48 hours later
Main Imperial garrison in Pentz, capital city of Champala
Darth Vader was very, very, very angry.
And when Darth Vader was angry, people died.
The question today was not whether someone would die, but how many people would die.
He might just wipe out the entire Imperial government complex on this miserable planet.
Those who served the Emperor must be not just competent, but stellar, in performing their duties.
The prisoner had been a vital capture, with important data about local Rebel cells. And these morons had lost him!
In the blackest of moods, Darth Vader strode down the ramp onto the deck of the main landing bay of the Imperial garrison. Following him quickly was a young lieutenant who would serve as aide-de-camp during Vader's investigation of this security fiasco. The lieutenant would also be able to spread the word of the aftermath with those on board the Executor. It was always useful to remind his own men that their commander did not take failure lightly.
Imperial protocol necessitated at least 20 stormtroopers as an honor guard during an official visit by Lord Darth Vader. As Vader emerged onto the landing bay floor, he did a quick visual sweep and counted at least 100 stormtroopers standing at attention. Clearly, Commander Binze was going to great lengths to salute his superior, no doubt in the hopes of mitigating his punishment.
Vader stalked down and walked directly towards the exit of the docking bay, forcing the Commander to quickly reverse and then scurry after him, all the while babbling some nonsense about the honor that was his for hosting Lord Vader…
"You may dispense with the pleasantries," Vader cut him off. "Escort me to the conference room immediately so we can discuss this travesty, and the garrison's appropriate consequences."
Binze was immediately silenced, and Vader could tell from his Force sense that he was terrified. But Imperial discipline held, and Binze guided his superior into a small conference room only a few hundred meters from the landing bay.
The room held several officers and, to Vader's surprise and displeasure, two obvious civilians.
"Why are these men here?" Vader demanded harshly.
Both men quivered in fear, while one of the officers stepped forward to explain, "Drs. Gast and Kilanz were the doctors overseeing the agent who helped Prince Listoff escape, my Lord. The agent in question posed as a psychiatric patient in order to gain access to Building Z, the local high security psychiatric institution where Listoff was being held."
Vader swung on his heel to face the Commander.
"Commander Binze," he rumbled, "You will kindly explain why Prince Listoff was held in a psychiatric hospital, instead of here in the garrison in the maximum security cells."
This was, apparently, too much for Binze. The man turned a shade of green and seemed to wobble slightly. Before Vader's rage erupted into a quick execution, the same officer intervened.
"My Lord, I am Lieutenant Commander Loftan of Star Destroyer Vengeance, which has been stationed in orbit above Champala for the last five standard months. After Listoff's escape, my captain tasked me to obtain the facts surrounding his escape so that I could present them to you. In addition to my training in intelligence, I have also studied psychiatry, so it seemed I would be the best officer to study this incident. If I may, I will now lay out the circumstances surrounding Listoff's arrest and subsequent flight."
Vader nodded grudgingly. This was at least efficient.
"Proceed."
Loftan gathered his thoughts, then spoke, "Five standard days ago, we received information from the Imperial Security Bureau that Prince Listoff, elder statesman of the Listoff dynasty, has proven ties to the Rebel Alliance. Plans were then made to arrest and interrogate Listoff. However, the Prince is much beloved by the local population of Champala, so the decision was made to disguise Listoff's arrest as a medical intervention. One of his aides slipped a drug into his food, with the result that Listoff had an apparent psychiatric episode at a public function. He was then brought to high security psychiatric facility, known locally as Building Z."
Vader's aide spoke up indignantly, "It would have been better to broadcast his arrest openly to the local populace. They should know that no one is immune from arrest and interrogation if he sides with the Rebel insurrectionists."
Loftan paused, glanced at Vader, and then spoke carefully, "Perhaps that would have proven a better course of action. However, it has been the acting policy of the local Imperial garrison to treat the Listoffs with care. Until Prince Listoff's foolish decision to work with the Alliance, the royal family has been all too ready to accede to all Imperial demands in exchange for wealth and safety. Furthermore, the local populace venerates Prince Listoff for his actions 20 years ago during an epidemic, when he used much of his private fortune to bring necessary medication from off world facilities. In retrospect, his concern for the locals was probably a sign that his own loyalties were not as self-centered as the rest of his family."
Vader asked, "Does he have a wife? Or children?"
"No, my Lord," Loften answered promptly, "Prince Listoff will be succeeded by his nephew, whose father died several years ago. I should add that the nephew has been extremely eager to see his uncle put away permanently, as he's waited for years to take his uncle's royal position as head of the Listoff dynasty."
Vader sneered beneath his mask. They were all the same, these royal princelings. All too ready to sacrifice family ties and honor for power and wealth.
And then, his unregulated memory suddenly brought up a vivid image of another young man, clutching a pole with his one remaining hand, battered countenance looking at him with horror. His own son had sacrificed both power and family ties, and embraced almost certain death, to honor his devotion to the Jedi ways.
