"She's completely stable?" Daala asked.
Dr. Ruik nodded enthusiastically. "After she went through the process and emerged from it intact, we ran a few microcellular stability scans. When her vitals indicated that she was in no danger from structural collapse, it was then that we tested her for the Force. She's strong with it, Chief Daala."
Daala then turned to the woman about whom she and Ruik were just talking; she was light-skinned with dark hair and was around the Chief of State's age, height, and build.
And, just like everyone else who underwent the midi-chlorian injection process in this lab, she was simply a poor and destitute individual who only wanted to help her family.
Daala approached the woman with a smile that she normally reserved for diplomatic ventures.
"If you would please care to show me what you've shown Dr. Ruik and his assistants, ma'am?" the Chief of State asked politely.
"Of course, Chief Daala," the subject replied with an obedient nod.
She then lifted a hand up over to the workbench and, within seconds, raised it several feet into the air using the Force. The bench held steady for a quarter of a minute before it was gently lowered to the ground.
"Would you like to see more, Chief Daala?" Ruik asked.
"No, I've seen enough," she replied. She then shifted her focus back to the subject. "You should feel honored. What you have undergone will help the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances greatly."
"I hope it does, ma'am," the subject replied meekly. "Especially for my family."
"Oh, it will," Daala said as she placed a reassuring hand on the subject's shoulder. "It will."
The Chief of State then took a step to the left.
Less than a second later, a red laser bolt pierced through the subject's forehead, leaving a deep furrow there as she collapsed dead to the floor.
Daala then brought up her commlink from her belt and activated it. "Good work. You can leave now."
On a rooftop several blocks away, a Mandalorian stood up with his rifle and flew away on his jetpack; Daala saw this when she looked to the window where a burned hole was made in the transparisteel.
When she could no longer see the jetpack's emissions, she turned back to Ruik.
"How soon can you prepare another batch of those modified midi-chlorians?" she asked.
"I'll need a day or so," Ruik replied evenly.
"Have it prepared by tomorrow at one p.m.," Daala demanded. "I'll wanna be ready for it after I've had my lunch."
Ruik's eyes widened. "You want to go through this experiment yourself, Chief Daala?"
Daala looked annoyed. "If you're going to say that you need to run more trials, don't. What I saw was a success, and I want no more time wasted on follow-ups. And if you're worried about my life, Dr. Ruik, don't be. It'll be my risk to take."
Ruik looked concerned. "As you wish, Chief."
Daala then turned and left the lab with a smirk on her face.
Ruik sighed in disbelief; he knew it was a bad idea to let Daala go through the experiment herself this early. But who was he to counter her demands when he knew firsthand what she was capable of to those who dared to defy her?
The Nautolan was then taken out of his ruminations by the reminder of the recent subject's corpse that was still on his lab's floor.
"Hey, Sheela!" he called to the Twi'lek who had previously taken care of the messes left by all of the past subjects' deaths. "Just because this corpse is left intact doesn't mean you don't have to clean it up! Let's get going, chop-chop!"
Except for the corpse, it was now only Ruik and Sheela who remained in the lab, and the latter asked, "But her body doesn't need a mop or a bucket, Dr. Ruik."
"I don't care, it's still your job!" the Nautolan replied impetuously. "Grab her by the ankles and drag her down to the Vongformed underworld if you have to, just get that body out of my sight!"
"As you wish, sir," Sheela said as she approached the corpse. At the same time, Ruik returned to the midi-chlorian injection device to do some fine-tuning for tomorrow's experiment.
But before either of them could commit to their duties, the window that had been shot by the Mandalorian's laser bolt was suddenly shattered into millions of pieces, as if by the wind of a tornado.
Both Ruik and Sheela stumbled from the shock of what just happened as they turned to the window.
And standing there was a tall, pale man dressed in dark robes.
"Hey!" Ruik exclaimed. "Who are you and what-"
His words were cut off when the dark-robed man made a simple gesture that corresponded to Sheela's neck suddenly breaking, prompting her to drop dead to the floor next to the human woman's corpse.
Ruik looked from Sheela to the intruder.
"Don't worry, Dr. Ruik," the man said. "I'm not here to kill you; I just want to make sure that your little experiment with Chief of State Natasi Daala goes off without a hitch."
"What are you talking about, what are you going to-"
Ruik was cut off from saying anymore when the man leaped across the gap between them and silenced the Nautolan by placing a hand on his forehead.
