Author's Note: I am aware that some time has officially passed and that I wasn't able to hold up to my word, but I have finally had enough free time to finally push out a chapter. It has been quite an effort to even get this chapter out, but I am glad and excited I am able to finally write another chapter for you all to enjoy and read. With no further delay, I present you Chapter 15!

"Traitors! You dare question my loyalty to the Empire!?"

Those were the first words I heard out of the Second Lieutenant serving under the Eriadu Protectionary Force that guarded my palace.

"We have found evidence that links you to the Comms Relay and my own office, Second Lieutenant Kisoro. Your fingerprints were smothered over my personal terminal, and the door's locking mechanism that requires code cylinders show that you have used my the past month, considering we found my old ones that were stolen from me were in your room."

He was very startled by my statement and had a grimace of shock and indignation. He looked behind him as he backed himself into the corner of his dorm, whilst the four stormtroopers began to walk towards him with their blasters held up. I heard one of the stormtroopers to tell the Lieutenant to simply place his hands behind his back, to come quietly and without any resistance.

"No! You have the wrong man, Grand Moff Praxon. I swear to you! Ask any of my bunkmates, my fellow soldiers! I would never do any of this! I wasn't even out and about last night like the evidence claims it to be! Ask my men, I was with them in the entertainment hub in the town! I couldn't have been in the relay tower, or your private quarters!"

I felt a tinge of pain come to mind as I shook my head, "The evidence provided by Lieutenant Jaxor from his investigations points it to being you, Lieutenant Kisoro. I'm sorry, but for the time being we will have to take you as you are still suspect."

The stormtroopers approached closer to the man, until finally he push back with volatility and quickly knocked down one of the stormtroopers screaming, "I won't be taken in for something I did!"

I quickly took pursuit with the four stormtroopers and yelled, "Kisoro, this isn't making you look very good! Stop!"

However, he didn't listen as he quickly knocked over cargo crates in the hallway and sprinted for the elevator at the end of the corridor. I quickly directed my head to the Corporal and told him to set his weapons to stun and to take in the Lieutenant without harm. He acknowledged it and took the stairs down as I quickly pull out my modified SE-14C pistol and switched it to the 'Stun' setting.

The elevator door closed right as I approached the elevator, seeing the distraught look on the lieutenant's face as he looked at me with utter fear. I quickly slammed my fist against the wall, running back to the stairs knowing that it'd be quicker to do that than to wait for the other elevator. I pulled out a comlink and hailed my personal squad to get themselves prepped for an engagement, ordering them to wait outside the palace for the lieutenant. As I exited the stairwell to the level he was going to, I saw the lieutenant quickly sprint upon seeing me towards the front door of the palace, the four stormtroopers nowhere in sight.

I saw two stormtroopers walking past the sprinting officer as they looked at him with no doubt a curiosity. I quickly yelled out, "Troopers! Arrest that man!"

Upon hearing this, they quickly turned on their heels and ran towards the man who had just exited the palace. I pushed open the door as the two stormtroopers took after him as he turned to the right, heading towards the lake next to the town. He eventually did the one thing I never thought he would do and convinced me that he was definitely the traitor as he pulled out a field survival pistol and shot back at one of the stormtroopers, causing him to collapse with a grunt.

This little display forced the other trooper to pull out his E-11 and quickly returned fire, shooting him once in the leg and quickly running up to him, kicking the blaster away from his person. I walked up to the now guilty officer and shook my head with disapproval as I shot the stun-beam into the man's torso, causing him to go unconscious. I let out a long sigh of annoyance as I turned to the stormtrooper telling him to bind him and to take him to the jail. He nodded his head as I turned around to see the four men of my personal squad approach with their diversity of blasters, the polish radiant in the sunlight as it gleamed off of them. Jaxor approached me with a grin on his face as he saw the man on the ground.

"We apprehended the traitorous lieutenant, which is a relief for us, and the Empire."

I turned back to the man as the stormtrooper carried him towards the palace, however; I ordered one of my men to help carry him back with the other trooper as I glanced out towards the lake. I witnessed a Lambda Shuttle coming towards the palace however; only thinking who on earth might be paying me a visit. I quickly told everyone to follow me as I went up to the hanger bay, curiously thinking who it could be.

Upon arriving at the hanger, I saw a single individual cladded in luxury robes, exit the shuttle alongside two red cloaked figures, with the infamous helmet based off the old Mandalorian designs. I wasn't all too familiar with the Imperial Ruling Council, but with the addition of the Imperial Royal Guard accompanying this man, either the Emperor personally sent them to guard the man, or he is quite high up in the echelons of the hierarchy to the point he simply asked the Emperor if he could use two of them.

"Grand Moff Praxon, I assume," he stated in a rather monotone voice, devoid of passion or emotion.

"That would be me, Sir."

