Emperor's Hammer: Dark Sentinel

“Thank you for your concerns Lieutenant, but I have travelled this way before.”

The Citadel was where all of the higher echelons of the Emperor’s Hammer operated. It was the Emperor’s Hammer’s version of the Imperial Palace. He had been ordered by his bureau director to head to Aurora to meet someone from the Ubiqtorate. He hadn’t realised until now that he was about to meet the Supreme Director.

“Shuttle Gillium, to Citadel Control. We are starting our approach, requesting clearance to land.”

There was the briefest of moments before a sharp voice responded at the other end of the comm. “Shuttle Gillium, transmit your clearance code.”

As the shuttle penetrated deeper into the planet’s atmosphere, lightning storms erupted around the shuttle.

“Those storms are fiercer than I expected,” the pilot said. “I’m going to need your help on this one. Stay sharp.”

The co-pilot acknowledged and the two of them strapped themselves in. A quick glance through the view port was all the agent required to follow suit.

“Alright, steady,” the pilot said. A lightning bolt struck close, rocking the shuttle.

“Close your eyes if it will reassure you Sir. No need to worry, It’ll all be over in a minute.”

The Intelligence Agent was about to snap something back when another bolt struck closer. He resisted, concluding it was safer not to distract the other.

“Control to Shuttle Gillium, our scopes show you three hundred meters of course. Adjust your heading.”

“Acknowledged,” the pilot answered. “I hope you didn’t offend your superiors. Because if you did, they couldn’t have chosen a better day to dispose of you.”

The agent felt a chill run down his spine. Intelligence agents who had failed in their assignments had been known to be executed in carefully planned “accidents”. Could the same happen to him? No, of course not, he had done nothing wrong.

“You needn’t concern yourself on the quality of my work, just make sure to concentrate on yours.”

“Alright Keiner, help me bring her back on course. This turbulence is getting intense.”

“Control to Shuttle Gillium. You’re drifting further off course. Adjust your heading immediately.”

A bolt of lightning struck dead on the view port panel of the shuttle, rocking the ship violently. Sparks flew off the cockpit board and the shuttle went into a dive towards the planet’s surface. The agent was pushed forward into his seat, the force of the dive paralysing him. His stomach turned on itself as he closed his eyes.

Slowly with the co-pilot’s help, the pilot managed to get the shuttle to rotate until they were upright again.

The two of them pushed hard down on their controls. The shuttle slowly responded. Its beak slowly ascending. As he re-opened his eyes, he saw the two pilots glancing at each other. They were smiling, sweat draining down their faces.

“With flying like that, you should be surprised I don’t report you!” he retorted.

The pilot shook his head. “Well sir, you can relax, it’s all over now. Take a look at your destination.”

Through the view port in front of them, a structure stood up above the others. Although not as colossal as the holos he had seen of Imperial Palace, it was still immense.

The pilot reported that everything was in order in the comm., as the shuttle headed closer towards the building.

The dark double doors quietly opened as the agent approached the Supreme Director’s office. Upon entry, he found the office as dark as the rest of the rooms in the citadel. Two scarlet guards stood still and silent at each side of the stair case in front of him. They did not budge or turn their heads to glance at the newcomer, instead remaining deadly still.

He slowly walked up the stairs and arrived at the peak. He found a tall and slender woman dressed in a cream Imperial military tunic. She had her back turned to him, looking through the giant window of her office. Her hands clasped behind her back.

He came to a halt and stood there for a brief moment, uncertain if the other was aware of his presence.

“Agent - -, or should I call you “Lifeblood”? I trust you had a comfortable journey,” she said coolly as he sat in a crouch and bowed.

“Ah, yes Madame Director. The pilots who brought me here were of the utmost competence.”

“Were they now,” she said, gesturing him to rise. “From what I’ve been monitoring, the shuttle was very nearly destroyed and you very nearly killed. And yet you bring me some sort of recommendation in their favour?”

“From the way they managed to bring the shuttle under control under the circumstances, it is my opinion that they are being wasted here on chauffeur duty.”

She seemed annoyed by the last comment. “Really? And what would you say if I told you that all traffic to the citadel has been closed because of the disastrous nature of the storm?”

“Because Agent Lifeblood, I needed you here immediately. Because those who flew you here were not merely chauffeurs but in reality my own personal pilots: operatives of Intelligence.”

“You needn’t worry. I can assure you their talents are not being wasted. You should instead be anxious to know why I have brought you here.”

“Your last assignment in exposing Vice Admiral Kell’s ties with the New Republic helped us avoid a great deal of trouble. Furthermore, the way in which you proceeded to trace those data tapes back to him was commendable. I have an assignment here which will take advantage of those special skills.

