The Plague Ship 2

Authors notes I don't own Star Wars George Lucas does and a warning if anyone reading this hasn't read The Plague Ship I suggest you read that now otherwise you wont know what's going on at all in this fic. And warning only the first 4 chapters of this fic are betaed as my beta had some personal things to sort out apolgies for any mistakes in spelling in grammer you see later on in this fic.

Chapter 2 Debriefing

Imperial Star Destroyer Nihilus

As the Star Destroyer takes orbit near the famous 'city-planet', Commander Serpent leaves his quarters and heads down to Shadows temporary quarters to get him for the briefing he was to give on what exactly happened during the last hours of Alpha Squad's mission and why most of the team no longer lives.

As Serpent steps out of the elevator and walks to Shadow's quarters, the guards standing outside immediately stand at attention. Serpent ignores them and opens the door, walking into the room.

He sees Shadow standing over his bed adjusting his weapons. Weapons no doubt used on that ship earlier in the night. Serpent saw five terminal detonators, two short swords, one dagger and one large sword. Shadow then looks up at Serpent for the first time since he entered the room and said, "What is it, Commander Serpent?"

Ignoring the disrespectful tone, Serpent said "We have arrived at Imperial Center and now we are heading down there for the briefing. If you would follow me, Shadow." Shadow then starts to grab his weapons and put them back where they were before he took them out of his armor.

He puts the sword on his back, the dagger he attaches to his wrist, the short swords are strapped to his legs, and the grenades put on his belt. Once he is done Shadow only walk past Serpent and head to the main hanger bay knowing full well what the destination and venue of this briefing is and more importantly who would be at this briefing.

Shadow also knows what the consequences will be for him if the people overseeing the briefing decided he acted in a way not tolerated in the Galactic Empire by anyone; even someone like him.

Then as the shuttle leaves the hanger bay and the Star Destroyer, Shadow thinks of another briefing that was held after Operation: Knightfall to answer questions raised by the actions of Alpha Squad during the mission and how some members disobeyed their orders. Luckily for the squad Vader had mentioned what he had the squad do to prove their loyalty to the Empire, killing defenseless Jedi younglings. With that evidence Alpha Squad were spared death and was allowed to remain a squad serving the Empire under Viper's command.

Shadow then thinks of his squad leader and friend Viper, the man who blew up that ship to stop the horrific aftermath of the experiments committed there, and to stop those beings who had killed everyone onboard.

Shadow then notices that the shuttle is slowing down and is obviously near its destination. Shadow takes a deep breath and as soon as the shuttles doors are opened Shadow walks down the ramp. Just ahead of him Shadow sees he is going to be briefed at the Imperial Palace itself.

Shadow enters the palace and is led to a room where he is given a blank data pad and is told to put down, in his own words, what happened on the ship.

Once he is finished the soldiers take it and say to Shadow, "The briefing will be in an hour, Lieutenant Shadow."

Shadow nods and decides to sit down and think about what he is going to say when asked about what happened on the Chanso and what the squad did. Shadow decides the only thing he can do is be completely honest about what happened.

An hour later a soldier enters the room. "It's time Shadow, let's move." Shadow stands up, but before he can leave the soldier holds up his hand, stopping Shadow. "Leave your weapons here, you won't need them. it's only a briefing."

Shadow nods, taking his weapons off and leaving them on the desk. When the soldier sees that all of Shadow's weapons have been deposited he leads Shadow out of the room and into the Imperial throne room itself. As Shadow enters the room, he glances around and sees the Emperor himself, Lord Vader, Lady Yalath, Governor Tarkin, Grand Admiral Thrawn and other high ranking officials of the Galactic Empire.

As Shadow sits down on a seat in the very centre of the room Vader stands and asks, "Is everyone here who needs to be here?" Suddenly a hologram appears next to the Emperor. The image nods in greeting to Shadow. "Hello again Shadow." Shadow nods back to the director of the organization he is apart of; the Shade Organization.

"Hello director. Now how about we stop being polite and get down to business." Shadow's blunt tone takes a few officers by surprise, but Palpatine takes no offense.

"Very well, Lieutenant Shadow," Palpatine begins the debriefing, "you have been asked to come here today to help explain the actions on and reasons for the destruction of the research ship Chanso no less than 9 hours ago. This inquiry has already looked over your report of the events. Now we are hoping you can answer some questions we have, if you don't mind?" For some reason the Emperor's last comment makes Shadow shiver on the inside.

