Disclaimer: This is a private work of fiction, not intended to infringe any copyrights. All rights to the characters and the concepts of Star Wars rest with their respective owners. I receive no money or other compensation.
This is the revamped- retold and worked over version of Secret Empire as it was done years ago.
Chapter One - A conglomerate of rumours
A steady stream of chilly air rose through the grates that formed the floor of the cavern like cell and brushed along the naked feet of the prisoner. The stream wasn’t strong enough to be called wind or to be felt, when not stranding right on said grates but it was effective in refreshing the air of the damp place. The rocks that formed the walls were glistening wet in the scarce light that fell from the shaft above, as did the long chains, that held the human figure unmoving in it’s place. There was nothing else in that cell, the rough circle of walls contained nothing else, except for some doors and some racks for equipment. But those were covered in shadow, whatever small rays of light made it through shaft only touched the prisoner and the chains, painting rectangular patterns on both of them. The patterns, small dark lines as regular as the grates below, were nothing but the shadows of the catwalk that crossed the cavern somewhere higher up. Completely invisible in the darkness those walkways were all too easily overlooked, but a constant if silent guard was up there, taking care the prisoner stood no chance whatsoever to escape. Not that he was even moving by now.
The human figure had been not moving for a while now, not because he was unconscious but because he was trying to retain his strength. His situation was bad, really bad, and what made it worse: he was well aware of it. There was no way of deceiving himself, no protective illusion to provide the smallest glimpse of hope, not even a chance of reprieve by giving in.
His arms were held up by chains that emerged from a durasteel-construction just below the lowest walkway and got nearly ripped out of their joints in the process. His upper body was stark naked, smeared in blood from this afternoon’s flogging, and his legs, dressed in something that could be called tatters by now, were not any more able to support him any longer. Long gashes marked them too and blood, dried as well as fresh, marked them too. The only cause why he still appeared to be standing, was due to the chains, that ripped his arms mercilessly up and held him in position. Warm blood was tickling down his neck, he couldn’t even begin to guess from which of the multiple slashes alongside his skull it was flowing. It added to all the other dark traces that eventually reached his bare feet which stood on the grated ground of the dungeon’s punishment arena.
Kir Kanos felt not much at the moment. His highly disciplined mind allowed him to drive the pain out of his mind, and he even succeeded in driving out despair too, or came quite close to at least. But in the last few days, some silent, dark moments had occurred where he had to admit to himself that he was not likely to make it out here alone and there was no one in this universe likely to help him either. No one was even likely to ask where he had vanished and why. What made this thought really painful was the simple, bitter fact that a warrior’s death was denied to him. Kir Kanos had never feared death but he had hoped to die in battle as a warrior should.
But there was no warrior’s death here, no honour, not even the distant hope that his death would make a difference for somebody in this world. He was alone and when they eventually returned, they were likely to torture him again, until his body could not take it anymore and he would die. What pride he had left focused on the thought that he would neither whimper nor beg until he was dead. And this was a very lonely thought too.
He leaned his head against his aching arm and closed his eyes. How had all this happened exactly? Some years had passed since he had bested the Council of Blood. In the aftermath of this battle he had needed time to recover. Not only from his physical wounds and the growing exhaustion, but from the emotional upheaval that had been caused by meeting Mirith again. They had been so close, during that brief, ill-fated rescue operation on Xo. For an hour, a night, Kanos had whished to give in to his feelings, to forget about everything that was not them. Of course he had not acted on those feelings. A discipline far too deeply ingrained had prevented this and when all had been over he had rebuked Mirith. They still were on opposed sides, after all and this was not likely to change anytime soon. It had hurt him, as much as it had hurt her, but there had never been an alternative. After some months of rigorous exercise, careful planning and a good deal of loneliness Kanos had even been able to accept this and to get back to business. He had nearly forgotten about it all, submerged again in his crusade against the traitors. But then this informant had sought him out...
The cantina was smaller than most of it’s kind and somewhat in between dreadfully dirty and terribly run-down, filled with scum from places, no one wanted really to know about and smelling like it, from about a mile away. All this observations had been painfully obvious to Kir Kanos long before he had actually entered this spaceport’s cantina, which, in its own way, was not different from a hundred and thousand other spaceport cantinas in the galaxy. Perhaps it was a little more run down, a tad more dirty and just a little more frequented than others. “Since the rebels took over the numbers of scum has increased significantly.” Kanos thought sardonically while walking towards a table in a dark corner. It was a table made out of stamped metal, fixed to the ground, with some seats of the same kind.
