An addendum to the last chapter added by our friend of Tarkin's Fist; His Majesty the Emperor
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Stately Kuat Manor, Ring of Nal Kuat, 2nd Galactic Empire
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"So, I told my patient she had acute appendicitis. And she asked, 'are you flirting with me?'"
Gage Kuat chuckled politely before taking a sip from the fine silver chalice on the table. It wasn't a very good joke, but the Kuat of Kuat could not afford to be seen as an ungracious host. Especially with such an old family friend.
The main dining hall of Gage's main estate on the Ring was a cavernous, dimly lit chamber with a massive table big enough to comfortably seat up to a hundred guests. Four expensive kyber crystal chandeliers lit up the room as they hung overhead. As the Kuat of Kuat, Gage was often required to wine and dine the elite of the Empire. Officially, this was done to highlight the power and influence of the Kuati culture within Imperial society. Gage's dinner parties had quickly become legendary. With over thirty courses, the finest beverages, and the cream of the Imperial elite in attendance, an invitation to such an event was a guarantee to rub elbows and ingratiate oneself with the best the Empire had to offer. Fortunes had been won and lost, deals made, and careers built and destroyed at his parties.
Of course, none of that mattered to Gage. Let his guests bicker and network if it pleased them. He was already as rich and influential as he could hope to be. No, his decadent parties served another purpose. They allowed him to appear the part of the play-boy aristocrat; well meaning, but ultimately clueless. This made it all the easier to distract the public from his true nature.
It was rather emotionally exhausting, Gage reflected. More tiring even than his nocturnal activities as the Mynockian. Acting the part of a careless fool, born with an aurodium spoon in his mouth, was a draining experience. Pretending to be something he wasn't, obsessing over perfecting his deception, and worrying constantly about letting the carefully constructed illusion slip for even a second, lest someone suspect that there was more to him than there was.
By contrast, being the Mynockian was easy. But, Gage had to confess, being here, in the company of a friend, was as close as he could get to being himself without dawning the cowl of the Mynockian.
Thankfully, with the war on he wouldn't have to be hosting any distracting parties any time soon. The grand dining room was empty, save for three individuals. Gage was, as tradition dictated, seated at the head of the table. To his left Alferon, his loyal retainer, stood to attention with a bottle of Ipellria firewater, ready to top off the glasses of his Master and their guest should they get too low. A part of Gage wished that Alferon would simply join them at the table. He was family in all but blood, after all, and deserved a chance to relax. But Alferon insisted on a degree of formality, particularly when a guest was visiting.
Said guest, Doctor James McCoy, formerly of Earth, and now one of the Empire's most influential physicians, was seated to Gage's right, and was currently in the process of laughing at his own joke as he cut into a piece of Noryath meatbread. It had been too long since the two friends had been able to sit down with one another and catch up.
"You know," McCoy said after swallowing a bite of the meatbread. "You don't have to laugh at every joke I make. I know that last one was particularly bad."
"I wouldn't say it was bad, Doctor..." Gage began, only to be cut off as McCoy waved his hand in dismissal.
"No, you wouldn't." McCoy said as he dabbed his lips with a napkin. "You Blue-bloods would consider it impolite. But Tonia, God rest her soul, always said I was the king of the dad jokes."
"Then why do you insist on telling them?" Gage asked.
McCoy shrugged. "It's an old habit. I do it to put people at ease, I guess. Show them I'm not full of myself. Take the tension out of a room. People are usually wound up when they have to go to the doctor. I find things tend to go much smoother when you put people at ease."
"Lady Niobe certainly appreciated your efforts, Doctor." Alferon interjected. "She always said she almost looked forward to your appointments."
Gage frowned at the mention of his mother. For reasons unknown she had developed a rather weak immune system in the years prior to her murder, and had been the victim of several illnesses that had left a litany of doctors perplexed. McCoy had proven himself the only doctor in the Empire who had been able to help her cope.
McCoy had been a regular visitor in the Kuat family's home, and Gage had grown fond of the man who had slipped him sweets when his mother was preoccupied with the latest medication he'd prescribed her.
