Chapter 35: Project KALLOS
The little girl climbed up on the ladder, smiling and laughing with the other children as they were about to prepare to slide down the playground's slide. It was the child's play time, and she & the other children were at the top of the big building in Coruscant. The girl's mother wanted some time off to herself, and so they were enjoying some time in the cool sunset of the huge metropolis.
After the little girl slides down the slide and ends at the ground, she looks up to see if her mother, sitting at a bench nearby, was watching. But she wasn't. The little girl's smile fades away when she sees that her mother was talking to a tall, blonde-haired man in a white Republic uniform.
The white uniform had the words 'Krennic' embroidered at the right breast of the top half of the uniform. The little girl felt it was a nerve-wrecking situation because of the look on her mother's face: her mother's face looked afraid and frightened of the man, and she was sitting at the bench, looking up at him with her full attention. The little girl takes a couple of steps closer towards them, watching the conversation from some long feet away without the mother nor the man noticing.
"I'd watch yourselves if I were you, Lyra, for your own safety, especially for your child's sake. If your husband decides not to….cooperate with us, then….something's bound to happen soon." Krennic told the frightened, shocked woman with a dirty smirk.
The woman, Lyra Erso, quickly glanced over at Jyn, now seeing that she was watching the conversation. Then Lyra looks back up at Krennic as she finally stands up from the bench, and she turns her feared face into a serious face. Some anger rose up in her blood, and she felt it. She could feel her fist tightening into a ball already. "I-Is that a threat!?" Lyra asked furiously and loudly, though none of the kids nor their parents noticed or heard her. Lyra Erso's voice sounded aggressive, given her reckless, aggressive, undisciplined personality.
The little girl, Jyn, runs to her mother's side and wraps her arms around Lyra's waist, with Lyra doing the same by wrapping only one arm around Jyn. Jyn presses herself into Lyra's waist, and this tells Lyra that Jyn became afraid of Krennic also.
Krennic smirks at Lyra. "Be careful, Lyra….." The young blonde man says in an eerie tone that sent chills down Lyra's spine. "You don't want to be treading on ice too far…" Krennic taunts Mrs. Erso before turning and walking away from the two Erso females.
Lyra's heart raced. Her blood pulsed rapidly. She felt scared and nervous and anxious and paranoid now, because there was now a possibility she and her family were being threatened by their friend, Orson Krennic, if her husband, Galen, wouldn't agree to put in the final preparations of some secret weapons project that Krennic was leading for the Republic.
Lyra cuddled Jyn firmly to her side as many thoughts and questions mixed in her mind, and little Jyn stares at the floor in shock.
((()))
It seemed like an eternity. It seemed like forever in pitch-black darkness. The black lagoon, the black abyss, consumed her for endless time, until a light suddenly became clear up ahead. Jyn opens her eyes slowly with a small groan, for she feels her abdomen aching. As some dim light entered her sensitive eyes, she instantly came to her senses.
She was knocked out, asleep. She remembers that she and Cassian were being tortured very cruelly and brutally by Orson Krennic and his Imperial troopers. She didn't remember what happened after they were thrown back into the brig cell the previous night, and so Jyn figured they were drugged asleep and woken back up with drugs.
The torture, Jyn remembers. She remembers what Krennic, her family's former friend, her family's archenemy, made her do last night. He had her stripped naked in the middle of the cold hallway, with her wrists cuffed behind her back, and he made her eat a tray of food off the floor like an animal.
She admits to herself that it was the most humiliating thing anyone has ever done to her, and despite her laid back, reckless, aggressive, undisciplined, & careless character, as a woman, she didn't appreciate being treated that way. It made her extremely uncomfortable, and very angry, to be seen completely naked & kneeled down with face on the floor and her arse up by the Stormtroopers, Death Troopers, the Emperor, Darth Vader, and Krennic.
Jyn tries to move her wrists and ankles, but they couldn't move. They were tightly locked in place by metal restraints, and she is restrained in an upright position. But, luckily, she finds herself in her usual uniform again: gray long-sleeve jacket, brown vest over it, black pants, and brown boots. She looks up from the black cold floor to see that she is in some kind of private torture cell with a large window in front of her. Endor could be seen in view.
