Chapter 5
"Imagine my surprise when I read the name of the freighter that attacked the Hydra. I never thought I'd meet an old friend again," Vas said as he walked into the sterile interrogation room aboard the Challenger.
"What are you doing here? Are you here to bail me out?" Captain Sovv, an old Sulllustan, asked from where he was handcuffed to the table in the middle of the room. The same captain who had smuggled him and his squad into the system just a few days ago.
Vas looked down at his still civilian clothes. "Ah, oh. They must not have told you in all the excitement and conversations with Stormtroopers are fruitless anyway."
He leaned forward conspiratorially. "Did you ever look into the crates you smuggled?"
"I didn't smuggle anything."
"Yes, yes, of course, and that's all very convincing after an ISB officer caught you red-handed."
"What ISB …"
Realisation dawned on him and slumped in himself.
"That's bad isn't it?"
"Oh, don't worry. Compared to what you did today to the Hydra that's nothing. If you don't answer the questions to my satisfaction, you will die in this room. If you instead decide to cooperate, you will get a trial and might just be sent to prison."
"But that's against the law!"
Vas hated interrogations but this man had done enough to deserve a bit of pain and fear. Since he was also in league with the people who kidnapped the children, he had no remorse. No mercy for him.
"Do you see that mirror?" Vas asked, pointing at the one wall that wasn't cold grey durasteel. The two reflections looking back at him didn't seem to fit into the cold, lifeless room. "It is a one-sided mirror and in the room behind it is Captain Setaro. When her goons pulled you out of your wreck of a freighter, she signed the logs stating that you were sent to the medical station with a life-threatening injury. So maybe you die or you don't. Do you think someone will look twice at a case like yours after the records you gathered? Additionally, the Captain took time out of her schedule to listen in on our little conversation. However, she is a very busy woman and once she leaves, your fate is sealed. My point is, you better start talking or …"
He pulled out a blaster and pointed it at the Sullustan's head. "Or I will kill you. So, who hired you?"
"I don't know." A beat of sweat rolled down his face. Unconsciously he tried to wipe it away which was stopped by his hands being attached to the table.
"You will need to be a bit more specific. Your time is ticking."
"I have never met him, I don't know his real name. He just calls himself Banshee." To show that he was satisfied with how the conversation was going, Vas lowered the blaster so it wasn't directly pointed at him.
"How do you make contact with him?"
"I have a separate comlink that has his codes."
"On it, boss," Creed's voice came through the earpiece.
"Where did you meet? Speak up man, you don't have all day," Vas said, moving his blaster back to pointing at his head.
"In the space station," he blurted, staring at the blaster in terror. "Usually one of the security guards or service droids approached me and either gave me a message or Banshee talked through him."
"Imperial droids?"
"All of them. From the big loaders to sleek protocol droids. I have never found a patter."
"How long have you been working with them?"
The old man looked up at him speculatively.
"Don't lie to me. It just makes it worse for you."
"Two years."
So at least three years.
"What jobs did you do for them?"
"Delivered cargo, smuggled people. The usual."
"I will need a detailed list with everything you remember later but for now let's talk about something else so Captain Setaro doesn't lose interest." The Sullustan glanced at the mirror. "Why do you have an Ion Torpedo launcher on your ship? That's highly illegal tech and the way it was disguised in the hull speaks of masterful craftsmanship. Nothing you install on a whim."
Captain Sovv hesitated. He looked at the mirror once again and gulped. "I can't tell you."
"Oh, that's not a good answer. I would really like to know," Vas said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "And I don't believe I can let you live if I don't get an answer to my satisfaction. Let's start with the planet where it was installed on your ship."
He just shook his head.
"This conversation went so well but since I think you have more information, I won't kill you right now. Don't move."
Vas got up and walked into the adjacent room that looked through the one-sided mirror. His squad was waiting for him but the captain was nowhere to be seen.
"Has she already left? Makes me look a bit stupid now."
"She was never here," Ace said.
"What? I figured this would be important enough for her to be here personally. Maybe I judged her character wrong."
He realised his rambling and focussed back on the task at hand. "Creed, will you take over, there is some fairly sophisticated interrogation equipment here?"
"Sure thing, boss," he said and gathered nasty utensils from the storage crates in the room. Worst of all, the IT-O interrogator droid, loaded up with the worst the ISB could muster.
"Focus on the upgrades on his ship, I believe he doesn't know any more about this Banshee. Urgh, how unoriginal. You know how many Banshees there are in the ISB database?"
"Maybe that's why he chose it?" Creed offered.
Vas hadn't even thought about it but it made sense to a degree. It would be harder to connect information to one specific Banshee if there were three in the sector.
"Ace, the half regiment of Stormtroopers the Captain promised are still on board, right?"
"I believe so, why?"
"Have them meet me in the hangar and try to scrounge up some technicians. I want to take a closer look at the droids in that space station. Maybe we can find software that doesn't belong there. These rebels seemed to have quite a strong grip on it."
