Chapter Text
“There is a certain art in treachery. It is a delicate dance, especially with the added element of espionage, for both the betrayed and the betrayer. The traitor must dance their dance in secret: they may even make it seem that others dance instead of them. The betrayed, on the other hand, must always be on the alert for dancers, and must suspect even those who cannot dance.”
- Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, Art of War or War in Art?: Socio-Political Struggle and its Effects on Cultural Output, tr. Eli Vanto.
“Victory and defeat,” Thrawn tells Kallus, “can often be determined by the smallest detail.”
He’s right, of course, though Kallus knows Thrawn’s version of victory or defeat would differ significantly from Kallus’ own. Thrawn definitely wouldn’t be helping the Rebels, for a start.
“You two,” he says, to the two painfully obvious Jedi-in-Stormtrooper’s-clothing. “Come with me to secure the perimeter.”
He expects the beating, honestly. He’s gotten incredibly familiar with how the Spectres operate, and it usually involves someone – usually him or one of his troops – getting punched. He doesn’t expect them to actually listen to him when he asks them to.
“Why should we believe you?” asks the Stormtrooper with Jarrus’ voice.
“By the light of Lothal’s moons.”
Jarrus removes his helmet, and Bridger opens his faceplate: most unprofessional. If Kallus were running their mission, he’d tell them off for revealing their faces to a potential enemy so quickly. And he would definitely give Bridger a telling off for loudly confirming the code phrase in an Imperial complex like this one where cameras and listening devices are rampant. He’s going to have to “accidentally” corrupt the recordings afterwards now, isn’t he? Well, never mind.
(Kallus is a little surprised to see the change in Kanan Jarrus. He remembers, vaguely, blue eyes and a small goatee; this Jarrus is full-bearded and has a red burn scar across his nose and eyes. And Bridger looks older, too, now he thinks of it, taller and more mature.)
He never gets the chance to harangue them, of course: time is running short, and they have their mission to complete. Plus, Bridger throws him bodily through a large pane of glass. That always puts a damper on any plans he has for the day.
He spots the new camera in his room nearly immediately after coming back from the factory on Lothal. It’s right in the narrow little corner where he usually makes his Fulcrum transmissions, hidden where a small bolt would have been, and there’s no way it won’t spot the distinctive holographic symbol.
Damn and blast.
His superiors probably don’t have any evidence yet: otherwise Kallus would have been arrested or killed by now. No, likely they suspect Kallus of something, but need proof; they’re probably counting on Kallus to spot the damn thing, want to make Kallus sweat a little. Likely Kallus isn’t the only one under scrutiny, either, though it’s hard to imagine any of his current colleagues as traitors.
It means, of course, he’ll have to find a new way to conduct Fulcrum-related activities: take more planet leave, pretend to have leads on Rebels more often. Not impossible. But difficult. There are only so many excuses he can present before someone gets suspicious, probably fewer than he thinks, and if his behaviour changes too much all at once it’ll only get worse for him.
Which is all well and good for a few weeks right up until Bridger the Hutt decides to come and try to break Kallus out. It’s a lovely sentiment, really, but it’s the kind of complication Kallus really does not need right now. Especially since, coincidentally, Admiral Thrawn has also decided to stick his long blue nose in. Again.
Plans within plans. That’s always been the ISB way: deceptions and trickery and a surprising amount of improvisation. Out-thinking Admiral Thrawn, though, could prove remarkably difficult. Especially since Bridger is the kind of wild card that could either make this work perfectly before everything goes horribly wrong, or mess everything up in the most spectacular way possible before he somehow succeeds. The trick is to figure out which of those is most likely and to plan accordingly.
“Gentlemen,” remarks Thrawn calmly, when Kallus and Lyste present themselves, “we have a traitor among us.”
Damnation. The Rebels are right, and they might just be too late. No wonder Yularen is here. Kallus should have known: Yularen was ever a fan of the subtler investigation techniques. No need for torture when they have video evidence, after all, although no Imperial officer Kallus knows has ever forgone the opportunity to torture a potential Rebel. Including himself.
He stays as calm as he can. He has a few fail-safes up his sleeves, after all: Lyste, his repurposed MSE-droids, and a deep distrust between Pryce and Konstantine that he’s been stoking for months now. And Bridger, of course, though the boy is perhaps not quite as convincing a Lyste as Kallus had hoped. At least they can do a little good by erasing the Rebel’s base. At least he gets a chance to use Thrawn’s own sentry droids against him.
“Come on!” yells Bridger, as the Rebels’ Sheathipede-class shuttle begins to lift off; Kallus can feel the slight tug of the Force at the front of his cuirass, as if the boy thinks to drag him onto their shuttle kicking and screaming. Of course, Kallus would never do something as undignified as that, so he ignores Bridger in favour of punching Lyste in the face.
(He’s been wanting to do that for a while now, truthfully. Lyste is a snivelling, sycophantic little creep whose passion for the Empire would have endeared him to Kallus before that moon. Now Kallus just feels a little slimy whenever he’s near Lyste.)
“I will do more good here,” he shouts, as the Rebel’s shuttle begins to power up. “Now that I’ve captured Fulcrum.”
It’s probably a bad idea. He knows it’s only a matter of time before his employers realise that Lyste has nothing to say; even if they don’t pin it on Kallus immediately, they’ll definitely realise Lyste was framed at some point. But – well, perhaps Garazeb Orrelios has made Kallus into an optimist at last. It’s worth a try, isn’t it? It’ll be worth the risk to find more information for the Rebellion… right?