Ask The First Seeds

Altair Din

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It had only been a few days since his promotion and all the drama at the ‘formal dance’. As much as he wanted to spiral and had in the past, he was too grown for that now. He was an Imperial Commander and he didn’t have the luxury of spending days moping around. Altair threw himself back into work the very next day, pushing all thoughts of his personal life aside for now. One of his first duties was to discipline Imperials that had openly disobeyed orders. He was also asked to bring a platoon of men with him.

The tiefling was already in a bad mood, and he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with unruly soldiers. His ship touched down and he strode down the ramp in his new uniform that proudly displayed his rank. Imperials saluted him as he walked and he returned them as he walked past. He made his way over to the Imperial base camp set up on the outskirts of what appeared to be a village.

There was a Captain waiting to greet him, the man promptly saluting him as Altair appeared.

“What’s the situation?” Altair asked curtly as he drew out a datapad.

“Sir, the 87th Detachment platoon and Lt. Kolvers have refused to execute orders decreed by Darth Trelain.”

“What were the orders?”

“Sir the ISB had reports of a Resistance spy located in the village of Sarva,” the Captain explained, “The soldiers were tasked with executing civilians in the village to maximize the chances of eliminating the threat.”

Altair’s jaw tightened as he grit his teeth, “What is the population?”

“Approximately 600, sir,” The Captain said, “The Warden stressed that time was of the essence in eliminating the threat so she suggested that civilian casualty would either cause the spy to come out or someone else would give them up. However, the platoon has flatly refused to carry out the orders.”

The tiefling’s nostrils flared as he thought about this, his helmet hiding his expression.

“I was asked to bring the 100th with me because Trelain has ordered the 87th to be executed,” Altair stated flatly, connecting the dots right then.

“Correct,” The Captain confirmed, “She wanted you to oversee the execution and for the 100th to witness it as well….to encourage them to follow through on the order.”

@Phoenix
 

Varyn Atrix

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The planet was largely a backwater and Sarva wasn't very big on top of that. As Varyn looked down at the village through the zoom feature in his HUD, his jaw tensed. This was the sort of thing that Varyn didn't care for. That he wanted to see stopped in the Empire. It was a reminder that despite what had happened with Vahliri, his goals in the Empire were still the same: change it from the inside out.

He'd been sent here because apparently someone in high command had noticed how well he and Altair worked together. Dantooine clearing out resistance and Telos, despite not being a success, wasn't on the two of them. They weren't in command, and they'd done their portion of the operation well: survived when no one else had.

So he'd been sent here as well to help in clearing things up. Varyn's emotions regarding being sent here, however, were very mixed. There was a part of him that was angry with Altair despite the sensible part of his brain telling him it was unreasonable. No doubt it was an overflowing of his own general emotional hurt, but it was still there.

But on the other hand, he did consider Altair to be a friend and he knew he couldn't hold it against him forever. Maybe they just needed to talk... not that there was much time for that out here.

He made it over to the briefing just in time to hear the situation. It's a right proper crap show, he thought to himself. They were going to execute a bunch of Imperials for refusing to commit a war crime? Trelain seemed as nuts as all the Councilors who came before her.

Altair knew Varyn well enough to see him stiffen under his armor and Varyn knew the Tiefling well enough to see the way his jaw set as he connected the dots. Varyn was almost happy for the distraction because his mind started going to business instead of the awkwardness of the situation and his... just general anger at life, the Force, and everything else in the galaxy.

As the Captain left and left the two of them alone, Varyn finally spoke up.

Is this kriffing for real? Slaughter a whole village on some questionable intel and then kill a whole platoon of Imperials to boot? he asked. He wondered how they had all gotten here. Volunteers off of Taris as so many of the first wave of Imperial soldiers had been? Drafted from the local defense forces? Surely they hadn't expected their lives and careers to turn out like this and Varyn didn't blame them.
 

