Play the story · practical starting information
How to jump into this adventure
Where you begin
Begin as an Imperial Intelligence operative on Hutta, taking assignments that rely on infiltration and contacts. Your early progression follows the Imperial side toward Dromund Kaas. Kaliyo Djannis is among the Agent's original class companions.
What you actually play
Expect spycraft, undercover work, divided loyalties and plot threads that depend strongly on what characters know. The narrative increasingly examines who controls Imperial Intelligence, and its story has significant branching outcomes. This is not a standard Sith apprenticeship.
Worth knowing
Great for players who value dialogue and spy thrillers over Force powers. Spoilers matter especially here, so read the chapter descriptions only after playing them. Operative and Sniper are historical associations; the Origin Story remains the same when you choose another eligible Tech style.
For the exact next mission on your character, open the Eras Window introduced in Game Update 7.7. Official Eras Window and Mission Log details · Official story missions. Current UI, availability, and chapter requirements can differ from the original expansion launches.
01 · Position within the galaxy
The story and the institutions it reveals
The Imperial Agent story approaches the Sith Empire not from the commanding throne but from the intelligence service that makes rule possible. Cipher Nine's work involves secrecy, fabricated identities, manipulation and the ever-present risk that Sith leadership will treat ordinary Imperial employees as disposable. It is one of SWTOR's strongest portraits of institutional power.
The new Agent is sent to Hutta to influence Nem'ro's factional choices and returns to Imperial Intelligence on Dromund Kaas. Early assignments make clear that operatives can be highly competent yet possess very little control over the ultimate purposes to which their intelligence is put.
The protagonist enters the conflict in the position of Cipher operative, infiltrator and intelligence professional. Beginning on Hutta, this narrative unfolds alongside the same Republic–Sith struggle explored by the other seven Origin Stories. A single storyline does not give a complete survey of the galaxy. Its conflicts and choices reveal the assumptions and restrictions facing this particular character, including who issues orders, controls travel, assigns rank, provides knowledge, and defines a mission's success.
02 · Main class narrative
Prologue and the three original chapters
The prologue begins on Hutta. Follow your purple Origin Story missions, then read the three chapter sections below for story direction, important characters and the complete recap. Your current Mission Log and Eras Window, rather than a historical mission coordinate, provide the precise next objective.
I · Rise of the Eagle
What you will play
Chapter I — Track the Eagle's conspiracy by using undercover access and intelligence operations. The Agent's story has substantial reveals; leave chapter summaries closed until you play those missions.
Story recap
Cipher Nine pursues a terrorist threat tied to the Eagle while uncovering Darth Jadus's ambitions. Counterterrorism operations expose the relationship between internal security and Sith competition.
World and character context
A crisis can enable a would-be ruler to demand extraordinary powers. The Agent's investigation is therefore not merely about locating a perpetrator but about identifying which institutions benefit from public fear.
II · The Mind Trap
What you will play
Chapter II — The spy story changes shape as competing powers affect the Agent's autonomy. Some decisions strongly influence later scenes, so take care with dialogue rather than following a single 'correct' route.
Story recap
Under cover inside the Republic SIS, Cipher Nine confronts sleeper conditioning that can compel compliance with Ardun Kothe's operation. The assignment raises a severe question about whether the Agent's choices are genuinely autonomous.
World and character context
Mental coercion serves as an extreme fictional representation of organizational control. Unlike ordinary discipline, the agent's conditioning denies the capacity to refuse, making the distinction between obedience and consent explicit.
III · Galactic Conspiracy
What you will play
Chapter III — Follow the Star Cabal-related conspiracy through its original finale. SCORPIO is encountered during the campaign, not automatically given to every new Imperial character.
Story recap
The hunt for Hunter exposes the Star Cabal and its campaign to manipulate both rival powers. The fate of the Black Codex leaves the Agent with a decision about the custody of political secrets.
World and character context
A repository of intelligence can reorganize power if its holders control what other groups know. The story's central institutional question is who should possess such information, and what accountability could make that control legitimate.
03 · Recruit your crew
Where your five original companions join
As you progress the purple Imperial Agent storyline, the crew expands. The five linked recruitment cards below show where each companion joins the original adventure and what to follow next. These are not Alliance Alerts or modern combat-build rankings.
