Bab 19: The Hidden Tiger (I)
Nine years, four months and thirty days after the Battle of Yavin...
Or forty-fourth year, four months and thirty days after the Great Resynchronization.
You cannot deny the late Emperor that he loved to live in comfort, even concerning his own secret treasury.
Several dozen levels filled with storage rooms, not just brimming with treasures like jewelry, art, figurines, antiques, even a collection of lightsabers, but also technological advances.
Something that could bring the New Republic to its knees.
Something that could have crushed the Rebellion if Palpatine had even thought for a moment about using Mount Tantiss to fight the enemy.
Standing on a small balcony, I admired the gloomy grotesqueness of a huge cave. Once dark and damp, it was now filled to the brim with technological mechanisms, around which technicians from the Chimera scurried, checking the functionality of each system. Every...
Twenty thousand Spaarti cloning cylinders huddled together in the cave, one by one, like grains in an ear.
Rukh, squatting a few meters away from me, was playing with his throwing knife. Well, playing... more like sharpening. Noghri on a mission have no free time to do nothing. Only maximum efficiency. And Rukh was just on a mission.
The quiet sound of heels quickly descending onto the grated platform distracted me from contemplating the beauty.
"Admiral, sir," Gilad Pellaeon appeared in my field of vision.
"Captain," I greeted him. We started today without meeting each other, so an exchange of pleasantries was quite appropriate. "Any news?"
"Yes, sir," it was already clear, Pellaeon literally glowed with happiness. "The lower level is like a labyrinth. We almost lost seven teams of technicians before we realized what was going on..."
"Not 'as if,'" I noted. "This is a labyrinth."
"Sir?" the Chimera commander was clearly hoping for an explanation.
"Captain, I don't really hope for a positive answer, but I'll ask anyway," I looked at the officer. "Do you know the name Garbo V'Diosa?"
The middle-aged man (although, who among us is young here? Except perhaps Rukh) pulled back his uniform cap, scratching the back of his head, clearly going over names and events in his memory.
"No, sir," he replied after a few seconds. "Should it be?"
"If you are not interested in architecture, then no," I said. "Garbo V'Diosa is one of the most extravagant and arrogant architects in the galaxy. He had a hand in many of the buildings in the Imperial Center. Of course, at that time, the planet was called differently, Coruscant."
"I come from Corellia, sir," Pellaeon said.
"But grew up on Coruscant," I clarified, having already become familiar with the captain's personal file. "However, don't think that this is a complaint, captain. In no case."
"Sir, what does the Imperial Center have to do with this..."
"Garbo V'Diosa," I reminded. "It's simple, captain. Garbo V'Diosa is the man who built most of the levels of Mount Tantiss."
"That's right," the man scratched the back of his head again. "I thought this mountain had been filled with secrets for much longer, back during the Clone Wars."
"Yes, that's true," I agreed, pointing to the grotto. "Do you see how strikingly different the designs of the levels of the cloning center are from the rest of the mountain? There is something spacious there, high ceilings, graceful rounded lines, a minimum of corners. The rest of the mountain is distinctive Imperial design that emerged towards the end of the Clone Wars and was finalized during the early years of the Galactic Empire."
"Sir, I am far from art," Pellaeon admitted.
"Yes, me too," I wanted to answer. But instead, I continued to recite what I had read in the files of the throne room of Mount Tantiss. Yes, there is a throne room here too. Very, very similar to what I remember from the interior of the battle scene between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader aboard the Death Star II at the Battle of Endor.
"The Emperor hired Garbo V'Diosa to design a labyrinth in the lower levels of Mount Tantiss," I said. "When the work was completed, the Emperor executed both Garbo, who created this architectural masterpiece, and his brother, who worked as a foreman at this construction site. All in order to keep secret the secrets of the mountain and the way to overcome the labyrinth."
"Did you learn this from the Emperor's notes?" Pellaeon asked curiously.
"This and much more," I admitted. "We really have a treasury at our disposal, captain. The only problem is that most of the 'treasures' are inaccessible to us until we figure out the maze."
