10: Rising Tides

Athaliah made her way quietly down the large, circular structure that made up the majority of Kamino's structure. The hangars weren't very large at first glance, but it seemed that each step she took made the journey on foot that much longer. Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One, she counted in her head. The reality of the obvious trap waiting settled in, and she almost hesitated entering Hangar 32. She could sense that the Inquisitor was inside, but something just felt wrong.

A moment later the decision was made for her, and the doors were blasted open from the inside. The explosion caught her off gard, and she was knocked back into the far wall with a heavy thud. As she struggled to get up and catch her breath, two hulking Trandoshans stepped forward, blasters in hand, and growled in their native tongue.

"Get up," the first one hissed, "The wise one wishes an audience with you before he gives you to the Scorekeeper."

She slowly stood up, focussing on the one that remained silent, and began to flood his mind with dark force energy. She filled his mind with false images that would seem real to him, showing him images of the Inquisitor killing him in an ultimate betrayal, and the other Trandoshan taking the reward for himself. She fed into his greed like a plague, letting the dark side do the rest.

"Your ally seeks to betray you," she hissed as she stepped forward, hands held up in submission.

"You fiend," the Trandoshan screamed as he struck down the other, lizard-like beast.

Blasting relentlessly, the final Trandoshan fired into his ally's corpse until there was nothing but a smoking carcass remaining. Her mind trick had worked, but now she had only seconds to act upon. As the Trandoshan began to cry out in madness, suddenly snapping out of his confusion and realising what he'd done, Athaliah lunged at him violently. Wasting no time, she pulled the blaster rifle from his arms, catching and firing it in mid-air, and pulled the trigger. With deadly precision, she fired into his skull, killing him instantly, then landed and tossed the rifle away like trash.

"Too easy," she said as she made her way into the hangar, ignoring the thud of the alien's corpse as it fell to the ground limply.

She made her way in silently, but the energy she felt was anything but. The Inquisitor was definitely here, but what she sensed couldn't be right. His presence seemed to linger in everything around her, as if all of his consciousness had taken hold of the entire hangar. Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound echoed through the air in a painful groan, and a massive, eight-armed titan began slowly turning.

She now sensed where the inquisitor was, and as the massive, spider-shaped metallic titan turned to face her, she saw his body entangled in the wires and gears that were injected into his missing limbs. If only she'd had her light saber, she wouldn't hesitate to strike him down immediately, but alas she had arrived unarmed.

"Well well well," The Twi'lek roared in a loud, mechanized voice, "Athaliah, what a surprise. I had no idea that you were so eager to return."

"Master's orders," she replied with a shrug, "He hates it when I forget to take out the trash."

"Very clever indeed," he replied, "but you were dead the moment you set foot in this place. I've turned my body into the largest land weapon anyone has ever seen!"

"It's nothing a little force lightning can't take care of," she retorted with a smirk, "and everything here is metallic. You should've gone with a different material, you're making this too easy."

xxxxxxx

"I just don't understand," Willow demanded as the Raven's Claw took off through hyper space, "Why Kamino? It's one of the Sith Empire's strongholds. That's where the Imperial army is born."

"Exactly," Xenos replied, "Whoever controls Kamino controls the Empire, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," she yelled back with a crazed tone, "and the Sith Empire controls Kamino. So why the hell are we going there?!"

"I've been to Kamino once before," Xenos explained, "It's controlled by one massive computer unit. That's where all the clones get their programming done. They're naturally embedded with directives."

"What's your point," Willow demanded.

"All it would take is for us to rewrite the entire system," he continued, "If we do that, we'll have an entire army under our control!"

After a long pause, Willow's face grew more and more skeptic. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and what she was hearing sounded insane. However, being a wanted criminal, and a fugitive now, she had no choice but to go along with the plan. After all, her only hope of freedom now depended on overthrowing the Sith Empire entirely, and even she could tell that their numbers were dwindling.

About half an hour passed by, and they finally arrived on Kamino. The planet's surface was, as always, being pounded by heavy storms and thick downpours of rain. The facility looked as sleek and impressive as always, and although Xenos, Willow, and Dakriel could all sense the impending danger, they couldn't help but be entranced by its to avoid being spotted, they landed in what appeared to be an abandoned hangar, and docked immediately.

"Okay, so you know where you're going right," Willow asked as her and Dakriel suited up in their armor.

"Yes," Xenos replied, "But I'm going alone. You two need to get somewhere safe, and hide until I return."