For about ten minutes had he sat there, waiting for the serving droid, while studying the guests of the place and listening in on half a dozen insignificant conversations, when a bland looking Twi’lek had joined him. He had been seated over at the cantina’s far side and been nursing a pitcher of cheap ale, but he rose and came over. Without words he sat down at Kanos table. The former guardsman looked up quite irritated. He was not exactly xenophobic, among Imperials he had been regarded as open minded in this respect, but he was not very fond of a species that negotiated its way through the universe.
“I won’t stay long,” the Twi’lek started talking. “I have to deliver a message to you.” He looked pointedly at Kanos, indicating that this was a painful duty to him too, and he didn’t want to prolong this conversation longer than necessary.
“How do you know who I am?” Kir Kanos asked while he reached under the table and manoeuvred his short battle knife on his knees. There were some bounties on his head, half of them issued by the Imperial Warlords at least. Most of them were as precise as a Gamorrean could be when describing a Hutt, but it never hurt to be careful.
The Twi’lek grinned sheepishly, twisting his right lekku over his shoulder. “The description fits you rather well: ‘A human male, very tall and of muscular built, has long brown hair, a lean face and an ugly lightsaberscar ‘cross a handsome face, handsome by human standards only, he is permanently ready to fight and a gloomy fellow over all’ – sorry this are her words, not mine.”
A part of Kanos irritation transformed into something akin to amusement. If this Twi’lek was a headhunter he was a very dumb one. “Who’s her?” He asked, looking the Twi’lek straight in the eyes. This tactic had often made others wince, thus wringing information from them easier. It worked faster than Kanos would have anticipated.
The Twi’lek looked down on the table clasping his hands together. “Her name is Mirith. She said you would know the name...”
Kanos nodded, retreating behind a blank guardsman’s face. “I do indeed. And if she wants something, why is she not here herself?”
Now the Twi’lek fidgeted on his seat. “Well strictly speaking she does not want something. She is merely giving you a hint. She is not supposed to do this; she was in enough trouble when she helped you wiping out the council. Nevertheless, she wants you to know something: A certain physician – you would know who, she said – escaped from the high security prison, where the New Republic had sent him three months ago. He was helped by two agents who currently are in the service of Admiral Daala. Mirith said you had to settle some score with this physician.”
Kanos knew indeed of whom the Twi’lek spoke: The Emperor’s physician, who had manipulated the last of the Emperor’s clones, thus bringing about his Majesties ultimate, if not exactly untimely, death. “And I might conveniently dispose of him before he can spill all his knowledge to Admiral Daala. Wasn’t Daala the one who reduced your colony on Dantooine to cinder and attacked Mon Calmaria right afterwards?”
The Twi’lek snorted. “You do not need to gloat.” He said sharply.
“I won’t.” Kanos answered gruffly. “I wanted to make sure that we spoke about the same person; a person stupid enough to attack a Jedi facility without the proper troops to do so. And to her this physician has fled after escaping the rebel alliance. Any hint where he is now?” When he spoke the last sentence, Kanos was all business again.
“It’s a vast galaxy isn’t it?” replied the Twi’lek mockingly, his eyes dancing with mirth.
The guardsman didn’t buy the pose for one moment. Another part why he disliked Twi’lek’s greatly was their tendency to lie unnecessarily. “She will have given you some hint or clue about it, hasn’t she?” Kanos knew she had. If she had gone through all the pains to find a messenger to trace him like this, she’d provided the details needed, too.
One of the Twi’leks Lekku curled upwards. “Well, not exactly. But her husband thought you might want all data, we have on this case.”
Kir Kanos looked startled. “Her husband?”
Now the Twi’lek’s grin grew really broad. “Oh yes. Mirith married Colonel Sulean last year. Not exactly a hero of the rebellion, but close enough. They both will soon leave service and settle down somewhere, start a family perhaps. She saw this as...well some last gift to you, a chance to repay her debts I suppose.”
Kanos waved the words away. “I am not interested in the latest rebel gossip. Where is this physician said to be?”
“Jardooine.”
“Jardooine? That’s core.”
