Cipher Nine

The initial significant undertaking of this Imperial Agent involved a mission to Nal Hutta, where they were deployed by the Keeper to persuade Suudaa Nem'ro to abandon his stance of neutrality and provide formal endorsement to the Empire. During the course of their duties on Hutta, the Agent attracted the attention of Darth Jadus, an influential figure within the Dark Council who supervised Imperial Intelligence operations.

Upon their arrival on Hutta, the Agent secured lodging within the Poison Pit cantina, situated across from Nem'ro's Palace in Jiguuna. This room was fortified and utilized to establish communication with the Keeper on Dromund Kaas. Subsequently, they connected with Jheeg, an Imperial Intelligence contact. He furnished the Agent with a false identity, that of the Red Blade, a notorious pirate. The scheme involved the Agent infiltrating Nem'ro's inner circle by presenting him with valuable offerings dispatched by Imperial Intelligence specifically for this endeavor. However, the tributes were intercepted at the docks by thugs employed by Nem'ro's rival, Voontara Fa'athra. The Agent located the perpetrators, retrieved the offerings, and proceeded to Nem'ro's palace to request an audience with the Hutt. Nem'ro expressed satisfaction with the valuables presented and granted the Agent permission to operate within Jiguuna, along with a private chamber in his palace as a gesture of gratitude. The room was replete with concealed surveillance equipment, which necessitated removal before secure communication with the Keeper could be established. The strategy centered on gaining the confidence of Karrels Javis, a lieutenant of Nem'ro's, who sought to regain favor in Nem'ro's eyes over his Twi'lek rival, Toth'lazhen. En route to meet with Javis, the Agent encountered Dheno Rey, a smuggler who asserted that Red Blade owed him credits. After dealing with him, the meeting took place.

Javis's plan to reclaim Nem'ro's favor necessitated the Agent recovering ore pilfered by the Evocii. To further assist Javis, the Keeper directed the Agent to sabotage Fa'athra's gas mining operation. However, following the mission, the Keeper disclosed that Javis' sons – while transporting cargo in Imperial space – had encountered a Sith, resulting in the death of one and the severe crippling of the other, compelling the Agent to eliminate Javis as he would reject the Empire due to his children's injuries. Offering services to Toth'lazhen, the Agent implicated Fa'athra in Javis's demise. The subsequent step involved acquiring holo-recordings from Fa'athra's palace and manipulating them to create the impression that Fa'athra was associated with the Galactic Republic. This fabricated evidence compelled Nem'ro to align with the Empire. It was near the conclusion of this mission that the Agent enlisted the services of Kaliyo Djannis, a Rattataki criminal and one of Nem'ro's enforcers, who possessed knowledge of the truth surrounding Javis's murder. Upon the mission's completion, the Agent received orders to return to the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas. While preparing to depart for Vaiken Spacedock, the Agent and Kaliyo encountered the actual Red Blade, and were compelled to eliminate him when he threatened to expose the deception to Nem'ro.

Upon arriving on Dromund Kaas, the Agent convened with the Keeper and Watcher Two, who was designated as the Agent's liaison officer for subsequent assignments. The initial task involved addressing a dissident movement partially linked to the enslaved individual uprising on Dromund Kaas. The target was Jurithus, a Rodian slave involved in the rebellion at the Unfinished colossus. He was owned by an anti-government radical who utilized him to transmit messages to fellow dissidents. During this operation, the Agent infiltrated a slave rebellion headquarters in pursuit of the rebellion leader. Following the defeat of the Rebellion leader, they administered SLV-16 interrogation serum to extract information regarding Jurithus's whereabouts. The drugged leader revealed that Jurithus had perished in combat beneath the colossus. The Agent located his remains and recovered the datapad containing the messages exchanged between the dissidents. The Agent's exceptional performance in the given task garnered the attention of Lord Jadus, who requested a meeting in his chambers at the Imperial Citadel. The previously acquired data furnished a new lead: Theovor Mindak, an imperial scientist working for Grathan, a rogue Sith Lord. The Agent was dispatched to the Nexus Room Cantina to locate his daughter, Samara Mindak. The Agent confronted Samara and extracted security codes to her father's laboratory. Subsequently, they proceeded to Grathan's estate, infiltrated Mindak's lab, defeated him, and downloaded data from his computer.

The gathered intelligence revealed the dissidents' plan to detonate power conduits beneath Kaas City. The Keeper intended to assemble a squad of imperial agents for a mission into the Dark Temple to prevent the saboteurs from destroying Kaas City. However, Darth Jadus overruled the Keeper, instructing the Agent to undertake the mission alone to minimize the risk of disturbing the spirits of deceased Sith Lords within the temple. Inside the temple, the Agent neutralized the terrorist cell and disarmed their explosives. Following the defeat of the saboteurs on Dromund Kaas, news surfaced that Darth Jadus had been assassinated, along with thousands of dignitaries, Sith, and slaves, during the destruction of the Imperial dreadnought Dominator during a tour of Imperial space. Immediately thereafter, a message was broadcast throughout the Empire by a terrorist leader known only as "The Eagle," a former Imperial starfighter pilot and veteran of the Great Galactic War. The Eagle claimed responsibility for the destruction of the Dominator, accused the imperial government of corruption, and vowed further attacks aimed at altering the government. After the transmission concluded, the Keeper received information about a terrorist ship attempting to flee Kaas City. He dispatched the Agent to Cargo Port A3 to intercept. They deployed a mouse droid on the ship, disabling its hyperdrive and downloading data from its computer. As a result of their success in the Dark Temple and Cargo Port A3, the Agent received a promotion to Cipher Agent, adopting the designation Cipher Nine. Accompanying the new rank was the provision of a X-70B Phantom starship for use in upcoming missions.

The Keeper tasked Cipher Nine with the objective of locating and eliminating the Eagle's primary terrorist allies and financial benefactors. Prior to commencing the mission, Nine was summoned to the Sith Academy on Korriban to meet with Darth Zhorrid, Jadus's daughter, apprentice, and successor, before the Agent embarked on the pursuit of the Eagle.