"Safe," Willow replied incredulously, "We're on Kamino for fuck's sake, where the hell are we going to hide?"

"Just get somewhere," Xenos said turning to her with a stern look, "Where I'm going is a lot more dangerous than this hangar."

With that, he strode off, light saber in hand, and left the two bounty hunters to themselves. He could sense the strong presence of the dark side, but he nonetheless planned to sabotage the Sith Empire's precious cloning facility. The only hope he had now was a miracle, and he knew it.

"Come on," Willow told Dakriel, "We're rewiring this place. If the Empire wants clones, we'll give 'em clones."

xxxxxxx

Malik's repair droids had done well to reconstruct his assassin's body, but they reported that his mind would be impossible to repair. They informed him that, aside from his basic mechanical programming, he would remain unpredictable until awoken. Malik wasn't concerned by this, and the thought of Syntarus being more deadly almost appealed to him.

"Revive him," Malik demanded in a heartless tone, "We've almost arrived, and I don't want my assassin to be late for the party."

"Yes sir," the droid shouted as they switched on the life support engines. After an hour of intense, electromagnetic pulses that were streamed into his body by large tubes, Syntarus finally roared into life once more. As his screams of agony echoed through the ship, Malik only cringed as his ears were mauled by the horrid sound. Walking over, he looked down at his work with a slight sense of pride.

"I-I was dead," Syntarus said in an even more mechanical tone, "The Jedi...he escaped. Forgive me master."

"There there," Malik said calmly, placing his hand on the assassin's shoulder, "We're on our way now to deal with this Jedi. Soon, you will have your revenge."

As the ship finally reached Kamino, and they descended to the planet's watery surface, Syntarus managed to get the hang of using his robotic limbs once more. He could feel that most of his insides now consisted of machinery, and wondered whether he had any flesh left at all under his robotic skin. His entire body, save for a select few organs, was now entirely cybernetic. In his mind, along with the dark, empty echoes of what used to be his memories, he could feel a madening sensation, and it was growing.

There was something else as well, something in his mind that only he could sense. It was sinister, and wicked. Rage; he could feel an intense rage swelling within him. Seeing Malik only seemed to increase it, though he wasn't sure why, and he soon realised that his memory was irreversibly damaged. There were now dark places where emotions and experiences had once been, and he was in sudden realization that he would never again know them.

The fighter returned to Malik's star destroyer with a loud roar, and they made their way to the command deck immediately after docking in the main hangar bay. Immediately, all the officers aboard the ship saluted, but upon seeing Darth Syntarus, were flooded with intense fear. Never before had anyone seen such a monstrous being, not for a long time at least, and as he walked angrily alongside his master, breathing heavily through his helmet, they began to shake. As he strode by them, sensing their pathetic fear of him, he snarled in disgust, although his helmet concealed this entirely.

"Commander," Malik demanded, "Why hasn't Athaliah returned?"

"Milord," the Commander sputtered, "We have recieved no transmissions from your apprentice, but our scanners indicate that she has been in Hangar Bay 32 of the southern facility for some time."

"Did you not think it wise to send a squad of troops to check on her," Malik roared angrily as he glared into the Commander's fear-tarnished face, "What if she encountered insurgency and is in danger? She could be dead or captured, and you would be to blame!"

"F-forgive me," the Commander began but was silenced as Malik began to strangle him with the force, "P-please, Lord Malik...please..."

"Do not fail me again, Commander," Malik growled as he released the Commander, then turned to face Darth Syntarus, "Now, my friend, go to Hangar 32, seek out my apprentice, and see that she safely returns to me. Kill anyone who dares stand in your way."

"It will be done," Syntarus replied with a bow, and began to leave.

"Syntarus," Malik continued, "Do not fail me again..."

The assassin nodded, thinking for a moment, and then strode off silently. You know this is not your destiny, a hissing voice echoed, Malik will betray you, as all Sith do. Open your eyes, young one, see the truth.

"What am I to do," Syntarus replied out loud, making his way out of the docking bay and into Kamino's main facility, "My master commands me, I must obey..."

Must you, the voice asked rhetorically, I have seen your power, and I know your true destiny. Kill the apprentice, and then replace her at his side. Only then can you grow strong enough to destroy him...only then will you be free...

xxxxxxx

Xenos, while sensing the immense dark force energy, had quickly made his way through the facility easily. As he tried to remember his way through the seemingly endless walkways of Kamino's facility, he finally came to what appeared to be the command center. Making his way inside the massive, humming room, he found himself surrounded by not one, but multiple super computers. He was almost overwhelmed, and suddenly found himself breathing deeply, trying to calm himself.

