Chapter Two: Droid Inspection
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Hey, everyone, hope you are excited to see where this What If series goes, got some good ideas.
I will say, this chapter was one of my first ideas for this collection, back when it was just individual one-shots that I had in my mind. It is also the easiest episode to rewrite to fit the What If scenario.
Anyway, have fun. On with the Show:
World Between Worlds
There Splendid Ap floated, his assistant sitting down next to him. He was getting ready to begin his narrations for the first experiment. He had just recently finished manipulating the time-space continuum to watch this current experiment he wanted to run.
"Are you ready to begin?" the Pink conical entity asked his assistant, a Shaman of the Whills.
"I am, Splendid Ap," the Shaman responded as he readied his writing implements.
"Very well," Ap said, as he turned his attention back to the Multiverse. The portal they were viewing things through zoomed in the universe that he had just meddled with, and he began his narration.
In the foundational universe at the far right end of the Multiverse, in the run up to the Liberation of Lothal, the Rebel Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus and his padawan, Ezra Bridger infiltrated the Imperial factory on Lothal and uncovered the blueprints for a new, deadlier, Tie Fighter program. All the while, they had to evade the efforts of Grand Admiral Thrawn to find them.
However, in this new universe, Thrawn was unable to make his inspection the day the Spectres infiltrated the factory, due to having to put down an uprising a sector over. In his stead, however, Thrawn asked an equally observant colleague to go in his stead.
From the foundational universe at the opposite end of the Multiverse, henceforth dubbed Universe 1138 aka Skyriver, as called by a species that calls it home comes the experimental subject. The other is henceforth Universe 42514, also known simply as the GFFA. The subject in question is a Droid Grand Moff in the service of the Galactic Empire. The question being pondered is What if Grand Moff 4-8C replaced Grand Admiral Thrawn for the inspection of the Imperial factory on Lothal. We begin with the plan already in place, the Rebel Jedi duo of Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger having infiltrated the factory thanks to the efforts of a friend.
Ezra and Kanan stood in line with the other workers, next to their friend Morad Sumar, wondering what was going on. They tensed up upon seeing ISB Agent Kallus walk in. Things were already not going to plan if Kallus was there with Governor Pryce. "Look sharp, this factory is being honored by a visit from Imperial High Command," Agent Kallus said as he walked past the line of workers. Kanan and Ezra shared a look of concern, thinking that it could be Grand Admiral Thrawn. Though, nothing could prepare anyone for who walked in. It was not Thrawn or Tarkin for that matter.
In walked an IG-Assassin droid wearing a custom made Imperial Officer uniform, with rank plaque and code cylinders denoting the rank of Grand Moff, flanked by two Magnaguards, electrostaffs in hand. "Thank you, Agent Kallus, for the introduction," the Droid Grand Moff said in his masculine artificial voice. "However, my presence here is not an honor, but an investigation. Grand Admiral Thrawn asked me to come in his stead as he is busy putting down rebels one sector over, and I happened to be in the system for other reasons."
"Ezra, confirm for me that is an IG-Assassin Droid," Kanan whispered, out of fear. Droids like that had reputations as being able to fight Jedi. Through the Force, he was only able to see the presence of living beings, but there was a distinctive shadowy shape of an Assassin Droid that he could see.
"It is," Ezra answered, concerned and confused. It made no sense that such a droid was in that position of power.
"I am Grand Moff 4-8C. Know this, the ones responsible for sabotaging Imperial vehicles produced in this factory will be found and executed for the amount of missions and troops lost due to such sabotage." 4-8C walked up and down the line of workers, intimidating them with his multiple photoreceptors whirling about, seeing everything. It did not help that unlike other high ranking officers that only carry small defense pistols, 4-8C carried a Blaster rifle on his back and multiple blaster pistols on his hip, his guards followed close behind. Kanan had a flashback to the Clone Wars, hearing the sound of electricity cracking on the electrostaffs, realizing that the bodyguards once belonged to General Grievous. Now he wished he had his lightsaber at an easy to retrieval spot, as both Jedi had them hidden in their jumpsuits. It would be a little noticeable if they went to reach for them. Especially with how extra observant that droid grand moff was.
What was very concerning for the rebels was that he briefly stopped in front of Ezra and looked at him. It was a good thing he had the shaded vizor on, but they didn't know if the Droid was familiar with their faces. It was possible that Kallus or even Thrawn informed him of what they look like to be on the lookout.