Altair Din

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Altair was as still as a statue as the Captain walked away. He didn’t need to turn to realize it was Varyn standing next to him. His training and drills in military school included many psychological lessons in compartmentalizing. As a result, not a single thought of any girl or drama even crossed his mind then. He was at work and that had his complete and undivided focus. As Varyn expressed his take on it, the tieling kept his gaze fixed ahead.

“Varyn,” He said after a long moment. Varyn knew him well enough to know Altair was incredibly distressed by this. His tail was almost dragging the ground, “The 100th needs a platoon leader,” His helmet tilted slightly towards the Champion, letting the reality set in for Varyn. He would have to be the one to lead the platoon into the village.

“We can’t disobey orders,” Altair stated, though there was the slightest quiver in his voice, “There is zero tolerance for Imperial insubordination of a Sith Lord’s orders,” He looked down at the ground, “You know that. I know that. Nothing will change that.”

Not yet. He added privately to himself.

“Gather the 100th and come with me,” He told Varyn. Without further words, he started to walk towards where Lt. Kolvers and the 87th Detachment were lined up. Lt. Kolvers was standing with his head held high, as were all the Imperials behind him. Kolvers and the rest respectfully saluted him and Varyn.

“Lieutenant,” Altair addressed him, “Will you not reconsider?”

“Respectfully, sir, no,” He replied at once, “We wholeheartedly disagree with Darth Trelain’s directive.”

“You want to throw your lives away for this?” Altair barked back, perhaps more emotional than he intended.

“If not this, then another Sith directive,” Lt. Kolvers shot back, his voice projecting powerfully and without hesitation.

“Martyrs,” The Captain standing next to Altair scoffed, “They wanna become martyrs.”

“Get out of my sight,” Altair snapped at the Captain. The man’s eyes widened, but he nodded and obeyed in the end.
 

Varyn Atrix

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The reality of what Altair had just said sunk in for Varyn and he swore again, but he didn't say "no." Should he say no? Would that accomplish anything? Would it see his goals and ambitions brought to fruition? He already knew the answer to that.

Varyn had killed before and now that he was a Sith, he was no stranger to killing, but this was different. This wasn't the heat of a battlefield, it was a cold-blooded execution. For the greater good, he told himself. Their sacrifice wouldn't be remembered, he knew that. They had to have known it, too.

He knew also that Altair was right. They didn't really have a choice. The members of the Council weren't known for their patience or their willingness to negotiate.

As they walked along, Varyn could see the way the Tiefling's stiff military posture still held true, but the thing the military never talked about was your tail. He could see Altair's almost devoid of any of its own life. It seemed almost as as dead weight that his friend carried behind him.

100th Platoon, form up on the Commander! he barked as they passed the troopers. The immediately began falling into line behind the pair of Sith.

Altair exchanged words with the Lieutenant to no avail, but as the Captain walked away Varyn couldn't help but know that if he didn't try as well, he'd never forgive himself.

Lieutenant, if you don't carry out the orders someone else will. Think of your families. Agree or not, your death won't change the outcome here, he said, but even as the words left his lips, he knew it wouldn't work.

I am thinking of my family. As are all these men. I couldn't look my wife or kids in the eye if I go gun down children in cold blood, the man said, his voice still strong and determined.

Varyn took in another deep breath and didn't even realize he was holding it. He knew that if the men died like this, the benefits wouldn't be paid to the families. In fact, some of them may even be rounded up or investigated as potential dissidents. Hardship would await every one of them, but still the men stood strong. Varyn could respect it. He did respect it. These were the kind of men the Empire needed, not bloodthirsty and mindless killers.
 

Altair Din

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Altair wished he hadn’t heard the bits about wife and kids. Family was everything to him, and to see a man prepared to go this way was unthinkable. Seconds ticked by and he knew he had no choice. It was no different than what he had told Clove - he would always follow orders, even the ones that she couldn’t stomach. However, to be faced with it so directly was beyond unsettling.

“Lieutenant Kolvers,” Altair called out after a long, uncomfortable moment of silence, “You and your platoon stand accused of insubordination of a Sith Councilor. The penalty for this death.”

None of the men flinched.