"Yes, let's destroy some droids."
"But we also need to get a grip on the sentient security forces. They are linked to our channels, right? We can monitor their channels like all the other troopers. A duty I have let slack for too long anyway."
Zero growled. He had been so quiet that Vas had forgotten the man was still in the room. He had to be greatly displeased to convince him to actually say something.
"You will not monitor their comms," Zero stated as if he was in command and it was already decided.
"It is part of my mission profile to stop traitorous behaviour in the ranks. Therefore I-"
"Is it also traitorous behaviour to have some chatter during a mission, does that make one a worse soldier?" The words were flowing quicker out of his mouth than Vas had ever heard him speak. Before he could answer Zero turned and left the room. His steps were even audible –something that had never happened with Zero.
Confused, Vas looked over to Ace, "What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing you could know. I have been working with him a bit longer and there was one time he actually opened up to us –with disabled comms, of course. Don't make me tell you, that would be a breach of trust. I'll just say, there is a reason he doesn't like the ISB."
"He is part of the ISB himself."
"Well, our Zero is a special man," Ace said and left the room.
"You have to talk to him," Creed said as he walked past him with the interrogation droid in tow.
Vas watched for a while as Creed got to work on the prisoner but was distracted by Zero's behaviour again and again. A quick search of the ISB databases didn't yield any results, so he had to dig a bit deeper. However, he had more important tasks on his plate.
Ace and probably Zero –he wouldn't just disappear, he was still a loyal soldier of the Empire– were waiting for him in the hangar but he had to talk to the Captain first.
He had to switch lifts several times until one brought him all the way up to the bridge. Half a regiment of Storm Troopers awaited him as he exited the carriage. That was enough security to ward off an army. Captain Setaro seemed to be worried that in an emergency someone would attack the bridge. A sensible precaution but a hundred Stormtroopers?
A Sergeant stepped in his way with three troopers right behind him. Their weapons weren't drawn but too close for Vas' liking.
"Identification."
Vas sighed. He really needed to change into a proper uniform. Once the Stormtrooper saw his ISB plaque he took an involuntary step back and almost dropped his weapon.
"I am sorry, Sir. Proceed."
The Stormtrooper corps was terrified of the ISB so whatever happened to Zero must have been bad for him to speak up now. He banished these thoughts as he entered the bridge and saw the magnificent view of the seemingly glowing planets through the viewport. He would never become tired of this view.
Vas stepped discreetly into Captain Setaro's field of view and pretended to look out of the window. A few minutes later she finished her conversation with the other officer and walked over to him.
"How is the interrogation going? Have we found the rebels who are responsible for the attack?"
"Not yet. The prisoner seemed helpful at first but my team is cracking down on him now to confirm his answers. We got some promising leads already though and I wanted to talk to you about it. I need some of your officers to monitor comms especially but not limited to the local security forces."
Captain Setaro sighed and looked at him. "My advice, don't do it. It hurts morale more than it helps."
"No one needs to know. The Stormtroopers are aware of the possibility and they're used to it but I doubt the Army Troopers and the local garrison even realise that it is standard procedure to log all communication. It would help us crack down on corrupt officials."
"If you have already decided to do it, why don't you go ahead and do it."
"The investigation is taking up all of my time and …"
"You want some of my officers. Forget it!"
"Only a handful, maybe four."
She huffed and threw her hands in the air. "Four? Are you trying to set up a listening post for the entire sector?"
"The Challenger alone has thirty-seven thousand crew. Including the five thousand Army troopers, Stormtroopers and local garrison that is not manageable with a smaller team."
"You will not listen in on the comms of my officers."
"I will do whatever I want within the boundaries of my mission. The guidelines of the ISB clearly state-"
"I know, I know. However, I can't spare any crew."
"Of thirty-seven thousand people, you can't spare four?"
"Your numbers are off, Agent Flennic." Where before she was angry, now cold replaced all other emotions and she stopped gesturing. Instead, she looked him straight in the eyes. "My crew is down to barely thirty-six thousand with more than a quarter of them green recruits. I have too few personnel in every department. A year ago something like this wouldn't have been possible, even so far in the Outer Rim. Today I had to classify sanitation as not part of the life support to free up some workers for more important tasks like keeping the reactor running. A million small tasks are piling up in every section. In a week, half the ship won't be able to clean themselves and now tell me why it is important to have your little spies sitting around and listening to stuff."
"I won't need your technicians. I want two junior officers preferably from the Stormtrooper corps. Give me two of the over one thousand who are just sitting around on board doing nothing."
Vas knew it wasn't quite fair because despite the Stormtroopers just sitting around they deterred potential boarding actions on the Challenger.
"No," the Captain stated flatly.
How could one person be so stubborn? That's probably how she became Captain, annoyed everyone for so long until they gave it to her so she would shut up.