"Okay," he mumbled, "As long as I'm careful, I won't trip any alarms. This is easier than it seems..."

Looking around, he noticed at least four terminals, all connected to one power grid. A cluster system to counteract any would-be hackers. Luckily, he'd been trained to use the systems, by circumstance, and taught himself how to get into the system easily and undetected. Although no one was aware of his presence, he knew that time was short, and he began working fast.

Willow and Dakriel had carefully made their way to the cloning cryo-chambers, and began to search for the main computer that Xenos had spoken of. Dakriel felt the dark force energy coming from Athaliah and now from Syntarus, and began to grow nervous. Willow was oblivious to this, and remained focussed on their task.

"Willow," Dakriel muttered, "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"Hush," she scolded, "We'll just be in and out, and besides, you're with me. What could go wrong?"

"But," he began but she merely waved her hand to silence him.

She'd heard something, but wasn't sure exactly what it was. Again, she heard the eerie sound, and now recognized it as clawing. Dakriel heard it as well, and this only made his fear grow even further. Cautiously, they made their way deeper into the vast room, and they were now surrounded by massive tanks filled with clones. They were odd looking, horned sentients, and Willow soon realised that these weren't cloned troopers.

Drawing ever closer towards one of the tanks, she recognized what appeared to be a Zabrak, with red and black skin, but his sensor's indicated that there was no life in his body. Smirking, she chuckled at herself for being afraid in the first place, but a cry broke her confidence entirely.

"Willow," Dakriel screamed from behind her, "Help me!"

xxxxxxx

"Screech," was a sound now familiar to Athaliah's ears as she evaded the massive legs of the Inquisitor's metallic monstrosity.

She had done well enough to avoid being crushed by the powerful legs of the mechanical beast, and without her light saber, she could do little more than dodge. A few times she had gotten close to an opening, but a combination of circumstance and falling crates had prevented her from drawing near. She was in danger, but wasn't ready to back down.

"Come now, child," the Twi'lek teased as he lashed out, "It will only hurt once!"

Again, a massive leg crashed through the hangar, destroying parts of the wall, and knocking over crates which were most likely filled with supplies. Athaliah finally had her chance, and dashed forward. Taking advantage of the recoil required to bring his contraption into balance again, she ran up the outstretched leg, drawing closer to where he was embedded in wires and cogs.

Gathering her energy, she jumped, anticipating the laser fire from a nearby turret, and as she hung upside down in mid-air, she finally had the force she needed. Flipping through the air stylishly, she reached out, firing the lightning gathered in her hands, and landed a direct hit.

To her surprise, the Inquisitor was protected by a ray shield that she hadn't been able to see before. The lightning shot ricocheted off the shield, and bounced into the turret, frying its circuits. She landed on the ground, now dripping with sweat from the exhaustion of such energy, but didn't have time to rest. Again, a massive, metallic leg swooped down, but this time she didn't dodge it.

Catching it, taking the hit to her stomach and losing her breath slightly, she latched on. Her only move now was to overload the machine from a distance. Noticing that the ray shield only covered the alien's body, she knew that there was only one opening: the legs themselves. Allowing her rage to build, she blacked out, consumed by her hatred, and allowing her mind to be swarmed once again with the memory of how she had been nearly tortured and killed by this monster.

"It is useless to resist," the Inquisitor shouted with a dark tone, "I am invincible, and not even your precious force powers are enough to help you!"

Ignoring his pointless words as he thrashed about, trying to shake her off of the massive mechanical leg, she gathered her energy again. This time, she thought to herself, this time it will work! As her body gave the last of its energy to the force, she surrendered herself to its power. Her eyes opened, but her mind was still blank, and then she surged with power.

The Inquisitor was helpless, and as her entire body glowed with energy, lightning surged not only into the mechanical beast, but throughout the entire hangar. Her eyes were a shroud of blue and purple lightning, along with her entire body, which was blanketed by a surge of pure force energy. The leg was where it had started, but then climbed its way up towards the Twi'lek, breaking through his shields and striking him violently.

Her mind was absent to his agonizing screams of pain, and even as he slowly died from the heavy surge of lightning, she continued for a few seconds more, screaming violently. As the massive, spider-like monstrosity came crashing down with a heavy explosion, she merely leapt off of the metallic leg, and landed near the damaged doorway where she'd entered. Carefully, she sensed to make certain that, this time, he truly was dead, after all, she'd come here for precisely that purpose.