He took a second to look at the men behind me, but quickly diverted his attention back to my face as he stated, "Please, Grand Moff. Accompany me to your office; I have need to speak to you about a great many things."

I dismissed my personal squad and told them to go to the detention level to check in on the traitorous lieutenant as I had my meeting with the figure. The two red cladded guards walked closely to the man, only gazing ahead from the looks of the helmets staring ahead only. I turned on my heels and began to walk to my office, trying to fill in the gaps as I went along as to who it could be.

Upon entering the office, the man told his two guards to wait outside the office and he would summon them if need be. He then sat down in the chair that was placed to the right of me and quickly reclined by, crossing his legs and folding his fingers into one another as he placed his hands in his lap.

"Due to your body language and your face, I assume you do not know who I am."

I nodded as I replied, "With no disrespect, sir…I don't."

He nodded nonchalantly as he stated after licking his lips, "I am Grand Vizier Sate Pestage. Ring any bells, Mister Praxon?"

I shook my head with a bit of confusion and stated, "I do not know who you are, sir…but, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Mas Amedda the Grand Vizier?"

He smiled in a crooked way and he replied, "That is all for show, my dear boy. He is a figurehead and a simple politician that is told to do what he has to do to keep Coruscant and certain areas in line."

I had an even more confused expression on my face as he assured me, "Listen, Mas Amedda has relatively no power and I placed him with that 'feigned' role to protect me against any assassinations or problems."

I quickly brought up the fact that Mas Amedda seemed to have power over Krennic and his promotions and even attended certain meetings, however; he dismissed those events and stated that he told him what to do prior as he has knowledge of everything that occurs, despite what some may think come as a surprise. He proved his point by saying that he knew of the Maw Installation, but decided to keep it between Thrawn, previously Tarkin, the Emperor and himself for multiple reasons. He even applauded me on keeping it a secret from many people and praised my discretion upon learning of its existence from Tarkin, but showed displeasure in the fact that I allowed Krennic to know of its existence.

I then brought up the question, "Well…I don't mean to be disrespectful or anything, sir. However, there is the question as to why you are here."

He smiled yet again from his simple serious façade of a look, replying, "Well, I am here because of the security breaches that have been occurring here, that is causing quite a mess for my lower Council members and the Emperor with their infiltration and editing of many key aspects."

My face light up in a very cheerful way as I proudly countered, "Don't worry about the breaches anymore, Sir. We have reason to believe we have finally found the culprit. A second lieutenant who had been working under the EPF and my palace was the person we believe to have been it, since the evidence points to him."

The Grand Vizier then pushed himself back into the chair, somewhat furrowing at the mention of this. He stared at me for a single instance, which sent chills down my spine as his eyes had this ghostly look to them. His face changed expression as his lips curled a bit, beginning to speak a reply.

"Well, at least we have caught the person responsible for the security breaches. To be quite honest, I thought I would've had to punish you for not having anything on the man or for being incompetent but it seems that isn't necessary anymore."

I swallowed a lump in my throat at the mention of his previous statement, "Do not worry, Grand Vizier…everything has been taken care of. The traitorous lieutenant will be court martialed and if all goes accordingly, he will be tried on treason against the Empire and executed."

The Grand Vizier finally stood up from the chair and would state, "Then I believe our business here is finished in that case."

He began to walk towards the entrance, before turning back once more and would state, "Oh. And Praxon?"

I whipped my head up to meet his eyes, "The Emperor was very insistent on bringing you before him to personally punish you for your ineptness in this situation, however; I told him that I could defuse the situation and take care of it in a better way. You should be very thankful you found the source of our problems. In addition, the Outer Rim systems that are flocking to the Rebellion are very concerning for us, especially on industrial worlds that are of paramount importance to us. Therefore, I suggest you assign your admirals and fleets to the most important worlds and let the insignificant ones just remain the way they are. We don't need to waste precious resources on backwater planets."

Upon ending his statement, he left the office as I held my hand over my chest, quickly letting myself collapse in the chair. I felt my right hand shaking as the anxious and dread thoughts begin to surface on my body, panting at the possibilities of what could've occurred had I not been able to bring in the infiltrator. I continued to shake for minutes on end, as thoughts raced through my mind on the 'What ifs,' recoiling at the thoughts of all of them. I stood up from my chair and began to pace around the room in an attempt to stop my erratic behavior. Eventually though, I calmed down enough to walk over to the mini-bar I established in the corner of my office, pouring a shot of Eriaduian Ale, as I let the liquor drop down my throat.

A knock came at my door soon after, which I then walked over to let whoever was at the door in, to see a certain Chiss Grand Admiral and a white capped figure standing next to each other. I gestured them to enter the office, closing the door behind them and placing the shot glass back on the table, quickly composing myself from the state I was in earlier.

The calming voice from Thrawn came out first, "I assume the meeting with Sate Pestage went well, Grand Moff Praxon?"

