There were no other sounds in the turbolift as it slowly glided the few thousand feet up to Level 4 of the mine. Easely's mangled lower body lay in the corner, red blood still leaking out to soak the floor of the lift.
Ahsoka leaned against the wall, Kaeden's motionless body cradled in her arms. The adrenaline had long since worn off and Ahsoka barely had the energy left to examine her other lightsaber. It was inoperable, having been hit by acid when she had thrown herself headlong into the alien horde. It was a miracle that she had survived. There were stories of Jedi who were able to use the Force to wrap themselves in a protective barrier. Had she unknowingly summoned such a barrier to repel the acid blood?
What she had done was a stupid action that could have killed her, but in that moment Ahsoka hadn't cared. She had been consumed by a surge of rage and… hatred. It was something she had never felt before and it scared her by how good that rush of power had felt. It bordered on what her old masters had said how the Dark Side felt like. It was not the Jedi way to act using such emotions.
But you're not a Jedi anymore, so why should you care?
A whisper floated up into her mind from the place she had seized that surge of power. She shrugged the voice aside, but knowing that it had come from within chilled her to the bone. That power was lurking deep inside her, waiting to be unleashed like it had been against the aliens.
She needed to focus on something else, before her unease and fear dragged her down completely. Ahsoka looked around the turbolift car, averting her gaze from Easely's severed legs. Barriss sat in a corner, eyes closed in meditation. Hooper sat next to her, looking through a blood-stained datapad that he had taken from Easely's belt. He passed it to her, asking if she could make anything out of the audio that Easely had managed to download from the alien computer.
It was like nothing she had ever heard, a gravelly, raspy voice speaking in a language that Ahsoka had no chance of comprehending. If she had to guess though, the speaker sounded almost frantic. It was as if the message was an emergency distress call… or a warning.
Maybe Bail's protocol droid C-3P0 could make sense of it. The droid was always yapping on about how he knew six million forms of communication, after all. Of course she'd have to ask Crespi seeing how it was an Imperial datapad. But speaking of Crespi…
The old clone sat motionless, staring at the corpse of yet another of his stormtroopers. He hadn't said a word since Easely died, nor did he speak when the lift finally made it to Level 4.
Crespi did nothing but stand silently and walk out, blaster raised for any danger.
The muscles in Teraan's legs screamed in pain as the stormtrooper mounted stair after agonizing stair. They had made it up several levels, passing Level 6 a while ago. The minutes continued to drag on as Teraan forced her body to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and finally the landing for Level 5 came into view.
A wheeze came from behind her as she reached the landing. Teraan turned to look into the pale, exhausted face of Aola Rynn. The Twi'lek science officer was suffering from the climb, and panted as she spoke in between deep, shaky breaths. "Teraan… I need to rest… just for a minute. Please."
Teraan sighed, but nodded, slumping against the wall herself as her legs cried out in momentary relief. She unhooked a canteen from her belt and took a swig, the cool water pouring down her dry, dusty throat felt unbelievably pleasant, and she let out a sigh as her head leaned against the wall, eyes closed in momentary rest. Ever since she, Pulaski, and Massey had rendezvoused with Crespi and the others, Teraan hadn't had a chance to take a break.
She handed the canteen over to Rynn, who gulped down the water eagerly. The Twi'lek was obviously not used to sustained physical endurance, unlike the toned Alderaanian stormtrooper. Teraan smiled as she remembered her teenage days. While other girls would be practising courtly activities and learning how to proper, noble ladies, Teraan was often found exploring the grounds of her family's mountain estate.
No, courtly life was not for her. Her parents had frowned upon her shenanigans, but Teraan's uncle would always be there to supervise and explore with her. He taught her how to shoot a blaster and the two of them would go out hunting from time to time. He had been the one who supported her decision to join the Imperial Academy, telling her to listen to her gut and follow her heart.
"Do you think we'll make it out?" Rynn croaked through heaving breaths, her eyes stained with tears.
Teraan was silent as she considered an answer. She remembered what her mother had told her when Teraan had informed her of her decision to attend the Imperial Academy. 'If you go into space, you'll die there.'
Ever since the dropship had crashed on this planet, Teraan had realized that her mother's warning was more and more likely to be true.
She decided to be truthful. "In all honesty, I doubt it. But I'd rather die knowing I fought and did my best to live."
It was Rynn's turn to be silent as she wiped her eyes. Finally, the twi'lek asked. "Do you regret anything?"
