When Rulers Die, Cries Ring Far and Wide

[Chase Merik]

Corellia

Both speedervans came to a sudden halt in front of alley. The side doors popped open with a loud hiss even before the transport's momentum had caught up with its brakes. By the time the vehicle had settled to a rest, the doors had widened enough for a sea of Stormtroopers to pour out.

Gray clad CorSec and ISA agents quickly emerged from both vans, fanning out with military precision onto the street.

"That's the building?" a rugged faced, blonde Imperial officer barked at one of the CorSec agents. Lt. Merik was clearly in no mood for the usual pretense. He'd been roused from a comfy bed an hour ago to find out his whole division was on high alert.

"Yeah, but..."

"Is. That. The building?" he repeated, narrowing his cybernetic eyes. The metallic implants looked more like goggles than human eyes, adding a new dimension when he glowered at a suspect or a subordinate. The CorSec detective scowled and nodded. Merik pointed, and the sea of white charged into the dead-end alley.

"How well you cooperate will determine how well I word my report to Imperial Center, Sergeant," the blonde Imperial said coldly. "I'm curious how they'd react to the fact that this Rebel cell somehow managed to find it's way to the bottom of your case list for so long." The CorSec agent bit the inside of his cheek.

"But as of now, it's out of your jurisdiction. You have your oders." The gruff statement almost sounded out of sorts without the accent and formality usually associated with most Imperial officers. He didn't come from the same aristocratic stock as his peers.

Blaster fire echoed from the building. Green and red bolts splashed against the alley walls through several windows, adding shouts of panic to the mix.

"Why are you doing this?" the CorSec agent blurted out. Merik spun a stern gaze on him. The other officers turned on the same cue with similar accusing looks.

"Not this," he quickly corrected, flailing at the building. "Martial law? Are you people insane. We haven't given you any cause to--"

"You're here to help with the transition, Detective. Not to question orders. You don't need to know 'why' any more than I do. You have a problem with the assignment, I'm sure we can find something else for you to do."

At that, another officer approached. He was taller, with black hair and a commanding presence that was reflected by more than just the red and blue bar on his uniform.

"The Empire appreciates your continued cooperation, Officer Kelz"

"Yes, sir," the detective replied flatly.

[Chase Merik]

Merik turned toward the building as two Stormtroopers walked out.

"Sir, resistance was minimal. But the place is empty. We found some datastations, but they've been wiped. No other equipment or weapons."

"Dammit!" Merik snapped. He pivoted on his heel, throwing a glare at their CorSec guides before going into the building himself.

The trooper was right. There were telltale signs of use, but the building was deserted. Judging by the random empty crates and datapads, it was abandoned very quickly. Merik fixed his gaze on a damaged terminal. He scowled at the readings from his optical scanners. The datadrive and mainboard were completely fused.

He straightened as his Commander walked up beside him. "I've given the signal to deploy," he stated calmly. "Coronet City is already secured. We need to get the smaller starports locked down."

"Sir, with all due respect," Merik asked in a hushed tone. "Why are we doing this? Does Command really think it's worth trying to control these people when--"

"These people, Lieutenant?" the elder Imperial asked curiously. "You don't consider yourself Corellian anymore."

Merik paused, setting his jaw and continuing to scan over the room. "Of course I do, sir. But that's the whole point. That's how I know how difficult it will be to maintain this level of control here."

The Commander did not react outwardly. In the strictest patriotic sense, it was not the right answer. But it was an honest one. He looked at the troops, keeping up the appearance of business as usual.

"We traced a bandwidth leak to this location. The rebels had intercepted a Level 1 communique to Governor Parr."

"What did it say?"

The Commander took a measured breath. "The Emporer is dead." The words hit Merik like a turbolaser. Behind his opaque metallic eyes, his receptors shifted every direction as his mind tried to process the news.

If that wasn't enough, then came the kicker. "So's Vader."

"They tried to get a transmission off, but we had a lock on them by then. We're still trying to figure out how they decrypted a priority command signal so fast to begin with."

"Sir," Lt. Merik cut in. "Kor Vella is going to need an advance team to coordinate with local authorities. They have a sizeable transit station that we'll need to lock down if you want to insure martial law is enforced."