“The actions of a platoon is a reflection of its leadership,” Altair continued, much to the surprise of everyone gathered there, “As such, the faults also lie on the shoulders of leadership. Lieutenant Kolvers, you have utterly failed in your commanding post,” He could tell Lt. Kolvers was attempting very hard not to smile, his chest swelling up. Altair continued as he took the blaster from the Captain that had returned to help oversee the actual sentence, “The failure of your entire platoon rests on you and you alone.”

“But Sir-” The Captain began.

“Your platoon,” Altair continued, raising his voice to speak right over the Captain, “Will witness the results of insubordination and know better than to follow in your footsteps.”

Lt. Kolvers was actually smiling now and looking at Altair with admiration. He began to slowly sing a somber version of a song as his gaze flicked over to the Captain. It was the song of resistance that began on Firrerre, the very song Altair sang into the air as he honored his fallen comrades. The Captain bristled angrily, looking back at Altair. He would report on this to Trelain as soon as this was done.

Altair leveled the blaster and Kolvers smiled and saluted him as he finished up the song and said “Semper Venatori!” A single bolt was fired into the man’s chest and he dropped into a heap. The 87th remained lined up and standing behind him. There was a long moment where no one moved or said anything.

“Sir..” The Captain began sternly, “Might I remind you that Darth Trelain ordered the deaths of the entire platoon-”

The tiefling brought the blaster up and put a bolt right through the Captain’s head. The man also fell with a thud. Everyone shifted and looked on in shock. Altair continued speaking as if there were no interruptions.

“Lt. Kolvers put up quite the fight and the Captain was an unfortunate casualty. Kolvers was summarily executed for his crimes and his platoon will be reassigned for remedial training and deployment,” Altair projected, “Is that understood, Champion Atrix? I will expect this all formally reported. I trust the 100th will also know to apply discretion where needed lest they wish for a fate similar to Lt. Kolvers.”
 
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Varyn Atrix

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Varyn listened and was silent. Not only silent, but deathly still. He was suddenly acutely aware of the lightsaber on his hip as the Captain objected, half-expecting the man to pull his blaster and start shooting. If he did, he would die before his stroke fell.

It never came, though. Two shots was all there was. Two blaster bolts, two dead bodies, and one very relieved-looking platoon.

And two words. Semper Venatori. They tickled something in the back of Varyn's mind, like a factoid long forgotten that couldn't quite be retrieved from his memory. He'd heard that name before in his studies of Form X. Venatori? He didn't know what they were but he knew... he had read about them before. Or heard of them at least.

Quite clear, he said and Altair would get the impression he was smiling widely behind his helmet. Falsifying a report? Varyn had falsified his entire life story and entry in to the Sith, this was relative child's play and one of the few times Varyn might not actually mind doing paperwork. In for a penny, in for a pound. And yet, there were still issues at hand.

100th, formerly-87th. Fall out! he shouted, and the men began to go their separate ways. Several of them stopped to collect the Lieutenants body to take it off to burial... less could be said for the Captain who just lay there for a moment.

A word? he said to Altair, heading over to one of the command tents where they could speak privately.

Think Trelain will blow a gasket that they're being sent to remedial training instead of executed? he asked. I could always try shifting some things around. With buy-in from the other officers, could report they're executed before you reassign them. Keep marks off their backs, he offered. For just a moment, Altair might wonder where Varyn got his deceptive streak, but the Champion was off to the next topic without missing a beat.

As for the village, we've still got the problem of them all being alive, he said, and he wasn't exactly jumping up at the chance to march down there and shoot everyone.

We have the manpower to sequester everyone, strip off electronics and outside communications while we figure a way to root them out, he said. It was a first step since Trelain's entire concern was that time was of the essence. He swore, sometimes the Sith lacked imagination. "Just kill everything" usually wasn't the answer.
 

Altair Din

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Altair walked with Varyn to the tent, still processing what just happened. He thought over everything Varyn said, not even pausing to think about the implications of how easy he could cover up a report. The tiefling nodded, “If we catch the spy, that will trump everything else,” Sith leadership seldom cared what happened to Imperials - they only cared about results, “We need a way to stall and send an intermediate update.”

