Saga - Legends The Talay Investigation, a SW: Dark Forces One-Shot, 1ABY

Author: Oddly_Salacious
Timeframe: 1 ABY, 1 week after Dark Forces Mission 2.
Characters: OC, mentions established characters
Prefix: Saga - Legends
Keywords: Dark Forces, Imperial Security Bureau (ISB)
Subject: An Imperial Intelligence Officer nearing retirement receives a new assignment.
Beta Reader: divapilot
Source(s): SW-The Essential Atlas, Dark Forces, Rogue Squadron, Rebel Assault II

The Talay Investigation

Although Talay is predominately a serene water world, the tiny islands are a rambunctious lot. Bulbous, bombastic clouds jostled with the splintery peaks of upthrusted mountains as lightning wriggled in the shadows of deep valleys. A pluffy snowflake floated down from the amethyst sky to settle in the palm of a black glove. The glove tilted and let the meltwater drop to the pavement. Cold wind tempted the stagnated air here, but it was still a lazy snowfall.

Rising mountain wind marries frigid troposphere; hurries snow flurries. The jellied eyes of a dead Mon Calamari remained unmoved by the extemporization.

Lieutenant Kerjean was approaching; a large rebreather concealed much of the younger man's face below his watering eyes, the filter apparatus not an unusual circumstance given the local health conditions. Ghostly khurr-pahs drifted across the silent city.

Kerjean's tired eyes stirred beneath his pallid forehead, his hair bristled like yellow straw under the brim of his grey blast helmet.

How long since Kerjean last visited his wife on… Palanhi, was it?

The lieutenant's voice was thin and plinky; a thumb reseated the earbud. "We found a survivor, sir. A Mon Calamari male taking refuge in a storm drain. He has declared himself as a civilian. Firaxa 21 restrained him and is holding him for questioning now."

"Very good, Lieutenant." Conrad sighed, the noise consumed in his own filtered exhalation. "What have you made of this situation?"

The scorched walls, the pitted and cratered ferrocrete, the piled bodies of both the Rebel and Imperial dead.

Imperial officers of Kerjean's inductive caliber were fewer in number lately. The Imperial Security Bureau had scattered good officers and field agents throughout its branches. But an emergent Imperial mania was orchestrating the isolation of those deemed too intelligent to maintain their faith in the New Order. The clever individual would simply move on.

--Or bade the time he has remaining and stay low.

"…back to a landing pad half a kilometer from here." Kerjean was saying. Conrad focused on the man. "The pad cannot berth craft larger than a light freighter or a small civilian transport. Therefore, it is unlikely a rebel strike team conducted the counterattack."

Conrad eyebrows twitched upwards. "Oh?"

Kerjean paused for three khurr-pahs. "This wasn't retaliation for the Empire's initial strike on Tak Base, sir. It doesn't match rebel tactics. We've met no resistance upon our arrival nor had any sabotage to our investigation."

The reek of rotting Mon Calamari could well prove that enough. Conrad thought. A Gand would be giddy with all the ammonia floating about. --Are there no shorebirds on Talay?

Kerjean was working loose a fractured chunk of pavement with his booted toe. "There's not much left here that we haven't covered. I walked the path from the landing pad to Tak Base, and the lack of physical evidence suggests a single perpetrator. We may still learn more. Blue Team is finishing a grid search in this area. Green Team only encountered debris from the first attack further out."

Conrad noticed a rapid series of burn holes stitched along a section of drab Duraplast. Two burnt corpses kissed at the base of the wall. Kerjean spotted the shift in his attention and offered the rarer shrug.

"That's our attack, sir." He said. "Given sample dating, the tracings match rebel postmortems. All this structural damage is near to the date and time of the Empire's initial attack on the base."

"The Commission has a blanket statement." Conrad replied. "The Empire confirms taking military action against Rebel bases and Alliance strongholds in a response to the recent destruction of the Death Star battle station at Yavin. The Emperor does not tolerate dissent."

