Chapter 4: Monsters
Laniff threw himself around the corner, swept his pistol over the area, then motioned for the rest of the group to move up. He swiftly made his way down the hall, using his pistol light to provide enough illumination for everyone else. He took up position at the next corner and waited for them to catch up.
"The turbolift to Level Three is close," he said over his shoulder. "I'd give us five minutes."
"Good," Jay called from the center of the group. "Keep your eyes open. We haven't come this far to mess up now."
He nodded. "Got it, boss."
Vhetin marveled at the tight-knit way Jay's squad operated. He had always known his partner was tougher than her attractive features would suggest, but he had never expected this. He had taught her how to work as a lone wolf bounty hunter, but she had assembled her own black-ops strike team, tracked down one of the most classified Imperial research projects in the galaxy, and managed to infiltrate without losing even a single squad mate.
He wondered if it was because of her background as a navy pilot. If their roles had been reversed, he would have probably infiltrated the facility on his own. But she was used to working as part of a team, was probably more comfortable operating with others watching her back.
In any case, she had exceeded even his wildest expectations when he had originally agreed to train her. And more than that, she seemed to have... grown since he'd seen her last. Not physically, but socially and tactically.
Over the course of their year-long partnership, Jay had always followed his lead. She had been the best partner he had ever worked with, it was true, but she always deferred to his judgment. She, after all, had been the student and he was more experienced in the cutthroat trade of intergalactic bounty hunting. But now, as he watched her give orders and request progress checks from other members of the team, he saw her as more of a leader. Now, she held herself more like a battle-hardened military commander and less like the modest, slightly timid woman he had known. It was as if all the hidden strength he'd seen in her had been brought to the surface for all to see.
He felt a smile tug at his masked face. It was good to see her again, after all this time. No, good was an understatement. He had believed that he would die here, in this nightmarish research base. But now, his closest friend had not only found him, but provided him with an escape route. It wasn't just good to see her again; it was incredible.
Still, his elation was cut by new worries she had brought to his attention. Most prominent was her revelation about Brianna's absence. Just what would drive her to pass up an opportunity to rescue him? Whatever it was must have been important, maybe even life-threatening. Was she in some sort of trouble, something that put her in harm's way?
Then, another idea occurred to him: what if she hadn't wanted to come? It was possible, as much as he didn't want to admit it. They hadn't parted on the best of terms. What if she had moved on and didn't care that he'd been found again?
He shook his head and pushed those thoughts away. He didn't want to think about it and such ruminations would distract him from the task at hand. He needed to focus if he wanted to make it out of the Facility alive. So he nudged Jay in the shoulder. When she glanced over, he said, "You've done an incredible job here."
She smiled. "All I did was bring my team together. They've been the ones doing all the work."
"You've been the one taking charge of it all. That's not an easy position to be in."
She let out a long breath and ran a hand through her hair. "No kidding. I'm not going to lie. It's been hell without you, Cin. I'm surprised I made it this far."
"How did you even find me?" he asked. "It's not exactly like this place is on everyday tourist maps. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even know what planet I'm on."
"Quorbus," Jay supplied. "A dead rock in the fringes of Outer Rim, about a hundred parsecs from the nearest civilized system. This place has no flora, no fauna, no life at all. Perfect for an Imperial bio-weapons project I guess. No indigenous species to worry about infecting."
"And you've spent the last three months trying to find me?"
She nodded. "Ever since Mon Calamari."
She glanced at him, then quickly looked away. "Cin, I... I saw what they've been doing to you here. I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner."
"What?" he said. How could she think that? "Jay, I thought I was going to be here for the rest of my life. I owe you everything."
She sighed. "I appreciate that. But look at what they've done to you. I wish none of this had ever happened."
"What's done is done," he said. "The fact is that you found me after all this time. I still don't know how you managed to do it."
She shrugged, readjusting the hands-free comm set hooked into her ear. "Things sped up after we arrested the Tracker."
"He's in jail?"
"Rotting away in the Keldabe City Prison. Denton Dral was able to have him charged with attempted murder and tried by a Mandalorian jury. Gives those corrupt Imperial judiciary officials a taste of their own medicine, I guess."
