Servants of the Empire Read online

  Beck had been hostile under questioning, but stuck to his story—he’d been a new recruit to a three-person resistance cell dedicated to bringing down the Empire because of its destruction of orchards in the Westhills and its violence against protestors. He didn’t know the identity of the jumpspeeder rider who’d attacked the troops pursuing his group’s landspeeder—probably an angry farmer, he’d said. And there was nothing about Zare or Merei.

  The last line of the interrogation report read FOUND GUILTY BY SECURITY TRIBUNAL; ENROLLED IN PROJECT UNITY FOR EXPERIMENTAL RE-EDUCATION.

  Project Unity? What’s that?

  Merei called up the Academy records and entered Dhara’s name. Files scrolled onto the screen. She was familiar with the first few—basic Academy records, followed by school reports and immigration information. Below that were Academy files similar to Zare’s.

  And then, at the bottom, she read ACADEMY SPECIAL ASSESSMENT—CONFIDENTIAL.

  Merei clicked on it.

  A red box appeared on the screen. She stared at it, puzzled.

  ACCESS GRANTED PENDING INPUT OF SINGLE-USE CODE FROM ZX-5 ACCESS DISK.

  “Merei!” her father called. “Dinner’s on the table!”

  Merei rolled her eyes, annoyed.

  “Okay, just a minute!” she yelled, logging out of her ISB account and shutting down the programs that concealed her inquiries to the Imperial network. Of all the times to be interrupted.

  But then she brightened. She didn’t know what an access disk was, but she bet the two security experts waiting for her at the kitchen table did.

  To her consternation, Merei’s parents were in the middle of a discussion of Lothal politics when she sat down at dinner—a discussion that dragged on until Merei wanted to bring her fists down on the table and scream.

  I’m the only kid in the galaxy who actually wants her parents to ask how school went, and they won’t do it.

  Finally Gandr looked over at her with one eyebrow raised.

  “And why are you so fidgety?”

  Merei reminded herself not to look eager—her parents should feel like they’d dragged the information out of her.

  “Oh, just something at school that I’m trying to figure out,” she said.

  “Gotcha,” Gandr said, then reached over and patted her hand. “I’m sure you’ll get it, Mer Bear. Now, Jess, ask yourself what Governor Pryce would do if—”

  “It’s about when to use a ZX-series access disk,” Merei said. “You know, the pros and cons of that approach.”

  Gandr and Jessa exchanged a puzzled look.

  “I’m surprised one of your instructors would focus on that specific solution,” he said. “Which ZX model were you discussing?”

  “The ZX-5,” Merei said.

  “That’s Imperial military stuff,” Gandr said. “Totally overkill for civilian applications.”

  Jessa snorted. “I’ll say. You’d have military intelligence all over you before you installed it. For civilian use you don’t need anything beyond a basic decoder with decent encryption.”

  “Oh, so the ZX-5 is a decoder,” Merei said.

  “A very high-powered one,” Jessa said, then launched into a discussion of encryption standards that Merei found baffling.

  Gandr saw his daughter’s puzzlement and smiled at her.

  “Back to basics, Mer Bear,” he said. “It’s the basic security principle of something in the head and something in the hand. To access a sensitive file, you need your regular access code and the code displayed on the decoder, which changes every few seconds.”

  “So unless you have the decoder, you can’t read the file.”

  “Right,” Gandr said. “The more important the official, the stricter the orders about keeping his or her decoder on hand at all times, or restricting its use to a specific location.”

  Merei felt cold. Discovering what had happened to Dhara had just gotten much, much harder. Her ISB credentials allowed her access to that information, but only in conjunction with an Imperial decoder.

  “There’s a reason for all that security,” Jessa said. “Criminals and dissidents are always trying to get access to the ministries. In fact, I was late because I’ve been ordered to investigate an apparent breach at the Transportation Ministry.”

  “What?” Merei asked.

  “The Transportation Ministry,” Jessa repeated. “Our security folks are still investigating how they got into the building and what network defenses have been penetrated.”

  “Any leads?” Merei forced herself to ask.

