The Name's Kallus, Alexsandr Kallus Part Three
A.N: Timeline setting: Directly after part two
"So what about you? What's your story?" Alexsandr Kallus inquired to the Zeltron woman sitting opposite him. Nota was an enigma, that much he was sure. She had shown up out of nowhere at the party, and seemingly had been able to gain access to every piece of intel he needed.
And now it appeared she had more to offer him.
But first he wanted to know her, to know her story. After all, she had just asked him something personal. It was only right that she return the favour by answering a question from him.
"Not much of a story really. Lost my parents at a young age. Spent some time travelling doing small jobs for people. I've always been good at getting intel out of people, especially when they least suspect it. No one seems to suspect me, hence the spy work." Nota replied, swirling her drink around in circles, a contemplative look on her face. It was almost as if she was debating something on the inside.
"Are you ok?" Kallus couldn't help but ask, surprising himself at his own tenderness.
Clearly unfazed by her sudden relapse of memories, Nota locked eyes with Kallus again before smirking.
"I'm not nearly as interesting as you Kallus, though if there is one thing to know about me it's that I value loyalty above all else."
Kallus agreed with that sentiment. Loyalty was important, even if he himself was an imperial defector.
After all, one reason he had defected was due to the empire's lack of loyalty towards him. They hadn't even bothered to look for him when he had been stranded on that Geonosian moon with Zeb. It had taken a passing freighter picking him up to escape, and even then it had been pure chance.
So yes, Kallus valued loyalty as well.
"Glad we have that in common then." He replied, taking another sip of his drink, enjoying the warmth of it as it passed down his throat and into his stomach. He always enjoyed hot drinks. It was one of his few vices in life.
"Says the defector." Nota chuckled in response to Kallus' statement, before glancing around the café to seemingly ensure no one was listening in to them.
When she seemed content, Nota reached into her coat pocket, extracting a small holodisk and placing it on the table between them. To any passer-by's it would simply look like a small recording being shown between friends.
But Kallus knew that was not the case. Nota wanted to show him something after all, and whatever it was resided on this disk.
Once the disk was settled between them, Nota reached out and thumbed it on.
A small hologram faded into existence displaying two figures facing one another, evidently in the middle of an important conversation.
The first figure, despite being coloured blue due to the nature of the hologram, was evidently the Imperial Royal Guard that Nota had spoken about. The figure was not particularly tall, but was dressed in the standard armoured garment of a Royal Guard, and held in their hand a force pike.
The figure opposite of the royal guard was more recognizable. Mas Amedda.
"I do not understand the need for such secrecy my friend. Our late emperor has many loyal followers. If we make it known that we are here…" The hologram of Amedda spoke, his voice full of what seemed to be smugness.
The royal guard however clearly wasn't too happy.
"Firstly, we are not friends. We have a common goal, and that is the end of it. Secondly, if we make our presence public we will bring down the wrath of not only the rebellion, but the Jedi as well. The acolytes are not ready for open war against them, not yet."
The helmet that the royal guard wore not only obstructed the figures face, but also their voice. It was monotone, with a robotic edge to it, clearly meant to disguise the individual within the armour.
"Your acolytes put too much faith in the force. The Emperor himself was a force user, and it did him no good in the end. Military might and prowess are the key here." Amedda responded, clenching his fist in what appeared to either be a threat, or wild rampancy.
This did not go unnoticed by the guard.
"Careful now Amedda. The Emperor may have valued your worth but I do not. You will do well to remember that."
Amedda's hologram seemed to lurch back in surprise at something behind the hologram of the royal guard, and Kallus could have sworn he heard the sound of a blaster being charged up.
"Fine, you've made your point. So, what is the plan?" Amedda cleared his throat as he spoke, his ambitious tone gone and replaced with one of both fear and compliancy.
"I'm glad to see you are willing to cooperate. I'd hate to have to kill you!" The guard then taunted, gesturing behind themselves before continuing. "The acolytes seek to create a new breed of warriors. Ones who unlike both the Jedi or Sith lack any weakness. They will be the progeny of our Emperor, continuing to serve and spread his glorious might even in death."
Amedda seemed to huff to the monologue, as if he knew something conspicuous.
"I am surprised that someone of your… creed, is willing to support the Emperor."
The hologram seemed to freeze for a second, and despite it being a recording Kallus could have sworn he felt the room around him grow cold. Across from him Nota continued to watch, her face unmoving.
Then the royal guard spoke.
"I could say the same to you, Amedda. Now come, we have much to prepare for."
With that the hologram faded away, and Kallus found himself back in reality, the eyes of Nota staring directly at him, as if studying him and his reaction.