"However, we already have something," Pellaeon looked at the cloning cylinders. "Just think, twenty thousand cloning cylinders... Yes, only sixteen thousand of them are in working order, but engineers assure that over time they will be able to restore the rest... when they figure out this technology. The only pity is that it will take us ten years to raise at least one generation of clones in them. This Kaminoan technology is absolutely insane. Some pipes with liquids, hydraulics... To be honest, I thought that the clone makers from Kamino were a more technologically advanced race."
"Kaminoans, yes," I confirmed. "The problem with your resentment towards the people of Kamino, captain, actually has not the slightest basis. These cylinders are not from there."
"Indeed?" Pellaeon wrinkled his brow. "But it was Kamino that supplied clones to the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. Isn't this the same technology?"
"No," I answered. "These cloning cylinders were created by a very interesting enterprise, known during the Clone Wars as 'Spaarti's Creation.' It was located on the planet... Come on, captain, strain your memory. There was such a scandal."
"Cartao," said Pellaeon. "Yes, I remembered. A production facility that supposedly could have changed within a day to produce a completely different product than before."
"Not in a day, but in a night," I clarified. "But everything else is correct."
"Then it's doubly unclear," said Pellaeon. "I remember there was a scandal that the Republic placed an order on Cartao for the construction of cloning cylinders, since they supposedly could create clones faster. But nothing came of it, since the separatists, who also needed this technology, landed on the planet after the Republicans. A battle broke out, the Republic sent reinforcements, several Jedi. However, the Jedi lost control and crashed their ship, destroying the 'Creation of Spaarti' until they could produce at least some product..."
"That's all true," I confirmed, remembering this story well. Of which there was not a word in the Emperor's records here on Weyland. Which is not surprising—who would keep such damning incriminating evidence on themselves? "With the only exception that there were no Jedi on that ship."
"You were probably mistaken, Grand Admiral," Pellaeon cheered up, probably thinking that he could point out the mistake to me. "I remember well—lightsabers were found at the scene of the disaster. The entire HoloNet was trumpeting about this..."
"And yet, this is not so," I sighed. Why give any details? Okay, I'm at least somewhat familiar with Palpatine's deeds from the books. But if I tell Pellaeon, he will obviously grab the blaster. "Spaarti Creation managed to create cloning cylinders. Exactly twenty thousand."
"So it's them," Pellaeon said in amazement.
"They are," I confirmed. "We have twenty thousand incubators at our disposal, which can provide us with our own army of clones in a relatively short time. A useful acquisition, I must say."
"But again, it will take time, years," Pellaeon became sad.
"Not years," I clarified. "No more than a standard month," the captain followed my gaze, watching as technicians from the Chimera placed cells with ysalamiri near each installation. "Our little animals will help us here too. It is possible that we will get our army of clones even faster than thought."
"That's how it is," the Imperial remarked meaningfully. "And I kept wondering why we need a hold full of them."
"It's possible that even more will be needed," I said. "A lot more..."
"Do you think those who remained on the ship will not be enough to protect us from this... C'baoth?" Pellaeon did not hide his contempt.
"If not, we always know where to find more," I said.
"Sir," Pellaeon lowered his voice. "Are you sure that the deal with this C'baoth is the right step? He's the one..." the officer twirled his finger at his temple. "Not quite normal."
"No, captain," I answered. "The deal with C'baoth is not the right move. But necessary to achieve a number of goals. And besides, our friend is not C'baoth at all."
You should have seen the expression on Pellaeon's face. The officer was clearly struggling not to allow a nervous tic to set in.
"What?" he said chokedly.
"Jorus C'baoth is dead," I explained. "Now... twenty-six years, if you do not pay attention to some liberties in the calculation."
"But how?" Pellaeon almost dropped the deck from his hands.
"Pay attention to how our ally introduced himself," I asked. "Joruus C'baoth. He even pronounces his own name incorrectly. The real C'baoth led an expedition beyond the galaxy. 'Ultra-long flight.'"
