Liquidator: Subject Zero/Chapter 1

Chapter I

Solay, Outer Rim Territories Eight months before the battle of Yavin

After the whole ordeal in the Dominus system with the governor, Selwyn made it back to Solay, the sector capitol, to report to the man who Palpatine entrusted with overseeing the sector: Grand Moff Argon. However, the Royal Guardsman had a feeling that his mission was not yet finished. There were several suspicions he had, which he voiced to the Emperor when communicating with him earlier, and His Majesty agreed. Something else was going on in the Dominus sector that the Empire was not fully aware of, and his job was not yet finished. Selwyn wanted to get back to Imperial Center, but now he could see this would not be possible, not yet, not until this matter is resolved.

"Unidentified TIE craft, identify yourself. What are your intentions?"

Selwyn remembered the code that the Moff gave him.

"Special visitor of the Grand Moff. Code delta-one-one-three-alpha."

There was a pause.

"Very well. Proceed to the Moff's palace docking bay," came the reply.

"Understood."

Selwyn guided his craft through the capitol city as he descended, brining it to the palace of the sector Moff. As he began landing in the hangar, he could see Grand Moff Argon standing there, waiting for him. After the landing was complete, the Royal Guard disembarked the TIE and stepped out into the hangar.

"Hello, sir," Selwyn began.

"Good to see you back without a scratch. But what else would I expect from a Royal Guard?" the Grand Moff greeted. "I take it you completed the mission?"

"Yes, about that," he replied, "it turns out that the diplomats he was meeting with were Rebels. Also, unlike what Intelligence told me, that there would only be army and militia troops on his station, there were at least eight stormtroopers."

The Grand Moff looked surprised as the guardsman finished his report.

"So no Jedi or plot to overthrow the Emperor?"

Selwyn nodded. "No Jedi. Though the governor probably intended to fight the Emperor with the Rebels." He paused. "Who provided this intelligence?"

Argon looked at him without saying anything for a moment, thinking.

"One of my spies among the governor's garrison," he said thoughtfully. "Interesting with the Rebel connection."

Selwyn nodded again. "Also what I find interesting is the fact that there were stormtroopers with him. The governor did not have any in his garrison, nor did he have the authority to call any in from Stormtrooper Command; his location is too backwater for them to listen to him."

The Grand Moff beckoned him to continue, as if not understanding.

"So what I am saying is, there is only one way that stormtroopers could have come under his command . . . "

Grand Moff Argon again looked thoughtful for a moment, then realized where the guardsman was going with this.

"What? Of course not. I am no traitor, I did not assign him any. They probably were Rebel agents. Or deserters."

Selwyn did not say anything, just nodded. "Of course. The Emperor spoke very highly of you to me when telling me about this mission."

Argon looked relieved.

"But, nonetheless, it is apparent that something deeper is at play here. His Imperial Majesty has instructed that I carry on my work here, until the matter is fully resolved," Selwyn told the Moff.

"Indeed?"

"Yes. I am going to need to look around the palace, talk to some people. You know, investigate."

The Grand Moff looked a but doubtful, but them reluctantly said, "alright."

The Royal Guard nodded again, and thanked him for his cooperation in rooting out the corruption.

Well, that was very interesting, thought Selwyn as he left the hangar, walking down a corridor. The Grand Moff is definitely up to something. Since he arrived in the hangar, Selwyn sensed the Grand Moff was incredibly nervous. This peaked when he indicated that the stormtroopers under the governor's command may have been there on orders from Argon. Good thing that the Grand Moff did not know that Selwyn was Force-sensitive, and could sense such emotions. Now was the time to investigate, before the situation could escalate. He could imagine the Moff going down to his security officers and telling them that the Empire was onto them, and to keep an eye on the Royal Guardsman.

