Thank you thank you THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! I got from 311 reads to 351 in less than two days! Thanks so much! As promised, here's Chapter 10. ^_^
I'm going to wait for 500 reads before I upload Chapter 11. At the rate it's going I'll reach that in no time at all! Thanks everyone! :D Oh and please don't forget to vote if you like it! Every read and vote is greatly appreciated. ^_^
Oh and please check out my other story, "In My Sister's Eyes." It's primarily a Metroid fan fiction (for all you Nintendo players out there), but it's set in the Star Wars universe, so the Jedi and other Star Wars stuff come in a lot. Check it out!!! :D Please!!! It needs reads! ^_^ And I will love you for it!! <3
Enjoy the chapter! And please vote/comment!!!!! I'll dedicate the next chapter to the first person to comment on this story! I PROMISE!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3
Kimmy (AKA DarthKemberli)
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CHAPTER 10: INFILTRATION AND INTIMIDATION
"She shows great promise, both in abilities and intelligence. She will serve the Empire well."
- Darth Vader, Sith lord
"Don't worry. If anyone were following us, I'd sense them through the Force."
Caryoliss didn't look convinced. I had to smile at his unnecessary paranoia.
"If it makes you feel better, you can wait out here," I suggested.
"Okay," he said. He sat down to wait on the top step at the entrance to the public comm station. I gave him a final glance before turning to enter the crowded comm station. An angry Quarren squelched his slimy way past me, followed by a grumbling, sweaty Fondorian. A Toydarian whirred on puny wings just ahead of me. A trio of tall Wookies huddled around a corner, their brown fur matted and looking as if it hadn't been washed in weeks. The body odour of the conglomeration of different species was overpowering. I tried not to breathe as I walked up and down the aisles, looking for an empty booth. Just when I was giving up hope of making my call in this station, a Neimoidian exited a booth in the very corner of the building.
With a sigh of relief, I entered the booth and pulled the door shut behind me. I immediately grimaced. The Neimoidian had left behind a fetid stench that was made all the worse by the small space. I sighed and shook my head, still unaccustomed to alien species. I fed extra credits into the register and hit the privacy function button. The windows of the booth darkened until they were opaque around me. I closed my eyes for the briefest of moments. I gathered myself together, then stroked a secret code into the comm panel. The air over the plastoid table wavered and shimmered as a small holoimage of Darth Vader winked into existence.
"Master." I bowed my head. I wished I could kneel; even through a simple projection, Vader's Force presence made me tremble in inferiority.
"My apprentice. How goes your task?"
"It goes well, Master. Five days ago I and Commander Caryoliss insinuated ourselves into CURS itself. I have spent the past four days taking note of the structure of the main building, and I have the locations of the minor bases. In less than 48 hours I will have eliminated CURS in its entirety, Master."
There was a silence.
"You have much confidence." It was hard to tell, what with the vocoded quality of Vader's altered voice and the static interference that was affecting the connection, but I thought there was a faint trace of disapproval in Vader's words. I swallowed.
"Yes, Master." I was carefully honest in my answer. Better to be truthful than caught in a lie. "The dark side supplies me with reason to be confident."
"So long as you do not fail me," Vader said ominously. The steady in-out hiss of his respirator was suddenly cut off as the dark lord terminated his connection. I let out a shaky breath and only then realized that I had stopped breathing when I noticed Vader's disapproval. I felt like hitting myself. How could I have displeased my master? I hoped my success in destroying CURS would rectify whatever mistakes I may have been making.
Trying not to think about Vader, I swiped in a second code. This time Sarge, the leader of the twelve stormtroopers that Caryoliss had chosen, flickered over the holoprojector.
"Any problems so far, Sarge?" I asked. The image shook his head.
"Not at all. Still awaiting your orders."
"Good. Operation 2 is ready to put into motion. Gather the rest of your troop and start preparing for your guys' part. I'll signal you shortly to send you a map of the headquarters and give you your next orders. That clear?"
Sarge reiterated my orders quickly. "It's clear, Kimberlee."
"Excellent. You're a good man."
"Thank you, Kimberlee," Sarge replied seriously. Unlike Caryoliss, he did not dither pointlessly with unattainable women. I smiled.
"Good job on maintaining the casual attitude. I'll talk to you soon. Kimberlee, out."
It was a relief to step out from the smells and noise of the comm station into the relatively fresher air of outdoor Coruscant. Caryoliss got to his feet when he saw me. He gave me a questioning look.