Teraan thought that over for a minute. The thought of becoming alien chow… or worse definitely did not appeal to her, but Teraan could never imagine herself back on Alderaan in a political marriage. She wouldn't swap her life for that one, ever. "No, I don't. I've lived the life I wanted. You?"
Rynn blushed a bit. "I regret not making a move on Hoop when I could have. We're close, but I was always too scared to go for something… more."
Teraan smiled as she pushed herself up to her sore feet. "Well with any luck, we'll get out of here and he'll have survived as well." She held out a hand to help the twi'lek to her feet. "Come on."
It didn't take long for Hoop to locate the storeroom on Level 4 that contained the spare power cores for the mining dropships. The room had been left alone by the aliens, and sets of power cores lay in pristine condition on shelves.
Finding the one he wanted, Hoop went to work examining the power cell. "Yes, two of these should do the trick. They'll keep life support on the dropship running for at least a week or two." He turned to Ahsoka. "Long enough for your allies to show up, Fulcrum."
He grabbed a grav-cart from a corner of the storage room and moved it over to load the power cells. Ahsoka helped him, picking up the power cores.
"Careful!" Hoop whispered harshly. They hadn't seen any of the aliens on this level yet, but that didn't mean that there weren't any of them within hearing range. "These things can be highly volatile if they get jarred too much."
"How bad would the damage be?" Crespi's voice came from outside the storage room, the first time he had spoken since Easely had died. His voice sounded hollow, even through the modulation of his helmet.
"Extremely high-temperature explosion, similar to a low-yield thermobaric weapon." Hoop answered. "I've seen one of these things explode before, not something I'd want to be within a few klicks of."
"Can it be rigged to explode on a timer?" Crespi asked, poking his head around the corner into the storage chamber.
"I think so, yes." Hoop said as he got the idea.
Ahsoka chimed in as well. "Rig it to explode after we get out of here and destroy the remaining aliens?"
Crespi nodded and Hoop immediately turned his attention to the other power cells on the shelves. "Give me a few minutes and I can get it set up. How long of a timer?"
Crespi and Ahsoka looked at each other. "Two hours should be sufficient to escape from this rock," Ahsoka said back to Hoop.
"Done," the mechanic replied as he got to work, prying open the cases of power cores and splicing wires together.
Crespi reached for his comlink suddenly, his voice muffled as he spoke to Barriss, who had remained in the turbolift with Kaeden. His head snapped over to look at Ahsoka, and he said two words.
"Kaeden's awake."
Ahsoka ran through the winding tunnels to get back to the turbolift. Kaeden was awake, but what did that mean? Did the thing let go? Had Barriss managed to remove it?
Was Kaeden going to be ok?
Questions raced through her head almost as fast as she dashed into the turbolift lobby. Kaeden was sitting in the lift, leaning against one of the walls, greedily drinking from a canteen Barriss had given her.
The crab-thing that had been wrapped around her face for the last few hours had fallen off and was curled up dead on the floor. Kaeden was staring at it in between gulps, a grim look on her face, but turned her head at the sound of Ahsoka's approach.
"Kaeden!" Ahsoka said, a big smile on her face as she ran towards her friend, enveloping her in a hug. "You're okay."
Kaeden stiffened in Ahsoka's embrace, causing confusion to spread through the togruta. Was she doing something wrong? A muffled sob escaped Kaeden's mouth, and she pushed Ahsoka away.
Kaeden looked up at Ahsoka, tears in her eyes as she glanced at the crab-thing again. "Ahsoka…" Kaeden barely choked the words out. "It's inside me."
Teraan gritted her teeth as the trudged up the final stairs leading to the Level 4 landing. So close, and yet so far left to go. On her own, Teraan would likely be much further up the stairwell by now, but she had slowed her pace considerably to help Rynn up the countless stairs. The Twi'lek's breath was shaky and her face was pale, but she hadn't slipped or fallen once.
It was ironic that the moment that thought crossed Teraan's mind, her right foot lost traction on the landing and she fell forward. Putting her hands in front of her to break her fall, one fell on dusty ferrocrete, but the other landed in a damp patch of viscous liquid. Teraan took one look at the goop dripping from her glove and immediately sprang into a silent crouch, blaster up and ready.
"Terann, wha-?" Rynn started to speak, but Teraan quickly clamped her dry hand over the Twi'lek's mouth.
She whispered low and harshly. "One of them was through here recently. Don't make a sound."
Rynn's eyes widened in fear, and Teraan removed her hand. They remained there, motionless, listening for something. Anything that would reveal what Teraan feared.