Vader shook his head slightly to clear the memory. His hunt for Luke Skywalker was obsessive and unending, but he had not had even an inkling of his son's activities in the last several months. It was a large galaxy and Luke had proven surprisingly adept at evading capture in the last four years. Vader clung to the hope that he and his son would cross paths again, and that his son would relinquish his foolishly idealistic beliefs. Based on Skywalker's actions on Cloud City, that seemed a forlorn hope at times. But, Vader reminded himself, his son had obviously been unaware of their family relationship and had been making decisions while in a state of physical and emotional shock. Once Luke truly accepted that Vader was indeed his father, he would join him and they would rule the galaxy as father and son.
His musings were interrupted by Loften's continuation of the regrettable tale of Listoff's escape.
"Building Z, as it is termed locally, is a high security psychiatric facility which is also used, at times, for the interrogation of select prisoners. Naturally, the medications needed for such interrogations are readily available, and since some of the patients are mentally disturbed and violent, no one questions that security is tight. It also contains one floor that is more…pleasant…than the rest of the facility, and patients can be moved into that area if relatives need to be placated. Thus, Listoff's incarceration there was not questioned by the local populace, and it was indeed a viable place for his imprisonment and interrogation.
"Prince Listoff is not an entirely healthy individual, and the drug that fueled his public collapse caused additional damage to his circulatory system. The decision was therefore made to question him harshly but not use any physical methods until his health was stabilized. The concern, of course, was that he would collapse and die before any information could be obtained. During the course of the first 4 days of his imprisonment, he regrettably did not provide any usable information, though he showed signs of severe stress under questioning. The professional view of the interrogators was that he would provide useful information soon. His health was also improving, which would allow for more forceful methods of persuasion."
"A factor insufficiently accounted for was that Listoff's incarceration and location were well known, and the Rebels obviously chose to risk an agent in an attempt to rescue the prince, an attempt that proved successful. While security into the facility is extremely tight, it occurred to no one that a Rebel agent might successfully gain entrance while posing as a psychiatric patient."
Commander Binze had apparently revived enough to cast blame on others, "That is your responsibility and fault, Doctors. You were the ones who allowed a Rebel into the high security area of the building, thus enabling Listoff's escape!"
Doctor Gilanz paled and trembled, but Doctor Kast was made of sterner stuff.
"I assure you, officers, and my Lord," he said with a nod at Vader," that my analysis of the patient known as Kamton Palisti was thorough, and included both truth drugs and truth sensors. He was obviously faking the psychiatric order in question, but I professionally do not know how he did it!"
Loften spoke up, "We can discuss the agent's successful deception later, but I suggest that I complete my report."
He turned towards Vader, and continued, "The night after Kast moved Palisti into the secure section of the Building Z, Palisti successfully broke out of his cell, overpowered several guards, broke into Listoff's guarded quarters, and freed him. They successfully fled to the roof, where a few spaceworthy vehicles are located. Palisti must have been chosen partly for his piloting abilities, as he and Listoff lifted off in a stolen vehicle, evaded Imperial pursuit, and went into hyperspace. The ship's noted trajectory was not towards a habitable planet, leaving us to believe the pilot subsequently dropped out of hyperspace to adjust course."
He paused, then spoke again, now with a touch of fear in his voice, "We believe that the chances of recapturing Listoff are essentially zero, my Lord."
There was a long pause. Vader waited to speak, savoring the increasing fear of the other men in the room.
Finally, he spoke, "Lieutenant Commander Loften, have you studied the details of the Rebel agent's initial examination by Dr. Kast?"
Loften nodded, "I have, my Lord. I don't presume to know a great deal about Malintis Syndrome, but Dr. Kast is an expert on abnormal and rare psychiatric disorders. It is extraordinary that Palisti successfully faked it. It would be wise to analyze the recordings further, and provide warnings to other psychiatric facilities on Imperial worlds so that Rebels do not repeat their success of this week. Perhaps they have developed new methods to overcome truth drugs and sensors in the feigning of psychiatric disorders."
Commander Binze had largely been keeping quiet, likely to avoid attracting Vader's attention. But his curiosity apparently got the best of him, as he now spoke up to ask, "What is Malintis Syndrome, Doctors?"
Through the Force, Vader sensed an intense spike of discomfort and—oddly enough, embarrassment– in Kast.
Finally, Dr. Kast spoke, "It is a rare mental disorder in which an individual, usually male, usually young, usually either human or togruta, usually an orphan, convinces himself that he is not a normal citizen of the Galactic Empire, but is instead the offspring of a great and powerful father. It is always a father, never a mother. The individual manages to persuade himself that through a series of either accidents or malevolent interference, the father is not able to claim his son, and therefore the son must live in obscurity. Palisti showed many valid signs of Malintis, but there were abnormalities which made it seem unlikely that he was faking it, as someone pretending would likely adhere more to the accepted symptoms. Plus, as I said, we administered truth drugs and had him on truth monitors. I agree that the whole affair must be investigated carefully."
Again, the uncomfortable pause, followed by the obvious question from Commander Binze.
"Whose child did he claim to be, Doctor Kast?"
Kast swallowed uncomfortably, and did not answer.
Vader stepped forward, "Doctor, whose child did he claim to be?!"
Kast lifted his eyes fearfully and said quietly, "Yours, my Lord. He claimed to be the son of Darth Vader."