Jyn remembers where she is: the second Death Star. And it was right above Endor, waiting for the right time to destroy it, just like it has to Jedha, Scarif, Alderaan, and other planets that have fallen victim to its destructive capability.
Jyn becomes nervous. She wonders where Cassian is. She wanted to know where her Captain, her lover, her partner in crime, is. He suffered the tortures with her, and Jyn was scared for both of them. Jyn began to ask questions in her head until she hears a groan to her left. Looking to her left, she sighs a big breath of relief when she sees Cassian just now waking up next her, in the same position: wrists & ankles restrained and upright.
"Cassian!" Jyn says loudly as she watches Cassian's groggy face and his eyes focusing slowly to his surroundings.
"J-Jyn." Cassian mutters as he looks at her with a small smile. They both notice the abundance of cuts and bruises on their faces, but they didn't care, because the important thing is that they were alive.
"Cassian, look. We're above Endor. We haven't had contact with the Rebels for a whole day. How do you think they're doing down there?" Jyn asks.
Cassian shrugs as he stares at the green-colored moon. "I….I'm sure they're doing fine."
"Just fine!?" Jyn hissed with a serious face. "They're wondering where we are!"
Cassian looks at Jyn as his smile fades. "Have faith, Jyn." He says, and Jyn sighs.
Suddenly, a door on the right slides open, and the two Rebels' attentions turn to the door. They aren't surprised to see Orson Krennic, Darth Vader, and the Emperor enter the special cell that overlooked Endor. Krennic had a dirty smirk on is face as he stared down at his two captives in restraints. Jyn & Cassian both glare up at Orson as Palpatine and Vader stood to the side.
"Well, well, well. I hope you enjoyed your nap time. It's time for our little meeting." Krennic says in an intimidating way. Jyn & Cassian turn their attentions to the Emperor and Darth Vader as one of them begin to speak.
"Yes…I'm sure they enjoyed their introduction. Hahahahahaha!" The Emperor cackles as he laughs hysterically at the two helpless Rebels. Then, he shifts his evil-looking gaze to Endor just outside the window. "I feel it….." He whispers loudly. "….your Rebel scums are trapped. They are….helpless, just as you are. They will never succeed."
Jyn shakes her head quickly as she feels her anger flare up. "You're wrong!"
The Emperor laughs as he looks over at Vader. Jyn & Cassian look at Vader, who suddenly takes out a silver object from his waist. It looked very familiar to Jyn, because it is a hilt: a lightsaber. She recognized the design of it. She finally realized whose it is….
Darth Vader presses a switch on the lightsaber, and it activates, causing a green glowing plasma blade to emit from the hilt. The bright green glow lights the cell brightly.
"Luke…?" Jyn mutters out loud enough for the three major Imperials in front of her to hear. Darth Vader had Luke Skywalker's new lightsaber. 'Is Luke on this Death Star!?' Jyn thought to herself as she stares at Vader and Luke's lightsaber in confusion.
After a sinister-sounding breath through the filtered mask, Vader deactivates Luke's lightsaber. "We would love to join in on the….fun. But the Emperor and I have much more important matters to attend to." Vader says as he stores Luke's lightsaber back on his waist belt. Jyn figured he was referring to them dealing with Luke, and so she concluded that Luke had been captured and is now aboard the Death Star, waiting to confront Vader and Emperor Palpatine. "Enjoy your playtime, Director." Vader finishes with a last word as he and the Emperor storm out of the cell, and the cell door closes & locks itself.
Upon turning his attention to his two prisoners, Orson Krennic makes a dirty smirk that pisses Jyn off, and he steps closer to her. "Jyn, Jyn, Jyn…..troublesome as ever, aren't you?" He says.
Troublesome.
Yes…
That word described exactly how Jyn's mother was. Krennic called Lyra that word 15 years earlier before he shot her to death right in front of Galen & little Jyn's eyes.
"You could bet my mother's life on that…if she was still alive!" Jyn says in a serious tone through gritted teeth and stone cold eyes that stared directly at the old, evil man in front of her.