The first assignment was to Balmorra, a planet conquered by the Empire during the last war and integrated into the Empire via the Treaty of Coruscant. The Empire faced substantial resistance on this planet, covertly supported by the Republic. Nine's target was "Gray Star," an associate of the Eagle aligned with the Balmorran resistance. Watcher Two instructed Nine to establish contact with Security Chief Lekern Renald, who was overseeing intelligence operations on Balmorra. He suggested that the optimal approach to reaching Gray Star was to infiltrate the Balmorran terrorist cell. Sanju Pyne, an Imperial infiltrator within the Resistance, facilitated Nine's efforts to penetrate their ranks by introducing Nine to Chemish Or, the local cell commander. Sanju indicated that Nine was inspired by the Eagle's message and desired to join their organization. Initially suspicious, Chemish tested the new recruit by tasking Nine with recovering shielded power cores for stealth droids inside the Okara Droid Factory, which they intended to convert into a stealth bomb. After recovering the case of cores, Nine was contacted by Sanju via comlink. He revealed that the terrorists intended to utilize the equipment to attack Sobrik and suggested sabotaging the cores. Nine returned the case to Chemish, who assigned another mission involving the retrieval of data from an old terrorist training camp's computer located within a cave on the Gorinth Plateau.

The camp had been contaminated by a recent imperial gas bombing of the area, which drove the resistance members inside the camp insane. Nine stormed the cave and installed a transmitter into the computer to transfer the data to Sanju, who was waiting outside. Upon examining the data, it was revealed to be a list of Balmorrans who collaborated with the Empire. He suggested providing a copy of the list to the imperial command to safeguard the individuals on the list before submitting it to Chemish. Impressed by Nine's capabilities, she tasked them with delivering a package to a cell member who had infiltrated the Republic base in the Balmorran Arms Factory. Inside the factory, Nine was contacted by Sanju once more, informing them that this cell member was in fact Gray Star, posing as a Republic officer and secretly supplying the terrorists with Republic weaponry. However, the Republic suspected him of espionage and detained him, prompting Chermish to dispatch the package containing maps and instructions for escaping to a safe house. Sanju proposed altering the instructions and directing him into a trap, enabling them to manipulate the entire cell. Alternatively, Gray Star could be eliminated.

The subsequent mission involved eliminating the Eagle's terrorist cell operating on Nar Shaddaa. Nine was dispatched to investigate the emergence of a potent new stimulant known as "Cyclone," which the Eagle's agents utilized to significantly enhance their strength. However, Cyclone possessed a lethal side effect. Watcher Two instructed Nine to meet with Watcher X, a former Intelligence operative confined within an imperial prison in Shadow Town. He informed Nine that Cyclone was being sold on the streets of Nar Shaddaa. He provided the location of an augmentation shop in the Corellian sector that might be selling it. Nine visited the shop and acquired a sample of Cyclone. Watcher X desired to analyze the sample to identify the stimulant's manufacturer but lacked the necessary equipment. He instructed Nine to transport the sample to an old medical lab in the Duros Sector. They successfully located a functional bioscanner to conduct the analysis. Watcher X determined that Synchet Industries was involved in the production of Cyclone. He dispatched Nine to question Jordel Tlan, a former employee of the corporation, who resided in isolation in his apartment within one of the casinos. To gain access to him, Nine planned to blackmail him by initially poisoning him and subsequently offering an antidote. At the entrance to his room, they introduced poison into the drink delivered to him by a serving droid. The plan succeeded, and desperate for the antidote, he permitted Nine into his apartment, where he revealed that an unidentified group had acquired Synchet Industries' medical division, VerveGen Corporation.

To infiltrate the VerveGen facilities, Watcher X performed a surgical insertion of several metal components into Nine's body, disguising them as a droid. Under this guise, Nine infiltrated VerveGen and discovered the new owners (Raythen Predot, Chorto Rinn, and Aphel Jaarn) in a holographic meeting with the Eagle. Nine removed the droid disguise and engaged the Eagle's agents. Recognizing their hopeless situation, some of them resorted to using Cyclone during the conflict. Nevertheless, Nine defeated them all. The sole survivor of the battle was the cyborg Aphel Jaarn. Nine connected Watcher X's computer to the cyborg's brain to extract information regarding the location of the communication hub utilized by the Eagle's cell operating on Nar Shaddaa. Following the elimination of the VerveGen leaders and the prevention of Cyclone's distribution to other Eagle cells, Nine was dispatched to destroy the communication hub in the Network Access area. Watcher X exploited the power disruption caused by the hub's destruction to escape his confinement.

Following the destruction of the factory on Nar Shaddaa and while preparing to depart, Nine's communication with Watcher Two was interrupted by Darth Zhorrid, who instructed the Agent to return to Nar Shaddaa to locate Vyord Yanol, the last individual believed to have seen Darth Jadus alive. In a state of panic as the Agent demanded information, Yanol drew a blaster. Despite Zhorrid's desire for his live capture, Nine killed Yanol, eliciting a ranting condemnation (including a slap across the face) from Zhorrid upon the Agent's return to Dromund Kaas.

Resuming the hunt, Watcher Two presented an intercepted transmission from the Eagle describing "Eradicators," techno-organic satellite weapons capable of large-scale destruction, and his threat to deploy them against the Empire. The trail subsequently led to Tatooine and the "Ghost cell," a near-mythical group of assassins that provided training to the Eagle's terror network. Nine was dispatched to locate Mia Hawkins, a former cell member who contacted Intelligence in an attempt to defect. Upon arriving in Mos Ila, she contacted Nine via public holotransmitter. To prevent Ghost cell members from discovering her hideout, she instructed Nine to first gather imperial security holocams from the droids around Mos Ila and then deliver them to Datto Wys, a local droid seller. There, she arranged for Datto to trade a mouse droid for the holocams. Upon Nine's acquisition of the mouse droid, it led them to Mia's hideout. The two met, and she informed Nine that she had trained with the cell but was repulsed by their brutal methods. In exchange for a way out, she was willing to assist Imperial Intelligence in dismantling the cell. However, she did not know the precise location of the village where the cell trained her, as they subdued her whenever she was transported in or out of the village. She suggested identifying a smuggler known as "Dragon Eyes" who secretly supplied the village. Nine entered the local cantina, tagged the customers with tracking devices, and then publicly inquired about "Dragon Eyes." One of the customers fled to warn "Dragon Eyes" about someone seeking him.

