Some species in the galaxy possessed a unique brain structure that made them nearly immune to the mental tricks of the Force.
The natives of this planet did not have this ability; what's more, they were highly susceptible. Their chaotic thought process revealed far more than was necessary for a conversation.
Six days ago, recruitment opened for staff at the hypermatter depot. Every day I was forced to interact with candidates: reading minds all day is quite exhausting.
"Good afternoon. I am in charge of hiring personnel; it is pleasant that someone finally responded."
The reptile looked like all the other natives; I found it quite difficult to distinguish them by appearance. They were bipedal, hooved lizards; the paths of evolution are quite diverse.
"I am Toso. I was a farmer before the occupation. I need a job. May I ask what the work entails?"
I was prepared for another meaningless conversation, but he suddenly projected hatred toward me. This made things far more interesting, and my motivation increased.
"Operating a loader, as well as commanding droids. The monthly salary is 1,000 credits."
Toso showed no joy upon hearing about the high salary. This was even more suspicious.
"That much?!"
I could feel that he was nervous and excited about getting exactly what he wanted.
"The high salary is related to the risk of rebel attacks. We will also ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement."
He reacted emotionally to the word "rebels"; this practically proved his guilt.
"Do I need to..."
I began manipulating his sensory organs. The shadows beneath his body shifted, and his eyes darkened.
"Thank you! I will be at work by noon!"
The alien saw, heard, and thought that our conversation had concluded. He was genuinely living in a world of illusions.
I stood up, approached him, and placed a hand on his head. This time, I forcibly induced more complex hallucinations.
His eyes opened, bleeding. His tongue felt heavy, but he managed to speak.
"I'm back. Everything went well, you were worrying for nothing."
"No, honey, it's not just about the money."
"I'll go contact our friends; you watch the kids."
"Reese, are you at the base?"
"Ask your employers to pay me a bonus; I got the job. This is a real hypermatter depot!"
At that moment, I had to adjust the illusions; automatic hallucinations might not handle the conversation perfectly.
"Good luck. I'll tell you what I managed to find out tomorrow."
He spoke with his friend for a few minutes, then returned to his family and continued conversing.
I stepped away from him so as not to disrupt the hallucinations. Opening my datapad, I canceled all upcoming meetings with candidates, then summoned several Sith from my squad.
How much do spies earn? Perhaps I could rob a fat fish!
I forced him to give me access to his wallet, then entered the data into my datapad and checked the balance.
93,115 credits? That's better than zero, but quite meager. You won't need this money as a slave.
Wasting no time, I transferred all the funds to my account; consider it a small tip for a job well done by an alchemist.
I listened to him for a few more minutes, then two Sith entered the room.
"Deputy Lord, you summoned us?"
I pointed at the alien, then at the datapads.
"Monitor him and record everything he says."
They exchanged glances, grabbed the datapads, and turned on the holorecording.
According to my plan, he will contact the rebels and tell them exactly what I want him to, but one unpleasant complication remained.
His wife might contact the rebels and ruin my six days of work, and our enemies would learn about the new method.
Unnecessary operational risks had to be eliminated.
I could kidnap or kill his family, but if I were a rebel, the families of agents would be under surveillance.
Therefore, the best plan would be to convince his wife that he had stayed at work.
Ignoring the Sith, I approached the captive and placed a hand on his head. The native twitched several times, but his brain formed a new cause-and-effect chain.
All his previous memory was wiped, but the brain damage was minimal. His eyes and nose barely bled.
Perhaps the spy would later become a feeble-minded vegetable, but that was not my problem.
He reached his hands forward, and I unclipped the datapad from his belt and handed it to him. His fingers slowly dialed the numbers, and finally, he called his wife.
I turned on the speaker mode. This idiot could say the wrong thing; the illusions needed to be controlled.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"Honey, are you home yet?!"
"Yes, how long is the interview going to take?"
"I got the job! They didn't even check my skills."
"Be careful! When will you be home?"
"That's the problem: all the workers are being moved into dormitories for security reasons. If I had refused, they wouldn't have hired me."
"Toso, you idiot! Why did you agree at all?!"
"I have to, but don't worry, this way I will definitely get valuable information. Please bring my personal belongings from the basement tomorrow."
"This is the last time! After this, you stop doing this!"
"I promise. They will let you into the secret depot territory tomorrow. Thank you for everything! I love you and the kids."
The datapad clicked off, and I reached out and touched the back of his head. The dark side of the Force concentrated into a vortex, and the spy sank back into a trance.
Should I waste a potion on him?
I looked at his condition and decided to play it safe. Taking a potion from my pouch, I very carefully shared a single drop with him. This instantly stabilized his brain state, and I was certain he would survive until tomorrow.
For a few minutes, I dug around in his head and prepared the illusions for the next day.
He would see the layout of our depot's facilities, memorize the guard shift schedules, and learn the secret codes that would allow entry to a military facility.
Finished with the sorcery, I nodded to the Sith and walked out. Tomorrow I would have to use illusions against his wife, then hold him at the depot for a few days.
It was unrealistic to obtain information the day after infiltrating, and I still needed to prepare the trap.
The rebels would receive the information only when the theatrical stage was ready.
As I walked to the hangar, I had time to record a few audio reports for the Sith Lord.
In addition, I notified the Alsakan officers. Lately, the Empire had lost some trust, but my actions should normalize the situation.
One shouldn't underestimate the brave cultists; they had already proven their ability to swing glowing sticks.
Three Sith Lords had died this week! How? Why?! Of course, they had killed several hundred Force-sensitive Sith, but how did they kill the Lords?
Why even visit the jungles? What did they expect? The enemy had been waging a guerrilla war on this planet for ten years.
