17: The Bargain

ABOARD THE SENTINEL-CLASS SHUTTLE MIDRA’HARA

SOMEWHERE IN HYPERSPACE

“Get out of my way, Namyr,” Fera said. She glared at her agent.

Namyr stood where she was. She knew what she was doing might be considered foolish to some, but she had to say this. “Just listen to me, Commander. Please, just for a minute.”

“Get out of my way,” the commander repeated. Her blue eyes burned and her dark-green skin turned even darker. The tattoos around her eyes creased to the point of distortion.

“I understand you need to rendition him,” Namyr said, using the term for making a target disappear. “But before you go in there and threaten him and make him even more resistant to our way of thinking than he already is, please just consider that we need him. And not in the long-term, but immediately. He can lead us to Zumter—”

“Why? He’s already told us where Zumter most likely is.”

Namyr had been thinking about this for the last hour, trying to come up with a way of defending Ageless. She didn’t know why she wanted to help him right now, but part of her sensed something in him, a kind of chink in his otherwise durasteel exterior, a break in the psychological conditioning the Nest had put him through. “Because this is an old Sentinel-class ship with only a Class Ten functioning hyperdrive—that means we could be a week or more getting to Bespin. We need to find a means of keeping Zumter in play before he leaves forever. Ageless may know how to do that.”

Commander Fera tilted her head curiously. “You honestly think I haven’t considered that already? I’ve been handling traitors and criminal informants my entire career, Agent Abjura. I know how to control my assets.”

“But you don’t know him. I do.”

“You’ve known him for all of two days, and you think you truly know him?”

“You were once an Imperial, too,” Namyr said. Then she added, “Ma’am.”

Commander Fera bristled. Her cold eyes bore into Namyr’s.

Namyr tried to recover. “I’ve seen what he is. His skills, his ability to survive, his adaptability, his conditioning…it’s superb. And I also have seen…sw’ey’la.” The word was Bothan, and it could mean many things. Most often it referred to whatever was deep inside someone’s soul, the stuff lurking unseen behind their eyes. Interrogators and spies sometimes used this word to indicate when they had seen something in a person they could not quite explain, but that their instincts had alerted them to. “He’s got an ideology, but it’s not entirely focused on patriotism and Imperial pride.” She licked her lips, trying to put it into words. “He saved me when he didn’t have to.”

“He probably thought he needed you to help him survive,” Fera said dismissively.

“No, ma’am, I don’t think so. There’s something more. If handled right, I think he could be brought over.”

Fera snorted. “A Kingdom agent? Working for us? Not a chance. He’s undergone too much training against the Four Impellers.”

The Four Impellers was a commonly talked about thing in the spy world. In general, people are impelled to switch sides for one of four reasons: money, ideology, ego, or protection. And Namyr had to admit the commander was right, Ageless Void did indeed strike her as someone resistant to all of those motivators.

“There’s something inside him,” she told Fera. “I want you to keep an open mind and look for it. If you see it while interrogating him, don’t push him. Let him see the door, the way out, then step back and allow him to choose to step through. Let him choose to exit the Empire, but not because of reward or because IIS betrayed him. In fact, the very idea of reward may repel him.”

“You don’t think force or offering protection will help?”

“No, I don’t. And if we play this right, we may be able to use him in a way neither one of us had counted on.”

“And what’s that?”

Namyr saw that she finally had the momentum, and so she seized it. “I’ve thought about this, and as far as we know, only the Kingdom wanted him dead, right?”

Fera shrugged. “Yes.”

“And the only reason they wanted him dead is because the upper echelons—the people leading the Kingdom—have all got something to hide, some sort of corruption.”