“A senator of considerable importance has been abducted by the New Republic. I think you know Jal Karmin. He has been very successful in keeping the civilians quiet when they were getting agitated. In the Harpin crisis, had he not made a very well put together speech and offered his planets resources to settle the dispute, an uprising would have broken out.

Now with the New Republic offensive, we need him here more than ever to keep everyone calm and dissuade the unhappy ones from causing trouble. He’s a well respected man and his voice seems to appease them. He has been instrumental in keeping the senate together for a long time.”

We’ve managed to keep this abduction a secret up until now but it’s only a matter of time. Your mission Agent Lifeblood is to locate Jal Karmin and bring him back home before the others notice his disappearance. If the kidnapping of Karmin gets out, an insurgency could break out with the senate splitting in two. And I don’t need to explain what would happen if that were to occur.

I will give you every resource you need to complete your mission. Fail in your assignment and your next flight to the Citadel will not be as comfortable. Succeed and I’ll give you your own shuttle to fly.”

“Then head out. I have a spy ring set up in the heart of the New Republic. I have here the details you need to contact them,” she said pointing to a stack of datacards. “You will be stationed aboard the Victory Star Destroyer Zerstoren. It will be at your disposal when you have found the place to strike. Do not fail me, Agent.”

The journey back up went smoother than the descent, with the storms having calmed themselves. As he arrived aboard the Zerstoren, he was immediately taken to his new office where other Intelligence workers were waiting. They would serve along side him in his assignment. The white uniformed operatives sat around the office table.

“His ship was impounded around Nkllon and there were no escorts so no-one was around to follow the escape vector of the kidnapping ships: a frigate and two assault transports. According to the impounded ship’s sensors, the frigate name is Corsair. There was also another ship in the area, a YT-1300 freighter. This was not a new republic craft but most likely a smuggler ship.”

“We will need the rebel databanks to locate the Corsair. Our agents on Coruscant will take of that,” Lifeblood announced. “We’ll locate the YT-1300 from here. Do we have a name for it?”

“We have more than a name. Thanks to the impounded ship’s logs, we also have a transmission code. Apparently, when the rebels hypered in, they got paranoid and transmitted it. The impounded ship intercepted the transmission.”

“Excellent. Run the code, and find out in which system it has last been transmitted. We should be able to find the YT-1300 quickly that way. Once we do, we’ll interrogate the crew and use their logs to find out more about the kidnappers. Let’s get to work.”

The operatives acknowledged and disconnected their datapads before standing up and exiting the office.

Lifeblood took out the datacards Supreme Director Aseret had given him and read them through his datapad. He then started typing his communiqué.

NOTICE: This document is classified L1 - ID Ubiqtorate Personnel Only and assigned agents and its release to unauthorized persons is prohibited and may be punished as a violation of Articles of War 404, 405, and 406. This document is to remain classified indefinitely.

KnifeHawk System Cell, you are being activated for emergency mission. Locate Rebel Frigate Corsair and any important information regarding capture of Senator Jal Karmin. Report back findings to 1399-0000-7463-1119 within 48 hours. The watchful eyes of the Ubiqtorate are upon you…

==Lifeblood

He typed the message again, this time coding it and sent it. Now all he needed to do was wait.

It didn’t take long to locate the YT-1300 freighter. Its transmission code was traced to a port on Mimban. The problem with the location was that it was deep in New Republic Territory to bring in the star destroyer. He had to take a battered Murrian Transport and two other agents skilled in the arts of assassination to accompany him instead. He didn’t believe he would learn much from the corellian transport’s crew, but the lead was worth following anyway.

“Mimban Control to Transport Jagular, please transmit your code and state your business.”

“Jagular here,” the operative piloting the ship said, “we’re here delivering beverages to the Blue Moon Cantina in port Kothor One. Our cargo is detailed in your manifest.”

“Stand by Jagular.” There was a brief pause. “Very well, you’re clear to land in docking bay 16 in port Kothor One.”

“Understood. By the way, I have friends on the YT-1300 freighter Yomonda. I heard from my boss that they’d be here. Do you mind verifying that?”

There was another pause. “The Yomonda is in docking bay 21. Enjoy your stay on Mimban.”

“Alright, we’ll head there as soon as we’re down,” Lifeblood said. “They’re probably out and about so we’ll head to their ship and wait for them there. You stay with the ship and remain vigilant. We might need to leave this place in a hurry,” he told the pilot.

As soon as they landed, Lifeblood and the two other operatives un-strapped themselves. All three of them had dressed in casual civilian spacers clothing

to blend in with the port’s crowd. They holstered a small but powerful pistol under their belts.

