The Alternate Universe Weekly Challenge Thread

Jonas Balkar strolled into the side room of the Nar Shaddaa cantina and SIS front. Ardun Kothe, the Jedi turned SIS team leader, sat behind the desk, looking thoughtfully at a gleaming gem paperweight. He stood when Balkar came in. "Jonas. It's good to see you."

Balkar leaned across the desk to shake his hand. "Do you ever move? There's a lot more interesting cantinas than this, and I've got a room reserved for business in most of 'em."

"Well," said Kothe, smiling with a touch of wryness, "all my stuff is here." He sat down again, gesturing for Balkar to sit opposite him. "So. To what do I owe the pleasure of this…very much insisted upon…meeting?"

"Well," Balkar said brightly. "A funny thing happened on the way to Captain Savins' court-martial."

"Havoc Squad commander, isn't he? I wasn't aware he was getting one."

"He's not. General Garza managed to convince certain interested parties that the squad's current mission is too critical to disrupt just now. But like I said, some mighty funny things came up on the way."

"Jonas, I don't want to be inhospitable, but my time is limited, and…"

"A woman named Elara Dorne was named a traitor to the Republic based on evidence submitted by one Captain Raznic of Personnel Division. Do you know him?"

Kothe eyed him curiously. "No, I don't."

"Interesting guy. He's been in the service for a solid six years and remarkably few people have met him. But I had a chance to run his biometrics by certain special access databases – biometrics that had to be recovered from backup databanks, since a recent accident wiped out our primary source."

"I take it you found something with the recovered data?"

"In fact, I did. We've hired Raznic. The SIS, I mean. Slightly different face, nothing makeup can't account for. He's been freshly logged as a defector from Imperial Intelligence, new code name Legate."

Kothe's mouth went slack. "I see."

"Did you know he pulled off an extremely intricate – and successful, I might add – operation on Nar Shaddaa not three weeks ago?"

"He's pulled off a lot of successful operations if what little in the way of files we have on him are accurate. Nevertheless, he's come to our side."

"He doesn't seem to have slowed his activity down much before hopping the fence."

"Changes in performance draw attention, Jonas, you know that. He's functioning as a double agent now, he can't afford to slack off."

"Our double agents shouldn't be hitting us this hard. I wish you'd met the woman whose record he ruined, and whose death he arranged. She was a sweet girl. A fine soldier, too. Legate's Captain Raznic took her apart and very neatly arranged it for maximum impact on her squad's morale. Frankly, I couldn't have done it better myself." Balkar waited for a response and didn't get one. "I want to talk to him. I know some people who are more than a little interested in clearing Elara's name, and that takes information he has."

"I can't let you do that. Releasing that information would blow his cover."

"This is a cold customer, Ardun, and I don't doubt he's capable of worse. We have no way of knowing whether that 'worse' is going to be in our favor when it happens again."

"We've all done questionable things, Jonas. Maybe we could use a chance to set them right."

"He cut down a member of Havoc Squad. I'd feel safer if our repentant sinners were a little less good at their questionable things."

"I have good reason to trust him now."

"Can I at least talk to him? I won't make his activities public, but I still want to clear up that operation."

"He's out on assignment," Kothe said firmly.

Balkar made a frustrated cutting gesture. "Don't give me that. We're supposed to be on the same side, Ardun."

"We are. Trust me when I say I have Legate well in hand."

"I hope so. I know some good men who are looking for justice and aren't going to get it thanks to your amnesty program."

Ardun Kothe looked into the middle distance and emanated a pompous air of melancholy. "I think we all do."

This was going nowhere. Balkar wasn't sure how much harder he could push before he brought something irreversible on himself. Maybe he couldn't push at all.

But he could hand what he knew on to someone who could.

At this point in the timeline Ardun Kothe owns Cipher Nine/Legate. No way is he going to give a credentialed Imperial double agent up.

Once again, I don't have the slightest amount of regret for killing him. Self-righteous bastard.

"Legate. We need to talk. In person."

The off-blond agent known as Legate made a slightly concerned face at his holo. "Kothe, I'm a little busy. My work on Taris is going all right but it's dicey stuff, I can't just walk off."