Trying to process everything in his head at once wasn't working. The recording hadn't revealed much more than he had already known, but it was confirmation at least.
"This was recorded last night at the palace after you left. Both Amedda and the Royal Guard were there, we just couldn't see them." Nota detailed, sipping her drink whilst Kallus listened.
"Do we know anything about this Royal Guard?" Kallus inquired. If he could find out the identity of the individual, it would be much easier to deal with them in person rather than going in blind.
However, his hopes were soon crushed as Nota shook her head, her shoulders sagging in disappointment. Kallus imagined his were too.
"Unfortunetly no, however, it that recording Amedda made reference to the creed of the guard." Nota answered, her voice full of speculation.
It could mean many things. Gender. Class.
But then something else clicked. The guard had responded to Amedda in kind, pointing out his creed in turn.
"Is it possible that this royal guard is non-human?" Kallus suggested, ideas springing in his head. The empire had been predominantly human, with human officials running pretty much all aspects of the empire.
But there had been non humans in their ranks too. Thrawn for one. And then there had been the various Inquisitors.
"Very possible I suppose, and it would make sense regarding the creed comment. But why would a non-human willing serve a racist tyrant like Palpatine?" Nota continued Kallus' line of thought, clearly both suspicious but willing to believe.
"Maybe they have some sense of loyalty to him. Or maybe they are just stupid, like I used to be." Kallus replied. "There have been non-humans serving him before. Just look at Amedda or Thrawn."
"True. Still doesn't make much sense." Nota replied, nursing her drink while looking away briefly.
"No one who serves the empire makes sense Nota." Kallus replied, voice full of disdain for those who willingly and loyally served Palpatine, even in death.
Nota made no comment in return, merely hummed beneath her breath before reaching into her pocket again and extracted a small device.
"Right, if you are going to break into the palace without setting off any alarms you will need this. It is a short range jamming device designed to disable security systems with a specialised EMP. Use this before entering and you should have a small window of time to do your job." Nota replied, handing the device to Kallus, who accepted it, turning it over in his hand. It was no larger than his hand, and resembled a comm link with modifications to it. A small antenna protruded from the top of it, clearly designed to send the signal that would shut off the alarms.
It was an unorthodox piece of kit, one that was clearly homemade. Kallus had to wonder where she got it from.
"Stole it from a bounty hunter named Cad Bane. Stupid Duros. Even he wasn't able to resist my charms." Nota answered, humour in her voice as she clearly remembered a fond memory.
The name wasn't familiar to Kallus, but he expected that whoever this 'Cad Bane' was was a notorious bounty hunter, so for Nota to steal from him was impressive.
Not that he was all that surprised to be honest. Nota was formidable, that much he knew.
"I'll be sure to put it to good use." Kallus replied, pocketing the device before finishing off his drink.
"I'm sure you will, though if all goes to plan I won't even hear about it." Nota replied, standing from her chair with a rogue smile on her face. "See you around sometime Kallus."
"I look forward to it." Kallus replied, standing from his own chair as the two headed back outside into the streets of Coruscant. Before she turned and left Kallus heard Nota speak one more time.
"Oh I'm sure you will Kallus."
And with that she was gone, once again disappearing into the crowds that meandered around the streets of Coruscant. Kallus had to admire her ability to disappear like that. He had a feeling that anyone who got on her bad side would probably end up disappearing as well, though a bit more permanently than Nota herself did.
Chuckling to himself, Kallus jumped when his comm link suddenly flared to life, Zeb's panicked voice coming through in what could only be described as gibberish.
"Whoa Zeb slow down. What's wrong?" Kallus almost had to shout down the line to get Zeb to calm down. When he did he heard his Lasat comrade take several deep breathes before he spoke slowly and clearly.
"Someone's kriffing blown up our U-wing!"
Kallus had abandoned any pretence of stealth with the news of the explosion, instead opting to sprint back to the landing site as fast as he could.
Hopefully Zeb was unhurt. That was all that mattered.
He arrived moments later, finding the large purple Lasat speaking to a pair of what looked like police droids, doing his best to give a convincing statement that didn't jeopardise their true mission. The edge of his fur was singed slightly, suggesting he had been caught in the blast somewhat.
Aside from that he appeared unhurt, allowing Kallus to breathe a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was Zeb getting himself killed.
As Kallus approached his comrade the two police droids turned to leave, clearly having collected the report they were after.
"What happened?" Kallus called out after they were gone, his eyes going to the now smoking wreckage of their U-wing.
Zeb barely shifted his gaze from the smouldering wreck, his face full of disdain and anger.
