Star Wars: Daimon's Story-Chapter 150: Even the Dead can talk

On Dressia, a Force Scion from the Intelligence Directorate arrived and used a Force ability that was similar to Psychometry, except it was created for use on dead people. In the early days of the Imperium, there was always the question among the Intelligence Directorate of what to do when their enemies started killing themselves to hide information.

The result was the ability called Force Resonance, a technique that Daimon had personally developed and taught to a select number of Scions within the Directorate. Where Psychometry allowed a Force-sensitive to read the residual impressions left on objects, Force Resonance went deeper.

It reached into the biological memory encoded within a corpse’s neural tissue, the electrochemical traces that the brain retained for a limited period after death and pulled coherent images from them before cellular decay erased the record entirely.

The window was narrow. Roughly seventy-two hours under standard conditions, but if placed a cryo freeze like the body was in this case, then it would remain preserved a lot longer.

So, using Force Resonance, the Force Scion was able to extract information from the memories of the corpse. This revealed the people the person met, the things they saw, the emotions they felt throughout all of it, and more.

This information was then placed onto a holocron so that it can be analyzed and used to find any associates that were involved in this matter. Even in death, one couldn’t withhold information from the Imperium.

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Korriban - Sith Empire Capital

Standing in front of Emperor Vitiate was Darth Marr who had his blade aimed at the neck of the last remaining Sith Lord who opposed the current changes that the Emperor was making.

Darth Rune was his name and instead of having a defeated look on his face, he had a mischievous smile. "You may think that this is the end, but this is only the beginning." Vitiate didn’t know what this lunatic was talking about, but he didn’t particularly care.

"End him," Vitiate said.

Marr cut off Darth Rune’s head, watching his body fall to the floor. His smile was still fixed on his face, which Vitiate found irritating and motioned for some servants to take it away.

A few seconds later, the new members of the Dark Council walked in. They were the newly chosen Sith Lords who had won their right to stand on the Dark Council from their understanding of the Dark side and their abilities.

They weren’t chosen just to fill a gap. Some of them were even challenged to duels by others who thought themselves more capable, but in the end each one managed to stand above all others. Some were even beginning to call this the ’new dark order’ implying that the old one was being replaced.

The new Dark Council was composed of twelve members who were younger than their predecessors on average, more capable even if they had less impressive titles, and most importantly, they had been selected the traditional Sith way.

For the last two centuries, the Sith Empire had produced Dark Council members who were exceptional at defeating other Sith, but not at running an empire. This cost the Sith considerably and set them back, but now they were on the right track until more power-hungry individuals popped up again and tried to take over.

With the arrival of the Dark Council, Vitiate moved the group to the Dark Council Chamber where they would continue their meeting. The main subject was the appointment of new Sith Lords for worlds who had lost their appointed Sith Lords.

After that was the continued purging of those who would pose a threat to the changes that they were going to make. It was essentially a return to the traditions of the founders which had become shrouded in darkness by the changing times.

The third and last thing was the rise in the Mandalorian independence movement which saw the rise of various small clans to try and overthrow the Sith Empire and free the Mandalorians. Since the conclusion of the war and the annexation of the Mandalorians, the big clans that dominated their politics were reduced to small clans and their power taken.

Now the Sith ruled over the planet and used them for war as they were very good at it. Millions of Mandalorians joined the Sith military as they were warriors and they had nothing better to do than just fight. Some even turned to mercenary work which saw a steady increase in galaxy wide Mandalorian mercenary groups.

Vitiate didn’t care much about the mercenaries, but he did care about losing control over Mandalore as the benefits they got from the planet were too great. Plus, the Mandalorians were great warriors. Losing them would be a significant loss for the Sith Empire.

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Veldari - Capital of the Veldari Imperium

"I come to you today from the streets in front of the palace as a small number of people have gathered today in support of the Dressians. Keep in mind that these are the same people who were against the war in the first place calling for the Imperium to stop killing billions when we were attacked first." Said the reporter as she walked closer to the group.

"From what we were able to tell, most of the people out here are under the age of 100 and don’t know much about the wars that this Imperium has fought or the sacrifices that were made to ensure they could stand here today and express their opinions freely."