McCoy glanced over at Gage, and saw that the young Kuati had grown somewhat terse at the mention of his deceased mother. "Seems to me that we all need a bit of levity, what with everything going on."
Alferon raised an appraising eyebrow. "I should have thought the mood would have been exemplary in the wake of the Empire's victory at New Thyfeeria."
McCoy rested his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together. Over his tented fingers he appraised Alferon with a sudden coolness that Gage found surprising.
"Public opinion can be a fickle thing, my friend." McCoy murmured. "Where some see victory, others see a temporary setback."
"You don't suppose the Confederates will launch another raid on the Kuat System?" Gage ventured. "We're slightly better defended now, and our strength will only grow with time."
McCoy gave a noncommittal shrug. "Who's to say, my boy." He said philosophically. "All I know for certain is that the Confederacy doesn't know the meaning of the word no. They won't give up on Nal Kuat just because the First Order got its nose bloodied at New Thyfeeria. They know this star system is the economic cornerstone of the Empire. Take that out and the whole thing would crumble. They'll try something else, and soon. Mark my words."
"The good Doctor raises a salient point, young Master." Said Alferon, his lips pursed as he prepared to say something he knew would be unpopular. "The enemy will one day return, and in greater numbers. I don't believe the Kuat System will be truly safe until the Alliance is pushed back to Sol, at the least."
"I can't help but agree with Alferon. I'm surprised you two haven't taken off for Palpatine Prime or somewhere else." McCoy noted. "There's still time to make it further coreward, in case the Confederates come back and cut us off."
"Certain beings have tried to convince me to relocate." Gage admitted, now returning Alferon's pointed stare. The two had briefly argued about whether it might be essential to move to a more secure system. "But it would devastate the morale of my people if their Kuat of Kuat were to leave them in this hour of danger. Staying here shows that I have faith in them and in the Empire to protect us and repel this latest Terran incursion."
That was the official reason for Gage to stay. Unofficially, Gage was staying on the ring due to Fulcrum. Alferon had initially believed that Fulcrum had left the Ring following his first encounter with the Mynockian at Sienar Labs. But Gage disagreed. Fulcrum knew that the Kuat System was the lynchpin in the Empire's defense. Should it be comprised in any way, the war would be decided in favor of the Confederacy and the First Order.
Fulcrum was still here on the Ring. Gage knew it in his bones. He just had to find the masked madman before he could release his stolen Xenovirus. Night after night he'd prowled the rooftops in search of the Confederate spy, but the enemy agent remained just out of his grasp.
McCoy raised his own glass in salute to his host. "Well, I can't help but commend your bravery, my boy. I know your mom would be proud of you."
Gage winced again at the reference to his mother. Even now her memory was like a stab in the back. "You know, Doctor, you yourself could leave at any time. What's keeping you here?"
McCoy leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling as he considered Gage's question.
"I'm a Doctor, I go where I'm needed. And I suspect I'm needed here most of all."
"Surely, most of the wounded from the Battle of New Thyfeeria are no longer in need of critical care." Alferon said.
McCoy shook his head before taking a sip from his own chalice of firewater. "I'm more concerned about future casualties on the Ring. Especially with all these robberies that have been going on. The press isn't giving it much coverage, but rumor has it someone made off with an entire platoon of those new KX-Security Droids the Navy's been using to replace its sailors."
Gage repressed the urge to scowl. Fulcrum had not been idle since he had stolen the vial of Xenovirus from Seinar Labs. There had been a slew of robberies and acts of sabotage across the Ring. Parts and machinery had been looted in bulk. Gage suspected that Fulcrum was trying to either create more Xenovirus from the small stock he'd stolen or find a way to distribute it in a manner that would spread it across the Ring as equally and efficiently as possible. He hadn't just made off with a platoon of droids either. He had also stolen a large arms shipment as well. Whatever he was planning, it was big, and Gage suspected it would be coming soon.
"I'm sure ISB will track down the curs behind these attacks, whoever they are." Alferon asserted as he moved to refill McCoy's chalice.
"Whoever he is, I think." McCoy muttered as he started cutting out another piece of meatbread.