Six Sith Lords had retreated after losing half of their personnel. In their defense, they had killed roughly the same number of Jedi.
Except this is our planet! How can you suffer such massive casualties? Now they were requesting reinforcements, serving merely to bolster the Alsakan garrison forces.
The strongest enemy is an idiot ally; it is a good thing SorSyn is a competent Lord.
Fortunately, those heroes had drawn all the enemy's attention. The rebels lacked the resources to attack important facilities, and I had managed to strike a deal with the Alsakan officers.
We were even given shuttles, albeit with one minor caveat.
Speaking of shuttles, I finally reached the hangar and looked at what had been assigned to us.
The small transport ships looked as though they had just returned from a scrapyard, and the Alsakan technicians refused to replace this junk.
I had to ask Vija and Vaja: I needed to know if they could even fly, and the diagnostics showed that it would be better if they didn't.
I wouldn't get into such a thing; I'd rather ride a civilian speeder.
Right now, all ten ships were dismantled and awaiting full diagnostics.
"How is it going?"
First and foremost, they had to repair our shuttle. The other nine teams would have to endure.
I walked over to my ship and watched Vija and Vaja welding a turret mount.
"Someone improperly straightened the turret module basket during a repair. This led to excessive strain on the weapon's turning mechanism."
I inspected the dismantled shuttle; thick weld seams were visible beneath the plating. Last time, they had removed all the interior false panels and complained about the flight stabilizers.
"It can't be helped; there is a deficit of everything here, and the Empire is equipped on a leftover principle. Are the other pilots competent?"
Vaja shook her head and pointed to the empty hangar.
"They can only steer a ship, and we only have four hands! They are all in critical condition. Will they assign us engineers or spare parts?"
Vija pointed to a weld seam.
"I hate to complain, but this repair was done by someone with no experience or technical aptitude. A 5G overload is enough; this shuttle has a chance of splitting at the weld seam. Where are all the qualified technicians?!"
I pointed at the sky and shrugged.
"They are repairing the large fleet ships; I was told to wait a month. The parts you requested will arrive in half a year. We have an operation coming up soon. How many shuttles can we utilize?"
We could try to let some of the Jedi go and herd them like animals back to their own lair.
"Will they be shooting at us? If not, then seven, but only ours has shields. I recommend keeping only two shuttles with more or less intact hulls, and scrapping the rest. Any overload above 10G, followed by an emergency landing—that is even worse than I initially thought."
Alright, the plan to hunt Jedi is canceled. We will limit ourselves to the depot trap.
"Then we will manage without the shuttles. Strip everything valuable from them, leave only the broken parts. We will place the ships in an open field next to the depot. After this operation, we'll write them off due to damage. Alsakan will be forced to issue us eight new ships."
Vaja finished her welding and jumped down from the roof. Using telekinesis, she lifted the turret and gently placed it in its rightful spot.
"Sounds like a plan, but we only have four hands and Force techniques."
"I will bring some Sith to you; they will assist with telekinesis."
Vija lifted this shuttle and moved it aside, then pulled another ship toward herself.
"We can handle it ourselves. Since you have some free time, could we get a consultation on the Force Barrier? That Force technique drains all concentration."
I had some free time, so I sat down on the engines that had been removed from the ships.
"Show me."
Vija began gathering the Force, but the form was already too static. She was wasting her strength on useless transformations.
"Incorrect visualization of the Force Barrier. For the barrier to work and not exhaust you in seconds, visualize it in three stages."
I extended my hand and began forming the Force Barrier correctly.
"The Force around you doesn't freeze; it moves like a whirlpool, then flows inside your body. When an enemy beam or blade touches such a shield, the dynamic flow of the Force should guide the strike away and shatter its directional vector."
Lightning appeared in my right hand, and a Force Barrier in my left. The energy was concentrated in a single point, but the electric shock failed to pierce the barrier.
"You don't need to keep the entire barrier equally dense; that will burn through your strength in minutes. Visualize a smart assistant: the vector of your attention must instantaneously draw the density of the Force to the exact point where the strike lands."
The Force Barrier in my hand practically disappeared; it could no longer be seen, but I could activate it at any moment. It consumed almost no concentration and helped keep me constantly safe.
"Where do the attack vectors go? Visualize this process; it will prevent accidental injuries."
At the very end, I struck with lightning again, but the barrier in my other hand distorted the energy into the shape of a flower.
Thousands of extremely fine energy threads mimicked a 3D object. This was merely a demonstration of the Force Barrier; in a real battle, there is no point in such showing off.
Vaja followed my words and formed a proper barrier. She wanted to say something, but I unleashed a weak burst of lightning.
The girl flinched and tried to jump back, but the pain didn't follow; her barrier reliably deflected the attack.
"Congratulations, you formed a good barrier. Now teach your sister."
The Twi'lek looked at her hands, then asked with doubt:
"Isn't this too simple?"
At that moment, I wanted to laugh. The Force Barrier is one of the most complex Force techniques, but I had given them a copy of the Nal family holocron. Of course, it would be simple! Sith had refined the technique over hundreds of years, and they were absorbing ready-made knowledge.
"Find a Sith who has mastered barriers well, and have him agree to spend his time training you; then find the holocron of a noble house that won't try to kill you. Let's not forget about your Force talent; perhaps you are rare geniuses. Discarding those factors—yes, it is extremely simple."
Vija rolled her eyes at such blunt sarcasm.
"Master, perhaps you shouldn't ruin your conversational partners' mood?"
I stood up and prepared to leave. I would need to plan the trap. It was truly a shame there wasn't another alchemist on my team.
"That's not my problem, is it?"
Both Twi'leks smiled and shouted gratefully:
"Thank you for the lesson!"