The reporter moved through the small crowd, her camera drone following close behind. The gathering numbered perhaps three hundred people, which by Veldari’s standards was barely enough to constitute a notable event. The planet’s capital had hosted victory celebrations that numbered in the hundreds of millions. Three hundred people in front of the Imperial Palace was, in the grand scheme of things, nothing.

"As said by senior officials of the government, these protests are but a representation of what peace brings which is ignorance. Young people who haven’t experienced war tend to develop strong opinions about how it should have been avoided. The generation that didn’t have to fight becomes the generation most certain that fighting was unnecessary." she stated.

One of the young protesters came up to her as she put the microphone to their mouth and shouted. "The Dressian’s deserve to live! the Imperium has already killed billions in the war, now we are turning our weapons on innocents!"

"What about the rocket that was fired by that insurrectionist that killed themselves?" she asked.

"You mean the innocent person that was framed!" he retorted. "The war is over. We should be heading toward peaceful times now. Not looking for another conflict." The guy then turned his head and saw the Empyrean Guards forming a line on the street.

"Look, they’re here to stop us!" he shouted as he ran and joined the rest of the group which started to walk towards the Empyrean Guards.

The reporter looked back at the camera and shook her head. "Welp, there you have it folks. You know, listening to all of that got me thinking about what the Emperor said some centuries ago. It was something like:

’The galaxy can never truly be at peace as it is impossible. There are too many differences both biologically and culturally for everybody to want to get along or to change their ways. We may call it peace in name, but true peace can never be obtained without a great sacrifice that neither you nor I understand. As such, peace is simply a time of preparation for the next great conflict. By ignoring this fact, empires were prone to fall because they got too used to peace. Instead, as the Emperor of the Veldari Imperium, I will make sure that we are always prepared for the next conflict.’

As she finished quoting what he said she took a brief pause before continuing. "This line of thinking has kept the Imperium going for almost a thousand years and will surely keep us alive for thousands of more. Now let’s get back to see what’s going on."

She turned around and walked towards the crowd who had gathered in front of the line of Empyrean Guards who were now flanked by Palace security droids and Veldari Security Forces.

The protesters had stopped a few meters short of the Empyrean Guards. This was what happened when normal people were confronted with the reality of how scary the Empyrean Guards were. The young man who had spoken to the reporter was still at the front, but his posture had changed as he was reconsidering his decision to be here.

The Guards had not moved since they came out. They stood in a line with their hands clasped behind their backs. All of them were Gen’Dai standing between eight and ten feet tall. They wore the dark ceremonial armor of the Palace garrison which was different from the normal purple armor that most Empyrean Guards wear.

A Security Forces officer stepped forward from the right flank. She was a middle-aged human who had done this type of thing many times before.

"You are gathered within the restricted perimeter of the Imperial Palace," she said, her voice amplified by a small emitter on her collar. "You have the right to peaceful assembly within designated civic spaces. This location is not one of them. I am asking you to relocate to the Assembly Commons on the eastern plaza, where your demonstration can continue without restriction."

"We want the Emperor to hear us!" someone shouted from the middle of the crowd. They knew that they couldn’t stand right here, but they did it anyway to try and be heard.

"The Emperor is aware of your presence," the officer replied. "Relocating to the Assembly Commons does not reduce your visibility. It keeps you within your legal rights and ensures this remains a peaceful demonstration rather than something that requires a different response."

The young man at the front looked back at the crowd behind him, then back at the line of Guards. The Guards still hadn’t moved.

After a long moment, the crowd slowly began moving toward the eastern plaza. The reporter watched them go, then looked back at her camera. "And that, as they say, is that. The Empyrean Guards, who never moved an inch, have done more to de-escalate a situation by simply standing there than most security forces could accomplish with active intervention. There’s a lesson in that somewhere." She paused.

"This is Correspondent Vael Sorrin, reporting from the Imperial Palace district. Back to the studio."

Meanwhile, inside of the palace, Daimon was knocked out on Elara’s lap, unaware of anything that was happening outside the palace. These types of things were beneath him and would get handled without even reaching his ears, unless it became something serious.

So, while the Protesters thought they were being heard, Daimon was not even in a place to hear them. The Palace was so tall and he was near the top floor, making it literally impossible to hear anything that happened on the street.