Since Game Update 4.0, original class companion conversations unlock through class story progress, not an affection threshold. Companions can fill healing, damage and tank roles, with their gear serving a cosmetic purpose. Speak with them aboard your ship between planets.
Returning after an expansion? Since Game Update 7.9 (June 2026), Companions & Contacts has an Ineligible for Story tab. It lets you use narratively unavailable companions in gameplay without changing their story status. The older Companion Locator Terminal is disabled. Official 7.9 companion changes
Kaliyo DjannisHuttaEarly class storyComplete the initial Hutta covert assignment to bring Kaliyo into your crew.Companion story and recruitment →
Vector HyllusAlderaanClass storyThe Agent meets the Joiner diplomat during Alderaan's political operations.Companion story and recruitment →
Doctor Eckard LokinTarisClass storyFollow intelligence objectives on Taris to meet the doctor and covert specialist.Companion story and recruitment →
Raina TempleHothClass storyEncounter Temple during Imperial operations on Hoth.Companion story and recruitment →
SCORPIOBelsavisClass storyThe Agent finds the dangerous intelligence droid through Belsavis missions.Companion story and recruitment →Connected companion research
Explore Kaliyo Djannis beyond combat
Kaliyo Djannis joins the Imperial Agent story as someone whose associations and motives remain unstable. In a profession that depends on verification, she forces the player to distinguish useful information from the comforting fiction of knowing an informant's true loyalty.
04 · Practical gameplay orientation
How to play this story without confusing it with a Combat Style
Choose this story for espionage, morally uncertain missions, competing chains of command and one of the game's most consequential endings. Sniper and Operative were its original Advanced Classes, but current Tech Combat Styles are available independently of the Origin Story.
Starting world: Hutta. Class-story ship: X-70B Phantom. Original Advanced Class associations: Sniper and Operative. Those associations describe the game's historical class presentation, not exclusive 2026 fighting options.
For all 16 fighting options, weapons, and disciplines: See the full Combat Styles guide →
Open the navigation-first mission walkthrough →
As of the 7.0 system, you choose the narrative Origin Story and your Combat Style as distinct character-creation decisions. Force-based stories select from eligible Force styles and tech-based stories from eligible Tech styles. Further eligibility, switching and additional styles depend on game unlocks, character status and current rules. For precise combat mechanics, compare the official 7.0 rules with the newest published patch notes; avoid using pre-7.0 ability lists as current build advice.
For a first playthrough, preserve your original class missions and speak with companions between major planets. Story decisions may change dialogue and relationships, while later shared expansions can converge on the same broader galactic events. Use the Eras Window to find the next main mission when returning after a long break.
05 · IDS anthropology dossier
Imperial Agent: social meaning of the playable career
The Imperial Agent is ideal for political and legal anthropology: classified records, surveillance, institutional rules and the manufacture of consent are central to its plot. The protagonist's access to powerful information does not necessarily grant them genuine independence. The narrative can also be examined as a critique of bureaucratic systems that claim to protect the public while hiding their own procedures.
Each Origin Story establishes a particular social location rather than an unbiased historical perspective. The character's access to knowledge, legitimacy, patronage and mobility depends on institutional context. For this class, the most productive themes are surveillance and bureaucracy, identity under coercion, state secrecy. These themes are analytical questions applied to fictional material. They should not be mistaken for official authorial explanations, nor should outcomes chosen by one player be presented as the only possible version of the narrative.
An ethnographic analogy requires restraint. The game designs situations in which missions, dialogue menus and reward structures shape action. It cannot supply observations of real communities or evidence that a political theory is true. Its educational value lies in asking how a player learns to act within a social institution, what actions the mechanics reward, and whose experiences remain outside the story's field of view.
Follow the story
Where will you travel next?
Meet the companions, revisit the eight Origin Stories, or discover the expansions that continue these adventures.
06 · Source trail
Sources and continuity
- Imperial Agent complete class story overview · official SWTOR Encyclopedia excerpt
- Imperial Agent · official SWTOR Holonet class overview
- Official 7.0 patch notes · Origin Stories and Combat Styles
- Imperial Dark Sector Old Republic chronology
All storyline details are Legends material; the game's possible decisions cannot all describe one single character's history. The independent analysis on this page is clearly labeled and should be read in conjunction with primary story material.