Kerjean glanced back to the pockmarks on the wall. "The damage to stormtrooper armor and bodily trauma match that of Imperial weapons' patterning. If there is a single perpetrator, then they have had special combat training. This person is versed in Imperial strategy."

"Given how effectively the garrison was neutralized." Conrad finished.

"Yes. And there's this." Kerjean handed Conrad a small, spent metal cartridge case.

At first glance, it was an unremarkable thing: nearly identical to the blaster clips used by the Empire in their particle weapons. But it bore a few distinguishing marks.

"Sulon Incorporated." As Conrad read the manufacturer's imprint. "Unusual. Still," he said, handing the spent cartridge back to the lieutenant, "it fits any number of weapons and not very conclusive.

"Good work, Lieutenant." Conrad said. "Wrap the investigation teams and prepare to meet the ship."

"What of the captured Mon Cal?" Kerjean asked.

"Find out what you may and release him." The Empire has caused hell enough here.

#

Humps of broken trees and inert vehicles crowded the Rus Tay Adja. The wide avenue bisected this quaint, quieter neighborhood, and had once conducted the throb of life from lofty Midtown to the foot of the Rowen Bay bridge in the Harbor District. That ancient bridge was no longer: gone to bubble and sigh in the waters of the Tay River inlet, courtesy of the Empire.

Conrad scuttered amidst the destruction making for Tak Base: a rebel reclaimant from the Clone Wars. He could have commandeered one of Green Team's speeder bikes or called down one of four TIE fighters racked underneath the battlecruiser in orbit. But TIEs were not meant for courier duty and those aged 74-Zs were little better than flighty death bombs. Better a twisted ankle than a twisted neck.

Captain Seng met Conrad in the middle of an intersection. He juggled the chest armor and filter pack that Conrad unstrapped and handed him --then gave Conrad back a black trench coat to offset the rumpled look of his tunic. The correct rank insignia had been pinned on the lapels.

Seng tucked Conrad's combat helmet under an arm and pulled a rolled kepi cap from a pocket. He handed that to Conrad.

"Corporal Langlois set up a connection in the guardhouse at the gate. The transmission came in keyed Security Red." Captain Seng said.

Conrad slid one of his three code cylinders into a breast pocket. "Higher than usual."

"Sir." Captain Seng agreed as they strode into a connecting street.

Captain Seng led Conrad through a mixed maze of narrow lanes and alleyways until they found two Imperial Stormtroopers flanking a closed doorway. The imposing white body armor glistened under the portable work lights and the meager snowfall. A broad figure dressed in grey boilersuit detached from the shelter of nearby shadows.

Old Langlois: as brown and wrinkled as ancient parchment. Langlois had been Conrad's personal aid for but a few months and had proven to be all but indispensable.

"The comm unit is fully charged." His voice was the grating rumble of small boulders. "There is one hydroelectric station online in this quad, but you should have little signal interference. The General is on Channel Six."

"Thank you, Corporal."

Conrad had removed his utility belt with its bulky compartments, passing that to Langlois and taking the dress belt of black leather that Captain Seng held. Conrad snaked the new belt around his waist; Langlois causally flipped the clunky belt to a stormtrooper who caught it easily in one hand.

"Whose jacket is this?" Conrad asked Seng over his shoulder as Langlois's beefy fingers pinned Conrad's tunic with a small breast plaque. --Five small rectangles: four colored yellow and one red.

"Specialist Swiftsun, sir." The quartermaster replied, retrieving the utility belt from the stormtrooper and storing it in a gear bag.

"Give him my thanks." Conrad said, tugging his black kepi cap into place.

Langlois stayed Conrad with a thick hand and quickly inspected his commanding officer. Nothing seemed too amiss given the unit's field assignment. Langlois shooed away some snowmelt and nodded his bald head.

