4(a/n: Sorry for the extremely long wait! I've been keeping tabs on Star Wars Rebels though and man, things are getting interesting! Please enjoy this chapter!)
Ch.2: Severance
Minister Maketh Tua was having the worst day of her life.
She sat at the table in one of the conference rooms in imperial headquarters, nervously watching Agent Kellus pacing impatiently. The Inquisitors had called a meeting to discuss the state of imperial security in Lothal. It had almost been a half hour since the designated time to start the meeting but the two Inquisitors have yet to make an appearance. To pass the time, Agent Kellus decided to take initiative and start the meeting without them.
What started out as a discussion, turned into a grilling of Tua on being very lenient and, in Kellus' words, soft, when it came to stoping the rebels.
"Agent Kellus, I have exhausted every resource to uncover new information on the rebels" explained Minister Tua "But there is nothing to be found. What more can the governor possibly expect?"
The agent gave the minister a steely look "He expects Lothal to be punished, Minister Tua. His own star destroyer was demolished by these rebels, he takes things like that personally".
Current events haven't been in the Minister's favor. Following the escape from Mustafar and the destruction of his star destroyer, Governor Tarkin has been breathing down her neck and the pressure to capture the rebels had tripled. So far her efforts have been fruitless.
"I have doubled patrols, set up check points and established curfews" said the exasperated minister "All of which has turned up nothing. I honestly do not know what more I can do".
Minister Tua's shoulders slumped. She honestly didn't know what else to do because, unlike Agent Kellus, Minister Tua was vastly inexperienced in the ways of war, espionage and tactics.
"Perhaps that is the problem" said a new voice.
Minister Tua looked up and Agent Kellus turned. Standing in the doorway was the Prime Inquisitor.
The mirialan woman stood there, clad in the usual black attire of the Inquisitors. Minister Tua swallowed nervously as the Prime Inquisitor strolled into the room.
This inquisitor was rather polite and was more approachable than the previous one but the minister could sense that underneath the veneer of her manners and civility was the heart of a cold, ruthless warrior who would kill her without a second thought. The storm troopers, the officers, technicians, even Agent Kellus were wary of her.
The mirialan woman smiled "Perhaps you simply lack the imagination needed for the task at hand"
"Prime Inquisitor" said Minister Tua, politely "With all due respect but you and Governor Tarkin are asking for miracles! I mean, if the rebels have left Lothal-"
"If the rebels have left Lothal, we need to draw them back" said the Inquisitor, unfazed by the minister's excuses "And if they are still here, we will need to draw them out of the shadows".
Miniser Tua looked up at the inquisitor and saw a cold look in her eyes. "We will squeeze Lothal until someone talks" said the mirialan woman "Someone on Lothal knows of the rebels location, some of them may even be helping them. If so, we will get them to talk."
The minister's eyes widened in shock "I-I'm sorry, but I am merely a public official. I have no experience in such harsh tactics".
The Prime Inquisitor stared down at the blond minister, who wilted a little more under the force user's icy gaze, and her smile broadened.
"Don't worry" assured the inquisitor, sweetly "I'm sure that this little exercise will be educational for you".
Minister Tua frowned at the mirialan woman and stammered "e-educational?"
the Prime Inquisitor nodded "Indeed. No better time than the present to learn about the newest techniques in the empire's arsenal". The minister frowned and looked rather worried. The inquisitor saw her expression and simply turned her back on the minister "However, since you feel so uncomfortable with this, than you can try explaining your hesitation to Governor Tarkin during your visit."
Minister Tua gaped "G-Governor Tarkin? Visit?"
"Yes" said the mirialan woman, casually "He will see you first thing tomorrow to account for your failures".
The blond minister was speechless. For a few seconds she fumbled for words, until she squeaked, "I-I can't leave Lothal! I-I'm needed here!".
The Inquisitor didn't listen. The imperial officer simply strolled out of the conference room without a word, leaving behind a horrified minister. Agent Kellus looked at Minister Tua and smiled a little "Don't worry Minister, I think we can manage while you're away". He turned on his heel and followed after the Inquisitor.