  Jessa shook her head. “The first thing I did was request the cam-feeds, of course. But the idiots were only keeping two days of video archives, so what I wanted to see is gone. We spent the afternoon searching the network for unauthorized transmissions or rogue programs, but with all the inter-ministry activity that’s a needle in a haystack until the weekend sweep runs. Tomorrow we’ll start questioning the custodial crew—there’s talk some of them had associations with gangs in Old City’s alien quarter.”

  Merei tried to hide her shock. Her intrusion had been discovered—and her mother was leading the investigation. She forced herself to remain calm as she cleared the dishes and cleaned up the counters, then returned to her room and deleted the accounts she’d used to receive transmissions from her snooper programs.

  Calm down, she reminded herself. The snoopers are dormant, and they’ll erase themselves from the network at the end of this week, before the anti-intrusion sweeps. They haven’t found them yet, and even if they do, the transmissions no longer lead anywhere. Plus, there’s nothing tying me to the phony ISB identity. I can delete that, or just stop using it.

  She’d be fine—well, as long as she got access to a high-powered decoder, completed her mission by the weekend, and wasn’t somehow caught by the very capable Imperial security specialist who happened to be her mother.

  When Currahee woke the cadets at dawn, Zare, Oleg, and Jai found themselves standing at attention before they even realized they were awake. But Dev was a moment late descending from his bunk, earning himself a face full of screaming Imperial sergeant.

  “Today you go to Commandant Aresko,” she growled, turning from Dev and Oleg to glare at Jai and Zare. “He’s conditionally approved you to begin field training after winter break. He thinks you’re ready to try your hands at being soldiers.”

  At the moment, Currahee looked like she didn’t share that opinion.

  “That means he’ll be supervising the rest of the week’s assessments personally—and only the most promising cadets will be tested,” she said, leaning close to Dev. “If any of you make me look bad, I’ll have you scrubbing floors and hauling trash before dawn every day for the rest of your term!”

  “I guess she’s not a morning person,” Dev said as Currahee strode off to glower at Unit Besh.

  “Neither are you, apparently,” Oleg sneered. “Did they let you sleep in at the Yokel Flats Academy or whatever it was?”

  “Sometimes,” Dev said with a yawn. “It was a reward for winning assessments. Kind of like the three I won yesterday. And the two I won the day before that.”

  And there was that cocky grin again.

  “Someday, Morgan,” warned Oleg, pale with anger.

  Jai laughed, and Oleg turned on him, jabbing a finger in his face.

  “You too, Jai.”

  “That’s enough, Oleg,” warned Zare. But he was a bit annoyed himself. Dev had won five assessments over two days, and Zare couldn’t figure out how he’d done it. He was quick and agile but not particularly strong, and Currahee had already reprimanded him twice for not paying attention. He just always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

  After a hasty breakfast Currahee handed Units Aurek and Besh over to Taskmaster Grint, who marched them into the assessment hall, barking at a couple of cadets from Besh who goggled at an AT-DP as it stomped past them. The massive blast doors were open, revealing Capital City beyond.

  “And halt!”
Grint ordered, facing Aresko where he waited on his command platform. “Squad NRC-077 for your inspection, sir.”

  “Cadets, you entered this facility as children,” Aresko said. “And in a few short weeks, you will leave as soldiers. By the time you complete your training, you will be prepared to serve your Emperor. Today, we will test your strength and resolve. Are you ready to become stormtroopers?”

  Behind the faceplate of his helmet, Zare scowled. Stormtroopers? Surely Aresko was testing them to see how they’d react. Aurek and Besh were the best units at the Academy, and all of their cadets were considered officer material.

  A good cadet serves the Emperor as his officers think best, Zare reminded himself.

  “Sir, yes, sir!” he shouted with the others.

  “At ease,” Aresko said, glancing at his datapad. Zare pulled off his helmet and exhaled, while Oleg glared at his rivals and Jai started joking around with Dev again.

  “Who’s under pressure?” Dev asked Jai, elbowing him in response to some taunt Zare had missed. “Not the guy who’s won every assessment.”