He thought for a moment, “As for rooting out the spy, we do it your way but make it seem like it's all part of an overall plan. The goal would be to make it seem like the spy they are harboring allowed this all to happen. The locals will grow suspicious, come to the conclusion that the spy is a double agent and hand them over.”

It was certainly the tougher route with risks, but it was the cleaner one. The trouble was that they would have to be very discreet to plant false evidence of a spy within the village that was working from the inside, “We can leverage ISB agents to run some recon and quickly extract some intel we can use. Make it seem like the person in the village has been providing us information on the residents all along.”

Altair paused for a long moment before looking at Varyn, "We're here and now. Ain't nothin' else matters right now. We gotta put everything else aside and work together and trust each other. We have an understanding?"
 

Varyn Atrix

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Varyn nodded as Altair mentioned stalling and a report. I can do that, he said. He was also really good at adding just enough truth to redirect from reality. He wouldn't lie he just let the superiors draw their own conclusions with a nudge in the improper direction.

That was really all intelligence and counter-intelligence was. Little nudges on each side, and that was what they needed now to root out this spy.

Could plant some seeds. Troopers talking just a little too loudly and too close around the corner to the prisoners about a double agent, he said. It would require some soldiers who were actually adequate actors, but he was sure they could dig that up.

Either way, I can head down and start getting a gauge of the village. Sometimes just having the Force can be an asset in these kinds of things. Your average Resistance trooper doesn't know how to mask emotions well, he said. It may not work out, but it might give them a lead.

He was caught off-guard by Altair's final comments. Varyn's reply to Altair's text searching for him during the party had probably clued him in and perhaps Vahl had detailed the rest. Varyn didn't know, and he certainly had questions.

I'm a professional, he said, and it was... well, mostly true. He certainly wasn't going to derail this or get Altair killed because of it. And in his heart, he knew Altair wasn't the type to screw him over. Or at least he didn't think so.

Whatever hurt or frustration Varyn may have felt, they had work to do, and that had to take priority for now. He found himself more bristling at the thought that Altair seemed to think anything else.

We're... fine, he said. Altair would be able to sense the emotions in Varyn, but they weren't really anger directed at him so much as they were just... hurt. For a flash of a second and then they were shut down behind that Force-created facade that Varyn had learned to develop over the last three years.

He didn't linger to talk about it further and moved on to the details of how they'd hunt this spy down. We could start with off-world communications. Somebody's got to be sending messages to the Resistance, and that's got to be a narrow group of people with access to those types of comm equipment. Plus we can cut out any kids, which'll narrow the population, too, he said.
 

Altair Din

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Altair nodded, “I’ll monitor the comms, you go into the village and tell me what’s going on there. I’ll get in touch with ISB as well.”

With that, the two men were split off. Now that he was Commander, he had to adjust to not always going into the thick of missions. He now stayed behind and orchestrated things on a far more macro level. First things first, he had to ensure that the former 87th soldiers filled into formation with the new platoon. Second, while he had a moment, he would ask around about this ‘Venatori’. He wouldn’t share that bit with the ISB.

Once Varyn made it towards the village, he would find nothing out of the ordinary at first glance. It had civilians milling about, local shops set up here and there. There were a few old ladies sitting outside chatting about the going ons in the village, most of the conversation dull and focused on standard gossip. If he wasn't careful, he would stick out like a sore thumb and invite questions.

“-But that Oscar… oh he’s a looker all right.”

“When did he move in again? Just a few weeks ago right?”

“Yeah, said he was a city boy looking to settle down somewhere quiet. Poor dear, seems like he had it rough in the city.”

“I think Amerie has eyes only for him.”

The two women giggled amongst themselves. Anyone learning more about the village would know at once that a newcomer wasn’t a common thing around here. Everyone grew up together and knew one another.

Meanwhile Altair monitored the comms. There were no active signals going off planet, but they would keep monitoring. The tiefling walked over to one of the soldiers that carried off Kolvers, watching the man be set up on a table.