"You are unreasonable and because of it hindering an Investigation of the ISB. If you don't grant me the required officers, I will file a report and there is currently a lot of political cloud behind that investigation. An Imperial Senator kidnapped, that is unheard of."
"Do you really want to open that bottle? Are you prepared for that backlash?"
"I am," Vas said and walked off towards the end of the bridge.
"Wait." Vas looked back at the Captain, a slight smile forming on her face. "There would be a possibility for you to get the officers you want."
"What are you implying?"
"Your father is Moff of the Prefsbelt sector. The one that contains Yaga Minor and its Imperial Shipyards, correct?"
"You know it is."
"You can have your officers if you talk to him about … preferential treatment for our task force." When she saw his screwed-up face, she softened, "Nothing major, but it would help both of our careers if we'd have enough supplies to keep this ship running and enough crew to man it."
"Are you trying to bribe me?"
"Oh, come on, don't be such a prick. Everyone does it and it is not a bribe, it's a friendly exchange of favours."
"Yaga Minor is as far away as you can get in the Empire. Why do you think I volunteered for this assignment?"
"The distance hardly matters and your father has nearly autonomous control over the shipyard. I don't want a new Star Destroyer, just some replacement parts and fighters."
"I … I suppose I can talk to him but I don't like it."
"Me neither," she admitted. "I'm the most comfortable in the middle of my bridge in the midst of a fight. And believe me, all the politics will get worse and worse the more you rise in the ranks. Once at the rank of captain, all you do is politics. The fighting is also done by your superiors."
"You don't sound very happy with your current position."
"Are you asking this as an officer of the ISB or as a fellow soldier?" she asked, giving him a genuine smile.
Pointing at his clothes, he said, "I'm practically off duty right now."
"The ISB is never off duty but I'll accept the answer. No, I am happy. The navy is the perfect –the only– place for me. I would much rather charge unarmed at a group of rebels than be chained to a desk in the Imperial Bureau of Standards."
"You mean the rebels who don't exist according to the HoloNet?"
"Yes, those non-existent rebels."
The tense atmosphere was gone yet an uneasy feeling remained as if he had just sold his soul. As if he had become the sort of corrupt official, he had sworn to fight.
"So, two officers?" Vas asked with a grin on his face.
"One."
"One, but I can choose freely."
"Deal, but I don't want anything to do with it. I have enough on my plate without it. Somehow I need to find more supplies to expand our operation further through the sector. We might even be forced to seize assets from local companies."
"They won't like that and we are already not loved down there."
"Would you rather that we run out of fuel, ammunition or food?"
"No, you're right and if I can help you with it, I will be there in the frontline to oversee the process but maybe use the politics you were talking about and organise a supply run. We can't be the only system in need."
"I tried several times already and maybe with your father's cloud, I can actually achieve something. In the meantime my task force will secure all interplanetary traffic, so these rebels won't be able to leave the planet anymore. To that effect, I'm sending troops to the different mining colonies spread over the moon of this system. From now on every person and cargo that leaves to orbit will be checked."
"What about the other systems? We have an entire sector to patrol."
"My task force is too small and the Challenger can only be in one spot at a time. Additionally, I can't leave the Challenger on her own in a system with the rebel threat looming on the horizon. Once the Hydra has been repaired, I will send out a small group to Braitun. It contains a mostly automated scrapyard, that was for a long time the most profitable enterprise in the sector until the trade station overtook it. With these key locations secured, let's just hope you root these rebels out quickly enough."
"I will try my best. How extensive is the damage to the Hydra? The logs say it was an Ion Torpedo."
"In general it's not bad but it's the detail that matters. The electronic pulse fried a lot of systems so we are mostly running on the redundancy systems now. So if she gets into another fight, there won't be any backup left and I don't like the sound of that. Even worse, one of the turbolaser emplacements has been directly hit by the torpedo and is disabled completely."
"Are you planning to repair her in orbit or at the docks of the trade station?"
"I will take the risk with the station. It has a drydock where my technicians can work without wearing life support suits. Otherwise, the repairs will take ages and only delay our operation."
"In that case, can I ask you for another half regiment of Stormtroopers for a special assignment? I will talk to my father at the next opportunity."
"You are asking a lot, Agent. Make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew."
Vas waited, employing some of the stubbornness the Captain used to such a great effect.
"Fine, you can have them but I want results and fast."
"Thank you, Captain," he said and would have run off the bridge if it was proper for an officer. Only a short stop in his quarters for his real uniform and then back to the hangar.
As he waited in the elevator, he retrieved his commlink. "Ace, change of plans. Get your civilian clothes and meet me at the wrecked freighter that attacked the Hydra, it should still be in one of the hangars."
A/N: So far I didn't do a good job sticking to the schedule of a chapter every second day and instead uploaded one every day but who is counting. I hope you enjoy the story.