Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The First Sister stared out the viewport of the Star Destroyer that was currently orbiting Coruscant. She had a meeting with the Emperor that he had said was urgent, and she suspected it had to do with the recent destruction of the Death Star. That had been… Horrible. She had felt the black hole that had opened up in the Force from several systems away. All that life, just gone. Surely the Emperor had a mission for her that would help retaliate. 

Soon enough, they were given clearance, and she boarded a private shuttle that would take her to the Imperial Palace. The ride was silent, as she was the only passenger, and the pilots knew better than to strike up conversation. She could feel in the Force they were scared of her; as they should be. 

The Imperial Palace was bustling with activity. Normally it was quiet, but the destruction of the Death Star must have put a lot of important people into a frenzy. They still parted for her, though, and the servants bowed their heads in respect and the guards let her pass without pause. She entered the Emperor's presentation room, the one he used exclusively with Inquisitors, and kneeled before the pedestal. 

“First Sister.” The Emperor greeted after a minute, in his slow, monotone voice. 

“My lord.” She kept her head bowed. “You sent for me?” 

“Yes. I have a mission for you.” She felt him rise, and he began making his way towards her. “There is a traitor in our ranks. A member of the Imperial Navy.” 

“...Then we’ll find whoever it is, and kill them.” 

“I admire your tenacity.” The Emperor chuckled darkly. “We do not yet know the identity of this traitor. I am assigning you the task of finding them, and eliminating them.” 

“Yes, my lord.” 

“You will find a man, Senior Lieutenant Hask, downstairs. He will be your point-man for this assignment.”

“Point-man?” First Sister repeated in shock. “My lord, I hardly think-” 

“That you need one? Indeed.” The Emperor's voice was sharp and cutting, but quickly went back to normal. “Perhaps not. But you are not the one who will be watched, and tested. Hask has recommendations for promotion, from several sources. There is a great deal of potential in him, and I wish to know how far his potential goes.” 

“Yes, of course, my lord.” 

“You will be undercover for this. I do not want Hask to be… Distracted by your power.”

“Yes, my lord.” Going undercover was her specialty. She had completed dozens of undercover missions in the past; the Emperor had even called her out of one such mission in the mid-rim to bring her to Coruscant. 

“Good.” She felt his gnarled, wrinkly hand touch her shoulder. “Rise, Inquisitor, and go do what you do best.” 

The First Sister stood, nodded her head, and swept out of the room. 

Two floors down, she saw a tall, broad man standing at the other end of a hallway of meeting rooms, looking out a window. There was no one else nearby, and the meeting rooms were empty, so he must’ve been the man the Emperor wanted her to test. She straightened her uniform and started making her way over. The Emperor hadn't given her a name to use, so hopefully Hask knew it.

“Lieutenant Hask.” She called out to him. He turned sharply at her words, and walked over to her briskly. Everything about him screamed military. The way he walked, his posture, his expression, even the way he styled his hair, neatly and out of his face, told her that he had been educated in one of the Imperial military schools. He looked older than her, but not by much, so he could only have been serving for a couple years.  

“You must be Commander Shome.” He said when he reached her. His voice was deep and professional, and his accent was definitely Core. Coruscant? Vardos, maybe? 

“I am. You’ve been briefed?” 

“Yes. I’m to take you to our base of operations first, and there you’ll find your instructions.” 

“Well.” She stepped to the side, and inclined her head. “Lead the way then.” 

Their base of operations turned out to be a nice, spacious apartment in the upper levels. It was decorated tastefully, but impersonally, and there wasn’t any physical sign of Hask or anyone else living there. She could still sense his presence, but only faintly. He must’ve only been there for a couple hours before meeting her, then. 

“Here.” Hask handed her one of the datapads sitting on a dining table. “This is for you. It contains all the mission details.”

Her datapad had everything Hask was talking about, but it also contained information pertaining just to her undercover mission. Including her alias: Commander Valta Shome. She was a commander in Imperial Intelligence, trained on Coruscant. No immediate family, and no emergency contact. 

“You’ll be sent in under the pretense of looking for certain information leaks, but you’ll make sure to tell anyone who asks that they’re programming only, that no person is suspected. No one except I knows the real reason you’re there, but you’ve been given clearance to bring people into the loop if you deem it necessary, and that they’ve been ruled out completely.” 

“Understood.” 

Hask seemed calm and in control. He had obviously gone over all the information before, so he knew what he was talking about. If Hask could reach senior lieutenant so young, then that meant he must also be a fair pilot and combatant, if not exceptional. But if the Emperor himself had his eyes on Hask, then that meant there was something special about him. The First Sister would have to wait and see what that was.

Chapter Text

The next day, Commander Valta Shome of Imperial Intelligence reported to Naval Intelligence to meet with the lieutenant who had found the leak. Her hair was pulled up into a neat bun, without a strand out of place, and she was wearing the grey and white uniform of Imperial Intelligence. There was no way to hide her lightsaber on her without it being obvious, so she had begrudgingly left it at the apartment. 

She was led up into the upper levels by a nervous-looking ensign, and through several dim hallways, and into a dark room filled with computers and monitors. A petite young woman sat in an oversized chair, and she stood and saluted when the commander and ensign entered. She was radiating low-level anxiety in the Force, but she was also confident in herself and her skills. A rare but refreshing combination. 

“Lieutenant Seyn Marana. Naval Intelligence.” She said. Her voice was pleasant and professional, but girlish, and made the First Sister rethink her estimate of the woman’s age. 

“Commander Valta Shome, Imperial Intelligence.” She saluted back, then quickly lowered her hand and fell into parade rest. “At ease, lieutenant.” 

“That will be all, ensign.” Lieutenant Marana mirrored her parade rest, and nodded to the ensign. He nodded back, and stepped out of the room quietly. “You’re here for the information leak I found recently.” 

“I am.” The First Sister stepped forward, and Marana sat back into her chair and began to type. 

“I started noticing discrepancies, small pockets of data that shouldn't be there, in transmissions from a Star Destroyer about three months ago.” 

“Three months?” 

“It didn’t seem like something that could be a leak at first. I made a note of it and moved on. But over time, I noticed a pattern. And I also noticed that every marker I left eventually disappeared.” 

“I see.” She leaned down to get a better look at the screen. “Then how did you remember where all the discrepancies are?” 

“I have an eidetic memory. I remember everything I read, so it was only a matter of pulling up the correct transmission history.” 

“Hm.” First Sister hummed, and changed her perspective of the girl. She was definitely a girl; she seemed to be even younger than the First Sister, to the point where she was wondering how she had graduated so young. But she had potential, which was obviously being utilized. “What Star Destroyer are the transmissions coming from?” 

“The Implacable. ” Marana said. “Under Admiral Dayun. It’s in orbit around Coruscant right now. I can give you a datacard with a copy of the data on it.” 

“Alright. I’ll go there, see what I can find. If I need any new information I’ll find you.” 

She felt the girl’s anxiety skyrocket, but her face didn’t betray a hint of her emotions. The First Sister had to give her credit; it took skill and practice to hide emotions so well. Suddenly, she realized she had to end the conversation. How did officers talk to each other? Did they smile? Was it normal for officers to smile at each other at the end of a conversation? Marana was a lieutenant, and Valta Shome was a commander. Did officers that differed in rank so much smile? The First Sister didn’t smile at officers; she didn’t have that kind of… Personality. The Seventh Sister used too, but the Seventh Sister’s smiles had been too wide, too sweet. They had never been genuine. The only other Inquisitor that had smiled at the First Sister, who had shown her a smile that wasn’t fake or bloodthirsty, had been… Well. Second Sister. 

“Well done, Lieutenant Marana.” The First Sister stepped back after Marana had handed her a datacard, and flashed her a quick, small smile. Then she was out the door before Marana could fully rise from her chair. 

The Implacable was a quick shuttle trip away. She was met in the hangar by Admiral Dayun himself, a middle-aged human man with flushed skin, and an escort of four stormtroopers. He introduced himself, and quickly ushered her all the way to his office. The stormtroopers followed, and stationed themselves outside the door. That made the First Sister curious, but she didn’t question it. 

“I’m going to be honest, Commander.” Admiral Dayun said, easing himself into the chair behind his desk. His office was spacious, like all the offices of the high brass were, and his desk was a little disorganized, but nothing reprimand worthy. “I was very surprised when I heard news of this… Information leak.” 

“It looks to be purely a programming error. We don’t think any sensitive information has been leaked, but it has the potential to become a problem. We simply wish to find the source of the problem and fix it.” First Sister said calmly, and she forced herself to sit in a chair across from the Admiral. Inquisitors were never in an office long enough to make themselves comfortable, and they were trained to utilize every opportunity to make themselves appear as threatening or as intimidating as possible. Continuously looming over others usually did the trick. But Commander Shome wasn’t trained that way, and she wanted Admiral Dayun to cooperate as easily as possible. He was already radiating enough anxiety that even a Force-null could’ve picked it up. 

“I know both my head of engineering and head of programming personally. They’re both brilliant; I just find it hard to believe that neither of them caught this.” 

“Don’t take it personally, Admiral. It’s very small and could easily be overlooked.” The First Sister stood. Admiral Dayun was so anxious he was starting to make her twitchy. “If you don’t mind, I’d like a copy of all personnel files in your engineering and programming departments, and I’d like to meet with the heads of both departments as soon as possible.” 

“Yes, yes, of course.” He nodded, and began typing away on a datapad. “They should both be on duty right now. Two of my guards will show you the way.” 

The First Sister wanted to say no, that she could find her own way, but she didn’t. It wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary for a Commander from Imperial Intelligence to know her way around a Star Destroyer, but having a stranger with a high ranking and classified information wandering around his ship alone would probably put the Admiral more on edge. Instead, she nodded, thanked him when he gave her a datacard with all the information she asked for on it, and made sure her face was relaxed and open. 

Outside, two of the stormtroopers broke off from their formation against the wall next to the door, and began to lead her to the nearest turbolift. She had to remind herself to follow half a step behind them; in her personal experience, she was the one leading escorts. They went all the way down to one of the lower levels, and then there was a long walk to the central hub of the engineering department. 

Since engineering was one of the largest and more crucial departments in a Star Destroyer, it took up the most space. Technically speaking, engineering took up an entire level, but half of that was dedicated to the engines and turbines, and other various machines that took up large amounts of space. The rest of the level was dedicated to work space; there were hundreds of crew members in the engineering department. Probably close to a thousand, but the First Sister had never learned the exact numbers. They all needed work space, and living space, and space to stay out of each other's way. 

The First Sister and her escort were met just outside the center of the department by a young woman, an officer, who was probably in her late twenties. She saluted smartly, as was expected, but she was radiating worry, and nerves, and curiosity. 

Trust an engineer to be curious about something she shouldn’t be, First Sister thought, even as she saluted back. 

“I am Lieutenant Naylyn Bashan, second in command.” The officer said. “Lieutenant Commander Meeko is overseeing some routine restorations on our engines, and will be with us shortly. In the meantime, he asked me to take you to his office, and I can answer any questions you may have.” 

“Thank you, lieutenant.” The First Sister nodded for her to lead the way. The stormtroopers still followed them. “I’m glad engineering is running so smoothly. I only spoke to the admiral about this five minutes ago.” 

“Of course, commander.” Lieutenant Bashan shot her a strange look over her shoulder, like she couldn’t decide if she should smile or not. “Lieutenant Commander Meeko keeps us running better than the engines.” 

… Ah. So that’s it. 

They walked in silence for a few minutes. The First Sister could feel the gaze of every engineer they passed, and then she could feel them immediately turning away and pretending to not notice. They seemed to be a smart team; not a single person paused in their work for more than a few seconds, and there was no chatter other than what was necessary. That was good. 

“This is his office.” Lieutenant Bashan, stopped outside a door that had “Chief Engineer” engraved next to it. “He should be along in a few minutes. Feel free to wait inside.” 

“Thank you. And, lieutenant?” First Sister called out when the other woman started walking away. She immediately turned back to her. “No one is in any trouble, least of all your chief engineer. That’s not why I’m here.” 

“Oh.” The lieutenant’s shoulders visibly relaxed in relief. “Uh, thank you, commander.” 

She nodded, and stepped inside the office. 

It was smaller than the admiral’s, but not cramped. The desk had datapads stacked in two small piles, and datacards scattered around them in what was probably once a specific order, but had descended into chaos with daily use. There weren't any personal pictures or mementos, but the First Sister could feel a sense of ease and camaraderie in the office. Whoever the chief engineer was, he was friendly and easy-going. 

She pulled out the datacard Admiral Dayun had given her, and plugged it into her datapad. Once all the files had loaded, she pulled up the personnel file for Lieutenant Commander Meeko, Del. She skipped all the basic information- I don’t care how tall he is - and started at his service history. He began as a stormtrooper, which was odd for an engineer, and he had the usual number of deployments to several battles. So he had active combat experience; that was odd for an engineer too. Then he had been stationed on… Scarif. 

The First Sister mentally swore. She hadn’t been there, but apparently Scarif had been a nightmare, for both sides. No doubt Meeko knew people who had been lost. Alderaan, Scarif, and the Death Star had all happened within a couple days of each other, and it left the Force in hurt confusion, and her with a headache. 

Eventually, he had proven himself exemplary in engineering, because he had been promoted to officer after a couple years. After serving eighteen months as a lieutenant, junior then senior, on a different Star Destroyer, he had been reassigned to his current position. Obviously, he was an excellent engineer, and he must have thrived in leadership. To go from enlisted stormtrooper, to officer, to chief engineer, all within the span of two years, was genuinely impressive. 

