LOTF: Resurgence/Chapter 2

Barak Dakens heard the footsteps approaching his cell long before they arrived. He'd sat in silence for months, save for when a guard would occasionally come by to bring him his daily meal. The meal was the only way Barak still had to keep track of time; his gray cell was completely empty save for a metal slab that took on the form of a bed without providing any of the comfort. This, from one prison to another, was the life Barak had been living for three years. Barak didn't even know where he was now; they kept him unconscious for the duration of the trip whenever he was moved.

It had all started six years ago when his wife, Cyana Bastra, got a priority call from the Chancellor. She was given almost no detail other than that it was important, and with that, she left. She never came back from that meeting, and no one could tell Barak where she'd gone. He spent the first year with his loyalty still intact, albeit shaken. He continued his operations for the Empire, infiltrating and assassinating where needed, all the while making his way into the Imperial database, looking for his wife. After that first year on the inside, he decided to recruit some help.

He began to form allies underground by "leaking" sensitive documents, giving many groups of dissidents times to prepare for otherwise unforeseen Imperial attacks. One he had the connections he needed, he began organizing attacks on classified Imperial bases. After two years, he only had one lead-- something called Operation Supernova, the majority of which had been erased from history. The only thing that remained was the manifest of an unnamed ship, and an audio log. The manifest contained only two names that mattered: Admiral Taran Ragnan and Captain Cyana Bastra. The audio log, while mostly corrupted, had one audible sentence, uttered by Taran Ragnan: ""Activate their implants, kill Novastar, set the ship to self-destruct, and ready the escape pods." Novastar meant Hans Novastar, formerly Hans Cerrano, a murderer whom Cyana had investigated who brought to light for the first time the threat of the Brotherhood. Barak suspected the lead had been meant for him.

He also had heard of the admiral before, from the Cerrano case. Ragnan had been the lead investigator of the homicide of a Senator's wife, which was revealed to be a ploy by the Senator's son to frame one of his father's associates. Despite this, Barak couldn't find anything anywhere about Ragnan. His entire trail had simply disappeared. The search had concluded when Imperial Intelligence finally caught him, locked him up, drugged and tortured the necessary info out of him, and killed all his allies. Barak didn't know why he was still alive.

The cell door opened, and two well-polished Stormtroopers entered. One wielded an E-11 blaster rifle; the other was carrying stun cuffs. "Turn around and face the wall with your hands on your head!" The first one ordered. Barak quickly analyzed the situation. Even if he were to catch the soldiers off guard with a sudden attack, they were armored, and additionally, he was almost certainly much physically weaker than he had been three years ago, even accounting for his attempts to exercise regularly. He complied with the order, and never even felt the stun blast that knocked him unconscious.

...

He woke in the copilot's seat of a shuttle, immediately gazing out the window. Ahead of the vessel was a space station, one of its hangars getting closer with every second that passed. "You're awake. Good." Someone said. He looked to his left to see that a bald, pale man was piloting the ship. He was wearing standard Stormtrooper armor, but had taken his helmet off and placed it next to his seat. "Another prison, huh?" Barak asked.

"Quiet." The pilot replied. Barak guessed he wasn't going to get any more out of him. The ship flew into one of the hangars, which had also been fitted with several TIE interceptors. The rest of the hangar was very plain, though polished. The shuttle landed, and Barak saw a dark-skinned officer wearing a naval uniform approaching them. The pilot put his helmet back on and grabbed Barak, dragging him down the shuttle's exit ramp and out into the hangar.

The officer, also flanked by two stormtroopers, stopped to meet Barak and his captor. "Hello, Sergeant," he said in a deep voice. "I trust the trip went well?"

"Yes, sir." The trooper replied.

"Good. You may leave us."

Without further ado, the trooper turned and headed back up the ramp, preparing for takeoff as the officer began to address Barak. "Barak Dakens," he started. "Welcome to Imperial Facility 406-P." He turned to the Stormtrooper on his right. "Undo his restraints." The Stormtrooper complied, and Barak immediately began rubbing his wrists; the stuncuffs had not been anything close to loose. "What is this?" Barak asked.

The officer smiled. "This is your new assignment. My name is Captain Sumad. I run most of the operations on this station, and I answer to our Commander, as you now do." He extended his hand, but Barak didn't shake it.

The commander. Whoever it was, Barak figured they had chosen him specifically because of his history, which meant two things: Firstly, this commander had some very high-level access to information, and secondly, he needed Barak's talents for something, which couldn't be good. "And what exactly are these operations, Captain?" Sumad turned back towards the entrance of the hangar. "The commander wants to show you himself. Come." He beckoned to Barak, who followed him out. A few minutes later, Barak stood in a lift alongside Sumad and the two Stormtroopers as they descended down to the level on which the commander currently presided. For the first time in a while, Barak gazed into his reflection, being met with his own light-brown eyes. His brown hair had grown to be quite messy, but he had a relatively small patch of hair under his lip, the beginnings of a goatee.