Conrad paused by the stormtrooper on his left. "Stand off two meters and restrict all access to this room." Looking back at Captain Seng, he said, "Find Lt. Kerjean and have him meet me in the city. Get a signal up to the Confidence and have the ship prepare for our extraction. Let's button up if there's a storm coming."

"At once, sir."

#

The room was efficient, and by that, small and boxy. The bay window overlooked a diversion of the Tay that created the moat around Tak Base. The pivot house that stood in the middle of the flowing water controlled a single swiveling footbridge to the base. It was an archaic design.

A few terminals were powered up in the guardhouse. Conrad glanced at a monitor showing the street outside at a high angle. Langlois stood beside Captain Seng, their muted conversation unfolding just a handful of meters away.

With a click, the code cylinder confirmed a solid seat in the receiver port on the comm station. A white button transmitted his Personal Identify Verification number out into the swirling vortex of the HoloNet. Conrad inhaled and tapped a blue button. General Bekalu's hologram wavered to life over the circular projection pad.

"General. My apologies for your wait. Thank you."

The little green image raised a hand of mock protest. "There's no need, Major. You were performing invaluable services to the Empire no doubt. I've sent you an organization and equipment table. Have you seen it?"

Conrad pressed a red button which sent the information to a nearby screen reader. He skipped to the end and glanced over the conclusionary amendments and assignments.

"You have been awarded a field commission of a Colonel by the ISB to fill the vacancy left by Colonel Ryvedden." Bekalu triumphed, the low rising pitch of his words revealing his Onderonian heritage.

Ryvedden. Yavin. Death Star. Conrad dismissed the connection. He still retained command of the unit. A meritless promotion meant little to him. He'd seen the transfers list.

"Sir," he said, "the exception papers were resubmitted to the COO last month. Langlois was raised human by foster parents on Yaga Minor. And Special Agent Aijon'mohe is our best investigator with merits and accolades. And, she has legacy through her father's service record."

Bekalu nodded. "This meeting is not about your aliens. Concern yourself with the more prominent points in the brief."

"Twi'leks are hardly alien, sir." Conrad said, doggedly.

"Your orders come from higher up than the Commission of Operations." Bekalu said. "Your investigation on Talay ends forthwith. You and your tactical unit are to make for the Chorax system with all possible haste."

A fair piece of travel from here. Conrad paused to consider it. Lots of jumps. Lots of pirates and smugglers.

Bekalu continued. "The 585th will support the 6304th Recon under the command of Colonel Rinaldi. Your mission will entail providing signals and electronic intelligence and intra-theater transport."

"General, Gozanti-class Block 52s require…"

"In due course." Bekalu interrupted. "The 6304th will add another Strike cruiser. The 585th's Confidence will have ample protections I assure you."

"There is the matter of losing my TX troops." Conrad said, tapping a finger on the screen. "All my TX troopers carry a TI pilot designation. This transfer to…" Conrad hunted the planet's name in the list, "…Imdaar leaves me with half a squad of stormtroopers."

"To be recompensated by elements from the 6304th. I expect your Critical Information Requirements when you refuel at Milagro."

A heat simmered in the bottom of Conrad's brain. How many times must I play this game?

Bekalu's smile was watery and thin. "Think of this as a stepping stone."

"General, I might better explain the intention to the major." The hologram shrunk to accommodate a new arrival: a slender man walked into the projection area. Conrad recognized him instantly.

"Lord Negs, of course." The general backed away to give the newcomer the full space.

The hologram enlarged to show a man in his mid-forties with dark hair combed back from a high forehead. He wore a simple black business suit: tailored in brushed silk with a choker collar. His nose was long, but slightly off the line.

Broken when he crashed his hoverboard into a tree. Conrad greeted his younger brother with the barest of smiles. "Ed."

"'The space in time is ever more than our distance apart. But never it shadows the love we hold in our hearts.'" Negs quoted. "It's been too long. Our mum's old poems aren't very soothing lately."

"Almost two years, Ed. Ever since the Grand Celebration on Reltooine."