An idea suddenly dawned to him. If I can get the records of the calls made from the palace to other locations, perhaps I can find out more? Selwyn thought. He then made a sharp right, heading for the communications room. Hopefully, no one was in there, so that he did not have to do any sort of explaining or anything. But just in case, he set his repeater rifle off safety. This could get a bit ugly. Then another thought came to him. ''How many people are in on it with the Grand Moff? Is his whole garrison and staff part of this?'' Selwyn suddenly grew very worried. How deep does this corruption go?

Well, hopefully he would soon get some answers. The Royal Guard made a few more turns and came up to a door that was labelled "Communications Room". Entering the room, he could see many computers and servers, and a couple of technicians sitting at some consoles. One the the techs noticed him, having a look of astonishment for several seconds, upon seeing an Emperor's Royal Guard walk into the room. Selwyn felt some surprise from him—a lot of it, actually—but no nervousness. He guessed that either the tech was very confident, or he was not in on the conspiracy. The tech stood up and saluted. Good.

"Yes, sir, how may I be of assistance?" he asked.

"I need to see the records of the calls made to and from this palace over the last four weeks."

The tech did not say anything for a moment. "As you wish."

As the technician began to bring up the information that the Guardsman requested, he sat down, and looked over his armor. Though not visible, it had taken a few light hits earlier during the mission against the governor. He personally did not like the combat armor, and preferred to wear the red robes and lighter armor that was standard issue for guardsmen. The tech called up to him, and Selwyn stood up, walking over to the console.

"Here you go, sir, as you requested."

"Thank you. You and your friend may leave the room now," Selwyn told him.

The tech looked confused. "What?"

"That is an order. Go."

He reluctantly moved away and whispered something to the other technician at a different console. The tech looked up at Selwyn, then got up, and the two left the room. The Royal Guard sat down at the console with the information. This will be interesting.

"Sir? Grand Moff Argon?"

The Grand Moff of the Dominus sector looked up. An Imperial Army officer, his trusted advisor, was standing by a computer console in their control room, just finishing a talk with one of the officers on the console.

"Yes, Major Zelos?"

"The Royal Guard is in the communications room."

"What is he doing—"

"Wait, sir, he appears to be accessing the transmission information in and out of the palace," the major said. "Over the last four weeks."

Grand Moff Argon frowned. This was not good. He would find out if he could look through that.

"Unfortunate. Have palace guard patrols six and seven sent there, along with one stormtrooper squad," he ordered.

"Right away, sir. And sir?"

"Yes?"

"Should we evacuate?"

Argon paused and thought about it. No, they should take care of this quietly, and say that the guardsman was killed by traitors.

"No, just prepare additional troops. Also, call our . . . friends. Tell them that this is going to occur before we planned."

Major Zelos nodded and went to work.

Rufan Mauryl was a stormtrooper corporal part of the 122nd Stormtrooper Regiment. This was his first week on the job in the Dominus sector. Previously, he had been part of the Coruscant Guard, but was transferred off Imperial Center to this backwater region because he angered a COMPNOR official. ''What a bureaucracy. Anger one of them and your career is over.''

Suddenly, their squadron commander received a communication through his helmet. After a few seconds, he looked up at the assembled fourteen stormtroopers.

"Alright men. We got orders to move into the communications room. Someone there is attempting to hack the computers. Eliminate him."

The troopers followed their squad commander down the corridor, shuffling in their white bulky armor. Rufan was disappointed that he did not see much action during his stay here, and was about to see some. The squad approached the door leading into the communications room. Everything was quiet. Only the silent hum of computers could be heard from the other side. The squad commander motioned for the group to take up door breach positions. As he guessed, the door was locked.

The squad awaited as the explosive was planted. A slight beep went off, and the explosion followed, blowing in the doorway. The squad commander, backed by two troopers, then quickly burst in—only to be gunned down. Several blaster shots could be heard by the troops in the corridor, and then they saw the dead bodies of the commander and one other trooper fall back through the doorway. The second trooper that made it in screamed after several more blaster shots, and Rufan then motion to five other troopers to follow him.

