Purge (Star Wars)

Part 1: Pacification of the Western Reaches (~18BBY) : The Experiment

"Calm yourself officer Grange," Tarkin said sternly, "Allow him to finish."

"Many of these folk tales," Brand continued, "are thousands of years old and while there is much of a fairytale nature to them they do contain certain aspects of truth." He pressed a few buttons on the control pad at his seat to activate the holodisplay in the center of the table, opening a holo map of a select corner of the galaxy. "For example, several of the tales refer to star clusters that are easily identified on current star charts, such as these two," highlighting two star clusters on the holomap, "If those are real, then the others mentioned in the stories are likely real as well. We can extrapolate their locations based on known locations and have a high probability of finding the planets described in the stories."

"If the stories are thousands of years old," asked another officer at the far end of the table, "What is the likelihood the people there still exist?"

"I admit, there is no way to know for certain at this point. However, I recommend we begin by sending probes to survey the possible locations in order to limit any waste of resources should my theory turn out to be false."

"How many possible planets are there?" the same officer at the far end of the table asked.

"My research shows that there may be as many as twelve, however, it is possible that several tales may actually refer to the same planet."

As the discussion waned and quiet returned to the room, Tarkin leaned back in his chair again to consider the proposal. The officers waited silently for their commander's response. "You may proceed," he said finally. "Send the probes. In the meantime prepare a full proposal and list of what you will need if a suitable planet is found."

"Yes sir," said Brand, as mechanically as possible as to not show his excitement to the officers.

"You can't be serious," sputtered Grange.

"Do you have a different suggestion, Grange?" Tarkin asked, staring firmly at the other officer. Grange shook his head nervously. "In the future I suggest you worry more about what you might have to offer that would make you worth our time. Dismissed."

Officer Brand had spent weeks toiling through reports, studying every scrap of new intelligence for anything that could change the course of their battles and set him apart from his colleagues. Between the work and the ridicule he received from his peers for what they called an 'obsession' the time seemed to drag on. But slowly an idea had begun to coalesce. First one report would catch his eye, then a word or two from an intelligence briefing. The many pieces of a whole laid out before him, yet the answer eluded him. At times he felt he would go mad. It was like seeing a specter out of the corner of his eye, certain it was real but when viewed directly would vanish and he was left wondering if anything had been there to begin with.

On one particularly frustrating day, he sat alone at the desk in his quarters staring at the datapads that refused to disclose the answer yet not seeing what was displayed on any of them. He had stopped reading over an hour ago and had since been running through the data in his mind, trying to work it through. Finally gave up.

"There is nothing here," he said to the empty room, "There never was. What am I doing?"

Brand pushed his chair back from the desk in dismay and left his quarters without tidying the mess of datapads strewn around the room. He walked quietly through the ship ignoring greetings and formalities from others as he passed. He had been so nervous when he got his promotion and assignment to Tarkin's star destroyer that he was barely able to speak to anyone on the ship. At first he had criticized himself for timidity, which he saw as a failing, but before long he realized it was a gift. It earned him a reputation of being cold and aloof, which kept his subordinates wary in his presence and his peers unsettled. He welcomed this both because of the added air of superiority it provided him but also the shield from shallow, meaningless conversations.