ignite and stop the overhead bisecting ambush in its tracks. Relying on the Force with no vision of his attacker, Xur dropped his support of the crimson blade and rolled, kicking right where it had told him to, knocking his assailant off balance. Muscle memory followed and he stood forward with both hands raised, sending them tumbling into a scrap pile from a violent force push.
Xur rolled out his shoulders. "Another one? Good. I could use the practice."
The Inquisitor flipped back onto his feet, his black and red armor covering his average-sized body, and a sinister mask keeping his face hidden. He was probably human, Xur surmised, which meant there were no special tricks to this duel.
His circular hilt ignited both blades, and there was a laugh that sounded through his mask. "Xur Eon, at last. You're even more filthy than they described," he chuckled.
Xur shook his head and looked away with disinterest. "Yeah…who are you? Five hundred twenty fifth brother or something like that? I'm starting to lose count."
The Inquisitor engaged, the blades spinning with the mechanism between each of his stabs and swings. Xur adopted a defensive pose, his titian blade stopping each killing blow, as well as mixing in sidesteps and dodges. His first duel with the spinning blade had him on the run, since its mechanized power was almost a match to General Grievous' own spinning hands and required an unorthodox approach to truly counter.
Xur had seen enough of these things to do more than counter them.
The Inquisitor wailed at him with the ends of each blade, forcing the zabrak to backpedal and parry each predictable strike. Once he found the careless mistake he was looking for, Xur grabbed ahold of the hilt and pulled him forward, and then used his momentum to slam the hard metal into his mask. The cranial impact had the Inquisitor stagger, and then it was Xur's turn to go on the offensive. Switching to Mace Windu's signature Vaapad style, he relentlessly swung with two hands on his hilt, the Force-enhanced impacts making his opponent stagger with each parry, until he eventually broke through his defense entirely and managed to sever one blade emitter from the hilt.
But the Inquisitor wasn't fazed as usual. He used Xur's false sense of victory against him and slashed back, grazing his hidden shoulder guard before it cut through his neck and ended his life. Annoyed more than anything, the zabrak retaliated in full, using raw strength to beat him down in frustration. Eventually, he cut through the second emitter and pooled his building aggression, before releasing it through force lightning.
It was only a short burst, but the job had been done, as the Inquisitor laid on the ash filled ground with heavy breathing. Xur's hands seared with pain from the attack, which seemed to be the regular toll of releasing such power without a full understanding of the Dark Side, and it was progressively getting worse the more times he had to use it.
Despite being on the edge of death, the Inquisitor managed to chuckle. "You…would make a…fine inquisitor."
Xur's pain only fed his anger, and he could feel raw strength being drawn from it. "No thanks. One day your master will get it. The more Inquisitors he sends after me, the less he'll have in time. My mark is a death sentence for you all," Xur explained, looking down upon him with his blade still ignited. This was the point in which the Inquisitor would beg for mercy, as all cowards of the Dark Side did, but he sensed no fear in the life he was about to end. "But I've got the feeling you knew that already."
The Inquisitor chuckled through gasps. "You speak as if you have a choice. Inquisition…is inevitable…for all of us. There is no escape!"
"Yeah, well, I'm sure I'll manage," Xur insisted, and then drove his saber into his chest, ending his life and expelling the rest of his rage. In balance, Xur took a deep breath and knelt, rummaging through the Inquisitor's devices for anything of use. He found a pocket-sized holomap, medical injections and tracking equipment.
Xur winced as his impact shoulder began to light up in pain as his adrenaline wore off, and its intensity suggested it was something that would take at least a week to heal…which would probably be just in time for his next customer to find him.
This was the seventh inquisitor he had faced, third this year, second this month, and the increased frequency was beginning to make him feel uneasy. He prided himself at being at least average at hiding, but they were finding him far too easily now.
Maybe all these attacks were just to slow him down…but if so, for what?
Purely out of curiosity, Xur flipped up the Inquisitor's mask, and then couldn't help but gasp at the sight.
It was Kaidan.
While the two of them hadn't been particularly close after the war began, seeing his lifeless face hit Xur much harder than expected. To know that he had ended his life, a man who had escaped the Jedi Purge, only to become an Inquisitor in the end…and to be killed by an old friend.
The zabrak grit his teeth behind his lips. This was all him. There was no coincidence that Kaidan had been sent after him, knowing full and well that he didn't stand a chance against Xur. He wanted Xur to lose control and kill him, so even in victory, he had been defeated.