"Someone planted an explosive device in the back of our ship when we weren't paying attention. No doubt they were trying to catch us by surprise."
Kallus knew what that meant. The people they were tracking knew they were coming for them, and had thus attempted to halt their progress, maybe even kill them.
That meant they were scared. And if they were scared that meant they could be beaten.
"Glad you got out of there in one piece Zeb." Kallus spoke, giving his friend a pat on the back, to which Zeb smiled in appreciation of the gesture.
"So, what now?" Zeb inquired, brushing off a small amount of ash from the fur on his arm.
It was a good question. They had lost their ship, and all of their resources save the weapons they carried and the clothes on their backs. Clearly the attempt on their life had had been to slow them down as Kallus had thought.
But if Amedda and the Royal Guard thought it would stop him, they were in for a terrible surprise.
Kallus already knew where to go, and how to get in. He and Zeb could also bypass the security now thanks to Nota.
"We're going to break into the Imperial Palace." Kallus replied, pivoting on the spot and beginning to walk away from the destroyed ship. Behind him he heard Zeb splutter and mutter curses under his breath for following.
As the Lasat fell into position beside him, Kallus glanced up at the monolithic palace in the distance.
Thanks to Nota, getting in would be easy.
It was getting out, that would be the problem.
Upon arrival, Kallus had retracted his early thoughts. Sure, he may have been able to fool the security system for a time, but he still had to climb up to one of the many windows of the palace.
Luckily for him he had a Lasat with him.
"Gah, how much do you weigh Kallus?" Zeb all but snarled as he hauled Kallus up the wall on his back, carefully using his hands and feet to climb upwards. Lasat's excelled at climbing due to their biology. The shape of their hands and feet allowed them to grip onto surfaces that other species could not.
It was because of that that Zeb was now climbing what was practically a vertical wall towards a window high above.
And all the while he had an ex-ISB agent on his back, gripping on for dear life.
"Is now really the time for this line of questioning Zeb?" Kallus called out in reply, his voice reaching high levels that indicated fear. Kallus would never admit it aloud, but he suffered from slight vertigo.
"When will this question ever be relevant again?!" Zeb called in reply, vaulting up another few steps on the wall, grunting in the process at the strain.
"Fair point." Kallus muttered under his breath as he held on for dear life. A few minutes later, and a few more shared jibes towards one another, Zeb vaulted up onto a ledge next to the window they had aimed for, releasing Kallus from his back.
"That was the easy part?!" The Lasat spoke as he panted, regaining his breath. Kallus only nodded in reply.
Turning his attention to the window, Kallus glanced inside and spotted what he was after. The window led to a large room, one that was inhabited with what looked like several holographic bookcases. And there, in the back of the room was a small passageway, one that was open.
The holocron vault.
"I'm amazed all this survived Order 66. Kanan always said the temple burned." Zeb said with awe as he joined Kallus in staring down at what remained of the old Jedi order.
Kallus had to agree. It was likely that the lost history of the Jedi was present in its entirety in those archives. Perhaps one day they would be able to properly gain access to it for those he called his friends.
But right now that was not his concern. They had a vault to get into. Still, he offered up a reply to Zeb.
"The Emperor had many secrets. It's not really a surprise that he would keep the Jedi archives intact for his own personal use, even if he was a Sith Lord."
Zeb seemed to accept the answer as his green eyes began looking around the window for a release. It was odd really. Much of the old temple used energy fields to block access to the interior from place such as this. According to the layout that Ahsoka had sent them however this was the only part of the temple that was both not shielded, and possess actual glass windows. Kallus had to wonder if that meant anything to the Jedi of all. Glass windows in a library rather than shields.
Reaching into his pocket, Kallus extracted the small disruption device he had been given by Nota, and turned it over in his hand, finding the activation switch.
Glancing up at Zeb, who was now braced after discovering the hatch that opened the window, he nodded once, and pushed the button.
The device beeped once, and then flashed once, and then went dead. Whatever it was designed to do was over.
Kallus had to say he was disappointed. He expected something more.
"Well that was underwhelming." Zeb voiced what Kallus was thinking, a dry look on his face.
"I'll take underwhelming if it worked Zeb. Open the window."
The Lasat nodded, tugging hard on the hatch to release it. A few pulls later and it snapped open, offering a large enough gap for both Kallus and Zeb to sneak through.
It was a short climb down, and once again Zeb was forced to carry Kallus on his back.
But once down both Kallus and Zeb moved swiftly, ducking behind a nearby shelf where they could see the open entrance to the holocron vault.
It struck Kallus was strange that there was no security on the door. Were the imperial loyalists that sure of their safety.