They burst into the communications room, looking around. The room was dark, the lights having been turned off. The corpses of the commander and one trooper were in the doorway, and the second trooper was near one of the corners, dead. Looking around, he could not see anyone—then suddenly, a figure came up from one of the support columns near the center of the room. Rufan and the troopers began aiming, but then he stopped in shock when the target got close enough to be identified.

He was wearing the red armor of a Royal Guard.

What?!?! Rufan thought. Why are we attacking a Royal Guard?

As he thought that, the guardsman went back behind the column, as several shots were fired by a couple of the troopers. What are they doing? he thought.

The guardsman flashed a repeater rifle around the side of the column, sending a line of lasers at them. Rufan, not sure what to so, backed up and took cover behind a computer console. He then saw as three troopers were dropped by the Royal Guard. The other two began firing back, but could not hit him in the cover. He popped his rifle around the other side and fired to accurate shots, killing the other two.

However, the last seven troopers, that were waiting out in the hallway, burst in at that moment. One fired his E-11 and managed to hit the guardsman in the arm, who dropped the repeater rifle and backed up behind the column. A stray shot from the rifle fired as it hit the ground and killed one of the approaching troopers.

The remaining six began advancing on his position.

''Damn? What are they doing, fighting an Emperor's Royal Guard? Is he a traitor?'! Rufan thought quickly. ''But no, a Royal Guard would not betray the Emperor. That can only mean one thing.'' Whoever gave the orders to kill him must be the traitor. The squad commander probably received orders from the control room of the palace. Meaning that it was someone among the Grand Moff's staff.

Time to make things right.

Rufan popped out from behind the console, with his E-11 in hand. Taking aim as the troopers were nearly at the column, he fired a single shot at the backs of each trooper. The first three were down without any problems, but the fourth began turning around. Rufan dropped him, and the fifth, who was trying to do the same. But the sixth turned around by then, but was not sure what to so. Rufan shot and killed him.

Selwyn was expecting some kind of response from the Moff, but not a squad of stormtroopers bursting into the room. The records showed that someone from the Grand Moff's private office made calls to several planets that are currently known to be under Rebel control, or have Rebel connections. Rebel ships have made contact to him before as well. More than enough evidence that he was a traitor, not to mention that he sent troops to kill him. The Guardsman killed many of the treasonous stormtroopers, but now he was wounded: one shot hit his arm, and he dropped his repeater rifle beyond the cover of the column. The six troopers out there were now free to approach. But he would not go out without a fight. Pulling out his heavy blaster pistol, Selwyn prepared for a final stand against the oncoming stormtroopers.

But they never came. He heard six blaster shots, and the sounds of bodies falling to the ground and hitting the floor. Peeking out from behind the column, he could see one trooper coming from behind a computer console close to the door, and the six troopers in the ground, dead. The trooper slowly started walking towards him, putting his weapon into his holster.

"I do not know what is going on! Explain yourself!" the trooper said. Selwyn felt much nervousness and genuine confusion coming from the stormtrooper.

He stood up and put his weapons away, and walked over to the trooper.

"I am an Emperor's Royal Guard. Earlier I was sent here to kill a treasonous governor in a nearby system. But it appears that the governor was just a pawn in a bigger game. Grand Moff Argon, and apparently his men, are planning to defect to the Rebel Alliance."

The stormtrooper did not say anything for a few moments, and then Selwyn felt fear radiating from him.

"I am sorry for this, sir. I am Corporal Mauryl of the Stormtrooper Corps. We were told a criminal broke in here and we were told to kill him. I did not know what was true when I saw your Royal Guard armor, and I did not fire. I killed those others who tried to approach your position, though," he said with fear in his voice. "Again, I had no idea—"

"It is alright, you appear to be loyal," said Selwyn, and felt the trooper's relief. "But tell me, you and the others had no idea about the Grand Moff's betrayal?"

"As far as I am aware, we rank and file were not told of anything like this. Maybe some were, but my squad is not among them. The officers may be in on it."

Selwyn nodded, and thought for a moment. "I will need your help to take down the traitor. Is there a way we can make a long distance communication to a certain Star Destroyer?"