Another Day In The Office (Project Nightmare)

[Victor Crestmere]

Victor Crestmere, acting as head of the Empires Inquisitoriate group, Project Nightmare, stood silently in his room gazing out of his window. It was stormy night, more so then any he had cared to notice in the past weeks and with each flash of lightning filling the sky, Crestmere could see the thousands upon thousands of speeders ripping through the rainy evening atmosphere. It was entertaining to watch to say in the least; to see the ignorant zip from one side of Coruscant to the other completely oblivious to what was really happening to their precious Empire. If only they knew… Everyday the Inquisitoriate received more and more reports of potential Force users, alleged Rebel activities, and threats on the lives of important Imperial Senators. It was all disappointing really because half of the reports that were worthy to be investigated by Project Nightmare turned out to be false or completely exaggerated reports of someone pretending to be a Force user to con people out of a few credits or a wannabe Rebel group trying to make a name for themselves. Looking over his shoulder, Crestmere could see a newly placed stack of said reports and with a sigh; he turned back around to continue gazing out his window.

“ Captain Crestmere…” a voice said over his private intercom. Turning around on his right heel, Victor walked over to his desk and pressed the receiver button.

“Go ahead.”

”Sir, we’ve just received a transmission coming from Bespin, Cloud City to be more precise, to somewhere here on the planet. Several of us thought it sounded kind of strange, so we went ahead and recorded the conversation for further review.”

“Short and sweet Private.”

”Well Sir, it’s rather difficult to explain. First off, we were unable to pick up the location of the receiver of that transmission. All we were able to get was that whoever it is; they're located here on Coruscant. We’re looking into, but as of right now we are still are unable to track that person’s exact location.”

Walking around his desk, Crestmere sat down, cross his right leg over his left knee, and folded his hands together. “Continue looking into it. I want a full report on my desk in the morning on your findings. Anything else?”

”Yes Sir. As I said, we recorded the conversation and have it ready for you. I just handed it off, so you should have it soon. I really think you should…”

“I’ll review it when it arrives Private. Once you have a location, notify me at once.”

Click

It wasn’t long after the conversation had ended that a messenger arrived with the disk containing the transmission. Sitting down behind his cluttered desk, Crestmere popped the disk into his computer and began reading over the conversation.

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Transmission Received: 20:45 hours
From: Bespin, Cloud City
To: Coruscant, Unknown Sector

[Bespin] “Coruscant, this is Bespin Echo Two. Do you read me?”

[Coruscant] “Go ahead Echo Two.”

[Bespin] “This is a confirmation call pertaining to the Water Distribution System and the repairs it needs. We have our team ready as well as the tools necessary for the job. We can begin whenever you are ready Coruscant.”

[Coruscant] “Good to hear Echo Two. I’ve managed to secure your entry into the Aqua Ducts as well as get you access to the lower levels.”

[Bespin] “Lower levels? This is the first time I’ve heard anything about the lower levels Coruscant. Something come up?”

[Coruscant] “Yeah, I just got the report today. It appears that the leaks on levels one and two are due to several pipe ruptures down in level five. You and you’re team should be receiving all the appropriate papers concerning the change.”

[Bespin] “……..Coruscant, that’s a real serious problem you guys have got there. Something that serious could shut down the Water ways for a long time. Are you ready for something like that?”

[Coruscant] “Just do your job Echo Two.”

End Transmission: 21:00 hours

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Victor leaned back in his chair and began reading over the conversation again. There was something that just wasn’t right about this. Something as big as Coruscant’s Water Distribution System needing repair would merit a large amount of attention seeing that it supplies fresh water to the one trillion plus people living here on the planet. Something wasn’t right indeed…

Pressing down the receiver button on his intercom, Victor said as Private Davis answered, “I need you to check something for me. Dig into the system and see if you can find any reports for repairs needed on the Water System.”

“On it Sir.”

Releasing the receiver, Crestmere quickly dialed in Inquisitor Valten’s private number. After only a few rings, the Inquisitor face appeared on scree and Victor said,

“Sir, we might have a situation…”

[Karl Valten]

Lightyears from Coruscant, Inquisitor Valten focused his gazethrough the transparisteel wall of the central research station. Beyond the refurbished windows, a maelstrom of celestial phenomena greeted the Inquisitor; an impassable wall of black holes surrounded the entire complex. In the wake of the Emperor’s death, Karl had learned of the Maw Installation and annexed it on the Inquisitoriates behalf. Not without bloodshed of course.

