Star Wars: Wanderers

Chapter Two

ISB research facility
Location unknown
2 days before the Battle of Yavin

Commander Andris Kastner frowned as he read over the report that had been sent to him an hour earlier. According to the report, a man who was asking a lot of questions about a certain former deputy commandant had been found on Chandrila, and he was secure in a prison camp on Sullust. There was just one problem: the blood sample from Jasper Solo they had been keeping for just this eventuality had been destroyed along with a number of other clandestine ISB activities in a rebel attack on Daxam IV. So now they had no way of indisputably verifying his identity, with one possible exception.

Kastner might recognize Solo if he saw him. Or not. He'd only met the man once before, in the streets of Coronet City, when he'd taken his wife away...

He looked up at the live feed from security holocam 1173. There he could see a slim, frail figure lying on her side, up against the back wall. She appeared to be sleeping, but then again, she also appeared to know nothing about any of the rebels she had interacted with over the years. She'd even pretended not to recognize photos of her husband, taken by surveillance cams eight years prior. Her performance was so convincing, even Kastner himself was beginning to have his doubts.

Deputy Commandant Solo had proven resistant to every form of torture the ISB had in its arsenal. He could almost admire her fortitude, but for the unfortunate fact that she was a traitor, and there was no room in the Empire for traitors.

She'd been a rebel spy for years, almost since there first was an Empire to rebel against. She had to be a wealth of information. There could be no denying that. But how to break her? When they'd done everything they could possibly think of...

He was interrupted by the sound of cheering and yelling. Annoyed, he rose from his seat and stuck his head out into the hallway. "What's all this noise?" he snarled

"Sorry, Commander," one of the soldiers said, although he didn't look sorry at all. "But the Rebellion's going down. We're not gonna have to deal with them much longer."

"Don't exaggerate, Private," another, higher-ranking officer said, although he was also smiling. "This was just one planet. It's not over yet for either side."

"What planet? What are you talking about?" Kastner asked, irritated that he was somehow the last to know.

"It's Alderaan," Colonel Finch said. "The Death Star's finally operational. Blew the whole planet to tiny bits."

Kastner's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"That's what they're saying," another soldier said, laughing. "Those rebel scum are gonna run with their tails between their legs."

There was more laughter and raising of beer glasses. "Want a brandy, Commander?" Finch said, smiling as he poured one.

"Don't mind if I do." Kastner took the glass and took a sip. "Just out of curiosity, why Alderaan? Couldn't they find the rebel base?"

"I think that's what they were going for, actually," Finch said. "They had Princess Leia Organa onboard as a prisoner, and it was the Grand Moff's idea to force her to reveal the location of the rebel base by threatening to blow up Alderaan."

Kastner's eyebrows went up. "Really?"

"Indeed." Finch smiled. "I always thought he was a clever man. If half of our officers thought like him, we'd have a lot fewer rebels running around."

"Quite true." Kastner took another sip of his brandy, lost in thought. Cordelia was too important a source of ships for the Imperial fleet to be destroyed. But her home planet wasn't the only thing she cared about...

After a moment, he had his thoughts in order, and a plan began to form. He finished his brandy, bade farewell to the other officers, and returned to his office, already brimming with excitement at what he was planning to do. He really must call Governor Tarkin and thank him personally. He might be impressed, or he might sneer and think Kastner to be a poor imitator of his own brilliance. It mattered not. All that mattered was at last he had a plan to break Eliza Solo.