"Which is why I'm coming to you. We should rendezvous by Olaris Spaceport, I'll send you the coordinates. Expect me in about eight hours."

"Acknowledged and understood." Legate nodded farewell and stashed his holo again.

Then Legate, who was also Cipher Nine, looked down at the man sprawled at his feet. Chance, battered and bloodied, couldn't talk, but he hadn't managed to die just yet.

"Sooner or later the day will come when our good friend Kothe can't say the word, either," Nine told him. "But today I'll have to settle for you. Goodbye, Chance."

*

The bunker was a shambles on the outside but neatly maintained within: yet another of the safehouses the dotted the Tarisian landscape under the auspices of a dozen competing interests. A somewhat ragged-looking Legate found Ardun Kothe standing in the entry chamber. "Kothe, I need to report that an Imperial patrol intercepted Chance. I came…too late to do anything."

"Damn," Kothe said softly. "If this mission weren't so urgent I wouldn't have sent him at all, he wasn't ready for field work in a hot zone."

"He faced it well. He had the keyword, I almost got there in time, but…in the end it wasn't enough. I'm sorry." Legate set his fists on his hips and frowned at the ground. "I wish I had more coworkers like him."

"The mission has to continue," Kothe said solemnly. "That's the best we can do for him."

"The mission will continue, I'll see to that. But first, you wanted something?"

Kothe nodded. "Yes, I have some questions about something that's come to my attention."

"Ask away."

"Nar Shaddaa. Mere days before you met with me. You had a slightly different face. You matched a personnel file for a Captain Raznic who appears to have been planted some time ago. You set up one of Havoc Squad's soldiers for a fall, rubbed it in her CO's face, and disappeared again."

Legate's mien was sorrowful and deadly serious. "Yes. I did. My last 'straight' job." He raised his eyes to Kothe's. "She was innocent. The woman I framed. Elara Dorne. I've ruined innocents before, I think we all have. But this one was the only person I ever had a chance to meet who felt the way I did about defecting. And I chose not to meet with her, because that wasn't the job." He looked away. "I did my duty," he spat. "But if I had any doubts about coming to your side before that, that's the mission that laid them to rest."

"I see." Kothe paused a moment. "There are people calling for full investigation into the affair."

Legate didn't meet his gaze. "Are you handing me over for justice?"

"No. I need you, Legate. The work we have ahead is something I don't think I can do without you, and in the end that's more important than holding you to account for what you've done in the past."

"I appreciate it." Legate managed to draw himself to his full height and meet Kothe levelly, eye to eye. "I am sorry. About Elara, about quite a lot beyond her. There's nothing I can do about those crimes but leave them behind to work with you."

"I know. As we speak you're working to contribute to something much greater. And as we go, I can hope that someday you'll mean those words."

For just a moment, fear flashed in Legate's hazel eyes. "What do you mean, sir?"

The little background warmth in Kothe's expression vanished. "You're a smooth liar, Legate. But I've got a pretty good idea what you would be if this chance weren't forced on you. I hope you prove me wrong. Like I said when you so glibly signed on, I hope that once you've seen the good we do here, you will come around. For real this time." He took a step back. "But if I'd known how good you were at arranging accidents I would never have partnered Chance with you."

"I didn't arrange Chance's death."

Kothe studied Legate's face closely for a very long moment. "Perhaps," he said. "If you didn't, it was only for lack of opportunity. Keyword: onomatophobia. Skip the empty protestations and get back to work."

Cipher Nine = jerk. This broader scenario might have interesting dynamics if it had an Agent who has noble intentions, but sometimes I just want to hunt down a bad guy.

Oh yeah, my agent killed Kothe too. And refused the SIS offer at the end. The Sith might have given her the programming, but it was Jedi who used it. They can both go to hell.

I killed the living heck out of Ardun Kothe. Chance I spared, because the kid was way out of his depth and seemed decent, but Kothe knew exactly what he was doing.

This Kothe isn't fool enough to think he's stumbled across a good person, but hey, he has the keyword leash. Good enough for now. Now Kothe is set if he can keep that keyword in place...and Cipher Nine is set if he can keep playing his enemies off against each other while he prepares to break out and exact revenge...and Vierce, Vierce has some major work to do.

