Chapter One
Almost there.
Ferus Olin ran through the last check on Platform-7, the BRT druid computer that ran the capital city of Sath. It had taken over two days of constant monitoring, but most systems were back to full function. And, most important to Ferus, any information that could lead to the discovery of the identities of the Samarian resistance was gone.
Now what?
He wasn’t sure what he was doing here on Samaria. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision; he’d sent off his friends to safety, but he had remained. He felt an obligation to help the Samarians straighten out their immediate problems, and make sure that the computer sabotage hadn’t endangered any members of the resistance.
But this wasn’t his battle. He had set his own mission to find every Jedi who had managed to escape Imperial Order 66, who had survived the Empire’s slaughter. He’d set up a secret base for them on an unmapped asteroid. But it seemed as though every time he was about to focus on his mission, he was knocked off course.
Obi-Wan would never let this happen to him. Why does it keep happening to me?
It was true that since he’d started, he’d found two Jedi. He’d been through high-speed chases, a trip to the ruined Jedi Temple, and a stay in an Imperial prison. He’d been pursued by a bounty hunter and an Inquisitor. He’d been to the Outer Rim and under the crust of Coruscant. He was starting to get the feeling that surviving Jedi were few and far between.
There has to be a better way to do this.
The Emperor had offered him amnesty in exchange for fixing the computer-sabotage problem in Sath, adding almost as an afterthought that Ferus’s partner and best friend might die if Ferus didn’t do it. Ferus had taken the job.
And so, Ferus Olin, double agent, was born.
He wore the label uneasily. He didn’t like working for the Empire, even though he was trying to undermine it at the same time. He didn’t like being this close to the dark side.
Ferus felt a sudden lurch in his stomach, a feeling close to nausea. Darth Vader was near. One of the things he’d learned staying here in Imperial headquarters was that the Sith could be hard on the digestion.
The door slid open in the darkened room. Darth Vader stood in the doorway. He never entered a room unless he had to. He was a busy … man? Humanoid? Machine?
“You should be done with this by now.”
Ferus spun around in his chair. “Hey, don’t you ever say hello?”
“Emperor Palpatine has requested your presence.”
Ferus frowned, surprised. “My presence where?”
“He is arriving at the landing platform at the Hall of Ministers in fifteen minutes. Then we are to proceed to the reception hall. Bog Divinian is receiving a tribute from the Samarian ministers of state.”
“The Emperor is coming here? Why?” Palpatine rarely left Coruscant now.
“That is not for you to question. Be there.” Vader stalked out.
“Nice to see you, too,” Ferus muttered under his breath.
Darth Vader was in charge of all of the Empire’s operations on Samaria, which meant that he was technically Ferus’s boss. Vader treated him with thinly veiled boredom or contempt, depending on his mood. Ferus wasn’t insulted. He was happy not to have to pretend to be buddies.
Ferus closed the program he was running on the amazingly tweaked Platform-7 and headed out. The building he was in was part of a vast government complex, so he could walk to the ministers’ hall through a series of turbolifts and connecting hallways.
Samaria was a desert planet, and Sath was its major city. In the past century, city planners had created a vast artificial bay that curved around two-thirds of the city. The most exclusive neighborhoods were spread out on a series of land extensions into the bay in a pattern of many-petaled flowers. Government buildings, as well as homes for the wealthy and the palace of the prime minister, were located here.
Ferus noted the extra buzz in the hallways. Some of the ministers, dressed in their sky-blue official robes, were also heading to the landing platform. Although there was a healthy opposition to the Empire in Sath, ministers were canny politicians. They’d curry favor with the Emperor if they had to.
But why had the Emperor asked for his presence at a purely ceremonial affair?
Ferus had let the saboteur of the Sathan computer go, but there was no way for Palpatine to know that.
Or was there?
And why was Palpatine so interested in Samaria? It was a technologically sophisticated planet, true. But Lemurtoo was a small system, with only the neighboring planet of Rosha orbiting the same sun.
The Emperor had told Ferus he wanted to help Samaria thrive … but Ferus would believe that the day he believed in space angels.