I nodded my head as I looked over to the gaze-evading Krennic, "Yes, the meeting went better than it could've been for me had I not apprehended the traitorous lieutenant."

The Grand Admiral stated, "Did the Grand Vizier have anything to say that was of paramount importance?"

Krennic quickly whipped his head towards the Grand Admiral asking, "What do you mean by Grand Vizier?"

I stated quickly to avoid Thrawn from giving off a statement that might trigger the Director, "Mas Amedda is a mere figurehead, Krennic. Sate Pestage is apparently the one who truly helps conduct the Empire."

Krennic's face told all of his emotions, from the feeling of betrayal to the feeling of rage. Despite what many may think, I believe this is a positive trait for Krennic for at least with his open facial expression; he can display what he is thinking and his predictability. Had he not have this trait, his irritability and incompetent actions at times would make the Director relatively hard to work with.

He then threw up his arms as he hastily stood up, "So, my constant nagging at that slimy schutta was…Ugh! How could've I been so blind, it all makes sense now!"

Thrawn then turned to the Director and stated, "Compose yourself, Director. I wish to hear what occurred in the meeting."

Krennic in his face of rage turned to the Grand Admiral and yelled out, "Don't you dare order me! You don't deserve to order me, you blue hum-…"

His angered statement was ended when the Chiss quickly slapped the palm of his hand across the face of the riled up Director. Upon this, the Director threw himself at the Grand Admiral, which would later only prove to be a bad choice on Krennic's part as the Grand Admiral quickly incapacitated him with little effort as he lied on the ground, blood dripping from his nose. On the other hand, the Grand Admiral fixed his uniform, adjusting his hair back to its uniformal position and pulled up the chair again, relaxing himself into the fine leather again. The Grand Admiral then smiled back towards me as he would then gesture for me to continue.

"Sate Pestage told me that we should abandon the backwater and useless Outer Rim worlds, and instead direct our primary forces and fleets to the ones of primary importance. Mainly, trading hubs, industrial systems, practically any system that contributes to the Empire in the Outer Rim."

The Grand Admiral pulled up his hand and made a fist as he thought for a second before replying, "Hmm…just because a system is prosperous or useful to the Empire, doesn't mean it can't be useful for the rebellion. This is troubling to think that the Emperor and Sate think in this manner. However, I cannot go against the Emperor's orders, so I suppose we'll have to carry it out regardless. Did he mention which specific systems?"

The Director's unmoving body began to concern me as I pulled my eyes back to the Chiss, "No…he didn't exactly tell me which systems were of paramount importance, but I could only imagine worlds that are part of hyperspace lanes, shipyards and factories, economic hubs, those types of planets. Sullust, Tatooine, Rothana, Gwori, Lothal, Saleucami, Dathomir, Geonosis, Mandalore, Ryloth, these are all planets that I would believe should be in our best interests to protect."

Thrawn began to ponder yet again, as I heard the groaning of Krennic echo the room. It felt like blood was filling his throat as he had a somewhat of an odd breathing sounds, followed by a small cough.

"In that case, I am going to take my fleets to Sullust, Lothal, Tatooine, Rothana, Gwori, Ryloth and Mandalore. The others do not concern me since Dathomir is a savage place with a culture of uncompromising 'witches', Geonosis, a planet devoid of any life ever since the extinction of their species after the first Death Star, and Saleucami is infamous for their Huttese transactions and black markets."

Thrawn then stood up and bid his farewell as he exited the room, whilst Krennic slowly pulled himself back up and gained his bearings. He quickly took a seat where Thrawn sat, as he couldn't fully stand up without wobbling around. Eventually, the Director let out in a very pained voice, "Damn aliens…they are all the same…" yet after a second of no words, he asked, "But…next time, Reylan…will you remind me not to do scuffles with the Grand Admiral?" I simply nodded my head as I looked at the swelling of the Director's left eye.

Krennic left my office soon after, in which I elected to go down to the Detention Level to check in on the lieutenant. Upon entering the detention block though, stormtroopers with blaster bolts imbedded into the breastplates and armor were laid all across the room, with a few of the imperial officers also present with smoke still rising from their wounds. I quickly realized the gravitas of the situation, pulling out my SE-14C and running down the corridor to find if any of the cell doors were open. Upon finding that one of the cells was open, I looked inside to find a knocked out Jaxor, in which I quickly ran over to.

"Jaxor! Wake up!" I yelled at the officer as I slapped his face.