"Operation 2's just about ready to be put into action," I told him as we headed towards Malina's ship. Its name was the Stinger, as we had learned after going through its computer. Tartei had provided us with an overly friendly astromech droid - named G3 - that fixed the hole in the ship's hull. It had gone on to do some unnecessary body work on the Star Princess, at which point I had exasperatedly shut it off. Sometimes I wondered why some people altered the programming of droids to make them more human. In the end, droids were nothing but machines. Give them emotions and they become little more than a mockery of life, no matter how alive they may behave.
Inside the Stinger, I pointed to the pilot's seat. "You fly, Peter. I want to meditate."
"Where are we going?"
"Back to the headquarters. I'm going to find Tartei's family."
"Ah."
Caryoliss looked at me with that mixture of fear and admiration that so often showed in his eyes. He found it exciting to be around me. For a while he would find me deceptively calm and almost like any normal girl, and then the next moment I was killing people in cold blood like the Sith lord I was. He never knew what to expect next from me, and I supposed that was why he found me so interesting. Well, he could dream. Perhaps the most intimate embrace between us was yet to come: the embrace of my lightsaber in his gut. Surely he knew that I would obey Vader's orders without hesitation if I was instructed to kill him? I almost chuckled as I imagined the look on Caryoliss’s face if he knew what I were thinking. I turned away from his lingering gaze and made my way to the cargo hold.
Vader had implied that I was overconfident. But when I swam in the all-encompassing embrace of the dark side of the Force, what else could I feel but absolute trust in my abilities as a Sith? When I let the dark side act through me, I was unstoppable. As I turned my thoughts ever inward, as only the Sith did, I heard the tiny whisper of the Force murmur its approval. It told me I was strong. It told me I was powerful. It showed me the wells of power that I drew from, the endlessly deep wells of shadows that was the dark side. In my mind's eye I floated towards these wells and plunged into them, immersing my spirit in darkness. I felt the power surge through my being and I revelled in it. A fleeting thought scampered through my mind. If this was the immense power of the dark side, how could the Jedi ever have been so foolish as to dismiss it? Why were they so afraid of what they didn't know? For surely, every Jedi that had ever tasted the dark side had fallen away from the order and was no longer a Jedi. The Lost Twenty-One - the Lost Twenty-Two now that I had been enlightened - were token of this.
I was so deep in meditation that I didn't even notice when we landed. I was still contemplating the power of hatred when Caryoliss knocked at the door. I looked up as he let himself in.
"We're here," he said. I got to my feet, straightening my coat. Caryoliss stood in the doorway, unmoving. I took a step towards the door, but he still didn't move. I looked at his eyes; they were intense, full of purpose... hungry. I frowned.
"What is it, Peter?" I asked, though I knew full well what it was he wanted. He wouldn't get it, by the way.
Caryoliss answered by moving closer to me.
"The hell do you think you're doing, Peter?" I warned.
"What? We're supposed to be partners. This is simply part of our disguise!" His hands came up to my cheeks. His face leaned closer to mine, too close. A snarl built up in my throat. I thrust out my hand just as his lips touched mine. In less than an instant Caryoliss was suddenly flying across the hold. In the next instant he was slamming against the far wall, which, unfortunately for him, was not so far at all. A loud crunch reverberated through the hull of the Stinger. Caryoliss crumpled to the ground soundlessly.
I went over. My eyes cold, I stared down at Caryoliss's motionless figure until he stirred. He groaned. I reached down and grabbed the front of his jacket. Ignoring his sudden futile fumble for my hands, I lifted him off the ground so that our eyes were level. Shock froze his features. I stared at him with unmasked contempt until he squirmed under the pressure of my molten Sith eyes. Then, with barely a flex of my muscles, I hurled him back against the wall. This time he stayed on his feet. Droplets of sweat appeared on his forehead. His throat worked. I was suddenly consumed with a burning desire to kill him, and only the greatest of self-control held me back from lunging at him.
"Remember your place, Commander," I said through gritted teeth. The sight of the pathetic fellow trembling simply begged me to unleash my strength on him. It was all I could do to refrain from trembling myself with the intent to kill. "I swear I will kill you if you ever try something like that again."
"Y-yes, Lord Kemberli!" Caryoliss stuttered, bobbing his head nervously up and down in what he obviously hoped was a convincing show of his understanding. Irritation pricked me, then was instantly mitigated by the man's frightened bow. I was pleased by his respectful fear. For the present, my anger was soothed away.
I turned away. "Now let's go, Peter; I don't want to lose any time because of this... incident."
"N-no, Lord Kem- I mean, Kimberlee!" He lurched after me. Lucky for him that this mission was not yet finished. If he had tried that even just a few days later, I would have killed him for sure.
