Corporate Solace

[SWSF Hale]

MAIN CAST


BACKGROUND STORY
Lucidius Hale
Lucidius Hale was born in 32 BBY. to a large and wealthy family of musicians, artisans, and merchants on his native planet of Alderaan. Learning what he could from his parents, brothers, and sisters, Hale developed a knack for being a jack-of-all-trades at a very early age, and entered the family business as a teenager. Although life as a businessman did not suit him very much, so Hale decided to submit an application to the Imperial Academy on Corulag so that he could defend the Empire and his beloved Alderaan.

On his 20th year, Hale graduated from the Academy and was given a junior officer assignment in Scourge Squadron - then Grand Moff Tarkin's outfit. For a decade, Hale quietly rose up through the ranks and became a distinguished officer. And then everything changed. The Battle of Scarif officially kicked off the Galactic Civil War, and in shortly thereafter the destruction of Alderaan. Hale was devastated and angered that the Rebel Alliance effectively caused its demise. With all of his family killed in the incident, Hale dedicated himself to destroying the Rebel Alliance once and for all. His anger and fervor was noted by Grand Moff Kaine, who transferred Hale to the SSD Executor so that he could gain personal satisfaction from Death Squadron's primary mission to locate and destroy the Rebel Base. While onboard the Executor, Hale's future was ultimately decided by Darth Vader himself, who appointed Hale as the commanding officer of the ISD Avenger and the Imperial Expeditionary Force following the Battle of Hoth.

Immediately following the Battle of Endor, Pellaeon rallied the surviving Star Destroyers of Death Squadron, but major schisms in Imperial High Command as well as Operation Cinder prevented the Imperial Remnant from maintaining a semblance of order. In the years following the Battle of Endor, the many thousands of Star Destroyers that once roamed the galaxy fell to hundreds. The Imperial commanders who still believed in the New Order began following Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was recognized as the leader of the Imperial Remnant. In an effort to consolidate forces into a new Star Destroyer Squadron, the Imperial Remnant met at Jakku for internal negotiations. However, the New Republic ambushed the Remnant forces hoping to eliminate Thrawn, who as it turned out was not there. The Battle of Jakku was catastrophic for both sides, but cathartic as well. Short thereafter the Galactic Concordance was signed and the Imperial Remnant traded Coruscant for an armistice. However, Hale had enough. His war was over, and he left the Imperial Remnant for good.

Jana Sable
Jana Sable was artificially conceived, grown in an artificial womb, and was delivered in 20 BBY by Arkanian scientists who were experimenting with growing humanoids instead of cloning them in order to work around Imperial Decree E49D139.41 (which prohibited all cloning unless specifically sanctioned by the Empire). Using genetic material from dozens of species as well as high amounts of artificial midichlorians, Jana is a hybrid of many different humanoid species (though has retained some distinctive Arkanian features) and was engineered to be faster, stronger, smarter, and more beautiful than normal humanoid females, naturally immune to disease, and higher tolerances for pain, heat, and cold.

Jana's "parents" saw her as the prototype of potentially a new generation of designer-grown lifeforms that could outperform clones or even droids in some applications, and had plans to keep her existence secret until she reached maturity... but the Empire discovered her when she was just 1 year old. Seeing a golden opportunity to raise a super soldier, the Emperor himself personally oversaw her development as well as her Force training. On her 16th birthday, she was gifted the title of the Emperor's Shadow and given her first mission. During the early years of the Galactic Civil War, Jana was tasked with assassinating any political opponents of the Empire across dozens of systems. Once in a while, for the Emperor's own personal amusement, she was forced to duel Sith Inquisitors... which only further strengthened her ties to the Force and her lightsaber abilities.

After the Battle of Hoth, Jana was assigned to the Imperial Expeditionary Force by Darth Vader in order to handle any black ops mission required by Hale. Within a matter of months, the working relationship between the two became romantic, although they spent much time apart due to the needs of various missions. During the Battle of Endor, Jana was deployed to the surface to defend the Imperial base, but was ambushed by a mysterious Sith Lord who called himself Darth Algoz and who in actuality was hoping to defeat Darth Vader and usurp him as the Emperor's apprentice. The duel with Darth Algoz was brutal and left Jana scarred both physically and emotionally despite being victorious, but the worst had yet to come. After the second Death Star was destroyed, the Force echo of the Emperor's death sent her into a downward spiral and severe depression.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, Jana fled and went to Arkania in search of her "parents" and perhaps some sense of a normal life. The search took a few years, but eventually Jana learned the truth of her origins, but this only caused her to relapse. Feeling utterly lost, she left Arkania after hearing a quiet whisper in her mind saying "Jakku." Little did she realize that the Living Force was guiding her back into the thick of it all, as shortly after Jana arrived at Jakku, the Imperial Remnant did as well. As fate would have it, Jana reunited with Hale during the Battle of Jakku and since then have rekindled their romance and began a courtship.

K-3VA
The K-family of droids was produced exclusively for the Galactic Empire. Within the K-family there are several numbered series (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) that denote different roles, with the 3-series being designed specifically for administrative and diplomatic services. K-3VA was assigned to Hale when he was appointed as the CO of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, and since then has performed superbly well. Hale refers to him as "Keeva" and in order to broaden his capabilities, Hale installed the entire K-family cognition cores into him after the Battle of Endor as military service droids became harder and harder to source. However, this produced a dramatic change in K-3VA's personality, as he has become very snooty towards "lower-class droids" and snarky towards humans.