Once the two were gone, the minister slumped over in her seat, shocked and absolutely dumbfounded. It would seem that she was in quite a precarious position and the future was starting to grow more and more uncertain with each passing second.
What could she possible do? She couldn't go around interrogating Lothal's citizens and treating them like traitors. She just didn't have the heart or the stomach to do what would surely come. Minister Tua did all she could to serve the empire and tried to keep the peace but her skills and options were very limited and didn't stray into the dark territory of interrogation.
To make matters worse, Governor Tarkin wanted to see her and have her to account for her failures in stopping the rebels. Images of what had happened to Aresko and Grint popped into her mind. The minister shuddered and forced those images from her mind before she got sick.
With the horizon looking as incredibly dark as it did there, Tua scrambled around desperately for a way out.
Within a matter of moments, a single answer came to mind. She had to leave.
Minister Tua began to see the rough outline of an escape plan come together. After she pieced together the first steps of her plan, Tua paused for a moment.
Should she be doing this? Once she makes the first move, there will be no going back and her life will change. The Minister thought it funny, bordering on comical, that she was about to commit treason and become a fugitive. A part of her yearned to stay and try and carry on like nothing was wrong, but the minister knew that she couldn't.
The simplicity of the old days was long gone and now it's a matter of survival. Minister Tua clenched her hand into a fist.
She was going to do it, she was going to escape and help the rebels. However, there was a big problem staring her in the face; how could the minister convince the rebels that her intentions were honest.
There was the list of rebels and sympathizers that she has access to but that alone might not be enough. Minister Tua wracked her brain further for anything that she could use as leverage to facilitate her escape from Lothal.
A very dangerous thought came to mind. The government official hesitated for a moment. That piece of information alone would seal her fate as a traitor to the empire permanently and would incur the wrath of some very powerful officials, maybe even the Emperor himself. It was foolish to even consider stealing that bit of information but Minister Tua knew that the rebels would jump at the chance to know more about something that dangerous.
After a brief silent debate with herself, the minister finally decided to go for it. Minister Tua took a deep breath and got to her feet.
She left the conference room and made her way back to the nearest data terminal, located in a lab a floor above her.
As she walked up the corridor, Minister Tua silently hoped that the rebels would be able to help her and make good use of the information that she is about to stick her neck out for.
A few minutes later, after she was sure that she wasn't followed, Minister Tua quickly got to work. She closed the door behind her and quickly went to the terminal. The minister accessed the empire's files that were stored in the base's databanks.
Tua made sure that she signed in using the code of a scientist she wasn't overly fond of to mask her identity. The empire kept a close watch on who accessed what on their systems and using this particular scientist's code won't do much to mask her identity, but the minister hoped that it would be enough to keep them distracted until she escaped Lothal.
Sifting through hundreds of files on the terminal, Tua located the list and immediately made a copy onto a datacron and moved on to the other files she needed.
After about another minute or so, Tua located the project she sought. It was marked classified and required another code to access it.
Minister Tua paused and considered the code. She then remembered the scientist that she wasn't fond of. During a status report, he had grumbled about the empire's ridicules security measures and mentioned something about him changing his passcode to something more memorable.
Knowing the scientist and his obsession for Corrllian starships, Minister Tua punched in the model of starship that the scientist repeatedly, and annoyingly, talked about purchasing someday. The code was accepted and the files opened.
Details of the empire's newest project swam before her eyes and Minister Tua shivered. This new project has great potential to bring order to the Empire but it also has greater potential to cause a lot of harm to those that the Empire sees as an enemy.
A small part of her felt no hint of remorse of giving the details of Project Clarity to the rebels.
Minister Tua started coping down the files but suddenly footsteps reached her ears.
Quickly, the government official quickly closed down the files and signed off on the terminal. The footsteps drew closer and closer.
Just before the door slid open, Tua snatched the datacron out from its slot and stuffed it in her pocket.
When the door opened, Minister Tua saw a short, mousy man with thin grey hair walk in.
The man stopped when he saw Tua sitting there at the terminal. "Minister Tua?" said the man, surprised "What are you doing here?"