"You should see the place now, Conrad. What's more, the CSA will grant more holdings in a few months' time to accommodate for the Kuat Drive Yard contracts. The family business grows."

Conrad waved it all away. "What's this about, Ed? Transfers? Reassignments? I'm just an old major ready to call it a long day." Retirement -there's the word.

Despite the difference in their ages, the brothers had grown up quite close on the family estate. Conrad had been the one who had rushed Edwin across the lawn clutching his shirt to Ed's damaged nose.

Ed. Edwin. Edwin Chorus: The Most Honorable, The Marquess of The Negs; Lord Negs: Imperial Inquisitor. A Force-sensitive.

"Not yet, Conrad." Negs replied. "Your unit is needed in the Chorax, and so this investigation has been reassigned. Do buck up, brother. There's a promotion in it for you."

"Without the pay, I wonder." Conrad muttered. "We've made progress here, Ed." He said more firmly, sliding his personal data pad out of his pocket as to brandish evidence.

Negs made a smooth motion with his hand to someone or something offscreen and Conrad saw a light start blinking on his pad.

"All part of the Dark Trooper Project I'm afraid, Conrad. That's General Rom Mohc's special pet project. Off-the-books at the moment, you'll understand. The investigation will be continued by another unit attached to the IDMR."

"Dark Trooper? How abstruse." Conrad again muttered. The slipup piqued his consciousness briefly. His mental guard always seemed diminished in his brother's presence.

"Heavy blaster repeaters and rockets. Jump jets…" Conrad whistled through his teeth as he scrolled through the data. "They're more like flying tanks."

"Recent developments on Anoat pushed this matter to other areas. An Imperial dissident colluding with the Rebel Alliance is hindering the Dark Trooper project. I believe the operative's name to be Kyle Katarn." Negs stretched his neck to one side -a familiar habit to Conrad.

He's stressed.

"Jerec might be recalled to give oversight. He knows both Mohc and this Katarn." Negs said.

"Jerec and Mohc. There's a bag of kittens. Maybe a reassignment is better."

"Perhaps." Something unspoken broke through Conrad's musings. Edwin was staring at him intently.
"Your personal assignment bears the Emperor's personal seal, Conrad. You and a selection of your crew will investigate a leading member of the Rebel Alliance who was last seen in the Chorax. With Lord Vader's debrief on the events at Yavin, our analysts agreed that this person is directly responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. The Emperor orders you to collect what information you can with special detail paid to the biographical. The subject's name is Luke Skywalker."

"Skywalker? Surely, not."

"The Skywalker name is common enough in the more rustic parts of the galaxy." His brother continued. "The Rebellion might be trading on some old Clone Wars legends to build notoriety."

The destruction of a battle station. The Emperor's seal. A possible family link to… -This Skywalker isn't just another pretender or dusty farm boy. A hand ran over his hair to smooth imagined loose strands. Conrad tugged his tunic straighter at the seams.

"And it gets better." Negs chuckled. "This 'Hero of the Rebellion' is touring. Drumming the support in shadow ports and down at the local pub as it were."

"The name is Skywalker then?" Conrad reconfirmed with his data pad. "Vader won't be pleased. Word is that even a whisper of the Clone Wars around our Supreme Commander buys you a Ticket 66."

"Lord Vader will not participate in this investigation." Negs said. "While your unit is technically assigned under General Bekalu and Colonel Rinaldi for logistical purposes, all your reports concerning Skywalker will come to me. Expect directives especial to this investigation. The General understands the priority of this assignment and will see to it that you lack no accommodations. I will serve as your Imperial advisor on this assignment."

"Commiserations." Conrad said without looking up from his reading.

The disembodied voice of the General protested. "I say!"

Negs turned ever-so-slightly, his gaze fixed on his brother. "A jest, General. --Our shared humor. We neither degrade the esteemed office nor the Emperor. My brother simply refers to the rich velvety robes that some of the advisors affect. Imperial advisors were known to wear outlandish garb on Metellos, the homeworld of our childhood."