Given Nine's exposure, Mia feared that they were now being pursued by Ghost cell assassins. To eliminate them, they established an ambush within an abandoned wind farm warehouse. Meanwhile, it was revealed that "Dragon Eyes" was Milosh Varta, a local Exchange member. Nine raided his estate and interrogated him about the location of the Ghost cell's stronghold. He disclosed the location of a supply line before Nine eliminated him. They subsequently infiltrated the stronghold via a secret supply line, concealing themselves within a supply crate. Inside the stronghold, Nine neutralized the Ghost cell and confronted its leader, known only as the Old Man. He revealed his plan to allow Mia to escape and use her as bait for Nine. He intended to use Nine's identity to infiltrate the ranks of Imperial Intelligence as a Cipher Agent. Nine subsequently fought and killed him, and then eliminated Mia as well.

Finally, the trail led to Alderaan, amidst a civil war. The target was Denri Ayl, a former nobleman who served as a mediator between the various houses of Alderaan. After meeting with Vector Hyllus, a Diplomatic Service emissary who had become a Killik Joiner during his time on Alderaan, Nine proceeded to House Cortess, allies of House Thul, which was backed by the Empire. Despite initial hostility, Nine secured an audience with the Cortess leaders, Baron Peyar and Baroness Chay. With Hyllus's assistance, Nine entered the stronghold of House Alde to confirm that Ayl was the financial backer of the Eagle's terror network, and then tracked Ayl himself to House Rist. After killing him, Nine searched through Ayl's logs and discovered that Baroness Chay herself had initiated Ayl's efforts to enlist the services of the Rists, renowned as a family of professional assassins. The Cortess estate was equipped with sufficient shielding and weaponry to withstand an attacking army or a Killik swarm, compelling Nine to find an alternative means of entry. With the support of Hyllus and his Killik nest, Nine infiltrated the Cortess estate's power generator hidden in the Glarus Valley and deployed Killik larvae to destroy the generators before assaulting the estate itself. Upon entering the throne room, Baron Peyar surrendered, and Captain Perovius, head of the Cortess House Guard, slew the Baroness. Although the actual traitor was dead, Nine condemned the remainder of the House to death, leaving the Cortess estate to Hyllus's Killiks to form a new hive. As they exited the palace, they were contacted by the Keeper, who informed them that he had arranged for Vector to be transferred from the Diplomatic Service to Imperial Intelligence and placed under Nine's command.

With the Eagle's support network decimated, Watcher Two contacted Nine with the information that the Eagle himself had been located at the "Eagle's Nest" on Hutta. After entering the base and fighting through the Eagle's troops, Nine confronted the terrorist leader, who revealed that his patron was someone within the Empire itself. The Eagle's computer only possessed half of the command codes for the Eradicators; the other half was in the possession of his Sith patron. If the complete code was not transmitted within a specific timeframe, the Eradicators would become ballistic and attack at random, rather than at the designated targets. With all the necessary information, Nine killed the Eagle and returned to Dromund Kaas.

Subsequently, Keeper sent Nine and Watcher Two to the Artus system, an unpopulated region within Imperial territory. It was thought that a Harrower-class dreadnought, located in orbit around Artus Five, held the other half of the Eradicator codes. They boarded the warship, finding it crewed by only insane Imperial soldiers and droids. They soon realized the ship was emitting a jamming signal, preventing any calls for backup. Watcher Two offered guidance via a communicator implant, while Nine advanced to the bridge, intending to use the complete command codes to globally disable the Eradicators. Upon reaching the bridge, Nine was shocked to find Darth Jadus alive, accompanied by two cybernetically enhanced dark guardians.

Jadus, in his emotionless, robotic voice, explained that his supposed death was a ruse, a component of his scheme to cleanse the Empire of its "corrupt" elements, particularly the Dark Council. He intended to usher in a new reign of terror, using the Eradicators as his secret weapon to eliminate rivals. He proposed that Nine join him as his chief agent in this new order. As Jadus detailed his scheme, Watcher Two secretly communicated via the comm implant. To maintain Jadus's focus, Nine would need to activate the Eradicators, causing thousands of deaths, before Jadus could be stopped. After activating the Eradicators, Nine quickly disabled the jamming signal and sabotaged the ship's shields and hyperdrive, preventing its escape. Watcher Two then summoned reinforcements, including three Dark Council members, leaving Nine to confront Jadus alone. Despite Jadus's Force abilities rivaling those of the Emperor himself, Nine withstood Jadus's onslaught while diverting power for Watcher Two to trap Jadus in a ray shield, holding him until reinforcements arrived. Eventually, Jadus was forced to surrender and was handed over to the Dark Council.

The Eradicator incident triggered a significant restructuring of the Imperial government, resulting in the removal of several officials, including the Minister of Intelligence. Keeper was appointed as the new Minister of Intelligence, reporting directly to the Dark Council, and Watcher Two succeeded him as the new Keeper.

Following the resolution of Jadus's Eradicator threat, Nine's subsequent assignment involved infiltrating the Republic Strategic Information Service and neutralizing their spymaster, Ardun Kothe. Ardun Kothe was responsible for many successful covert operations against the Empire. They even suspected him of convincing two imperial generals to defect. The new Keeper leaked a false information about a Cipher Agent trying to defect to SIS and Nine was appointed to take the role of the this agent. Posing as a defector, Nine first encountered SIS Agent Hunter in a Nar Shaddaa casino. Hunter gave them a mission to test the genuineness of their intentions. The mission involved infiltration of an imperial droid factory on Nar Shaddaa that became operational after Nem'ro allied with the Empire. Hunter, giving instructions via commlink, instructed Nine to download the cortosis armored droid blueprint and then sabotage the factory. After the mission, Nine met with Kothe and his team in their hideout. Kothe welcomed Nine into his team and assigned them a call-sign "Legate." Kothe then spoke a code word, "onomatophobia", that activated a hidden conditioning program. Kothe and his team then used Nine to gather various items, while the Agent secretly searched for a way to break free of the mind control.