"I was conducting, er, surprise inspections!" lied Minister Tua quickly. She got up and smiled "I was just finishing up. You've done some excellent work here Wes! Congratulations to you and your team!"
The mousy older man seemed a confused but he simply accepted her compliment and watch her leave.
Once she left the lab, Tua let out a small sigh of relief and, forcing her self not to run, made her way down the corridor, towards the lift.
As she carefully walked down the corridor, Minister Tua felt her stomach twist into a knot. Her mind began racing around, expecting to see a squad of storm troopers to appear out of nowhere and arrest her. But as she approached the lift, Tua realized that the corridor was empty.
She then had a horrible thought, in it Wes had seen through her feeble lie and had already alerted the Inquisitors and security.
They're probably setting a trap, where she would step off the lift and get arrested, or worse, executed on the spot.
Tua shook her head slowly. Wes didn't seem suspicious of her presence. Agent Kellus and herself conducted random inspections in the past to ensure everything was orderly, up to imperial standards and to prevent leaks. She boarded the lift and selected the lobby.
Tua held her breath as the doors closed and the lift descend. When the lift came to a stop, Minister Tua found herself on the ground level.
She made her way for the back exit and noticed that it was rather quiet. Taking this as a sign, Tua picked up the pace. She reached the exit and slipped outside.
Leaving the premises of the government building went smoothly and the minister weaved her way through several blocks of Capital City, until she was sure that she lost anyone who may have followed her from the government building.
Tua felt her anxiety lessen a little and she realized that she needed to find transportation to reach her destination.
She also realized that she needed a disguise. After all, it would be foolish to stroll into a cantina in Jhothal wearing her full uniform.
After some searching and trading, Minister Tua donned a dirty brown coat with a hood and secured transportation to Jhothal.
The blond woman pulled the hood up over her head and climbed into the speeder. The driver looked at her "Ready?"
Tua nodded. The speeder took off and made its way out of Capital City.
Atop of a nearby building, a figure in black saw the runaway official get into hired speeder and leave.
The figure grunted something and he pulled out his communicator. A tiny version of his comrade stood there in the palm of his hand.
The mirialan woman raised a questioning eyebrow "Well?"
"Just as you suspected" said Fifth Brother "The minister left. It looks like she's heading for Jhothal."
The Prime Inquisitor's face became pensive. "Why would she be going there?" mused the senior Inquisitor. The answer to her musing came in the form of a grey uniformed technician appearing at her side and telling her something that Fifth Brother couldn't hear.
The Prim Inquisitor dismissed the technician and a stormy look appeared on her face.
"More good news, sister?" asked Fifth Brother.
His senior nodded slowly, "It would appear that our wayward friend has stuck her nose where it didn't belong and created some copies of it."
"Copies of what?"
"Project Clarity" answered the Prime Inquisitor grimly.
Fifth Brother's eyes widened in shock and then he scowled "Shall I pursue and retrieve the stolen information?"
"No" said the mirialan woman "We don't want to make a scene. Not now." She rubbed her chin and thought for a moment then a calmness crossed her expression. She then spoke calmly "return to headquarters, immediately."
"What for?" asked Fifth Brother, feeling a little disappointed that he wasn't going to hunt down and/or kill the traitorous official.
A small smile appeared on the mirialan woman's face "Our dear friend, Maketh Tua, has presented us with a rare opportunity."
"At what?" asked Fifth Brother
"To put on a spectacle the likes of which the rebels and the empire has never seen before." She turned her back on her fellow inquisitor "Now hurry back. We need to make preparations before our guests arrive."
"What of Agent Kellus?" asked the larger inquisitor.
The Prime Inquisitor glanced back at her subordinate. He saw her eyes gleaming maliciously. "Don't worry about him" said the mirialan woman "Its better if he was unaware of the larger details. In fact, you could even say that he is in the lead role of our little plan".
End of Chapter
(a/n: So, what do you think? Its kind of an alternate take of Siege of Lothal. Thank you for being patient and all that. Please review!)
