Virtual Voyages

One cannot refuse the Sith, so when one asked me to investigate a cult of force users, I complied.  This cult has a "secret" compound not far from the city and has apparently been drawing both Sith and Jedi to it.  As the only force users I've met who weren't highly unpleasant were neither, I can't say I was looking forward to infiltrating a compound of both.

The cult proved to have no concept of secrecy at all, and might as well have posted welcome signs.  They are also, as far as I can tell, completely insane.  They worship a long-dead Sith named Revan, who apparently began his force using career as a Jedi, and have found an altar in a cave near their encampment.  This altar supposedly cleanses their initiates through death.

What it actually does is force lightning one into unconsciousness.  Have I mentioned my growing dislike for force lightning?

Between their unusual use of an ancient security system and the number of battles to the death an initiate has to fight before becoming a full member of their organization, I'd already decided they were no threat to the Empire by the time I meet their leader.  (By my calculation, at the rate the group shrinks with each new member, they should have eliminated themselves by the end of the year.)  As it turns out, the group believes that the Emperor is Revan, and that he's currently imprisoned by the Dark Council.  (The latter isn't impossible.  The Dark Council has far more control than it should.  The former is doubtful, to say the least.)  I would deem them loyal, if extremely misguided.

However, they did provide an opportunity to sow dissension among the Sith.  That might technically be treason, but I believe it's for the good of the Empire.  We would be much better off without the Dark Council's influence, and the Sith are the best weapon against the Sith that we have.

I can at least hope that the new conflict among the Sith will distract Jadus.  That would be to Imperial Intelligence's advantage, as well as my own.

Congratulations.  If you're reading this, you've broken all of my encryption, and that is no mean feat.  I almost wish I'd met you.  Though, I fear if I had, one of us would be dead.  I much prefer to think that I'm on a sandy beach somewhere, sipping a drink and enjoying my retirement.  Somewhere the Empire will never find me.

A man in my position would have to be a fool to leave a journal, even one as heavily encrypted as this one, but I suspect I'm already a traitor twice over and I'm fairly certain they can't execute me more than once.  Though, with the Sith, one never knows.  I have no intention of ever finding out; I suspect the Sith have incredibly nasty forms of execution.  I also very much doubt that I'll stop at two treacheries.  They might well find a way to spend the next hundred years executing me by the time I've finished.

My first mission took me to Hutta, with the plan of seducing one of the Hutt crime lords to the Empire.  (In the metaphoric sense, that is.  There are things man was not meant to know, and Hutt mating rituals are one of them.)  Aiding his business and sabotaging his competitor would - and did - do the trick nicely.

I had no difficulty winning over one of Nem'ro's trusted lieutenants as "The Red Blade", though in the future, I will try to avoid using cover identities that belong to actual people.  It leads to complications.  Not that those complications interfered with bringing Nem'ro to the Empire.  In that, I succeeded admirably, by anyone's standards.

However, I suspect that Keeper would be less than pleased that I allowed a Force sensitive boy to escape the Empire with his father.  The fact that his father has no love for the Republic, either, would hardly help his case, or mine.  But I am not fond of the Sith, and it would take a cold man to kill a boy's father in front of him.  I'm clever and composed, not heartless.

Which is why, when Keeper ordered me to kill Javis, the lieutenant I'd won over, (After a Sith attacked his sons, ruining our attempt to bring him to Imperial allegiance.  Have I mentioned my distaste for the Sith?) I urged him to leave the planet, instead.  Keeper must suspect, since Javis rescued his surviving son and, as the message from Keeper noted, he's the only one who would have taken that risk.  Either Keeper doesn't care, or my success is more important than the fine details, such as whether or not I follow orders to the letter.

I'd like to say I'll be careful, but I won't.  I will count on being too skillful and too valuable to kill without airtight evidence that I've gone against the Empire's supposed interests. Which means I will have to keep my new partner happy and entertained.  That she's an assassin and has no apparent love for the Empire works nicely to my advantage.  I should point out that I am, in fact, loyal to the Empire, though not to all factions within the Empire.  But anything that Keeper offers Kaliyo will be tainted by her dislike of the Empire, which puts him at a disadvantage.  I seem to amuse her enough to outweigh the fact that I, too, am Imperial.  If Keeper hopes she'll rein me in, he's sadly mistaken.

Keeper may also be playing an even more dangerous game than I am.  And I'm sharing rooms with an assassin not known for remaining with any employer for long.

I do love my work.