“He will be buried with honors,” Altair said to the soldier who looked genuinely surprised.

“What….is venatori?” He asked the other man quietly.
 

Varyn Atrix

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As he made it down to the village, Varyn quickly realized he was going to have to find a way to blend in that wasn't just wearing his armor around. But this wasn't his first rodeo. He stopped at a merchant on the edge of town and purchased a set of civilians clothes, stashing his armor in a difficult to find recess, and proceeding forward in a far more normal garb as he blended further into the village.

Of course, his job was made all the harder by the fact that it was a village of 600 people. Everyone knew everyone, and Varyn didn't know anyone, so sneaky-sneak would have to come into effect anyway.

He took note of the women's conversation, but that could just be coincidence, right? Or maybe not. How many off-worlders did they get coming to this... questionably-desirable location.

Nearby, he thought to himself, starting to move through the village, checking the houses nearby for any long-range antenna or anything that might point him toward his target.

Back in the camp, the soldier who stood guard over the fallen body of the Lieutenant went to painstaking detail to ensure that every bit of his uniform was straight and clean apart from the area scorched by the blaster.

Indeed, he did look surprised by Altair's comment and by the subsequent question. For a moment, he would have a look in his eye that Altair would likely recognize from the farm where he grew up: the look of a rabbit who was about to bolt.

Don't know, sir, you... would have had to ask the Lieutenant that, he said, almost choking out the first words and momentarily appearing as if he were very proud of himself for thinking up such a clever out with the latter part. Yes, just would have to ask the dead man. No one could punish the dead man.
 

Altair Din

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As Varyn started to inspect the houses, he would hear a child shouting off to the side.

“Uncle Oscar!” The little voice said as he ran up to a man. The man was attractive and appeared to be in his mid 20s. He flashed a warm smile to the child that walked over with a little droid. Evidently Oscar was decent with droids as he began to tinker with it. After a moment, a woman stepped out of a nearby house to come next to Oscar and affectionately place a hand over his shoulder as she watched him work.

“Dinner in 10, sweetie,” She said with a smile as she kissed his cheek before walking back into the house.

Meanwhile, Altair said nothing when the soldier spoke. He took a deep breath and finally exhaled. He stood perfectly still for a few seconds before he reached into the folds of his uniform. The soldier would see multiple dog tags in Altair’s hand, “I knew their names. Knew about their families. Knew about what made them afraid. Saw them bleed with me and die next to me,” He said simply as he rifled through the tags he carried with him of men that were on multiple invasions he led. Men that defended Korriban with him.

He stopped briefly by the Lieutenant before walking towards the soldier in the tent. He grabbed the man’s hand and opened his palm, “If Kolvers’ vision was for a galaxy where Imperials are more than tools, then Sempi Venatori,” Altair stepped back and walked out of the tent, leaving the man alone to his thoughts and Kolvers’ dog tag in his hand.

Altair walked into another tent and began to make some calls. ISB last had no concrete intel on the resistance spy. He was hoping that they had something new now. At the same time he checked in with Varyn on whether any usable information was extracted yet.
 

Varyn Atrix

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Varyn watched silently as the man was greeted by his family, and moved over toward the far side of the street, pulling out a datapad and scrolling through nothing in particular in order to not draw attention. From just around the corner, he could still hear the sounds of what was going on, and listened in from there.

He had caught sight of the droids out front, and Varyn silently wished to himself that he were better at reprogramming such automatons so that he could use them as not only his eyes and ears, but also so he could extract their information.

Wait, that was a thought. Varyn may not have been able to reprogram them, but he could definitely steal a memory drive. Who saw more than droids, after all? No one paid any attention to them, and it was why they were the perfect cover to see and hear everything... including potentially condemning evidence that one was a spy.

Have a suspect, standby, he typed into his message and sent off to Altair along with the man's description and address to forward on to ISB.

In the meantime, he waited until they would go inside for dinner to snag the memory unit.

Back at camp, the soldier seemed to have those eyes that really betrayed everything even though he really tried not to and as he saw Altair pull out the tags of the soldiers he had fought with, his eyes got a little bit wider.

