Purge (Star Wars)

Part 2: Hunting Jedi (~12BBY): The Purge Trooper

With a press of a button, a flashing indicator light and the low beeping that accompanied it were replaced with the face of an intelligence officer glowing from the small cockpit holo display.

"PT-152, report with all haste to the exonium mines on Rishi. The intelligence report is on its way to you now," the officer said mechanically then abruptly ended the communication.

After a year of grueling training the girl had received her new resignation as an active member of the Purge Trooper Division and was sent out into the galaxy to search for remnants of the Jedi order. Most of the leads, however, turned out to be nothing more than exaggerations and rumors. Some were especially skilled fighters or odd circumstances at best but no Jedi and only occasionally someone who was force sensitive.

This latest call came in as her shuttle left the atmosphere of yet another dead-end planet. She made the hyperspace calculations for Rishi and as soon as the communications panel emitted a single ping indicating that the report had been received she initiated the hyperspace jump. It would be a couple of days until she arrived so there was plenty of time to read the report in detail later. She left the cockpit and stripped out of the clothes that had almost fit in with the local population.

Why they insisted on issuing a disguise every time she went undercover for one of these investigations was always a mystery to her. The Empire was notoriously uninterested in the details of any given planet's culture, which resulted in costume-like clothes that were always slightly off kilter to what the locals actually wore. However, since she was never issued more credits than were necessary for refueling and basic survival, she had no choice but to make due with what they gave her.

She dropped the clothes unceremoniously in a pile outside of the refresher and cleaned herself up.

Despite the fruitlessness of the majority of her assignments, her meticulous work and nearly unmatched combat skills had earned her the trust of the Inquisitors and with that the best opportunities to encounter a Jedi. She tried not to imagine how ridiculous the leads must be that other seekers were assigned if these were, in fact, the best.

After cleaning up and putting on the black body glove troopers wore under their armor, she returned to the cockpit. It was unusual to receive new orders when she still had three open leads to investigate, even more unusual to be sent a report rather than return to headquarters for briefing.

She opened this report with more curiosity than usual and the first words to catch her eye were 'known rebel' and 'Jedi'. Excitement lept in her chest and she skimmed the rest of the report, then read it in close detail several times to convince herself she was not imagining it.

She could hardly believe what she was reading. The Inquisitors had set a trap for a Jedi and chosen her to be the one to capture them!

The intelligence operatives in this sector had carefully spread misinformation hoping to draw a Jedi here to the soon-to-be-defunct exonium mines of Rishi. Her orders are simple, to be present if or when this Jedi shows up and capture or kill them.

As uneventful days turned into uneventful weeks, her initial excitement waned and she grew more and more frustrated with the Inquisitorius' reliance on the Imperial Security Bureau. She paced through the same mines and patrolled the same wide metal walkways that traversed the same gaping chasms that felt like just another dead end while her thoughts kept circling back to her other leads that were growing colder by the minute.

The intelligence operatives must have failed to sow convincing rumors.

She passed a squad of stormtroopers in their plain white armor. A few come to attention but she continues without acknowledging them at all. It has been a while since she spent time around regular stormtroopers and she'd almost forgotten that most were almost as afraid of Purge Troopers as they were the Inquisitors. The black armor, designed to actually stand a chance against a Jedi's lightsaber, and dark red eyes of the helmet were particularly imposing and caused most stormtroopers to withdraw from her. None spoke to her unless relaying information or commands. She preferred it that way, of course, as she had no more desire to be social with them as they did with her. Once or twice over the years she had considered taking one of her supposed comrades back to her quarters but the thought of sharing a bed, even for a single night, with someone who would willingly join the Empire disgusted her. Instead she slept alone, ate alone, and kept others as far away from her as possible. Now she wished she was back on her shuttle, alone.