Fera crossed her arms, and took on a thoughtful look. “So, you’re saying…”

“I’m saying the Empire itself does not want Ageless Void dead. It’s just one black ops department inside IIS that is corrupt. That’s it. In fact, from what I understand, the original message we intercepted from Asserter—the message that started all of this—was meant to be read only by top Kingdom officials and then destroyed. Meaning—”

“Meaning Ageless could still come in from the cold,” Fera said, catching up to her. “He could return to IIS and they would never know he was targeted by the Kingdom, because the Kingdom’s leadership is going to have to flee. This Zumter and Abaca…they’re going to have to run soon.”

“But their agents were not complicit in their crimes. Most likely all Kingdom assets will be reassigned. Ageless Void could return to the Empire’s service.” Namyr went in for the kill. “He could become a double agent for us.”

Commander Lorna Fera looked at her for a long time. Brow furrowed, she considered it, and then made a decision.

* * *

“He’s on Cloud City, I’d stake my life on it. If you want to capture him, we need to move now,” Ageless said.

Fera stood across from the stone-faced Zabrak, flanked by two armed officers who the Shadow of Alderaan’s captain had spared, after some arm-twisting. The cargo bay that they were using as a makeshift holding cell was bright, and allowed Fera to see the dark contours of the Zabrak’s beleaguered, haunted face.

Yes, Fera thought. Namyr was right. There is a certain sw’ey’la to him. But she could not let her guard down. The Imperial assassin had undoubtedly tricked many spies in his career. “It’s quite a story you tell,” she said. “It seems as if the entire galaxy has no place for you now, no home, no government to take you in and embrace you.”

“Spare me this part of the interrogation,” he said.

“What part? This is an interrogation? I thought we were just talking.”

“If you want Zumter, we need to skip this part and get moving!”

“We’ll talk about Zumter later,” she said, pulling up a crate filled with rations and water and taking a seat a couple meters away from him. She had her blaster in hand, despite the fact the assassin was in electric binders. “Let’s talk about you first. You are Ageless Void, but that is just your codename. What’s your real name?”

“You know I’m not going to give you that.”

“Why not?”

“Because my name leads you to my attachments, my family and loved ones, and that only gives you leverage.”

“If you’re really not on their side anymore, you don’t have to carry their codenames.”

“I may not be on their side but that doesn’t mean I’m on yours.” He glared at her, but for a moment she was sure she saw his eyes shift over to the two guards.

Is he measuring them up? Looking for a way out? Fera tightened her grip on her blaster.

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“But you’re volunteering to help us.”

“Only so I can get Zumter. That’s all I want. That and my freedom.”

“Let’s be honest. You don’t really think you’re walking free from this place,” Fera said. “I mean, if we’re cutting out the bantha poodoo and being real. I know that you’re not stupid—you couldn’t have gotten this far if you were—so I know that you know we can’t just let you leave. You’ve assassinated at least twenty of our best and brightest leaders, Ageless. You can’t think Alliance Command is just going to let that go. You think Mon Mothma would allow it, or Leia Organa, or the Mon Calamari admiral that just ripped a hole through your Imperial fleet? So, what do you want?”

For the first time, Ageless looked bewildered. It seemed to Fera that he was suddenly suffering from some malady of the soul. His brow furrowed in consternation and he looked down at his bound hands, then up at her. “What do you want?”

“What do I want? I want Zumter. I want the Kingdom and the Nest that spawned it. I want the director of the King—”

“Those are things, people. What do you want, Commander Fera?”

Fera tilted her head quizzically. So he wants honesty. Okay, let’s give him some raw honesty. It had certainly helped her turn agents before.

“You see this?” She touched her chin, ran her fingers over the lower bit of her tattoo there. “It’s a mark of shame. A reminder of when I failed to do something about an obvious problem that was staring me in the face. I hesitated on some intel, I didn’t make the connections fast enough, and while I could have prevented the Emperor’s poisoning of the entire city of Kopal, I was busy justifying the actions he took each and every day to deal with his opponents. I justified what happened to the Jedi, I justified him dissolving the Republic Senate and giving control over sectors to regional governors. I justified. I said it needed to happen to secure order, to stop these destructive riots, to crush this poisonous Rebellion.