Vhetin laughed, then winced and held his side. "Nice to know he's off the streets."
"From what I last heard, he's having a rough time. Most of the people in the prison may be criminals, but they're still Mandos. And they don't take kindly to an aruetii attacking one of their own."
Vhetin remembered the Tracker's brutal attacks during their final duel in the Mon Cal spaceport, remembered the platoon of stormtroopers the man sent to finish the job. Vhetin had been shot more times than he cared to remember before finally being stunned into unconsciousness. The next time he woke up, he was in chains.
"Good," he finally said. "The Tracker deserves every second he spends in there."
"I thought you'd see it like that. After he started talking, though, things started going smoother. He had no direct affiliations with the people who kidnapped you aside from sporadic contact with Darth Vader. But I slowly made my way up the ranks, trying to find the people directly associated with this Project Whiteclaw."
"How did you manage that? Some of those people must have been well-protected."
She grimaced. "I tried to work mostly with my own team. It didn't go so well. We were almost caught when we tried to take down an Imperial military facility that housed some of this Project."
"The Tenteen-Seven base," Vhetin said, remembering the HoloNet report Doctor Torch had shown him.
"Right. After that, I realized that I needed some less-than-legal help. So, as much as I hated to do it, I went to Sekha."
"You did what? Why?"
She shook her head helplessly. "I had no other contacts in the underworld. I don't have the money to go to Kalyn Farnmir, Black Sun wouldn't talk unless you were present, and I didn't want to go anywhere near Jabba the Hutt. That disgusting slug would probably have me dancing for him in some kind of metal bikini by the time I was done talking to him."
"Probably," Vhetin said, frowning. "But Sekha? Kriff, Jay, she could have gotten you killed."
"Like Xizor or Jabba would have been any different?" she pointed out. "Besides, she likes you. And she was willing to push a lot of credits my way to help track down Imperials who knew who you were."
"Now you owe her money?"
She sighed. "I paid it all back. Barely. That's not even the bad news."
He stared at her and waited for her to elaborate. She looked at him apologetically and said, "Well... after the attack on the Tenteen-Seven base, the Imperials caught me on security vids. A couple days later, they put a bounty on my head. Fifteen thousand credits."
He shook his head. "Jay, I appreciate what you've done for me, but I'm starting to think you would have been better off staying away from me."
"Don't say that," she said seriously. She rounded on him, bringing their group to a halt, and pointed a finger at him. "I've shed blood, sweat, and tears to bring you back. I don't regret a thing I've done over the past months. I'd do it all again and more if it meant rescuing you."
He nodded to himself as they set off again. He knew she wasn't exaggerating. He would do the same for her in a heartbeat. They were partners; it was part of the job description. "You're a good friend, Jay. I'm glad you think I'm worth the trouble."
"If you're so grateful," she said with a slight smile, "you can pay for the various damages and medical bills I've had to take care of over the past months."
"Done."
She blinked, surprised. "No... Cin, you don't understand. That was a joke."
"Oh. Still, I'm willing to pay for my release. I get the feeling you'll be fair in your demands."
"Shut up," she said with a grin. "Let's get out of here first, then we can start haggling over compensation."
They made their way through the halls, Laniff and Rame taking point, with Vhetin, Jay, and Ti'ica in the middle and Shae bringing up the rear. Vhetin eventually replaced his stormtrooper helmet and the majority of his stolen armor in case they were attacked again. He was still having difficulty walking without pain and his wracking pneumonia-induced coughs made the group have to slow to a near-halt on several occasions. But he was able to assist their progress as well, lending his HUD – which had recovered from the effects of Jay's ion grenade – to the task of scanning for enemy contacts. There were still swarms of Spider Turrets crawling all over Level Two, and there were several Darktrooper droids still unaccounted for.
Laniff eventually glanced over his shoulder as they progressed and said, "Okay, so I know we're on a clock here, but we need to get some things straight."
"Shoot," said Jay.
"We're heading for the Level Three turbolifts that'll take us to the rendezvous point, yeah? Well, what do we do from there? How are we going to get out of here?"
