Chapter Four: Core Beliefs
Cipher Nine's meeting with Darth Jadus had left her drained and shaken. When she reported to Keeper, he took one look at her and sent her home for the day. When she asked after Kaliyo, WatcherTwo informed her that the Rattataki had already gone to her new lodgings in the Alien Sector.
"Why there?" Cipher asked. "As Intelligence, she should be exempt from the requirement."
"It was her preference." Watcher Two appeared just as bewildered. "She said she liked the chaos."
Cipher had updated her data implants with Kaliyo's address, then followed Keeper's instructions to go home.
She had not been inside her apartment for more than two years. Even so, the maintenance droids had kept everything immaculately clean, and everything was precisely in order.
She did not own much. Like everyone, she had a holo-station and an entertainment center, but neither a vid nor a game appealed. Exercise equipment stood in the far corner: a bike, a rower, free weights, and a tumble pad, all meticulously organized. A workout might help banish Jadus from her mind… But no. Free time was a rare luxury, and that was not how she wanted to spend it.
She turned inevitably to her only real vice: her library of old-fashioned, leather-bound books.
She had collected exactly 207 titles, 24 of which she had purchased during her time in Republic space. Any time she came across a new volume, she would make use of intermediaries, delivery couriers, and sometimes thieves and smugglers to first obtain it and then ferry it to Imperial Space.
With the circuitous route she insisted on, it would take months for a new acquisition to reach Dromund Kaas, whereupon her droid had been specially programmed to file it: Top shelf for histories and treatises; second shelf for romances and adventure stories; and lower shelves for miscellany. She even installed a secret compartment for banned titles, and had designed a subroutine for the droid to store books there and then perform an immediate memory wipe.
She had found a rare treasure last year at a bazaar on Nar Shadaa: Fire and Duty, a romance that had been published during the days of the Old Empire. She curled up on her couch with it, quickly lulled by the comforting clichés and timeless lessons.
The heroine was the naïve young daughter of a corrupt Republic Senator. Kidnapped by bandits, who roamed free on the lawless Republic worlds, she was rescued by a brave Imperial soldier, who taught her the importance of duty and order. As she prepared to defect to Imperial space to be with her lover, the bandits – secretly working for her father – kidnapped her and…
Cipher jumped as her holocommunicator went off. It was Keeper. As his translucent image appeared before her, she saw that he was frowning deeply.
"Has something happened, sir?" she asked.
"Darth Jadus," he replied. "He has asked to see you again."
An involuntary shiver. She shook it off quickly, but she had no doubt that Keeper had noticed.
"Of course," she said with a curt nod. "When should I report?"
Keeper's expression grew even graver.
"He wants to see you immediately." His voice was neutral, but she could read the worry in his eyes. "I would not advise keeping him waiting. Keeper out."
"Kneel."
Cipher had barely entered Darth Jadus's office when he gave the command. She obeyed immediately. Only a fool would deliberately antagonize any Sith Lord, let alone a member of the Dark Council.
At least this time I got to walk here under my own power.
She and Jadus were not alone. Three Sith acolytes sat along the wall, metal straps restraining them in uncomfortable steel chairs. They had been heavily cybernetically altered, their eyes replaced with computerized readers. Their heads had been shaved, with implants of various configurations jutting out from their scalps. She could not determine if they were men or women - anything that had once distinguished them as individals was gone. The three moved their mouths as they worked, their lips making almost mechanical clicking sounds. Cipher realized that they had no tongues.
A holo-recording activated. It was of her, speaking to Keeper during her mission on Hutta. She felt dread as she recognized the conversation: Her angry lapse when Keeper had informed her of the death of Karrells Jarvis's son at the hands of an angry Sith. She saw herself spit out, "Sith!" As if it was a profane oath. She winced. Her disgust was far more visible than she had believed.
Javus shut down the recording.
"Well?" Voice as emotionless as ever.
Cipher's mind raced, grasping for some explanation or apology that the Dark Lord might find acceptable. Nothing presented itself.
"It was an ill-advised moment of frustration," she admitted. "I had been working on Karrells Javis since my arrival, and the operation was going well. The death of his son complicated the mission, and forced me to take actions I did not prefer."
Actions she had not preferred. She had been genuinely fond of the old criminal. Killing him had bothered her more than she'd have liked.
"I understand that it's no excuse," she finished, hoping that her frankness would count for something.