The Inquisitoriate had moved quickly, in the last few months a steadily decaying group of orbital stations, shipyards, and research complexes had been turned into a haven of the galaxy’s best technology. Even now, several of the construction slips held partially completed warships, each one painted in the red and black of the Inquisitoriate. Dwarfing them all, the Purifier waited in her berth as construction crews installed the finishing touches. The facility that had been used to create the Death Stars and countless other machines of mass destruction for the Empire would build a fleet for the Inquisitoriate. Finally their dependence on the Imperial Navy would be at an end.

A shrill tone sounded on Valten’s datapad, only an urgent call from a trusted ally would ever have been able to reach him. The gaunt Inquistor crossed the room and flipped on the holo-pad and was met by the image of Captain Crestmere.

“What is it Captain?”

[Victor Crestmere]

"Well Sir, I can tell you as much as I know the rest we're looking into. As 21:00 hours, we intercepted a transmission from Bespin, Cloud City to somewhere here on Coruscant. Upon review of the transmission, you hear two men, probably between the ages of 23 to 25, discussing plans to repair an alleged problem down in the Water Distribution Center. All was normal until the man from Coruscant suddenly changed the plan and Bespin responded as if shocked by such a dissension and made the comment, "Are you ready for something like that?" I've just sent you a copy of the transmission so that you'll have a better understanding of the situation, but if you ask me Sir, this all sounds a bit too orchestrated." Crestmere paused a moment to catch his breath and then continued. “Take it from me Sir, I know when people are trying to hide something and these guys are trying way too hard. Both of their voices appear to be too shaky for a business call; a defiant sign that their lying or as I said before, trying to hide something.”

Crestmere stared at the holo-image of Valten as it glowed a dull blue, lighting up the front end of his deck. He could see Karl as he check his datapad, signaling that he had received the copy Crestmere had been talking about.

"I have a team down in communications working on this as we speak. Once they have a little bit more, I'll let you know and then we can decide on what course of action to take.” And how Crestmere hoped this panned out into something larger than just repairs to the Distribution center. Ever since Crestmere had taken over in Helghast’s stead, things had slowed down a considerable amount. Whether Helghast went looking for things or whether they just jumped up into his lap, he always had something for the team to do. Yeah, Crestmere had been able to get the team a few missions here and there, but they were small when compared to what they use to get. Needless to say, Project Nightmare was long over due for something worthy of their skills.

[Karl Valten]

Interesting, very interesting. Karl’s mind whirred as he read over the transmission. On the surface, nothing seemed amiss, just another routine maintenance call; simple and straight forward enough that it could be overlooked by the comm scans and be buried in the trillions of recordings made every day.

Project Nightmare had scene little action in the last few weeks, especially with Major Helghast on special assignment and Inquisitor Valten moving from one side of the galaxy to another. It was possible that Crestmere could be looking for an excuse to do something, anything to get back in the game. But, Karl doubted it, he trusted the Captain fully when it came to finding meaning in the smallest vocal nuances.

Valten closed his eyes, straining his mind trying to make connections in the matter. Coruscant altered the repair plans, Bespin was surprised. What are they hiding? They needed clearance for the lower levels to repair pipe ruptures on level five. Why repair the lower level water ducts, the majority of the population lives in the upper levels?. If the problem were left alone the water system would shut down. No, not possible. Fail-safe’s would redirect the flow through secondary systems.….

“…..wait….” Karl opened his eyes. “Why is Bespin even concerned about the water distribution center on Coruscant.” Hadn’t cloud city’s own Baron Administrator turn on the Empire? A possible rebel or terrorist cell at work?

“Captain, see if you can trace that transmission, we need to find out what sector of Coruscant received it, Bespin is a secondary concern at the moment. I want to know about the water pipes in sector, why the fifth level is significant. Something’s fishy; there are too many open ends.”

[Victor Crestmere]

"Yes Sir. Understood."

The blue holoimage of Karl Valten disappeared as Victor stepped off his holopad and made his way back behind his desk.

From what he had been told, locating the source of the transmission here on Courscant would take some time, but Victor knew the Tech Crew he had assigned to the task and they could pull it off. Not only did they have the most advanced technology here at INQ headquarters for just such scenarios, but they had successfully done this several times before. It was only a matter of time.

Only a few minutes had gone by since Crestmere had ended his report to the Grand Inquisitor when another blue holoimage appeared. It was the Tech Crew.

"Captain Crestmere."

"It's about time."

"I'm very sorry Sir, but we did manage to locate the source. Whoever is doing this has very good jamming capabilities. Their jammer changes its frequency about every ten seconds, making it very difficult to lock onto." The man paused for a moment and turned as if checking something and then went on. "The transmission is coming from somewhere in Sector Twenty-Three, Sir. Its mainly housing. Consisting of: apartments, condos, mostly for your..." but before he could finish that last sentence, Crestmere finished it for him.