The general theme, though, is captured on Tumblr.

Chance I spared, because I saw him as the cell's weak point. One who would, after I helped him, vouch for my agent's good intentions, opposing Hunter. And then he disappeared to Coruscant. Poo. Oh, I understand why, but darn it, I wanted to play him off against the rest of them.

Nightmares. I woke up early and forced myself to move. Dorne used to keep some kind of sedative formula around for the nights I couldn't sleep, or could sleep but kept on yelling. She cooked something up after she found out what I was using in combination with not-especially-precisely-dosed alcohol to knock myself out most of the time, and she just quietly made sure the nonlethal stuff was around after that.

Yeah. She had everything perfectly in place. I guess she always did. So why did it feel like something didn't add up?

That was stupid. It was me feeling...feeling the wrong way. I hauled on out to pick up the last of the supplies we needed planetside.

When I got back I had a message telling me call General Garza immediately. My stomach knotted up; this was going to tell me exactly what I would be doing in the immediate future.

She looked just about as sour as ever. "Captain. Havoc Squad is still cleared for its operation against the Gauntlet superweapon. The bad news is that that was far from a given. I need you on your best behavior, getting results. The Senate inquiry panel will be 'reevaluating' Havoc Squad's status when this is done, but for now it agrees that you're needed in the field." She went from grim to almost angry. "Do not give them another reason to doubt that."

Now that wasn't fair. "I never gave them a reason in the first place, sir."

"A reason happened," she said sharply. "We can't afford anything that looks like another mistake."

"Did they come up with a conclusion, sir?" More importantly, was she satisfied with it? Garza had a will like durasteel and more than enough power to put behind it if she had a mind to. If there were any explanation other than me being blind – incredibly, stupidly, infuriatingly blind – and Dorne's activities being invisible, Garza would make sure to make the Senate listen.

"There's a clear explanation, captain. Whether I was mistaken in my initial evaluation of Sergeant Dorne or not, it would take quite a lot to overturn their decision. Starting with a piece of actual evidence. For now we have to put that aside. You're needed on Quesh."

"Yes, sir."

*

Quesh was a mess. My sole objective was to free up the Safecrackers, an elite unit trapped behind enemy lines. How anybody could make out lines in a yellow-smear swamp like Quesh I'll never know. At least on Kegled II or even Ord Mantell you could tell what you were fighting for.

Anyway, we needed the Safecrackers on our side to secure the Gauntlet vessel when the time came. What passed for the Republic base was under heavy pressure from the Imps when we showed up; a couple of days of chewing through everything they sent at us was something I was ready to handle. I wanted to break things.

We suffered for Dorne's absence. Forex stepped up to additional fire support amazingly, but our coordination was missing a piece. The newcomer Tanno Vik was…Vik. I don't even know where to start on him so I'll stick to the operational stuff. He had a criminal's smoothness – I'd worked with plenty of his type in the resistance – but he was only precise with the plan we laid out in advance. If the slightest thing went wrong he would start improvising things I'd have beaten him senseless for if we weren't busy fighting for our lives. I guess, in a way, getting privately mad at him was better than thinking about other things. But I missed having the extra someone who knew my signals almost before I gave them. I guess she always knew that would happen.

I hadn't realized she'd gotten that far under my skin.

Balkar contacted us while we were on Quesh. It was a secure line, I had Jorgan follow me into the barracks and took it on my personal holo.

The SIS agent put on a brave face. "Vierce. How are you liking the adrenal capital of the galaxy?"

"I'll give it 'exciting'," I said. "How's your peace and quiet?"

"I'll let you know after I find some. Strangely I haven't been able to get in touch with the exact SIS analyst who checked over our Captain Raznic's dirt. People in-house want this over: the Imperial did Imperial things, we got points for catching it." He shot a look at Jorgan. "Maybe it's true. But if you wanted a chance to look yourself, I can send you the recording that incriminated your sergeant. Keep it quiet, all right?"

"I can do that." It seemed nobody higher up wanted to hear it anyway. "Thanks. This means a lot."

"You did us a good turn on Nar Shaddaa. I'd like to return the favor. I hope you find what you're looking for, captain. Balkar out."

