by Jude Watson
“Mustafar. I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s not surprising. Nobody in their right mind would go there. It’s a remote planet in the Outer Rim. It has a gas-giant twin, Jestefad. It has unspeakable heat, rivers of boiling lava, and the volcanoes are in a continual phase of eruption. Your basic nightmare planet.”
A perfect place for a Sith to be born, Ferus thought.
But what could he do with the information? He could hardly go tearing off to the Outer Rim. There was no telling if he’d find anything there, anyway. In his bones, he felt whatever information he needed to defeat Darth Vader lay here in the Core, in the everyday activities of the new Empire. In his own intuition.
In the Holocron.
That voice…what was it? Not his own. It had sprang up in his mind, and the Holocron seemed to burn his chest in response. Ferus put his hand over it.
“There’s one other thing,” Amie said. “The Moonstrike meeting isn’t going well.”
Ferus felt a surge of annoyance. Why was she bothering him with trivialities? Amie was foolish and naïve.
That voice again…it wasn’t his.
No, Amie was brave and resourceful. She’d been a doctor on her homeworld on Bellassa. She’d kept out of the Eleven as long as she could, but only so she could continue her work. She had a son back on Bellassa whom she pined for.
That makes her a weak link in the chain.
No. He would never consider Amie weak, or capable of betrayal.
Everyone is capable of betrayal. Everyone has a weak point.
Ferus dropped his hand from the Holocron. It felt as though it had burned him. The voice in his head was too insistent. Where did it come from?
It comes from you. It is your true voice that is speaking.
Agitated, Ferus reached out for the Force. He needed to fight the voice, and he couldn’t do it alone.
He’d never had thoughts like that about Amie. They weren’t true. She was a courageous, compassionate woman.
The Sith Holocron cooled against him.
He looked down at his fingers. They were reddened as if they’d been held to a flame.
“So if you could just consider it,” Amie went on, “we would be grateful.”
He had lost the thread of what she’d been saying. With difficulty, Ferus wrenched his attention back to her and replayed her words in his head. “The asteroid must remain a secret between all of us,” he said. “If we expose it, we endanger any future Jedi I may find.”
“Ferus, I respect your mission, I do,” Amie said. “But so far, all we’ve found is that the Jedi who haven’t been eradicated have gone so deeply underground that they are impossible to find. And the resistance is starting here, now. We need your help.”
“I’ll consider it,” he said finally. “I can only promise you that.”
They ended the communication. Ferus looked at his burned fingertips. He felt shaken. It was the first time he felt that the Holocron had influenced his mind.
Was this just a taste of what could happen to him, with a Sith Holocron so near?
Ferus walked all the way to the northern outskirts of the city and reached the park. It was built over the lake that surrounded the city of Aldera and mimicked the grasslands that covered much of the planet. Ferus knew that there were thousands of varieties of grasses on Alderaan, and he could see that many of them were represented here. The grasses had been planted in swaths of undulating rows, each in a different color of green and blue and gold, and the colors seemed even more intense on this day of bright sunlight.
Children ran through the grasses or congregated on the soft sandy areas that were interspersed with the grass to provide space for play and picnics. Ferus made his way to the very edge of the park. There was a gradual slope upward and then a long flight of steps made from blocks of white stone. He climbed up to the vantage point above.
He now stood on a sandstone bluff overlooking the lake, which stretched to the horizon. To his left was the main spaceport of Alderaan, a busy place with constant traffic. He could see the glint of sunlight on the cruisers that were almost constantly landing and taking off. To his right was the expanse of blue lake.
The railing had been designed to look like braided vines. He wandered along it until his gaze found what he was looking for. Despite the careful repair work, he could see where the railing was newly mended. If the woman in the report had fallen, she would have landed on the sandstone rocks below, and would have been seriously injured.
Ferus turned in a full circle to survey his surroundings. Although the smell of the grass and the water made it seem as though he was in the country, he was surrounded by the city. Here near the edge of the park the buildings appeared to be more industrial—warehouses and vertical hangars, most likely for the nearby spaceport.
Perhaps he wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been trained at the Temple. Perhaps it would have seemed just another flash from descending aircraft. Ferus rotated again, pretending to take in the view. Yes, that was it. The building to his right, the one closest to the park…someone was using electrobinoculars. He’d seen the flash of sunlight on the lenses.
Was someone spying on the park?
Ferus turned and began to walk at a leisurely pace back down the wide stairs, and then through the ornamental grass. Suddenly a toddler darted in front of him. Ferus stepped back.
“Sorry.” A woman with warm eyes and a ready smile scooped up the toddler. “Tula, you’ve got to watch where you’re going.”
“I should have, as well,” Ferus said. “This is a beautiful park.”
“Your first time here?” She pushed her hair out of her eyes and smiled. “It’s a great spot. It never gets too crowded because it’s out of the way.” Her toddler began to wriggle, and she gently set her down. “But tomorrow is when you should be here. The gingerbells are ready to bloom.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know much about flowers,” Ferus said.
“You must not be from Alderaan, then.”