After a moment, he turned to Sumar, "Worker 5473, you were pressed into serving the Empire?" The Droid inquired, getting right to work.
"Yes, sir, after losing my farm," Morad responded, not sure how to address the officer.
"Do you stand by your work?" 4-8C had a suspicion and wanted to test it. It would also be a good lesson for the others.
"I do," Sumar answered, getting concerned. He knew about the sabotaged vehicles, as the one leading it.
"This speeder was the last one you personally inspected, correct?" The moff asked, indicating the vehicle up on its platform. "Please show us how fast it gets up to max speed." Seeing the hesitation in the worker, the droid motioned to one of his guards who grabbed the worker and pushed him over to the bike.
Ezra tried to do something to save his friend, but Kanan stopped him from moving, and it was a good thing as a trooper told him to get back in line. They could only watch in horror as Morad got on the sabotaged speeder bike, and started it up.
What no one knew, however, was the Grand Moff had already preprogramed the bike to hit max speed from his control datapad, not giving Sumar a chance to slow it down to save his life. As the bike got up to speed, it began to overheat like all the others did. "Somethings wrong, it's overheating. I have to shut it down," Sumar tried to slow it down to save his life, not knowing that it would not be able to. When the engine did not slow down, but continued to climb, Sumar knew what had been done and knew he was going to die here. His last thoughts were of his wife and friends.
The bike blew him to pieces as it went up in smoke. His face mask tumbling to a halt on the ground. Ezra was horrified that he lost a friend that had looked out for him for a long time, even Kallus was disturbed, and he is the one that ordered the genocide of the Lasat people. Though, he was trying to make up for it as a Fulcrum agent.
"Now that I have your attention, meatbags, know this: Everything you build here, you will personally test." 4-8C's cold voice told them. He turned to Lieutenant Lyste. "Make sure no one enters or leaves here, I am going to inspect the line for sabotage." Kallus and Pryce followed the Grand Moff. Lyste turned and ordered the troopers to hold the workers there and to lockdown the facility.
Kanan pulled out a small comlink, "Ryder, get word to Hera. We are trapped inside and need help to get out."
"They already jammed comms," Ezra told him. So it seemed they were on their own there. Chopper quietly grubbled something next to Kanan. When the officer told them to form lines and present IDs for verification, they knew they had to scramble out of there. Ezra told Chopper to get the Imperials' attention. Chopper, in a classic maniacal move of his, went over to a nearby speeder and activated it, sending it flying and crashing into a supply crate, sending people flying. Ezra and Kanan took this opportunity to leave.
"Droid, what is the matter with you?" Lyste questioned what he assumed was a malfunctioning Imperial droid. Chopper grunted something back at him. "Report to Maintenance," Lyste ordered, which gave Chopper his leave from the area to join his comrades.
Deeper in the Facility
"Now is our chance to find out what the Empire is up to," Ezra said to Kanan as they ran down the halls of the factory.
"From what we were told, A2 would be the place to start," Kanan responded as he followed Ezra.
"Not dressed like this, with the workers on lockdown," Ezra commented, meaning they would need to find disguises, preferably Stormtrooper armor. It seemed though that fate always had a way of providing what the rebels always needed, for as soon as Ezra said it, a Scout Trooper and Stormtrooper appeared before them, commenting that they were not dismissed. They easily knocked the troopers out, hid the bodies, and stole their armor, with Kanan taking the regular troopers armor and Ezra taking the Scouttrooper armor. He seemed to prefer that kind of armor anyway.
Production Line
"Grand Moff, it is not meant with any disrespect, but how much did the Grand Admiral tell you about what was being produced here?" Pryce asked, worried that the secrecy of the Tie Defender was spilled out.
"He told me enough to do my job here, and what he did not tell me, I found out anyway. Perks of being a droid of my station," 4-8C replied. What he did not implicitly say was that he hacked into all the computers in the facility beforehand. Pryce took that to mean that he knew of the Tie Defender project.