“Commander Shome?” A voice said behind her. The First Sister turned, hopefully not too fast; it was rare that she was caught by surprise. A human man, maybe a decade or so her senior, stood in the doorway to the office. Her first impression was that he was tall; unusually so, for a human. He was wearing his uniform without a flaw or spec of grease in sight, which would make any teacher at any Imperial military academy nod in approval, but he had a sort of friendly face that the First Sister didn’t get to see very often. At least, not directed at her. 

“Lieutenant Commander Meeko.” She clicked off her datapad, and returned his salute. When he lowered his hand, he stepped into the office, and the door shut behind him. 

“I hope you weren’t waiting too long.” He said, walking to his desk chair. 

“Not at all. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I’m sure you’re a busy man.”

“I’m going to be honest, Commander. The admiral didn’t tell me why you wanted to meet with me, so I’m afraid I don’t have anything prepared for you, if you were looking for information.” 

“That’s alright. I’m surprised Admiral Dayun managed to send you a message at all. I was speaking to him just before I came here, and when I left he seemed… Troubled.” 

“Yeah.” Meeko grinned. A real, genuine grin. That definitely wasn’t something that the First Sister found aimed at her often. “He leans to the, uh, anxious side. But he’s a good admiral, so I won’t fault him for it.” 

“Of course not.” First Sister sat in the one other chair, across the desk from Meeko. “However, I do have classified information I need to speak to you about, and it could be time sensitive.” 

“Alright.” Meeko leaned forward, suddenly serious. “But my security clearance only goes up to level three.” 

“For this, you’re being temporarily given level one clearance.” 

He didn’t say anything; he just nodded. But the surprise that flared out into the Force was enough for the First Sister. She felt her lips twitch upwards in what could’ve been a smile, but she ignored it and handed him her datapad, with all the files pulled up. Meeko took it, his eyes still somewhat big, and looked through the data. He frowned, confused. 

“Are these-”

“Transmissions from The Implacable, yes. Naval Intelligence found a string of discrepancies that repeated over time, in a pattern. They think it’s a programming error of some kind.” 

“What do you think?” 

“What?” The question genuinely threw her off. Inquisitors weren’t asked what they thought. Not by Imperial officers. They were hunters, killers. Everywhere they went, they were the most dangerous person in the room, and everyone knew it. They didn’t make small talk with Inquisitors, let alone ask them things. 

“I assume Imperial Intelligence has its own theory?” Lieutenant Commander Meeko looked up at her, a small smile on his face that was… Charming. 

Huh. Odd. 

“I’m inclined to side with Naval Intelligence.” 

“I see. What point of the ship do these transmissions originate from?” 

“They don’t know.” First Sister shrugged. “That’s why I’m here.” 

“Hm.” Meeko nodded, and went back to the data. He flicked through some of it, his brows furrowed in thought.

“I don’t expect you to be able to find anything in the data alone. But I’m-”

The First Sister cut herself off when Meeko flashed shock into the Force, and a moment later he stood up sharply. He blinked at her, clearly just as surprised as she was, and, just as quickly, sat back down. 

“I think I know where the data is coming from.”

Chapter Text

“You do?” First Sister questioned. Meeko flipped the datapad around to show her. 

“I think so. Every transmission has a specific identification built into it that pinpoints the terminal it was sent from.” He pointed to the first discrepancy, and the string of numbers just underneath it. “Normally, it would be impossible to find the terminal based on that alone, since there are so many, but I think I recognize this one.” 

“How?” 

“The terminal in turbine room one. I have to do assessments of the turbines and engines every six weeks, to make sure they’re functioning normally. But turbine room one is extra finicky, so I have to check it every three weeks. I’ve sent so many ‘all clear’ messages from that terminal that I must have seen its identification a hundred times. I can’t be sure but I think that’s it.” 

“How do we check?” 

“We’d have to look it up on the terminal itself.”

“Well, Lieutenant Commander.” First Sister stood, excitement sparking in her chest. “Lead the way.” 

Meeko led her down further into the engineering level, where the number of engineers gradually tapered off, and the temperature gradually increased. It wasn’t too warm, but it was stark in contrast to the cool temperatures of the rest of the ship. Turbine room one was the farthest of the ten turbine rooms, but fortunately the layout of that area was straightforward, so it would be easy to find again on her own. The room was large, but it only had a walkway that stretched over a round chasm, and there was a large turbine sitting at the bottom. It was bathed in fluorescent light, but there was a red glow coming from the chasm, which would have been eerie if the First Sister hadn’t been used to it. 

“This is it.” Meeko said. He walked across the walkway to the middle, where there was a small working station and a terminal. He sat in the chair and began typing away. The First Sister stood next to him, watching, and pulled up the data again. “Here, I found it. Terminal identification.” 

“It’s exactly the same.” First Sister said after a moment, her eyes flicking between the terminal and the screen in her hand. “This is where the discrepancies start.” 

“Wow.” Meeko sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I suppose I could help you find the origin, but you’d be better getting someone from programming-” 

“Lieutenant Commander Meeko. Is this room under surveillance?” First Sister suddenly asked, looking around the room. 

“Uh, no, it’s not.” 

“Not at all?” 

“Well, this turbine is only in use when we’re at hyperspeed, and then it’s too loud to be usable, so no one is ever in here. It would be a waste to monitor it.” 

“Alright.” The First Sister dropped the datapad on the workspace, and touched the small earpiece in her left ear. “Lieutenant Commander Hask.”

“I hear you.” His voice said. He had been using the earpiece to track her movements, but he couldn’t hear everything she was saying unless she was holding it down. 

“I’ve found the terminal the discrepancies originated from. I’m bringing in the chief engineer.” 

“Understood.” 

“What?” Meeko exclaimed at the same time. The First Sister felt herself smile slightly at the alarm on his face, and she lowered her hand. 

“Don’t worry. You’re not under arrest.”

“Then why are you bringing me in? In where?” 

“You were right, earlier.” She said instead of answering him. “Imperial Intelligence does have its own theory on the discrepancies. They think it was sent manually, and disguised to look like a programming error.” 

“They think there’s a spy ?” 

“Yes.” 

Lieutenant Commander Meeko took a deep breath, and let it out through his nose. He visibly collected himself, and squared his shoulders. 

“Okay. But where are you bringing me? And why?” 

“You’re the chief engineer. If anyone could help us, it would be you.” 

“Could I? Doesn’t Imperial Intelligence have people for this?” 

The First Sister just smiled blandly at him. In truth, that was something she was wondering herself. Imperial Intelligence had the Internal Organization Bureau, and the Imperial Security Bureau had Internal Affairs. There were lots of agents who could have run the mission. But it had come directly from the Emperor himself, so she wasn’t going to question it. 

“That’s classified.” 

“I thought I had level one clearance.” 

The First Sister’s smile became a little sharper, her eyes a little darker. 

“I see you adapt quickly.” She said. Meeko blinked, then seemed to remember she was still a superior officer, and stood up. 

“I’ll help as best as I can, but I can’t promise that I’ll be better than an agent from Imperial Intelligence.” 

“Noted.” First Sister nodded. She grabbed her datapad, and began walking back the way they had come, Meeko half a step behind her. “You’ll have to send a message to your lieutenant, and tell her you’ll be gone for the day. Tell her that you’re assisting in an investigation, but remember, lieutenant commander.” 

First Sister paused just before she reached the door, and shot Meeko a wicked look over her shoulders. 

“You have level one clearance now. It wouldn’t do to forget that.”

The First Sister returned to her shuttle, Meeko in tow, and the pilots took them back down to Coruscant. While they flew, First Sister sent an encrypted message to Marana. If the girl had an eidetic memory, then no one knew the data or discrepancies better than she did. Meanwhile, Meeko watched out of one of the windows. He was deep in thought, but he was also curious. He wanted to know the details of the mission, he wanted to know where they were going, and he, strangely, wanted to know details about the First Sister. 

He probably just wants to know what it is I do, and what branch of Imperial Intelligence I’m in. That sort of thing. She thought. Engineers really are too curious for their own good. 

They landed on a private landing pad, just outside the apartment. She motioned for Lieutenant Commander Meeko to follow her, and led him inside. She could feel his surprise, likely that the base of operations wasn’t in some high-security clearance building that needed three different kinds of identity verification. Inside, Hask was sitting at the dining table, with three datapads of varying sizes spread out before him. He was reading one intently, but when First Sister and Meeko entered, he flicked it off. 

While Hask and Meeko introduced themselves, the First Sister made her way to the turbolift at the other end of the apartment. Hask called out to her, but she could feel the presence in the turbolift getting closer. A second later, the doors opened, and Lieutenant Marana stepped out. 

“Right on time.” First Sister said with an approving nod. She led Marana back to Hask and Meeko, who both stood up as she entered. 

“Who is this?” Hask demanded. He would have to know exactly who Marana was; if she was the one who discovered the discrepancies in the first place, then her file would have been in the mission brief. 

“This is Lieutenant Seyn Marana, Naval Intelligence. I’m also bringing her in.” 

“I wasn’t informed.” Hask didn’t glower, but it was a near thing. The First Sister regarded him in the Force; he was angry, yes. Off-kilter. He didn’t know how to react, but outwardly he hid it well.

Meanwhile, Meeko and Marana were both feeling uncomfortable, and Marana was feeling more and more flustered with every passing second. 

“I must have forgotten.” First Sister said after a moment. “Apologies. It won’t happen again.” 

“See that it doesn’t.” Hask growled. 

He began the grueling task of introducing everyone, again, and then once Marana and Meeko both had a seat, he started briefing everyone on the mission. The First Sister barely paid any attention. She knew all the mission details, even the ones Hask wasn’t aware of. Instead, she sunk into a light trance and observed the Force. It was always loud on Coruscant, especially in the Imperial Center, and especially with the Imperial Palace so close. Not only were there so many life forms moving about, but there was always so much sadness and betrayal radiating off the Imperial Palace. The First Sister knew that it had once been the Jedi Temple, so she could put two and two together to figure out why. 

She had figured out a long time ago that the less deep into the Force she looked, the less overwhelming it was. She looked at the people in the room with her individually, instead of trying to sense everyone in her general area. Hask and Marana were both slightly Force-sensitive, but not by much, which was fairly common among officers. Meeko, however, was just a bit more sensitive. It probably wasn’t enough for him to learn to actually manipulate the Force, but it was more than average. Interesting. She’d have to look into that more later. 

Then she moved her attention to the mission. Everyone seemed confident that they could finish it, but there was something lurking in the Force. Something… Dark. As an Inquisitor, the First Sister lived and breathed the Dark Side, but the Force could tell her if something bad was going to happen in the near future. In this case, it was warning her of danger . 

“-I don’t think this actually came from The Implacable.” Meeko was saying when the First Sister came out of her trance. 

“You think it’s possible someone was able to make it look like they were sending transmissions from a specific terminal in a Star Destroyer?” Hask asked. He didn’t entirely disbelieve Meeko, but he was skeptical.

“There is a slight… Change in the transmissions.” Marana said. “I thought it was because the ships location changed, but…” 

“A transmission wouldn’t change because of the location of the ship in space.” Meeko argued. “But it would if the sender was no longer on the ship.” 

“Is it possible someone would be able to do that?” 

“Possible, yes, but it would be very difficult. It couldn’t be just any engineer or programmer, this is someone who’s an expert in the field.” 

“Would it…” Hask leaned back in his chair. He was slightly out of his depth; engineering and programming weren’t his field of expertise. “Would it be possible to find out where the transmissions were sent from?” 

“I… I don’t know. Maybe if I had access to the original transmissions…”

“I can orange that.” Marana nodded when Meeko glanced at her. 

“But I couldn’t promise-” 

“There’s no need.” The First Sister interrupted, and everyone turned to look at her. “You said that there was a discrepancy in where the transmissions were sent from. That means that whoever sent them was on The Implacable at some point, in turbine room one, but now they’re no longer on the ship. No one would bring that much attention to themselves by going AWOL, so what we need is a list of everyone who was reassigned or requested leave since The Implacable entered orbit over Coruscant.” 

“Can you get that?” Hask asked Meeko, who nodded and began typing on his datapad. 

“I can send a top priority request to Admiral Dayun right now.” 

“How long will it take?” 

“It depends on how quickly the admiral responds, but I’d say no more than ten minutes.” 

“Good.” Hask nodded, then turned to Marana. “How many people are reassigned from a ship like The Implacable on average?” 

“Well, discounting stormtrooper legions being replaced or moved around, not many. Reassignments are generally uncommon. I’d say about one to two hundred per ship per year.” 

“What if we counted stormtroopers?” 

“We don’t have to.” Meeko interjected. He sent off his message and looked up. “They wouldn’t have access to turbine room one or the terminal.”

“Please tell me turbine room one is highly restricted to engineering only.” Hask pleaded, half joking. 

“Unfortunately not.” Meeko gave him a small, regretful smile. “I wouldn’t be surprised if most officers don’t know what it’s used for, but any officer with level five clearance and above could have access.” 

“Level five? That’s most officers on a ship!” 

“I know.” Meeko shrugged at Marana. “But I suppose it’s not worth restricting too highly, and the controls for the turbine itself are elsewhere. Even if someone did manage to damage the turbine, all of engineering would be alerted immediately, and it’s not exactly systems critical.” 

“But because it’s so easy to access, it’s ideal for something like this.” Hask sighed. 

“Unfortunately.” Meeko winced. “Hopefully they’ll put more restrictions on it now.” 