*

That meant there was one more call I had to make before I returned to the field. My little brother wasn't one to dedicate himself to any one thing for long, but he had kept up with his slicing skills. He did it for the resistance back home and he freelanced nowadays. It was the way he had to put one over on the Imps when he got the chance; he was no fighter but that didn't mean he couldn't wreak havoc in his own way. He loved every minute of it.

For once he answered when I called him. For once he looked healthy, intact, and not tensed up to run from the trouble of the day. "Hey, Vierce," he said in his much-practiced cool-guy voice. "What's up?"

"What's up? I can't believe I got you on the first try, that's what."

"I made a New Year's resolution to be there for my family more. You are the lucky beneficiary."

I ran a quick mental check. "Uh, whose New Year?"

"Balmorra, blockhead, don't tell me you didn't notice while you were on planet. I would've dug up a date for you if you weren't so busy saving the Republic."

"Yeah, about that." Something stabbed hard at my chest and it took me a second to start talking again. "Would you be up for some recreational wrecking of Imp slicing?"

"For a friend in need? Always." He gave me his cockiest grin. "I assume you are in need."

Yeah. A lot. "I just thought you might enjoy this one. The twist is I'm not even sure the file was tampered with at all. That's what I need you to find out."

"Huh. Where did you even…you're supposed to be shooting people, Vierce. Do I even get to ask what you're doing with your soldier time?"

"You can ask," I said dryly. "Just take a look, would you?"

"Yeah, I've got time. As it happens there's not much more point running guns to Balmorra. The Imp governor and her whole regime is gone, the arms factories are back in the locals' hands…I'm in the market for a new lost cause. Can't think of a better one than you, big brother."

Premise: Kothe does not use the keyword when you first meet him.

“I knew you were too good to be true.” Kothe stood with his back to the Imperial Agent that had been everything he had hoped for.

“Did you?” The Agent said softly, almost regretfully. “Why didn’t you do something?”

“The only thing I could do would make me more terrible than the Empire I fight against.” His hands were held in the air, but his posture did not speak of surrender.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. We both have our duty, this is mine.” She raised her blaster, it was already charged, she knew Kothe would not give up the Shadow Arsenal without a fight.

“I know, Legate, and that’s why I’m sorry to say this. Keyword, onomatophobia, Thesh protocol, phase one.”

It was the Agent’s voice that answered but devoid of all emotion. “Thesh protocol engaged. Shutting down.” She knelt unblinking, but Kothe could sense her fury and confusion through his link to the Force.

Kothe loaded the Shadow Arsenal onto a pair of hover sleds. His instincts told him he had little time to waste. His comm beeped.

“Ardun,” Hunter said cheerfully. “I see you’re alive, that either means you haven’t lost your Jedi touch or you used the keyword.”

“I’m busy, Hunter.” Kothe said running now, he tapped the controls on the sled forcing them to move faster.

“Too busy for me?” The man smiled. “I’ve been thinking, I don’t think either the Republic or the Empire should have those weapons. Well enough alone and all that, don’t you think?”

“What are you talking about?” Kothe could see the entrance one pallet of weapons before him, the other close behind.

“I just tipped off a squadron of Imperial bombers. That facility is about to be wiped out. Goodbye Kothe, it’s too bad, I was done with you but I had plans for the Cipher.”

Kothe closed the channel on Hunter’s smug grin. He reached within himself and Force pushed the pallet out the entrance to where the transport ship was waiting. With a leap he cleared the tunnel as the first of the bombs rocked the building.

“Where’s Legate?” Saber asked as they took off from the hanger, timing their escape to the end of a one of the squadrons bombing runs.

Kothe looked down at the burning facility. The remains of the Shadow Arsenal would detonate soon, leaving nothing but a gaping crater. Cipher Nine still knelt within, unable to move to save herself. “She didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry, sir. She was a good operative.”

Kothe nodded, they did not need to know about Legate. “Yes she was. Now, we have bigger problems to deal with, I believe our friend Hunter has turned on us.” They sped off making their way to friendly Republic territory. They did not get the full arsenal, but what they had would be enough to hold several Imperial planets hostage if necessary. They had gained much for the Republic this day.

Having the trump card does not guarantee a win if you use it too soon.