"Oh! My, my….like mother, like daughter. Reckless, aggressive, and undisciplined, am I right?" Krennic chuckles. "Just like her, you tried to interfere with my plans, little girl." Krennic glares at her with his cold eyes.
Jyn, hesitating for a moment, shoots back with words of her own. "How's that blaster scar treating you? Still ugly, isn't it?"
Krennic slightly winces at the thought. He looks down at his left shoulder, and he places a hand over it, gently feeling the exact spot where he was shot by Lyra, Jyn's mother, in Lah'mu 15 years ago, right before he killed her. He also realizes he had another blaster scar, inflicted by Cassian at the archive tower in Scarif 2 years ago. "Well…..your mother does leave a good mark. Hahahahaha." He chuckles evilly, and this causes Jyn to jerk at him, but it is no use since she is restrained by the restraints. Cassian watches in disgust, frowning at Orson Krennic as he torments Jyn. "She's such a lousy shot. She could've left her mark on my face!"
Jyn glares at him through barred teeth. "Well, if you let me try, I could fulfill her mark for you!" Jyn yells back at Krennic viciously. She knows she is a good shot, and she would love to make that man's face her target for target practice. Much to Krennic's amusement, he found her comeback funny.
"Just like your mother: reckless. You know, your parents really valued me as a true friend back when you were just a little girl. Yes….daddy's little girl. Stardust, he calls you." Krennic says.
Jyn's eyes grow wide. "I damn you from calling me that name! Only my family calls me that!" She yells at Krennic, and then she looks over at Cassian, who looks at her too. And this makes Krennic look at Cassian too. Figuring out the chemistry between the two Rebels, Krennic paces around in front of them.
"The Force is strong between both of you, I hear." Krennic says, eyeing Cassian. "Captain Andor….the man Erso girl loves." He says with a smile. Cassian grunts angrily as he glares at him and tries to jerk towards Krennic like Jyn tried to do, but to no avail. "You two have done nothing but spoil everything in my agenda. How so very rude of you." Krennic then says with a glare.
"Agenda? Huh. That's our job, you know." Cassian retorts as he keeps his eyes on Orson Krennic with a serious face.
"Oh." Krennic responds, making a 'tsk' sound with his tongue. "But, I have a new agenda now. A new plan. A new plan that you will find very…. intriguing." He chuckles as he smirks at both Jyn & Cassian. They frown at Krennic in confusion as he looks out towards Endor.
"New plan? What new plan?" Jyn says. "I thought this hellhole we're in is already the Empire's so-called new plan?"
Krennic continues to stare at Endor. "Your father may have helped my development team on the first Death Star, but that was just the beginning, Jyn."
Jyn feels her need to retaliate with her words. "Oh, yeah!? That's because you used him as your pawn! Just like how you used all 3 of us as your pawns! You used us, you bloody bastard!" The young Erso yells at her family's nemesis angrily with wide angered eyes.
Krennic shrugs his shoulders. "It was necessary. I needed a good place to start. Your father was the perfect way to develop the project, and I in return gained everything. I wish I could send your father my regards."
Jyn shakes her head. "You bastard!"
Cassian sees how angry Jyn became, and he felt that he needed to support her. "Don't you say another word about her parents! You hear?" The helpless Captain hisses angrily as he glares at Krennic's back since he is stilled facing the window that overlooked Endor. However, Orson Krennic ignores him and Jyn.
"…..For centuries, this galaxy has served its purpose, and it has already done its damage to itself." Krennic starts off unexpectedly….
…because Jyn and Cassian suddenly become confused about what Krennic just said. They both look at each other before setting their gaze back to Krennic's back.
"H-Huh?" Jyn and Cassian say simultaneously.
Krennic stares at Endor with mean, cold eyes. "War never stops."
Jyn and Cassian didn't respond with a single word, so they decide to listen to the Director.
"…..You see, the root of this entire galaxy's problems lies with its people. It is then I came to a realization….." Krennic says, still staring out the window at Endor. "…..Everything….is corrupt. EVERYTHING."
Jyn frowns in confusion. "What do you mean by that!?"
