Trachta sat silently in yet another mind numbing meeting between Grand Duke Jago and several members of other major houses on Kuat. He’d been on this planet of aristocrats for almost three months now. Everything was going on in its usually disorderly and chaotic fashion on the well renowned world. Everything was also making Trachta realize why he liked the hierarchy of the New Order or even organized crime much better than the one of the nobility on Kuat. All the houses were constantly vying for power and trying to oust one another from power. It was almost like anarchy. There was no true order like in a militaristic organization like the Empire. Ranks could change in an instant if you made the right alliances here and if you made the wrong ones your rank would plummet. It was even worse than crime organizations trying to gain power over one another. At least with them they killed you and that was it. Here on Kuat they’d kill you, bankrupt your family, make any of them who didn’t commit suicide their servants, and then sell them off-world just to spite them. It amazed Trachta there was even any Kuat nobility left the way they carried out their grudges and revenge. All of the chaos almost caused Trachta to suffer a nervous breakdown. During that period of foreboding, Trachta’s life-support units had had to work double time to keep him from passing out from all the stress. But now after spending so much time amongst the aristocrats he had finally adapted to the chaotic nature though he would be much happier once his mission was complete and Imperial order could be put in place. When that happened, the Kuat people would get nasty reality check as to who really ran things out there in the universe, military powers.
“No!” screamed one of the nobles, breaking Trachta’s deep thoughts.
Trachta looked up to see which one it was. It was a large round pompous looking man in a deep blue and green aristocrat’s suit with gold trappings, Duke Mio Hortha. He also had a very large, waxed mustachio on his face which gave the effect of looking slightly like a Corellian walrus. Trachta mentally smirked at that but now tuned into the conversation he had originally only been recording to listen to it later as he had a tendency to space out when the nobles began their business.
“What do you mean by no, Duke Hortha?” Grand Duke Jago asked in a very calm but also very dangerous voice.
Trachta wasn’t surprised by this. The Jagos never raised their voices very often and when they did it was definitely a crisis of some proportion. They often remained soft-spoken like the Grand Duke currently mainly because everyone knew what happened when you disagreed with the Jagos. You lost your position in the hierarchy that was maintained on Kuat. But Trachta now looked at Duke Hortha who was still standing his ground with his ridiculous mustache. Trachta then remembered something that Barlow had been reporting on lately. It was a plot to remove the Jagos out of power and place another house in power. Trachta couldn’t remember all of the houses that were gathering behind this plot but he remembered that the Horthas were the chief conspirators in it and were in fact the choice to replace the Jagos if the plan succeeded. Of course Duke Hortha wouldn’t stand down; he thought he now held all the cards he needed to succeed no matter what the Jagos did now. Trachta knew that Hortha was partially right in that thought except for one tiny little problem. Trachta knew about it and Hortha didn’t know he knew about it. This gave Trachta the one true advantage, if he wanted to stop it he could, yet this was the perfect opportunity that he had been looking for. It was the one opportunity to eliminate most of the Jago family and carry out the rest of his plans. With this thought in mind Trachta made the point of keeping quiet about the plot. He would have to talk to Hortha later.
“That’s what I mean by no!” Hortha shouted pulling Trachta out of deep thought again. Trachta was seriously relieved he was still recording this conversation or he could be missing a very vital piece of information there. Trachta made a point of paying more attention to the conversation.
“If you raise your voice again, Mio, I’ll have you thrown out of my palace. You are making a bad example of Kuat politics for Commodore Trachta here. I do apologize for this, Trachta. It seems one of my fellow noblemen has forgotten his place in the food chain around here,” Grand Duke Jago said as he glared dangerously over at Hortha who simply stood there still defiant.
“I will lower my voice when I feel like it you soft spoken piece of bantha fodder!” Duke Hortha screamed as he stood there. His face was profusely red now as he bellowed at the Grand Duke.
“Get out of my sight,” the Grand Duke hissed dangerously as he pressed a button on his desk. Two Jago house troopers entered the chamber and stood at attention. “Guards, remove Duke Hortha form the estate immediately.”
The two guards saluted and each grabbed Hortha by one of his arms and dragged him out kicking and screaming. Many of the insults were in basic, but several also came out from other languages Trachta had picked up while working as a criminal. The most astounding insults that he heard from Hortha in fact came out in huttese, which made Trachta wonder the Hutts might be helping Hortha in his planned coup de’ tat. If they were Trachta would need to move quickly to ensure the Empire was the one to seize power and not those stupid slugs. Trachta hated the Hutts mainly because one of them was responsible for him having the cybernetics that he now needed to stay alive. They had caused him great agony and robbed him of the ability to live a normal human life. Trachta’s thought of hatred vanished though as he turned back to Grand Duke Jago.