“That’s deep core, where the Empire is located these days. Until we mop it out of it.” The Twi’lek had risen with these words and casually walked out of the cantina. Kir Kanos had not hindered him but sat there staring into his pitcher. So the late Emperor’s physician had escaped Rebel custody: The last man of those who had caused the Emperors final death, the last of those who he had sworn to find and kill. And Mirith... he would never again think of her.
Something moved beyond the impenetrable darkness. It wasn’t the change of the guard high above on the catwalks, they made more noise, when moving. All he heard a soft swish and the sound of silent feet somewhere, anywhere inside the shadows around him. For a fleeting moment he felt something touch him, like another gust of wind, coming out of nowhere, perhaps down the shaft. But Kir Kanos did not care about it. When they came back to torment him, they could. His mind was still walking the paths of past.
Jardooine was a lonely planet, located on the fringes of deep core. It was still Empire held territory. Kir Kanos knew it was ruled by some Moff Council and under the military command of Admiral Pealleon. Admiral Daala had placed herself under his command after the Yavin 4 debacle last year. Kir Kanos was also aware of the fact that the bounty on his head was still offered by this very Empire. He was considered dangerous and a traitor. He didn’t mind and cared less. He had often enough sneaked into Imperial territory. Once one noticed the backdoors, one could use them at any time. And so had he. A profound knowledge of the core hyperspace routes was imperative for this mission, but no one knew these routes better than the Royal Guardsmen. Kanos was unable to recall on how many secret journeys, one of their number had been piloting the Emperor’s private shuttle through twisted deep core routes. It had not been a problem to select a route to Jardooine that was rarely used and unlikely to be very much known.
Anything had gone well... too well in fact. After successfully distracting Jardooine’s defence forces he had left his ship in a lonely ravine some miles away from the only military facility on the planet’s surface. Why had he not realised that something was wrong? No one seemed ever to be aware of him. The guards were lazy on duty. He sneaked into the heart of the facility without a skirmish or trouble. Why had he not seen that it went too perfect? He had suspected nothing, not until he walked into the high security part of the base. When he had managed to infiltrate this place without being noticed, he should have suspected something was up. Perhaps it was just stupid guardsmen pride that he had actually believed he was able to deceive them all.
The computer central had been his first target. There he would find out where the physician was and what secret was so important that the rebels bothered to have him killed like that. When he had managed to get into the system he had seen a lot of classified data, much more than he had expected and far too much to just scan through it. Without much hesitation he had copied it on a datacard and erased it from the memory banks, afterwards he had gone through the base’s plans searching for the physician’s location. That moment the doors to the room had burst open and troops – lots of troops – had stormed into the room. He had fought, but they were more than he could conquer and they had been out to eventually captured him, not kill him. A stun bolt, fired with the precision of a sniper had hit him and thrown him onto the dark.
Admiral Daala who was the base’s commander and had been very satisfied when he had been brought to her, right after regaining conscious. “One of my men told me you were here. I nearly killed him for the lie, because I knew you were not that stupid.” She explained in casual tones, while walking up and down in the interrogation room. “A man of your experience should not fall to such a simple Rebel trap. So they found a convenient way to get rid of you, or so I thought until I saw the data you tried to erase from our memory banks. You were serving an agenda of your own or more likely someone’s agenda when you dared to come here. I was warned that someone would come and try to erase it, but I did not expect it to be you. So we can do this the soft or the hard way. First is you tell me were I find the person who’s data you erased and second you’ll tell me the hyperspace route that leads to the location of the ‘Secret Empire project’ if you don’t like your options, you are of course free to try the hard way.”
He questions had made next to no sense to him. It was well possible that among the classified data he had stolen and then erased was the file of a person, or more than one person, but he had not read them and thus had no idea what it might be about, nor had he ever heard the term ‘Secret Empire project’ before in his career. Which was saying something, during his time on duty he had heard of all kinds of secret projects that were hidden somewhere. “I have no idea what you are talking about. I looked for the whereabouts of the late Emperor’s physician.” He had answered, still wondering what the hell was in the classified files he had copied but not read.
She laughed, a cold humourless laughter. “The late Emperor’s physician?” She parroted with great care. “I really must thank you for amusing me so much. I have not heard such an ingenious lie since I left Carida. And I even will help you to some up-to-date information: the man is in prison. The Rebels put him there and he is likely to get out at the end of the decade. And now tell me: Where May I Find This Brat of the Emperor’s!” The last sentence she shouted at him, her eyes boring into his.