Sure enough, they could hear a low hiss from up the stairs. At least one of the aliens had bypassed them and was lying in wait to ambush them from above. The aliens had the advantage. Teraan didn't know how many there were or even where they were in the stairwell. She had so far decided to keep climbing the stairs instead of diverting to the other turbolift because the stairwell was relatively safe. But now that plan was shot.
Teraan locked eyes with Rynn and silently motioned towards the door to Level 4 with her head. Rynn nodded and the two started backing up as quietly as they could.
There was a scuttle of claws on ferrocrete and Teraan realized that it knew its ambush had failed. "RUN!"
The two women dashed back through the entrance to the mining level, pulling the emergency bulkhead in an attempt to close it before the alien reached them. Weak with exhaustion and fatigue, both struggled against the heavy doors as they slowly slid towards each other. Too slowly.
Teraan released an almost primal roar as her adrenaline spiked. A surge of strength finally pulled and pushed her bulkhead into place, but spindly claws wrapped around the edge and an oblong, eyeless head poked through the narrowing gap. Teraan immediately jammed her E-11 blaster into its mouth and jerked the trigger over and over, screaming in rage as she did.
Each blast punched through the back of the alien's skull spraying the '4' on the opposite with yellow acid. Acid foamed in its mouth as well, melting through the E-11's barrel. Teraan shoved the now-useless blaster and the lifeless alien fell backwards as Rynn finally shut her bulkhead with a clang.
Kaeden's words had dropped a bombshell, and the turbolift ride back to the ground floor was spent in complete silence. Kaeden sat alone in a corner, her choice, and stared silently at the floor. The mangled remains of Easely lay across from her, while the other few survivors lingered against the opposite wall.
Kaeden had no doubt about what she was now carrying inside of her. She had seen what happened to the rest of Crespi's squad, the ones that had been carried away. She had seen the dead spiders around them, smaller than the one that had fallen off her, but the same nonetheless. She had seen the holes in the chests of the stormtroopers, and seen the alien come out of the last one alive.
The aliens used the spiders to implant an embryo, an alien child, inside of another living host. Kaeden almost laughed at the irony of her situation. She would have loved to study the lifecycle of these creatures more, yet in a few hours she would be killed by the alien gestating inside of her gut.
She raised her head, looking at the survivors opposite her. Hoop met her gaze from his position next to the grav-cart and gave her a slight smile of encouragement. Salvia sat in a calm meditative position, eyes closed. Crespi was standing, staring directly at her through his helmet. His blaster was in a rest position, but angled in such a way that it would be quick and easy to shoot her should the alien start its birth procedure. She didn't blame him, she'd likely be doing the same if the conditions had been reversed.
Ahsoka sat against the wall. Her head lay against her knees, which she had wrapped close in her arms. Kaeden didn't think she had ever seen Ahsoka look so small and… defeated. Not even when Kaeden had all but ordered her to flee Raada and leave her behind.
She knew why. Kaeden was all but dead at this point. She couldn't think of any way to reverse what was bound to happen.
The minutes dragged on as the lift slowly ground its way up to the ground level. Kaeden kept expecting to feel the pain of her torso being torn open from the inside, but all she felt was a throat drier than the wastelands outside and a good pang of hunger.
The turbolift doors slid open to reveal no aliens, but only the Charon Station dropship sitting on the loading dock.
"What the kriff?" Crespi said in both confusion and shock as he rushed out of the turbolift. The crumpled body of the pilot, Wilcox, lay on the ground, blaster wounds in his stomach.
Salvia checked his pulse, but shook her head. "Dead, but the body's warm. Couldn't have happened more than an hour or two ago."
Crespi nodded, then pointed at his wounds. "Not an alien either. Unless they somehow managed to figure out how to use blasters and fly a shuttle."
"Who could have done this?" Salvia asked.
Ahsoka and Hoop had already moved off to install the new power cores into the mining dropship, when Crespi reached up to his comlink, then immediately turned it onto speaker. Kowalski's distorted, staticky voice filled the loading dock.
"Damnit sir. Please respond!"
"I read you. What's your status? Where are you?"
"In the landing gear bay of the shuttle. Massey's stolen it!"
An air of confusion rippled through the survivors. "What do you mean he's stolen it?" Crespi asked.
"I intercepted a transmission sir, from Massey to some kind of drone ship or something. He intends to dock with it and then blow up the shuttle. Sir… I think Massey's trying to escape with an alien specimen."