“But I failed. So I’ll tell you what I want, Ageless. I want the Emperor and his lackeys to face the consequences of their tyrannical actions. I want to see them hanged for poisoning the people of Kopal, my people. I want to see them on trial for it. And when that’s done, I want to fall to my knees in front of all my people and beg their forgiveness for letting Kopal happen, and hope that all I did to make amends is enough to add another piece to my tattoo.” She pointed to her forehead. “Here. A tattoo of redemption. That’s what I want, Ageless.”

The assassin stared at her through her whole rant. Unblinkingly, he nodded slowly, as if in reverence. “Then we understand each other.”

“Because you want the Emperor punished?”

“No, because I wanted the same for you. I wanted you to suffer the consequences for what happened in the Dathomir system six years ago.”

Fera was brought up short by that. She had to search her memory. Throughout this whole bloody war, she did not recall any particular battle happening anywhere near Dathomir. “What are you talking about?”

Ageless gave her a savage sneer. “You really don’t know.” He shook his head. “Do you think your little insurrection against the Empire has only cost the lives of soldiers? Surely you can’t be that naïve.”

Fera stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. In interrogations, there was a time to exert pressure and a time to let the target speak in their own time.

“A convoy was on its way to Dathomir,” he said. “A peaceful convoy, just traders coming from Iridonia. My parents and I were on it. The Rebels staged a blockade, made it look like pirates, so that our convoy would send a distress signal. An Imperial patrol cruiser showed up, just as I’m assuming the Rebels predicted, and they ambushed it, crippled its engines, and towed it by tractor beam to someplace else, where I assume they stripped it and modified it as a warship for their crusade.”

Ageless looked at the floor sullenly.

“But during the brief battle, our ship, the Kana’go’sha, was caught in the crossfire. We don’t know who hit us, the Rebel ships or the Imperial cruiser, but it doesn’t matter. It was the Rebels’ fault for using civilians as bait for the Empire, and it was their fault that everyone in my family died.”

He looked up at her.

“The Empire is not perfect. I’m not stupid, I know how imperfect some of its leaders can be—Tarkin, Vader, even the Emperor himself. But for most of the galaxy, wherever the Empire has been, there is actual peace and stability—”

“What about the enslavement of Wookiees?” Fera countered. “What about the illegal work camps where Twi’lek journalists were taken after they published proof of Imperials killing protesters in the Chokki system, and hiding their bodies in mass graves on the moon—”

“What about the Rebel assault over Caamas?” Ageless said coolly. He leaned back in his seat and appeared as though this were only a casual conversation, not an interrogation. In fact, his confidence made him look like he owned the ship they were on, and that Fera herself was being interrogated. “What about the battle that tore Caamasi homes asunder when the Rebels blasted a Gozanti-class ship out of orbit?”

Fera nodded. She had had this same argument with herself years ago, just before she defected to the Rebellion. And so, she told him as much. “I used to be conflicted, too. I used to be at IIS. That’s where I first heard the name Kingdom. That’s where I first heard about you.”

Ageless looked up at her sharply. “You were in the Service?”

“I was. Until the Kopal Incident. So don’t talk to me about souls lost as collateral damage. I know all too much about it and I understand the consequences of war and fighting for our freedom. I know both sides have their own slamos, but only one side wants to abolish slavery and return the galaxy to a democracy.”

She stood up, looking down on him. “And I’m also big enough to admit when I was on the wrong side. If I can switch over to the Rebellion, if they can find it in their hearts to forgive my mistakes and accept me as one of their own, and if I can renounce the Empire, then the same can happen for you.”

Ageless snorted. “The Rebel Alliance only accepted you because they were desperate. They were small, fractious, tearing themselves apart with infighting. They needed someone with your expertise to show them how intel-gathering is done. They took you in out of desperation, not love.”

“Did I say I was after their love?”

Ageless said nothing.