The Commander considered this hesitantly. And Merik knew why. "I know Parr doesn't have enough Stormtroopers to cover every city. I worked out of that office when I was in CorSec. I can get them on board without you needing to split our resources thinner than they already are."

"Very well," the Commander replied. He saw the younger officer in a new light, wishing more of his men had this level of creative thinking and dedication. "Tell your Captain. Consider it cleared."

"Sir." Merik nodded curtly and headed out.

[Yun Tilgraze]

Deep Space, just outside the Sullust System

Captain Yun Tilgraze sat in a briefing room aboard Home One, rubbing his temple. The headache he was trying to suppress started the moment they heard the reports that the Death Star shield generator was still up. It had abated when the Executor went down, then spiked again when they lost contact with the Millenium Falcon.

It wasn't the most boneheaded strategy he'd been part of, but it was easily the biggest gamble in military history. In the larger sense, it paid off. They managed to destroy the weapon systems and gut the infrastructure of the station. The gurreck's share of the fleet still managed to limp home. But they had far too many fighter pilots unaccounted for, including Wedge Antilles.

And General Solo, Leia Organna. And Skywalker. At this point it was safe to say the Force was not with them.

The Alliance was in full blown disaster mode. The frenzied techs outside trying to keep the flagship together wasn't helping his headache. And to top it all off, the had just finished assembling a last minute security detail and operations plan for Mon Mothma, who had to choose NOW to search for her former co-conspirator's splinter group to help rebuild the fleet.

That left her right-hand man, Mon Razien in charge of a Rebellion that was --at the risk of sounding too dramatic-- almost literally on the verge of collapse.

The holovid on his desk flashed to life. "Captain, we have mail."

The pounding in his head spiked again. In the middle of all this madness, he had doubts that "mail", Intel's code word for a double-agent transmission, would improve his disposition.

"Put it through," he responded. The holovid flickered to a series of equalizer graphs. It was a voice-only transmission. The filtered voice came through after a complex series of tones. Yun raised an eyebrow at the seemingly random pulses that continued. The signal had at least 2 more layers of encryption than standard.

"Gundark to Ranger. Passcode Trillian Vector March. Ranger... The Empire has invoked martial law. Corellia has already mobilized. The reason..."

The voice hesitated for the briefest of seconds. Yun's posture straightened a bit. For the Empire to do something this drastic, maybe they were hit harder than anyone thought.

"The Emporer is dead. He and Vader were killed on the Death Star. The Moffs are fearing riots. However you plan to act on this, do it fast. Some systems will be locked down within an hour. Gundark out."

Tilgraze quickly entered a command sequence on his terminal, dowloading the message and executing a backtrace to wipe any residual evidence of the transmission. With a single motion he swiped the datacard and marched out of the room.

[Yun Tilgraze]

There were other factors to the declaration. He knew there had to be. It was obvious the Empire had dedicated a ridiculous portion of their fleet to Endor. Plus the only people who could have possibly known the fate of the Emporer and Vader were on the Death Star. For word to spread this quickly meant the Empire had more moles in their ranks than they could account for. Hopefully even more defectors. The combination of elements apparantly put them into an even bigger panic than the Alliance was in.

The doors of the main briefing room slid open to a chorus of angry shouts. Half the room was on their feet, pointing and waving fists in every direction. Mon Razien, in stark contrast, stood calmly, leaning forward and focusing intently on a holovid in the center of the conference table.

Recaping our top story, a sneak attack on an Imperial space station by rebel insurgents has disabled the station and destoyed a number of Imperial ships. But more importantly, rumors are leaking out from various sources that the Emperor, who was touring the station at the time, was killed in the attack.

"Where is this broadcast coming from?"
"What systems are getting it?"
"How the frell did the media get this!?"
"Is this confirmed?"

"Why are we hearing about this on the NEWS?!" someone shouted over the cacaphony.

Mon Razien took a deep breath. "We clearly hit them harder than you thought, Admiral. If General Cracken had some kind of misinformation plan in effect, he'd have told me."

"But is it true?" another officer shouted.