Xur turned away, his fist clenched, and nowhere to expel his building hatred for one man, the man who destroyed everything he ever cared about.
Anakin Skywalker.
It was a long walk to his destination, spending most of that time trying to make himself forget what he had just done, but even after all the dead bodies he had witnessed in his time, that of a friend was not one that faded away. To see Kaidan's jaw spread wide open while smoke arose from the searing gash where Xur had impaled him was an image he would keep burned in his mind forever.
Just one more thing the Empire would answer for.
He came up to the abandoned factory he had trekked to, its walls rusted and degrading with each day that passed, threatening to collapse for good. Iridonia was never known for its scenery.
Using both arms to force open the door, it creaked and screamed as he walked in and shut it behind him. Lights flashed, and he quickly raised his hands.
"Rage against the dying light," he said, his voice reverberating through the quiet entrance.
After a moment, the lights flickered off, and a rag-tag armed soldier stepped forward enough that Xur could see them. "This way," he said, pointing to a set of stairs beside him that led below. The zabrak followed suit, descending the rusting stairs and into a central reconstructed meeting area through a few corridors, dim lights illuminating the room.
Saw Gerrera was there waiting for him, his head shaved, and body armor scratched, but looking none less determined. They both met in the middle, clasping hands together and sharing a one-armed hug.
"Good to see you," Saw greeted. "Heard you ran into trouble."
"Nothing I couldn't handle," Xur shook off as they pulled away, revealing the destroyed Inquisition hilt and tossing it on the metal table. "Thanks to our guardian angel."
"Glad to be of assistance," a female voice sounded from the other side of the table, stepping into the dim light, revealing herself to be Reyna Vorchenko, clad in an imperial naval uniform, her dotted insignia being one row longer than Xur last remembered.
"Promotion?" he asked.
She tipped her head in acknowledgement. "All those years of putting up with Tarkin have paid off. I've ascended to Vice Admiral, and I have formally regained his trust. With his favor, not even Lord Vader could touch me."
You mean Anakin.
"With my new clearance I can get you virtually whatever you need."
Saw leaned forward. "What about surveillance? Did anyone spot Xur's duel with the Third Brother? We don't want the Empire swarming Iridonia."
"Do not worry. I've already ordered this place to be a blind zone, classified for a secret proxy mining project that I piggy-backed off a legitimate one," she explained. "I also sabotaged his communicator upon his departure. No one will know of his fate for some time."
"Good," Saw pounded his chest with his fist. "One less of those savages to worry about."
Xur growled, placing his hands at the edge of the table. "Not all of them."
Saw gave him a concerned look. "I don't see what you mean."
"The Third Brother's real name is Kaiden Alko. I know that because he used to be a Jedi…one of my old friends," Xur sighed, pacing away. He felt his rage building again, but he bottled it down. "I killed him…and I had no idea," he paused again, turning back to the table. "This needs to stop."
Saw shook his head. "He's the enemy now, Eon. We can't feel sorry for him."
"If we don't then who will?!" Xur shouted. "The Empire doesn't care about the Force. They just seek to use it to their own advantage…to eliminate the last of us…these barbarians!"
"Wishful thinking isn't healthy," Saw challenged back, stepping forward. "We keep fighting until there's no one left to fight."
"Dammit Saw, if we keep fighting, there'll be none of us left! Every day the Empire kills another force user, another asset that could help the cause…our cause! Something needs to be done."
Vorchenko didn't looked fazed by his anger in the slightest. "What is your thought?"
Xur grabbed ahold of the broken hilt. "I say we infiltrate where they're training them, we plant a big fucking bomb, and then watch from orbit when it blows!" he finished with a slam of the held hilt on the table.
Saw was almost livid. "You're insane. We don't have the manpower to pull something like that off, and even if we did, we have no idea where-," he was cut off by Xur tossing a pocket holoprojector in the middle, its sudden blue glow illuminating the room. The Third Brother's travel path was shown through the galaxy, and Xur prompted it to zoom into its origin.
"Mustafar System, the planet Nur," Xur pointed. "Fortress Inquisitorious."
Saw paused, his eyes fixed on the projection as Xur approached him. "I'm not asking for an army to storm it. I'm asking for you to back me up when I go in myself."
"An intriguing plan," Vorchenko mused. "But I fail to see how it is possible. As Saw said if the Empire knew where you were, they'd have the entire planet swarmed within the galactic day. If you march into that Fortress alone, you won't come back out."