The entrance to the hidden CURS base was concealed within a large showcase of skycar models. One touch of a cloaked panel dissolved an illustrated portion of the wall into a door-shaped hole. The guards weren't alarmed by our absence: we had obtained permission to go "do business with an old client". CURS regulations didn't prohibit interaction with the rest of society; in fact, they required their members to maintain as normal an outward attitude as possible. Only the deeper-involved officers, believed-dead refugees, or members with no place to go - such as Caryoliss and I - actually lived in the headquarters.
Today the halls of the hidden headquarters were quiet. We passed only three other resident members. They nodded to us with peer-to-peer respect. I found it hard to understand how quickly these people trusted us, simply because we - apparently - were rebelling against the Empire as well.
The moment we reached our quarters, I sat down at the computer console implanted in the right wall. Caryoliss stood nervously behind the door, his back as stiff as it would be were he back in Lord Vader's presence. I didn't correct his posture. No one was looking, and I was still disgruntled with his making passes at me. Let him relearn his place the hard way. Silence filled the room, broken only by the beeps of the computer. Each CURS member had access to the computer and the HoloNet for personal convenience. Of course, not everyone had access to the CURS database, but since each computer was connected to the same network, I knew I could slice into the core computer without a trace. My hands flitted over the interface. It wasn't long before the name and location of Tartei's family appeared on the holoscreen. His only living family member was a daughter named Larane. His wife, a fellow officer in the Clone Wars, had been killed years before. I didn't have to read the article to know that Larane was the most precious person in the world to Tartei. Yes, she was important to him. More important that his little rebellion.
"Perfect," I murmured. My voice came out like a feral beast's purr. Caryoliss flinched. I turned off the computer and stood. I brushed my coat lightly to feel the smooth contours of my hidden lightsabers. Caryoliss cleared my path in a hurry and began to trot after me. I stopped short and held up a hand to halt him.
"No, stay here," I said. He nodded, looking almost relieved, and saluted, but I had already disappeared from the room. I swept down the hall with deadly purpose. I Force-influenced the guards standing by the turbolifts. Anyone else unfortunate enough to stand in my way to say "Excuse, miss, but you're not authorized in this sector" succumbed to the power of the Force. Some of their minds were strong, but they were caught off-guard and therefore offered no resistance. So it was with no incident that I found myself standing outside the door to Larane Tartei's private quarters deep in the off-limit-to-newbies sector of the HQ. I pressed a back-gloved finger to the door chime. The door whooshed open so fast that I blinked.
"Jake, I-" The brown-haired girl inside the doorway stopped midword. Her brow crinkled. "Wait, you're not Jake..."
I looked her over. She was my height but younger, maybe by a year or two. She wore a white, billowy shirt over smooth navy-blue pants. A firearms holster was slung over her hip, but it was empty. Her boots were a shiny white, burnished leather. I let my eyes return to her face and meet her eyes, which were brown like her hair. She was younger than me, but her age ended in her looks. Her eyes were much older, having seen war and strife and death. They wore the look of a warrior. And they were filled with wariness at the sight of an unfamiliar and unexpected guest.
"Hello, Larane. You might not know me," I said pleasantly, "but I'm Kimberlee Starfire, the bounty hunter who brought Grant Hyden and Malina Sol to your-"
"Yes, I know who you are," Larane interrupted. Recognition showed on her face. However, she didn't budge from the doorway, and her eyes remained wary.
"Larane, there's something I need to speak with you about." I stepped closer. Larane clearly perceived this as threatening. Her hackles rose.
"Who gave you authorization to come down here?" she snapped. My eyes caught a subtle movement in the room behind her. Two armed guards. Of course. The CURS headquarters had the tightest security imaginable - outside of the Imperial buildings - but Tartei wasn't taking any chances with his daughter. The guards shifted at Larane's tone. Coming out of the shadows, they advanced forward, blasters already out of their holsters and aimed at me. I stepped back and watched them as they slipped by Larane and through the door.
"Please let us escort you back to your quarters, miss," one of them said.
I insisted, "No. This is important."
The guards ignored me. One reached for my arm to haul me away. Before he could touch me, I waved my hand dismissively in the air.
"This is important," I repeated. I called on the Force to weight my words. "You'll let me and Larane speak in private."
The guards looked at one another and shrugged.
"This is important," one said to the other.
"Yes," replied the second, his now-glassy eyes straying back to me. "We'll let you and Larane speak in private."
Then they were gone. I turned to look at the girl in the doorway. She stared at me in shock. Wordlessly I advanced towards her, and she fell back into the room, not resisting as I fingered the panel and closed the door behind us. Fear did not radiate from her, and while she was still wary, she was no longer suspicious.