"There's the annual costume ball. Award for best hat…" Conrad added, absently plucking at mission parameters on the screen reader.

Negs gave the holoprojector a reproving look. "A symbol can be a threat to the Emperor, Conrad. More so than any one person bearing the name of a famous Jedi. It breeds hope in the wrong places."

Time to throw some punches. "What area my chances with a team gutted and shackled to another command?"

Negs paused for a moment, his eyes flickering bright with blue-green photons. "It is needless to state what the outcome must be, my brother. What was it that Father used to say? 'Do or do not. There is no try.'"

#

Although Talay is predominately a serene water world, the tiny islands are a rambunctious lot. Bulbous, bombastic clouds jostled with the splintery peaks of upthrusted mountains as lightning wriggled in the shadows of deep valleys. A pluffy snowflake floated down from the amethyst sky to settle in the palm of a black glove. The glove tilted and let the meltwater drop to the pavement. Cold wind tempted the stagnated air here, but it was still a lazy snowfall.

End

 

Your use of descriptions is really well done! Although I’m not well versed in this area, I do recognize some names.

I liked the part where Conrad had to hobble together a suitable uniform for his. conference call - only to learn his team is getting even smaller. The use of his brother as an Inquisitor was a really nice and unexpected touch.

So they are pulling him off of the assignment to find the source of the bombings to investigate the activities of a rebel recruiter named Luke Skywalker. Interesting!

This was a well written and interesting look at the gritty life of an imperial commander.

 

Thank you for the complements, DP! And many thanks again for giving it the first looks as the Beta. It was great to meet a fellow fan in the SW Universe.

 

@Findswoman - thank you! Talay arose after replaying Dark Forces. What would happen after the "hero" goes in a butchers everyone someplace? The characters were pulled together largely from startups hanging around in my brain (although I visualized Stellan Skarsgård from River when writing Conrad and Ush Mei-mei said 'no' to a cameo). The clothing scene was a chance to illustrate how closely connected Conrad's team had become. Even the stormtroopers were in on it (did a bunch of research into Stormtroopers and the ISB). Again, thank you for your reply!

 

I actually jumped back four pages to find an OC to ask a question about - you'll see an alert - and your story attracted me.

Wow. That was very good.

Once I was clear on who was speaking, I quickly warmed to Conrad, especially when he allowed the Mon Calamari to released after questioning.

I liked the research and creativity that went into naming a simple avenue, the Rus Tay Adja, as well as describing the damage visited upon the town, including the wrecked bridge.

Good characterisations and interactions amongst the team, and there were a few instances that felt unique, such as the building, piece by piece, of the outfit when he changed from combat garb.

I like how Conrad stands up for his team, even trying to divert promotions their way. Although I would disagree with his, "Twi'lek's are hardly aliens." Yeah, they are!

A Ticket 66 sounds a bit ominous.

Excellent world building. An excellent fic. Well Done.

 

@Sith-I-5 - many thanks! I am glad that you liked the story. It was fun to spin about in the Dark Forces vibe.

The bit about Twi'leks not being alien was used for a juxtaposition between the pan-galactic presence of the race and the New Order's more recent (at that time) humanistic view. Conrad, being from a titled family, would have had much experience with aliens and Twi'leks would be as common to him as any human.

Spoiler

Conrad and Ed have a richer backstory in the back of my mind. Their family is politically close to the Empire as it was to the Republic--even once to then Senator Palpatine (thus partially explaining Ed's rise to Imperial Advisor). And Conrad's last name is Van, which is his mother's maiden name . Conrad left his titles of nobility to Ed when he entered the military services. Both brothers remained close, but Conrad's distance from the rest of his family makes his bond to his team even more pronounced (to him).
Lastly, Conrad is not sensitive to the Force, but knows some of its effects thanks his long relationship with Ed.

See my comments about the opening tone in the OC Question Game!

Thanks for commenting!