The ramp opened and the three of them stepped out. They walked in triangular formation with Lifeblood at the head of the group and the other two following behind him at his sides. They marched steadily but quickly towards the other docking bay

Lifeblood nodded his men forward and they all walked to and up the ramp. They drew their pistols and headed for the freighter’s lounge where two of the targets were sitting. They didn’t have time to react.

“You two, hands in the air. Now.” They lifted their hands up immediately. One of the operatives stood guard while Lifeblood and the other headed to the cockpit where another smuggler was sitting.

The others reaction was no more satisfying. They re-united all three of them at the lounge and closed the freighters ramp, locking out anyone from outside who may interrupt the discussion they were about to have. Lifeblood sat at a chair opposite the three men.

“Four days ago you were locate in the Nkllon system where you witnessed the impounding of a ship by rebel forces.”

“You were there, you saw,” Lifeblood said coldly. “We know you left the system exactly twelve seconds after the assault transports boarded the ship. You know what took place. Now tell me what happened.”

“Nothing. We were just plotting an entry to hyperspace when a frigate appeared out of nowhere. It ordered them to stand down, and sent two transports after them.”

“We thought that they’d be coming up after us too, so we transmitted our code to inform them we were legitimate smugglers. But they didn’t seem bothered by us.”

Lifeblood turned towards one of the operatives. “Check the computer and transmissions that were sent from this ship and determine if he’s telling the truth. Then download all the data from the scene for analysis.”

“Do not worry yourselves gentlemen, this will only take a moment,” he said flicking the safety switch on his pistol on and off. “If you’re hiding anything, now’s the time to confess.”

They didn’t. After a few minutes the operative returned. “No transmissions were beamed from this ship that suggests any involvement in the impoundment. I have all the data here,” he said handing him a card.

“Good,” Lifeblood said getting up to his feet. “It was a pleasure speaking to you gentlemen.”

The analysts hadn’t extracted much from the data that was collected from the freighter. They merely concluded that the kidnapping was not by pure luck but had been pre-meditated, what he had suspected all along. There was nothing else in the data that took him any closer to finding the senator. A red light started flashing on the monitor of his office desk.

He switched it on and it indicated he had just received a new message. He opened it. At first it came as a code, but when he broke it, he could make sense of the message.

Agent Lifeblood, Knighthawk has located Corsair in the Malastare system in part of a convoy destined for Corellia. Convoy scheduled to leave Malastare at 2300 hours. Convoy carries VIP. No information found regarding capture of Jal Karmin.

A surge of excitement burst through Lifeblood. Not only did they have the location of Jal Karmin, but the rebels had not revealed they had captured him yet.

It took nine hours to get to Mallastare. The Star Destroyer arrived at 2220 hours ahead of the convoy’s departure time. It didn’t take the Victory star destroyer’s two squadrons of TIEs long to clear the small number of escort fighters. The star destroyer’s turbolasers took care of the convoy craft and the frigate. After fifteen minutes, it was all over.

“He was not in the capital ships we encountered. You informed us he was on the Corsair so we spared it. Our boarding party on the Corsair has just reported that no Imperial prisoner is aboard.”

“Sithspit!” Lifeblood barked. “Bring in the captain of the Corsair immediately. I want to interrogate him.”

“This mission is on a need to know basis Captain,” Lifeblood said impatiently. “You don’t need to know who it is, just that he’s darned important.”

“Reinforcements from the planet are at top sub light speed and will reach us in moments. We have to leave now!”

“Not without my prisoner we don’t. Bring him in, I’ll interrogate him, and then we go.”

The young Imperial officer pressed a button on his console, sending another jolt of energy rippling through the rebel pilot’s limp body.

The Lieutenant sent another jolt. This time it lasted longer. The prisoner screamed in pain. He had been drugged, beaten up, electrocuted, tortured with instruments he never knew existed. Once, he had told himself that he’d never let himself be captured. That if it happened, he would never reveal a thing. But his body could no longer take anymore of the barbary.

Lifeblood signalled the lieutenant to stop. He walked slowly towards the chair in which the rebel was held firmly in place and bent down slowly to whisper into his ear.

“You’ve resisted well. But why? The pain will end sooner if you talk. I’ve broken people much tougher than you. I made them squeal, I’ll make you squeal. I won’t stop till I get what I want. Tell us where the official you were carrying is, and we’ll end this once and for all.”

The rebel, unable to take anymore, opened his mouth. He had lost most of his voice. The only thing that came out of the mouth, along with the blood, was a yelp.

The sounds now formed into understandable words, as the other put in all effort into speech. “We-we launched him out of here as soon as we saw you arrive.”

