Chapter 4: Night Assassin - Part III
A few hours later, in a room of the Imperial Security Bureau…
Darth Vader was kneeling to Palpatine's hologram.
"I see, that female assassin can control winds." After hearing Darth Vader's report, Emperor Palpatine said thoughtfully.
"I'm sorry I didn't catch her." Said Darth Vader. "From what she said I found this woman was hired by someone and she kills every target, no matter good or bad. So, I think we should find who hired her."
Palpatine thought for a while, he suddenly asked, "Did the assassin left any messages?"
Vader was silent after listened to Palpatine's asking. After a few seconds, he said carefully, "Master, I'm afraid we are not the only Empire in the galaxy!" Vader didn't tell Palpatine about Teigu and the general whose name is Esdeath.
"Hmm…It seems that my biggest worry has happened!" Palpatine seemed already known, "The guardian troops of the palace have recovered that scattered artwork a short period ago. Now we can see that this artwork is not from Rakata Prime. It is actually from the Unknown Region of the galaxy. Probably it belongs to the planet where this assassin came from."
"This woman has insect creatures that are Force resistible. She also has the mysterious ability to control winds." Palpatine said seriously, "If there are other Empires that can compare with us in the Unknown Region, then it's undoubtedly a great threat to us!"
"What is my batting my master?" Vader asked Palpatine. "Go to the Unknown Region and search for the assassin and her consignor. If you discovered the Empire which mentioned by the assassin, then do everything to make them acknowledge allegiance to us!"
"Yes, master," Vader replied. "But master, it seems that my senses are still being clouded."
"As do mine." Palpatine had the same feeling. "So, I say it again. Do it carefully, my apprentice! Because you are dealing with some power that unfamiliar to you."
Palpatine's hologram message closed after he finished speaking. Vader stood up and turned around to the door of this room. Since then, the door opened and Admiral Piett came in.
"Lord Vader!" Piett saluted hastily to the Sith Lord. "Report!" Vader said rudely.
"Yes, my lord." Piett adjusted his tone for the reason of sudden and said, "News is just coming in of we lost contact with an Imperial Star Destroyer which is patrolling the border of the galaxy. The star destroyer carried some crystal samples (Kyber Crystal) that the Emperor asked for and it planned to return next week."
"Where did the star destroyer lost contact?" Vader asked.
"At the outer rim where is closest to the Unknown Region. We also received a video from this star destroyer before its missing. Its content looks horrible!" Piett answered nervously.
"Where is the video?" Vader asked. Piett then gave Vader a piece of chip.
Vader took the chip and returned to the control panel. Then he started playing the video on this chip.
What's shown in the video is a tunnel of the missing star destroyer. In the tunnel, many dead human bodies are lying on the ground. There are stormtroopers', officers', and admirals' bodies. A lot of sickening insects are climbing out of the wounds on those bodies. Later on, a woman appeared in the video. She walks calmly and unhurried through these bodies. The insects automatically moved out of the way when she is passing.
"It's her!" Vader found the woman was the assassin he fought just before.
"The recordings sent back from the star destroyer shown that the source of this bio-attack was a nameless body. The body was transferred to the star destroyer by a rescue capsule. The admiral commanded to isolate the body to do further inspections. Then these insects hatched out of the body and started attacking the crew by the time the medical officials opened the sealed cabin." Piett finished his description of this whole event.
"Rescue capsule…" Vader seemed to realized something and asked, "did the rescue capsule installed any location devices?"
"No, it didn't." Piett was sure about it.
"Then was there a twisted snake tattoo on the body's stomach?" Vader asked again.
"Yes, my lord," Piett said surprised.
Vader didn't say anything else. He took out two glass tubes and gave them to Piett. In the tube, there were some insects he caught during the battle with the female assassin.
"Send these insects for analyzation at once," Vader said to Piett. "When will the Executor be ready?"
"According to admiral Ozzel, the Executor suffered minor damage in the previous hijacking, but first estimates project it's relatively limited in scope. It would take at least a month to be ready for its launch." Piett replied.