Orson finally turns around to face Jyn. "Everything in the galaxy is corrupt! The leaders, the governments, the military, society, the various civilizations, the media, the banks, the people, all of it. The Empire is here, sitting ducks, wasting its time dealing with the pointless, endless troubles of the people when, really…." Krennic scoffs before continuing. "…..it should be doing something about it: ending it all."
"What!?" Cassian asks confusingly, frowning at Krennic. "What do you mean everything is corrupt!?"
Jyn frowns as well with much confusion. She didn't like the sound of Krennic's tone when he made his statement. "What in the hell are you talking about!? What do you mean 'end it all'?" Jyn asks Krennic with her voice raised. This begins to worry her.
Krennic forms a slight smirk on his face as he pulls out a tiny handheld device from his pocket and holds it in his hand. "You know, Jyn, your father's construction of the first Death Star was only the beginning. But now, his cause led to something much greater. Something much better, even much better than this space station."
Jyn shakes her head, because she was so very confused, and she wanted her questions to be answered instantly. "What do you mean!?" She asks loudly.
With the two captured Rebels so very confused out of their heads, Orson eventually presses a button on the device. The device makes a sound, and it causes it to activate and emit a blue glow in the cell. Holographic images project from the device as Orson holds it in front of Jyn & Cassian for them to see clearly. The images show an entire payload of enormous missiles, a type of space station that did not even resemble a Death Star, and glass canisters containing some unknown liquid.
"Let me introduce to you Project KALLOS." Krennic announces.
Jyn & Cassian both squint at the holographic images that their archenemy revealed before their eyes, and they became curious about what he was showing them.
"P-Project KALLOS….?" Both Jyn & Cassian mutter at the same time.
Krennic smirks as his eyes become mesmerized in the holographic images that showed the materials included in what he calls 'Project KALLOS.' "Yes….Project KALLOS."
After some silence lurking the surrounding atmosphere in the cell, Jyn decides to ask away. "Bastard. Is this another one of your planet destroyers!?" A hint of THE Jyn Erso's anger can be sensed in her question. Cassian shifts gazes between her and Orson as he tries to absorb the conversation carefully.
Krennic makes a 'tsk' sound with his tongue and shakes his head. "Oh….no. No, no, no. This is something far much better. Far much worse, should I say." Upon saying this, Orson Krennic's lips form a tiny evil smile. "You see, I have come up with a new plan, a new plan far more superior than anything anyone has ever thought of in the history of the galaxy. It will be revolutionary, it will be extraordinary, and it will be…. devastating. Devastating…..to you Rebel scums."
Cassian's breaths become shallower since he did not like how Krennic's presentation sounded. "How…um, how devastating could this….KALLOS be? It can't be more dangerous than a planet killer." Cassian says as he then turns his focus on Jyn, who looks at him too. They searched each other's eyes for a possible answer, but they knew that only Krennic knew the answers to their curiosity, and so they turn their attention back on him.
"Let me show you!" Orson tells them as he presses a button on the holographic projection device to switch views. After the images fade away, a video appears in the holographic projection showing what appeared to be a missile exploding in the atmosphere of some planet, and a green cloud of gas emitting from the explosion. "Allow me to reveal to you the power of Project KALLOS." Krennic says as Jyn & Cassian watch in horror: the cloud of green gas eventually makes contact with some innocent people in a city, and the people of the city suddenly begin to scream in pain and cover their faces. Their bodies begin to twitch and melt away as they fall to the floor with misery being screamed into the atmosphere. It didn't take long for the entire population of that city to become dead. However, there were also Stormtroopers present in the city. But they were not killed by the cloud of gas.
Somehow, that demonstration in the video seemed so familiar to Jyn and Cassian…
"Hey….wait a minute…." Cassian starts off as he realizes something.
Jyn's eyes widen. "I-Isn't that….?"
Orson cuts them off. "Project KALLOS. The canisters containing the green liquid substance are stored into these ballistic missiles. The ballistic missiles are then launched to its pre-designated target. Upon detonation, a cloud of extremely harmful nerve agent causes the deaths of…thousands. Millions." Orson explained, with his lips forming an evil smirk at the last two words of his sentence.