They all sat in silence for a moment. Everyone seemed thoughtful, but Hask caught the First Sisters attention. He was thinking about the mission, yes, but he was thinking about the best way to run it that would reflect well on him. She knew that ambition and pride were encouraged in officers, and Hask seemed to have both in spades. 

“I got it.” Meeko said suddenly. Everyone looked to him, and he pulled something up on his datapad. He grimaced. “There’s fifty people on this list.” 

“Fifty?” Marana repeated. “That’s awfully high.” 

“Apparently some of these reassignments were ordered months ago, but they’re only in effect now because The Implacable is finally orbiting Coruscant. Most people seem to be reassigned to other ships, but there’s a few on leave, a few on probation-”

“What about intelligence?” The First Sister interrupted. Something in the Force was nagging at the back of her head. “Are there any reassigned to intelligence? ISB?” 

 “Uh.” Meeko tapped a few buttons. “Only one. Grene Kesyk. He was reassigned to Imperial Intelligence.” 

“What branch?” The First Sister sat forward; the nagging was getting stronger. 

“...It doesn't say.” 

“Then that means he was sent to Adjustments.”

Out of all the branches of Imperial Intelligence, Adjustments was one of the most dangerous. They answered directly to the Ubiqtorate, the secretive board of directors that ran all of Imperial Intelligence. They were given top level clearance, and any information they needed, they usually got. Their members were hand picked, highly trained, and ruthlessly effective. Infiltrating their ranks would have been very difficult. 

“Leave it to me.” The First Sister stood up. 

“What?” Hask stood up too. “No. First we need to do research on Kesyk, find out what kind of agent he is, what kind of officer he was, and why he was transferred to Adjustments.”

“Adjustment agents are highly trained operatives that are sent in to fix a problem when the rest of Imperial Intelligence can’t . You can’t find any records of their missions because they don’t keep any. They don’t tell you when someone has been transferred there because they don’t want anyone finding out who their members are. Normally I would agree with you, but the longer Kesyk stays there, the more highly classified information he is exposed too, and the more dangerous this leak becomes.” 

Hask regarded her for a moment, letting the information sink in. She could tell he didn’t like it, but he knew she was right. The leak was a liability that Kesyk could exploit before they found him, so he had to be brought in right away. And if Kesyk was already trained, then she was the only one qualified to find him. 

“Fine.” He growled. “Go. We’ll monitor you from here.” 

Chapter Text

The First Sister brought Agent Kesyk back to the apartment in fifteen minutes. Half that time had been spent taking a speeder to the nondescript building Adjustments operated out of. She stepped out of the turbolift, Kesyk’s limp body thrown over one shoulder, and the others that were still gathered around the dining table looked up at her. 

“I meant bring him back alive!” Hask nearly shouted. The First Sister gave him an unimpressed look, and started walking to the other end of the table. 

“He is alive, just unconscious.” She said, and she dumped him in a chair. “He tried to escape on the way here.” 

“What do we do with him?” Meeko asked. 

“We have to bind him up first.” Marana said. “And tightly. If he’s a black ops agent, he’ll know how to escape.” 

“Hold on.” The First Sister disappeared into her room, then came back out with her stun cuffs. She pulled Kesyk’s arms behind the chair and cuffed them together, but when she stood up, Marana was giving her a strange look. 

“What?” First Sister demanded, frowning. 

“Do you just… Have stun cuffs laying around?” The younger girl asked, her voice hesitant. 

“I work in the field, Marana. Of course I do.” The First Sister scoffed. She leaned down to tug on the cuffs, to make sure they were secure, but when her mouth was out of view from the others she whispered: “Wake up.” 

The Force suggestion did it’s work, and Kesyk groaned and rolled his head to the side. First Sister pretended to jerk away slightly in surprise, and she quickly stood up and stepped away. 

“Where… Where am I?” Kesyk grumbled. 

“An undisclosed location.” Hask answered. The First Sister walked over to a chair next to Marana and sat down. 

“You!” Kesyk exclaimed when he saw the First Sister. “You bitch!” 

“Hello.” She smiled blandly at him, and twisted around in her chair so Kesyk couldn’t see her mouth, and whispered to Marana: “I’m going to need your vibroblade.” 

As a member of Imperial Intelligence, she would be armed at all times, even if she didn’t work in the field. It was a rule that was generalized across all members that they had to have one concealed weapon. Field agents used blasters, but members like Marana used vibroblades. They were easier to conceal, they couldn’t misfire, and they didn’t require regular maintenance. Marana reached into her left boot, being as subtle as possible, and pulled out her weapon and handed it to the First Sister under the table. She hid it under her tunic, next to the one that had come with the uniform. 

“Please, Agent Kesyk, you aren’t helping your situation.” Hask rolled his eyes and stood up. “We’d just like to ask you a few questions.” 

“Is this an interrogation? Are you interrogating me?” Kesyk scoffed. He looked from Hask, to Meeko, to Marana. “You’re from the Imperial Navy, and so are you. And you’re from intelligence, but you’ve never been out from behind a desk, have you? What do you know about interrogation?” 

Alright. At least he’s good.

“You’re right.” Hask admitted casually, sitting back down. “We don’t. But I, personally, am always willing to learn, and we do have someone here who does have experience.” 

The First Sister and Hask exchanged meaningful glances, and he gave her a slight nod. She stood, and held her hand out to Meeko. He handed her the datapad he had been looking over, the one with all the data and transmissions. The First Sister walked over to Kesyk, slowly, purposefully, and set the datapad down in front of him. 

“Can you explain this?” She asked quietly. He looked at the datapad, then up at her, and then straight forward, at a point in the distance. “Look at the datapad.” 

She waited a beat. Then two. Then she grabbed the hair on the back of his head and slammed the side of his face into the table. His arms were still bound behind the chair, and his head was twisted awkwardly. He was new to Adjustments, so his training probably hadn’t even started yet. He had no idea how to resist torture. 

“I said look at the datapad.” She repeated, her voice still quiet and even. The datapad was almost against his face, so it was so close he probably couldn’t read it if he tried, but the brightness of holding a screen so close would start to hurt his eyes soon. 

“I don’t, ah, know what I’m looking at!” 

“Don’t play stupid, Agent Kesyk.” The First Sister admonished. “I picked you up from Adjustments. It’s beneath you.” 

“It’s transmission data, I don’t know!” 

The First Sister let him go, and sat down in a chair directly next to him. He straightened up, rolling his shoulders as best he could, and shot her a glare. 

“You’re despicable.” He growled. 

“Indeed I am, Agent Kesyk. Look at the datapad.” 

“I don’t know what you want me to look at!” 

The First Sister grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the table again, only this time she didn’t turn his head, so she heard a satisfying crunch. She let go of his hair when he cried out in pain, and when he sat up his nose was bloody and broken. 

“Agent Kesyk, we know you’re the one who sent these transmissions. There’s no use in lying to us.” 

“Then why am I here being tortured !” His words came out nasally and slurred. 

“Learning experience.” The First Sister nodded, and jerked her head slightly to the other three. 

Then Kesyk lunged for her. Somehow, he had managed to get out of the stuncuffs. The First Sister felt a moment’s surprise, both from herself and from the three officers behind her, then she blocked his attack and pushed him back. She slipped Marana’s vibroblade into her hand, and when Kesyk lunged for her again, she slammed it into the table. 

Through his left hand.

Kesyk screamed in pain and fell to his knees. The First Sister sat back in her chair and crossed her legs, like she was talking to a friendly acquaintance about the weather. 

“We know it was you.” She repeated. “You got reassigned to Adjustments months ago, didn’t you? I’d guess at least three, probably four. You knew that meant you’d be exposed to all kinds of highly classified information. You figured you’d, what, sell it? There’s lots of independent parties out there willing to buy classified Imperial intel. Or is this you defecting to the rebellion?” 

“Kriff you, and kriff the Empire.” Kesyk ground out. 

“Hm.” The First Sister hummed thoughtfully. Truthfully, she couldn’t tell which one he was. Usually, rebels were pretty easy to spot; passionate, determined, hopeful. People that went against the Empire for personal gain were none of that. Kesyk was passionate, yes, and determined, but mostly determined to save himself. He couldn’t be a mole, because he would never have made it all the way to Adjustments if there was something even a little suspicious about his past. So he was a turncoat, but what kind? 

“I wouldn’t.” She warned, when Kesyk tried to grab the vibroblade. “Take it out improperly, and you may never use that hand again.” 

“Obviously, I’m not going to use it anyway.” Kesyk snapped, gesturing to the knife. Beads of sweat had started to form at his temples. The First Sister just shrugged. 

“Well, it’s possible. I am very good, after all.” 

Kesyk just gave her a cruel smile. 

“So am I.” He gripped the handle of the vibroblade, and started pulling it out, slowly. “I have been exposed to classified information, you’re right. Lot’s of it. And I knew you would find me eventually, so I set up a program. A ticking time bomb.” 

“What kind of bomb?” The First Sister uncrossed her legs and sat forward, suddenly alarmed. Behind her, she could hear concerned murmuring and typing.

“Sort of a… Public service announcement. You won’t be able to stop it.” His smile became manic. “You should know one thing, though. I never expected to live through this.” 

He pulled the knife out, and lunged for the First Sister again. There were flares of alarm behind her, but the First Sister shot to her feet to engage Kesyk. He knew what he was doing in a fight. The hits he threw were precise, well planned, and had force behind them, despite his injured hand. If the First Sister hadn’t insisted on hand-to-hand combat training, she could have been in trouble. Fortunately, she had, and she knew how to counter and block everything Kesyk threw at her without having to rely on the Force. She was still undercover, and the others would have gotten suspicious if she was suddenly too good. 

Soon, she saw an opening, and the First Sister spun and kicked Kesyk in the middle of his chest. He flew backwards, hit a wall and slid down to the floor. First Sister kneeled down in front of him, and pulled her own knife out. 

“What bomb?” She repeated, and held the vibroblade against his cheek. 

“Kriff off.” He spat. 

“It’s not an explosive, is it?” The First Sister mused. “No, that’s not your style. You have lots of information, and you want everyone and anyone to know.” 

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. 

“Check his terminals.” She ordered, her voice loud enough to be heard by the others in the room. “It’s not an explosive, he’s going to leak classified information through his transmissions.” 

“You can’t stop it.” Kesyk taunted. “It’s going to go off, and-”

Irritated, the First Sister swung the hilt of the vibroblade against his temple and he slumped, unconscious. 

“I’m sending a message to Naval Intelligence. They can get someone down to Adjustments to look through his things and see what they can do.” 

“There isn’t enough time. It could go off any minute.” First Sister tapped her fingers against her thigh impatiently. Who knew what kind of information Kesyk planned to leak. It could put countless agents in danger, and it could expose an entire network of closely guarded secrets that were secret for a reason . “I’ll go.” 

“And what will you do?” Marana shot back. 

“I’ll figure something out! At least I’ll get there before anyone from Naval Intelligence does.” The First Sister sneered. 

“Enough! Both of you!” Hask ordered. First Sister briefly contemplated telling him that while he was in charge of the mission, she still outranked him. “Shome, go. I’m turning on the two-way frequency for your ear piece. Meeko may be able to talk you through dismantling whatever Kesyk set up.” 

The First Sister nodded, and darted into the turbolift. She made her way down the Coruscant streets on foot; it was nearing the end of the work day, and there was too much traffic. She couldn’t use the Force, not with so many people around, so she was stuck moving at normal speed. She weaved her way in between pedestrians, definitely irritating some of them, but she made it to the Adjustments building within ten minutes. The first time she had visited, not an hour before, she had gone through security, and her ID card had to be verified. The second time, she ran into the large lobby, darted past the security, and right up to the front desk. 

“You know who I am.” She panted. “There is a breach in your security. I need access to Agent Kesyk’s workspace right now.” 

The secretaries, who were both armed and trained, stared at her for a moment. Then one of them typed something on their terminal, and handed her a key card. 

“Level twelve.” They said. “Room twenty three.” 

“Thank you.” The First Sister grabbed the key card and ran for the turbolifts. 

Level twelve was full of offices, probably for agents to debrief. There were no names on the doors, and the numbers weren’t in any sort of order, so she had to run down several hallways until she reached twenty three. She inserted the key card, and the door opened to reveal what looked like a completely average office. There was a screen, a keyboard, a couple datapads. It took the First Sister a moment, but she realized something was off when she saw the datapads. 

“Shome.” Hask’s voice said in her ear. With the two-way frequency turned on, she could talk to him without having to touch the earpiece. “Can you hear me?” 

“I’m in his office.” She said, and walked over and turned on one of the datapads. It asked her for a password. “He has datapads in here. Password protected.” 

“So do most Intelligence agents.” Hask replied dryly. 

“Adjustments doesn’t keep any record of their missions, written or otherwise. Debriefings are all verbal. So are mission reports.” 

“...Oh.” 

“Exactly.” The First Sister looked over the rest of the desk, and paused. The screen was on. “Someone’s been in here. Recently.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“How long does it take for a screen to go to standby?” 

“Three minutes.” Meeko supplied. 

“Someone’s been in this office in the past three minutes.” 

As if on cue, the door opened behind the First Sister. She turned around slowly, and saw another human man, this one taller and older-looking than Kesyk. He stared at her for a moment, his expression bland, but she could feel his surprise in the Force. 

“Can I help you?” He asked, finally. 

“How well do you know Agent Kesyk?” 

“Not very well.” He shrugged. “The man’s only been in Adjustments for a week.” 

“How long have you been with Adjustments?” 

“Much longer.” The man stepped into the room, and the door closed behind him. “Too long.” 

They regarded each other for a minute. The Force was sending her a familiar warning: danger . 