“You say they only wanted me out of desperation. Well, the same door is open to you now, Ageless Void. We need you.” She glared at him. “But you must earn it. Do you hear me, Ageless? You have to earn that kind of respect, that kind of trust. If you ever want to be set loose again, if you ever want to see the world beyond a prison cell, you’ll put that in mind, and start working towards redemption.”

“I’ve given you Zumter on a platter. What else do you want?”

“Zumter is just the beginning. If you want any sympathy or help from the Alliance, you will have to give. And give lavishly. And with no thought to reward. Only redemption.”

She left him with that, spinning on her heels and marching out of the cargo bay. The two guards followed her. Just before the door closed, though, Ageless Void called out to her.

“Commander Fera.”

She turned back.

“You’ll want to look into the Greater Associates of Naspeschi’a.”

“Why?”

“It’s the front company for the Kingdom’s headquarters, as well as other off-the-book IIS operations. It has a ‘white side,’ which deals with its legitimate business, and a ‘black side,’ which deals with all its clandestine work.” He sighed and leaned back against the wall. “And you might want to get some operatives in the area soon, because my guess is in a couple of days it’ll be completely wiped clean. With Zumter soon to pull a vanishing act, I imagine Director Abaca and others will do the same.”

Fera said nothing. She turned to the guards.

“I want one of you posted inside at all times watching him. The other stays outside this door. You keep this cargo bay locked, do you understand me? Nobody in or out without my permission.”

“Yes, Commander,” they said in unison.

She looked at the prisoner before the door was shut. Fera had a moment when she recalled being exactly where he was. She had spent almost a year incarcerated on a roving clandestine ship owned by the Alliance Intelligence Network, undergone one interrogation after the next, all while interrogator droids tried to inveigle her to admit to crimes she had never committed. Even though she had willingly come over to the Rebellion and given them countless pieces of useful intel, the AIN still had not trusted her.

And why would they? she thought, her hand unconsciously touching her chin tattoo. Why would they trust me ever again? I wouldn’t. But she had proven herself enough times that, eventually, she was allowed to function as a double agent. She had fed them information about Imperial protocols on a dozen worlds, helped plan attacks on sixteen secret Imperial bases. It took more than thirty interrogations by thirty different interrogation droids, but eventually they allowed her her freedom, and permitted her to have rank inside the AIN.

Because the Rebellion had been desperate for someone of her skill set to guide them. Ageless had been right about that.

I earned it the hard way. And so can he.

Fera headed up to the cockpit. She had decided to make a course correction. They were headed to Bespin. But if they were going to reach Zumter in time with only a Class Ten hyperdrive to get them there, two things were going to have to happen: they would need to stall Zumter somehow, and, as much as she hated to admit it, Namyr Abjura was right—they were going to have to utilize Ageless in Zumter’s capture.

That meant they were going to have to trust him, and release him.

* * *

CLOUD CITY, BESPIN

CORTIBAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

Two floors below the newly-restored Bo’lu’nak Theater, inside her secret room, Changwa was in her seat, sipping joffa and trying to stay awake when the alert came through. It was a priority signal from “Mother,” and it was a direct call to action. She sent the message to the Rebel Alliance’s black site “New Dawn.”

Changwa tagged the message “for Director Eeja’s eyes only,” as per the command from “Mother.”

However, when Changwa sent the encrypted message, she got a strange bounce-back on her subspace signal emitter. Just a minor hiccup. She ran a systems check and everything seemed normal, so she dismissed it.

Little did she know the bounce-back was no minor malfunction of her intricate comms system. The Victory-class Star Destroyer Impaler had returned to orbit Bespin. High above the gas giant, it activated its new and improved counterintelligence system, which caught all transmissions coming to and from the planet. Lucky for Changwa, Impaler’s signals intelligence experts were unable to trace her exact location, but they did intercept and decrypt her message.

Also lucky for Changwa, the message seemed innocuous enough. It merely requested that the recipient have a look into the business of a company called Greater Associates of Naspeschi’a.