"In that case, do you think the rebels have infiltrated section A-2?" Pryce asked, concerned. "Considering the secrecy of that project is…"
"Of utmost importance, I know. Grand Admiral Thrawn left me instructions that I already sent ahead that anyone entering that area without his personal codes to be shot on sight." 4-8C seemed to sigh as he inspected the AT-DP walkers for sabotage. Despite what they say to him, he could feel their disgust for him. He was used to it, serving in this droid-hating Empire. It was a good thing he was part of the Imperial Department of Redesign, which gave him certain connections. Even Emperor Palpatine himself seemed to like him, considering that the Grand Moffs had to be personally appointed by him. What a meeting that was, to say the least.
"Thrawn wanted me to tell you that you should not have compromised security there by hiring locals, and I agree with him," The Grand Moff's voice held an air of told you so.
"This factory has quotas to meet," Pryce tried to defend her decisions.
"I can question the workers, but I won't know if they are lying without more information on this new project." Kallus spoke up, both in his role as an ISB Agent and secretly as Fulcrum.
Pryce fixed him with a questioning look. While she had no reason to doubt his loyalty to the Empire, she did not want even ISB knowing about the project. "All you need to know is that the Grand Admiral has a new fighter initiative."
"One that will hopefully crush all sparks of rebellion before they begin," the Droid Grand Moff commented.
"A new Tie? Difficult to see how one fighter will make the difference." Kallus tried to pry more information out of the other two so that he could give it to the Spectres. He had a hunch they were already there, he saw the droid earlier and knew one of their classic tricks was to repaint that C1 astromech to have him infiltrate Imperial outposts.
The Grand Moff stopped and turned to look at the ISB Agent. "The difference, Agent Kallus, between victory and defeat is usually based on one small detail." He seemed like he was quoting Thrawn at that point. In speaking with the Grand Admiral before coming here, the droid Grand Moff was able to pick up on the Chiss' mannerisms and analytical mind, of which they had in common, due to having a computer for a brain. To be honest, Thrawn was perhaps the only alien that 4-8C respected, considering what the mandates of the Imperial Department of Redesign were. "For example, take this walker," he noticed that the walker seemed top heavy, as if the bolts weren't placed right. He turned to the gathered workers, "Is this your work?" he asked one of them.
"Yes, sir, I oversaw its construction," the worker responded.
Turning back to Kallus, "Have the walker step forward." Kallus hit a button on his control pad and the Walker came to life, taking a few steps forward and tipping over, crashing to the ground. 4-8C fixed the worker with a look, "bring him to me," he ordered his Magnaguards.
"No, it was not that one, it was the one next to it," the worker cried as the droids dragged up to the Grand Moff. To add to the fear level in the room, the Assassin Droid reached down to his belt and grabbed one of his blaster pistols and held it up to the worker's head.
"Wait, Grand Moff, let me interrogate this rebel for information first," Kallus stepped in, hoping to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
"I told these workers when I arrived that all saboteurs will be executed for treason, and I have found one, Agent Kallus." 4-8C remarked as he pulled the trigger, killing the worker. The Magnaguards let the body drop to the floor and the Grand Moff motioned to the troopers to have the body disposed of.
Kallus had to internally groan, this Grand Moff was ruthless, befitting that of an Assassin droid. It was making his job harder than was needed, and he was hoping to save some of these people. He was not sure how the Grand Admiral was going to take this when they reported to him about what happened that day.
Elsewhere on Lothal
Ex-Governor turned Rebel Ryder Azadi was at his camp, giving Phoenix Squadron Commander Hera Syndulla an update on the situation. "The factory is on full lockdown, communication is jammed, I can't reach Kanan and Kanan. That new Imperial in charge is pretty thorough. I didn't catch his name, but I heard it's an Assassin Droid, believe it or not." He told them, a bit surprised about that last thing.
"An Assassin Droid?" Captain Orrelios asked, that seemed strange, and concerning.
"Grand Moff 4-8C," Sabine remarked, in a bit of terror. Hera and Zeb turned to her for explanation. "When I was at the Imperial academy, we had to learn of various Grand Moffs in case we were assigned to them. Tarkin was the big one, of course, but I remember him being part of a lesson. That droid is ruthless, there will be bodies, I didn't know he was in the sector." Sabine informed them, concerned about the other Spectres.
"Thrawn must have been distracted by something else today," Hera said, concerned for multiple reasons, one of which was the question of who had taken the Admiral's attention.
"My team will attack the facility's east gate, it's the weakest point, so this 4-8C might suspect it, but at least it will divert his attention a bit," Ryder told them, hoping that it will be enough to get Kanan and Ezra out of there.