“Shome.” Hask said. “Do I need to send Meeko down there? To look at the computers?” 

“Negative.” The First Sister reached up to her ear, ready to turn off the earpiece. “Do not send anyone. This has become a combat situation. One hostile.” 

She turned off the earpiece, over whatever Hask was going to say. At the same time, the man across from her flicked his wrist, and a collapsible baton appeared in his hands. She pulled out her vibroblade, and they met in the middle of the room. 

He was even better than Kesyk. He moved quickly, and hit hard. He even managed to get in a hit on her head, which made her vision swim for a moment. The First Sister stabbed him in the thigh in retaliation. 

“Who are you doing this for?” She asked, when he was down. “Where is the so-called bomb that Kesyk set up?” 

“We’re doing this because we recognize the Empire is corrupt! I’ve known it for years. So has Grene. This was our chance to finally show the public what they deserve to know!” 

“What about the bomb? Where is it?” 

“Isn’t it obvious?” The man laughed. 

“The datapads.” 

He laughed again, and tried to swing his baton at the First Sisters knees. In one swift movement, she shoved her knee into his nose. Then she got behind him, pulled his head into her arms, and twisted. 

He fell to the floor, his laugh gone from his face. 

The First Sister spared a moment for grim satisfaction, then turned her earpiece back on. 

“Hostile eliminated.” 

Chapter Text

“Excellent work, Inquisitor.” The Emperor said. “You have done very well.” 

Once she had taken care of Keysk’s accomplice, she had taken the datapads back to the apartment. It turns out they had been locked not with a password, but with Kesyk’s fingerprint. After they had done that, Meeko was able to go in and look through the datapads to not only discover pages upon pages of highly classified information, but a scheduled release of it all, disguised as one of the transmissions from The Implacable. He had been able to shut it down, before anything was leaked. Once the threat was neutralized, Hask and the Forst Sister had written their reports while Meeko and Marana had been sent back to their original stations. It had taken the Emperor a week to summon her back to his chambers in the palace. 

“Thank you, my lord.” 

“Walk with me.” The Emperor turned, and started shuffling towards the large windows. The First Sister followed dutifully, a step behind him. “What did you think of Hask?” 

“I could see the potential you spoke of.” The First Sister said carefully. “He could possibly rise to admiral one day. But I think he is still too inexperienced. He needs to learn how to work with a team in the context of solving a problem, and utilizing each agent's skillset. And he is still too proud; he thinks of himself first, and the mission second.” 

“Hm. Interesting.” Emperor Palpatine stopped at the windows and leaned on his staff. “I have heard some of my admirals had plans to create a team of highly trained soldiers, that would work to seek out rebel spies and traitors, and eliminate them. Hask was on the list to join this team. As were the other two agents you worked with.” 

“Meeko and Marana.” She nodded. “Yes. They both had valuable skills that would be helpful.”

“I decided that, with your leadership and expertise, this team could become a spearhead of the Empire. Therefore, I have a new mission for you.” 

“What is the mission?” 

“Whispers. Rumors. The loss of the Death Star was great, and it has bolstered the rebellion far too much. They have the one thing that we cannot allow them to have: hope. Your mission is to destroy that hope.” 

“Yes, my lord.”

Chapter Text

“How did you do that?” 

“Experience.” 

“Must be. We all know you have lots and lots of experience.” 

“Hey!” Meeko kicked Hask in the shins. “I do have experience, so you better show me some respect.” 

“I just don’t understand how you’re always right about these things.” Hask motioned to the screen, where they had turned on some kind of racing sport that was popular on Coruscant. They were placing bets on it, but there didn’t appear to be any real credits involved. It was probably just bragging rights. 

“Like I said, I have experience. Plus, I’m really smart.” 

“Are you saying I’m not smart?” 

“I didn’t say that.” Meeko shrugged, his face carefully neutral. “I may have implied that I’m smarter, though.” 

“Hey!” Hask kicked Meeko back, but the other man just laughed. 

“Why don’t we bet on something none of us have experience in?” Marana suggested. “That’ll make it more interesting.” 

“But what’s something that none of us have experience with?” 

Hask glanced up, and made eye contact with the First Sister, where she was standing on the platform that overlooked the hangar, in their ship The Corvus. She had just finished giving their report for their latest mission, and she had come to find her team drinking and betting on sports. If she was any other commander, she might have reprimanded them, and confiscated their drinks. But she knew that they could still spring into action at a moment's notice, and they deserved a break. Hask grinned, and waved his drink in a grand gesture. 

“Why don’t we take bets on our fearless leader?’ He called, and everyone looked up. 

“You want to bet on me?” She drawled, leaning on the railing. 

“Why not? You’re the one with the most mysterious past.” 

“Ooh.” Marana’s eyes widened. “We can bet on what made you the way you are.” 

“The way I am?” First Sister repeated, and raised an eyebrow. “Was that an insult?” 

“No, of course not, commander.” Marana waved for her to join them. “It’ll be fun.”

The First Sister rolled her eyes fondly, and started down the stairs. It had been nearly two years since the Emperor had given her the mission, and she cared for her team more than she thought she would. They had become… She didn’t want to think of them as friends, but that’s the closest word she could come up with. They trusted her, and she trusted them in return. It was a strange feeling; she had never really had friends before. She had barely ever trusted people before  

“Alright, here we go.” Marana smiled when she sat down, and handed her a drink. “Who’s first?” 

“I’ll go.” Hask said. He leaned back in his chair and gave the First Sister a thoughtful look. “...Mixed heritage.” 

“Oh, I agree.” Meeko nodded. “Humans aren’t born with yellow eyes.” 

“Interesting theory.” The First Sister shrugged, and took a sip of her drink. It was some gross alcohol that burned her throat, but she stretched the moment out when she saw the expectant faces turned to her. “I do have mixed heritage, yes.” 

“I knew it!” Hask crowed. “What are you them? Pantoran?” 

“I don’t know.” She lied. She had never had to explain her Sith-yellow eyes to anyone, so she had to come up with a cover story on the fly. “I’m adopted, so I never knew my birth family anyway. I’m mostly human, so doctors never felt the need to look into my ancestry.” 

“But what about those… Those tests you can take, where they tell you what you are?” 

“I could do one of those, but I think I like the mystery.” 

“Hm.” Marana hummed, and took a long sip of her drink. “You know what I think?” 

“What?” The First Sister felt a smile tug on her lips. Marana was only recently twenty-two, to the surprise of the rest of the team, and being the youngest, she had the lowest tolerance for alcohol. 

“I think a lover broke your heart.” She delicately laid the back of her hand over her forehead, and pretended to swoon, slumping against Meeko. “It was very dramatic and painful, and you’ve never let anyone into your heart since.” 

“Oh please.” First Sister rolled her eyes and snorted. “Do you really think I’ve ever let someone have that much power over me?” 

And so the guessing continued. The First Sister sat back and watched as they made assumptions about her life that kept getting more and more wild as time went on. They stopped looking to her for confirmation, but they started detailing the life of a girl who grew up poor, and applied to the Imperial Academy in order to avoid a life on the streets. She quickly drew the attention of her superiors, for her intelligence and ruthlessness, and was enlisted into Imperial Intelligence as soon as she graduated, top of her class. 

“Is any of this actually true?” Meeko asked, over the sounds of Hask and Marana arguing over whether or not she had a secret affair with a fellow agent, whom she then had to watch die on a mission. 

“...No.” The First Sister said after a dramatic enough pause. The others groaned in defeat. 

“Oh! I have one.” Hask pointed at her. “Valta Shome isn’t your real name.”  

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, and the other two whipped their heads over to look at her. She didn’t say anything, except to take a long drink of… Whatever Marana had handed her. 

“We have a new mission.” She finally said. 

“That wasn’t a negative!” Marana gasped excitedly. Hask and Meeko seemed equally excited and curious, but the First Sister stood and shook her head. 

“Enough questions. We have a mission in the morning, briefing at oh-nine-hundred.” She waved off their groans. “Get some rest.” 

The briefing went smoothly, and an hour later they were entering orbit over Subterrel. The system was in the Outer Rim Territories, in between Hydian Way and the Rimma Trade Route, close to Mustafar. Apparently, rebel activity had been seen in the area, and their mission was to investigate it further. The reports were vague, so they had to run the whole gauntlet before they could even land on the planet surface. They had to listen to all the comm frequencies, to see what kind of transmissions were being sent and where, they had to check the planet's atmosphere to see if it was breathable to humans, and they had to contact the mining guild that ran the planet to secure a landing pad. That took the longest, as the mining guild was run by several old, stubborn business men who had probably been around since before the Clone Wars. It took the First Sister delivering a thinly-veiled threat to get them to comply. Once they landed, the First Sister took Hask and Marana with her, while Meeko stayed behind to monitor transmission in the area. It was usually Marana that monitored transmissions, but she needed the field experience. 

The planet surface was green, but mostly barren. There weren’t a lot of large plants or animals, and a good portion of the landscape was dominated by refineries and drills. It was a simple planet, for all the chaos of mining, but there was… Something odd, in the Force. Something that the First Sister had never felt before. 

“We should check out the North-East sector.” She said, mostly to herself. 

“Why?” Hask asked, coming to stand next to her. 

“We’re getting some strange readings from the North-East sector.” Meeko’s voice crackled over their comms, before the First Sister could say anything. “Some kind of heavily encrypted transmissions. You better start there.” 

“Thank you, Agent Meeko.” She replied, and she could feel the look Hask was giving her, even through his helmet. 

“How did you know that?” 

“Call it a feeling.” 

They trekked up towards the North-East sector, where the ground became uneven and littered with giant holes from over-mining. At some point, Marana pointed her blaster in one hole and insisted she had seen something move down in the abandoned mines, but nothing was showing up on their HUDs, and the First Sister couldn’t sense anyone in the Force. The strange feeling was only getting stronger, and it was becoming more clear that it was a person. She had never felt anyone with such a strange Force presence, though, and she was beginning to think that she was finally going to have to break her cover. 

“Heads up. You’re getting closer to the source of the transmissions.” Meeko said. “You’re nearly right on top of it.” 

There was nothing around them. 

“I think we are on top of it, Agent Meeko.” The First Sister replied. “We have to head down into the mines.” 

“Oh, great.” Hask muttered, just loud enough to be picked up by the comms. First Sister silently agreed. The mines were abandoned because they had been cleaned out of any valuable materials, but that also left them dangerous and unstable. 

“Here.” She walked over to the nearest hole. “I’ll rappel down, and once I’ve cleared the area, Hask, you join me. Marana, I want you to be our look-out.” 

“Are you sure this is a good idea, commander?” Marana asked. “I trust your judgement, but these mines have a habit of collapsing.” 

“I know. Hopefully, we won’t be down there for too long.” She finished setting up her line in the ground, and hooked it to her belt. She gave it a few tugs, then stood and braced herself on the edge of the hole. She took out the two glowrods she kept in her belt, cracked them, and dropped them into the hole. “Alright, looks like it’s about half a klick down, maybe a little more. Keep your comms on.” 

“Good luck.” Hask said dryly. The First Sister nodded to them, turned on the light on her helmet, and started her descent. 

It was… Dark. Dark and empty. She could see abandoned work tools and trolleys, left by miners years ago, as if they meant to come back and start working again. The cavern she lowered herself into was a klick wide, easily, and stretched possibly as far back as the landing pad they had come from. There was some illumination from other holes in the surface, but not much. She landed on a platform that looked to be some kind of overseers station, and she quickly unhooked her line and raised her blaster. 

“Clear so far.” She murmured. 

“What do you see?” 

“Not much. There isn’t exactly a lot of light down here.” 

“I’m coming to join you, commander.” Hask said, but at the same time, there was a noise to her immediate left. 

“Negative.” She hissed, whipping around. She couldn’t see anyone, but she could sense them. There was someone there. “Do not come down here.” 

“Commander-”

Hask was cut off by blaster fire. The First Sister fell to the ground a second before blaster bolts shot through the area she had just been standing in. 

“Enemy fire!” She shouted into the comms, and fired back. She could tell she didn’t meet her mark, though. Whoever they were, they were playing in the shadows. She tried to reach out and sense where they were, but she recoiled. The presence was there, and they were almost blinding in the Force. They must have sensed her too, because they retreated, and she could feel them start to panic. 

Suddenly, a white light appeared somewhere to her left and a few meters away. It hummed, in a way that was intimately familiar to her, and then it was thrown forward and cut her line clean in two. She gasped, and watched as the rope fell to the ground uselessly, ignoring how the light-no, the lightsaber -flew back to its owner. Her team were shouting into the comms, but she ignored them for a moment. It wasn’t until Hask said that he was going to rappel down did she pull herself together. 

“Negative, negative Hask. Get back to the ship. That’s an order.” 

“What?” 

“I said, that’s an order .”

“Commander, what’s going on down there?” Meeko sounded rightfully confused.   

“Hostile environment. One combatant.” She breathed.

“That’s why I should be down there!” Hask insisted. 

“No.” The First Sister shook her head, even though she knew Hask couldn’t see it. “There’s a Jedi down here.” 

Chapter Text

“This is First Sister. The situation on Subterrel has changed.” She said to her personal holocam. She kept it with her at all times, in a compartment on the inside of her jacket. “I can no longer complete my mission as a commander, and I have to lose my cover. I’m sending you my coordinates, and I’m invoking Order 78.” 

Order 78. The Inquisitors had their own set of orders, that only they, and those they were affiliated with, knew. There were twenty orders in total, and Order 78 meant that they were on the trail of a Jedi. It felt odd in her mouth; she knew what it meant, logically, but she had never used it before. She had never needed to.