"Then I need a way to hide in plain sight," Xur suggested, trying to come up with a way to actually pull that off. The majority of his quarry would be Force users, but he knew how to hide his Force signature, however he had never needed it for an extended period. The strain would add up quickly, and a single lapse in focus could end the mission. He hadn't even considered the fact that if he removed his mask, none of that would matter anyway.
When he looked back up after mulling his options, Vorchenko had her eyes closed, and he sensed her mind probing for options.
"This is a suicide run, Eon," Saw protested. "I appreciate your boldness, but we can't lose you. You're the only one of us who can stand up to the best of them."
"Rako Hardeen," she said, and both Saw and Xur looked her way. "That's how we get you in."
Saw's eyes narrowed. "Who's-,"
"Yes," Xur pointed. "Facial reconstruction and voice alteration…but who could I pose as? It'd have to be another zabrak."
Vorchenko smirked, revealing her datapad, and then hopping onto the holoprojector's frequency. With a swipe, she had the holo-file of an orange-skinned zabrak, his mugshot and information displayed.
"The Second Brother," Vorchenko presented. "While I have no information on his real name, he is one of the newest-serving inquisitors and has a reputation for being slow and particular with his hunts, resulting in him having one of the lowest kill tallies among them all. He is also known to 'play loose' while on the job."
"Play loose?" Xur asked for clarification.
"He's rather loquacious and easygoing," she explained. "But rumor has it that he's desperate for his big score…and what's a bigger score than Xur Eon?"
Xur's rage suddenly dissipated and a chuckle followed. "I see where you're going with this."
She tipped her head and cut off the hologram. "I can get the necessary medical equipment to complete the facial transformation, as well as a vocal emulator, and you needn't worry about any security codes or procedures. I can get you up to speed."
"Good," Xur smirked behind his helmet, feeling excited for the first time in almost five years. "This is going to be fun."
Saw raised his hands. "I'm lost. What's happening?"
Xur removed his helmet and revealed his lightsaber. "I'm going to go kill myself, and the Second Brother is going to help me do it."
The Second Brother waltzed down the loading ramp in a nonchalant fashion, his mannerisms sticking out among the rigid and stoic stances of the purge troopers that followed him. He relished in the royal escort, feeding on the needless attention that he nonetheless enjoyed.
"Vice Admiral Vorchenko," he greeted with arms spread, red and black helmet covering his features. "Always a pleasure to be blessed with your presence," he bowed as he approached her, who stood straight with her arms behind her back.
She shivered in repulsion, ready to get on with her role and be rid of such a pompous individual. "Second Brother. In all honesty, I'm surprised you showed. You aren't exactly known for your punctuality."
The inquisitor chuckled. "If you mean to compare me to those dreadful brothers and sisters of mine, I find that unfair. I'm my own brand of hunter."
"I don't much care what you call yourself," she rolled her eyes. "Follow me, will you?" she flicked her head away from the escort, and he informed his purge troopers to remain behind at the shuttle.
"So, what's all the fuss?" he asked, keeping his voice down needlessly. "This'd better be good. I was supposed to hit up an opera with this beautiful miralian lady on Nar Shaddaa."
"You should count yourself lucky then, since I have relieved you of certain embarrassment," she stoically remarked as they walked away from the landing pad and into the industrial district, the same in which the Third Brother had been killed.
"Ha. So, you got jokes too, Vice Admiral?"
"If you consider Xur Eon's current location to be a joke, I can certainly pass it along to another," she shrugged, and then he grabbed ahold of her shoulder, pulling her to face his masked gaze.
"You're shitting me. Sweetheart, you're one hell of a woman! Forget the opera, I'll-,"
"Take this and go," she passed on a homing device and pushed him towards the road, enticing him to continue alone. "Don't come back until you find him."
"Right, right, yes ma'am, Vice Admiral ma'am," he mock saluted, and continued down the path, watching the device blink as he progressed. "Can't compliment any woman these days."
It was a few miles through the district, finding himself mostly alone, spare a few stormtrooper patrols that stiffened upon his appearance. He found comedy in their blind fear of him, since he knew full well how truly unimposing he was, despite his appearance.
He came to the edge of a canyon, appearing as if it was used to dump scrap outflowing from the deplorable factories that lined the area. The thick, black air was depressing, and he found himself worrying about his appearance as soot covered his clothing. In annoyance, he began to brush it off with his glove.
