Chapter 5: Jazal

In Hyperspace, Aboard the Bisectrix

Most mysteriously, a defector going by the codename 'Brachia' had called in, claiming to have inside information on the defenses around Murkhana. What he had told them thus far checked out, but Jazal found this whole business far too convenient. Tarkin naturally had other concerns.

The Admiral spoke to the Koorivar's holopresence with deep suspicion. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't," Brachia answered, "but if you are going to get around the droid defenses, you are going to have to listen to me."

Jazal sensed Tarkin's lip curl slightly. He turned and smirked at her.

Regardless of whether this Koorivar was a real defector or merely an omen signalling that the Separatists knew they were coming, this was good news.

They don't know the Supreme Chancellor gave us a way to slice into the droids and shut them all down. Jazal fought to hide her excitement.

"Anyways," Brachia whispered. On her ShadowSync, Jazal could feel the Koorivar's holopresence looking nervously to the right, "I have to go."

Loud chatter erupted across the bridge the moment Brachia's holopresence vanished.

"It's a trap!" a comm officer stammered.

"This means they know we are coming," a Clone said darkly.

"Governor," Captain Emose whisper-yelled, "you must inform Coruscant immediately. We—Wait, why are you smiling sir?"

Tarkin twirled around to face the Captain. "There are elements to this plan, of which you have not been apprised. It is clear, however, that this Separatist, defector or not, is completely ignorant of them."

"Admiral," Jazal said sternly, clasping her hands together under her sleeves "I think now is the time."

"Oh, I have already started the process," Tarkin retorted, then walked down the ramp into one of the four-man crew pits. "Have you analysed it?"

Jazal followed the Admiral, standing at his side. Never having been in the crew pit before, she reached out curiously to the surfaces.

The pit was now quite cramped with both Tarkin, Jazal, and the various crew in it. There was no longer enough room for a chair to be pushed back from a station.

"Yes Admiral—I mean Governor," a human ensign stammered. "The program is not a slicer virus at all. It matches the shape of a genuine Permissive Action Link, or PAL."

"In plain Basic," Tarkin huffed impatiently.

"An access control program sir, not a virus," another Ensign, this one a Clone, explained, turning around from his station. "This means whoever gave it to you had access to a security device. Someone with administrative access to the Separatist droid army would plug this datacard into a HoloNet transceiver—"

"—Tarkin, this means," Jazal gasped aloud. Realising the disclosure of the Permissive Access Link's owner would be unwise, she leaned in close to Tarkin, whispering. "This means the Chancellor has the actual droid shutdown code. He was being literal. This isn't the product of some slicer intelligence op, but the actual code."

Jazal sensed Tarkin's muscles twitch, his eyebrows raised in complete surprise. But only for a moment. He narrowed his eyes and hissed "I know. You do not have to teach me how to consume cheese."

Frowning, Jazal folded her arms over her chest. The arrogance. The pride this human—Wait, how would the Supreme Chancellor or the SBI get a copy of this? Could this even be copied?

"Ensign," Jazal said, turning to the Clone security analyst. "Does the Permissive Access Link have a listed owner? Surely they would keep track of the user."

"You're right," the Clone muttered, plugging the PAL into his terminal. "One second," he added, frantically pressing buttons on his keyboard.

Tarkin leaned in, staring at the screen curiously.

"Aha!" the Clone exclaimed excitedly. "The user is a… Kilo Romeo Aurek Tango Aurek Aurek."

"For heavens sake!" Tarkin hissed angrily. "The user is Krataa. Does that name mean anything to you Jazal?"

"What a strange name," Jazal muttered. "Krataa. Krataa? Huh, maybe it is Old Nabooan or something."

"Probably an alias," the Clone noted, earning a glare from Tarkin.

Jazal sighed. "So, Governor, now that we know it is genuine, do we inform the crew? What about the crews of the other ships?"

Tarkin raised his thumb to his chin, frowning as he began pondering something.

o.o.o.o.o

"At this stage," Jazal explained, "I will lead Team Warhammer to the bridge. Assuming the engine room is ours, the Tat'ak will be ours."

While Jazal could not see it, in the briefing room, she was standing in front of a massive hologram of a Trade Federation Lucrehulk, with numerous smaller Corporate Alliance Fantail-class destroyers floating around it.

"Any questions?" she asked, turning to the entirely Clone group.

Commander Trotter shifted his stance. Jazal sensed him frown with suspicion even deeper than the suspicion she now felt. "General, why would the droids on a Separatist Lucrehulk ship be expected to shut down to a Corporate Alliance VID code?"

"Good question," Jazal sighed. "I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it's not a Corporate Alliance VID code. But the important thing is, we'll know it worked the moment we're in the system. If it doesn't work, or only works on the Corporate Alliance-built ships but not on the droids aboard a Trade Federation ship, we can abort."

The dozens of Clones circled around Jazal began muttering to each other, some excited, more suspicious.

Jazal's eyebrows furrowed over her eyeless sockets. Why would a single code work on all Separatist droids from all factions?

o.o.o.o.o

Fen Kar'fon (CT-0099, "Buzz")

With the news that the Republic possessed a PAL system to authorise a droid shut-down command, Brachia's help and exposure to the Galactic Republic was completely unnecessary. It that was not bad enough, half a year of Spynet work, the death of their top agent in the criminal underworld, wasting time to retrieve and help the Republic find Itoll Oc'skar and Lir Sey'les, all of it was for nothing.

The Chancellor could have used this at any time. He could have ended the war already. Under Fen's helmet, his human body's face was scrunched in tired determination as he wriggled around in the bulkhead behind a comm relay. With all personal communications jammed, the only way to get a message to Kothlis was to use one of the ship's communications systems.

He lifted his datapad up, typing a hasty message. "TARKIN IN POSSESSION OF PERMISSIVE ACCESS LINK. OWNER CODENAME KRATAA. POSSIBLE ALIAS FOR SUPREME CHANCELLOR."

AN:

Hope you've been enjoying this so far. After receiving some commentary critiquing the PAL and Palpatine having a Separatist shutdown code, I thought I should clarify.

The PAL and Separatist shutdown code is one of my intentional retcons, rather than my confusion over the movies. I know that in Episode III, Palpatine sent Vader to Mustafar, where he told Vader to "send a message to the Trade Federation" to shut down the droids after killing the Separatist leaders.

On its own, this doesn't make sense to me without a retcon. Why would the Trade Federation listen to Vader? How did Vader have enough time to send a message (as opposed to a computer command) when Padmé landed literally 5 seconds later (Palpatine told Anakin at 1:42:48 to shut down the droids, Padmé's ship appeared on radar in the very same scene 1:42:53)? Finally, why would the message only be directed to the Trade Federation, when the TechnoUnion, Corporate Alliance, Retail Caucus, and other factions all had droids that were at war with the Republic?

Additionally, in the canon book Catalyst by James Luceno, the whole droid army attacking Lokori turned off all at once, during the very last battle of the Clone Wars. The droids didn't receive a message telling them to shut down—they just turned off.

One last point, my concept of Palpatine having backdoor access was inspired by Legends. In Legends, Palpatine activated Order 99 in the droid Army on the Planet Bogoa.

But, of course, I am just a fan and may be wrong. I am not offended if you disagree with my interpretation, or disagree with my PAL as a retcon.

Whatever the reader's opinion though, I think it's absolutely certain Sidious must have had a way to shut down the droids as a Plan B in case the Separatists turned on him. Not having a plan when the Separatists outnumbered the Republic 1,000 to 1 would be foolish.