Lothal
Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper snuck along the halls of the factory, making their way to section A2. They saw a trooper come out of it, and an astromech head in. Following the droid a moment, they witnessed that they would need an access code to get Chopper in. Ezra popped his helmet to talk with Kanan about the plan. "Hey, if we can get Chop one of those tapes, we can get him inside, then all he has to do is find the design database and download it."
"Now, all we need is one of those droids," Kanan remarked. As if the Force was watching over them that day, another Imperial astromech rolled into them. Ezra dropped his face plate into place and they went into undercover mode. "Hey, Droid, this is a restricted area. I need to see your clearance code." The Imperial droid had no reason to suspect anything was up, it thought that these were regular troopers doing their job, so it provided its datacard as requested. As Kanan made to look at it, Chopper used his electro-shock prod and disabled the droid. Ezra caught the droid as it tipped over and leaned it against the wall so that the guards didn't hear it hit the floor, while Kanan gave Chopper the codes.
"Make it quick, Chop," Ezra told the droid. Chopper set off to retrieve what they were here for, getting past the guards and into Section A2, and hooking into the database.
Thrawn's office
Looking at all the stuff Thrawn had in his office, 4-8C had no idea what to do with it, so he merely sat at the desk and began to comb through records. When Kallus and Lyste walked in, "So, have you found any more traitors?"
"Actually, sir, we lost some. Two workers went missing after your demonstration, we found their uniforms," Lyste told the Grand Moff, concerned he was in the line of fire.
"I am confident that we will find them once we issue an alert," Kallus told the Droid Officer, keeping his cover intact.
"No, that will not work. What I know of these rebels that seemed tied to this world, they will have disguised themselves as Stormtroopers by now, to steal data and escape," 4-8C replied, as he stood up from the desk. "Secure section A-2 immediately." Kallus was now a bit concerned, the Grand Moff was on to them now.
With Kanan and Ezra
As they stood undercover on guard duty, they were discussing the Imperial Officer in charge. "What is up with that Grand Moff?" Ezra asked Kanan, confused as to who that even was.
"I don't know, I would have thought such a thing impossible after the Clone Wars, considering how wide Anti-Droid sentiment has spread in the wake of armies of battle droids causing so much destruction." Kanan too was confused as to how such a thing was possible.
"Do you think Sabine might know something? As she was once a cadet," Ezra asked.
"Perhaps, we'll ask her when we get out of here." Kanan told him, then turned his attention to Chopper. "What is taking him so long?"
"Uh oh," Ezra warned him. A passing trooper patrol came up.
"Hey, what are you doing here," the Corporal asked.
"Uh, we are on guard duty, sir," Kanan hoped this would be quick.
"And what exactly are you guarding?" the trooper asked, suspicious.
"We go where we're ordered, sir," Ezra said.
The Stormtrooper Corporal signaled to the other two to follow him. "This is highly irregular, what's your operating number?" his suspicions were raised.
Thankfully, Chopper came out of the area to them.
"He's got it, lets go," Ezra muttered to Kanan.
"Wait, is this section B17?" Kanan asked to keep the cover.
"A2," the Corporal answered as they got closer.
"I told you we were in the wrong section, sorry commander, we are new transfers," both of them began to walk away to get out of there.
The Stormtrooper officer's suspicions seemed to be confirmed that these happened to be the disguised Rebels. Partially that the one trooper got his rank wrong. He turned to his men, "come on," and they took off in a jog after them.
Turning a corner, they realized they had to go the other way as they saw an officer ordering all exits locked down and all IDs verified. They took off in a run the other way, the troopers that had been following them yelling for them to halt. Upon reaching the elevator, Kanan hit the thing multiple times, as it wasn't opening.
"Okay, this might get messy," Kanan warned Ezra. What they were not expecting was who was in the elevator when the doors opened. It was Agent Kallus, things seemed to go from bad to worse. Luckily, Kallus seemed like he didn't know it was them.
From Kallus' point of view, the door opened and he saw two troopers and an astromech droid. He immediately knew who it was, based on the shape of the droid's head and the fact that the scout trooper was shorter than the other trooper. "You two come with me to secure the perimeter," he ordered. The troopers cautiously entered the lift and the door closed as the pursuing troopers caught sight of them, their warning came too late as the doors shut.