“If you are looking for the boy, the concubine claimed to be his Majesties son, look for his body on Belsavis.” Kir Kanos answered. He had heard of this story and partly believed it. If Admiral Daala was chasing after some child of the Emperor’s she must be mad... or know something, that was relatively unknown to the rest of the galaxy. Kir Kanos felt strangely alive that moment. On the one hand he knew someone had betrayed him to make him die at this base and on the other hand if there was the slightest chance that it was true what Dalaa claimed...
She snorted and looked sternly at him. “I am not interested in the boy of the concubine. He was mad anyway and he is dead by now. I want to know where the other one is, the older one. The one Vader’s data files mention, the one he writes, that will become a true emanation of the Force’s full power. The one that killed Moff Hrash.”
“I thought Hrash died overestimating his body’s endurance when he was with one of his mistresses.” Kanos had answered acidly. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he did not intend to show it. Perhaps she would let slip more little details to this riddle.
She leaned back, eying him coldly. “We kept it quiet. Have you any idea what happens when it gets common knowledge that out there is a living child of Palpatine’s? And a son at that? Fearing we might unite behind this person; the Rebels will launch a full scale attack on us. Half of the Moffs will try to find this person, just to make sure they do not anger him; the other half will debate over killing or ignoring him and blasted idealists like you will rush out to pledge their loyalty to him. The remnant Empire will crumble and fall. So tell me: where is this person?”
“Even if I knew, I were not to tell you. I’ll never betray...”
She ended his words with a gesture. “Spare me. You’ll never betray the Emperor, I already heard that. But mark my words: You will before I am finished with you. The earlier you talk the easier for you.” And then they had led him down into a dark arena and chained him there. The interrogation started...
The crackling of a laserwhip and a heavy surge of pain threw Kir Kanos from his memories. He suppressed any groan or noise of pain and forced himself to concentrate. As long as he stayed focused he was able to resist them. Perhaps it was even better that he could not tell them what they wanted. A secret he never possessed could never been extracted from him, with some elaborate method of torture. Some distant part of his mind noted that his captors avoided using an interrogation droid, but he could not figure out why and anything else drowned in a wave of pain.
***
How many hours later the broad shouldered man had entered the arena and stood before him, Kanos did not know. “You surely believe you’re tough,” the stranger said. “But you will pray for death before I am done with you. And then you’ll tell what the Admiral wants to know. You may believe to be strong, I am stronger.”
“Said the Gamorrean to the Hutt.” He was interrupted by a clear voice calling out of the darkness. “Says the Hutt: But you’re twice as dumb as you’re strong,” the voice went on with one of the galaxies oldest jokes, just to add: “Which counts thrice for you,” directed at the interrogation master, while the man was spinning around and looking for the person who spoke in vain.
“Guards.” He called into his comlink. “there is an intruder, find him.”
Kir Kanos heard the fast running of boots over the catwalks somewhere up in the darkness. Some blaster shots lightened the shadows up for moments and burned into the walls. Sprays of blasterfire rained down the higher catwalk. Kir Kanos turned lightly. If a shot was to hit and severed his chains he might stand a chance for a swift death at least.
A pitched shriek echoed from the walls when three stormtroopers fell from catwalk as if shoved by an invisible hand and crashed on the floor. “And someone even believes that the Empire did not meet it’s downfall.” The voice spoke again out of the darkness.
Hearing it again, Kanos got the vague impression that it was a male voice, in spite off the clear quality the cavern so easily amplified. A whole squadron of stormtroopers emerged at the entrance, rushing into the arena. They encircled Kir Kanos, their weapons raised. Faintly the howling alert was audible from the corridor’s outside. Behind the troop came Admiral Daala herself, probably alerted at once, staying near the entrance, carefully studying the scene. “If you don’t give up, they’ll kill him. Come out.” She shouted into the darkness, looking for the intruder. “You won’t stand a chance of saving him.”
“I remember a time when ‘Surrender rebel scum!’; was the standard line for this.” The voice answered, sounding amused by now. “But all right Admiral; I am coming down.”