"How... How did you do that?" Larane gasped. I could see her mind working, trying to relate what she had just seen with something she had heard before and putting it together as something beneficial to her father's society. It wouldn't take much to nudge her mind in the right direction.
"You ever hear of the 'Jedi mind-trick'?" My mouth twisted on the word 'Jedi', but Larane didn't notice. Her eyes had gone wide. Wide with the realization that the woman who stood before her was a Jedi. Wide with the wild hope that this 'Jedi' could do CURS mountain-loads of good. Wide with curiousity at what this 'Jedi' had to say to her. Wide with pathetic, naive trust. All her fear had disappeared in the face of her excitement.
"You're a Jedi!" cried Larane in delight. My gut - and my mouth once again - twisted at the word. And once again, the girl didn't notice.
"Was," I corrected. Larane looked confused for a moment. Then she smiled apologetically.
"Oh, right, Order 66," she said.
"No." I put both hands under my coat. When I pulled them out again, red cylinders of light erupted from the steel they gripped. Larane's eyes widened again, this time with instant fear. My eyes burned with pleasure at the raw panic on her face as what reality fed her senses sank into her shock-numbed brain.
"I am no Jedi," I murmured dangerously. I took a step towards her, and she scrambled backwards until she hit the wall. "Do you know what I am?"
"I- I -I-" stuttered the girl. I came closer. I brandished my twin blades in a show of menace. She fell to her knees and cowered against the wall, hyperventilating. I saw just how young she really was, but my soul was completely void of any pity. For the Sith that I was allowed me no pity.
"Do you know what I am?" I asked again, my voice louder.
"Si-si-si-"
"Answer me!"
Ah, but by the Force, I was thoroughly enjoying myself.
"Sith," gasped Larane. "Y-you-you're a Sith!"
"Exactly right." I thumbed the activators on both lightsabers. The resulting hiss as the crimson energy retreated into its haven echoed around the room. A sob escaped Larane's chest. Tears dripped from her eyes. I suppressed my disgust at her weakness and focused instead on my own power. Was my own presence as a Sith really so overpowering that it reduced the soldier daughter of a Republic Army general to grovelling and tears? I amazed myself. A sudden thought of my grim master reminded me that it was probably highly likely that Vader would reprimand me on such a train of thought, and I ridded myself of my pride promptly. But still reluctantly.
Larane whimpered. "Y-you're not going to k-kill me?"
"Did I say I would? No." Not yet, anyways. "Just do as I say, and I won't hurt you."
My words seemed to abate Larane's tears somewhat, although the fear in her eyes did not disappear. It was joined instead by despair. This, in turn, was joined by horror as she realized what was coming next.
"Take me to your father."
"No..." Larane's whisper was anguished, but it was not a desperate rebellion against my order; it was only a blind, terrified resignation. I slipped my lightsabers back into their pockets. Folding my arms over my chest, I retreated across the room until I stood with my back against the door.
"Don't make me wait," I warned. Accordingly, Larane struggled to her feet. She dug in her pocket and retrieved a comlink, which I guessed was her private channel with her father.
"Tell him to meet you at head communications," I said. "And act normal."
I stressed the last two words. Larane nodded helplessly. She opened the comlink.
"Dad?" Though she was breathless, I had to admire her for managing to keep her voice from shaking. "Yeah, it's me... What? Yeah, ev-everything's fine. Where are you? ... Um, I have something to tell you... No, no, don't worry, it's nothing bad... No, I... I don't want to meet here. Can I come see you at head communications? ... I dunno, it's closest to both of us.... Haha, yeah, Dad, I know... Okay, I'll see you there. I love you..."
Her voice cracked only after the comlink beeped to signal the end of the connection.
"Did he believe you?" I was unmoved by her tears.
She nodded, her eyes swimming. "Yes..."
"Good. Now let's go. And stop crying."
Larane complied. We moved through the corridors and passageways fairly quickly. I didn't have to use the Force on anyone's mind as Larane told all who inquired that I was with her under orders from Leon Tartei. Soon we arrived outside head communications.
"Don't try anything funny," I said to Larane. She nodded, then raised her trembling hand to open the door. We stepped inside. I closed the door behind us, swiftly scanning the room. Four guards, three comm techs. Standing near a comm console, exchanging words with a Twi'Lek comm tech, was Tartei. Larane walked towards him. I walked right behind her, concealing the front of my body with hers so that I could discreetly yank out my lightsabers. I tasted the dark side energies swirling around me. There I saw nothing that hinted towards an unexpected move by my thrall. Larane would not betray me.