A moment of tense silence. Then a harsh, grating sound from Jadus. It was several seconds before she realized that the noise was the Dark Lord's laughter.
"You'll be even more frustrated when I tell you why the apprentice attacked," he said. "Apparently, upon meeting him, Javis's elder son offered his hand instead of bowing. He meant no disrespect, and I have no doubt the apprentice knew that. But he wanted to kill someone, and the young man's error gave him an excuse."
Jadus laughed again. Cipher felt a wave of anger rising in her. She locked her eyes firmly on the floor and focused on breathing until the emotion passed.
"You have a low opinion of the new Sith, don't you?" Jadus asked.
Eyes on the floor. What exact metal was it made of? She wasn't suffering the disorientation of this morning, but her cybernetics had still gone offline the moment she entered the Sanctum.
"I'm sure it's not my place to say, my Lord," she said as soon as she trusted herself to speak.
"I don't think much of them either. To them, the title of 'Sith' is just a license to behave as common murderers. They want what children want – unlimited freedom without responsibility. They may know the words of the Sith Code, but even those who once understood its meaning have forgotten."
He only barely seemed to be addressing her at this point, his speech turning into what Cipher suspected had become a familiar rant.
"Darth Zash schemes against Darth Skotia, maneuvering for power. Skotia schemes against Zash. Both are arrogant enough to believe their plots have gone unnoticed by the Dark Council. Lord Grantham hides away in his estate, preparing his own conspiracies, while Darth Baras concocts ever more elaborate plans of his own. Even Darth Thanaton, who thinks himself above such matters, acts to thwart any Sith he deems unworthy. There is no center to any of them, no guiding philosophy, no core belief. Just a constant, mad dash for short-term advantage."
Cipher looked up cautiously. The cybernetic acolytes still clicked in their chairs. She averted her gaze. In the center of the room, the Dark Lord had fallen silent.
She chanced a question. "What do you believe in, my Lord?"
"I believe in the democratization of fear." He sounded amused. "Many in the Dark Council hold themselves above the mundane business of the Empire. This is why they have lost their way. We must spread the ways of the Sith across the Empire entire. We must plant terror and hatred in every heart, from the lowliest street vendor to the most powerful Sith Lord."
He waved a hand, almost absently. "You may rise."
Cipher stood. She held herself at attention, waiting for his next word.
"Less than an hour ago," Jadus said, "there was an attack on Darth Baras's forces. A rather ham-handed attempt to intercept a secret delivery."
Cipher felt her eyes widen. Instinctively, she tried to bring up her implants, to look at the feed from Intelligence. The absence of data, reminding her that her cybernetics were deactivated, left her feeling like an amputee who had attempted to lift an object with a missing arm.
"You wouldn't have found any record," Jadus told her. "There was only a single assailant. Even with certain advantages, he was easily dealt with by Darth Baras's apprentice. Baras now holds that information, and like a toddler with a new toy, he will not share."
Cipher said nothing. She wanted to snap at him for his hypocrisy, revealing his own schemes right after his big speech condemning the same behavior in his fellow Sith. But her eyes flicked to the cyber-acolytes, and she held her peace.
Jadus chuckled. "Worry not, Agent. These pitiful creatures lacked any talent of their own, so I remade them to be useful. You possess talent and intelligence, and that makes you useful to me."
His eyes turned toward the acolytes. The metal straps on the chairs retracted. In unison, the three stood, turned, and walked from the room. They might as well have been robots.
"Now we are alone," Jadus announced. "To answer the question you fear to ask: Yes, I stooped to involving myself in these machinations. Darth Baras is wary by nature, and now his paranoia is at its height. The merest nudge will cause him to act, spreading his fear among this world's Sith. It is a small start, but enough to disrupt the decadent complacency that has engulfed Dromund Kaas."
"And what is my role?" Cipher asked. Then, a second later, remembered to add: "My Lord."
"For now, it is enough that you act as my eyes and ears in Imperial Intelligence. Watch those around you, and trust no one."
Jadus turned away, his back to her. Cipher realized that she had been dismissed.
As she moved to the exit, he spoke one more time.
"You belong to me, Cipher Nine. More completely than any slave to its master. I have the power to raise you to heights undreamt… or to turn you into a hollow shell. My power over you is complete."
Cipher knew that he spoke the truth. The image of the transformed acolytes was seared into her consciousness. There was nothing she would not do to avoid that fate. Which meant that from this moment on, any freedom she possessed was merely what Darth Jadus allowed her.