"I've seen some of your work, Dakens." Sumad informed him. "Impressive, to say the least. You could have spent the last three years serving us well. Why turn?"

"You took my wife. I want her back."

"Is that really all?"

Barak hesitated before he spoke again. "No. I've seen what happens out there. I've seen men, women, and children left to burn for the 'mission'. I thought I knew what I signed up for, but the Empire? It's evil, and it consumes everyone in it. It'll consume you one day."

"What exactly did you see?" Sumad asked.

Before Barak could speak, the lift stopped, and the door slid open to reveal a wide chamber. Illuminated in blue, the left and right walls of the room were lined with empty stasis tanks. On the other side of the room, there was a large amount of machinery, tubes and terminals Barak didn't recognize. The commander stood facing this machinery, his arms folded in front of him. He had messy red hair and wore a long set of red and while robes.There was a circular rune on his forehead and a similar runic line that stretched across his face, under his eyes and over his forehead, both of which appeared to have been branded onto his face, and a double-bladed lightsaber was clipped onto his belt. Barak realized at once why he had not known the nature of the commander- he was an Inquisitor. "Barak Dakens, you've arrived." His voice resonating with a deep Coruscanti accent. As he spoke, he turned to face Barak, revealing his pale tattooed face and glittering green eyes. "You must have many questions. Let me show you something."

Barak tried to step forwards and speak, but he felt himself being held back, unable to move in any way. "Oh come on. Do you know how rude that is?" The Inquisitor commented.

He turned around and begin pressing buttons on a console as the others came closer to see. In front of them, a screen activated, displaying an image of a black and red planet from orbit. "This," the Inquisitor stated, "is Umbara." The image changed to that of an airfield, filled with alien ships and tanks. "During the Clone Wars, there was a campaign here-- an incredible story, but not one the Republic would ever let the public hear about. It was all but forgotten, but then two years later, this happened." The next picture was taken from the same angle, but now showed a massive crater where the airfield had stood. "What happened, you ask?"

"The Emperor wanted to know the same thing. He sent teams in to analyze the area for as much information as they could, and they stumbled upon this." The screen showed what appeared to be the ruins of a large temple being overrun by plants. "A temple..." Sumad muttered in awe. Had he not been in on this? "Oh, it gets so much better," the Inquisitor replied. Barak immediately felt his heart sink, knowing that whatever he was about to get caught up in was likely infinitely worse than he could imagine.

Now, they were looking at two decomposing bodies, one of them headless, both of them clad in light black and white robes. "These are Varad and Arek. Varad's head, unfortunately, didn't make it into this picture. These two left journals of what had happened leading up to their deaths-- another fascinating story, and in it they mention a ritual called the Binding. Tell me," The Inquisitor asked as he turned again, gazing deeply and directly into Barak's eyes. "Have you ever wanted to live forever?". Barak couldn't reply. "I'll just presume the answer is yes, because it is for practically anyone-- including our Emperor. These journals could open the gates to a glorious, infinite reign unlike any ever seen before. And I know what you're thinking, probably trying to ask: 'What does all this Sith nonsense have to do with me?' Well, I'll explain." He walked closer to Barak.

"You see, these journals don't actually say how the ritual works. However, they talk about the person who more than likely killed these Sith, and I'm willing to bet he either knows or knows who does. There's just one problem: he's vanished. I know he's out there somewhere, and I've got some bait placed for him, but I can't find the man for the life of me." Now he stood directly in front of Barak as he paced.

"That's where you come in. You know how to search for someone better than anyone else in the Galaxy. I want you to command my forces and find him."

Barak tried to speak again, and this time succeeded. "You think I'll help you?"

The inquisitor chuckled a bit. "Tsk, tsk. You don't understand. All those years ago, Cyana agreed to her mission on one term- that you would be protected by the Empire, no matter what happened."

Barak became furious. "What do you know?"

The inquisitor drew a menacing smile from cheek to cheek. "Don't you want to find out?"

Barak felt an unnatural wave of fear wash over him. In his mind, he saw a city on fire, he saw a woman-- he saw Cyana burning as she was encased by shadows. "Well?"

Just until I find her, he told himself. Just until I find her.

"I'll do it."

The Inquisitor freed him from his Force grip, and Barak briefly fell to the floor before regaining control of his muscles and standing up. "Marvelous." the Inquisitor said brightly. He extended his hand towards Barak. "Welcome to the Inquisition, Barak."

Slowly, hesitantly, Barak reached out and shook it. "And you are?"

"It's not my name you need to worry about; it's his: Ganner Slarwalker."