That instant Kir Kanos saw a dark figure running along the catwalk over the arena, moving swiftly and deftly, but much faster than any human should. He caught the glimpse of a raised fist. The stormtroopers were ripped from their feet and crashed against the walls, falling like broken dolls to the ground. An easy somersault and the shadowy figure jumped down from the catwalk, a blood coloured, doublebladed lighsaber flashing in the hands. Whirling around in tight spin he beheaded three opponents, that were guarding the captured guardsman, in one go, then jumped across the arena and took out the two stormtroopers in Kanos back, whirling backwards, somersaulting again, killing some more.
Kir Kanos watched fascinated. Not the lightsaber - fighting, he had seen such before, but the movements. He knew them. He had seen plenty of them on Yinchorr. The man moved exactly the way the royal guardsmen had trained to. He was smaller than the average guardsman had been and of lighter build but for everything else Kanos could have mistaken him for a brotherguard. Except that he wore no armor but tight fitting black clothes. The red doublebladed lightsaber was not so much unlike the energypikes they had used back then, but it was more far more deadly. The simple sight of it inspired fear.
It was only moments, a scarce amount of few breaths until the last stormtrooper was dead, he raised his left hand again towards Admiral Daala, casually waving the short blaster of her hand. The admiral choked and Kir Kanos needed no explanation to realise that Daala found herself caught by the stranger’s forcegrip. “There has been a time when a crime against a royal guardsman would have bought you a very slow death.” The stranger said. “But for now we will leave it at a reminder.” He threw Dalaa against a wall, knocking her nearly unconscious that way and released her. Before Admiral Daala could do anything the stranger had thrown a knife and nailed her shoulder to the wall. Assured that the admiral was not likely to cause trouble during the next few hours the stranger turned to Kir Kanos. “Ready to go out of here?” he asked while slashing his chains with his lightsaber.
“I think so.” He tried to reply but his voice was hoarse and he was nearly unable to speak. Besides, he had no strength to do so, for he needed all of his power not to break to his knees as soon the chains were removed. He managed barely and found it somehow possible to stand. “Thanks.” He said.
“Later.” Was the short reply. “We have to get out of here first.” He waved his hand and a stormtrooper’s rifle flew directly into Kanos’ hand. Without any further word did the stranger walk over to the admiral. He searched Dalaa fast and efficiently finding the admiral’s accesskey as well as another vast assortment datacards, some looked familiar to Kanos. Pocketing them the stranger turned back to Kir Kanos. “Lets get out of here.”
Kanos pointed to the doors. “Reinforcements will be on their way. And they’ll have blocked the way with forcefields too.” He found himself informing his new acquaintance on the base’s security measures. Somehow he got the feeling, that he was not aware of some of the more ordinary problems that were designed to catch ordinary intruders.
He grinned. “Right. So we go another way. Lean on me.” For a moment he hesitated, but the stranger gripped his arm, laying it around his shoulders. “Watch your balance.” He said warningly. Before he could think of anything Kanos felt a rush and was ripped from the ground. Only a moment later he landed on the catwalk above the arena and had really trouble not to stumble over his own feet. The grip of his strange companion supported him firmly. But then the next jump followed and they landed on another catwalk and left without hesitating for some pipe that was clearly never meant to be walked at. Again they stayed only for the fraction of seconds before another jump brought them still higher up. Kanos glimpsed down and realised he could not even see the arena any more. Eventually they stood on a steam exhaust pipe that was humming beneath their feet. Before them was nothing but a grate that was opened by a single lightsaber slash. “In there, it leads down to my ship. I am directly behind you.” Kanos strange companion explained.
The former guardsman would have protested any other day, but by now he had resigned himself to the most unusual means of their flight. Perhaps this was how force users usually went about business, he mused as he obeyed and went down through the grate, which proved to be the entrance of another exhaustion vent. The pipe lead straight down, a free fall in darkness, Kir Kanos tried to slow his fall but it was no use, he felt the air rushing by, and was glad it was too dark to see anything by which he might be able to guess the height of their fall. He just prepared for hitting the ground, hitting it hard but moments before he crashed and got himself killed he felt something strange and tickling catching him and setting him down softly. Next moment his companion landed beside him, agile as a cat. They were not in the base any more but in another rocky ravine, which surrounded the base. It wasn’t the ravine where he had left his ship either. It looked not much different, tough; the rocks and ravines were so much alike, that they were hard to tell apart. Only by the presence of the stranger’s ship could he tell that they were in a different ravine. The ship was somewhat larger than his own and looked definitely more modern, if looks were something to go by. He did not hesitate when the stranger gestured him to enter it. Minutes later they had left the planet.