  Zare tried to ignore the two cadets as they jostled each other playfully. A year ago Dhara had begun field training after winter break, spending an increasing amount of time away from the Academy. Then she’d vanished in the springtime, supposedly while during a training exercise.

  Maybe that’s when they’ll come for me, Zare thought. Maybe it’s easier to snatch a cadet away from the Academy, where there are fewer eyes.

  Grint ordered Thurgos and Betancy out of formation, pointing at Currahee where she stood with Units Cresh and Dorn. They removed their helmets and walked away, shoulders slumped. That left the four cadets from Aurek, and Giles and Uzall from Besh.

  Suddenly the floor began to sink, leaving the six cadets staring up at Aresko and Grint.

  “Cadets, you are descending into the Well and must climb out with all deliberate speed,” Aresko said. “The winners will be given the honor of serving as aides in Imperial headquarters.”

  Zare’s eyes widened.

  “Those who lose will be serving Taskmaster Grint, and wish they’d stayed at the bottom of that Well.”

  “I’m taking that prize,” Jai said.

  “Not today, Kell,” hissed Oleg, shoving Jai in the back. Dev put his hand on Oleg’s chest.

  “Back off, Oleg,” he said.

  “You, too, Morgan—you’re both going down,” Oleg said.

  Dev glanced at the gridded walls of the Well and grinned. “Actually, we’re going up.”

  Jai smirked at Oleg, who balled his hand into a fist and tried to push past Dev. Zare glanced up at Aresko, waiting for them to be reprimanded, but the commandant was just watching, a smirk lifting a corner of his mouth.

  “The assessment begins in four…three…two…ONE!” said Grint, stabbing at his datapad.

  Repulsorlift platforms emerged from the grid and began drifting across the Well above the cadets’ heads, while others rose from the floor around them.

  Dev sprang onto a passing platform, which dipped under his weight before resuming its course. Dev jumped onto another one, then leapt to grab a bar on the underside of a third moving in a different direction. Then he changed his mind and dropped down to a fourth platform.

  “See you at the top!” he crowed as he leapt again.

  “Yes, you will!” Jai retorted, scrambling after him. “From below!”

  Zare rushed after them, looking for a pattern in the platforms’ movement. It seemed completely random, yet there was Dev, turning unerringly to spot the next platform he needed to take him closer to his goal. And Jai was right behind him.

  Oleg elbowed Zare hard in the side and Zare reminded himself to focus on making his own way out of the Well. Giles, meanwhile, was crouched on a platform rising quickly upward, turning from side to side to defend his prize.

  “Failure is not acceptable,” warned Aresko, his voice amplified. “This Empire has no use for weakness.”

  Giles yelped. Zare looked over and saw blue tendrils of electricity climbing his legs. He plunged off his platform and landed several levels below, shaking his head woozily.

  “Morgan, how do you do it?” Jai said over Aurek’s shared channel. “It’s like you know the platforms are coming before they’re there.”

  “What can I say?” replied Dev even as he kicked off the wall of the Well, turning to land on a new platform as it emerged. “It’s a gift!”

  Dev and Jai were several levels above the rest of the cadets now, with Dev in the lead. As they passed each other going opposite directions, Dev reached down to help Jai onto his own platform. But neither of them saw Oleg behind them.

  “You lose, Morgan,” Oleg said, leaping at them. But before he could make contact, Dev and Jai jumped aside. Oleg plunged past Zare and the two Besh cadets, landing on his face far below.

  Dev lifted his faceplate and offered the sprawled cadet a salute as Zare saw his chance and leapt desperately between platforms, trying to intercept one rising from the corner of the Well.

  He was too late—Dev hopped out of the Well, followed a moment later by Jai. Zare scrambled up behind them.

  “Quite a finish, cadets,” said Aresko. “It seems this trial was too easy. Morgan, Kell, you both set course records.”

  Aresko’s eyes settled on Zare.

  “And is it…Leonis?”

  Zare forced himself to choke back his anger instead of rushing at the man who’d blandly assured his family that no effort was being spared to find Dhara.

  “Sir, yes, sir,” he managed.