She just hoped that they were able to send reinforcements in time. 

The First Sister shoved the holocam back into the pocket in her jacket, and zipped it back up. It had been five minutes since she had hidden from the Jedi, and everything had been quiet.

Kriff. 

She was in unfamiliar territory, without her lightsaber, without backup, without a plan, and she was hunting a Jedi. All she had was her blaster and a vibroblade. And her comm. 

“Marana.” She said in her comm. 

“Commander.” The girl responded immediately. “What’s the situation?”

Despite her young age, she was very professional and direct. That was one thing the First Sister appreciated about her. 

“I need you to do something for me.” 

“...What is it?” There was the slightest hesitation in her voice, but First Sister ignored it. 

“I need you to bring me something. There's a box, in my quarters. The door code is 626. I need the box, but do not open it. Bring it to the hole I rappelled down, and toss it in. I’ll catch it. If the hole is too far, take The Corvus. I just need the contents of that box immediately.” 

“Understood.” 

It took Marana twenty minutes to bring the box to her location. Every second felt like an hour, and every sound or echo made her jump. She knew that she was trained to be better, that the whole idea behind the Inquisitors was to hunt down and kill Jedi. But she had never met a Jedi before. She had never even been able to train against the other Inquisitors, not for very long anyway. Many of them died when she was still a child, and the last of them had died years ago, when she was just a teenager. She had gone against them, one-on-one, a few times, but they hadn’t been fair matches. The other Inquisitors had been leagues more advanced than she had been. She had spared against Vader a few times, but those were few and far between. She hadn’t even seen him in person since before she had gone undercover.

By the time she could sense Marana arriving with her lightsaber, she was scolding herself for feeling so panicked. She could do her job. 

Theoretically.

No, no she could. She could, and she would. She had sent out a message, so backup would arrive soon. She was close to Mustafar, so hopefully they sent reinforcements from there, and not Coruscant. She would have to drop her cover at some point, too. That was a shame. She liked Valta Shome much more than she liked the First Sister.

“I’m here, commander.” Marana said into their comms. “You need me to drop the box in the hole?” 

“Yes.” The First Sister stood, but she could sense the Jedi getting closer. They must have sensed the kyber crystals in her lightsabers, and figured out what she was up to. 

“Are you sure? I can’t even see you.” 

“Now, Marana.” She insisted. The Jedi was getting too close. “Now!” 

Marana dropped the box in, and halfway down it opened, and her lightsaber fell out. The Jedi tried to reach for it, but it would always respond to the First Sister first. She summoned it to her hand, and ignited it, just in time to face the Jedi. 

“You’re an Inquisitor!” The Jedi said. She was a tall Togruta, middle aged, but still strong. “I thought you were all dead.” 

“Funny. I was going to say the same thing to you.” The First Sister shot back. 

Then her and the Jedi attacked. 

Chapter Text

Seyn Marana stared down at the mine. She had never been in a situation where her mind was telling her two things at once. It certainly looked like her commander was using a lightsaber, her face only visible by the glow the weapon gave off, but logically she knew that was impossible. There was no way Commander Shome was a Jedi. She was only two years older than Seyn herself, so she couldn’t have been older than a toddler when the Jedi went extinct. Or, mostly extinct; the other sentient, a Togruta, was definitely a Jedi. 

Instead of focusing on the problem, Seyn turned tail and ran back to The Corvus . 

When she made it back, she was panting, and had to pause at the bottom of the ramp to catch her breath. They hadn’t moved it any closer, but suddenly she wished that they had. 

“What happened?” Hask demanded when Seyn walked back onto the bridge. Him and Meeko both gathered around her, helmets off and eyes burning with curiosity. 

“I did as ordered.” Seyn said simply, pausing. 

“You… Threw the box in the hole?” Meeko said, his voice clearly conveying how strange an order it was. 

“I did.” They must have noticed something in her voice, because both men shifted closer. 

“What was in the box?” Hask asked. Seyn rubbed her temples and shook her head. 

“Seyn?” Meeko frowned at her, concerned. She shook her head again and lowered her hands. 

“A lightsaber.” She finally said. “It was a lightsaber.” 

Silence.

“A what.” Hask said, completely deadpan. 

“A lightsaber. She used it against the Jedi.” 

“But that’s not possible.” Meeko shook his head. “A real lightsaber?” 

“I know what I saw, and I know how impossible it sounds. Trust me.” 

“But she can’t be a Jedi.” 

“She isn’t.” A new voice said. All three of them turned, and saw a man in what looked like stormtrooper armor walk onto the bridge. He was flanked by four other stormtroopers, two on each side, but they were wearing black armor that barely resembled regulation. 

“Identify yourself!” Hask barked, raising his blaster. Seyn and Meeko did the same not half a second later. 

“At ease, lieutenant commander.” The stormtrooper said, his voice dry and suggested that he was rolling his eyes. “We have a lot to talk about.” 

The fight with the Jedi was going… Somewhere. Somehow. She was leading the First Sister through the mine, but they had barely exchanged any blows. Her first instinct was to think that the Jedi was being a coward, and running away, but she also knew that many of her fellow Inquisitors had lost their lives to Jedi. She couldn’t afford to underestimate her opponent. 

“How old are you?” The Jedi shouted at her, when they were finally face to face. 

“Does it matter?” She shot back. The Jedi gave her a look-pity? Why would the Jedi pity her? She had more power and knowledge than the Jedi ever would, and she wasn’t the one who survived a massacre like Order 66. Enraged, the First Sister gathered the Force, and pushed. The Jedi flew back, through the wall, out onto a bridge. 

The mining had carved several valleys into the landscape, and they were dotted with bridges, pulleys, tracks for carts, and wires dangling aimlessly, their original purpose lost. The Jedi landed on the bridge on her feet, and raised both of her sabers defensively. 

“Wait a minute.” The First Sister said, stepping out onto the bridge. Watching the Jedi, something sparked a small memory, from years ago. “I know you.” 

“Oh, I bet you do.” The Jedi frowned. There was a warning in her voice, but the First Sister paid it no mind. 

“You’re Ahsoka Tano.” 

“What’s going on?” 

“It’s simple.” The stormtrooper took off his helmet and put it on the table. He had them gathered in the meeting room that was barely ever used, but was just down a hall from the bridge. “Commander Valta Shome is a cover name.” 

“Alright.” Hask nodded, and he made eye contact with Meeko and Marana. All three of them were thinking about the night before, when she hadn’t answered their question. 

“She is called the First Sister. She is a member of the Inquisitorius, a division of Imperial Intelligence.” 

“First Sister?” Hask repeated. “What is that, a call sign?” 

“Something like that.” The stormtrooper smirked slightly. He had tan skin, grey hair that was cut in a standard military skyle, and a long scar on his temple. He had yet to introduce himself. 

“Inquisitorius? I’ve never heard of that division.” Marana folded her arms and frowned. 

“You wouldn’t have. They were one of the first divisions founded, and kept entirely secret by the Emperor. They answer directly to Darth Vader. Is there something you would like to add, Agent Meeko?” He added the last part when he noticed the odd look on Meeko’s face. 

“You aren’t just a stormtrooper.” He said, after a slight pause. “You’re a clone trooper.” 

“I am.” 

“That’s why your armor doesn’t look right. It’s real Beskar.” 

“It is. I am clone trooper CC-2224. I served in the Clone Wars, and now I serve as a combat and strategy liaison to the Inquisitorius. I’ve been the First Sister’s combat instructor for a decade now.” 

“Combat instructor? What exactly is the role of the Inquisitorius?” 

“They’re hunters, Agent Hask.” CC-2224 gave him a cold, dark look. “And they hunt Jedi.”

Chapter Text

The First Sister and Ahsoka Tano exchanged blows on the bridge, but she would have to get away soon. Tano was on a short list of Jedi who were still alive, and she knew Vader had a special interest in her. 

“You couldn’t have been more than a child when the Empire was formed.” Tano said. “How old were you when you were recruited?” 

“Why do you care?” First Sister shot back. She kicked at Tano’s knees, but the Togruta danced away and jumped to another bridge. 

“You must see how the Empire is manipulating you!” 

The First Sister didn’t answer, but she jumped up and grabbed onto a stray wire to swing over to the bridge Tano was on. However, halfway across the gap, Tano flung one of her lightsabers, and cut the wire in half. The First Sister fell what felt like several stories, and landed heavily on a platform. She managed to soften her landing with the Force, but not enough, and the fall knocked the wind out of her. She laid there, gasping, and she distantly registered Tano jumping away. Her back hurt, her legs hurt more, but she forced herself to reach into her jacket and pull out the holocam again. 

“This is the First Sister.” She said when she had mostly regained her breath. “Sending my coordinates. I am on the trail of Ahsoka Tano.” 

At that, she shut off the holocam and shoved it back in her jacket. She knew the recipient would only need to hear the Jedi’s name, and he would come. 

Suddenly, her earpiece crackled to life. 

“This is CC-2224. Come in First Sister.” 

“This-this is First Sister.” She grunted. She would be lying if CC-2224’s voice wasn’t a welcome sound. She had known him since she was…. Kriff, since she was twelve, but she hadn’t seen or heard from him in three years. “Go ahead.” 

“I have a lock on your location. I’m sending in a squadron of purge troopers.” 

Oh, great. 

“Negative.” She has mixed feelings about purge troopers. On one hand, they were very effective and very deadly. They would be good backup against a Jedi. On the other, they were cocky, and they irritated her like no one else. “Have them scan the valley for signs of Tano.” 

“Tano?” 

Oh, right.

“Ahsoka Tano. She’s the Jedi I'm hunting.” 

“I see.” There was an odd note to his voice. “I’ll alert the troopers. Have you called it in?” 

“I have.” She stood up, wincing. She ignored the pain, and started doing her own sweep for Tano in the Force. 

“Alright.” 

Without any sign-off, CC-2224 shut off the communication channel. When she was younger, his brusque manner had irritated her, but as she got older she appreciated it. He didn’t waste any time, and she always knew what he was thinking. 

“Alright. Where are you?” The First Sister muttered to herself. She reached out into the Force, scanning for Tano’s bright presence. She didn’t sense anything at first, but then she felt it, coming from-

She whirled around just in time to see Tano land on a bridge behind her. The Togruta woman stood tall and proud, and stared down at the First Sister with contempt, pity, and resolve. The First Sister stared back, her anger growing by the second. 

“What?” She finally snapped. 

Tano didn’t say anything, so the First Sister reached out with the Force and used it to pull at the edges of the bridge, where it was welded into the sides of the mines. Tano stumbled, and jumped down onto the same bridge the First Sister was on. She lunged forward, and swung her lightsaber. 

She wasn’t sure how long they were fighting for. It probably felt longer than it was. Tano was exceptional; the kind of skill she’d expect from a Jedi who had survived on the run for twenty years. If asked, the First Sister would blame her injured ribs for her lagging strength. Her ribs were definitely injured, but she also wasn’t used to fighting someone who dual wielded. Tano was a master of her form, and the First Sister knew she had fought other Inquisitors and won. 

Eventually, both women paused in their fighting when they sensed a third, darker presence fall over them. They looked up, and saw a figure wearing all black standing at the edge of the valley cliff, watching them. When he knew he had their attention, he ignited his red lightsaber, and stepped off the cliff. He landed on the far side of the bridge they were standing on, so heavily the First Sister could feel the metal vibrate through her boots. He used a touch of the Force to slow his fall, otherwise he would have crashed straight through the bridge. Instead, he stood to his full height, and the First Sister nodded her head in greeting. 

“Darth Vader.” 

Chapter Text

“Vader.” Tano hissed, facing him and bringing her ‘sabers up defensively. He regarded her for a moment, in silence, then:

“Well done, Inquisitor.” 

The First sister nodded her head in acceptance of the praise. As much as she hated Vader, she was aware of how valuable his approval was in terms of her life. 

He swung his ‘saber at Tano, who easily deflected, and they began a sort of… Dance. It was like they knew what move the other would make before they made it. It was possible that they had had other encounters over the years, but no amount of encounters would make either of them so familiar with the others fighting style. 

The First Sister filed that information away for later, and joined the fight. 

With both her and Vader against Tano, it was clear the Jedi wouldn’t last that long. She blocked their attacks for as long as she could, but she must have known she couldn’t take them both at the same time. At one point, the First Sister used the Force to speed up her own movements, and she ducked under Tano’s arm and lifted up her ‘saber in a shallow swing against Tano’s upper back and arm. She cried out in pain, too slow to fully block, and fell to her knees. Her ‘sabers fell next to her, deactivated. Vader walked closer, and stood in front of Tano. 

“And so the apprentice falls.” He intoned. That was… Not what First Sister had been expecting him to say. Vader raised his ‘saber, ready for an execution, when the First Sister felt the pull Tano had on the Force. She could see the Jedi was fisting her hands at her sides, and she could feel how much of the Force Tano was gathering to her, and then Tano was moving- kriff . 

“Wait!” The First Sister lunged forward and knocked into Vader. If he had taken the push Tano meant for him, he would have flown backwards and fallen straight down to the valley floor. He wouldn’t be able to survive that; his suit weighed so much, he wouldn’t be able to slow himself down enough. 

So the First Sister ended up taking the push instead. 

She flew backwards, into the bridge she had already destabilized. Pain exploded in her side and in her head, and her vision blurred for a couple seconds. When it cleared, she realized she was falling. 

Oh dear. 

She pulled the Force to her as much as she could, and used it to slow her fall. She was still falling too fast, though, and when she hit the ground everything went black. 