"Yes sir. I'll try." Kowalski shut off his comlink and flipped on a small plasma torch that he had grabbed from a dead miner. He had carried it as a last resort weapon should his blaster fail, but now it was all he had to get out of his current position.
Kowalski had leaped into the landing gear as Massey was rising out of the loading dock. He had to keep up with the rogue stormtrooper somehow, and this was the only option he had left. It didn't take long for him to cut a hole in the landing gear doors large enough for him to slip through.
The pressure seals in his stormtrooper armor activated and Kowalski engaged his mag-boots, standing on the outside of the shuttle. Kowalski slowly, but carefully, maneuvered his way to the underside of the Lambda-class shuttle and spied his target: the communications grid. Kowalski blazed away with his blaster, burning hole after hole into the comm grid until the system was a mess of charred, arcing wires.
Kowalski grinned to himself. Without the communications grid, Massey wouldn't be able to transmit his location to his drone ship. He was stuck with Kowalski.
It was then that he noticed Massey had changed course. The shuttle was now heading directly to Charon Station.
"Well that exit plan is shot," Teraan said, kicking the closed bulkheads in frustration. "Now what?"
Rynn's face suddenly brightened. "Well one piece of good news is that we're on Level 4."
Teraan turned to her, confusion obviously on her face. "What's so special about that?"
"Our initial plan was to find the power cells located on this floor to repair the mining dropship we came down in. If the others survived, they'd probably be headed there."
"And we can meet up with them!" Teraan said, snapping her fingers together. She then unholstered her sidearm, given how her rifle had been all but destroyed by acid. "Lead the way."
Rynn and Teraan took off, moving quickly as silently as they could. One of the aliens had gotten above them in the stairwell, so it was possible and even likely that there would be some on this level. But as they advanced through the corridor, all they passed was the occasional body of a miner that had been killed long ago.
As the minutes passed, and the two took turn after turn, Rynn finally slowed to a stop next to a closet. "This is it." She pulled the door open, Teraan covering her with her blaster.
No one was inside.
Rynn's eyes widened in horror. "No."
"What's wrong?" Teraan asked, a sinking feeling filling her gut.
"They've already made it and left." Rynn said. "And they rigged the power cores to explode in… 90 minutes!"
"Of all the kriffing luck!" Teraan squeezed her eyes shut, shaking off the blind fury at their predicament with a violent jerk of her head. "We can't give up now! We need to keep going up!"
Rynn nodded. "To the turbolift then. The other one should still be working."
They took off, a new sense of urgency filling them. A few more minutes ticked by, but as they neared the turbolift corridor, Teraan heard something that made her stop on a credit. The scritch and scratch of claws on ferrocrete came from the turbolift shaft.
A pounding began from the other side of the doors, and they buckled a little as black claws pried them apart. Through the gap, Teraan saw dozens of the aliens scrambling up the turbolift shaft headed up towards the surface. A good few poured through the open doors, bearing down on Teraan and Rynn.
Teraan opened fire with her blaster at the horde as she began to backpedal. "Back the way we came!"
All communications with Kowalski were lost in a haze of static. Either he had been killed, or he had succeeded in crippling the communications suite on the shuttle. Both would explain his silence… the only way his comlink had reached the surface was because Kowalski had tapped into the comms on the shuttle.
Ahsoka and Hoop were making good progress, already hardwiring up one of the power cores into the dropship and beginning work on the second.
Barriss remained in her meditative pose as they worked, furiously searching her memories of her time as a Jedi healer for anything that might help Kaeden survive. As of now, the only thing that Barriss could think of was to go into a Jedi trance, which would hopefully slow down Kaeden's body functions enough to prevent the alien from birthing. However, Kaeden was not a Jedi and it was, to the best of Barriss' knowledge, impossible to put a non-force sensitive into a Jedi trance.
Suddenly a wave of emotions crashed over Barriss, and she knew that Ahsoka had felt it as well. Barriss snapped to attention, pulling out the blaster that Crespi had given her a while ago.
She turned to the working turbolift and heard metal being torn apart. Waves of rage, hatred, and vengeance flowed over her.
Barris yelled, taking cover behind a few crates. "They're coming!"
Merry Christmas everyone! Regardless of what religion or creed you follow, I hope all of you have a great day today!
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, feel free to comment on anything you noticed in my writing. And if you love my writing and know someone else who would, please pass the word along. :)
coronadomontes - Hey, glad you like my story so far! Hope you continue to enjoy it.