“That was a bit unpleasant,” Trachta said in a neutral metallic voice. The Grand Duke nodded to Trachta before turning his attention to the remaining nobles who sat there before him looking slightly shocked at what had just occurred.
“You are dismissed, gentlemen,” the Grand Duke and waved them off as they stood up and left talking amongst themselves. Now it struck Trachta as to why Duke Hortha had made such a spectacle of himself. He had now gotten the attention of some of the other powerful house on Kuat with that spectacle and some may now rally to support him.
“Walk with me, Trachta,” Grand Duke Jago said as he stood up and walked towards the doors that opened automatically as he approached them. Trachta slowly stood up and walked up to Usil as he strode onwards. “I fear the Horthas are planning something, my friend. The way Duke Hortha was acting, it was like I didn’t have any power over him. If this continues I may be in danger of losing my position as Grand Duke. Then again I could simply be in danger of losing my life which would leave only my son as heir to the Jago family fortunes. What will I do Trachta? He’s only a boy; he hasn’t even come of age yet. That is only two years away, but I need a Regent to manage things until he comes of age.”
“I’m not sure why you are confiding this to me,” Trachta lied as he walked next to the Grand Duke through a massive hallway with huge stain glass windows that each depicted one of the ancestors of the Jago family.
“I’m telling you, Trachta, because you’re the only person I can trust now. With what looks like to be a forming assassination plot, I need someone who isn’t…..isn’t…..” Usil grasped for the word not wanting to insult Trachta.
“Noble?” Trachta hinted as the walked along. Usil nodded apologetically as they continued to walk down the hallway.
“Yes, noble. You are the only person I can trust Trachta and my son likes you immensely. You have grown very close to our hearts since you’ve been here for so many months as the New Order’s liaison and I have to say I do consider you a close friend.”
“I’m honored to be told that, sir,” Trachta said this time meaning it. The Jagos trusted few people and to how gotten so close and become a confidant of the Grand Duke truly told Trachta that he had done a good job deceiving these foolish aristocrats.
“I’m happy you are, my friend, because I won’t probably be around much longer to tell you again. In fact, I am going to my study now to adjust my last will and testament. I’m going to make you executor of my will as well as Regent of my family AND Kuat.”
Trachta stopped dead in his tracks when he heard this. The Grand Duke turned to him curiously as Trachta still stood there dumbfounded at what he had just heard. It couldn’t be this easy, could it? He had been wriggling his way into the hierarchy for several months now but he hadn’t expected this. He had anticipated having to use military force to take the planet from information he was gathering. But the Grand Duke had just handed him the key to his success. His objective was now in his grasp more than ever before and he couldn’t believe it.
“Why have you stopped Trachta?” Usil asked with some concern as he stood there looking at the frozen commodore.
“You honor me with such a thing, sir. I….I never expected to be given such a responsibility.”
“You won’t be thanking me once you come into power. You’ll have to take care of all the other noble houses, though I’m sure you’ll be able to with a little military influence.”
Usil started walking again and Trachta started following again. As they walked along they discussed the situations developing on Kuat and what the New Order would do to help keep order on the planet once the Grand Duke was assassinated. It was a grim discussion, but Trachta carried it on to assure Grand Duke Jago that he would keep control over Kuat once he was dead and his son was unable to ascend the Grand Duke title until two years later. Eventually Trachta separated himself from Usil and went for a stroll out into Kuat City. While out there he saw Duke Hortha in the window of one of Kuat’s most luxurious restaurants. A plan formed in Trachta’s head as he watched the nobleman talking with a cadre of what were, undoubtedly, his supporters. Trachta entered the restaurant and bypassed the matre’d droid who was chasing after him furiously as he walked up to Duke Hortha’s table casually. Hortha looked up and his reddish face paled slightly at the site of the pasty cybernetic imperial walking up to him.
“What do you want tin can?” Hortha asked confidently as he stared at Trachta smiled a smug smile that said Trachta couldn’t do anything to him.
“Why, I wish to support your power play,” Trachta said causing the Duke to spite the wine he had been drinking out and onto the matre’d droid who had just reached the table. The droid left in a hurry muttering to itself in binary.
“Wh….what power play?”Hortha asked cautiously.
“The one you’ve been plotting ever since I arrived here on Kuat,” Trachta said matter-of-factly.
“How do you know that? Who has told you?”