His gaze lingered for a long moment on the tag in his hand. The rather nervous-looking Private waited until Altair was out of the room and then glanced back at the Lieutenant's body.

I think you'd tell him, LT, he said, and gritted his teeth together. He turned and scribbled something on a note before folding it up in his hand and running after Altair.

Commander! he said, running to catch up. I appreciate it sir, but you really should keep this, he said, grabbing Altair's hand and placing the dog tag and the paper into it and almost forcing it closed.

Then the private turned to walk away. When Altair read the note it read simply: "21:00, mess tent."
 

Altair Din

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Altair felt something slip into his hand, but he had the sense to keep from looking just then. He gave a curt nod and spun on his heel to keep walking. His heart was racing and was still not sure how deep this went. He stared at the piece of paper for a long time after that. One thing was for certain - he would likely bring Varyn into…whatever this was. The man had proven himself trustworthy time and time again.

The tiefling communicated back with HQ and the tension rose. He relayed whatever Varyn provided back to ISB and they were parsing the data. In the meantime, Altair began pacing back and forth. He felt helpless and stressed, not used to hanging back and letting operatives take over. How was Varyn so specialized in this anyway? The man didn’t have any background in intelligence. Altair didn’t have time to think about that right now and he hesitated from sending more men in.

HQ is working on it, but no obvious hits yet. He must be a legit spook. Any chance you can sneak into his dwelling for concrete proof? Altair messaged back Varyn as he ran his fingers through his hair. After about a minute, he added, Trelain is riding my ass. If we don’t get something more solid soon, she’ll nuke the entire village and us with it.

The stress was palpable and he felt sweat lining his entire body.

Meanwhile, Oscar stepped back into his house to sit down for dinner with his wife on the first floor of the second story house. It was a standard house that was unremarkable in every way. Windows lined both floors and most of the villagers were returning to their homes for supper with their families. It was obvious, this town didn't have a lively night life.
 

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Varyn didn't even have to be in the room with Altair to sense the tension, and he really didn't like the idea of being blown up in this town. Or this town being blown up at all. Kriff, why can't these people be just a little more patient, he thought to himself.

As Oscar went inside, Varyn slipped over and quickly removed the memory core from the droid, slipping it into his pocket before the harder part began.

Oooookay, nooooo pressure, he thought to himself. You know how to break into places. You've done this plenty, he reminded himself. His eyes swept along the upper edges of the house, looking for a window that was either open or that he thought he could pop open with the Force. As it turned out, backwater villages were pretty low tech and that meant standard latches.

He used the Force to pop one open and swung quietly inside, creeping along the floor to try to find a comm station where he could get a look at outgoing calls.

That part was easy, and he sent images of the call log to Altair. Perhaps it would appease Trelain. Or... perhaps he'd have to kill Oscar, tell her it was the spy, and then make sure it was the spy later. That was risky for everyone involved and very fatal for Oscar... particularly if he were innocent. He might have reflected on that line of thought if he had time, but he didn't. This was about saving six hundred lives. One death was a small price to pay.

But it hadn't come to that... yet.

Varyn shimmied over to the dataconsole next, but this truly was out of his league. He wasn't a slicer and he hadn't brought a dataspike with him... kriffing mental note to bring those from now on if you survive this, he told himself.

He thought about taking the whole console with him, but by the time he got out of town - and if he miraculously didn't draw attention off of carrying it - they'd have to ship it off, have it sliced... in a word, it was too slow.

Tell me you've got a hit on some of those numbers I just sent you or I'm going to have to play the odds and go downstairs and murder this guy to keep Trelain from nuking 600 people, he said, the tension and strain seeping into his voice as well.
 

Altair Din

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As Varyn finished speaking, he would feel a sharp pinch on his arm. His head would get fuzzy, but he would remain conscious. His connection to the Force would be difficult to call on. A door creaked open and closed and he would hear footsteps walking into the room. Varyn would feel sick and find it extremely difficult to focus on using the Force at all.