"Doctor?" Alferon asked. McCoy lowered his utensils, and looked up at Alferon, and then over to Gage.
"Uh, forget I said anything. It's not something I should be talking about."
Gage and Alferon shared a covert glance.
"Oh, come on, doc. You can trust me. You know that. Besides, its been a while since I heard any really juicy gossip." Gage said, playing up his role as a bored celebrity.
"I doubt ISB would be too happy with me talking about it." McCoy hesitated, clearly mulling over what he should say. "Then again, its been nearly twenty years. Surely there'd be no harm in talking about what happened."
"About what?" Gage pressed.
"These robberies, I don't think they're normal burglaries." McCoy explained as he leaned in towards Gage. "All these thefts, they're barely getting ten seconds of screentime in the local HoloNews feeds, and yet ISB is crawling over each and every one of them. Why? If these were normal robberies why would the Imperial Security Bureau be wasting time on something that the local Guard could handle?"
"You think this is more than just the local Crimson Dawn hijacking some material to sell on the Black Market?" Alferon inquired.
"I've seen this pattern before." McCoy insisted. "Limited news coverage, authorities too high up on the food chain looking into something that would normally be considered small time? If I was a gambling man, I'd say that the ISB is on the hunt for old Fulcrum."
Gage said nothing for a moment as he struggled to conceal his shock. How could McCoy have possibly heard of Fulcrum when the spy's existence was such a highly kept secret?
"Fulcrum?" Gage asked, feigning ignorance. "Is that a person?"
McCoy shrugged, before glancing quickly over to the door, as though he were worried someone were eavesdropping on the conversation. "A person, or a shadow. Either way, the ISB is desperate to catch him."
"And why would that be?" Alferon asked, playing along with Gage's feigned ignorance. "What has this 'Fulcrum' character done to warrant such attention?"
"It depends on who you ask." McCoy answered cryptically. "I've treated a lot of people in my time. Most act like I'm not even in the room when they talk to each other. I guess they assume Doctor-Patient confidentiality will cause me to stay quiet. Anyways, I've treated more than a few street crooks brought in with mysterious blaster burns and stab wounds. Crimson Dawn, Gran Kajidic, you name it. To them, Fulcrum's some sort of infochant. A mover and a shaker looking to make a deal for the right price. They say he can make things happen. But the ISB, they have a different picture of him."
"Well, don't leave us in suspense." Gage said, affecting an anticipatory smile, as though he were casually enjoying the mystery of the conversation. "What has ISB got on this Fulcrum?"
"They're convinced he's a spy for the Confederacy." McCoy declared. This time Gage allowed himself to appear surprised. And to an extent, he was. How did the Doctor know so much?
"Who in the Empire would ever turn traitor for the Confederacy?" Exclaimed Alferon, aghast at the notion.
"That's the thing," McCoy said with a conspiratorial wink. "ISB thinks this Fulcrum guy is Terran, a deep cover agent of some sort dating back to the end of the Empire-Earth war."
"Well, this Fulcrum can't be too impressive, if ISB knows about him." Gage said, hoping to learn more about just what the Doctor knew.
"Apparently he was impressive enough to get away with murder."
"Murder?" Gage asked, pretending to be fascinated by the grimier aspect of Imperial society.
McCoy glanced over to Alferon. "Gage, my boy, you're far to young to remember this, but I'm sure Alferon here recalls the death of Droo Filoni, the Editor of HoloNet News, about nineteen years back? That was no accident."
"You're saying this Fulcrum caused Filoni's death?" Alferon exclaimed. Gage had to hand it to his butler, the man knew how to appear surprised about information he already knew.
"Yep," Said McCoy. "Apparently President Harris wasn't too happy with an expose Filoni wrote on the rigged elections the Confederacy held, so he had Fulcrum silence the Editor. But apparently Fulcrum was too sloppy, because ISB caught on that there was more to Filoni's death than met the eye. ISB didn't want to cause a panic though, so they kept the real nature of Filoni's demise under wraps."
"How do you know so much about this if it's so secret?" Gage asked.