Nevertheless he nods, and Vader asks the first question. "What exactly happened after your squad leader found out the truth about the experiments on the ship?"

Shadow replies with, "Viper decided it was time to end what was happening once and for all on the ship. So he ordered me and Blaze to go down to the engine room and set charges to destroy the ship once Viper was ready to blow it up. But you already know this Lord Vader, why are you asking me this?"

Vader is silent before he says, "Shadow, we all know that Viper had problems following orders before, specifically with Order 66. I just want to be sure Viper knew he was disobeying orders by blowing up the ship. Grand Admiral Thrawn, what exactly were the orders you gave to Viper before he set off on his mission to the Chanso?"

"The orders I gave Viper were that he was to go to the Chanso, secure the ship, deal with any hostiles onboard and protect the data on it." The Chiss Grand Admiral answers.

Nodding, Vader continues by saying, "So Shadow, it seems to me like Viper disobeyed orders yet again. Now why did he do it?"

Shadow is silent for a minute before he replies, "Viper knew that we couldn't neutralize the hostiles as there were too many and we had lost a third of our squad by then. So the only way we could really neutralize the hostiles was to destroy the ship. It is unfortunate that the date was lost, but the threat had to be contained. In the end Viper didn't disobey orders, he ended the threat the ship posed to the entire galaxy at the cost of his life. After all that is the mandate of the Shade Organization, isn't it? To protect the Empire at any cost and eliminate any potential threats to the Empire's very existence. By that we followed our orders to the letter, Lord Vader."

Tarkin suddenly speaks up, saying "Shadow you have just proved a belief I've long held. The Shade Organization's orders are carried out before anyone else's orders, above even those of the Emperor himself! I believe the Shade Organization has too much power and need to be under the control of someone who can ensure their complete, utter, and unquestionable loyalty to the Galactic Empire."

The director sneers at Tarkin. "Let me guess Tarkin, you would be the man to ensure our loyalty to the Empire. Well that won't happen. My organization only answer to the Emperor himself, not a little bug like you."

Before Tarkin could say another word Thrawn diverts that conversation back to the topic at hand. "Shadow in your report it mentions creatures you fought on the ship. Can you give us anymore information on them, if you please." Unlike the Emperor, whenever the Grand Admiral used the word please it felt genuine.

"From what we were able to piece together they were the crew of the ship who had somehow been turned into mindless husks. I don't know exactly how they became that way. I imagine it must have been when the experiments broke out of the lab and started killing everyone in sight. If so then it soon spread like a virus to the others who the experiments killed and who the husks killed."

Palpatine adds "I believe Shadow, those two might have mutated the crew into those creatures so that they could have an army to kill us with for what we did to them on the Chanso."

Shadow nods in agreement. "That would be the logical conclusion."

Yalath then adds, "Shadow, it mentions in the report you gave us that the ship was moving slowly without any power at all, not even life support. Do you have any idea how this would be possible?"

Shadow shrugs his shoulders. "I honestly have no idea. Perhaps it had something to do with the drug that was given to them?"

The briefing continues on with Shadow being asked more questions about the ship and what happened to the squad for some time before Palpatine says, "We have all read the report and heard testimony from the only survivor of Alpha Squad. Now we have to decide on the verdict. Let's start with you Thrawn, what do you believe should be Shadows fate after this unfortunate incident?"

Thrawn looks at Shadow before answering. "10 years in prison."

Tarkin's verdict is death by hanging. Some of the other admirals were saying death. Yalath thought that Shadow should get life imprisonment. The director thought Shadow should be declared innocent of all charges.

Vader is silent for a minute before he says, "Five years in prison." Everyone then looks at Palpatine, who has the final say. He says, "Before I give my verdict on this know it's final and my word law. Shadow in light of your years of service to the Empire, your family history and your skills, my verdict is innocent of all charges. You will be given command of a Shade squad as soon as possible. For now Shadow take a few days off and relax on Imperial Center. You've earned it."

Several admirals stood up to object Palpatine's ruling but one glare from Vader makes them shut up instantly.

Shadow stands up, salutes, and leaves the throne room.

Authors notes well that's chapter 2 completed let me know what you think of it read and review no flames though ok.