Jyn and Cassian both look at each other in horror before turning their gazes back on Orson Krennic. They have seen this kind of weapon before.
"Wait….h-how is it the Imperials were not killed!? Why kill the innocent people!? I don't understand!" Cassian yelled confusingly at Krennic.
"Ah. You see, that's the beauty of Project KALLOS." Krennic starts to explain. "The nerve gas is engineered so that it only targets anyone disloyal to the Galactic Empire."
It is this moment that Jyn & Cassian become the most confused they have ever been. They were also terrified by the sound of the explanation. Jyn asks her question. "Targets people not loyal to the Empire!? W-What the hell is this!?" She asks with a sense of great horror in her voice. She started to become afraid but also angered by the project.
Krennic holds up a finger to silence Jyn so that he can continue to explain. "The KALLOS nerve agent is a biological weapon capable of catastrophe at the molecular level. The nerve agent enters the subject's bloodstream, and upon insertion, the agent binds itself to the victim's DNA, the carriers of our molecular genetic code." Orson then starts pacing back and forth in front of the two Rebels, and they keep their eyes on him. "The agent can detect your thoughts. It knows what goes on in your brain, your subconsciousness. And so…..it knows your disloyalty to the Empire." He then ends the explanation with a mean glare at Jyn and Cassian.
"DNA?" Jyn mutters as she stares at the floor, shocked by what her archenemy just explained, and the thoughts of her dying from the nerve agent sent chills down her spine.
Then, Cassian finally put the pieces together in his head. He finally realized something. "No wonder why those innocent people died….and not the Imperial troopers." Cassian mutters quietly as he, too, stares down at the floor like Jyn. "…The gas kills those who are against the Empire."
"Precisely!" Orson confirms as he deactivates the holographic projection device and stores it away into his uniform's pocket. "This new founding of the bioengineering of the gas agent pioneered a new plan that I will lead for the Empire. One that will be….." Krennic pauses for a moment to smirk evilly at his two captives. "…a dream come true."Krennic finishes, then gives a sinister chuckle as Jyn & Cassian stare at each other in shock. "Yes….my scientists and engineers have done such a job well done under my supervision of the new weapons project. It's a masterpiece!" Krennic says with a closed fist at the end of the sentence.
Jyn and Cassian are both speechless.
"Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it?" Krennic says with a smirk. "The KALLOS nerve gas just….eats away at you. The burning and melting of flesh from the bone. The screams of billions singing out in choir and perfect harmony." Krennic approaches Jyn and Cassian and bends down to rest his hands on his knees so that he is eye-level with them. "It obliterates you from the inside out. A slow…painful…death." Krennic says in such a sinister, eerie tone that it sent chills down Jyn and Cassian's spines, and it makes them gulp. "A fate worse than death itself. Hell, a death far, far worse than our tragedy in Scarif!" Orson says as he straightens back up, referring to their first deaths on Scarif.
Then, Orson glares at his two Rebel captives.
"Project KALLOS: the perfect weapon to use against the Rebellion." Krennic finishes.
It is this moment that Jyn & Cassian become shocked, and their fear levels finally spike to a very high gradient. Jyn shakes her head in denial, not wanting to accept the information she is hearing from the cruel old man in the white uniform. "N-NO! NO! NOT ON THE REBELLION!" Jyn yells in agony as she begins to feel a tear exiting her eye.
"Why, yes! " Krennic replies as he paces around the cell once again. "Last year, I was to eradicate all those Rebel scums with KALLOS, in that base…planet Hoth, I believe it is." He says. However, this catches Jyn & Cassian's attentions, for they look up at him immediately with serious faces. This, somehow, sounded very familiar to them.
"Hoth?" Cassian mutters. He thinks about the planet Hoth and the KALLOS nerve agent for a brief moment, and as he does this, Jyn looks at him, because she realizes too what had happened a year earlier. "Wait a minute…..t-that ballistic missile…..the submarine in the Jedi Straits….the green cloud of gas…..that was Project KALLOS!?" Cassian asks in a shocked state as he and Jyn look up at Krennic with widened eyes.