[SWSF Hale]

CORUSCANT / Senate District > Zone 1138 > Apartment Tower 15 > Room B2

It had been just a few months since the Galactic Concordance was signed. Although the public heralded it as a full-fledged peace treaty, analysts behind closed doors on boths sides knew it was just an armistice, purchased by ceeding Coruscant to the New Republic. The most startling occurrence during the Galactic Concordance convention was testimony from Luke Skywalker and Jana Sable among others revealing the fact that Emperor Palpatine was in fact the nefarious Darth Sidious that the Jedi Order was hunting and the CIS dealt with during the Clone Wars. This fact sickened many, especially Hale, as he felt his entire career in the Galactic Empire was built on a lie. But some die-hards believed Skywalker’s testimony was just New Republic propaganda and fake news.

Processing all that had transpired, Jana and Hale were enjoying a glass of wine on their balcony, with K-3VA on standby in the main room.

“Cheers,” said Hale, lifting his glass to meet Jana’s. She clinked hers.

“Cheers,” replied Jana, taking a sip. “It’s a really nice night,” said Jana. “Thank you weather control, right?”

Hale smirked. “All my years in the Imperial Navy, I never made it to Coruscant. Very busy, but I can see the appeal it has for some.”

“Well this is practically my home, so I’ve learned to love it… that and a nice bottle of Hesperidium wine.” Hesperidium is one of the moons of Coruscant, where its surface was also completely terraformed and turned into a paradaisical luxury world for the galaxy’s rich and famous. If Nar Shaddaa had an exact opposite, it would be Hesperidium.

“Definitely something I could drink more of,” replied Hale. “Speaking of…” Hale gestured to K-3EVA. “Keeva, could you get us another bottle?”

<Do you take me to be your butler, sir? There are other lower-class droids more fitting for the role of fetching wine bottles.>

“But none could do it as good as you, Keeva.”

<I suppose you’re right, sir. I am the best droid alive.>

As K-3VA got another bottle, Hale set his glass down. “I’ve wanted to tell you something… just to be honest with you. I know Skywalker offered you a spot at his Jedi Praxeum to go train with him, and I think that would be an incredible opportunity for you, that I would support if you wanted to take it.”

Jana set her glass down, then looked off into the Coruscant skyline. “Ever since I discovered the truth about my existence, that I was created to be something I never chose to be, I haven’t felt comfortable in my own skin. But in these past few months, for the first time in my life I feel totally free, and when I’m with you I feel alive,” she turned, looking at Hale. “If I’m being honest, I don’t know if I’m ready yet to train with Skywalker, or if I’ll ever train with him. I want to do my own thing right now. And that’s being with you.”

“Jana, after the Battle of Endor, I didn’t accept the fact that you were missing-in-action. I knew you survived somehow. I even tasked an entire ISB detachment to search for you, but they found nothing. But I didn’t give up hope.”

“The Force has a strange way of working in our hopes.”

“That’s why I think somehow we were meant to find each other on that Jakku battlefield. And no matter what happens next for us, I don’t want to lose you again Jana.”

Jana slipped her hand over Hale’s arm and around his back. “Well barring any more confrontations with Sith Lords or my past, I think my flight risk is low,” she said laughingly. “But don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

After a few quiet moments had passed, the doorbell rang.

“Keeva, were we expecting anyone?” asked Hale.

<No, sir. Our schedule was clear tonight.>

“Let’s see who it is,” replied Hale. Hale, Jana, and K-3VA went over to the door.

<Three individuals sir, low threat risk.>

Hale nodded, then K-3VA opened the door. Present was a tall Duro dressed in very formal attire, flanked by a Mandalorian woman in light armor, and a Neimoidian dressed in plain clothes.

<Identification or credentials please.>

The Duro stepped forward, “Good evening. I am Commissioner Darren Volkers, of the Trade Federation. We’re here to speak with Lucidius Hale.”

Hale gently waved them in.

“Mr. Hale, you’re a hard man to track down. This was our seventh attempt.”

“Well,” Hale replied, “you have found me. But what is it that you want?”

“The Trade Federation would like to extend a business proposition to you…”

Hale interrupted, “…look, my family’s shipping business ceased operations after Alderaan was destroyed. So I’m not sure if I can be of service to you. Besides, haven’t you heard? I’m ‘ex-Empire’ now. Damaged goods.”

“We’re aware of your history, Mr. Hale, but the business proposition we had in mind wasn’t about our merchant operations, extensive as they are, rather their protection and expansion, which requires delicate application of force for defensive and strategic purposes.”

<Well, don’t we have a way of putting things.>

Jana smiled, being humored by K-3VA’s snark.

“Indeed,” said Hale. “What exactly are you offering then?”

“A job. You see, we at the Trade Federation don’t care about the past, we just care about the future, about results. We’d like to offer you a seat on the Trade Federation Board of Executives as the commanding officer of our newly minted Expeditionary Force….” Volkers gestured to his Neimodian counterpart, who stepped forward and opened a case full of gold-pressed credit chips, “which comes with a rather sizeable signing bonus if terms are accepted within the next cycle.”

<That’s a lot of money, sir. I suggest you consider their offer.>

Hale paused for a moment.

TO BE CONTINUED.