The Voice of the Empire

by Mur Lafferty

  “Is this yours?” he asked, picking the silent droid up swiftly. Calliope groaned inwardly.

  “Yes, it’s not the most reliable,” Calliope said, glaring at the little droid. She looked up and met Krennic’s eyes, blue and searching. She held out a gloved hand and he looked at it for a moment, and then shook it instead of giving X-0X back. So she introduced herself instead. “Commander Krennic, it’s an honor. I’m Calliope-”

  He scrutinized the droid. “Drouth, yes, with HoloNet News,” he said. “I was under the impression we would supply our reporters with better equipment.”

  “Actually we just heard the military recalled our newer droids. Anything to serve the Emperor’s cause, but that leaves us with, well,” she indicated X-0X’s sorry state.

  “How old is this droid?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “It was a gift from my former editor. I keep it mainly for nostalgia purposes. And recording, when it works.”

  “Nostalgia and connections to loved ones,” he mused. “Some would consider it a weakness.”

  “While others would consider it a comfort,” she said.

  He smiled slightly. “I would definitely think the inability to record things is a weakness for a reporter. You may just miss something that could make your career. Or you could be lucky enough to miss something that could destroy your career.”

  Calliope thought of the data that Mandora had sent her. She hadn’t erased it from the droid yet; and now it was in Krennic’s hands.

  She smiled back at him. “I try not to rely on it too much.”

  “Then how will you gather your information to report on the Imperial Ball?” he asked. “Surely you’re missing all of the gossip by fiddling with a broken droid.”

  “I’m getting gossip at the bar, sir,” she said. “I just found out your tailor’s name. Do you know that you’re setting fashion trends?”

  Krennic focused on the officers behind her, who were frozen at attention. “Tifino,” he said. “Are you making the most of your shore leave?”

  Tifino nodded, unable to speak.

  “Good.” He looked down at X-0X, held in his long, gloved fingers. “If you’d allow me to borrow this droid, Ms. Drouth,” he said. “I know some tinkers who can fix it right up.”

  Calliope knew that if she protested too much, she’d make herself look suspicious. She glanced back at Wick and then looked meaningfully at Krennic. Come on, she mouthed. Now’s your chance.

  Wick swallowed and then lunged forward, stumbling slightly. “Commander,” she stammered, putting a hand on his white coat and then pulling it off as if she just remembered herself. “Officer Ianna Wick, sir, and I wanted to make my case for joining your next mission.”

  Krennic frowned at her, and opened his mouth, but Wick forged on ahead, “I’m a shuttle pilot, best in my class at the Academy, and Tifino said you needed scouts-”

  Calliope had no love for the Empire, but she’d developed a soft spot for Wick. She prayed the Imperial wouldn’t blow it by saying too much in front of Calliope. Lucky for all involved, X-0X chose that time to come back online, its sensor glowing again and beeping in a confused way. It buzzed, vibrating in Krennic’s hand.

  “There you are,” Calliope said, interrupting Wick. She reached up and took the droid from the distracted Krennic, who frowned at her. “He’s working now, sir. Thanks for your offer, but you have more important things to do at this ball. Like listen to this young woman discuss her career with you.” She made a play of looking around the room and focusing on the miserable nobody from Alderaan. “I see an ambassador I need to talk to, I hope you both have a lovely evening.” She nodded to them both, passed behind Krennic, and then gave Wick a thumbs up. The woman smiled at her before making her case to the stern commander.

  “She did carry Tifino, after all,” Calliope muttered to herself. She put X-0X on her shoulder where it gripped her as tightly as it had before. “Let’s circle the room once or twice and then get you home and into a good oil bath that will scrub you clean of everything.”

  Calliope faced the camera, smiling with experienced ease as the transmission to countless planets concluded. She deftly double checked the monitor to ensure her hands were still visible in the feed.

  “We here at HNN hope you enjoyed your Empire Day. Last night, I was afforded an inside look at the elegance and finery of the Imperial Palace ball.” The monitors showed the footage X-0X had gotten before it had malfunctioned, panning around the room and focusing on the well-dressed dignitaries. “I can report that the fashion of Coruscant is going to be taking its lead from the attendees! From the sharply dressed dignitary from Alderaan to the elegant dress uniforms of the upper echelon of the Imperial Forces, these attendees showed more than their diplomatic and military might, but also their fashion sense. Our Imperial Forces are, well, a force to be reckoned with, both on the battlefield and in the ballroom! You can find some of the superstar tailors who dressed our dignitaries listed on your screen. You’d better get your call in soon! This is Calliope Drouth, your voice of the Empire.”

  The light above the camera died, and Calliope sat back and sighed, forcing her shoulders to loosen. Eridan Wesyse hurried up to her, beaming. “Even better than your script, so vivid!” he sang. “I’m going to put you on all the society stories!” He frowned. “I would have liked more interviews with the who’s-who of the Empire, though.”

  “My droid malfunctioned halfway through the night,” Calliope said truthfully. “I did what I could.”

  He clapped her on the back and rushed away to converse with another reporter. She finally unclasped her hands. I got away with it.

  Now the question was, would anyone hear her true report? Mandora’s message had included a file on code phrases and cyphers, which Calliope had used to carefully select the words in her transmission. The position of her hands during the broadcast would clue the subversives in to which algorithm to run on her seemingly vapid report. With any luck, they would be on their way to Jedha within the hour. Calliope didn’t know what kyber crystals were, but if they were important enough for Krennic to go after, they had to be important enough to report.

  If what Mandora said was true, Calliope was one of many spies, gathering information against the Empire.

  She thought of Officers Wick and Tifino: possibly invisible “heroes” in the Empire’s eyes. She knew how that felt now. No one would ever know her work, not if she did her job right. No one but X-0X, which sat on her desk in her office, beeping quietly to itself.

  She was growing fond of the little nuisance.

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  From Star Wars Insider 170 (January 2017)