. . .
When the Jade Shadow dropped out of hyperspace, Jacen looked out through the forward viewport for the sight of Kesh.
And surrounding the deceptively beautiful planet that was steeped in the dark side of the Force was a small armada of ChaseMaster frigates.
Within seconds, he was transmitted a set of coordinates upon which he could set the Shadow down. No one bothered to try to confirm this with him with a transmission, but that was just fine with Jacen as he set the course. He also saw that the Shadow was being scanned for lifesigns by at least one of the ChaseMasters; they would only find himself and one other human lifesign, which corresponded to that of Sith Saber Odrok Degron.
Of course, with a little technique he picked up years ago from the Baran Do Sages of Dorin, it was no surprise that the ChaseMaster's sensors might not have received accurate information.
As he piloted the Shadow toward Kesh while feeling like a domesticated cat being forced to walk down a path that had vicious, unleashed dogs at either side, Jacen felt confident that none of these ships would try to destroy him. After all, he had a feeling that the Sith wouldn't want to kill him that easily; when Grand Lord Vol and High Lord Workan agreed to allow him to come to Kesh to collect Ben, they would no doubt try to use Jacen's cousin against him.
He was willing to let them try.
Within minutes, he landed within a massive courtyard, around which there were several dozen waiting Sith... and one very angry Jedi Knight.
After he cycled the Shadow down, Jacen sighed before he unstrapped himself from the pilot's chair and got up to leave.
Once he stepped off the boarding ramp and had the ground of Kesh beneath his feet, he was met by Grand Lord Vol, Vestara Khai, and a scowling Ben several meters away from the Shadow.
Jacen raised an eyebrow toward Vol. "I'm genuinely surprised you allowed me to get this far."
"Well, we wanted to make sure you brought Saber Degron back to us safely," Vol replied.
"And then I can have Ben back?" Jacen asked.
"Don't talk about me like I'm some-"
It was Vestara who silenced Ben with a firm but gentle placement of one of her hands on his shoulder.
Jacen turned at the sound of two pairs of footsteps marching up the Shadow's boarding ramp.
Moments later, however, the sounds of lightsabers igniting from within were perceptible throughout the courtyard.
Vol looked angrily at Jacen. "What's going on here, Solo?"
"It appears your Sabers are having quite a problem trying to take back one of their own," Jacen remarked with a smirk.
Two seconds later, a dozen Jedi spilled out from the boarding ramp with their lightsabers ignited. One by one, but in quick succession, came Octa Ramis, Lowbacca, Tesar Sebatyne, Corran Horn and his children Valin and Jysella, Seff Hellin, Raynar Thul, Zekk, and a few relative newcomers in Natua Wan, Radd Minker, and Bazel "Barv" Warv.
Without hesitation, after they immediately leaped to the attack upon all of the Sith in their general vicinity, almost all of them unleashed some Force-waves that sent several Sabers and High Lords sprawling to the ground; only Corran and Valin were unable to do so, but still, the former was able to make up for it by quickly projecting distracting thoughts into his closest opponents while the latter stayed within his father's reach to strike down those Sith whom Corran confused.
And within the initial surprise attack, close to three dozen Sith were taken out as the attacking Jedi used their respective advantages to slash at the dark siders before them.
Recovering from the suddenness of what just happened, Vol turned back to Jacen and activated his lightsaber just as Vestara and Ben did.
But Jacen wasted no time in doing battle with them; instead, even as he activated his own lightsaber to block Ben's incoming attack, he tackled his cousin to the ground and teleported them into the Jade Shadow's cockpit.
Jacen then used his free hand to punch Ben into unconsciousness before he stood up and began bringing the Shadow back online. And even as he did so, he had the ship's laser turrets begin laying cover fire against Vol, Vestara, and all of the other Sith in the courtyard, which allowed the dozen Jedi out there to press on their advantage against their foes. Naturally, the Sith who weren't vaporized—unfortunately, Vol and Vestara were still among the living—scurried for cover.
Once the Shadow was back to full flight capacity, Jacen brought it up into the air and circled around, allowing each of the Jedi to leap onto the boarding ramp. Within a minute, they were all back aboard, with Lowie being the last one, before the ramp was brought back into place, which allowed Jacen to soar for the sky.
And with four Hapan Battle Dragons now exchanging fire with the ChaseMaster armada, Jacen had virtually no problem launching the Shadow into hyperspace on a course for Shedu Maad.