  “You three are today’s winners,” Aresko said. “But rest assured your next trial will be a greater challenge.”

  Zare was still steaming as he followed Aresko, Dev, and Jai through the corridors of the Academy to learn about their work assignment. A black astromech droid rolled past the quartet and Zare’s eyes settled on it momentarily, curious to see such an old model in Imperial service.

  Then he noticed the droid turn its head. He followed its gaze and saw Dev make a sign with his gloved fingers. The droid turned its head back and continued on its way.

  Zare hurried to catch up with the others. It hadn’t been his imagination—Dev had signaled to the droid.

  “I know what Morgan’s doing,” Zare said when Merei answered the comm.

  She looked at him in alarm.

  “Where are you?” Merei asked. “Can we—”

  “It’s fine—we can talk,” Zare said. “I’m in Imperial headquarters. This is Maketh Tua’s office—I have access to it for deliveries. She’s in meetings all day, and I know her comm panel isn’t monitored.”

  It was Zare’s morning rest break and Merei’s free period, and she’d rushed home to talk with him. He could see the walls of her bedroom behind her, lit softly by the mid-morning sun.

  “Okay, but slow down,” Merei said. “Morgan. You mean the new cadet? Start at the beginning—you’re going to blow a motivator.”

  Zare explained about Dev’s peculiar gift of foresight, and how he’d seen him signal to the droid.

  “He’s getting information about the assessments from the droid,” he said. “It explains everything.”

  “Except why a cadet would have connections like that,” Merei said. “Let me think about it a minute. Besides, since we can talk I have something to tell you, too.”

  She explained quickly, watching Zare’s eyes widen when he heard about Dhara’s special assessment file. But she left out what she’d learned about Beck, and that her intrusion into the Transportation Ministry’s computers had been detected. He had enough to worry about as it was.

  “So I can access the file—but not without the decoder,” Merei said.

  “I might be able to help with that,” Zare said. “As one of the winners of today’s assessment, I have a work detail inside Imperial headquarters tonight.”

  “So you could get a decoder?” Merei asked, feeling a surge of wild hope.

  “Maybe—wait, maybe
not. Dhara said there were datapads that couldn’t be taken out of certain rooms without raising an alarm. Would they have the same safeguards for your decoders?”

  “Almost definitely,” Merei said. “Let me see if I can find out about the security protocols there. Maybe I can find another answer.”

  “And what about Morgan?”

  “Let me look,” Merei said, typing and peering at her datapad. “Hmmm. All the official information you’d expect is there, starting with the Academy transfer, but it’s the bare minimum. I mean, there’s a record of a Dev Morgan attending school in Pretor Flats, and grades, but there are no tests or papers archived, and no teachers’ notes.”

  “That seems really strange.”

  “It does, but it could be incorrectly keyed data or a botched file transfer. Let me look for him on the public networks. Hold on, Zare.”

  Zare waited impatiently, trying to divine what Merei was thinking from how she squinted and arched her eyebrows and bit her lip. That was distracting enough, but watching her face made him want to be with her, somewhere far from all this danger and deceit.

  “There’s basically nothing,” Merei said. “A couple of user accounts with a fuzzy picture or two. No hobby sites, or comments about grav-ball or music, or any of the kind of history you’d expect a normal kid to accumulate.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s like Dev Morgan doesn’t really exist,” Merei said. “I don’t know about the droid, but whoever your new cadet is, he’s not there to serve the Empire.”

  “Neither am I,” said Zare. “But that doesn’t mean he’s on our side.”

  Zare, Jai, and Dev were only given a few errands before reporting to Imperial headquarters, but Currahee assured them that the various ministers and officers would find things for them to do—and that she expected them to make her proud.

  When they emerged from the elevator, Zare waited until Jai had disappeared from view, then hurried after Dev, following the sound of the other cadet’s boots.

  He heard a murmur of conversation ahead of him and stopped. A moment later, the hard-eyed Agent Kallus passed by, carrying two datapads. Zare came to a halt and saluted, relieved when Kallus nodded absentmindedly and kept walking.