“You act like your people wouldn’t kill everyone regardless,” A calm voice resounded. If Varyn blinked his eyes and attempted to see, the blurred image would slowly focus on a woman sitting on a chair while facing him. She had a blaster in her hand, casually waving from side to side as she stared at him. It was Oscar’s wife, the unassuming woman from earlier that looked like a regular housewife.

“I came here to lie low and live out my days with my husband and our baby,” She glanced down towards her still-flat belly and then back to Varyn, “And nothing will get in the way of that. So you’re going to stay right there while your command fumbles to get a hold of you. I’m going to take what’s important to me and leave. I don’t care if you burn the entire village in my wake.”

Hatred seeped from her voice as she finally stood up. She leveled her blaster and prepared to shoot.

Altair was sweating profusely by now, feeling sick to his stomach. He punched the wall when even the call logs failed to turn up anything substantial. None of this made sense! He messaged Varyn several times but got nothing immediately. Not wanting to waste time, he sent several other agents in after him, all dressed discreetly. With the cover of night, they would go right for the house Varyn was pinging from. It was a last ditch effort as Altair took the brunt of Trelain’s tirades so he could at least safely extract Varyn.
 

Varyn Atrix

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Varyn felt the impact and he felt his head begin to spin almost immediately. Oh. Not. AGAIN. KRIFF THIS NOISE, thought Varyn. He knew what it felt like to be drugged, and this was the second time in the last two weeks. Absolutely. Not. He was so pissed.

And yet, it was already done. He stumbled back from the console, finding it difficult to concentrate on the Force around him. She was... she was just as bad as the Sith. The Resistance tried to say it was different, but she'd like six-hundred people die in her place. It was just a confirmation that he had done the right thing in joining the Empire.

You're as bad as Trelain... As bad as all the Sith, he said. Kriff, he swore and leapt for the window unsuccessfully. The blaster bolt narrowly tore past where he had been moments ago. Varyn fell and what would have normally been fine as a Force-assisted fall turned into a pop and a crack as his shoulder either dislocated, fractured, or both on contact with the ground.

AH! KRIFF! he spat as pain shot all through his side. He practically couldn't help cradling his arm as he rolled awkwardly to his feet, another blaster bolt smashing into the ground where he had just been laying a half-second earlier.

He tried to open up his comlink, but the earpiece seemed to have popped out with the impact against the ground, and he had no line of contact now. Kriff, no telepathy either.
 

Darth Trelain

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At this point, Trelain was furious. The messages sent back and forth between she and Altair had not resulted in her orders begin followed. It was primarily because they had both been at Korriban and she knew what he had done there that bought him what little goodwill he was chewing through.

She pressed the button to put through a direct call to the Commander. Commander Din, it is imperative that we silence this spy immediately. This informant has information about troop movements across this entire sector. If those fall into the wrong hands, our troops will be facing dozens of ambushes. Thousands of troops and supplies lost, she said, her voice was only steady because of a practiced discipline and capacity to comparmentalize.

Am I to understand that you are refusing to level this town? she asked. It wasn't just his head on the line, it was hers as well. He would know that she would readily wrap the whole failure around his neck and sink him to the bottom of a Mustafar river if even a single solder was killed because of this information.
 

Altair Din

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“Which is exactly what it’ll take to wipe the Sith from existence,” She hissed as she missed with the bolt. There was no denying the almost animalistic look in her eye as she looked to butcher him in cold blood. Varyn would understand right away the difference between the Jedi and the Resistance. He would see genuine hatred and the determined look of a woman hellbent on killing every Sith she ever came across. It was a new type of enemy that Varyn wouldn’t have seen in the Jedi.

“How’s it feel to squirm like people do under the Sith?” She spat as she aimed the blaster directly at his head.

That was when there was a crash downstairs. The woman’s eyes widened as her blood ran cold. With the drugs still working through Varyn’s system, she hastily grabbed a hold of him by the neck and dragged him with her. She led him down the stairs, pointing the blaster to his head to use as hostage.

The two descended almost halfway down to spot two Imperials with their blasters leveled.