“To-to Corellia. It was a-a precaution we took. If at any time during the voyage to Corellia, we-we saw you show up, we’d launch the shuttle with him in it. He’d-he’d be in the shuttle during the whole voyage ready to escape at a moment’s notice.”

“I see.” The agent turned to the lieutenant. “Confirm all this. Check the debriefings and see if a shuttle was indeed present at the scene.”

After about a minute of silence, the lieutenant looked up from his console. “There it is Sir. According to one of the Zerstoren’s sensor officers, there was indeed a shuttle present. It left soon after we arrived. Its designation was Alpha Eco Seven.”

The agent raised an eyebrow and flicked his attention to the prisoner. “Isn’t that a weird designation for a ship?”

“Yes. Well, thank you Commander. I assure you, it’s all over now. Thank you.” The agent said walking towards the room’s exit. He came to a halt at the door, releasing his small blaster from under his belt. “But now, is sadly time to say goodbye.”

He spun around and shot the prisoner square in the face before the other could scream.

Lifeblood marched at full pace into the bridge, two Imperial Navy guards drew their weapons. Captain Bulsak situated at the far end of the bridge gestured the guards to lower their blasters. Lifeblood continued his march.

Bulsak sighed and looked down the crew pit. “Navigation plot us a course to Corellia.” He then turned back to the agent. “A lambda shuttle isn’t that fast, we can catch up with it and arrive right behind it when we reach Corellia. We’ll bring it in with a tractor beam then head back into hyperspace before their defence fleet intercept us.”

“No need Captain. The Supreme Director left all resources at my disposal. There is a much simpler way to handle this. Is there a comm. terminal I can use?”

The other pointed towards a station. He walked towards it, keyed in a comm. code and waited before a voice sounded.

There was a twenty minute journey into hyperspace when the star destroyer was brutally pulled out of hyperspace. Through the forward view port, he saw the familiar hull of the Modified Interdictor Cruiser Versklavung.

“We have him now Captain,” Lifeblood said allowing himself a smile. He was about to fulfil his most important mission yet, assigned by the Supreme Director herself.

“Send a transport with a boarding party of stormtroopers to capture that shuttle,” Bulsak ordered. “Instruct them to use stun blasts only. There’s someone we want alive in there.”

“No Captain,” Lifeblood held a hand up. “This job is for Intel. I think it is best if it is not revealed who this important official is, so we can forget this whole debacle ever happened. My operatives and I will make up the boarding party on that transport.”

The Captain gazed at him for a moment. He didn’t look happy but simply nodded. “If it has to be so. The transport’s ready.”

He knew the captain didn’t like Intel anymore than anyone else in the Imperial forces, especially when they were meddling in Navy affairs. But this was an Intel mission and the Zerstoren was attached to the Intelligence Division.

“Thank you Captain. Director Aseret will hear of your role in all of this when I get back.”

The shuttle’s occupants didn’t offer much resistance as the crew was too small. A half hour after the shuttle had been secured, Lifeblood walked slowly to the rear of the shuttle, desperately hoping to find Jal Karmin. If the senator was not on board, the mission would be a total disaster. He reached the end of the ship and held his breath. There he was: the aging Imperial senator standing at the far seat, his hands cuffed together

Lifeblood sat in front of the other and gazed at him for a second. He bent down and released the cuffs with the key he had taken from one of the neutralised rebels.

“Senator Karmin, I want you to listen to me very carefully,” he said. The other just gazed at him.

“I never knew the Hammer valued me so much, to send Intel operatives to rescue me.”

“They didn’t senator. You were on your way back from your trip to Nkllon when suddenly your thrust engines failed. Right after that all but your critical systems failed. You couldn’t call for help and it was only after those six days, that an imperial patrol on search for you finally found you. We will now bring you to Nkllon and replace you in your ship. A carefully constructed distress signal from a passing ship will be sent. Moments after that, an imperial ship will come in and rescue you.

“The senate cannot know what happened here. For the sake of the Hammer. Word of what really happened can under no circumstances get out. Do you understand?”

The other continued gazing at him for a moment then simply nodded. “Good,” Lifeblood said standing up. “If you will stay here, sir, we’ll use this shuttle to get you back to your ship.”

And there it was, his most important assignment yet, had been accomplished. No-one but the Ubiqtorate and a handful of agents would know what had just happened. He had helped save the Hammer but he wouldn’t get any public recognition for it. At least, not the type of recognition the military types got when they perform similar acts. He felt a twinge of sadness at that.

He walked towards the cockpit and seated himself amongst the operatives. He allowed himself a smile. His next trip to the Citadel would be a comfortable one after all.