Imperial Intelligence
"You there! Yeah, you. You're the new Watcher?"
No sooner had she set foot out of Keeper's office than she was assaulted by a short, but forceful looking woman with greying red hair and what looked like a permanent scowl etched into the lines of her face.
"Well? Don't just stand there and gape at me. Are you or are you not?" the woman waved a datapadd energetically at her as she spoke. Annoyance clung to her like perfume, and Shara managed to retort, "What else would I be? A Jedi?"
The red haired woman snorted contemptuously, giving her a once over. "You're no Jedi, Love. No field agent either. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options."
Seizing Shara's hand, she shook it vigorously for about half a second before dropping the handshake abruptly and announcing, "Watcher Three. Not at your service. You're at mine, new blood."
Shara's eyes narrowed, but the woman took no notice, steamrolling over any retort that might have found its way out of her mouth. "I have seniority here. You'll do as I say if you know what's good for you. I don't know what kind of training you received," her face suggested she didn't think it was very satisfactory, "but you can forget all that. It doesn't prepare you for the real thing."
"So I've been told," Shara replied curtly.
"Yes, Keeper has a way of knocking the new ones down a peg. Damned children coming in here with delusions of grandeur. Say, why are you here?"
Shara opened her mouth to answer, but Watcher Three cut her off with an impatient wave. "No, never mind. Doesn't matter, and I don't care. You'll soon realize the reality of the way things work here and what we do."
Three's brownish amber eyes reminded Shara of a bird of prey, particularly now as they narrowed in thoughtful contemplation. Shara had no intention of being a mouse, however.
"Then orient me, and stop wasting my time," Shara said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, your time's at a premium now, is it? Well then, you shouldn't have any trouble getting right to work. Here," the datapadd was shoved none too gently into her hands. "Your station's over there," one finger pointed down the row of workspaces, "Two left you a right mess to clean up. Hope you're not squeamish. You'll be dealing with the narcos. Two said they've been pushing a lot of nasty things to the front, but I don't know how far he got before they shipped him off."
Her frown deepened, and her mood turned impossibly more sour. "Shouldn't be too difficult for you to start on. Don't bother me unless it's an emergency. Cipher Six will be reporting to you in," she glanced at her chrono, "twenty minutes, so you'd better have something for her to go on. Well? Why are you still standing there? Hurry up!"
At first glance, the former Watcher Two's workstation appeared to be blessedly uncluttered. Peering into his files, however, Shara soon discovered a problem. Although highly organized (the fact that there was a method to the madness was obvious), she was entirely unfamiliar with the philosophy behind that organization. Two was not, apparently, a man used to conventional methods of structuring his data. This wouldn't have posed much of a problem if she'd been able to get a moment or two to skim some of the documents.
But all of his files were encrypted.
And she had absolutely no idea what the key could be.
After staring at interesting, but ultimately unhelpful, titles for a few seconds, Shara sighed heavily and set to work. She wasn't about to be embarrassed by something so trivial on her first day.
The first day of the rest of my life...I'm not sure if that's a morbid thought or not.
She'd been admittedly proud, excited even, to be chosen for the role. She still felt that way, in spite of everything. As Two's database slowly unveiled itself to her, she allowed herself the momentary luxury of imagining what it might feel like in five or ten years from this point, when she'd gotten used to this new place and these new people.
She didn't think she'd ever get used to people in general, but...maybe, with time, she could prove herself enough to the Empire at large that it wouldn't matter. Her oddities would be accepted.
The holotransmitter sitting on her desk startled her. Had it been twenty minutes already?
A staticky blue image appeared when she absentmindedly hit the switch, flickered for a moment, then went out. Frowning, Shara attempted to reestablish the connection, only to be startled a second time at the voice emanating through the earpiece she'd found among Two's things.
**"...Don...bot...Two...l's...ly bad...ng...dio?"**
It was decidedly eerie, listening to a disembodied voice whispering into her ear from half a galaxy away. Glancing about self consciously (as though anyone had time or inclination to be watching her), Shara scooted closer to the desk.
"I'm reading you, Cipher Six, but it's distorted."
There was such a long, drawn out burst of staticky silence, that she felt compelled to break with a tentative, "Hello? Are you still there?"
**"Who the fuck are you?"**
Hearing the voice clearly made Shara's stomach clench and her blood run cold. "I could ask you the same question."
Whoever it was, she very clearly wasn't Imperial. Shara had trouble placing the accent though.
**"Well, I'm Six, like you said."** The voice was cold and flat. Deadpan, even. The only expression Shara could really pick out hinted at tolerant boredom.