“Move a muscle and I blow his head off,” She hissed as she pressed the blaster against Varyn’s temple.

“JANNA!” The front door burst open and Oscar ran into the room. There was genuine shock and horror on his face. He barely got another word out before one of the Imperials shot him.

“NO!” Janna screeched, despair taking over for just a moment. However, before she could pull the trigger, the second Imperial put a bolt right through her head. Her grasp on Varyn loosened and she fell where she stood, rolling down the rest of the stairwell to lie near her husband.

“Are you all right, sir?!” The Imperial that shot her asked Varyn.

---​
A call directly from Trelain. Altair inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, wiping sweat off his brow. Between nothing from Varyn and this, he was playing with death. He took the call, letting the Darth speak. He could sense the venom dripping from her words. Altair was no politician or diplomat, but he had been on enough missions and invasions to see a decent amount of the galaxy and how people saw the Sith. He had to quickly think on his feet and he did just that.

“Warden Trelain,” Altair began, keeping his voice firm, “I am not refusing. I am simply validating the intel we've received so far,” He said confidently, “Furthermore, it is in our best interest to avoid providing further material for Jedi and Alliance propaganda to leverage. Destroying a town of 600 civilians so brazenly will cost us future diplomatic pursuits in neutral territory. Diplomacy costs us far less resources and credits than invasions. Allow me half an hour further and no more.”

Altair hoped that would be enough to stall her just for a few. Shortly after the conversation, he commed Varyn again, blowing him up with several messages in a panic.
 

Varyn Atrix

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Varyn felt like a spectator in his own body. There were few feelings he hated more than that of being helpless, and it was enough to make him want to rip the woman apart.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly to his drug-addled senses. There were flashes of blaster shots and he was sure he was dead. This was how it was going to happen, pistol to the head by some woman who was as crazed and hate-filled as the Sith she claimed to hate. It was all the same in the end. It was why he had joined the Empire.

But when the air began to still and the smoke and burned ozone began to fill his nostrils, he was still alive, his shoulder was still in agony, and the woman and her husband lay dead on the ground.

He looked down at their bodies for a long moment and for a moment he didn't know what he felt. For the unborn child he felt pity. For the husband, he wondered if he really knew what he had gotten himself into, but he also knew that he likely didn't care. He was in love with her, and accepted her for who she was. A side of her that Varyn would, of course, never see.

And then there was her. There was a deep, cruel place inside of him that was glad to see her dead and an even crueler place that was glad she had seen what she loved torn away from her before she died. The last image she ever saw was of the man she loved with a smoking hole in his body as his lifeless eyes stared at her.

And for a moment, he was terrified and appalled at that part of him.

It was only the words of the ISB agent that shook him from his terrible musings and he looked up at the man.

No, I'm not, he said without even realizing the words had come out. That was, of course, not what the man was asking about, he realized and seemed to shake himself back to the present.

My shoulder is either broken or dislocated, he said, glancing down at it but almost immediately waving off the thought.

You need to radio this report to Commander Din, now, he said. He could almost sense the bombers overhead, and he really hoped it was just in his imagination.

Commander, we've recovered the Champion. The spy has been terminated, securing the building and awaiting further orders, one of the men said into his comlink.
 

Darth Trelain

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Trelain wasn't known for being a particularly joyful person, and somehow her face looked even more serious as she spoke to Altair. She sensed there was something else to this, something he wasn't saying, but perhaps it was just the anxiety she sensed coming off of him and no more. But she was trained to be suspicious of everyone, and that extended even to those within the Empire.

She listened with a flat expression as he made his case. There was, of course, the issue of no one reporting on things if everyone was dead, but she didn't argue with him. Instead she, for the moment, allowed things to play out. For better or worse, he had now gained her attention for more than just his heroics on Korriban.

You have thirty minutes starting now. And in thirty minutes, I expect you personally be on one of those gunships cleaning up this mess, she said in a tone that said she was in no way being facetious.

She would give him the leeway he wanted, but she would indeed be watching closely as things unfolded. There was simply too much at stake not to.
 
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