“No one, I simply have my connections,” Trachta said as he stood there silently.
“How do I know this isn’t some sort of trap?”
“Because what you’ve said would have already incriminated enough for guards to come charging in. I think that proves enough that I support you.”
Hortha eyed him suspiciously but then invited him to the table and the plot was formed. They came to the single agreement that the entire Jago family had to be destroyed to ensure victory and the dominion of House Hortha. It was a pity that both the Horthas and the Jagos were nothing more than puppets in a massive scheme constructed by Trachta to ensure the domination of the entire planet all through a single power play and its failure. Now all Trachta needed to do was get in touch with Barlow, who had used these months to infiltrate the Hortha family security phalanx to the point of being Hortha’s personal bodyguard after several planned assassinations that would fail.
Two Hours later
Trachta walked up to a crummy little dockworker’s bar on the outskirts of Kuat City. He had had to get a repulsor taxi to take him here but he made and was now going to carry out the beginnings of his plan to conquer Kuat for the New Order. Trachta walked into the smoky little bar and heard some the more common music on the holonet these days. He walked over to a large man sitting silently in the corner and sat down opposite of him.
“It has all finally come together, Barlow. But your part is the most important. Hortha will be out of site when the assassination of the Grand Duke occurs, so you must stay with him and kill him at exactly two minutes after ten. Jago will be dead one minute after ten. Once this happens, return to my suite on the space station and await my arrival.”
Barlow had sat there silently as he listened to his superior’s instructions and explanations. Once Trachta had finished, he simply nodded.
“I’ll do my job, sir. You can count on my success. We’ll get this world for the New Order or we’ll kill Kuat’s rulers trying,” Barlow said as he stood up and walked out of the bar after paying for his drink. Trachta watched him leave and waited twenty minutes before he left to ensure no one had followed him.
The next day, Ten o’clock, Kuat Senate of Houses
Trachta looked down at his chronometer as Grand Duke Usil Jago gave a speech to the Senate. Some of the noble looked bored, while several looked like dissidents ready to attack. Right when the chronometer reached one minute after ten, the crowd screamed in horror and surprise as a blaster bolt from the upper balcony hit the Grand Duke right where his heart was causing blood to spurt out. The Grand Duke stuttered slightly and then fell to the floor dead. Trachta stepped down to him s if in grief, what he really did was check to see if there was still any pulse at all. There wasn’t any to be felt. Then another blaster shot was heard as people screamed in the outer hallways. When Trachta ran to investigate, he found Duke Hortha dead with a look of utter surprise on his fat face. Trachta mentally smiled as he returned to the center of the Senate of Houses. Noblemen and noblewomen were screaming at one another as to what to do. Trachta promptly pulled out his imperial issue officers blaster and fired off a round. The entire chamber suddenly went silent and many people looked at the pale officer in surprise. He had always been quiet and submissive while he had stayed here and now he seemed to be exerting an authority he had hidden for these long months as the liaison from the New Order.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the noble houses of Kuat, today truly is a day of sadness as I have watched a man I had found to be a friend gunned down in his prime. But fear not for he has confided in me that he made a will before he this fateful day. Bring forth the last will and testament of Grand Duke Usil Jago!” Trachta commanded. Several servants dashed off quickly and soon returned with what appeared to be a disk. Trachta took it and inserted it into the Senate’s very ornate holoprojector. The image that appeared was that of the newly deceased Grand Duke.
“Members of the Senate of Houses, if you are seeing this then that means I have been assassinated. This leaves my house without a leader as my son is still not of age for two more years to become the head of my house, so I am naming Commodore Trachta executor of my will and Regent of House Jago until my son comes of age. Also due to my current political alliances, House Jago still rules Kuat so I am also naming Commodore Trachta Regent of Kuat and the Senate of Houses.”
With that announcement the nobles began grumbling and then yelling. Some even went so far as to throw things at the hologram of the Grand Duke. The man had just legally turned the entire planet over to a single imperial officer who would undoubtedly install a new regime. The mutterings were growing a little more discontent until Trachta used the Grand Duke’s gavel to get their attention. The assembly quieted down again, but there were still low mutterings.
“This assembly will meet here again approximately one week from now. Within that time we will be able to reassess our current situation so that order can be restored to a currently confused population. Until then I am declaring martial law to ensure all armed forces of the nobility can keep order. You are all dismissed,” Trachta said as he stepped down from the podium and left the Senate of Houses. Trachta went from there and traveled to the spaceport where he was met by a prearranged shuttle that took him back to the visitor station. Once his shuttle docked, Trachta quickly disembarked and walked to his suite. He found Barlow sitting in the corner reading. He also noticed a blaster disappearing back into Barlow’s suit from where he must have drawn it out of surprise.