"You'd think these iridonians would take care of their planet," he mumbled to himself. "Just got this damn thing pressed," as he brushed himself off, the device stopped blinking, and he frantically pulled his hilt from his back, dropping the device in the process. "Oh, oh! He's here! Come on out Eon! I know you're here!"
There was no response.
He chuckled. "Too scared? Trust me, I get-," he was hit from behind, falling away from the canyon edge and landing hard on his back. "Oof!"
The Second Brother looked up and saw Xur Eon standing at the edge of the canyon, his orange blade ignited. "Looking for me?" he asked.
The inquisitor scrambled to his feet and ignited his blade, taking a step back, his stance ready and precise.
In his eyes anyway.
Xur scoffed in disbelief. "They sent you?"
"I sent myself, buddy," he retorted. "Got a tip from a beautiful and nice lady that you'd be here, ripe for the killing! I've been after you since I joined the Inquisitorious, and all that work is about to pay off!"
The zabrak twirled his saber. "I don't really care. Let's just get this over with," as Xur advanced, the Second Brother spotted a gas line that peaked out of the ground beside his foe, hissing as it leaked the combustive concoction. "When I'm done with you, there won't be anything left for your loved ones to bury. Your name will fade away in the annuls of history, forgotten like all the," Xur continued, and the Second Brother ignited his blade. "rest of you pathetic individuals."
He tossed his blade at the escaping gas.
It erupted in a torrent of flame, engulfing Xur completely as he frantically attempted to stoke the fire consuming him by the second. Taking advantage, the Second Brother force pushed Xur over the canyon edge, the zabrak screaming as he fell out of sight, his voice dissipating the longer he tumbled.
Then, an explosion ripped through the area, only revealing itself as a ball of flame, and the Second Brother heard him scream no longer.
After a moment, the Second Brother stood in disbelief, before eventually letting out a shout of pure elation. "Ha! Burn you son of a bitch! Who's the big dog now motherfucker?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
A probe droid floated away far above, relaying the recording back to command.
Xur Eon was dead.
Demeter, 15 BBY
Medical Halls
Reyna Vorchenko closed the video looping on her datapad, the image of Xur Eon bursting into flames and exploding in a fiery blaze fresh in her mind. To watch him die in such a way was…demoralizing to say the least, not to mention to such an imbecile like the Second Brother.
As circumstance demanded however, killing Xur Eon was the best move they had.
She turned down into the medical halls of her own ship, the converted Venator-class Demeter, ordering all medical staff to shore leave for the day and marking the irregularity as regular maintenance. The Vice Admiral needed the ship to herself.
Once in the medical bay, she looped all surveillance, even the back up cameras the Empire didn't think she knew about, and then proceeded into her personal patient room for her own needs. Shutting the sliding door behind her, inside was a stormtrooper, his helmet still on as he sat upright on the medical bed.
"I'm ready for a check-up Doc," the trooper said.
"Hilarious," Vorchenko deadpanned. "Helmet off."
He complied, and under the white and black helmet was the face of Xur Eon, his skin covered in dirt and soot. "So, how'd it look?"
She popped her eyebrows. "Like you went out in a pitiful blaze of glory."
Xur looked away, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "Did you really have to pick that idiot to be the one to kill me?"
She didn't look to be in much of a gaming mood, and Xur could sense her elevated stress, which was somewhat uncharacteristic of her. The Vice Admiral shrugged as she tapped on her datapad.
"We needed a zabrak, and also an inquisitor who has little contact with the others. Not even the original members of the Inquisitorious know him very well," she explained, finally looking away from her pad. "Anyhow, what's done is done. We need to get your transformation underway."
The zabrak sighed. "Alright, let's get to it."
Vorchenko set her pad down and pulled a grey, sealed box from the medical cabinet, and in turn activated a retinal scan to unlock it. "Any questions?" she asked, opening the container and reaching for some biohazard gloves.
"Tell me about the higher-ups," he asked.
"The Inquisitorious is formally run by the Grand Inquisitor," she explained, pulling the gloves over her hands with a snap. "A pau'an male with a pretty classified file, and all I can tell you is that he is rather formal himself."
"That's it?" he questioned as she approached with a wet wipe, beginning to clean his face of dirt and soot.