"Don't move, Rebels," Kallus knew that he was about to have to break his cover, but was not expecting to be attacked in the lift. As they pinned him against the wall, he told them the truth. "Listen to me, I'm Fulcrum," he told them.
"Yeah right," the voice of the Jedi Padawan came through the mask of the Scout trooper helmet.
"You expect us to believe that?" confirming who the other one was.
"By the light of Lothal's moons," Kallus said, confirming his identity as Fulcrum. The two Jedi removed their helmets in shock.
"The code phrase, he is Fulcrum?" Ezra couldn't believe that the person that has been chasing them all this time was one of them.
"Your friend Zeb trusted me on the Ice moon, I saved Sabine Wren at the fighter academy, now I am trying to save you, but you have to trust me."
That would explain a few things to the Spectres as the rest were confused when Sabine told Zeb that Kallus told her to tell him that they were even.
Chopper warbled something, "Your droid trusts me," he pleaded.
"Yeah, that's not a good thing," Ezra said, unsure about this.
"Fine, if you want to help so badly, we need to get a message out to our allies," Kanan told him.
"Then, we have to move quickly," Kallus said, a plan already forming in his mind. As the lift went up to where they needed to go to get to the communications office, while they had multiple questions on their mind about how Kallus was Fulcrum, the main question was about the Grand Moff.
"What do you know about the Grand Moff?" Kanan asked.
"Not much more than anyone else, other than he is part of the Imperial Department of Redesign, which I recently figured out was code for secret genocide group, as their mission is subduing and liquation of troublesome Non-human species." Kanan and Ezra were disturbed by that information, with Ezra remarking as if the Empire wasn't bad enough. "Also, he shot another worker during his inspection."
"Cold-blooded," Kanan muttered.
"Okay, so here is the plan, I run in first, firing back at you, intentionally missing, and we take over the comm room," Kallus told them.
"Not like we got any better ideas, let's do it," Kanan agreed.
"If it's all the same to you, I am not trusting you to miss, so I am going to be prepared," Ezra reached into his armor and pulled out his lightsaber.
"What happened to the old one?" Kallus asked, as he was recalling Ezra's stun-blaster hybrid.
"Run in with Vader on Malachor," Ezra answered and said no more of that. The door to the lift opened and Kallus led the way to the Comm room. As they got there, Kallus made his show as Ezra activated his green blade. "Watch out, they're rebels," Kallus shouted at the men in the room, firing a shot off, missing entirely. Ezra force pushed a trooper into Kallus, and threw another one with the force the other way. Kanan used his stolen E-11 to stun the officer in the room. "You could have warned me you were gonna do that," Kallus commented, though he had to admit to himself, he hasn't done much to earn their trust lately.
"Where is the fun in that?" Ezra responded.
Turning to the business at hand, "your droid can open your comlinks from this port. I'll provide the access codes." Chopper warbled that he didn't need them. "He doesn't need them?" Kallus was impressed as he stood up. "This droid of yours is quite efficient." Chop warbled his thanks for the compliment.
"Figures that Chop would get along with an Imperial Spy," Ezra remarked, it was much in Chopper's personality to do so. Chop warbled something mocking the Jedi Padawan.
Kanan opened his comlink, "Ryder, you there?"
"Closer than you think," his gruff voice came back. "We're about to hit the main east gate, give you a chance to get out, You'll need to move if you want to get out."
"We will, and thanks," Kanan shut down his side of the comms .
"Make for the east vehicle pool," Kallus advised. "There'll be a walker you can use. Now, I have to make this convincing." he said in regards to the mess in the room.
"Okay," Ezra made it easy for Kallus, by sending him through a glass holo display with a force push.
"Ezra!" Kanan reprimanded his apprentice.
"What? That is convincing," Ezra defended himself.
"Yeah, but I was gonna do it," Kanan said that he was jealous that Ezra didn't let him have a moment of fun, as they made for the vehicle storage that Kallus pointed out.
"Well, if he is one of us now, then you'll get your chance," Ezra said with a bit of snark.
