A Shadow Falls Over Coronet

[Alexia Sturkov]

Corellia: One Week After Terror Attack.

Fingers tapped impatiently on the armrest, the black painted nails clicking loudly. Blue eyes stared across the small expanse of the passenger cabin of the Lambda-Class Shuttle to the pair of Junior Inquisi-, sorry. Junior Intelligence Officers. The grin tugged at the corners of her mouth at the thought of it all, causing the crackling scars at the corners of her mouth to twist in the most unattractive fashion. The ruse was very well known to her. The entire Inquisition department was "shut down" to appease some public outcry and draw a few more votes for the lacking demographics. It was all a farce, and worse it was a lie. Instead the personnel were funneled into other departments like the primary Imperial Intelligence that the Inquisition had, on paper, served underneath. Those of a certain walk of life were moved into the new Imperial Knights, and once again the force protected the Throne. Ha! This was not the Jedi of old; the grizzled old men standing watch over an empire as if their gaze alone could banish the darkness and peel away the sin. Corruption and greed ran in the soul of every sentient creature in the galaxy. The Jedi morality and generosity existed only to be taken advantage of, right up to the point that the "republic" They served so wholeheartedly put a blaster against their chests and pulled the trigger.

The new Imperial Knights were not the same. They were not chained to the Jedi's ideals. They served the Empress first and foremost, sworn to protect her at any cost and willing to sacrifice anything for her. That was what it said on paper, at least, and already they had established that they were a frightening bunch when you caught yourself on the wrong side of their lightsabres. Not cruel or cowardly, but an embodiment of truth and law, and the enforcement of it. That's what Atrapes would like. Alexia Sturkov was a more recent convert. Following her capture on Naboo she had undergone extensive reconditioning to soften her rougher edges. She had changed, and there were benefits. She had more self control; no longer did she just lash out at everything and anyone. Her thoughts were more focused, more in line with the ideals of the Empire. And she knew it was not her. It was maddening to remember what she had been before and then face what she had become. She was everything she hated and despised. The Empire was a close second to the thing she hated most. They had, after all, killed her once. But she played along, because for every ounce she hated the Empire she feared Atrapes even more. God, the man was terrifying.

One of the Intelligence Officers coughed loudly before speaking. "We'll landing shortly, Ma'am." His nervousness was so genuine it was palpable; so thick she could have cut it with a knife. Both of them were terrified. Playing transportation handler for an Imperial Knight was stressful enough, but they got the one that looked like she had cut the corners of her mouth open and sewn them back together with infected shoelaces. If only they knew. The darkside corruption was textbook; the skin cell necrosis, loss of pigment, and deep circles under her eyes. A once beautiful face was marred with imperfections, but she hardly cared. She loved the new her. Without her former abuse of power she was not falling apart as quickly as she once had, and some color had even returned to her skin, but her visage was still terrifying. They did not want to look, for fear that she would catch their gaze, but they glanced when they took, focusing on the corners of her mouth. She enjoyed the attention nearly as much as she did watching them squirm in their seats.

A notification on the overhead comm notified the passengers that they were beginning their landing procedures. Clearance was requested, and quickly accepted when Alexia's own verification was run. No doubt those pigs on the surface were now running into each other as they scrambled to prepare for her arrival. She might not boast the terrifying reputation of Atrapes and some of the other Imperial Knights, but her position alone demanded respect and inspired awe. They had to be expecting something like this. A Star Destroyed does not crash into Coronet without a sound, or repercussions. No doubt a full investigation was already underway, and she would oversee it personally they make sure there were no errors. Her presence alone should inspire a newfound attention to detail that could just be the edge they need to discover the culprits. No one in their right might just accepted this as some kind of accident, like a failed sub-system had knocked a destroyer out of the air. She already read the reports, they were flashing on a datapad left on a chair beside her. Witnesses reporting explosions was more than enough to justify Atrapes sending someone out to look into this, and it was so like him to send her to play oversight and taskmaster instead of something she could sink her teeth into. Maybe he knew she wasn't ready for that. He would be right.

The shuttle landed without any error, and as she disembarked with her two lackeys in tow a officer met them at the docking bay. Against the grays of standard officer uniforms and the white of stormtrooper armor, Alexia's dark blue robes and fitted black armor plates stood out in sharp contrast; matching the black uniforms of the Intelligence agents. Her hair was left cut at her shoulders, the red standing out among all the black and pale skin. A lightsabre hung from her belt, bouncing against her thigh. Fingerless gloves revealed the only skin apart from her face. The officer that met them paused a moment as he looked at her, his eyes dipping noticeably to look at her mouth. Marvelous. She didn't even give him a chance to greet her, or fumble about how they were not expecting her. Of course they were not. She had sent no foreword to them. She wanted to see them scramble. Instead she cut him off. "Get me to whomever is in charge of this debacle. A great tragedy had befallen the Empire and I would see it brought to justice."

[Alexia Sturkov]

It became everything she thought it would be. The meeting with the Moff had done precious little to alleviate any of her concerns for this entire operation. It was not that he was not doing everything in his power to resolve the problem, but that it was simply was not enough. She stood over the wreckage, surveying the catastrophe from one of the few structures that still stood in the industrial quarter. The tower's function was lost with the evacuation of the company that owned it, and significant damage to most of the facility, but the tower remained tall and strong; filling the skyline like a beacon of the Empire's unwillingness to go quietly into the night. Her Imperial handler was at her back, her dark blue robes catching the breeze and ruffling gently. Down below little ants scurried to and fro. The sparks of energy torches could be seen in the fading light as the evening stole away the sun. The ship was cut open piece by piece, compartment by compartment. More survivors were found every day, clinging to life battered and broken inside the wreckage. They survived on whatever they could find. Most were not so lucky, and bagged corpses piled up in any open space.

"How much longer till the rescue effort finishes?" She asked, her electric blue eyes still watching the flurry of activity. "The new sensor equipment only just arrived ma'am, and even it takes time to penetrate the hull, and then you have to cut away the hull and go in floor by floor. It'll take weeks. If the sensor stops picking up living biosigns than the rescue operation will be called off and the scavenging crews will go full force. Scavenging the wreck will take months." His mouth was moving, and words were coming out, but Alexia was hardly paying attention after that first figure. She did not want to wait around for weeks for the rescue operation to end so that she could have troopers at her disposal to search for the culprits. Sure, the Moff had what resources he had probing the darkness, looking for the terrorists, but it was hardly the resources needed to make an actual discovery. In the meantime this was the important event. There were holonet crews everywhere, recording the galactic tragedy that had the whole Empire in tears and rage. They would need to find a guilty party soon. The people were begging for blood.

The wreck fading in the background as she was escorted back to her temporary living quarters. The night had fully consumed the sky now, but Coronet was very much alive with not just the many electric lights but also the very simple candles that were burning in many windows in remembrance of the fallen heroes that died aboard that Star Destroyer. Not every window, but not everyone on Corellia was a loyal Imperialist citizen. It was up to the good eggs to weed out the bad. A reward was posted for any information leading to the arrest of the terrorists responsible. They were grasping at shadows, with no clue just who or what was responsible. All they knew was that foul play had brought down a Star Destroyer and killed thousands of soldiers and civilians. The injustice would not stand. It was only a matter of time before someone slipped up, before one of the thousands of tips being commed in lead to the right place, before one of the Moff's own spies discovery whatever den of evil had spawned the monsters that expressed so little value for life.