"I'm still working that one out," Jay said, a little sheepishly. "I'll let you know what I find."
"I had a plan," Vhetin supplied. "Before I met up with you guys."
"Do share," Shae said from the rear of the group.
He brought the group to a halt and pulled a holoprojector from his belt. When he activated it, the projector displayed the map he'd downloaded during a stop at a terminal before he'd shut down the security systems.
"Level Three," he said. "We're heading there for the rendezvous point. Before I shut down the Facility's computer systems, I found that there are heat exchange ducts that run from the maintenance bay there all the way to the surface."
"That's the stupidest design I've ever seen," Ti'ica said, shaking her head as she tapped away at her datapad. "Who puts in such an obvious escape route?"
"It's not meant as an escape route," he said. "Normally the exchange ducts are used to filter the stale air from the lower levels with clean air from the surface. They're also used to keep the Facility warm."
"How?"
"A massive six-cylinder flash-heater," Vhetin said, displaying the hologram of the device. It was a series of rings wrapped around the exchange duct tubes, glowing red in the hologram. "A machine that heats the air to a few thousand degrees within a fraction of a second. From there, the air naturally passes through the Facility until it needs to be filtered again."
He pulled back the hologram to show the entire exchange duct system, some hundred meters long. "If we can crawl through the exchange ducts, we'd have a clear shot to the surface, well outside the Facility's external defenses."
"And that's your escape route?" Shae said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Crawl through a giant microwave that could burn us to a crisp within the blink of an eye? Sounds more like a creative way to commit suicide."
"I have to agree, Cin," Jay said with a frown. "There has to be a better way."
"The only exits from the Facility," Vhetin said, scanning his map, "are the main gate, the water filtration plant here on Level Two, and the heat exchange ducts."
"The main gate is a no go," Laniff said. "Crawling with Imperials."
"What about the water filtration plant?" Shae said. "I'd rather swim than burn."
"The plant is filled to the brim with water," Ti'ica updated them as she worked on her pad. "There's apparently a five-hundred-meter pipe we'd have to swim through, with no access points for air. We'd drown before we could reach the other side."
Shae turned back to Vhetin. "Honestly, your plan doesn't sound much better."
"I wasn't finished," he said, zooming in on another section of the Facility. "If we can get into the maintenance control station, also on Level Three, we can shut down the flash-heaters."
"No we can't," Ti'ica said. When everyone looked to her, she blinked her bright blue eyes and clarified, "Not completely, anyway. I've been running some scans and the best I'd be able to do is shut the ducts down for a standard maintenance cycle."
"How long?" Jay asked, folding her arms.
The girl grimaced, as if expecting a rebuke. "Um... fifteen minutes."
"Seriously? Fifteen minutes for eight people to crawl a hundred meters?" Shae turned to Laniff and scoffed. "I'd rather take my chances with the water filtration plant and hope I miraculously grow gills on my way to the exit."
"It's our best chance," Laniff said with a shrug.
"I agree," Jay agreed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Ti'ica, is there any way you can increase our chances? Add in a back-to-back maintenance cycle?"
"It... It doesn't work that way," Ti'ica said, tapping furiously into her pad. "If I set the system to enter a maintenance cycle, the system shuts down in order to allocate more runtime to the maintenance diagnostics. The process capacitors are locked so the system's forward drive can designate power for shutdown and recombination. It was designed to allow the system to work through the cycle faster and decrease the time the exchange ducts are unguarded. Add that to the fact that the system sets up spiker-level firewalls and telescoping viral protection protocols..."
She looked up, then trailed off when she realized everyone staring at her with identical blank expressions. Shae stared at her for a few moments, then blinked quickly. "Um... was that even Basic? I don't think I understood half of that."
"Um..." Ti'ica tapped into her datapad a few more times, then said, "In layman's terms, once the maintenance cycle is locked in, there's nothing I can do."
"Okay," Jay said. "So we now have a time limit. We have fifteen minutes to get out. That's not much time, but it's possible."
She looked to Shae. "Any other objections?"