The initial mission took place on Taris, with the objective of hunting down renegade Zabrak Jedi Knight Ki Sazen, who had gained control of a Nikto cult. During the mission Nine was supported by SIS agent "Chance" and began by investigating an old laboratory of Republic scientist Nasan Godera. They located the lab with the help of an Imperial communication center led by Lieutenant Needa. Inside the lab Nine found an Imperial Intelligence Fixer agent Doctor Lokin, who claimed to be sent by Watcher Four to search the lab. He provided the next lead in tracking down Ki Sazen - an abandoned bio-research facility that used to be the workplace of a scientist named Doctor Dorant. Unfortunately, Lokin did not know the exact location of the facility and Nine had to use scanners to triangulate its position. There Nine encountered a group of Ki Sazen's Nikto warriors, who revealed that their master obtained an Ultrawave Transmitter, technology developed by Godera that could control the rakghouls of Taris. However, the device was broken. One group of Nikto were tasked to search for a scientist Doctor Ianna Cel, who could fix it, while the other group was sent to collect the data on rakghoul colony movements that would allow Ki Sazen to to position the device. Nine defeated the group of Nikto inside Dorant's lab and met with Lokin back at Godera's lab.

Lokin suggested Nine to use the sensor equipment from the Taris settlers to gather the data on rakghoul colony movements. While Nine was using the scanners around the devastated landscape, they were contacted by Chance, who had tracked down Doctor Cel inside the Dynamet General Hospital but got wounded in the process. He used the mind-control code and ordered Nine to come to his rescue. Nine rushed to the given coordinates where they found Chance. He tried to use the mind-control again to instruct Nine to heal him but he faded before he could finish the keyword. Nine then left him to die and searched out Cel. In the meantime, Lokin had infiltrated the hospital using a stealth generator. He suggested that he should pose as Cel's assistant and that she should make a public announcement that her assistant was lost inside the hospital. He would then get captured by Ki Sazen's Nikto warriors and brought to her hideout where he could signal the coordinates. Nine agreed to the plan and went to destroy Republic jamming stations nearby, ensuring that Lokin's signal reached them. When Nine approached the hideout, the agent was contacted by Kothe, who changed the mission objective to obtaining the Ultrawave Transmitter. Nine then stormed the base, where the Cipher confronted and eliminated Ki Sazen. Shortly after that, a rakghoul appeared and started to tear the remaining Nikto warriors apart. When approaching Nine, it started to transform into a human who turned out to be Doctor Lokin. Back at the base, Lokin explained that he was not sent by Imperial Intelligence and admitted that he was on a personal mission to develop a reversible rakghoul virus that allowed him to switch between the two forms. He also said that Ultrawave Transmitter may contain encrypted secrets, such as coordinates to hidden locations and other codes, which explained why Kothe was after it. He asked Nine to let him join their unit and run experiments in the ship's laboratory and Nine accepted.

Upon the agent's return to the ship and the uploading of Ultrawave Transmitter data to Kothe, Nine experienced a mental collapse. The source of the voice was revealed to be Watcher X, the "retired" operative from Nar Shaddaa. He manifested in the Agent's mind using the holo-disguise implants surgically placed in the Agent's spine. Watcher X pointed out that such brainwashing tactics were Imperial, not Republic, implying Imperial Intelligence's betrayal of Nine to the Republic. Secretly infiltrating the archives in Imperial Intelligence HQ back on Dromund Kaas, Nine discovered that the brainwashing had indeed been ordered by Intelligence. Watcher X instructed Nine to disable the power generators inside the archives in order to prevent being monitored. When the power was down Nine started to search through archives for the clues. By searching the first terminal, they found a record of Security Directive 101-3A where the former Keeper, now Minister of Intelligence, approved the Castellan restraints on Cipher Nine. While the Dark Council acknowledged Nine's skill, the Agent had directly opposed a Sith Lord, which was unacceptable to them. To spare Cipher Nine from execution, the former Keeper was forced to approve a mind control program. In the second terminal, Nine found a record of an Imperial scientist, which indicated that a substance called IX serum was being used to perform the brainwashing. It also indicated that the process is irreversible and the only possible solution to disable the conditioning was to use IX serum to reprogram the command codes. Further search through the records revealed that the Empire ran out of IX serum and the chemicals required for it could be found on the poisonous world of Quesh. Upon docking to the Quesh space station, they were greeted by an Imperial traffic control officer who inquired about their business. Nine pretended to be part of a surprise inspection sent to check the Imperial supplies of Quesh chemicals. They were directed to Administrator Kroius, head of the supply depot. Unfortunately, Kroius informed Nine that they run out of the dimalium-6. Nine then attacked the Republic mine and secured a ready supply of the required chemical. Using a nearby lab, Nine synthesized the IX serum and injected it into the body. However, the serum would take time to make and circulate through the Agent's system. On the ship, Nine was contacted by Kothe who assigned the agent a new mission.

Cipher Nine was compelled to continue the deception by traveling to the frozen world of Hoth. Kothe was searching for a Special Forces shuttle known as the Starbreeze. He assigned SIS agent Hunter to oversee Nine on this mission. Nine was to find Imperial Admiral Layek Davos to help him seek out the lost ship. Two decades ago, Davos commanded the battle over Hoth, which resulted in the destruction of numerous Republic ships that were pulled into the planet by its gravitation force. Now Davos was leading an expedition to recover the Republic valuables from the crashed ship. Inside Dorn Base, Nine meet with Captain Furth, one of the admiral's subordinates, who said that Davos had been gone for some time. Nine then went to the expedition launch point, where the agent found several Imperials speaking to the admiral over holotransmitter. Nine informed Davos that Intelligence would oversee the expedition and that Nine would join him. However, Davos sought the wreck for himself and ordered his men to attack Nine. After Nine eliminated the attackers, they were contacted by a Chiss sergeant who offered them a refuge. Nine they went to the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force outpost and met with Human female Ensign Raina Temple, who worked for the Chiss.

To track down the Admiral, she instructed Nine to investigate the supply caches that were being transported into White Maw territory by Davos' men. The investigation revealed that the caches were given to the pirates in exchange for a safe passage through their territory. Nine then went inside the cave system called the "Bone Pits", where Davos' men met with the pirates in order to negotiate the deal. While Nine spied on the meeting through a hidden camera, the pirates agreed to help find the Starbreeze inside the crashed Republic battleship Star of Coruscant in exchange for getting part of the salvaged valuables. Nine and Temple then intercepted Admiral Davos, his men, and the pirates at the Starbreeze. They were all eliminated in the fight that followed and Nine took the ship to a place designated by Agent Hunter. When he saw Temple, he pretended to be an Imperial Fixer Agent and told her that she was transferred under Nine's command. Before taking the ship to Kothe, he used the mind control code on Nine to program the Cipher to eliminate Temple if she became a threat to their plans.