"Enough!" Vader seemed very angry with this answer. "Let Devastator be ready for launch."
"Yes, my lord," Piett answered. He then took these insect samples and left this room.
After Piett left, Vader turned around and looked at the female assassin in the video again and said, "Let's see what is going to wait for me in the Unknown Region."
At the same time, on a planet in the Unknown Region of the galaxy.
It's an evening. In a room of the imperial palace located at the center of the Capital City, a group of bizarrely dressed men and women were playing some curious magic. These people carried a lot of equipment with strange shapes. Some of them look like knives, some look like an eye. Others are made from human or animal bones. These people are sorcerers and astrologists that hired by the Empire to divine for the Prime Minister.
Later on, a man in a purple robe with golden edges who took a Serpent Ward stood up from a brass telescope and came to a middle-aged man with slick dark hair, Fu Manchu mustache, and glasses in an imperial uniform and said to him, "Lord Saikyuu, the three stars are aligned. I'm afraid the ancient prophecy that handed down for thousands of years would come true soon."
"Damn it!" grumbled the man whose name is Saikyuu. He held his head with his right hand for a while and said, "Okay, that's all for tonight." Everyone else in the room stopped what they were doing after hearing Saikyuu's words.
Saikyuu then led these people to the interior part of the palace. They went across the luxury hall of the imperial palace and finally arrived at a room with huge double doors. Saikyuu opened the door without the least hesitation. All of them entered this strange room.
The room was a big bright lavish dining room. In the center of the room, there was a long rectangular table that covered a piece of a white tablecloth. The table was full of delicacies from land and sea. One side of the table, a huge fat old man was sitting on a chair and eating a gigot that ripped from a whole roast lamb. The old man was eating and looking at the rest of the food on the table rapaciously. It looked like he wanted to swallow the whole table! This man's name is Honest, he is the Prime Minister of the Empire. Saikyuu is his assistant who runs the country while the minister busies himself with his indulgences just like him.
"Your Excellency." Saikyuu saluted to the Prime Minister Honest. "No need to stand on ceremony," Honest said when he was eating. "Is there anything new?"
"According to the astrologer's observation, three stars are just aligned. The Chosen One who was told by the old prophecy will land on the Empire soon and release all of the citizens at the bottom. Lead them and overthrow our rule." Saikyuu said carefully. "We are sorry, but our powers are limited and unable to predict which location this Chosen One will appear. The only thing we know that the Chosen One is among bottom level." The astrologer who just talked with Saikyuu said just after Saikyuu stopped talking.
"Hum!" After hearing what the astrologer said. The Prime Minister threw his gigot into the plate in front of him and shouted angrily, "Idiot! You cannot even find a "black sheep". How do I need to feed you all!"
"Prime minister, please calm down." Saikyuu hurried to dissuade the Prime Minister when he saw this case. "Everyone here has done their best. However, this is a spiritual thing that is hard for our human beings to understand. Even Teigu, World Encyclopedia: Rongorongo has only listed some omens before this Chosen One's landing." Saikyuu took out a huge book with an eyeball on its cover page and said.
"I see." after listened Saikyuu's explanation, the Prime Minister calmed down a little bit. Saikyuu said again, "Since the Chosen One is among newborns. All we need to do now is to kill all the newborns of the bottom. I will send my best assassination squad and spies to do this job. I'm sure it will be all clean."
"Good, I'll leave this on your hand." Prime Minister Honest said and picked up the gigot and eat again.
"There is only one issue…" Saikyuu suddenly realized something, "When we do our jobs, the small atrocious group that hindered the Prime Minister will take their actions, too." What Saikyuu talked about was Night Raid, the assassin organization of the Revolution Amy running rampant around the Capital City.
"So, it is time to call general Esdeath return to the Capital City." Prime Minister Honest said when he was eating.
Everyone in the room was silent after heard these words. Now they all know that the Prime Minister was getting serious.