Krennic nods. "Exactly."
Hearing Orson Krennic's confirmation, Jyn & Cassian stare at him with shocked eyes, because the terrible memories of that day replayed in their head.
((()))
1 year earlier, on planet Hoth
In the blink of an eye, the ballistic missile detonates in midair.
There is a flash of white light in the skies.
And then, in the next moment, a dark green cloud aura of gases suddenly engulfs the area. To Jyn & Cassian's increasing surprise, they see that all the remaining Rebels still on the grounds dropped their weapons and were twitching & screaming in pain. Jyn then covers her mouth and gasps as she witnesses several of the Rebels' bodies & faces physically melting and deteriorating up to the point that they were unidentifiable.
However, all the Imperial Snowtroopers remained unaffected by the gas.
((()))
Jyn winced at the thought of becoming affected by the KALLOS gas weapon. That was the last thing she, and anyone, wanted in the galaxy, pretty much.
"The battle in Hoth that day was merely a testing of the KALLOS experiment. My development team already went through the process of engineering the KALLOS nerve agent into its prototype stage, and so your friends, the Rebel scums, on Hoth became my first test subjects. My lab rats." Orson says with a dirty smirk.
Jyn & Cassian could feel the rage of fury rising up in their blood streams. Jyn shakes her head. "You sick bastard!" She yells at Orson angrily.
Orson's face then became a glare. "But you two decided to interfere with my test! And then….we had no choice but to terminate the source of the experiment."
Cassian frowns. "The submarine." He says.
Krennic nods. "Yes. We destroyed it with the Death Star II's improved laser canon, now capable of destroying smaller targets than just big cities and entire planets like the first Death Star."
Cassian shakes his head as he looks at Krennic in disgust. "….You wanted no traces of the KALLOS test left behind. That's why you destroyed the submarine after Jyn and I did the damage."
"Correct again, Captain Andor." Krennic says as he paces over to Jyn. "You two seem to have a bad habit of ruining everything I'm trying to accomplish! Soon, I will make you stop."
Jyn scoffs sarcastically with a sarcastic smile. "What more are you going to do to me? Whip me while I drink out of a toilet? What a disgusting piece of trash you are, Orson." Jyn shoots at Krennic with her words. This causes Krennic to deliver a strong slap to Jyn's face, making her close her eyes and absorb the pain.
"Much more worse, Jyn." Krennic says. "Maybe it's time you've been taught some manners, since your mother and father seemed to lack that lesson for you." He taunts his former friends' daughter.
Jyn grunts and tries to struggle free of the restraints, but it is pointless. She hated hearing Orson saying a word about her parents. After chuckling at her, Orson then turns back to the view of Endor from the large glass window. After a long moment of silence looming in the cell, Cassian decides to break it. "Why!? Why are you doing this, Orson!? Why would you do this kind of terror on the galaxy?"
Suddenly, Krennic turns to him, and he steps closer to him. "Oh. You see, this is about more than weeding out the disloyal scums that oppose the likes of the Empire. I want a new vision. A vision that will last not until the end of time, but for an eternity. I want the galaxy to know what rule it truly belongs under." Krennic explains, but Jyn and Cassian become confused again.
"W-What!?" Jyn and Cassian say at the same time in confusion.
"This galaxy is full of corrupt, troubled citizens of all types of species, humans included. The Empire will need a new type of method to exercise its imperial rule and discipline upon those who don't bow down to the Empire. We are the way. We are the way forward into the future of the greater good of the galaxy. Project KALLOS will make that possible!" Krennic says with a sinister smile and a fist raised. Though, the two Rebels look at him in disgust. Krennic keeps going. "The Empire will be the only true reigning order that everyone in the galaxy will obey, and with Project KALLOS, we will be unstoppable. The previous Rebellion will be wiped from the face of the galaxy soon enough, where the Empire will be free of conflict forever in time! We aim to develop a new evolution of all of humankind, and of all living things. With Project KALLOS, we will wipe out the weak, and bring forth the strong, loyal followers of the Empire. We will create a new generation that will carry on the reign of terror the Galactic Empire has yet to succeed in. The Empire is the true superior race….and we will reign supreme." Orson Krennic finishes.