Nine eventually discovered that Kothe sought the Shadow Arsenal, a collection of undetectable nuclear missiles developed by Colonel Laren Omas and Nasan Godera towards the end of the previous war. Omas had died at Hoth, but his personal ship Starbreeze carried the location of the arsenal. With the loss of Omas's leadership, Godera and his team of scientists decided not to use the weapons and hid the missiles inside a factory complex on Quesh and protected it with various automated defenses. Godera then encrypted the missiles' arming codes into the Ultrawave Transmitter.

Kothe intended to use them as a nuclear deterrent to prevent further war. He instructed his team to meet at him at the factory complex. SIS agent Saber was tasked to disable the anti-air batteries, Nine was tasked to disable the base shield while SIS agent Wheel sliced the main computer and supported them. When the defenses were down Kothe and Hunter landed a cargo ship to extract the missiles. Kothe gave Nine one last order to remain at the shield generator control center, intending to leave them behind. Shortly after, Watcher X contacted Nine again. The IX serum started to take effect and he helped to reset the brainwashing program. He set a new keyword, "iconoclasm", and locked it to Nine exclusively. Watcher X then gave the Agent final directives to stop Ardun Kothe. Cipher Nine then hurried into the building where the missiles were stored and first ran into Saber and Wheel. They were suspicious because Agent was able to disobey the Kothe orders to stay at the shield controls. Nine then reveled their true affiliation before killing them both. Finally they confronted Kothe, who revealed himself to be a former Jedi. At the end of the battle, Nine trapped Kothe behind a force field and activated the security turrets, which shot Kothe down. Before the Agent could claim the Arsenal for the Empire, however, Nine was interrupted by SIS agent Hunter, who revealed himself to work for a third party. He then tipped the Imperial Bomber Command who sent a strike towards the base, with Nine narrowly escaping the explosion.

Following Kothe's defeat, Nine took a brief respite to recover before reporting back to Imperial Intelligence. Upon their return to duty, Imperial Intelligence was preoccupied with identifying the third party that had so easily deceived the Republic's late spymaster. Nine met with the new Minister of Intelligence to confront him with brainwashing. He defended his actions by stating that it was the only way to save the Agent's life. However, he was puzzled about how the mind control codes were leaked to SIS. The obvious lead was Hunter and his third party organization. He informed Nine that a man fitting Hunter's description was spotted at the Isen IV Republic mining colony several hours ago. He also played a recorded message of representative Omana Tragg surrendering the colony to an Imperial fleet. Afterwards, Keeper had to rush to a meeting with Darth Baras and Minister of War to discuss the reemerged war. He expressed concern if the Sith found out that Intelligence was using their resources on hunting a conspiracy at the expense of the war effort. He promised to try to withhold this from the Sith as long as possible and dispatched Nine to investigate the lead at Isen IV.

Upon arriving to the devastated colony, Nine came across many dead bodies and a wounded colony security officer who angrily accused the Empire of murdering civilians after they surrendered. When Nine was talking to him, he was suddenly shot by mysterious droids. Before the security officer died, Nine was able to extract information from him, which indicated that SIS agent Hunter made contact with the colony shortly before the attack. Nine then searched the colony for its control center to get more clues. While searching through the main computer, the Cipher found a sabotage device which made the security and medical droids attack the colonists. In the meantime they were contacted by Hunter. He admitted that the purpose of staging this attack, on behalf of a secret organization, was to infuriate the Republic by making them believe that the Empire committed this atrocity. The goal was to manipulate the Republic into reigniting the war with the Empire. Despite the Empire's best attempt to cover up this incident, Hunter and his organization were ultimately successful in achieving their goal. The Isen IV incident was one of the major factors that led to renewal of hostilities between the Republic and Empire.

Back on Dromund Kaas, Nine met with the Minister and Keeper to discuss the next move. They analyzed the sabotage device that was recovered from the colony computer. At the same time they looked through archives for similar incidents in the past. They found sixty-two events that indicated similar sabotage and outside intervention. The most promising lead the found was on the planet Belsavis where the conspirators subverted the Republic leaders into building a vault known as Megasecurity Ward 23.

Cipher Nine's subsequent task was to uncover the secrets the conspiracy organization concealed within the vault on Belsavis. The planet served as a secret Republic prison for Imperials, Sith, and dangerous criminals. The Empire deployed a strike force to extract the Sith and Imperials, simultaneously instigating chaos by inciting riots among other prisoners. Cipher Nine was to utilize experts among the prisoners to breach Megasecurity Ward 23. Nine landed at one of the Imperial bases, where an Intelligence operative, Bax Kholer, left a box with necessary supplies and dossiers on the selected prisoners. The dossiers included Kanjon Slyke, an escape artist whose brother was killed trying to break into Ward 23; Ohta, an ex-Mandalorian; Chaney Barrow, an Exchange slicer; and Paarkos, a male Gand with the ability to see through walls. Nine broke into their prisons and rigged the cell doors with explosives, before going to one of the control towers, where the Agent contacted the prisoners and provided them with coordinates to a meeting place. While doing so, Nine was interrupted by the SCORPIO security program for the first time, and it seemed to be able to use the entire prison security network. Nine met the prisoner gang inside a nearby cave. Upon arriving, the Agent was threatened by Ohta. Nine quickly made an example of him by shooting him dead in front of the of the gang. Posing as a fellow prisoner, the Agent persuaded them to help break into Megasecurity Ward 23. However, they would need certain equipment to do so. Chaney suggested raiding the prison medical center. When they entered the facility, they were again interrupted by SCORPIO, which released the SLV-88 mind control aerosol into the air ventilation system. Controlled by the SLV-88, the gang attacked Nine, who had to incapacitate them. After destroying the vents to prevent further intoxication, they grabbed the necessary equipment. However some crucial parts were still missing and Nine had to acquire them from other sections of the prison. These parts were a carbonite trap, a maranium power battery, and anti-radiation serum.