McCoy took another sip from his chalice before swirling the remaining contents in his left hand. He glanced down at the cup casually as he did so. "Because after Filoni's death I was the prime suspect."
"You?" Asked Gage, this time legitimately surprised. He couldn't imagine McCoy, a softspoken, congenial, middle aged man, was capable of masterminding the Confederacy's espionage activities in the heart of the Empire.
Alferon said nothing, but his eyes flicked from McCoy and settled heavily on Gage. The butler tilted his head slightly in McCoy's direction.
Gage knew what his old retainer was thinking. From the moment Gage had realized Fulcrum was an Earthling Alferon had raised the uncomfortable likelihood that McCoy was the mystery agent who was plaguing the Empire. Alferon's assertion that the spy might well have been hiding under their nose was not so incredulous if the ISB had counted the good doctor as a major suspect.
It made sense. Before the arrival of the Kazoookians, McCoy had been the only registered Earthling living in the Empire. Well, if one discounted the idea that Ambassador Bogan was still alive and in hiding somewhere. And there were always rumors the Martian Christian Church had hidden a few dozen out in the colonies rather than return to persecution on Earth.
But Gage had been quietly desperate to find some proof that his old friend wasn't the monster behind the mask. Alferon's doubt was reasonable. But Gage couldn't see the man who had comforted him after his mother's death as a cold hearted killer. He didn't want to see it.
"Oh yeah," Said McCoy as he took another sip of his drink. "Makes sense, doesn't it? Tonia and I were the only confirmed Earthers living in the Empire at the time. So if there were any Confederate spies skulking around it's only logical that we were at the top of the list of suspects."
"What happened?" Gage asked, this time with genuine interest. Clearly McCoy had a durasteel clad alibi if the ISB had allowed him to retain his liberty.
McCoy put his hands on the table, palms down, and scowled. The older man was clearly remembering something unpleasant. "I was taken in for questioning, of course. I get why they did it of course. But it was rather embarrassing to have them bring me in while I was at work. They searched my home and the hospital, but they found nothing that could link me to the crime, so they let me go. However, I later learned that they kept me under surveillance for a few months, just to see if they could catch me in the act."
"But, they're not following you anymore." Gage noted. "What convinced them of your innocence?"
"The ISB set a trap for Fulcrum, hoping to lure him out with a juicy bit of intelligence he just couldn't pass up. And they were right. A couple of undercover agents posing as members of the Gran Kajidic reached out and struck a deal with Fulcrum. They nearly got him too, if their reports are accurate."
McCoy leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders. "At the same time as that was going down I was giving a lecture at the Imperial medical center. Tonia was sitting in the front row. So, knowing that we couldn't be in two places at once, the ISB told me what had happened and let me off the hook."
"That's quite the story, Doctor." Gage said. "I wonder who this Fulcrum is though."
"Could be anybody." McCoy said, who had picked up his knife and fork and resumed eating his meal. "If there's one thing General Boston's example should have taught us all, its that there are ways to infiltrate the Empire without Imperial officials being any wiser to it. Fake IDs can be bought on the Black Market for the right price, and slicers can insert those identities into any database. And there were over eight million Terrans in Boston's Free Earth Army. Who's to say one or more of them didn't slip away and blend in?
"Do you think Boston himself might be Fulcrum?" Alferon asked. It was, Gage thought, a reasonable question to ask.
McCoy shook his head. "I doubt it. The timeline doesn't match up. He would have been on the Moon at the embassy when Filoni was killed. Nah, if I had to guess, I'd say Bogan is probably long dead after he vanished at the Empress's wedding. The man had a lot of enemies. Imperial Intelligence probably had him whacked as payback for him pulling the wool over their eyes."
Gage would have said something else, but was interrupted by the sound of a comlink chiming loudly from the hallway.
"I'll attend to that, Master Gage." Alferon said with a courtly bow.
As Alferon left the room, McCoy nodded appreciatively at the retreating butler. "You're lucky to have someone like that watching your back, you know."
"Oh, I know it." Said Gage, without deception. "If it weren't for Alferon I imagine I would have spent my entire fortune some time ago."