“I’m a visitor.”
She crouched and pointed to a small bud almost hidden in the grass. “There are thousands of these in the park. They’re famous on Alderaan because they all bloom on the same day. The park is hosting a festival here. Everyone who knows the park will come. It’s an amazing sight. They let the children pick all the blossoms.” She straightened and began to run after her toddler. “You should come!” she called to Ferus over her shoulder.
Yes, he would come. It would be a perfect opportunity to observe the children.
What did Siri Tachi used to say? “If you want to get lucky, open your eyes.” Ferus smiled, remembering his Master’s brusque way of talking, her irreverence, her style. He still missed her.
Attachment—forbidden or…normal?
He walked along the far side of the park and crossed a wide boulevard to get close to the building he’d observed. It was some kind of warehouse, with a security system but no personnel. Ferus bypassed the standard security entry code with ease. It was a skill he’d learned in his old profession, the business he’d started with Roan. Although technically they operated on the right side of the law, it was occasionally helpful to push the line a bit.
Faced with a bank of turbolifts, he oriented himself quickly and chose one that reached the highest floors facing west. He zoomed upward. He had counted the floors from the ground and he guessed he’d seen the flash from the two hundred and seventh floor.
Ferus walked out cautiously. He reached for the Force, letting it tell him if there was any danger. He felt no vibrations, no clues as to what lay ahead. He didn’t feel a trace of the Living Force. It felt to him as though the floor was deserted.
He moved cautiously toward the door he guessed would have the window he’d seen from below. He listened carefully at the door but heard nothing.
He bypassed the security code and entered.
The room was empty. Completely empty. Nothing had been stored here for some time. He could smell the dust.
So why had it been locked? He walked to the window. The dust had been disturbed. Someone had cleared a clean space to look out.
He looked down at the park. From here he could pick out the woman with the toddler who had talked to him. Now she was with a tall, thin man who picked up the toddler. The baby’s father. They started to exit the park. Ferus swept the park with his gaze and the boulevard below. Everyone else seemed normal, too. No one was moving quickly or keeping underneath the underhangs. If there was anything suspicious, it wasn’t evident from here.
He took out his own electrobinoculars and trained them below. From here you could see the fence clearly; he could even pick out the point of repair. If he lifted his gaze just a fraction, the spaceport was directly in his line of vision. He had a close-up view of the main landing platform for galactic traffic arrivals and departures. He could pick out cruiser models. He could see pilots, insignias, flags of other planets, supplies being offloaded from freighters.
Ferus lowered his electrobinoculars. On the day the child had showed Force-potential, perhaps there had been a lull. Or a flurry of activity that had caused the watcher’s attention to divert to the park below. The watcher would have noted the toddler moving to save the caregiver and would have recorded it, perhaps just to pad a report so that a superior would be pleased. The watcher would know, as an Imperial spy, how important it was to inform on anyone or anything.
The report on the toddler was nothing compared to this. No one on Alderaan could come and go without being seen. Ferus knew that all Alderaanians were required to pass through the main spaceport before going offworld.
Ferus leaned forward. He had just noticed that the dust had been disturbed on the sill to the window, too. Luckily he hadn’t smeared the impression when he’d leaned forward. He could just make out some letters and numbers, as though someone had quickly scrawled them in the dust.
LCS…then a smudge. Then…79244-12u712
Ferus quickly committed the letters and numbers to memory.
He just had to figure out what they meant.
Vader was ushered into the Emperor’s office immediately. Sly Moore opened the door and withdrew quickly, as if to escape a blast. Not a good sign.
His Master waited by the window, staring out at the luxury craft streaming into the Senate landing platform. In the first flush of the Empire, Senators were taking advantage of the end of the tiresome regulations of the Republic. Regulations that safeguarded banking, corporation greed, mining, environmental concerns…they had only prevented the outrageous profits that could be made by the few at the expense of the many. Now the Senators could exploit their connections to the great mining and corporate concerns and, as a result, they were richer than ever. It was one way Palaptine assured their loyalty.
“We need to discuss Operation Twilight,” Palpatine snapped. “I’m tired of excuses. You promised me speed and efficiency.”
Vader would have to be careful.
“We are very close,” Vader said. “Less than a week. The first step of the final phase is in only a few days.”
“You must go to Alderaan,” Palpatine said.
It was never a good idea to allow surprise to show. “Yes, Master.” He kept his silence, awaiting his orders.
“Senator Organa is our enemy. Behind my back he is trying to rally a group of Senators to fight against the installation of Imperial Governors.”
“They will fail.”
“Of course,” Palpatine rasped. “I control the Senate. But its voice will be heard. Organa is a problem. We must move up our plan. We must involve him in Twilight.”
“We have tried,” Vader said.
“I am tired of failure!”
“Yes, Master.”
Palpatine tucked his hands inside the wide sleeves of his robe and strolled to a different window. “Ferus Olin is on Alderaan,” he remarked. “Working on something…unimportant. Chasing Force-sensitives. He can do no harm. But your paths will cross on Alderaan, no doubt.”