"As I said, his file is quite classified," she reiterated. "The fortress is also home to the Purge Troopers, a division specifically trained to kill Jedi. Notable Inquisitors include the Second Sister, Fifth and Sixth Brothers, Seventh and Ninth Sisters, all files also very classified."
"Interesting," Xur grunted as she finished cleaning his face, returning to the box. "Sounds like this is going to be a real heist."
Vorchenko pulled a syringe from the box, prepping the needle, but then pausing. "This isn't a heist. This is by all logical accounts sheer madness, and if times weren't so bloody desperate, I wouldn't have agreed to do this."
"I can handle it."
"I-I don't doubt that, I just," she stammered, looking away. "Eon, if you die, it's over for us. You understand that, correct? And if you go in there, I can't help you. You will be on your own."
Xur sighed, leaning forward and allowing his head to droop. "Reyna, if we don't do this, one inquisitor will get me eventually. No matter how powerful I am, it only takes one mistake for them to kill me, and the Empire won't rest until I'm dead," he assured, and then laid back in the bed, as he knew he'd have to. "Besides, I'm not even the Jedi's main plan against the Empire. I'm just a contingency…in fact I feel like I always have been."
Vorchenko looked back at him, and he noticed her durasteel expression break for a moment. "You're my General, Eon. We won that damn Clone War on our own. We can win this one. I don't care what the Jedi have planned. We'll do what needs to be done."
"Then let's do it."
She nodded, stepping forward and holding the syringe at his neck. "This is going to hurt," she warned, and then inserted.
Xur gasped and felt as if his face was tearing itself apart, his bones reshaping themselves the moment she had injected it. He stopped himself from screaming, covering his face in an attempt to alleviate the pain, but to no avail. However, after a few seconds, it was over.
Vorchenko grasped his shoulder, trying to peer through his hands as he breathed heavily. "Are you alright?" she asked.
When he pulled his hands away, he had the exact face of the Second Brother, his orange skin, black tattoos and all.
"Well, that sucked," Xur gasped. "How do I look?"
Vorchenko tipped her head. "Like an imbecile."
There was a knock on the sliding door, and they both froze. Knowing what to do, Xur put his helmet back on, and the Vice Admiral straightened herself out at the door. When it opened, the Second Brother was waiting there for her.
"Didn't you hear?" he asked. "I'm a hero now! All thanks to you!"
Vorchenko forced a smile. "Fantastic. Come in, will you?" she ushered, and the inquisitor wasted no time entering, allowing her to shut the door. In doing so, he noticed the fully dressed stormtrooper inside.
"Who's this?" he asked. "Oh, don't tell me you've been-," he was cut short as his throat closed in on itself, air blocked from reaching his lungs.
"Who's this?" Xur asked, removing his helmet. "I'm you."
The Second Brother looked on in fear and gasped. "Wait-," and then a blaster bolt ripped through his skull, ending his life the moment Vorchenko pulled the trigger. His body dropped to the floor, a smoldering hole through his forehead.
Vorchenko huffed in satisfaction. "Fucking circus animal. The galaxy is better off without drunken idiots like that one."
"Agreed," Xur nodded, stepping away from the bed and beginning to sift through his clothing, preparing to dress himself. "Vocal emulator?" Xur asked, and then was suddenly injected at the neck again. "Ow! The fuck?"
"That was it," Vorchenko said.
Xur was baffled, but then felt a pinching pain on his insides. "What kind of," his voice suddenly changed. "Woah…what an odd…feeling. That'll take some…getting used to."
"Better get used to it," she warned, rummaging through her container, and revealing a small, black box. "One last thing."
Xur stood and rubbed his neck, getting used to the new sound of his voice. "Huh?"
When she revealed its contents, Xur could only best describe what he saw as a slug. "What the hell is that?"
Vorchenko shrugged. "No one knows. This thing's file is more classified than any of the inquisitors, but Moff Tarkin owed me a favor. Apparently, it can hide your force signature."
Xur nodded, feeling nothing in the Force despite the creature before him certainly being alive. "How does it work?"
The Vice Admiral almost smiled. "Well, you swallow it."
Xur grumbled. "I was afraid you'd say that," the zabrak then reluctantly reached in and placed the living creature into his mouth. It slithered down his throat, making him gag, but the speed of it made the feeling short-lived. Still, his disgust was apparent. "This thing better not eat me alive."
"Guess we'll both find out," Vorchenko shrugged, holding out a hand. "Good luck, Second Brother."
Xur shook her hand. "Thanks. Guess I better get dressed."