His face grimaced at the contact and his eyes slowly dragged open, in which he then stated, "Oh…that son of a bitch…"

He slowly pulled himself to the ground as he stated, "The lieutenant…I went to interrogate him, and as soon as we entered, he charged at me and took my blaster in which he then shot two stormtroopers. I don't remember anything after that…"

I got up from the cell and quickly ran out as I approached the detention terminal and quickly pressed the alarm. I felt the entire palace shudder at the activation as blast doors closed around the palace as due to protocol. I ran up the stairs to go to the lobby where he most likely would've went, only to find that the entire place was devoid of any activity except for one person who I barely saw in my peripherals. I quickly followed the figure and upon seeing the unmistakable clothes that I had remember seeing chasing after, I ran after the man yelled, "Kisoro! Stop!"

As soon as I yelled those words, the man picked up the pace quickly confirming my exact thoughts. He ran up the stairs in which I quickly followed, stumbling after every other step or so, causing me to lose some space between the two of us. He eventually opened the door to the level where my office was and bolted down the corridor as stormtroopers marched and quickly yelled for the running man to halt. Stormtroopers began to open fire despite my yells for them to hold fire, until finally he ran out to the open landing bay for shuttles and the like. He quickly approached the edge as he looked down, before quickly looking back towards the approaching stormtroopers and myself.

"Praxon! You aren't going to believe me! But I was framed! I didn't shoot up the detention level, I didn't!" He was visibly alarmed and much more erratic.

"Listen, Kisoro! You don't have to jump, just step away from the edge and we can take care of this." I stated trying to appeal to his logos.

"No! You aren't going to! You'll just have me thrown into a cell and execute me! You have to listen, I wasn't the traitor! I am being framed! I swear it!"

I raised my eyebrow and would then ask, "Alright! Say this is true, who is framing you then!?"

He quickly retorted, "I heard blaster bolts in the corridor prior to my cell being opened! The officer that entered then told me to start running or I'd die also!"

I quickly began to think of the sole thing he said was that an officer entered the cell. I then asked, "What was the description of the officer, Kisoro?"

He was about to speak, however; a very large blaster bolt came from somewhere above us, quickly plowing into the man's torso, sending him backwards as he fell off the platform. I looked for the origin of the blaster bolt, where I saw a figure running away from a window three levels above us. I quickly ran to the intercom for the entire palace and stated, "Attention all Palace personnel. Do not use the elevators or the stairwell and remain on your level. If anyone sees someone using one of these, you are to immediately notify the palace via intercom."

I quickly asked the squadron of stormtroopers to follow me, as we ran for the stairwell. I told two of them to watch the elevator and to inform us on the comlink if they were moving, and I also asked two stormtroopers to guard the stairwell and to look for anyone coming down. With the other ten stormtroopers we marched up to the level where I saw the figure at, upon which we exited the stairwell. I told another two guards to guard the stairwell entrance, whilst taking the other eight with me. We began to search room after room, which was more or less office space for the back then ministry that ruled over the planet when the Imperial Senate and local governments where still in play. Room after room turned up nothing, until finally a large bang was heard across the level and we quickly ran towards the sound.

Upon my horror, I saw that a metal grate for one of the vents had been pulled open and I quickly told the stormtroopers to listen for any metal crunching above us. We walked all around the level again, until finally just by blind luck I heard a dent be replaced as pressure was removed from it and told the troopers to shoot at the vent in-front of it. Upon doing so, the vent was shot open as the supports for it fell towards the ground, letting an imperial officer fall out of the venting in-turn. As I quickly pulled the imperial officer off the ground and towards the light so I could see his face, I felt my hands unclench around the uniform.

I quickly turned to the stormtrooper and stated, "Execute him, immediately." The eight stormtroopers raised their E-11's and shot four times from each blaster, as the officer's body fully dropped to the ground, a single sound being uttered from the officer before his death, "Wait, Reylan-…"

I returned to my office and told my personal squad to come, as I pulled over the bottle of Eriaduian Ale and poured a few shots of it before they arrived. I saw everyone but one of them enter the room, and I sat down in my chair telling them of the true traitor and that the lieutenant that we thought was the infiltrator and spy, was framed and died tragically because of the deceit. They were all repulsive of the betrayal to the Empire and to myself from this individual, stating very vulgar things about him and telling me how he acted very odd and would often go out at night, always saying that he wanted to get something from the cafeteria to quell his hunger. I didn't know what to think of it, but I told the Sera to prepare the Restitute for liftoff and that we would be travelling to Mandalore with my personal fleet to check on something that might be of importance to us, despite Thrawn telling he would eventually send his fleet there after taking care of the other planets.

As I dismissed the Omicron Regiment, I felt an ominous presence that I couldn't shake surround me. I didn't know what or why I was feeling this…presence, but I had some impulse that it was definitely there. I looked around the room, even in a paranoid fashion, looking up at the vents to see if someone was looking through the grates, but eventually I found no trace of anyone or anything being there. Though, I did find out what was the mysterious presence as four figures entered my office, all four of them with heavy armor worn under a battle trench coat and a cape that covered the left side of their bodies, and wrap all around to their shoulders.