"Things haven't been the same for me since Tonia died." McCoy confessed. "I have a droid who acts as a personal assistant, and it does all the things that I don't have the time to do. But a droid just doesn't have the intuition a real person has. The sort of intuition you need to get by in life."
Without Alferon to serve them, McCoy reached over while he was speaking to gather a spoonful of Huttese slime pods, and as he did so the sleeve of his outstretched hand fell back to reveal a thin, pale scar running up the Doctor's forearm.
McCoy looked over, saw that Gage was staring at the scar, and quickly pulled his sleeve up. McCoy glanced down at his arm, and for a moment he looked rather hurt.
"My first taste of Imperial hospitality." He noted quietly, tapping his forearm.
"The Empire did that to you?" Gage exclaimed. "How could they have gotten away with that?"
McCoy chuckled humorlessly as he stirred the slime pods on his plate.
"It was a different time, my boy, and the Empire was a much, much different place. There were no courts, no Senate, no elections. The officers of the military ran the Empire up until Phasma's reforms. They could do whatever they wanted. And they did."
McCoy's eyes became unfocused for a moment as he continued to idly play with his food. "They shattered my nose, you know." He murmured. He kept playing with his food.
"I just asked a question. I had never seen or heard of Bacta before, and I was just curious how it worked." The Doctor stabbed one of the slime pods with his fork. "And they broke my nose, just for being curious. They broke my nose, and a lot of other things."
The Doctor rubbed his thumb over his sleeve where the scar was now hidden. He stared down at the food on his plate. His lips parted, and a soft sigh passed through his teeth.
"Then, when I proved myself useful to them, they decided to reward me." He said sullenly. "They brought Tonia up to Mars. That was even worse than the beatings. They said it was a reward, but I knew it was a threat. If I acted up, who knew what they'd do to her. I was so scared for her..."
Gage didn't really know how to respond to that. He hesitantly reached out to his old friend. "Doctor, James, I..." before he could say anything substantive the doors to the hallway reopened and Alferon returned.
"Begging your pardon Master Gage, but it's rather urgent." Alferon called.
Gage looked back to Doctor McCoy, who gave him a small smile and a nod. "Go on, Gage, I'm fine."
Gage nodded before rising from his seat and following Alferon out into the hall. When the door shut Alferon leaned in towards Gage's ear.
"That was Cato Succubi on the line, young Master." Alferon whispered. "The ISB just reacquired one of the KX security droids Fulcrum stole. They're in the process of trying to crack its memory circuits right now."
Gage smiled. "That could lead us to Fulcrum. Call Cato back and tell her I'll be there soon."
Gage turned and reentered the dinner chamber. His smile vanished as he saw the Doctor finishing up his meal.
"I'm so sorry Doctor, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this short." Gage said. "I just received a call from a friend. She's in a bit of trouble and needs my assistance with something."
"Ah that's alright Gage, to be honest I was planning on calling it an early night myself." McCoy admitted. "Do me a favor though, and have Alferon bundle up some of that meatbread to go. My droid's no chef, and frankly neither am I."
Gage clapped the Doctor on the shoulder. "Of course, Doctor, of course. Now I am sorry, but I must be off."
As Gage left Doctor McCoy behind and made his way to the manor's garage and his small fleet of custom landspeeders, Gage reached into his pocket and popped a small detoxicant pill into his mouth and swallowed. It wouldn't do for him to work on a case inebriated, and he had had a glass or two of firewater. As he got into one of his landspeeders, Gage felt a pang of guilt. McCoy had clearly been hurting, and Gage hadn't had the time to really be there for him, even though the Doctor had been there all of Gage's life.
But that didn't matter. Fulcrum's latest scheme was coming to fruition, and the Mynockian would soon have a clue as to just what he was planning to do.
He had known, from the moment he had put on the cowl, that he would need to make sacrifices so that the beings of the Empire would never suffer as he had. McCoy would manage without him, for now. Now, he had to focus on the lives that were at risk from Fulcrum's plot.
Justice demanded nothing less.
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Up Next- A New World, A New Campaign, A New Opportunity