The next step was to plant a virus into the security droids to disrupt SCORPIO. Nine inserted the virus in numerous warden droids around the prison and destroyed the droid maintenance facility to prevent it from erasing the virus. Nine then infiltrated Megasecurity Ward 23 using the carbonite trap to disguise the Cipher's life readings. Inside, the Agent used the radiation of the maranium power battery to melt the vault doors and anti-radiation serum to neutralize the negative biological effects of the radiation. When Nine entered the main vault, the Agent was attacked by SCORPIO, which turned out to be a droid that was built by conspirators to protect their vault. After defeating SCORPIO, the Agent found the contents of the vault. It contained stasis chambers with past members of the conspiracy organization that Hunter was part of. They spoke with Nine through the holoterminal and revealed that their organization was called the Star Cabal. They claimed they were created after the Great Hyperspace War with the purpose to manipulate the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic in order to prevent devastating wars and suffering caused by the two factions. However, each new generation of the conspirators was more corrupt and deviated from the original goals of the Cabal. On this basis, the contained old members were willing to help Nine dismantle the Star Cabal. They rebuilt SCORPIO and placed it under Nine's command so that the secrets it contained could be used to track down the current conspirators.

As Nine boarded the ship, an explosion erupted from the airlock. Upon investigation, they discovered Pashon Cortess and his guards within the airlock, seeking vengeance for Nine's disruption of his family. Pashon was defeated and when the station security arrived, the Agent ordered them to execute him. Back on ship, Nine was contacted by Watcher Three with a new lead. Intelligence found a record of a meeting between Hunter and other members of the Star Cabal that took place somewhere in the Brema sector around six months ago. However the actual recording was stored somewhere on the Tytun Rings, which served as an archive of all communications sent via the HoloNet. Nine went to the Tytun Rings and managed to find segments of a recording on one of the storage ships there. Back on Dromund Kaas, Keeper and Watcher Three managed to put the segments together and play the entire recording. The recording revealed several members of Star Cabal, yet they could only recognize Hunter. The discussion mentioned events such as Darth Angral's incident, Darth Baras' rise, and the awakening of the Emperor's Children, as well as undisclosed events on the Republic side which would seemingly counterbalance them. While observing the recording, Keeper and two other Watchers from the new eugenics program collapsed. The recording contained a hidden overlay which overwhelmed the genetically enhanced personnel and temporarily shut down their brains. Keeper and the affected Watchers had to be placed on life support, which left Intelligence in shortage of Watchers. While extremely busy with handling the extra agents, Watcher Three informed Nine that Keeper had been working on some lead on the planet Voss. However, he did not know any details beyond that.

Nine journeyed to Voss to ascertain Keeper's objective. They encountered an Imperial agent surgically altered to resemble a Voss, enabling infiltration into the isolationist society as a Voss-Ka tea house owner named Bas-Ton. After a discussion, they suspected that a Human named Albathius could have been a potential Star Cabal member. After his arrival to Voss few years ago, he became a legend among the Voss people. The Voss believed he was a part of a prophecy and called him "the Shining Man". However, he recently died and was buried under under Voss-Ka with full honors - something that was unusual for an outsider. Nine then went to visit his tomb. To minimize suspicion from Voss the Agent performed some of the rituals along the path leading to the tomb. Inside the tomb, Nine opened the Shining Man's sarcophagus, finding his ashes and a scroll containing his prophecy. The Agent learned that the Shining Man visited the Wellspring of Healing inside the Shrine of Healing. When Nine entered the chambers, they were stopped by a Voss acolyte guarding the sacred place. The acolyte confirmed that the Shining Man came to Wellspring of Healing and that the recording of the event exists. Nine treated the Voss to let them inside the archives where they found the Shining Man's Vitalicron. However, these records were genetically locked and could only be viewed by the person that the record is about. Luckily, Bas-Ton was able to extract genetic sample from the ash collected from the Shining Man's sarcophagus and Nine played the recording. The recording suggested that the Shining Man somehow forged the scroll using ancient materials in the Nightmare Lands and used it to con a Voss Mystic. Nine then went to meet with Bas-Ton at his tea house.

Upon his arrival, Bas-Ton's family was contacted by a bounty hunter. This individual revealed that he had abducted Bas-Ton and demanded a meeting with the Agent. Nine proceeded to the location specified by the bounty hunter, where it was revealed that the mercenaries were in the employ of Fa'athra. While Bas-Ton created a diversion, Nine engaged and defeated the mercenaries. Fa'athra declared that he was seeking retribution for the Agent's actions as a "Red Blade," which had disrupted his operations on Hutta. When Nine inquired about how Fa'athra had managed to locate him, Fa'athra explained that a man named Hunter had provided him with the agent's identity. Following this revelation, Nine fatally shot Fa'athra. Tragically, Bas-Ton sustained a mortal wound during the conflict. Before succumbing to his injuries, he imparted final instructions to the Agent. Subsequently, Nine journeyed to the Nightmare Lands, specifically to the Chamber of Ashes, the location where the Shining Man's prophecy originated. Within the Nightmare Lands, they encountered the Shining Man's ship, guarded by a Gormak named Xanar. Xanar, refusing to accept the Shining Man's death, attacked the Agent when Nine attempted to seize the ship's computer. Nine eliminated Xanar and secured the data. Throughout the mission on Voss, Nine's actions led the Voss to believe that Nine was also a figure within the prophecy. This resulted in a meeting between the Agent and the Three, the ruling body of Voss. The conversation unveiled that the Shining Man had manipulated his fabricated prophecy to persuade Voss to maintain neutrality for 3,000 days on behalf of the Star Cabal.

By this point, Cipher Nine was on the verge of exposing the Star Cabal. As a countermeasure, the conspirators informed the Dark Council about an ongoing conspiracy investigation within Imperial Intelligence. In response, the Dark Council dispatched Kaleesh Lord Razer with orders to dismantle Imperial Intelligence. Upon confronting Nine, Razer informed the Agent that the war was progressing poorly and that the Sith would not tolerate Intelligence diverting resources to a conspiracy hunt. All agents were reassigned to serve under military officials and Sith Lords. Nine was specifically placed under Razer's command and given the rank of Lieutenant in the Imperial Army.