“Barlow, dispatch the message to central command, its time the New Order asserted its rule over this ridiculous planet.”
Barlow nodded and crossed the suite to Trachta’s luggage where he removed what appeared to be a logic puzzle. Barlow quickly entered a series of flash memorized codes that converted the device into a signal beacon as it transmitted its message to waiting troop transports. The disguised transmitter gave a beep meaning the message had been received. Barlow nodded to Trachta who now turned toward the suite’s viewport and looked down at Kuat. Those stupid nobles had no idea that Imperial troops were already on their way to ensure the absolute domination of the ship building planet.
One Week Later
The week had gone by quickly as the nobles’ troops maintained order while things were supposedly set in motion to organize the government. Trachta watched out the viewport as New Order troop transports disguised as basic cargo freighters dropped off cargo crates full of stormtroopers waiting for the deployment order from Trachta. Trachta turned and exited his suite, with Barlow in tow, to the shuttle bay where a shuttle was waiting to take him back down to Kuat. Trachta boarded and the shuttle disembarked from the space station and descended through the atmosphere down to the spaceport. The shuttle touched down gently and lowered its ramp. Trachta and Barlow departed and walked over to the cargo handling area of the spaceport. Trachta walked up to several massive cargo crates with imperial emblems on them. Trachta promptly entered their opening codes, causing them to open and reveal some very cramped but combat ready stormtrooper squads. They all stepped out quickly and efficiently as stormtroopers were meant to and stood at attention.
“Men, your job as stormtroopers of the Empire is to maintain order on planet of the New Order. Officially as of three hours ago I, as Kuat’s Regent, have given the planet over to the New Order. We will now go and break up the former governing body so that the new Imperial governorship may be installed without delay,” Trachta said causing the stormtroopers to cheer. Trachta then turned to Barlow and nodded; Barlow walked away to other parts of the cargo area of the spaceport and began entering the opening codes for more massive cargo crates with imperial emblems. More and more stormtrooper squads began appearing. Trachta was already surrounded by enough to take over the center of the city. It would be Barlow’s job to let the rest free to seize the rest of Kuat City.
“Follow me men, we’re off to put the rightful rulers in charge,” Trachta said as he marched off towards the center of the city and the Senate of Houses. Trachta could here the reassuring clacking of stormtrooper armor behind him as he advanced on the capital of Kuat. People stared at the odd spectacle as the force approached the Senate of Houses. Outside they were met by Kuat paramilitary troopers who suddenly stood at attention at the sight of the Regent.
“Mi’lord, we weren’t aware this column belonged to you, we thought the Senate was in danger.”
“Well in a way it is, move your men out of the way, Captain.”
The captain nodded grudgingly and his troopers dispersed and allowed Trachta and the stormtroopers to enter the Senate of Houses. Trachta moved through the hallways with ease, the stormtroopers continued to march behind him, ready to seize power.
Main Chamber, Senate of Houses
The nobles were all arguing amongst themselves not sot quietly as normally. Most were wondering where the Regent was as he was supposed to be here to preside over the meeting and they had not been informed of the approaching column of Imperial troops, so it was quite a surprise when the main doors burst open and Trachta walked in and approached the podium. He took the gavel in his hand and used it to get the crowds attention.
“Fair nobles of the Kuat Senate of Houses, I have very grave news for all of you,” Trachta said causing to lean in now much more interested. “Officially as of four hours ago I made this planet an official member of the New Order, does anyone object?”
The nobles had not expected something like this and began screaming and roaring in protest. What they expected even less was what happened in the next few seconds. Stormtroopers burst into the chamber from all of the doors. The nobles all stood there in shock as the stormtroopers aimed their rifles at the nobles.
“Since none of you can accept the new government that now rules Kuat, you are all hereby under arrest as enemies of the New Order. Colonel, take them away,” Trachta ordered to the stormtrooper who had a colonel’s shoulder pad. The colonel nodded and then issued orders. The nobles were quickly and forcefully removed from the chamber.
Trachta walked out of the main chamber and took a turbolift up to the observation tower of the Senate of Houses. From there he looked out its windows down at Kuat City. More stormtroopers were visible as they arrest more dissenting citizens and seized the capital. Trachta mentally smirked as he watched the Kuat flag being pulled down from its post and replaced by the black and silver imperial banner of the New Order. The New Order officially controlled Kuat and it would probably stay like that for a very long time.