She woke up to a strange gasping sound. Everything hurt . Her chest and her throat felt like they were on fire. It was hard to see; everything kept going in and out of focus. She couldn’t breathe, either. Why was it so hard to breathe? 

It took her a minute to realize that she was the one making the gasping sound. 

She didn’t want to move any more than she had to, so she centered herself and did what passed as a poor excuse for a mental body scan. She was still in one piece, fortunately, and there wasn’t any debris over her. But she had a broken rib, likely two, a concussion, and a possible punctured lung. Okay, probable punctured lung. 

She felt herself choke on some blood, and changed her scan to a definite punctured lung. 

That’s bad. She thought distantly. A punctured lung is really bad. Am I going to die? 

It was possible. She wouldn’t be able to survive long with a punctured lung, and Vader, of all people, wasn’t going to go looking for her. CC-2224 might, but he was so far away, and Force knew where his purge troopers were. She really didn’t want to die, but the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. 

Suddenly, just when the First Sister was starting to get upset over her manner of death, someone dropped down a few feet away. She registered the blue and white, and immediately knew it was Tano. She didn’t move. If Tano had come to kill her, then she wouldn’t give the Jedi the satisfaction of eye contact. 

“Ah, kriff.” Tano muttered. Then she was kneeling over the First Sister, her face uncertain. “Hold still.” 

Then she was gently placing her hands on the First Sisters chest, and closing her eyes. First Sister felt Tano’s warm, too-bright Force presence wrap around her. She wanted to fight it, but she wasn’t strong enough. Something… Happened, in her chest. The fire died down to a dull simmering pain, and her lungs started working again. There was still blood in her throat and her mouth, but she could breathe . 

“Healing was never my strong suit.” Tano said, opening her eyes and giving the First Sister a sheepish grin. She could only stare back. 

“Why…?” She rasped after a moment. 

Tano sighed, and shrugged one shoulder. She opened her mouth to answer, but just then the First Sister felt several people in the Force, moving closer. Tano seemed to sense them too, because her head shot up and one of her lekku twitched. Then the First Sister did something that she couldn’t even explain to herself:

“Purge troopers.” She warned. “They’re coming for you.” 

Tano shot her a look of surprise, but she nodded, and without another word, she stood and ran off. 

Chapter Text

What happened next was a blurr for the First Sister. She knows, logically, that the purge troopers arrived, and, upon not finding Tano, had helped her up and to The Corvus, which had moved much closer to the valley. Then she was in the medbay, being laid down onto a cot, and there were people fluttering around getting machines and bacta and who knows what else. Once she was laying down, she let herself fall into a light trance. The Dark Side wasn’t very helpful in terms of healing, but at least she could ignore everyone around her for a little longer. 

Eventually, she was knocked out of her trance by the ship shaking. It wasn’t a violent motion, so they weren’t under attack, but it was noticeable enough. Her eyes snapped open, and she grabbed the hand that was applying bacta to her head. 

“What’s going on?” She demanded. The medic standing next to her came into focus, and he was looking at her with a hint of nerves hidden in the neutral expression so many medics had. 

“You’re in the medbay on The Corvus . We’re just taking care of some of your minor injuries while we get the bacta tank ready.” 

“Bacta tank?” Was she really in that bad a shape? “Where are we headed?” 

“I… Pardon?” 

“The ship is taking off, I can feel it. Where are we headed?” 

“The ship isn’t moving, commander. We’re still on the ground. You only got here two minutes ago.” 

“What?” That couldn’t be right. Her trance had felt like half an hour. 

“You may be feeling like we’re moving because of your concussion. Just lie still for now-” 

“No. It’s him.” The First Sister let go of the medic and sat up. Her vision blurred and her head throbbed, but she didn’t let herself lay back down. The Force felt distant and muted, but she could still sense Vader on her ship. The man was hardly one that was easily ignored. 

“Commander, please-”

“I have to go.” She stood up, and paused when her vision blurred again. 

“Commander, as your head medic, I am ordering you to lay back down.” The medic insisted, stepping in front of her. Surprised, the First Sister looked at him, and realized that he was the head medic, Rysio Donnall. He was a human male in his forties, her oldest crew member, and he was generally unflappable, so something big must have happened to make him nervous. 

“I respect that, Donnall, and I promise, when I’m done, I’ll come straight back.” She moved around him as she spoke. “But right now, I have something very urgent to attend to.” 

Donnall grumbled something under his breath and rolled his eyes. He didn’t believe her in the slightest, but he let her go. 

The First Sister made her way to the bridge, where she could sense Vader. Everything was just a little blurry in the corners of her vision, but she could keep her balance well enough. Her legs and back were sore, but not damaged, so most of her injuries must have been in her chest and her head. She could breathe just fine, more or less, but her rib was definitely still broken. There were more people on her ship than she remembered, and she was almost positive that that wasn’t due to her concussion. 

When she arrived on the bridge, people were bustling around, doing something . Hask was standing near the holotable, watching the proceedings like a hawk. He looked serious, but in the Force he felt uncertain and almost scared. So he had met Vader, then. 

“Hask.” She rasped. He jumped, imperceptibly, and turned to face her. 

“Commander on deck.” He announced, somewhat sardonically. No one around them paid them any attention, and Meeko and Marana weren’t in immediate eyesight. Neither was Vader.

“Where is he?”  

“Lord Vader? Meeting room.” He jerked his head in the direction of the room, and the First Sister nodded her thanks before walking towards it. 

Inside, Vader was kneeling in front of the holotable, where the Emperor’s face was displayed. The First Sister walked in, making sure to lock the door behind her, and kneeled next to Vader. The action caused her ribs to throb in protest, but she ignored the pain. 

“Inquisitor.” The Emperor greeted. “Darth Vader was just telling me how you encountered Ahsoka Tano.” 

“Yes, my lord. I alerted him as soon as I became aware of her identity.” 

“And she is the one who injured you?” 

“Yes. She was attempting to push Darth Vader off the bridge we were on, but I knew the fall would cause permanent damage, possibly death. So I attempted to stop her, but I ended up taking the push myself.” 

“I see.” The Emperor’s voice became hard. “Lord Vader, not only did you let Tano escape, again , but you nearly cost us the life of the last Inquisitor. First Sister.”

“Yes, my lord?” It was rare that he addressed her using her name, rather than ‘Inquisitor’. 

“Will you heal?” 

“I will.” 

“Good. Your mission has not changed. Now leave us. I must have a word with Lord Vader.” 

The First Sister stood silently and left the room. 

Outside, it seemed like most of the strangers had left, but there were still some people she didn’t recognize. She scowled, and marched back up to Hask. 

“Agent Hask. Who are all these people and why are they on my ship?” 

“Apparently, they are part of Lord Vader’s company. They say they’re cleaning all records of highly classified transmissions.” 

“‘They say’?” 

“I… Permission to speak freely, commander?” 

“Granted.” First Sister nodded, raising her eyebrows. It was not a common request, especially from Hask. 

“I don’t know if they’re telling the truth. I don’t trust them.” 

“Nor should you.” A new voice spoke up, and they both turned. CC-2224 was standing to their right, having materialized out of nowhere. “They aren’t the most trustworthy bunch.” 

“CC-2224.” The First Sister felt a smile tug on her lips. “I see you’re still alive.” 

“For now.” He shrugged one of his shoulders, and she felt her smile grow slightly. Another thing she appreciated about him was his sense of humor. “I see you’re still alive as well.” 

“Somehow.” She held her hand out, and they clasped forearms. “It’s good to see you.” 

He didn’t return the sentiment, but he smiled. 

Behind them, the door opened, and they stepped away from each other. Vader came onto the bridge, his breathing and his cloak taking up twice as much space as normal. The Emperor must have been really mad. 

“Take off.” He ordered her. “There is a ship a hundred klicks north from here. It is imperative we catch it.” 

She didn’t move. 

He stared at her, and she stared right back. He was becoming more irritated by the second, but she needed him to remember that on her ship, she gave the orders. She waited just long enough for the message to sink in, before she turned and walked further down the bridge, where their pilot was stationed. 

“Caton. Begin take off, and head north. There’s a ship about a hundred klicks that way that we have to catch.” 

“Yes commander.” She nodded, and got to work. The ship vibrated, signalling it was taking off. The First Sister didn’t remember it being so strong, though. 

Darth Vader brushed past her to stand at the very front of the bridge, looking out through the viewport, where no one was stationed, and folded his arms. Following his unspoken hint, the First Sister stepped forward to join him. She could sense others subtly moving as far away from them as they could; either to give them privacy, or out of fear. 

“It would not be wise to forget your place, Inquisitor.” Vader chastised, quietly.

That’s what he wanted to talk about? Vader normally had no problem with chewing people out in front of others. He generally said things to her where no one else could hear only when he had to. 

“I know my place. I am the commander of this ship, and I do not appreciate being given orders as if I am some ensign.” She frowned at him. “You’re angry that the Emperor is angry with you, and now you are taking it out on me.” 

He turned his head and looked at her. He had been wearing his suit for at least twenty years; at no point did he realize that glares didn’t work if no one could see his eyes. The First Sister resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and turned back to looking out of the viewport. 

“This ship. Is it Tano’s?” She asked to change the subject. 

“Yes. I want her alive.” 

“That will be difficult to do.” 

“My ship is standing by with a tractor beam. All we have to do is hold her in place until it arrives.” 

“How long will that take?” The First Sister glanced at him, and registered their body language. They were both standing with their arms folded, feet planted shoulder-width apart, and their shoulders squared and facing the viewport. She wasn’t sure if she should be amused or disgusted. 

“Mere minutes.” 

“We may not have minutes.” 

“It will come.” Vader insisted. Still, the First Sister had a bad feeling about their situation. 

Not even a minute later, they came across a small ship that had just taken off. In sync, Vader and the First Sister raised their right hands and pulled with the Force. The ship froze; it was hanging in midair as if suspended by a string, even though the engines were clearly going. Connected as she was to the Force, the First Sister could feel two presences on the ship, one who must have been the shooter from the mine, and one who was obviously Tano. Both of them were starting to worry, although Tano hid it better than the other, and she was stubbornly determined to do… Something. 

“Caton.” She called. “Fire two warning shots.” 

“I said I want them alive .” Vader snapped.

“And I said warning shots.” First Sister shot back. 

Caton fired the shots, and if they were a little farther away from the ship than normal, then the First Sister wouldn’t say anything. Darth Vader could be intimidating to people that had never met him before, and she wouldn’t begrudge the other woman wanting to make sure she didn’t accidentally do something that would invoke his wrath. 

But the warning shots didn’t have any effect on the presences inside the ship. In fact, they only became more determined. They were going to do something dangerous, but what? They were still in the planet's atmosphere, what could they possibly do? It wasn’t like they could… Oh. 

“They’re going to make a jump to hyperspace.” The First Sister murmured. She lowered her hand and opened her eyes. Even Darth Vader, as powerful as he was, wouldn’t be able to hold them. 

“Impossible.” Vader scoffed. “They’re still in the atmosphere.”

“They’re going to make a jump.” She insisted, and she turned her head towards Caton. “Fire on that ship!” 

“No! The injuries you sustained are-”

“Do not speak to me about injuries sustained!” The First Sister shouted back. Rage was making her blood boil. “Fire!” 

“No!” 

The ship made the jump to hyperspace and disappeared, Tano along with it.

Chapter Text

The silence on the bridge was deafening. No one moved, not even the First Sister. She could feel Vader’s anger, and she knew the next few minutes would have to be very carefully calculated in order to escape his temper. 

“Your ship is here, my lord.” She said, because she was stupid and irritating. She only ever called him ‘my lord’ when she was being facetious. 

Slowly, Vader turned around. He made eye contact with her, and she could tell it was eye contact because her chest suddenly went tight. He stalked up to her, and raised a finger like he was going to scold her. 

“You have your mission.” He said slowly, and she nodded. “I would be very careful if I were you. It would not do for the last of the Inquisitorius to fail.” 

“I never do.” She ground out. Vader wasn’t really choking her, just applying pressure to her neck and chest. He knew he couldn’t hurt her, not when she was in the Emperor’s favor and he was the one that lost the Jedi. 

After another few tense seconds, Vader released her, and stalked out of the bridge. Caton was raising them up into the hangar of the Star Destroyer, to unload Vader and his crew. CC-2224 would be going with them, but before he could leave, the First Sister walked up to him and grabbed his arm. 

“Ke'pare!” She hissed. “Tion'ad hukaat'kama?”

“Ni cuy.” He smirked at her. “Haatyc or'arue jate'shya ori'sol aru'ike nuhaatyc.” 

She rolled her eyes and huffed. Sure, Vader hadn’t had him decommissioned yet, but that didn’t mean that it couldn’t happen. She was worried about him, and there he was quoting Mandalorian sayings at her. 

“Ret'urcye mhi.” It was all she could think to say. 

“Ret'urcye mhi.” He repeated, and squeezed her arm before leaving with the rest of the others. She watched them go, hands on her hips, until she felt Meeko walk up to her side. 

“Commander.” He said quietly. “This may not be my place, but you should probably go see medical.” 

“Hm?” She glanced at him, and his eyes darted down to her chin meaningfully. She reached up, and felt blood slowly drying on her skin. She must have made quite a sight to her crew; blood coming out of her mouth, yelling at Darth Vader. “Oh. Thank you, Agent Meeko. You’re right. I have a promise to keep anyway.” 

Donnall seemed genuinely surprised to see her so soon, but he hid it quickly and set to work. She was methodically stripped and given medical undergarments to wear, hooked up to a line of anesthetics and an oxygen mask, and dropped into a bacta tank before she was fully unconscious. 