Cipher Nine received orders from the Minister of Intelligence to relocate to Corellia, where the Empire and the Republic were engaged in a major conflict. Suspecting a connection to the Star Cabal's schemes, Nine decided to cooperate, at least outwardly. Following Razer's directives, Cipher Nine assisted in identifying targets for bombing raids. During these operations, Nine began receiving a garbled transmission. After improving the signal, a hologram of a masked figure appeared. This figure instructed Nine to infiltrate a Republic base and retrieve their records. Choosing to comply, Nine soon uncovered a message from Supreme Commander Rans announcing the imminent arrival of Republic reinforcements: Elite forces assembled from various planets by the Republic Special Forces Division and Rift Alliance, led by General Elin Garza and a young Jedi Master known as the Barsen'thor, respectively.

After reporting to Razer's command center and waiting for privacy, Nine established communication with the unknown figure. The figure identified herself as Keeper, who had been awakened from her coma to assist Nine. She instructed Nine to locate Moff Alvon Zamar and acquire his report on Imperial forces on Corellia before the Star Cabal could intercept and alter it. After obtaining the data and transmitting it to Keeper, she determined that the Empire lacked sufficient forces to withstand the Republic reinforcements. She then relayed a message from Razer, whose base was under attack. The Agent returned to Razer's base, where a Jedi had infiltrated and killed the Sith Lord, only to be killed himself by Imperial forces. As Razer's troops were reassigned to other Dark Lords, Nine contacted Keeper, who explained that the conspirators were orchestrating conflicts between Jedi and Sith. She had traced conspirator resources to an airship above Coronet City, defended by mercenaries formerly associated with Eidolon Security. She instructed Nine to board the airship and allow themselves to be captured, then feed the Star Cabal misinformation under torture, leading them to believe their plan was failing.

Upon boarding the airship, Nine observed numerous wealthy guests indulging in hedonistic celebrations as their planet suffered. Nine eventually noticed a hologram of Hunter and approached it. Hunter revealed that the party was intended to distract Corellia's wealthy citizens from taking any meaningful action. He then outlined the conspiracy's overarching plan: by controlling information, the Cabal would manipulate both the Empire and the Republic into mutual annihilation, eliminating both Jedi and Sith, thereby enabling "ordinary" individuals to seize control. Nine dismissed his plan as delusional, before being incapacitated with coma gas. Nine endured an unknown period of torture regarding the contents of Zamar's report, successfully planting false information before eliminating the interrogators and escaping the airship.

Unfortunately, the Star Cabal was monitoring the Agent's movements, prompting Keeper to devise a plan to simulate Nine's death. This involved entering the Military History Museum, detonating explosives to destroy it, and seeking refuge underground. While this would not deceive Hunter for long, it would provide Nine with the necessary time. As Nine prepared within the museum, Harson Nild of SIS Core World Operations contacted the agent, offering surrender with the assurance of eventual repatriation to Imperial space. Nine declined the offer as the museum collapsed. As planned, Nine escaped, successfully deceiving the Star Cabal.

Cipher Nine traveled to the Intelligence flagship Tenebrous, where the Minister of Intelligence had gathered the remnants of Imperial Intelligence to launch an attack on the Star Cabal. Thanks to Nine's operation on Corellia, the conspirators had finally made a mistake, allowing Keeper to trace their transmissions to a station in the Null Zone. The Minister ordered Nine to eliminate all the conspirators on board the station and retrieve their secrets, enabling them to locate the remaining members throughout the galaxy who were not present on the station.

Nine then infiltrated the Star Cabal's headquarters, the Star Chamber, eliminating its entire inner circle, before confronting Hunter at the Black Codex data center, where all the conspiracy's secrets were stored. After wounding Hunter, "he" revealed herself to be a woman. Nine then killed Hunter and retrieved the Black Codex. Nine then gave an encrypted holocommunicator to the Sith sent by the Dark Council to retrieve the Black Codex. Nine then returned to the Tenebrous, where the Minister of Intelligence informed them that the Sith would not reform Intelligence and instead replace it with Sith Intelligence, headed by people like Nine. Nine then departed the Tenebrous to continue serving the Empire.

Cipher Nine's journeys eventually led the Imperial Agent to Rishi. While exploring Raider's Cove, Nine received a holotransmission from a protocol droid requesting the presence of the "Red Blade," Nine's original cover identity from the Hutta mission, stating that Jheeg wished to meet. Nine proceeded to the rendezvous point at the local cantina, only to discover that Jheeg was absent, but the former Minister of Intelligence was present. Having established an Umbaran jamming field for privacy, the former Minister revealed that following the collapse of Imperial Intelligence and Darth Malgus's New Empire, Shara Jenn, formerly Keeper and Watcher Two, had been captured by the Republic. He had arranged for her to be frozen in carbonite and for her transport to be raided by pirates and brought to Rishi, where the former Minister intended to negotiate for her release. He tasked Nine with slicing the pirates' databank to provide him with leverage in the negotiations.

Nine followed the Minister's instructions and sliced the pirate terminals while monitoring the Minister's negotiation with Kavork over the comm. Overhearing that the pirate leader owed debts to a trio of Trandoshans, the Agent tracked down the pirates and eliminated them, including Boruush, thereby resolving the pirate leader's debts.

Subsequently, Nine returned to the cantina, expecting to find Jenn, only to learn that she was on a transport bound for a medical facility where well-compensated doctors and scientists would repair the damage to her mind and undo her loyalty program; the former Minister withheld this information because he wasn't sure that Nine would approve and he wanted Jenn to make her own life away from the conflict. He then allowed Nine to say their final goodbyes to their former handler.

Following this, the Minister relayed a rumor that Imperial Intelligence was on the verge of being reformed and that Darth Marr desired Nine to oversee and advise. The new agency would require new personnel to fill its ranks, so the Minister provided Nine with a list of potential recruits, consisting of military deserters, terrorist sympathizers, and Malgus's alien insurgents, whom he considered "untraditional" but believers in a better Empire. The Minister then parted ways with Nine to return to his retirement, reminding Nine to remain vigilant for threats both internal and external, and that the Empire's fate rested with them.

Cipher Nine possessed exceptional skills as an agent. Exhibiting composure and even charm, they were a highly formidable individual. Cold, calculating, ruthless, and detached, the Agent displayed remarkable proficiency in combat and manipulation. Their abilities encompassed assassination, espionage, manipulation, seduction, hand-to-hand combat, and ranged combat. Cipher Nine refined years of training and personal aptitude to the point where they could seamlessly transition between blasters and knives during battle. Their ranged skills extended to both short and long-range weapons, along with expert marksmanship, including the utilization of a stealth generator.