"I heard about this initiative of the Jedi," Pellaeon frowned. "Fifty thousand intelligent people, dissatisfied with the rule of the Galactic Senate, boarded a ship of a unique design and set off beyond the galaxy with the intention of establishing colonies. Then Supreme Chancellor Palpatine supported them."
"And Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth was a member of our Emperor's inner circle for a long time when he was head of the Republic. But even then the Emperor understood that the Jedi and their philosophy posed a danger to the galaxy. Therefore, he supported the project. There were half a dozen Jedi Masters alone gathered aboard the expedition ships, not to mention the knights and so on. The expedition set off to the edges of the galaxy through the Unknown Regions."
"But there has been no news from them since then," said Pellaeon.
"There's no one to send reports to," I explained. "The expedition was discovered, intercepted, and destroyed. No one returned and continued on their way."
Pellaeon swallowed loudly, looking at me intently:
"How do you know this, sir?"
"I destroyed them," and that's how you label yourself as a mass murderer. However, Pellaeon himself is not without sin—serving the Galactic Empire, it is difficult to leave your hands without blood.
"Sir," the captain looked crushed. "Then who..."
"Who is Mister Joruus C'baoth?" I smiled. Gilad nodded silently. "Come on, captain, think about it. A long-dead Jedi finds himself on a planet with cloning technology..."
"Clone?!" Pellaeon said dumbfounded. "Clone of a Jedi?!"
"That's right," I confirmed. "Moreover, I will say that it is not a fact that the Guardian of the Mountain existed at all. It is likely that this was our friend C'baoth from the very beginning. And it has been serving here for a very long time—it was probably created even before the death of the original Jedi. Or a little later. Yes, most likely he was the first to be created in this cloning laboratory. In any case, I don't see any point in the Emperor creating a Jedi clone that would compete with the Guardian. And even more so—to inform C'baoth's clone of Weyland's coordinates."
"Perhaps C'baoth arrived on this planet himself?" Pellaeon suggested.
"Did his ship evaporate?" I clarified. "No, captain. No matter how much the rebels praise the Force and the Jedi, they have not yet learned to fly between the stars. However, the essence of the dilemma 'Was there a Guardian?' it doesn't matter to us. What we have now is enough."
"Sir," Pellaeon said carefully. "I'm not an expert on cloning, but I remember very well that there were clones, especially in the last year of the Clone Wars, who went crazy. Psychologically unstable, emotionally unbalanced. Psychos, in a word. If C'baoth was not created using Kaminoan technology, then he could be dangerous to everyone around him."
"Yes, our dear 'master' has problems, this cannot be taken away," I agreed. "Over time, they will even progress—I think we will soon witness outbursts of rage, emotional resentment, paranoia, and other symptoms of disorders."
"And are you ready to entrust such a subject to lead the coordination of our forces?" Pellaeon was surprised.
"Do you know of another trained Jedi with such talents?" I asked. Pellaeon shook his head negatively. "Me too, no. We will work with what we have. And work with great caution. You are actually my second-in-command, captain. Consider my request an order. But while C'baoth is on board, you must be friends with the Ysalamiri. Preferably with the entire bridge crew. It is unknown when our kind master will want to reconsider the terms of our cooperation, but this will definitely happen. And no one knows what exactly he can do to the minds of our soldiers."
"There are more and more reasons to destroy it and not go to extremes," Pellaeon grumbled.
"We need him for now, captain," I remarked. "As soon as we learn to cope without him, we'll solve the problem. We don't need unnecessary risk. But we can't live without him either."
"You promised him the restoration of the Jedi Order," frowned Pellaeon, to whom I recounted the contents of the conversation with the clone during an examination of Mount Tantiss. "And then even named the name of the pilot who particularly distinguished himself in the capture of Lusankya..."
"And also Malice," I reminded. "Yes, Corran Horn did a lot of harm to the cause of the Empire. I think if we can deliver him to C'baoth, or C'baoth to him, we will at least get moral satisfaction from what our master will do with him."
Pellaeon shuddered.