"Larane!" Tartei's face lit up when he caught sight of his daughter. When he saw me, his expression didn't change. "And Kimberlee. What brings you here?"
So I was still on his good side, even if I had no authorization to be in this area.
"Father..." Larane began. Her voice broke.
I fell into the Force. My hands flew. My feet danced. In the blink of an eye, my drawn lightsabers crossed and positioned themselves on either side of Larane's neck. The instant panic that coursed through the room was palpable. And oh so satisfying.
"Nobody move!" I shouted. "Nobody. Leaves. This. Room."
Leon Tartei's face was thunderstruck. I could distinguish and name the different emotions that passed over his face: absolute shock followed by disbelief, followed by intense hatred, followed by disbelief, followed by betrayal, followed by disbelief, followed by deep fear. Deep fear for his daughter's life. This was finally followed by a look that plainly said: I'll do whatever you want, please just don't hurt my daughter.
I fixed the leader with my stare.
"You... How could you..." Tartei struggled for words. His face went red as a Naboo beet. I assumed that was because he couldn’t speak every curse he wanted without suffocating.
"You were blind," I said simply. Then I moved on to business, though I itched to taunt the man some more. The anger that rolled off of him into the Force and into my consciousness was terribly satisfying. "You love your daughter, don't you?"
Tartei's eyes went to Larane's, and the pain that came off him was even more satisfying than the anger. Larane trembled, and her eyes filled with tears, and the combined pain of both father and daughter almost made me giddy. I blinked to refocus on the sensible reality.
"Well?" I prompted.
Tartei gritted his teeth and looked back at me. "Yes, I do."
"Then you'll do what I say... Or she will die."
A vein on the man's forehead bulged so large I thought it would burst. But when he spoke, his voice was controlled.
"I understand."
"Very good. You four!" I cast my gaze on the four guards in the room. "Drop your weapons and go stand by that wall." The guards obeyed, casting their blasters on the ground and walking to the left wall. I looked at the comm techs. "Send the feed from the security cams in this room to every holoscreen in the headquarters. Inform the entire security personnel... Wait, strike that. Inform every member of CURS in this building that no one is to enter this room. No one is to exit the building or send an alert to any of your minor stations, because if anyone does, I will know, and I will kill Larane. And Leon."
There was a silence before my orders were carried out. The Twi'Lek tech's tentacles bobbled as he hurriedly struck commands into the console before him. I observed the ongoing procedures with pleasure, then returned my attention to the two Tarteis before me. My lightsabers drew back into their handles.
"Now, Tartei, I'm sure you know what a Sith can do," I said to Tartei.
"All too well," the former general mumbled.
"So I trust you won't try anything... stupid." When Tartei shook his head, I continued. "I want you to send out an emergency recall to every single member of CURS. They must all come here, without exception. They must arrive before 24 hours are up. They must all gather in the collective on the 43rd floor. And if any single individual does not comply, your daughter dies. Understand?"
"Yes... And do I understand correctly that you'll spare my daughter if I obey?"
"That, my friend, depends entirely upon how well you handle the situation. If everything goes as I want it, then yes: your daughter will be spared." Spared my lightsaber, yes, but not spared the mass death that awaited the entire CURS, her included.
"All right." Tartei glanced at me, then risked hugging his daughter. I did nothing to separate them. Let them enjoy what petty little joys that they might before they all blew, literally, sky-high.
Tartei followed my orders to the letter. It was breathtaking to see how meticulous he was about making sure everything went smoothly. I monitored him, sometime with my senses, sometimes through the Force, and I saw that he was completely controlled by his fear for Larane. He would never put his rebellion above her welfare. How sorry, how blind. His entire operation was falling apart because he allowed himself a weakness. And the weakness of CURS as a whole was that it depended on one man with a weakness of his own to hold it together. Really, CURS wasn't worthy of even the smallest trace of admiration.
While Tartei recalled all the CURS members from across the planet, I sat down at a vacant comm module. I called up a connection with Caryoliss.
"I was successful," I said to the hologram that came to life over the projectors. "Bring Operation 2 into action."
"Yes, sir," Caryoliss replied, all business. I dug through the CURS database, finding a holofile of the structures of the headquarters. I sent this to him through the connection.
"I'm comming Sarge next. I'll have him call you."
"Roger that."
"Right now I want you to move the Star Princess and the Stinger to rendezvous point Zero. You'll merge with Sarge there and carry out Operation 2. Kimberlee over and out. Don't fail."
"Roger. Peter, over and out."