Thrawn's office
What the rebels and their spy did not realize was that once Kallus and Lyste were out of the office, 4-8C was in the system, looking for any breaches. He was unable to fight the C1 droid in A2, but he did manage to catch some interesting information by hacking into the security cameras in the turbolifts and Comm room. He found out that Kallus was perhaps working with these rebels, it was enough to execute him for treason. However, he knew that he had to play it tactfully, considering that Kallus was still an ISB agent and ISB was a problem all on its own to deal with. He will let the Grand Admiral deal with it. "So, it seems that there is a traitor in our midst. One of our own is providing aid to these Rebels, and it seems that they have made off with copies of the design plans for your Tie Defender," he told Pryce.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"That is classified information at this time, Governor," he said, then the desk's comms beeped. Answering it, it was Lyste on the other end.
"Grand Moff, there is a band of rebels attacking the east gate, I have deployed walkers, should I send reinforcements?"
"Yes, crush them," he said with dark glee.
Meanwhile, Kanan, Ezra, and Chopper piled into an AT-DP walker and headed out toward the gate. When questioned by the AT-AT drivers, they told them they were reinforcements, however, the Grand Moff was listening in. "Attention AT-AT crews, ignore the speeders for now, that AT-DP is under enemy control, blow it apart," he ordered.
The two rebels managed to use the legs of one of the AT-AT's as cover from the other's shots. It was a good enough plan for the moment, until the one they were using for cover dropped on top of them, to crush them. They had to cut a hole with their lightsabers to get into the bigger walker. It did not help when a rocket hit the knee joint in one of its legs, but they managed to blow up the other walker before theirs gave out.
Once safely away with Ryder, they called Chopper Base on Atollon. The plans for the new tie fighter caused some concern among the other Spectres, especially the fact that these TIEs carry shield generators. Hera remarked their pilots won't stand a chance if the Empire was building them in numbers. "How did you get these plans past that Grand Moff? Someone is definitely getting executed for that."
"I guess we can thank Agent Kallus, he knew Fulcrum's secret code phrase," Kanan informed them to their shock.
"Wait, Kallus is Fulcrum? How does that make any sense?" Sabine asked.
Zeb put his hand behind his head in realization at what happened. "Karabast, I must have recruited him, you know, accidentally."
"Ice moon?" Ezra asked, recalling what Kallus had said.
"Yeah, we didn't kill each other, so I guess we are all friends now," Zeb remarked, unsure what this meant.
"Still, we'll use caution with our new friend until we know what he is up to," Hera made the final decision.
Lothal, Grand Admiral Thrawn's Office
Thrawn was not pleased when he returned later that evening from putting down that little uprising. Rebels had snuck in and stolen plans for his Tie Defender project. He was currently sitting behind his desk with Pryce, Lyste, Kallus, and Moff 4-8C in front of him. "Thank you, Lieutenant, dismissed," Thrawn said to Lyste after he finished his report. He turned to Kallus, "Agent Kallus, I saw your report, several troopers confirmed your encounter with the Jedi." Grand Moff 4-8C wisely stood silent on the side of the room, waiting until he was alone with the Grand Admiral to voice his thoughts. "You know, it is clear to me, after analyzing the rebels' escape, that they had help from someone inside our ranks."
It was the same thing that 4-8C had mentioned to her. "This spy must be found at once. The droid over there says he knows who it is, but won't share it with anyone," Pryce said, getting angry. 4-8C let out an audible mechanical hiss in imitation of a sigh, as he glared at her. Kallus grew concerned that the Grand Moff knew it was him.
"Patience, Governor, acting out of emotion will not help us here. We will find our spy in due time, and when we do, we shall turn them from an enemy into an asset, wouldn't you agree, Agent Kallus?" Thrawn had some suspicions.
Grand Moff 4-8C decided to make his move at this time, he motioned for his Magnaguards to move in. They activated their electrostaffs, and both delivered a brief shock to agent Kallus, dropping him to the floor of the office. "What are you doing, you stupid droid?" Pryce finally broke. She had been respectful of his station up to that point, but now the anti-droid sentiments came through.
"There is your traitor," 4-8C said as he drew one of his pistols and aimed it at Kallus, who was struggling to get to his feet. Electrostaffs like that packed a punch and a half.
"I assume you have proof of this?" Thrawn asked, as he and the droid knew that an ISB agent was harder to deal with when it comes to treason charges as they prefer to handle things internally by Internal Affairs, one of the branches of ISB that Kallus worked for.
"I do, check your holoprojector, I loaded the recordings into it for you," 4-8C kept his weapon trained on Kallus as the Admiral viewed the recordings.