"You're not going to let C'baoth actually create the Order, are you?" he clarified. "He alone is dangerous, but if he has followers..."
"It will be a disaster," I agreed. "No, if I wanted the good of our dear 'master,' I would have told him about Luke and Leia Skywalker. The latter, pregnant with twins, would certainly make our ally worry. However, I won't hide it. Having the Jedi on the side of the rebels gives them some advantages. Imagine how far we would have advanced in our cause if we had at our disposal a man with the talents of C'baoth, but absolutely loyal to the ideals of the Empire?"
"I served side by side with the Jedi in the Clone Wars," Pellaeon admitted. "Among them there were those about whom one can speak positively, but..."
"These are things of the past, captain," I remarked, summing up the discussion. I've given some slack. Can not be so. You can't get out of character! Control! Control! "Any news from the Center of the Empire?"
"Oddly enough, but yes," said the captain, handing me the deck. "Source Delta sent another report. Encrypted, of course."
"Well, let's take a look," I touched the code cylinder containing my access codes to the receiving socket of the device, activating the decoder. As soon as the symbols on the screen gave way to digestible scribbling, I delved into reading.
A few minutes later, having deleted the message, I returned the device to the captain.
"Everything is unfolding better than ever, captain," I allowed myself a restrained smile. "We are informed that the rebels were unable to conclude an agreement with the smugglers for direct centralized supplies of goods. Their logistics network is in shambles. An interesting decision was made by their commander-in-chief—to disarm warships in order to increase the amount of usable space for transporting goods."
"Stupid decision," said Pellaeon. "Using the fleet as freighters is idiotic."
"Do you want brilliant solutions from yesterday's farmers?" I grinned. Pellaeon looked at me carefully. Crap. Looks like he's out of character again. Why didn't I take acting classes?! "Their rash decision will play into our hands."
"How?" Pellaeon asked in bewilderment.
"Everything has its time, captain," I said. "Better tell us how things are going with the search for technical circuits for the invisibility generator?"
"We found them," a smile appeared on Pellaeon's lips. "Schemes, several conditionally working samples. Technicians are still working to verify their suitability for use, but I think this is a success."
"Undoubtedly," I agreed. "Send the data to the Chimera, we will take it with us—we need to test the technology in real conditions. Did you find anything else useful?"
"Just this for now, sir." the captain admitted. "But the invisibility generator... this is a huge success! We will be able to sneak up on the enemy and destroy their ships..."
"No, we can't," I destroyed the hopes of the star destroyer commander.
"But why?" he was surprised.
"Because it uses a substance known as 'hybridium,'" I explained. "The cloaking device you discovered is Grand Admiral Martio Butch's first attempt to create one."
"I've never heard of this technology." Pellaeon admitted. "To be honest, I read that we found drawings of camouflage means that were used during the Clone Wars."
"Unfortunately, judging by the Emperor's records, this is not so," I explained. "Martio Butch was an outstanding person. Talented and at the same time modest. While the imperial court was mired in political squabbles, he distanced himself from it. For which he even received the nickname 'invisible admiral'"—judging by Pellaeon's grin, he is aware. "After our defeat at the Battle of Yavin, the Emperor commissioned Butch to create a cloaking device. After many attempts, he created an original scheme—the same one that we discovered. However, it had a significant drawback—when activated, the ship's pilot could not see anything outside the masking field. But the ship itself was impossible to detect. This is actually why the technology ended up in the hands of the Emperor and ended up in the treasury—it has prospects."
"Really?" Pellaeon noted sadly.
"Yes," I confirmed. "When Grand Admiral Zaarin betrayed the Empire, he was working on problems with the shortcomings of the hybridium-based cloaking device. He managed to reduce energy consumption and reduce the size of the installation, but he did not achieve a breakthrough in this matter. By the way, Zaarin owes his death to another shortcoming of the hybridium—when trying to make a hyperspace jump, a ship with such technology enabled is torn to pieces."
"And you know this?" Pellaeon clarified.