“I do not know why you continue to promote Olin,” Vader said. “You know where his loyalties lie.”
His Master turned to face him. A grimace of amusement was on his face. “Loyalties change. Surely you are proof of that.”
“He will defect to the Empire?”
Palpatine turned away again. “He will do as I foresee. He wants power and control. He is strong in the Force. A decision awaits him.”
It was a riddle, yes, but its meaning was clear. Vader’s suspicions were correct. With his ruined body he was a disappointment. His Master would promote Ferus until Ferus defected or until Vader destroyed him.
The confrontation lay ahead. He had already set the trap by killing Roan Lands. When Ferus came at him, it would be with rage, not control.
He will not know how to use his anger, Vader thought. It will be so easy.
Easy things were not satisfying for him. They never had been.
This would be the exception.
Chin resting on her hands, Astri Oddo used her fingers to prop open her eyes. She’d been staring at data for six hours straight. It was four o’clock in the morning, and everything was starting to blur.
“Want some more of this?” Clive Flax waved a triple-strength protein stimulant drink in the air.
Astri let her head fall on the desk with a soft thud. “I need sleep.”
“Wimp.”
Astri rolled her head to look at Clive. “There’s nothing here. We’ve gone through every record we have. You think Flame is a code name for Eve Yarrow. We’ve looked through every file on Yarrow, and there’s nothing linking her to Flame.”
“Isn’t that strange?” Clive said. He began to manipulate the special repulsorlift chair Dex used when he had to move fast. “We know she’s not dead. We know she left her homeworld of Acherin.” He spun the chair around to face Astri. “Isn’t it weird that she just…disappeared?”
“No,” Astri said tiredly. “It’s not weird, Clive. It’s normal. I mean, it’s the new version of normal. She was imprisoned by the Empire. Eve Yarrow had every reason to disappear. She managed to get all her wealth off-planet, and she most likely bought herself a new identity.”
“That’s another piece that doesn’t fit,” Clive insisted, making lazy circles in the air on the chair. “How did she manage to smuggle all of her wealth out of a planet occupied by the Empire—after she’d been arrested?”
“Maybe she’d prepared ahead of time. Most rich people have a backup plan. Maybe she was just smart.” Astri shrugged. Even the small movement made her feel tired.
“Or connected.”
“Face it, Clive.” Astri closed the holofile on Dex’s desk. “We’re done. There are no records left to search. Nothing more I can slice into. We’ve gone as far as we can go.”
Clive leaped out of the repulsorlift chair as it was still spinning. “You’re right!” He hurried to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To wake up Keets!”
Astri rested her cheeks on her hands and sighed. Time was running out. The group was having trouble settling on the first Moonstrike meeting, but they would find a way. Flame was a hero to them all. It was only Clive who felt something was off. If he was right—and Astri doubted that he was—every resistance movement in the galaxy could be compromised.
Who was Flame? A great hero…or an agent of the Empire?
Hero…agent.
Hero…agent…
“Wake up, my beauty!” Clive’s voice caused her to jerk and bang her chin on the table. She’d fallen into a doze. “We’ve got work to do!”
Keets looked as sleepy as she did. “What’s going on?”
Clive guided him to a chair at Dex’s long dataport desk and pushed him into it.
“We’re investigating Flame. We haven’t told anyone because, well, at this point, we’re a little short on facts.”
“Meaning we don’t have any,” Astri said.
“Meaning we’re basically going on my intuition,” Cli
ve explained, “which has never failed me in the past.”
Astri raised an eyebrow.
“Well, okay, it’s failed me a number of times, but never mind. Didn’t you tell me that before you went underground you’d done a major exposé of the Banking Clan?”
Keets nodded. “My editor wouldn’t publish it. Somebody leaned on him. So I quit. Then the Empire put a death mark on my head. Not a good day.”
“What did you uncover that would scare the Empire so much?”
“Well, it was before the Clone Wars were over,” Keets said. “The Chancellor still needed the support of the Senate. They weren’t exactly licking the hem of his robes back then. Not like now.” He yawned. “So I dug up the fact that Palpatine had helped the Banking Clan develop a whole system of secret bank accounts for huge corporations on a ring of planets. They weren’t subject to any accounting or taxes. That way Palpatine had the support of the clan, as well as the richest corporations in the galaxy. Of course, this isn’t much of a surprise now. Back then, it could have made a difference. He was costing planets billions of credits in lost revenue.”
“Do you think those accounts still exist?” Clive asked.
“Of course they do,” Keets said, rubbing his eyes. “The only difference is that now Palpatine himself controls them. Credits keep pouring into them, and he doesn’t take anything, but he knows it’s there if he needs it. It’s a brilliant backup plan.”
“So, if a wealthy person wanted to hide wealth, it would be a perfect system for them.”
“Sure.” Keets looked more awake now. “What are you getting at? You’re going to have to bring me up to hyperspeed.”
“You’re saying that Flame’s wealth—the credits she keeps spreading around—that it’s actually held in Empire-controlled accounts?” Astri looked at Clive, astounded.