"Very Well, former Agent Kallus, you have a chance to save your life. Tell me where the Rebels are based?" Thrawn said, after seeing the evidence.
"I don't know, they never told me, they only told me what direction to broadcast in," Kallus told him. One of the Magnaguards hit him again with its weapon.
"So, what you are going to do is send a transmission, giving them false information, leading them into a trap. Where we can end this rebellion before it begins," Thrawn made Kallus his offer.
"I'll die before I help you anymore," Kallus said, trying to catch his breath, he knew what that would mean for him.
"Good enough for me," 4-8C said, as he squeezed off a blaster bolt, dropping Kallus to the floor. That makes three people he had killed that day, he was pleased with that.
"You didn't have to do that," Thrawn said, disappointed in the Grand Moff.
"It would only cause us more problems to keep him alive. In any event, I am returning to my fleet, goodbye, Grand Admiral. Good luck on your secret project, I must get back to mine," 4-8C turned and started out.
"Yes, the Heart of Steel. Be careful with that, Grand Moff, something like that can cause problems for worlds like Imperial Center," Thrawn remarked. 4-8C's photoreceptors turned back to look at the Grand Admiral in question. It seemed that he was not the only one that was digging into other officer's personal projects. Thrawn was lucky that he was both his superior, and that Lord Vader and the Emperor both liked him. Otherwise, he would have shot the alien for even mentioning Heart of Steel. Without another word, the Droid Grand Moff left and returned to his flagship, leaving Thrawn to deal with explaining to Colonel Yularen why Agent Kallus got killed in his office.
Outside Reality
So it was that simple change of personnel overseeing the Imperial Factory on Lothal, saw the end of Agent Kallus. Phoenix Squadron would find out when Kallus never sent them another transmission. Zeb was partially saddened by this information, as he recalled what happened on the ice moon, but it didn't bother him all that much, considering what happened on Lasan.
As for Thrawn, the death of Kallus was both a boon and a hindrance. It was a hindrance that he had lost his best lead to finding the Rebel base in the sector. However, it was a boon as the Rebels would not have the forewarning about the Empire's moves. The biggest boon to Thrawn's cause came when one of his infiltrator droids got captured by the rebels. When it was reported to him that one of them didn't report in, he mobilized the fleet, and was led to a world called Atollion, where all they found was a crater and remains of a rebel base. Captain Zeb Orrellios had ordered the base evacuated before it went off. The personnel that were there loaded up on ships and speeders and fled for the wastes, with Chopper's distress beacon active, calling Hera to come get them. Zeb got reamed out by Hera for taking the droid back to the base, and leading the Empire there, leading them to have to abandon the planet and search for a new base.
In time though, the Rebels would find a new base, and were able to make their planned strike against the imperial factory on Lothal with the aid of General Dodonna's fleet. In a way, the death of Kallus was a hidden boon to Phoenix Cell, for Thrawn would not be able to track them down by intercepting a Fulcrum transmission. In the end, Lothal was the site of a great battle between multiple cells and the Empire. Thrawn was forced to retreat for the time being, but promised to return. Lothal was free for the time being.
"I think that will do for the time being," Splendid Ap said, upon finishing his narration.
"A little on the darker side, Splendid Ap, but also gives a glimpse of hope," the Shaman commented as he finished writing what Ap was telling him.
"Indeed," Ap said.
"Where are we going now?" the Shaman turned to an empty page to start recording the next story.
"We are sticking on this side of the continuum, and this era of time. I already know the next question to ask." In front of them, their viewing portal zoomed in on the next person of interest. A woman with red hair and a storied history, from an Imperial Assassin to the wife of a Jedi Master. Splendid Ap began to manipulate the fabric of time again to enact the next story.
Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed this first what if. Like I said, it was the easiest to handle the replacement, they are going to get more difficult for me as we go forward. So some explanations: the Universe names, I chose to differentiate them. The one for Legends numbered after the number reference that George puts into things after his first feature film, as for the name of Skyriver, that is a deep cut Legends reference from a species known as the Nagai. As for new canon, the number is the date the old EU was rebranded as Legends, thus the new Canon EU was born that day, and the name, well, had to pick something and that is the abbreviation for Galaxy Far Far Away.
By the way, I like Kallus as a character, but he is just unfortunate to be wrapped up with certain Imperial officers, like here and next time. Speaking of, next time: Mara Jade makes her Rebels era debut. See you all next time.