Upon hearing Orson's explanation, Jyn and Cassian couldn't believe what they had heard. They were shocked. They could see the cold, evil intentions in the old man's eyes already. They felt as if their future had already ended. It was like as if Orson was already foreseeing the crushing defeat of the Rebellion, and the everlasting reign of their biggest, dangerous enemy the Empire throughout the galaxy, throughout the duration of time itself.
Jyn feels like crying. "N-No! This….this is absurd! The Empire will never succeed! The Rebellion will beat you!" She yells miserably as she feels her heart aching from the pain of hearing Krennic's new plan.
Feeling Jyn's emotions, Cassian wonders about the plan for a moment. "Project KALLOS…..the second Death Star….galactic conquest….."
Then, Cassian finally realizes something. He looks up at Krennic with serious eyes.
"…..This doesn't sound like anything the Empire, nor what the Emperor would do. This sounds like something you want. This…plan of yours….it strays away from the visions that the Emperor has for the galaxy and his Empire. You're coming up with this plan under the Emperor's nose…..while KALLOS is just the cover-up story in the Emperor's eyes. He doesn't know the true intention of Project KALLOS." Cassian says clearly in a serious tone. Unbeknownst to him, Jyn was looking at him with curiosity, and then she turns her gaze to Orson. They both notice he fell silent for a moment with no words to say.
"….I….." Krennic starts off, struggling to get words out. "It's perfect! The plan will not fail!"
"Though….the Empire must be taken down, these troopers just do their job and enforce the Empire's laws. They wouldn't kill millions just to ensure the survival of the Imperial reign. That is not what the Emperor wanted." Cassian states.
Jyn then realizes it. She shakes her head at Krennic in disgust. "You…..you want to come out on top and overthrow the Emperor. You're worse than the Emperor and Darth Vader themselves! You're a sick man!" Jyn exclaims in disgust.
In response, and with anger flushing into his veins, Krennic immediately punches Jyn's and Cassian's faces angrily, causing some traumatic physical pain to them. "Even if I did triumph over the Emperor and his dark apprentice, my supreme project will be the ultimate form of terror in the galaxy! Soon enough, I will have the unlimited power over everyone, and everything!" Krennic yells at his two captive scums as they look up at him in disgust.
Jyn shakes her head slowly as she frowns at Krennic when he stares directly into her forest-green eyes. "…..It sickens me to know the fact that you've been my parents' closest friend for many years! My father wouldn't do something as absurd as this! He would object against you and your idea! You're bloody disgusting! You sicken me, bastard!" Jyn yells angrily at Krennic, feeling her true Jyn Erso ego come into play, for her fists tighten in the restraints.
Krennic scoffs. "Aww."
Jyn shakes her head. "Your personal visions of your future for this galaxy does not justify genocide of trillions of people across the galaxy." She says with a calmer tone now.
Unexpectedly, Krennic falls silent.
Cassian decides to inject himself into the conversation. "No one's going to believe that this plan with Project KALLOS will be of the Emperor's will. It will all fall on you, Director Krennic. You'll be the one digging that grave for yourself." The 29-year-old Intelligence Officer says truthfully, watching Orson's face closely for a facial reaction. And he is right: some skin near Orson's lips twitch involuntarily in response to Cassian's statement. Cassian realizes he was getting into Krennic's head now.
"….In the end, you're just a mass murderer, with only a lust for power, and cares for no one but himself." Cassian strikes his words at the Director.
After watching Cassian deliver his strong words, Jyn turns her gaze at Krennic and says some words of her own to go along with Cassian's. "….A bloody devil, who deserves to be damned back to hell."
Feeling the rage flowing in his bloodstream, Orson Krennic yells out angrily and delivers several punches to both Jyn's and Cassian's abdomens, causing them to groan in pain and breathe rapidly to recover from the pain. He then points a finger at them. "Project KALLOS will be the grand entrance to a new beginning, and you two, and your previous Rebellion, won't be alive long enough to witness it in action! You'll be dead before you could see the light of day when KALLOS will be released by the masses!"