The woman raised her hands in surrender. "We get there and I'm going to be crawling just as fast as anyone else. Probably even faster."
Jay nodded and powered up her comm set again. "I'll contact D and tell him to be waiting for a pickup. He'll probably be able to cover our backs as well."
Vhetin narrowed his eyes. "The security system may be down but if we activate a maintenance cycle, every terminal in the Facility is going to light up like a Nar Shadda ad-board. They'll know exactly where we are and every trooper on Level Three is going to head straight for us."
"Obviously," Laniff said, rolling his eyes. "I mean, otherwise it would be too easy, wouldn't it?"
"What can you tell us about Level Three?" Jay asked, cocking her head.
Vhetin shook his head and powered down his HUD again; he was beginning to get another headache. "Not much. I was never brought down there. Rumor among the prisoners said that it was the laboratory, where they manufactured the genetic preservative they used in the Tests."
"That black stuff that you keep puking up?" Shae said, raising an eyebrow.
Vhetin nodded. "The sickness they gave me turned me into a biological carrier for their virus. Rumor had it that the Whiteclaw Scientists kept the other carriers down there."
"What do you mean carrier?" Laniff said. "Are you contagious?"
"Only under certain circumstances," he explained. He leaned against the wall and let out a weary sigh.
"Okay..." he said, "this is what I've learned about my... condition. From what I've learned, the virus effects people differently. Some of them become infected and suffer from symptoms that begin like regular pneumonia. Coughing, fever, lungs filling with fluid. There's no way they can pass on the virus besides fluid transfer: blood, saliva, stuff like that. But other test subjects become carrier agents, producing more and more of the genetic preservative to infect others. The virus... I don't know, it somehow changes their bodies so they actually biologically produce more of the black preservative. Instead of their lungs filling with mucus, they fill with the black fluid."
He gestured to himself. "Apparently, I'm one of the latter."
Jay took a step closer. "Please don't take this the wrong way, Cin, but I need to know if you're a threat to this team. You said that it could be contagious under certain circumstances. What circumstances?"
He hesitated, then said, "As long as you stay away from me when my body is... purging the preservative, you'll be fine. But if even a single drop of that preservative gets into your system..."
He let the threat hang on the air for a few moments. He was sure at least some of them had come across the deranged test subjects during their time in the Facility. Eventually, Rame piped up from his watch over the hallway. He had been silent through the whole conversation so far.
"Is there an antidote?" he asked quietly.
"I've heard there is, but I've never seen it. And they've never used it on any of the test subjects. They've just let them decay."
The medic shook his head and muttered, "Disgusting."
Laniff sighed and readjusted his grip on his pistol anxiously. "This is all very fascinating, but it doesn't get us any closer to getting out of here."
"He's right," Jay said. "Move out, people."
As they set off again, she activated her comm set and said, "D, come in."
The response was a monotonous, mechanized voice, deep and booming. Vhetin was able to clearly hear the transmission, even though he was standing some distance away.
"I AM HERE."
"We're going to need you for a pickup within the hour, big guy," she said. "Transmitting the coordinates."
"COORDINATES RECIEVED. I AM EN ROUTE. CAN I EXPECT ENEMY RESISTANCE?"
"No telling yet," she replied. "Chances are looking good, though. Keep your gun charged."
"MY GUN IS ALWAYS CHARGED."
"That's the spirit," she said, then signed off.
The walked in silence for a few moments before Vhetin said, "I've been meaning to ask you something."
"I'm listening," she replied.
"Who is this D guy you keep talking to? You didn't give me much information about him when you were introducing the team."
"He's a bounty hunter," she replied. "I picked him up while I was tracking down an Imperial agent hiding outside of the Tatooine system."
"Can you trust him?"
"D?" she chuckled. "He may not be the friendliest guy I've ever met, but he's trustworthy enough. Besides, he packs firepower that would make most AT-ATs think twice about taking him on. I figured we'd need that kind of armament to break you out of a maximum-security prison."
He nodded. "I hope you're right."
"D hasn't failed us so far," she said. She looked like she was about to nudge him in the arm reassuringly, then noticed his bloodstained bandages and seemed to think better of it. Don't worry. I trust my team.