This article details the character story of the Imperial Agent player class in Star Wars: The Old Republic, a video game developed by LucasArts and BioWare. The class was initially announced in November 2009, with the game's release in December 2011.

Due to the character's customizable nature, no canonical portrayal of this individual exists; therefore, the article presents the subject's gender as neutral, and their alignment as dark, reflecting the Sith Empire's role as the game's primary antagonist. The character's species is also player-selected, with options including Chiss, Cyborg, Human, Rattataki, or Zabrak by default. Additionally, other races such as Twi'lek and Sith Pureblood can be unlocked for any class. With the Star Wars: The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith Game Update 7.5 "Desperate Defiance," the male Cipher Nine was voiced by Wilf Scolding,

If the Imperial Agent is a Chiss, specific dialogue options will be available during quests involving Chiss or the Agent's background. For example, during the mission "Friends in Common" on Hutta, Linh will refer to the Agent as her "Chiss friend." On Balmorra, an Intelligence officer named Breerdin offers a mission (for all classes) to implicate the Balmorran resistance in the slaying of a Chiss delegate at a cantina in Sobrik (which was in fact the act of a drunk off-duty Imperial officer); a Chiss Agent has the option of asking whether Breerdin intends that they work against their own people. More examples can be heard in conversations with Kaliyo; when complaining to the Agent about Imperial rations, a Chiss Agent has the option to tell Kaliyo that they were raised in the Chiss Ascendancy, and as such they weren’t raised on Imperial rations. In the discussion of their homeworlds, a Chiss Agent will remark that they have not been to their homeworld of Csilla in some time. The interaction with the Chiss officers on Hoth, such as Captain Yudrass, and the forces of Aristocra Saganu have Chiss-specific responses, and at the end of the storyline on Hoth, the Chiss Agent is made a merit adoptive of House Miurani.

During the class mission on Voss, the Agent's origins may vary based on the Agent's species. If the Agent is a Chiss, it is mentioned that the Agent was part of the Chiss Secret Police on Csilla before being made an offer to join Imperial Intelligence.

The game's writers initially struggled to define the class's concept. They sought to represent the Empire without simply creating another soldier akin to the Trooper, aiming to introduce a novel element to the Star Wars universe. The Imperial Agent was intended to explore the mindset of an ordinary Imperial citizen, examining how a non-Force-user like Grand Moff Tarkin could stand against Vader, and the "role of the defender of a despotic nation." Unlike other classes in the game, the Agent lacked a direct counterpart in the films (such as the Smuggler and Han Solo), instead drawing inspiration from background elements like Bothan spies.

Alexander Freed authored the Imperial Agent storyline. Developers initially envisioned the Agent's story as a traditional James Bond-style spy narrative, but Freed proposed a more gritty foundation based on works like 24 and The Bourne Identity. Each act was designed to emulate a distinct spy genre: Act 1, a modern-day anti-terrorist plot; Act 2, a blend of mad-science adventure and a The Prisoner–esque psychological drama; and Act 3, a global conspiracy. Freed, a proponent of "psychological realism," wanted the story to have a "toll" due to the nature of the Agent's work. Additionally, Freed drew inspiration from works such as Suicide Squad, the Lensmen series, Use of Weapons, and Aeon Flux.

Visually, the Agent's armor was designed to "convey intrigue and clandestine acts"; to that end, it incorporates substantial amounts of cloth and leather, while high collars and shades evoke a "cloak-and-dagger coolness." Each aspect of the Agent's design is intended to have "function," although everything is smaller and more elegant compared to the similarly functional Trooper.

The creation of the Imperial Agent led to the introduction of both the Sith Empire's Imperial Intelligence and its Republic counterpart, the Strategic Information Service.

In combat, the Agent relies heavily on cover and/or stealth, both of which were implemented to provide a logical explanation for how the class (and the Smuggler) could confront Force-users. At level 10, the player can choose between two "Advanced Specializations," effectively selecting their class. The "Sniper" specializes in long-range combat, while the "Operative" is a melee-based class that focuses on stealth, backstabbing, and other tactics. Either can fulfill a DPS role in combat, although the Operative can also choose to be a Healer. The developers aimed to have the gameplay of classes originate from their archetype rather than stereotypical MMO roles. "Cover" was a relatively novel concept in MMOs.

While this article assumes that Cipher Nine made dark-side choices throughout the game and provided the Sith with the Black Codex, the canonical ending for the Agent storyline remains unconfirmed, and several alternative endings exist.

At the conclusion of the first Act, the betrayal of Jadus can be resolved in four distinct ways. Two light-side paths lead to the same outcome: Jadus escapes, but the Eradicators are stopped without further Imperial casualties. This can be achieved by either deactivating the Eradicators when prompted or convincing Jadus to retreat by informing him that he has been recorded and his plan is no longer viable. Alternatively, the player can deceive Jadus by initially activating the Eradicators to gain his trust at the prompt of Watcher Two, then sabotaging the ship. Jadus is unable to escape and is trapped behind force fields while the Agent distracts him; he is handed over to the Dark Council, and his plans are permanently thwarted, at the cost of numerous lives when the Eradicators initially fired. The player can also choose to join Jadus, assist him in firing the weapons, and become the "Hand of Jadus."

Upon completing Act 3, several endings are possible. A comprehensive list:

• The player may choose to have Cipher give the Sith the Black Codex, allowing the Dark Council to replace Imperial Intelligence with Sith Intelligence. Cipher Nine will be placed head of it, though still answerable to the Sith. If the Agent sided with Darth Jadus in Act 1, the Sith will come in the name of Jadus.
• If the player spared Ardun Kothe and told him about the Star Cabal on Corellia, he will show up and kill the Sith, locking off the previous ending. He will offer to care for the Codex, keeping it from the wrong hands. If the player agrees, he will offer to let them join the Republic and act as a double agent, which the player may or may not accept.
• Should the player keep the Black Codex, the Minister of Intelligence will offer to take it and erase Cipher Nine's identity from all sources, effectively making them a ghost and free agent.
• The player may also refuse the Minister and stay in the Empire or destroy the Codex.