Star Wars: Secret of The Force

Chapter 4

The Eighth Brother was studying the planet before him. It was a stormy world, and the rain was constantly pouring meaning it was hard for him to sense anything below. The local scrapper guild also meant there was a lot of commotion, of which the sight of a destroyer was managing. Captain Korraan's briefing had described how the world had gone through global warming and much of it was either flooded or covered in constant storms. This information had not been welcome, but he stared out the viewport at the pathetic world nonetheless, and hoped this trip would not be a waste of his time. He kept looking out of the viewport, and sensed Korraan and her first mate, Commander Morgan approaching. He clenched his fist and then unclenched before doing anything else. "Such a waste..." he said to himself. Around a week earlier, Darth Vader, his master, had tasked ISB with attempting to find something left by a Jedi. According to Vader, it was highest priority that this was found, the downside: No one knew what they were searching for. Vader's information cited that the Jedi involved had been largely shunned as extreme, almost mad, by the Jedi Order, but that several high Council members believed him in whatever he was researching. The Eighth Brother was not the only Inquisitor who was tasked with checking on the progress of such a mission, though he was the highest ranking of his Brothers and Sisters to be doing so. Raxxann was not a planet he enjoyed looking at. ISB had contacted him with information that so far nothing had been found, all of this whilst he was on his way to assist The Seventh Sister with a matter she was dealing with. He had made the decision to stick with his primary mission and make towards the planet he was staring at now. Captain Korraan was standing not too far behind him. The Eighth Brother could sense her fear and relished in it. "All Systems normal Inquisitor" she said. Commander Morgan was standing behind her and had a datapad in his hand. "The ISB know we're here?" he asks. Commander Morgan, clearly older than the captain, who was twenty-nine, was in his early to mid-thirties was the one to answer. "Yes Sir, they were very surprised to learn that The Relentless was in orbit here" The Eighth Brother scoffs. "Of that I have no doubt... five Inquisitors all searching for the same thing, me, The Eleventh Sister, Thirteenth Brother, Twelfth Brother and Fourteenth Sister, and still nothing!" he says. The Eighth Brother's taskforce had been divided to comb the galaxy, covering scrapyards containing Warships from Bracca to Kuat. The Second Sister had been on Bracca recently he knew to deal with a recent disturbance. Despite his people's efforts The Eighth Brother still had nothing to show for his efforts. "ISB Sector Commander Motti informed us personally that they're having everything checked before the workers leave or move over to their next shipment Sir, unfortunately he does say the weather conditions post a problem. Not much of the planet is inhabitable due to the global warming having happened" Captain Korraan briefs him. "How many have they questioned?" he asks the captain and her first mate. Morgan was the one to reply. "Roughly a quarter of the salvage team members on shift Sir!" he says. The Eighth Brother clenches his fist. "And!?" he demands. Korraan answered quickly. "Nothing too unusual has been discovered sir, the Scrapper Guild higher ups are of course co-operating without question" The Eighth Brother growls in annoyance. "Prepare a shuttle and send it collect Commander Motti!" he orders. Morgan rushes off to make sure its done. "If I had an entire fleet I would be able to make sure this went a lot faster!" spits the inquisitor. Korraan said nothing unless she was spoken to. "How many forces do we have on the ground...?" ask The Eighth Brother after a few moments. "A garrison of roughly two thousand five hundred Stormtroopers" she informs him. The Inquisitor thinks for a moment. "And in reserve or off duty?" he asks. Again, Korraan answered promptly. "The same amount" she says. "Inform ground command all those on downshift are now on duty and they don't get rest until I say so!" he orders. Korraan rushes off to pass on the orders. The Eighth Brother returned to staring out the viewport. "I will find something of use here!" he vows, and returns to his staring. The planet was nothing special, he knew that. After a short amount of time, Commander Morgan returned, and The Eighth Brother could sense his fear and nervousness. "Commander Motti reports he is currently not available to come aboard The Relentless Sir!" says Morgan. The Eight Brother finally turns and faces him. "Why not!?" he demands. Morgan shifted slightly. "His excuse is that he's busy overseeing the questioning of several of the Scrapper Guild Higher Ups sir... we did inform these orders were coming from you, but he said he needed to stay..." says the first mate. "Get him on transmission, I wish to know what he has learned regardless!" orders The Eighth Brother. "Yes Sir!" says Morgan and follows The Inquisitor through to the Bridge Conference room. "Clear the Bridge!" The Eighth Brother ordered the lower level crew and officers. After everyone had exited, Morgan activated the communicator, and Motti appeared. "Inquisitor Sir!" he said, standing to attention. "Update me on your progress with the directors of Scrapper Guild here!" orders The Eighth Brother. Motti nods. "The Workers are doing their jobs as well as they can given the storms Sir. As for if anything has been found? So far nothing, a few items of contraband on a few workers such as spice, Blasters or something like that" he says. The Eighth Brother says nothing, indicating Motti to continue. "Nothing of what lord Vader ordered the search for has been found here, many of my agents are of the belief that whatever we're looking for is not here and any ships it could have been on before our arrival will have been melted down" he says, finishing the report. The Eighth Brother considers this. "And the workers?" he asks Motti quickly replies. "The workers don't really care for any kind of rebellious actions and simply get on with their jobs, there are a few suicide flyers but I doubt they'd have found anything we're searching for sir" and The Eighth Brother nods; clearly he accepted the explanation. Morgan spoke up. "The workers are used to ISB inspections Sir, Intelligence suggests they're just drifters, stopping by, working a few months to a year and leaving" he informs the inquisitor. The Eighth Brother ponders this. "Do we know some might be?" he asks Motti. The man shakes his head. "No Sir, Transept has no presence on the planet and Intelligence has no way of tracking them which wouldn't take months" informs the sector commander. The Eighth Brother pounds an armoured fist on the holotable in anger. "I don't care for excuses; I care for results!" he says. "So, what results do you have!?" he demands of Motti. The man stutters for a moment, clears his throat, and answers. "The Directors of Scrapper Guild have ordered the salvage teams to check the computer systems of the larger war ships for anything that matches the description we gave, but the levels of secrecy ultimately means not much has been discovered, and has reached dead ends." The Eighth Brother considers this. "Have any leads shown any promise?" he asks. Motti shakes his head "None Sir" and The Eighth Brother glares at the hologram silently. "We will double our efforts at once Sir!" Motti says quickly. The Inquisitor nods. "I should hope so, I will deal with your failure later!" he says, and ends the transmission. He walks back towards the bridge. "That man has done almost nothing!" he says to the commander. Morgan shifts slightly. "Orders Sir?" he asks. The Eighth Brother doesn't answer straight away. "the Scrapper Guild still has usefulness, but they've been allowed to slack too long. Double their pace, and I don't care how!" he says. Morgan waits for more instructions. "Yes Sir, do you intend to head planetside?" he asks. The Eighth Brother shakes his head. "No, there's nothing of use there as of now, those workers are going to start moving faster, or executions will be starting!" he snarls. The Commander rushes off to get the job done. As he watched the traffic going back and fourth from the moon, his anger grew.