"And I trust you," he said with a terse nod.
Then they rounded a corner and a large set of turbolift doors came into sight. If Vhetin's schematics were correct, that lift would take them even deeper into the Facility, down to Level Three, and quite possibly to freedom.
The stormtrooper powered down the monitoring device that was listening in on the bounty hunters' conversation and turned to his CO for further orders. "Did you pick that up, sir?
His CO, Colonel Tech Packard, head of the stormtrooper guard inside the Facility and the most ruthless man the trooper had ever met, nodded slowly. "Every word.
He turned to the troopers busy at the door and barked, "Double-time it, maggots! I want that door open in five minutes or I will kick each and every one of your miserable, laser-sucking asses right into orbit! Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir!" came the obedient reply. The troopers clustered around the sealed blast door leading out out of the barracks and doubled their efforts to carve their way free.
Colonel Packard turned to another nearby trooper. "The Primary is heading for the Level Three exchange ducts trying to escape. Notify every trooper in the Facility and tell them to get their asses to Level Three. Get everyone who's topside to the duct exhaust ports. If we can't stop him inside, we'll sure as hell stop him up there."
"Sir!"
"You there!" he snapped at another approaching trooper. "Status report on weapons."
The trooper saluted. "We have plenty of arms to go around, sir. The barracks are fully stocked."
"Heavy ammunition?"
"We have four rocket launchers," the trooper listed, "Three rotary blaster cannons, ten sniper rifles, four cases of incendiary bombs, six cases of flashbangs, and two cases of fragmentation grenades."
"Take it all," the Colonel growled. "Distribute them among the men."
"Sergeant Bindo," he then said into his comm, contacting one of the few troopers not trapped inside the barracks. "What's the status on those Darktroopers?
"Three are offline," the sergeant replied over comms. "The others are en route to your position, ready to assist. But they're meeting resistance. The riot is still in full swing in the cell blocks."
"Send in the Spiders," Packard said, pacing back and forth across the main gathering room of the barracks. The area was crowded with uneasy, nervous stormtroopers that parted to give him plenty of room as he passed. "Engage their Search-and-Destroy protocols. I don't care if it's a prisoner or one of these freak show scientists; if it moves, I want it dead in ten minutes time."
"But sir, we have men in the cell blocks trying to pacify-"
"I gave you an order, soldier. Obey it, or face insubordination charges."
Packard knew as well as Sergeant Bindo that in emergency conditions, insubordination was punished by death. There was an audible gulp over the comm, then the Sergeant said, "Yes sir. Right away."
Packard nodded, then looked over sharply as one of the troopers shouted, "Fire in the hole!"
Troopers scrambled away from the door as the compound breach charge they had been setting up began counting down. Packard folded his arms and waited, watching the charge's readout intently.
With a tremendous explosion, the charge detonated, punching a massive hole in the door already weakened by the trooper's cutting torches. A cloud of duracrete chips, metallic debris, and superheated shards of durasteel burst out from the breach, making troopers across the room curse and turn away.
As the explosion slowly faded, Packard saw with great satisfaction that the door was finally clear, giving them access to the rest of the Facility. He hefted his own weapon, a heavily modified DC-17 blaster rifle, and narrowed his eyes determinedly.
"Move out, men," he growled. "This Facility hasn't had so much as an unauthorized sneeze the entire length of this project. I'll be damned if it's all going to go to hell now."
Troopers around him saluted and set off to secure the Facility, issuing orders to each other and hurrying to complete their designated assignments. Colonel Packard himself was about to set off when an insistent voice made him pause.
"Colonel Packard, if I may," said Doctor Torch, emerging from the blasted-open hole in the barracks door. He had been checking up on a trooper who'd broken his ankle on patrol when the doors had shut, locking him in the barracks with the other stormtroopers. Packard had little patience for the man and less time now that he was free to lock down this prison riot. However, as distasteful as he found it, this man signed the checks. He deserved a few minutes at least.
"Make it quick, Doctor," he said impatiently.