When she woke up, she was laying on a medical cot again, but someone had tucked the blanket over her and given her a medical gown to wear. Donnall was standing to her side as well, but he was checking one of the machines she was hooked up to. Slowly, she turned her head and looked up at him. 

“Do I check out?” She rasped. He gave her a disapproving look, and sighed. 

“Your ribs were bad, but not as bad as I had expected. Your concussion, however, was even worse than I had expected. You were under for thirteen hours, so you’re mostly healed, but I’m still putting you on medical leave for a couple days. Which means -” He held up a hand when she tried to protest. “That you won’t be going out into the field for three days. You can still monitor things from the ship if you need to. I wouldn’t trust you with a blaster anyway.” 

The First Sister huffed and rolled her eyes. 

“The others are here, too. They seem to have a lot of questions.” 

When he said that, she wanted to groan. She had very obviously blown her cover, and she could only imagine the kinds of things CC-2224 had said. What would she tell them? What could she tell them? The Emperor had made it very clear that she was still undercover, but she needed some kind of cohesive story if she ever wanted them to work as a team again. 

Donnall seemed to sense her dilemma, because he told her that he had ordered them out of medical, under threat of full body examinations. No one wanted to take the risk, so they had dispersed like leaves on the wind. But that seemed to be the end of his mercy, because he took her off the painkillers and dismissed her. 

She made her way to her room, and sat down heavily on her bed. What was she going to say? She’d have to ask them how much they knew, first, but then that would make it obvious that she wasn’t telling them the whole truth. And she would have to sit them down and talk about it; it couldn’t just be ignored. 

Before she could mull too hard over her dilemma, her commlink beeped. 

“Shome.” She said into it. 

“Commander, it’s Agent Marana. I understand you were just dismissed from medical; could you make the debriefing with Agents Hask and Meeko?” 

“Kriff.” The First Sister said to her room, but then switched the commlink back on. “Yes, I can.” 

“Excellent. Meeting room, ten-hundred hours.” 

Half an hour later, the First Sister walked into the meeting room. Agents Marana, Hask, and Meeko were all there, sitting at their usual spots around the table. They looked at her, silent, but not unwelcoming. 

“Alright.” She sighed, and sat down heavily in the chair at the head of the table. “I know this isn’t a debriefing. Go on, let’s get it over with.” 

“Is Lord Vader your father?” Marana blurted, from where she was sitting to Hask’s right. 

The First Sister blinked. Then she blinked again, hard. Even Marana seemed surprised at herself, but she didn’t take the question back. 

“My what?”

“Is he your father?”

“My-no. No, he is not my… My father .” The First Sister shook her head, to get that mental image out of her head. “He trained me, but I’m not related to him.” 

“He trained you?” Hask repeated. “To use a lightsaber, you mean.” 

“Yes. Among other things.” 

“Other things? Like what?” Meeko asked. The First Sister looked at him, and shrugged one shoulder. 

“Have a guess.” 

“So you’re a Jedi?” 

“No.” She said quickly. “I am not a Jedi, and neither is Vader. If he heard you say that, he’d probably kill you.” 

“So you use a lightsaber, and, and-” Hask waved his hand. He knew the word, he was just uncomfortable saying it.

“The Force, yes.” 

“But you aren't a Jedi?” 

“No.” She pursed her lips, trying to think of a way to explain it. “The Jedi were… A cult. A cult that was built around the Force. They had certain beliefs and traditions and dogmas about it, but the Force was not exclusive to them.” 

“Oh. So you’re saying anyone could use the Force.” Marana seemed… Excited by the prospect. She didn’t show it on her face, but it was clear in the Force. 

“Well, actually, no. Everyone is connected to the Force in some way, but some more than others. In order to actually use it, one has to be born with a certain level of attunement.” 

“Oh.” Marana repeated. Her Force presence wilted a little. 

“The clone trooper, ah-” Meeko glanced at her, sheepish. 

“CC-2224.” The First Sister supplied. 

“He said you were part of a division of Imperial Intelligence, the Inquisitorius?” 

“Yes. We focus exclusively on Jedi. There are officers who monitor transmissions and frequencies for any clues about Jedi who survived the Purge, and Purge Troopers, some of which you’ve met. They’re specially trained to fight against Jedi.” 

“But if a Jedi has a lightsaber, is that a fair fight?” 

“A lightsaber is not a perfect weapon. Just because you can use one doesn’t make you indestructible. Purge Troopers are extremely deadly, but they don’t have the Force. That is what makes a Jedi dangerous. Purge Troopers are a good idea in theory, but in real life they often fall short. Doesn’t stop them from being arrogant and completely insufferable, though.” 

The First Sister barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes before she continued. 

“The Inquisitors, which is what I am a member of, were trained by Darth Vader to hunt down Jedi. We’re in the field more than any officer, and more effective than any Purge Trooper.” 

“Just before Vader left, he mentioned something about the last of the Inquisitors…?” Marana trailed off, but it was clearly a question. 

“I’m the only one left. There used to be eleven Inquisitors. Ten brothers and sisters, and the Grand Inquisitor. But they all died.” 

“Oh. I’m very sorry, commander.” Hask said, and he seemed genuine. He felt a deep sense of sadness and empathy. 

“Don’t be. Living with all of them was a nightmare.” She said, before she registered why Hask felt the way he did. “Oh! No, no, you misunderstand. They weren’t actually my brothers and sisters. Biologically or emotionally.”

“They weren’t?” Hask blinked, and his empathy all but disappeared. 

“No, that’s just what we were called. I am the First Sister, and there was the Second Sister, and the Ninth Brother, and so on. We were given our names by the Emperor and Darth Vader.” 

“So why were you first? What was the naming order?” 

“I’m not sure. It seemed like it was completely random.” 

“And they all had lightsabers?” 

“Oh, would you cut it out with the lightsabers?” Hask berated Meeko, but there was no malice behind it. 

“Aren’t you just a little bit curious?” 

“I don’t really care.”

“How can you not care?” Meeko looked at Hask in astonishment, but then he looked back at the First Sister. “I have to ask, how do they work?” 

She paused, pretending to consider his question. 

“I’m afraid that’s a trade secret.” 

Meeko leaned back in his chair and sighed in disappointment. Hask reached over and patted his hand with fake sympathy. Amused, the First Sister watched, and she felt the anxiety in the pit of her stomach ease. She was sure they each had a hundred more questions, but none of them were angry or untrusting of her. Everything felt like it would be alright. 

Chapter Text

Some time later… 

Ilum was cold. And harsh. The First Sister almost felt bad for the people that were stationed there, and she would have if she didn’t know the importance of their jobs. At least inside the excavation sites there was temperature control. The Corvus was refueling in one of the many hangars around the planet, and the crew had all been given rooms with heating for the night. It wasn’t officially a break, per se, except it was, in a way. Ilum had been the closest Imperial planet to them, and they had needed to refuel and restock. They would head back out the next day, to continue their mission, but her crew were taking the time to relax, which she didn’t have a problem with. 

Ilum was also strange. It had one of the deepest connections to the Force she had ever seen. She had known, logically, that it had been sacred to the Jedi. But standing on the planet, and feeling the way it sang in the Force, she understood why. She had planned on joining the others for the night, but the Force had pulled her along until she was standing outside, above the Imperial excavation site. It was dark and cold, but not stormy, and she could see clearly. Not with her eyes, no. The Force made everything so clear; it was like the planet was one giant crystal. She could see the snow, the air, the rocks, all in the Force. It was all singing to her. 

She was moving before she even realized it. Something was pulling her forwards, and she couldn’t help but follow it. She could see where she was going, but she wasn’t really aware that she was moving farther and farther away from the site until her boots splashed in something. She jolted out of the trance she had fallen into, and looked down. She was standing at the edge of some kind of pool, but it wasn’t frozen. 

“What?” She murmured to herself, crouching down. She splashed her fingers in the water; it was warm. “How?” 

“There are hydrothermal vents under the surface.” Someone said. “They keep the water from freezing over.” 

“Where do the vents originate?” 

“The water is heated at the planet's core. Some say that the Kyber crystals are what heats it.” 

“Kyber crystals.” Of course. She knew that the planet was under such heavy occupation because of kyber, but she hadn’t thought about the effects it might have on the water. Or on her. 

Then, it registered with her that she was talking to someone. She sprang up and ignited her ‘saber. After the fiasco on Subterrel, she always had her lightsaber hidden on her person.

“You!” She exclaimed when she saw Tano a little ways down the shoreline. 

“I don’t want to fight.” The Jedi said, holding up her hands. 

“How did you get here? This planet is under a blockade!” 

“Not a very good one.” Tano shrugged. “Listen. We have to work together while we’re trapped down here.”

“What.” The First Sister frowned at her. “Trapped?” 

She whirled around, but sure enough, behind them was a large ice wall with no apparent openings. They were in a large cavern, with half of it filled by the water. Behind Tano, there was no opening either. 

“How did we get here?” 

“My best guess is that the Force wanted us to be here, together. So if we have to be here, I’d rather not fight.” 

The First Sister frowned, skeptical, and didn’t deactivate her ‘saber. The Force was definitely acting strange, and she knew all too well that no one could ever really understand it. Then something occurred to her, and she looked back at Tano. 

“How do I know you’re real, then?” 

“I…” Tano paused, then shrugged. “I’m not sure. Trust?” 

“Trust!” The First Sister barked out a harsh laugh. “You? Please.” 

She focused on Tano, and her presence in the Force. She was still as bright as the day they had met, but her presence was blurred, like the Force had taken a sponge and smudged it out. That was fine. She knew how to make everything clear to her. 

The First Sister started chanting quietly to herself. Tano frowned, then her eyes widened when she seemed to recognize the language she was speaking. She tried to say something, but the First Sister wouldn’t listen. The room became darker and colder, and the First Sister’s eyes brightened in color, but dark shadows began creeping across her skin. They spread out from her eyes, across the bridge of her nose and down her cheekbones, until nearly half her face was covered in black. Her hands and shoulders trembled with the effort of holding her power in check, but she held it. 

In the Force, everything became black and covered in shadow of the Dark Side, but it also became clearer. Tano really was standing in front of her, and they really were stuck in an ice cavern.  

She stopped chanting, and everything faded back to how it should be. She resumed her glare at Tano, and put her hands on her hips. 

“What was that?” Tano breathed. 

“The Dark Side of the Force has many secrets, for those willing to learn.” First Sister said, echoing one of her teachers from long ago. Many ancient Sith Lords were almost neurotic about preserving their legacy and knowledge, and, as powerful as he was, Darth Sidious had access to many of their ancient texts and holocrons. While the other, older Inquisitors had been out on missions, the First Sister had been stuck in their headquarters. In order to pass the time, sometimes she would go into the library, where Sidious had kept the materials he was willing to share, and she would pick a random holocron and ask questions to the gatekeeper. Many of them had called her an irritating child, but they had all divulged their secrets. She had learned the ancient language of the Sith through them, and that had led her to learning ancient magicks that drew power from the Force, but gave her the power to do things far greater. 

“What did you do?” 

“Why would I tell you?” 

“Whatever you did, the cave didn’t like it.” 

Sure enough, when the First Sister looked up, the stalactites were still shaking, and some were beginning to fall. A few crashed into the water, and some more started to fall above them. She managed to divert most of them that were falling directly above her, but one managed to slip past her defenses. The heavy, blunt end hit her on her head, and everything went black. 

When she came to, she was laying on the ground, and she was freezing. She had only been wearing her regular spec ops uniform, which was thick, but not thick enough to fully protect her from the cold of Ilum. She had been using the Force to regulate her body temperature, before, but once she had been knocked unconscious she hadn’t been able too. She missed her Inquisitor uniform; more specifically, her cloak. Her nice, thick cloak that would have served her well on Ilum. 

“You’re awake.” Someone said. 

Tano. 

The First Sister forced herself to sit up, and she stifled a groan. She didn’t seem to be concussed, but her head was still throbbing. She glared at Tano, who was sitting a few feet away against the wall. The Jedi seemed to be meditating, but she opened her eyes when she felt the First Sister looking at her. 

“How long was I out?” She asked. 

“Not long.” Tano shrugged. “Maybe half an hour.” 

“Hm.” She grunted, and looked around. The fallen stalactites had all been brushed aside, and she had been moved so she was against the wall too. Tano seemed unbothered by the whole situation, and she found that… It didn’t irritate her as much as it would have otherwise. She must have some kind of concussion then. 

“We haven’t been properly introduced. You know my name, but I don’t know yours.” Tano continued. 

“I’m the First Sister.” She said, after giving it a moment's thought. 

“So the Emperor is restarting the Inquisition, then?” 

“Restarting? No.” First Sister snorted. “I’m the last remaining Inquisitor. I trained and lived alongside the others.”

“They were your family?” 

“No.” She said again, but she didn’t elaborate.  

“So you knew the Grand Inquisitor then? And the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister?” 

“Obviously.” She rolled her eyes. 

“They weren’t the nicest people.” 

“Is there a point to this conversation?” First Sister snapped, turning her head to look at Tano. “Or are you just stupid?” 

“Just stating facts.” Tano shrugged. The First Sister snorted, and turned back away. 

“No. They weren’t. And neither am I.” 

A beat of silence. 

“I don’t know if that’s entirely true.” 

“What?” 

“There’s a… Gentleness to you.” 

“Gentleness?” First Sister repeated incredulously, looking at Tano sharply. “I think you must have hit your head.”

“Perhaps gentleness isn’t the right word.” The Jedi winced. “But I’ve met several Inquisitors, and many more Sith. Out of all of them, you’re unique. Your Force presence is Dark, and chaotic, and definitely Fallen, but at the very center, is some kind of… Lightness.” 