"Yes!" Yun shouted even louder, but it still wasn't enough. He looked over at Razien with an almost pleading look. Suddenly a horrendous claxon sounded in the room, then quickly faded.

"Yes. It's true." Tilgraze face the gathered leaders in the welcomed silence.

"I just received confirmation from one of our imbedded agents. Palpatine and Darth Vader are dead. The state of the fleet is unconfirmed, but the fact that they just declared martial law suggests that we should take a new look at our damage projections."

The activity level in the room returned, but the conversations were dramatically more hushed then before as they absorbed the news. Of all of their contigency plans, dealing with martial law was not among them.

Mon Razien stood tall and drew the attention of the room with a simple look. Mon Mothma had trained him well.

"The mission was a success, gentlemen. At high cost, but a success nonetheless. We never pretended this mission would end the war despite it's scope. Now we must act quickly to take advantage. So the question is, where do we go from here?"

[Tiberius Anar]

Anar's immediate reaction upon realising that this figure did not belong on his holoplate, was to reach for the cut off switch. The caller's words, however, stayed his hand.

"I come to you in the Empire's most desperate hour. The rebellion has struck you critically, and I fear it is only the beginning. Your leadership will soon become more important than you can possibly know."

His hand retreated from the switch. What did this person know and how? "Who are you to judge the Empire's situation?"

[Darth Decepis]

The hologram almost seemed to smile beneath his deep hood.

"One to be regarded as a peer of your late Emperor."

Anar's expression may or may not have changed in the slightest of measures. Either way, the hologram knew his mind.

"Ah yes. I know of it as well. Even as you seek to conceal it from those who wish to destroy you."

[Tiberius Anar]

Anar's surprise manifested itself, momentarily, in an involuntary twitching of his facial muscles. Composing himself quickly enough that most people would not have noticed, he eyed the hologram impassively.

"I have not seen you amongst those chosen by my master for the privilege of his company," he said, not confirming the death of the Emperor to this, this stranger, "Yet you claim to be his peer. What proof of this can you offer?"

[Darth Decepis]

"Your adjuctant's life."

The timbre of the Dark Lord's voice turned to gravel. If the Chancellor had the audacity to question him now, he would lose it soon.

"Go to him now, and witness as I take it. That will be your proof."

[Tiberius Anar]

Anar stared at the hologram, what in the worlds? This was ridiculous. No-one could reach a person- even a lowly secretary- within the walls of the Imperial Palace. But a tingling in the back of his mind hinted at his doubt, and as if to dispell this he went to the door of his office and looked out into the staff area beyond.

"Lanik," he called.

"Yes, sir?" asked the comm operator turning to answer the call of his master, "How may I..."

He got no further.

[Darth Decepis]

The air left Lanik's lungs with a punctuated gasp, leaving the secretary clutching at his neck. He began to turn a shade of red, which turned purple seconds later.

[Tiberius Anar]

Anar's reaction would have surpirsed some. He seemd for all the world not to care. It was almost as if the spontaneous strangulation of his staff was a day-to-day occurance to which he was accustomed. In a sense it was- if one had regular dealings with Lord Vader over a long enough period one was likely to see choking staffers.

But Lord Vader was not here. He was not, in fact, anywhere. This was being done by another, the person whose reduced size image stood on the desk behind him. The person who claimed and who, based upon this display of power, had some connection to Palpatine.

"You've made your point," he called back into the room, "release him please."

[Darth Decepis]

The silence was punctuated by a loud gasp from Lanik, who collapsed to the ground in a series of deep breaths.

[Tiberius Anar]

Anar motioned to the other staff in the office, indicating that they should help Lanik. He waited to see two of the secretaries move towards the poor, spluttering wretch then turned smartly on his heal back into his own office.

He resumed his seat saying lightly, "A rather dramatic proof and one that has caught my attention."

[Darth Decepis]

"I would suggest not asking for my credentials again, Chancellor. Are you prepared to do your duty for the Empire?"

[Tiberius Anar]

Anar raised an eyebrow, "I have done nothing more nor less than my duty for the Empire for the last fifteen years. What is it to you whether this is the case or not?"