"For Senators and high ranking government officals. Thank you Private Chak." But before the Private could reply, Crestmere's image derezzed and there was silence.

Things were starting to make since. Only a high ranking official could get the necessary clearance for an order like that, of course, Crestmere had his suspicions, but this made them solid. There was only one thing life to figure out before he would report back to Valten and that was the Water System and what was wrong with Level 5.

----------------

"Sir. We've got a call here from the INQ requesting to speak with you."

Jingo Iko, a short, stubby man with thinning hair due to so much stress turned to face his employee. "Did they say what it was about?"

"No Sir. Just that they needed to talk to you and that it was Urgent."

"Oh brother." He said under his breath as he picked up his suitcase. "Patch it through to my office."

Jingo turned on his heels and paced out of the main reception lobby and made his way towards his private office. Having just arrived at work himself, he was a bit curious to know what the INQ wanted with him.

Arriving out of breath and sweating, Jingo sat down, wiped his forehead, composed himself, and then answer his one waiting call.

"This is Jingo Iko, head of the WDC (Water Distribution Center). How may I be of assistance?"

A man with a sickly complexion and facial features so sharp that he could make Grand Moff Tarkin look like the flat end of a hammer appeared on Jingo’s holopad.

“Uh, yes Sir. I’m Lt. Siegel with the INQ. I’ve got a few questions for you Sir. We have been receiving reports about a problem with the water system in Sector Twenty-Three. People are saying that parts of that Sector are flooding. Now, I’ve told them all to call you about it, but you know how people are here, all dumber than a man with a knife in a gun fight.” Siegel let out a very high pitched wheeze, followed by a series of snorts and laughter in between breaths. “So, due to the number of calls we have gotten, I am having to fill out a report. What can you tell me about that Sector?”

Jingo kind of stared at the image of Siegel for a moment and then said while shaking his head, “Sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Reaching over to his left, he pulled up the latest system report and then continued, saying, “I’m looking at the reports for the last twenty-four hours and I don’t see any signs of any problems what so ever. We’ve even got a team coming in from Bespin to do a mandatory check up on that Sector. From what I’ve been told by the higher up’s, they’re the best of the best.”

Siegel paused for a moment as if contemplating something and then smiled saying. “I know what you mean. We have a group come in from Bespin about a month ago to fix a few of our systems that had crashed. Anyways, I’ve got a few more questions and then we’ll be done. I need to know how many people are in that group, who authorized the inspection, because I’m seeing that you guys just had your inspections, and what level of clearance this team will have?”

Jingo shuffled through some documents, cross checked it all wit h the system, and then finely replied. “To be honest with you, I don’t know why we’re having another inspection. Like you said, we just had one. But anyways, there are about 14 total in that maintenance team and they’ve got up to level 5 clearance. And as far as who authorized it, well that would be Mr. Dellatine, owner of the WDC.”

Siegel smiled up at Jingo from his holopad and said, “Thank you for your cooperation Jingo, you have been most helpful. Have a great day!”

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Back at INQ headquarters Crestmere was taking off his false nose as well as a wig as Valten’s holoimage, once again, stood on Victor’s holopad.

“Our team has managed to find out what sector the transmission is coming from; Sector Twenty-Three. Although they were unable to get a precise lock on the source, I was able to fill in the blanks.” Victor had stopped to take out a horrible pair of misshapen teeth and after placing them off to the side, he continued. “A Mr. Dellatine, owner of the WDC and who also happens to live in Sector Twenty-Three. He’s our main suspect as of right now. My guess, he got ahold of this group, worked out some sort of sabatoage, set it up to look legit, and just finalized their plans over that last transmission. With your permission, I’d like to bring in Dellatine, interrogate him, and remove him from this equation. If the situation is bigger then what we have realized, then I will elevate Project Nightmare to level 4 and then green-light any counter measures that need to be taken.”

[Karl Valten]

“Excellent work, Captain. If he does turn-out to be a mole, deal with the saboteurs then execute him publicly.” Karl clenched his fist, heretics could not be allowed on Imperial Center, not at the heart of the Imperium. And with billions of lives at stake, not even the Inquisitoriate could come up with an acceptable cover.

“I’m giving you the full powers of the Legal Authorization for Advanced Containment Documents. Use whatever resources necessary, do not fail.”

Valten placed subtle emphasis on the final phrase, to Crestmere it’d hit like a sledgehammer. If something did happen at the WDC, the repercussions would be more than the INQ could handle.

“Veritas Vincit.”