Chapter Two
Workings of Evil
Skyscrapers pierced the dense cloud layer that hung above Coruscant. A TIE Echelon descended through the fog into the heart of the planet-covering metropolis, now far removed from its halcyon days. As the assault shuttle floated downwards, boxy new structures gave way to the curving, magnificent architecture of the Old Republic. The security craft skimmed over decrepit streets before landing on a broad avenue lined with squalid dwellings. Immigrants from a thousand systems lived in these slums, all seeking a better life for their children.
The Echelon's front ramp dropped open. A squad of eight stormtroopers mounted on hovering black and red speeder bikes disembarked. They separated and zoomed down narrow alleys, dispersing through the city. One buzzed past a peeling propaganda poster on a grimy wall. It was emblazoned with the First Order symbol and the slogan JOIN TODAY. Above JOIN, someone had scrawled DON'T in bright red paint.
In a narrow passageway next to the poster, two patrolling stormtroopers roughed up a limbless Trodatome. A pair of bright green eyes watched them from under a mop of tousled red hair. Both the eyes and the hair belonged to a tanned, heavily freckled twelve-year-old boy named Dade.
Dade hated living in this city, so unlike the fields of his native Dantooine. He hated the grime, and the noise, and the stench. More than anything, he hated the First Order.
One of the stormtroopers pushed the alien to the ground. It flailed helplessly.
The boy's eyes narrowed.
Dade bent to the ground and picked up a piece of broken plascrete. He aimed carefully and threw it, striking one of the troopers on the helmet. The two stormtroopers spun towards him, blasters raised. But the boy had already vanished.
A Bantha horn sounded from above as Dade raced through a warren of back alleys and dusty streets. Plumes of smoke billowed out of factories, tarnishing once-gleaming buildings. Finally, he reached Monument Plaza, a wide square with four bulbous, roughly conical black statues. Above it hovered the First Order Capitol, a dark, roughly hexagonal structure blocking out the light. Building-like protrusions hung from its underside, as though in mockery of the city below. The tallest of the projections stretched from the center of the Capitol to a transparisteel dome in the center of the plaza. Sealed inside the dome was the rocky peak of one of Coruscant's highest mountains.
Thousands of people were gathered in the square. Their attention was drawn to a high platform on which First Order stormtrooper executioners held a ragged, hooded figure. A row of troopers stood in a line before the dais.
Dade wove through the crowd, pushing closer to the dais. A towering hologram of Chancellor Armitage Hux flickered on above the platform. The hologram spoke.
"Today, another conspirator stands charged with treason."
The stormtroopers removed the prisoner's hood, revealing the hairy, jowled face of Biss Kova.
"Though support for his cause has all but vanished, let this day remind us of the consequences for defying our Supreme Leader," Hux continued, his voice echoing across the square.
The executioners led Biss Kova to a mechanism hanging over the edge of the dais. The device had two thin steel posts which held a hissing red lightsaber blade between them. A rack lay under it. Biss Kova stared ahead silently.
"Kylo Ren is not without pity, just as the traitor before you is not without remorse. And so, your benevolent ruler offers to spare this. . . man's life in exchange for the location of the Resistance Base," Hux's hologram said.
Biss Kova's face tightened slightly. He began chanting, "Kofa rebiva tora famlia. . ."
Hux grew annoyed. "So be it," he said.
The Chancellor's image motioned to the executioner stormtroopers. They strapped Biss Kova into the guillotine, positioning his head under the blade. The alien continued to chant defiantly.
A woman in the crowd covered Dade's eyes. He peeled her fingers away angrily. He would not ignore what was happening. He would bear witness to this outrage, this atrocity. His jaw clenched as Hux gave the final, decisive signal.
The lightsaber blade fell.
From the First Order Capitol, Hux looked down at the thousands gathered in Monument Plaza. They were a distant blur from this height.
Hux heard boot-heels clicking behind him. He turned to see Commander Sellik, his second in military command, a solidly-built man several decades older than Hux.
"Sir? They're here," Sellik said in a low baritone.
"Good," Hux said. He strode purposefully towards the Capitol's war room, the teal-uniformed officer following him.
A clawed hand reached into a silver tureen of baby shaaks huddling together for warmth. The shaaks tried to climb the sides of the dish with their tiny legs as the hand grabbed one of the very plumpest of the animals. The hand's owner, Lord Gherlid, threw the squealing shaak into his razor-toothed mouth and crunched down on it. The animal's screaming stopped. Lord Gherlid sucked the blubber out of the shaak's bulbous abdomen and spit its carcass onto the floor. It landed with a wet splat.
The alien warlord sat at a long table in the Capitol war room, crowded with galactic despots and magnates allied—at least for the moment—with the First Order. Tribal chiefs coated in elaborate robes and stolen jewels sat shoulder to shoulder with arms dealers dressed in elaborate formal wear. They all looked up as Chancellor Hux entered the room and sat down. His nostrils flared at the foul smell of the more unkempt beings in attendance. Sellik stood at attention beside the door.
The participants of the meeting looked at each other, unwilling to break the silence. Finally, a pale human wearing a tall black hat cleared his throat. "The Kuat Drive Yards are displeased with your performance, Chancellor," he said in a thin, whispery voice. "You promised us your soldiers would protect our profit margin. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I assure you, the First Order will recompense Kay-Dee-Wye for the damage caused to your facilities," Hux replied, "and the stolen Destroyer will soon be found. Our probe droids are scouring the galaxy as we speak."
Lord Gherlid gave a harsh laugh, spraying bits of baby shaak on the table. "A Dreadnought-class warship just slipped through your fingers, Hux. Your words don't inspire confidence."
"A lone signal won't be difficult to find. Our transmissions blockade has silenced millions of systems," Chancellor Hux said irritably.
Gherlid thrust another shaak into his maw. "You can silence planets, not people," he said through a full mouth. "There have been uprisings, even on my worlds. We must not allow the seeds of revolution to take root."
The Chancellor drew himself up in his seat and spoke louder, to make it clear he was addressing the entire room. "The First Order will punish those who defy your rule. Submit your youth for conditioning. They will teach your elders the rule of law."
Jor Nult, a Weequay with long, filthy dreadlocks, responded. "It's Skywalker they believe in, not the law. And his apprentice, this girl, this Jedi. She's become a symbol of hope."
A Harch weapons dealer named Raykar Shen twitched his pedipalps and clicked his curved fangs together. "The people believe she will destroy you, Hux," he intoned loftily. "And your master."
Hux sneered. "Kylo Ren is no master, certainly not mine."
A shapeless, fleshy being called Uggmot pounded on the table with his tiny hands. "We must kill the last Jedi!" he said in a thick alien language.
"The Knights of Ren have been dispatched to eliminate her," Hux answered.
Lord Gherlid momentarily ceased picking his teeth with a baby shaak leg. "Our fates in the hands of zealots?" he growled. "You ask for our confidence, yet provide nothing to inspire it. Where is Kylo Ren?"
Chancellor Hux took a deep breath before replying. "The Supreme Leader will return when he acquires the knowledge he seeks."
His audience stirred, unsatisfied.
"When?" Jor Nult asked.
Hux spoke through gritted teeth. "Soon."