“What are you trying to say?” First Sister demanded, her heart starting to beat a little harder. 

“I don’t think you’re an entirely bad person.” 

“I don’t think you know the first thing about me.” 

“You were just a child, weren’t you?” Tano said, cocking her head to the side and ignoring her. “Did the Emperor kidnap you? Or did Vader? Were you threatened?” 

“Perhaps if I tell you, you’ll tell me how you know Vader so well?” She shot back. Tano’s shoulders went stiff, but her face didn’t change. “I saw the way you two fought. You have history with him, more than just being his prey.” 

They were silent for so long, that she thought that Tano wasn’t going to respond, until:

“I’m not his prey.” 

“What?” 

“I am not, and never have been, his prey.” 

“Whatever.” The First Sister rolled her eyes. “I'm not going to argue with a self-important Jedi.” 

“I knew him from before.” Tano continued, to the surprise of the First Sister. 

“Before?” 

“Before the Purge. Before Order 66.” Tano smiled sadly. “When he was still a Jedi.” 

Chapter Text

Logically, the First Sister had known that Vader must have been a former Jedi. The Emperor had once told her that all the Inquisitors had once been Jedi, who had seen the error of their ways and joined him, joined the Dark Side. So it only made sense that Vader was the same. But to hear it confirmed made her uneasy. She wasn’t even sure if Tano was telling the truth, or if it was some kind of manipulation tactic. Unfortunately, the First Sister was always curious and willing to listen and learn, even if it was a story that might not even be true. 

“He was my master, and I served with him during the Clone Wars. He was like a brother to me. He taught me how to fight, how to fly, how to survive. I’m alive because of the training he gave me. Ironic, isn’t it?” 

Tano gave her a weak smile, but the First Sister looked back impassively. She didn’t want to reveal how interested she was. 

“So you can imagine the dichotomy between my master, and Darth Vader. Something horrible happened to him; I don’t know what, but it broke him, and it put him in that suit . That’s what the Dark Side does . It breaks people down until they’re just a shell of their former self, that Sith Lords like Sidious can use for their bidding. Darth Vader murdered people that used to be his own family for what? Power? So much for that. Sidious still has him on a leash.” 

The First Sister didn’t trust herself to speak. She wouldn’t know what to say anyway. 

“You, of all people, should know what the Dark Side does. You know how painful and cruel it is.” Tano took a deep breath, visibly calming herself down. “I’m telling you that it isn’t your only option.” 

“Not my only option?” First Sister repeated incredulously. Her voice came out quieter and smaller than she meant to. “You have no idea what it’s like to be an Inquisitor. Vader, the Grand Inquisitor, Sidious; they all made sure I could pass every test they threw at me. I have full control over the Dark Side of the Force. My eyes are yellow, my kyber crystal is fully corrupted. I am Fallen. And you are telling me that it isn’t my only option?” 

“The older I get, the more I find myself becoming like my grand-master.” Tano gave her a rueful smile. “He was kind, and wise, and he always believed that a Sith could turn away from the Dark Side.” 

“He doesn’t sound very wise.” 

“No, I didn’t think so at the time either.” Tano huffed out a laugh. “That was one of the few things I ever doubted him on. But now, when I’m older, I think maybe he was right. I just wish I could tell him that.” 

There was no malice or accusation in her words. Just melancholy wistfulness. 

“Have you ever seen a Sith turn away from the Dark?” 

“No.” Tano admitted. “But that never stopped him, so I won’t let it stop me. Besides, there’s always a first time for everything.” 

“You don’t sound very wise either.” First Sister muttered, mostly to herself. Her head was still hurting, and the more Tano talked, the more irritated she became. 

“Hmm.” Tano hummed, and they fell back into silence. 

The First Sister stared out over the little waves on the water, contemplating what Tano said. Of course she knew what the Dark Side was like. She had been molded and raised by it; she knew how destructive it could be. But she also knew how powerful it could be, in a way that the Light Side couldn’t. In a rare show of trust, Darth Sidious had once taken her to the planet Byss, and shown her some of his secrets. When she saw the things he was capable of, she knew that no Jedi could ever destroy him, or the Order of the Sith Lords. The Dark Side could grant power and knowledge unmeasurable to anyone who was willing to earn it, but no gift given by the Dark could be- Waves. 

There were waves in the water. 

She stood up so fast her vision swam briefly, but once she regained her balance she strode down to the water. 

“Where are the waves coming from?” She asked, despite knowing Tano likely wouldn’t know either. 

“Oh, Force.” Tano muttered. “How long have they been there?” 

“I don’t know. But there must be something disturbing the water, and that means-”

“An escape.” Tano finished for her. Both of them shared a look, and began wading into the water. “I can’t sense anything, all the crystals are too distracting.” 

“If there’s a lot of crystals, then that means the Empire is likely mining nearby. The waves might be a by-product of all the machinery.” The First Sister pulled out her breather, that she kept in one of her back pockets. She shot Tano a sly look. “Can you swim?” 

“Can you?” Tano shot back, and dove into the water. The First Sister smirked to herself, and followed. 

Under the water, there was actually no back wall to the cave, so they could just keep swimming in a wide tunnel. Eventually, the tunnel narrowed, but the sound of machinery was getting louder. The First Sister swam behind Tano for several more meters, until the tunnel suddenly opened up into a large, underground lake. It was about half a klick in diameter, maybe a little more, and the cavern ceiling was half a klick high. On the other side of the lake was an Imperial turbine facility. It was situated in the middle of the water, and it was connected to an icy beach that was dimly lit by natural light, but she couldn’t tell where the light was coming from. 

A few meters away from them, to their right, was another beach, and it had several tunnels and passageways that led away from the lake. 

The First Sister knew Tano would escape into one of the passageways. And she knew that she wouldn’t stop her. She should have rebelled against the idea of letting a Jedi escape without a fight; that went against her entire purpose. But she just felt strangely… Calm. Tano seemed to sense that there would be no fight, not this time, and turned to her with an even look. 

“Remember, First Sister.” Tano said. “Who we are never changes, but who we think we are does.”

She tapped two fingers to her temple, and the First Sister scowled. 

“Kriff off.” She snapped, with the small embers of irritation she had left. Tano smirked, and swam towards the nearest beach. The First Sister watched her go for a moment, but decided that the less time she spent there the better. 

Getting out of the water and back to the hangar where The Corvus and her crew were was easy and painless. It was still the middle of the night, so there had been a mere skeleton crew and a few stormtroopers on the turbine. They had been surprised to see her, but had readily complied with her request for transport to the hangar. She didn’t trust herself to walk across the planet’s surface again. 

Once she got to the hangar, there was a palpable sense of relief in the air. Hask, the first one to spot her from where he stood on the loading ramp, visibly relaxed. Meeko and Marana both whirled around at his reaction, and their shoulders slumped. Their reactions made sense; apparently, she had been gone for three hours, somehow. But it also meant that they wanted to know where she had been and why , and she didn’t have the energy to explain it to them. She made sure to thank them for being worried and planning on searching for her, but then she ordered them all to their rooms to rest. They left, somewhat reluctantly, and she went to her room on the ship to change her uniform. There was only a couple hours until the day cycle, and she already knew she wouldn’t be getting any sleep.  

In the morning, she had to endure the questioning looks from her crew, but fortunately no one said anything. They took off and left Ilum around midday, and she found herself standing on the bridge and listening to the way the planet sang in the Force. The farther they were out of orbit, the quieter it got, but it was still a unique song that seemed to be calling her back. It was peaceful, but also filled with pain. Pain from all the mining the Empire was doing, she knew. Briefly, she let herself wonder what it had been like before the Empire, when it had been exclusively for Jedi. 

“Commander?” It was Hask. He was standing a foot or two behind her, respectfully, but he looked slightly concerned. “Are you alright?”

Suddenly, she realized that she had been standing with her arms crossed, but her head ducked and turned slightly to the side, as if Ilum’s song was something physical she was trying to listen to. Her eyes had fallen closed at some point too. 

“Fine, Hask.” She forced herself to turn and look out the viewport. 

“Shall I give the order to make the jump to hyperspace?” 

“Yes.” She said, even though she wanted to stay and listen just for a little longer. “Get us away from Ilum.” 

Chapter Text

That night, she was so restless she didn’t even bother changing out of her uniform. It wasn’t the kind of restlessness where her body had too much pent up energy, but she could solve it by going down to the gym. Instead, it was the kind of restlessness where her mind simply wouldn’t stop working, and her body followed. Her team and most of the crew would be asleep, so it would be the ideal time to practice her katas, but she found she couldn’t find the energy or the mental fortitude. She paced in her room for what felt like hours, but the walls were too constricting. Eventually, her restless energy began to feel like it was too much, and she clipped her lightsaber to her belt and left her room. She wandered around the ship, with no real sense of direction or destination, but she found herself at the cargo bay. It was quiet, except for the purr of the engines, and she sat down on the floor with her back to one of the crates. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but it wasn’t too long until someone found her.

“Hey.” They said. The First Sister didn’t need to look up to know it was Meeko. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No.” She shook her head, and he sat down next to her. They were both quiet for a few minutes, before he spoke:

“You know, we were all worried when you didn’t come back last night. I think Hask was ready to go out and look for you himself.”

The First Sister huffed out a laugh, and shook her head.

“He wouldn’t have found me. I still don’t know where I was, or how I ended up there.” She said. She didn’t mind telling Meeko; there was something about him that was so genuine and pleasant. She knew he wouldn’t take whatever she said and hide it away as information that could be used against her later. He had a friendly face, but he also had intentions to match. A kind smile and a kind personality were rare combinations in the Empire.

“How is that possible? You’re always so alert.”

“The Force.” She explained, shrugging.

“The Force.” He repeated, deadpan.

“Ilum is… A strange planet. It’s built up of kyber crystals, and all that kyber just… I can’t explain it. It was like they were all channeling the Force as one, and it turned the whole planet into a crystal. It was so powerful. I was standing outside for a minute, and I fell into a trance somehow. When the Force wanted me to move, who was I to disobey?”

“What’s a kyber crystal?”

The First Sister looked at him in surprise, then sighed to herself.

“Sorry. Sometimes I forget that this isn’t common knowledge. A… A kyber crystal is what powers a lightsaber.”

“Really?” His eyes went wide. “How?”

“You really wanna know?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, I want to know. How does it work?” He seemed genuinely excited and curious. It was… Cute.

Hmm.

The First Sister reached over to her other side, turning her head a little more than necessary to make sure Meeko couldn’t see any of her thoughts cross her face. When she straightened back up, she held her lightsaber out in front of her. Meeko gasped softly, and his hands twitched at his sides, like he wanted to reach out and hold it himself.

“I’ll show you.”

Focusing on her ‘saber, the First Sister reached into the Force and started disassembling it. It was a regular meditative practice she did; after all, how could she use her weapon if she didn’t know how it worked inside and out? She watched as each piece floated, one at a time, away from the casing, until all the parts were floating midair, her twin kyber crystals balanced in the middle.

“Wow.” Meeko breathed.

“Those are my crystals, in the middle. They focus and control the energy beam of a lightsaber. The more crystals, the harder it is for a lightsaber to be wielded, so most only have one. But mine has to have two because I can split it into half.”

“It can split in half?”

“Yeah.” His enthusiasm was infectious, and the First Sister felt a small smile grow on her face. “I’ll show you.”

She put her ‘saber back together, using the same process. When it was all in one piece, she ignited both ends, and then disconnected them. Meeko’s awe and curiosity only grew.

“I built it to be one cohesive piece, then added this ability when I got a little older and a little better.”

“How does it connect? Is there a latch?”

“Now, that is a trade secret.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, her smile turned sly. He held up his hands in a surrender motion and ducked his head, but he was still grinning. The First Sister looked back at her red blades, basking in the comforting, familiar glow, when suddenly she saw Meeko’s hand reaching out to them.

“They give off heat…” He mumbled to himself, but the First Sister quickly jerked her ‘sabers away.

“Don’t touch them, Meeko. They’re lightsabers, you want to burn your hand off?” She looked at him in shock.

“Do they burn?” He asked.

“...Yes. The blades of a lightsaber aren’t necessarily blades, per se, as they don’t cut something but burn it. They’re streams of highly focused energy, so they have air resistance but no weight. That’s why lightsaber training has to be so different from other forms of swordplay. It still feels like you’re swinging a sword, but all the weight is in the hilt.”

“Oh.” Meeko nodded. “I don’t wish to overstep, but could I..?”

“No.” She shook her head, and deactivated her ‘sabers. “Lightsabers are very dangerous, and they’re very personal. Each one is unique, and the kyber crystals have a Force presence of their own that becomes familiar with the Force presence of the wielder. So it’s not just the grip and the weight of a lightsaber that I’m used to, but also the way it feels in the Force.”

“I see.” Meeko said, even though he didn’t really. The Force was too hard to explain. The First Sister reconnected her’sabers and put them to the side.

“What are you doing up?” She asked, to change the subject.

“I couldn’t sleep either. Usually walking around helps.”

“But not tonight?”

“Well, tonight I learned how lightsabers work, and that’s very exciting.” She laughed softly, and shook her head. They fell into silence, but it was comfortable. Meeko had a very calming presence in the Force, and the First Sister found that it was helping her relax and calm her mind. She was starting to get tired, finally, and she stood up before she could get too woozy.

“Goodnight, Agent Meeko.” She said to him. Her smile was genuine, she realized, as small as it was. He smiled back.

“Goodnight, commander.”