Jyn then looks up at Krennic after recovering from her pain inflicted by his punches. She looks at his eyes with pained eyes, and she shakes her head slowly as some of the hair on one of her brown fringes cover her face. "….Then…..I wish you luck, Orson. Because, now…..I swear on my mother and father that I will put an end to this madness…..and then I will kill you." Jyn says with a deep serious tone and determined eyes. Her true reckless, aggressive, undisciplined personality that she and her mother, Lyra, shared became apparent now.
Though, Orson Krennic is silent for a moment, with no smile on his face.
"I would like to see you and your beloved Captain try." Krennic scoffs while pointing a finger at Cassian while keeping his cold sinister eyes on Jyn. Cassian looks at Jyn, because he is speechless now. However, Jyn frowns when she notices that Krennic is looking at her chest area. Confused by this, she frowns even more when Krennic proceeds to approach her closely and insert a hand under her gray jacket to reach into her chest area, and he pulls out her kyber crystal necklace. It glows subtly in Krennic's gloved hand. He scoffs.
"Yes. The pinnacle of our survival. What a miracle it was, wasn't it?" Krennic says as he examines Jyn's kyber crystal with his eyes. "Your father knew all kinds of things about the power of the kyber crystal. But…..did you know the kyber crystal also has its limits?" He asks Jyn, who shakes her head in denial. Then he continues. "The kyber crystal's power of revival weakens the more a host is revived by its incredible ability. Life doesn't last forever, darling. Surely, you and everybody should've known. The kyber crystal can drain itself of its power."
Jyn then jerks towards him, but the restraints still hold her back. "Then what's the point!?"
Krennic scoffs. "Then we shall kill each other again and again until one of us finally dies. Yes….this will be a long, amusing conflict, don't you think, Erso girl? Hahahahaha. Mama and Papa are the only audience in attendance, from above." Krennic laughs evilly as he decides to put the kyber crystal back into Jyn's jacket instead of stripping it off her neck.
"Grrrrhhhhhhhhh!" Jyn grunts angrily as she glares at her archenemy.
"Well, that's enough talk for today. Time for your nap." Krennic says as he summons two small probe droids, hovering by themselves in the air, into the cell that wielded syringes with long needles sticking out from them.
Acknowledging the droid coming closer to her face, Jyn yells out some last words at her nemesis. "You won't win! Never! You'll never win!" She yells out her mother & father's favorite words on Orson Krennic.
Krennic sighs in annoyance and rolls his eyes. "Seriously! That phrase is getting aggravating! Is it the family motto or something?"
As the droid near Cassian extended its needle towards his neck, he looks over at Jyn with wide eyes. "Jyn!" Cassian yells out before being stuck with the needle inside his neck, and the droid injects a sleep-inducing drug into his system.
Jyn shakes her head as the droid near her extended its needle towards her neck. "Get that grave ready, Orson! I SWEAR ON THE ERSO FAMILY NAME THAT I WILL BEAT YOU, AND YOU'LL NEVER WIN!" She yells with a promise as the needle pierces her neck, and the droid injects the sleep drug into her system. In a matter of seconds, Jyn and Cassian are knocked out asleep.
The sounds of Orson's sinister laughs can be heard in their ears.
Jyn and Cassian black out.
((()))
On Endor, blaster bolts fly everywhere: past trees, past bushes, past soldiers, and past Ewoks as Rebel forces defend their position at the bunker where the Death Star II's shield generator was contained. However, Princess Leia and Han Solo are able to disable the generator with the help of their group of Rebel troops protecting them from the waves of Stormtroopers patrolling the area. The Death Star II's surrounding force shield is now rendered disabled and nonfunctional, and is now vulnerable to Rebel air squadron offense.
And just outside the doors of the bunker were some more Rebels defending them, with Chewbacca and K-2SO shooting back at Stormtroopers with their blasters. However, K-2SO begins to wonder about something…..
"Where in the world is Jyn and Cassian!?" K-2SO exclaims to himself as he shoots another Stormtrooper with his blaster from afar.