Gesturing with his hand towards Zeb, the two began to move up, dancing between various pieces of cover, heading ever closer to their target.
When they were only two bookshelves away, the sound of footsteps caught their ears, forcing them to hide.
Ducking down beneath a shelf, Kallus poked his head round the corner just enough to observe the owners of the footsteps.
Seconds later, three figures came into view.
The first was a deathtrooper, clad in their telltale black armour, looking as imposing as ever. The second was Mas Amedda, whose eyes were moving between various shadows in paranoia, as if expecting a ghost to jump out on them.
The third figure was the one that concerned Kallus most of all. The Imperial Royal Guard, dressed in their gleaming red armour, was an imposing sight, and one that he knew form experience posed a deadly threat to both him and Zeb. It would not be easy to take them down.
Kallus watched as the three figures moved towards the door to the holocron vault, entering into it and disappearing into the darkness of the vault itself.
When he was certain that there was no one else around, Kallus glanced up at Zeb, who had climbed to the top of a bookshelf to avoid detection, and pointed towards the vault.
Zeb nodded in understanding, jumping down from his hiding spot and making a beeline for the doorway, joining Kallus in the process.
"Well at least we know we are in the right spot." Zeb whispered to Kallus as the two both drew their weapons, slowly heading into the vault.
It was dark inside, with only the light from a torch Zeb had brought to guide them through. The vault itself seemed to comprise of two sections. One, a long corridor that in the past was covered in traps. Now they all seemed disabled, whether that was due to the device Nota had given him or something the Emperor had done in the past was unknown.
The hallway was not that long, and before long Kallus and Zeb found themselves entering into a large open space, one full of familiar objects.
"Karabast! Are those…?" Zeb spoke as he surveyed the numerous cubed shaped items that lay scattered around. Some were in slots on a nearby structure. Others lay haphazardly on the floor, clearly discarded with little thought.
"Jedi holocrons. I guess the Emperor kept them for some reason rather than destroy them." Kallus replied, inching forward into the room more. His eyes continued to dark around the room, taking in the numerous holocrons that were present, each giving off an iridescent blue glow that contrasted with their golden shell. Kallus had to admit that it awed him to be in the presence of such powerful relics.
However, Kallus' fixation on the holocrons then proved to be a problem. Emerging from behind the structure that housed the holocrons, a tall red armoured figure emerged, force pike in their hands and at the ready.
"Agent Alexsandr Kallus and Captain Garazeb Orrelios, you come at last, just as I predicted." The Royal Guard's voice was disguised, clearly thanks to the helmet they wore. Their armour betrayed no telling features of species or gender either, leaving Kallus with no real means of identifying his opponent.
Beside him Kallus heard Zeb twist and turn his bow staff, igniting the twin ends and dropping into a combat stance that he was comfortable with.
Kallus too prepared himself, pivoting towards the figure and training his blaster on the guard, finger braced on the trigger.
"Sorry we took so long, but we are here to stop you now." Kallus couldn't help quip in reply, eyes surveying the shadows for other signs of enemy contacts.
Yet he could see none. The guard had come alone.
"Oh my dear Agent Kallus, you are so easy to deceive. You shan't be stopping me or my friends today, but since you've come this far I feel as though I should give you a guided tour." The guard spoke in response, their voice full of evident sarcasm and taunting. But under it was something familiar, and from the way the guard had addressed Kallus, it was almost as if they had met before?
Whilst Kallus mulled over the guard's words, Zeb chose his moment to speak, his voice gruff and hostile.
"You expect us to come with you? Yeah right pal! I guess you'd expect us to tell you all of our secrets as well?!"
The Royal Guard's head shifted from Kallus to Zeb, clearly amused if Kallus was reading the shift in body movement right. He may not have been able to see the guard's face, but he could imagine them smirking underneath the helmet, whoever they were that was.
"I'm afraid I fully expected you to not come willing Mr Orrelios. However, I think you will find you will have no choice in the matter!"
The response was harrowing, and the tone of the voice took on a dark ominous nature.
Seconds later, Kallus found out why.
A subtle hissing sound could be heard in the room, and Kallus suddenly found himself feeling wheezy and disorientated. His vision blurred and he felt his legs begin to give out underneath him.
Beside him he heard Zeb begin to stumble, clearly also being heavily affected by what Kallus assumed was sleeping gas that was currently being flooded into the room.
As Zeb slumped to the floor, out cold, Kallus managed to squeeze off one shot from his blaster. However his distorted vision caused the shot to go wide, striking the wall behind the Royal Guard, who merely laughed at Kallus' feeble attempt on their life.