"Yes," I confirm with a barely noticeable nod. "After all, it was I who destroyed Zaarin."
At least that's what was stated in Palpatine's documents related to information about cloaking systems.
The study was called the Vornskr Project. His goal was to refine Butch's research. And Grand Admiral Zaarin did this. An outstanding engineer and inventor, he once decided to betray Palpatine. And so Thrawn was sent on his trail. The Chiss defeated Zaarin in direct combat before tricking the rebel Grand Admiral into using the frigate Vornskr to escape. Demetrius Zaarin and his associates bought into the trap. In an effort to throw Thrawn off their tail, they activated the cloaking device the frigate was equipped with in order to escape into hyperspace and remain undetected. Unfortunately for them, Thrawn was expecting this step. He knew full well that if they tried to go into hyperspace with the cloaking device turned on, the entire ship would be destroyed. A simple and effective trap.
Palpatine, enraged by Zaarin's betrayal, ordered the project to be curtailed and all materials on it destroyed without exception. Quite strange, considering the fact that he retained Butch's work. Although, judging by the Emperor's records, Zaarin had not made a big breakthrough before his betrayal. However, records and diagrams for reducing energy consumption and installation dimensions are still available. As well as indications of the planet where the hybridium was mined. Garos IV. This is important because we will need a lot of raw materials.
The technologies that Pellaeon spoke about, referring to the experience of the Clone Wars, used stygium crystals as their basis—and this allowed them to avoid adverse consequences such as absolute "deafness" and "blindness."
However, the issue is that stygium is exceedingly rare and costly, and to produce camouflage based on it will require tons of this substance, that, unfortunately, you can forget about the existence of this scenario. We can't afford it now. And by "us" I mean the remnants of the Empire, and not specifically our fleet.
"Captain," I said, turning to Pellaeon. "Contact the ships of our fleet. Once Mount Tantiss is operational, I want the best pilots, technicians, engineers, and soldiers here to create copies of them."
"Yes, of course, Admiral," the Imperial said absently. "Only... Sir, it's unlikely that the warehouses of Imperial Space will be so full of equipment and uniforms. I'm talking about assault armor. After all, it is almost never produced now—the factories are under the control of the rebels."
"We'll take whatever we need," I said firmly. "The Empire has property on the black market, smugglers have it, and I'm sure Karrde has something too." By the way, do we have data from beacons?
"They are still on Myrkr," said Pellaeon. "The Death's Head and three Star Galleons are heading there for a new cargo of ysalamiri and can check..."
** Star Galleon-class frigate **
"Is that so?" I was surprised. "Eleven days have passed, and they are still at their base? Interesting. No, tell Captain Kharbadaa to change course and head straight for Weyland. Those ysalamiri that are on the Chimera will be enough for the first time. There is no need to give our enemy more information to think about than necessary."
"Do you think that the smugglers do not intend to leave the planet?" the commander of the star destroyer clarified.
"No," I said confidently. "It's more like they discovered our beacons and left them as a souvenir for us," glancing at the Noghri, he added:
"It seems, Rukh, you are not as effective as I would like."
"I will correct my mistake, our new master," Rukh readily rose to his feet.
"Do you think I'm so naive as to trust a new task to someone who failed the previous one?" I said in an expressionless tone. "No, let our intelligence officers check it. About supplies, captain," looking at Pellaeon, I noticed that he was looking at the cloning cylinders. "Aren't there millions of Phase 2 armor sets left in warehouses for clones?"
"Yes, sir, of course," Pellon nodded. "They are in strategic reserve warehouses..."
"Which are located in the Deep Core," I concluded. Palpatine settled in well, keeping them for himself. "I don't think they'll share them with us."
"Yes, and they are standard, designed only for one reasonable person, a donor of clones of the Grand Army of the Republic," added Pellaeon.
"Of course," I agreed. "Well, there is a source of replenishment for our army and navy. Now let's take care of the rear, supplies, and... new ships for our fleet. Organize a meeting for me with representatives of pirates, corsairs, and hijackers. We will have an offer for them."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
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