During the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the reconstituted Sith Empire, Imperial Intelligence sent their agent Cipher Nine on a protracted hunt for the terrorist known as the Eagle after his organization destroyed the Dominator, the flagship of the Dark Council member Darth Jadus.
History[]
Tracking down the Eagle[]
Keeper, head of the Operations Division of Imperial Intelligence
Word came that Darth Jadus had been assassinated, along with thousands of dignitaries, Sith and slaves, in the destruction of the Imperial dreadnought Dominator during a tour of Imperial space. Immediately afterwards, a message was transmitted throughout the entire Empire by a terrorist leader known only as "The Eagle," a former Imperial starfighter pilot and veteran of the Great Galactic War. The Eagle claimed responsibility for the destruction of the Dominator, and claimed to have allies on countless worlds. Seeking to investigate further, Keeper instructed Cipher Nine to hunt down and destroy the Eagle's major terrorist allies and financial backers. Before the mission began, Nine was first called to the Sith Academy on Korriban to meet with Darth Zhorrid, Jadus' daughter, apprentice and successor, before the Agent proceeded on the hunt for the Eagle. The first mission was to Balmorra, in the midst of a bloody civil war. Nine's target was "Gray Star," an ally of the Eagle who was aligned with the Balmorran resistance. Sanju Pyne, an Imperial infiltrator in the Resistance, aided the effort, leading to the death of the Gray Star. On Nar Shaddaa, retired agent "Watcher X" assisted in destroying a chemical factory used by the Eagle to produce "Cyclone," a powerful stimulant used to boost his soldiers' strength. Watcher X, being held in the Shadow Town prison, used the power disruption of the factory's destruction to escape his confinement.
After destroying the factory on Nar Shaddaa and preparing to leave, Nine's communication with Watcher Two was interrupted by Darth Zhorrid, who instructed the Agent to return to Nar Shaddaa to locate Vyord Yanol, the last person believed to have seen Darth Jadus alive. Panicking as the Agent demanded information, Yanol pulled a blaster. Despite Zhorrid's desire for his live capture, Nine killed Yanol, earning a ranting condemnation (including being slapped across the face) by Zhorrid upon the Agent's return to Dromund Kaas. Returning to the hunt, Watcher Two showed an intercepted transmission from the Eagle describing "Eradicators," techno-organic satellite weapons capable of destruction on a massive scale, and his threat to use them against the Empire. The trail thus led to Tatooine and the "Ghost cell," a near-mythical group of assassins that provided training to the Eagle's terror network. Aided by Mia Hawkins, Nine put down the Ghost cell and slew its leader, known only as "the Old Man".
Finally, the trail led to Alderaan, also in the midst of civil war. The target was a former nobleman named Denri Ayl, who acted as a mediator between the various houses of Alderaan. Meeting up with Diplomatic Service emissary Vector Hyllus, who had become a Killik Joiner during his time on Alderaan, Nine went to the House Cortess, allies of the Empire-backed House Thul. Despite initial hostility, Nine gained an audience with the Cortess leaders, Baron Peyar and Baroness Chay. With Hyllus' aid, Nine entered the stronghold of House Alde to confirm that Ayl was the financial backer of the Eagle's terror network, and then tracked Ayl himself to House Rist. Searching through Ayl's logs after killing him, however, Nine discovered that Ayl's efforts to gain the services of the Rists, renowned as a family of professional assassins, had been initiated by Baroness Chay herself. The Cortess estate was equipped with enough shielding and weaponry to hold off an attacking army or a Killik swarm, forcing Nine to find another way in. With the aid of Hyllus and his Killik nest, Nine infiltrated the Cortess estate's power generator hidden in the Glarus Valley and used Killik larvae to destroy the generators before assaulting the estate itself. Entering the throne room, Baron Peyar surrendered, and the Baroness was slain by Captain Perovius, head of the Cortess House Guard. Though the actual traitor was dead, Nine condemned the remainder of the House to death, leaving the Cortess estate to Hyllus' Killiks to form a new hive.
Elimination of the Eagle[]
With the Eagle's support network destroyed, Watcher Two contacted Nine with news that the Eagle himself had been located, at the "Eagle's Nest" on Hutta. Entering the base and fighting through the Eagle's troops, Nine confronted the terrorist leader, who revealed that his patron was in fact someone within the Empire itself. The Eagle's computer only had half of the command codes to the Eradicators; the other was in the hands of his Sith patron. If the full code was not transmitted within a certain period, the Eradicators would go ballistic and attack at random, rather than at the designated targets. With all the information needed, Nine killed the Eagle and returned to Dromund Kaas.
The Eradicator crisis[]
Watcher Two, the new Keeper after Jadus' defeat
Keeper then dispatched both Nine and Watcher Two to the Artus system, an uninhabited system within Imperial space, where a Harrower-class dreadnought orbiting Artus Five was believed to be holding the second half of the codes to the Eradicators. They boarded the dreadnought manned only by crazed Imperial soldiers and droids, and discovered that it was projecting a jamming signal that would prevent them from calling for reinforcements; while Watcher Two guided the Agent using a communicator implant, Nine would head to the bridge and use the full command codes to deactivate the Eradicators en masse. Upon reaching the dreadnought's bridge, Nine was surprised to encounter a very much alive Darth Jadus, flanked by two cybernetically-enhanced dark guardians.
Speaking in his cold, mechanical monotone, Jadus revealed that he had faked his death as part of a plan to purge the Empire of its "corrupt" elements, particularly the Dark Council, and usher in a new era of terror, with the Eradicators as his secret weapon to destroy his rivals. He invited Nine to join him as his chief agent in this new order. While Jadus outlined his plan, Watcher Two secretly spoke over the comm implant; in order to keep Jadus' focus, Nine would have to activate the Eradicators, thus resulting in thousands of deaths, before Jadus could be stopped. After activating the Eradicators, Nine quickly deactivated the jamming signal and sabotaged the ship's shields and hyperdrive, rendering it unable to escape. Watcher Two was able to call for reinforcements, including three members of the Dark Council, leaving Nine to deal with Jadus himself. Despite the fact that Jadus' powers of the Force were second only to that of the Emperor himself, Nine was able to withstand Jadus' fury while diverting necessary power for Watcher Two to encase Jadus in a ray shield, to hold him long enough for the reinforcements to arrive. Eventually, Jadus was forced to submit, and would be turned over to the Dark Council.
The matter of the Eradicators led to a massive shakeup in the Imperial government, and several officials - including the Minister of Intelligence - would be removed. Keeper was named the new Minister of Intelligence, answerable directly to the Dark Council; in his place, Watcher Two became the new Keeper.
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (First appearance)
Notes and references[]
- ↑
Star Wars: The Old Republic — Imperial Agent Mission: "Cleaning Up the Mess" on Dromund Kaas
- ↑ Star Wars: The Old Republic — Imperial Agent Mission: "Breakout" on the X-70 Phantom
- ↑
STAR WARS: The Old Republic - Question ! :) - Page 3 on The Old Republic's official website (backup link) places Star Wars: The Old Republic about ten to twelve years after the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant, which is dated to 3653 BBY by Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia. The Old Republic—The Lost Suns 2 takes place ten years after the treaty, one week after the mission to Nar Shaddaa, and around the time of the SpecForce Incident. Since the mission and the incident are respectively part of Act I of the Jedi Knight and Republic Trooper's storylines, and the Trooper's Act I occurs concurrent to Act I of the Smuggler storyline, the general events of the Prologue and Act I for all classes can be assumed to occur in 3643 BBY.