It was then that Kallus realized that the guard was not affected by the gas, no doubt thanks to the helmet.
And as Kallus felt himself falling into a state of unconsciousness, he heard the guard speak again, followed by another laugh.
"Even the most attentive of spies miss the obvious."
Whether or not the comment was directed at Kallus or not he did not know. The voice behind the helmet was heavily distorted, but there was something in it.
Something he recognized.
And then he slipped into a forced state of sleep, courtesy of the gas.
Author's thoughts
Yes yes, I know I missed 'May the Fourth' and all that, but I've been busy. Sorry. Hope you all had a good one regardless. Mine was rubbish.
Oh look, another bloody cliffhanger. I am so evil.
So the next part of this arc will be the last, so I hope it all pays off and that everything that comes together in it makes sense. Hopefully you enjoy it when it comes out, and hopefully you enjoyed this part too.
Oh and if there are any canon inconsistancies regarding the holocron vault or the holocrons in general in this one shot, then I am sorry. Let's just say that in this AU Palpy was smart enough to keep them intact. Who knows what he could do with them, even if he can't open them.
Now, before I do my usual stuff, I have some stuff to say regarding these one shots. As I said the next one shot will be the last of the Kallus Bond parody stuff, and then after that I will do a one shot featuring Ahsoka encountering the Acolytes of the Beyond.
However, the Ahsoka and the Acolytes one shot will also mark a break from the one shots as a whole, and thus it will be the last one for a while. Now I know this might upset some of you (or not), but do not fret. The reason that I will be stopping the one shots for a while is so that I can shift my writing focus onto my new AU story for a while and hopefully begin the crank out some chapters for that. To that end, when I upload the Ahsoka and the Acolytes one shot, I will also simultaneously upload the first chapter of my new story, that way I am still producing content for you all to read. After that I will focus exclusively on my new story for a while until I hit a good spot to stop for a bit, and then move back to doing some more one shots for this AU. From there I will do some more one shots for a while, and then hop back onto my other story, and from there it will be rinse and repeat. Hopefully that's all good for you lot. I am really excited to share my new AU with you all. I only hope it lives up to expectations.
Speaking of which, here is another small teaser for what is to come: Underwater mission in a sunken shipwreck with Ahsoka and Anakin!
Anyway, as usual, comment and speculate at will. Speaking of which:
SLE's fave guest: As far as I know, the proverb was completely made up off of the top of my head, but I thought it sounded like something the Chiss in general would say.
May all of the deitys that exist bless Chopper, for he is our lord and savior.
And you are right, Padme is a badass... when she isn't losing the will to live! (I know it was Palpy doing that, but still!)
And Ahsoka teaming up with Depa and Caleb... what an interesting idea. ;)
FossilQueen1984: I'm glad a fan of Bond is enjoying this serious parody of the franchise. I'm having great fun writing it as well. I think they have fast become my favourite one shots so far.
Travis Middleton: Glad you liked the cliffhanger. I only hope you aren't too mad that there is another one this time round.
Zeb and Kallus working together is great. They bounce off of each other so well. One's gruff and sarcastic, the other overly serious but completely oblivious at times.
You will see how Ahsoka deals with the Acolytes soon. It will be interesting to say the least.
I've considered putting Yupe Tashu in somewhere. Only time will tell if he shows however.
Chiara Polairix Edelstein: I'm glad the chapter improved your mood. That means the world to me.
Kallus is like that. He attracts all manner of individuals to his side. I'm willing to bet it's those sideburns he has. Mind control maybe?
Jaco2553alpha: I know Mara Jade is a well loved character, but I won't be including her unfortunately. The reason for that is because I don't really know the character all that well aside from what I can find on Wookieepedia, and thus don't feel like I could do her justice. That being said, she is probably around somewhere in the galaxy, so don't count her out completely. Hopefully that's ok. If not, sorry. :)
Cranky Paws: Nota?! An Imperial Informat?! You've lost your mind! She's a harmless spy!
Seriously though... interesting idea.
Thrawn's doing what Thrawn does best. Being stupidly smart and knowing absolutely everything about everyone.
Chopper being the friend that sends weird mail to everyone makes sense in my eyes. Imagine what he sends to Ezra?!
And no, not Shaak Ti I'm afraid. Here is one more clue. In canon, the master sacrifices her life for the padawan during Order 66. Her last words to him are "Run!"
Mysterious Guest one: Karabast indeed! It seems Zeb did escape, thought things still aren't looking too great for him or Kallus.
The person who wrote the message to Zeb was indeed Thrawn. I wonder what he was trying to say though?