"You're not Imperial." Shara was both surprised and disconcerted by that revelation. She had not yet had time to do more than skim the first page of Six's file, but there was certainly no mention about an allied foreign national in the little she'd read.
**"Are you sure?"**
Shara repressed a shudder. Something about the abrupt change in intonation, the way the agent's voice had dropped to an amused, conspiratorial whisper made her skin crawl.
"I guess that would be difficult to verify at the moment," she muttered noncommittally.
**(Static)"You haven't answered my question."**
Did she not know? How did she not know? It had been over three months since Two's incarceration. Surely word would have traveled to even the most remote of his field agents in that time.
It was inconceivable that someone hadn't informed this woman of the switch.
"I'm...Watcher Two," Shara turned the words around in her mouth, not used to the sound of them quite yet. She felt suddenly very small, and very young.
There was silence for a long moment on the other end of the galaxy. When the woman spoke again, she sounded brisk and irritated.
**"I'm in a time crunch, but this conversation isn't over. Whoever you are, listen up. I'm not gonna repeat myself."**
She then proceeded to launch into a summarized debriefing of her activities tracing and disrupting activities of a pharmaceutical company called Chayon over the past five months. Skirting in and out of Republic territory, Six had maintained strict radio silence, which explained why she hadn't known about Two's termination.
In spite of her speaker's obvious disdain for her, Shara was happy to finally be of some use. Her comments were met with derision, and she was embarrassed to admit she made more than a few blunders of inexperience. However, a handful of her suggestions and observations appeared to meet grudging approval from the Cipher, if the woman's silence was any indicator.
**"Running out of time here."**
"Of course. I'll begin investigations into the leads you gave me. When can I expect to hear from you again?"
**"Hard to say. You're lucky I got word to Three this time. (Mutter) Should have realized something was up when she answered."**
"I'll be waiting..." The line went dead. Shara reached up to her ear, lightly resting her fingers on the earpiece but not removing it. The Cipher had certainly given her a lot to get started with, and several more agents needed tending to in the field.
She could do this. She had been created to do this.
It was raining when she left. Night had fallen long ago, and only Keeper's cold command to 'go home' alerted her to just how late it had gotten. People still roamed the streets, of course. As with any major metropolitan area, Kaas City never really slept. The level and character of activity had shifted though. Now, rather than raucous parties of nobles or hordes of traveling workers, smaller groups and solitary drunks made their way under the shadow of the dark towers of durasteel.
Here and there, Shara thought she caught a glimpse of hooded figures lingering in the shadows. These, more than even the occasional leering drunk, made her skin crawl. She didn't live far, though, and, after spending the entirety of the day and most of the night within the cool, air filtered confines of Headquarters, the thought of getting some fresh air greatly appealed to her.
The jungle air hung heavy and moist on her skin. Kept pleasantly cool by the wind and near ceaselessly rain, it washed over her like a gentle wave, rather than drowning her in its embrace. Her steps echoed faintly on the rain slicked duracrete, accompanied by the soft murmur of night noises. Snatches of conversation, the dull hum of speeders, and the noise of droplets of water cascading to the world below filled her ears. Pools of light where the rainfall reflected the city cast light on her as she passed.
Her residence had been chosen for her. She assumed it was due to the building's proximity to headquarters. Now, at nearly three in the morning, she was going to get her first glimpse of her new home.
Home. That was a funny word.
The dark building looming ahead of her didn't phase her, but that was solely because it so perfectly reflected the Imperial ideal. Harsh, geometric lines, greys and reds and blacks...
Shara took comfort in the familiar uniformity. A few years ago, the forced conformity and control might have irked her. Now? It just made her feel safe. She may not particularly like the look of the tiny living space she'd (hopefully) be growing old in, but knowing that someone somewhere had considered her basic needs was comforting in a strange way. She fit into this Empire, a single cog in the whole machine. She had a purpose, and she knew that purpose.
A little bit of interior decorating may not be out of place though. Maybe a plant or two. As her single window faced the wall of the adjoining tower, she imagined she wouldn't get much natural sunlight during the day. However, that could be remedied easily enough with the proper lighting equipment.
Shara decided she'd worry about that later, though. It was past three now, and she only had a few hours before she was due back at her post. She wasn't particularly tired. The scientists responsible for her creation had ensured she didn't need to sleep nearly as much as the average human. However, she thought it might be a good idea to give her brain a chance to reset, to process the entirety of the transition.
Thus, without further ado, she made her way to bed.