"Colonel, the Primary represents a great financial investment to this project. Killing him would be most unfortunate."
Packard was about to tell the Doctor just how little he cared, but the man continued, "Besides, the Project has more than enough genetic material to continue our testing without him. Is he really worth all the effort to recapture?"
"Doctor, I don't give a silo of sarlacc shit about your Project. I was brought on to this facility's personnel roster for one job: to keep the place secure. There's a riot in progress and we've got a prisoner trying to escape. He's not alone and Force-knows how many other infiltrators have snuck into this place."
He poked Torch in the chest with an armored finger. "When I'm ordered to do a job, I finish that job. And I can promise you that I will kill every man, woman, and otherwise in this facility to keep it secure. That includes you, Doctor."
He fed a clip of ammunition into his rifle and charged it up. "Keep that in mind, Torch. Stay out of my way."
Then he turned and sprinted down the hall. He'd be damned if he was going to let that Kiffar freak get to Level Three before he did.
Torch stared after him, then turned and headed back to the safety of the barracks. He shook his head as he ducked back through the blasted hole in the doors.
"I hope you're already on your way out, Vhetin," he murmured. "If not, you're in for one hell of a fight."
It didn't seem to take very long to shuttle everyone down to Level Three. Security seemed tighter on this turbolift than previous installations. It took several long minutes for Ti'ica to spoof security codes that would give them access. She muttered to herself the whole time, her lekku twitching in irritation. Security was obviously growing tighter as they progressed deeper into the Facility.
Once the lift doors finally opened, they had to split into two groups to head down to the next floor. Rame, Shae, and Laniff went down first to secure the area; there was no telling what was waiting for them on Level Three. Jay stayed behind with Ti'ica, who didn't have a firearm, and Vhetin, who was still extremely weak from his fight with the Darktroopers. She doubted her partner could handle another fight like that and survive.
While they waited for the lift car to return, she made sure everyone else on her team was advised of the plan. She checked in with them over comms, just to be sure.
"Les, you there?"
It was a few moments before the Echani woman replied. "What do you need?"
"We've got an escape route," she explained. "We're heading for the heat exchange ducts on Level Three. Will you be able to make it to the rendezvous point in time?"
"I foresee no problems. However, I just saw an entire platoon of stormtroopers passing beneath my ventilation duct. They are heading for the Level Three turbolifts on the other side of the Facility."
Vhetin must have overheard the transmission, because he cursed and said, "Colonel Packard and his men must have found a way out of the barracks. I knew I wouldn't be able to lock them in for long."
"We'll deal with that problem if we come across it," Jay said, filing that information away for future use. "We're a much smaller group than a platoon of troopers. We can move faster and stealthier if need be."
"I will continue to watch for enemy movement," the Handmaiden said. "Good luck, Jayshiea."
"And to you, Les." She switched comm channels. "Trassk, where are you?"
"Hmm, I am already on Level Three. I am waiting for your ssquad to arrive."
She nodded. "Good work. Any luck punching through the locked-down security system?"
"Not asss of yet. I am, however, making sslight progress."
"Keep trying. If we can gain access to this place's computer systems, our job will be a lot easier."
"Asss you wish."
Then the lift car rose back into place, waiting to carry them down. It was a short ride to the next level of the facility, but Jay still had no idea what was waiting for them. She kept her hand on her pistol as the doors opened, just in case. She was aware of Vhetin flexing his grip on his stolen stun prod nervously, the Darktrooper force pike slung across his back on a sling.
"You okay?" she asked him.
He nodded. "I've never been to this part of the Facility. All I know is that they did bad things down here. Things that made their experiments upstairs look like an academy science fair."
"How do you know?" Ti'ica asked.
"If you were called down to Level Three," he murmured, "you were as good as dead. Every time prisoners were brought down here, they were never seen again. The people they used as test subjects on the upper levels were studied, put on a pedestal for all to see. They didn't care that they were turning those people into monsters, and they didn't care who else saw it."
He shook his head darkly as the lift ground to a halt and the doors began to slide open. "But Level Three? Whatever they were doing, they wanted to keep it hidden."
His words chilled Jay. After seeing the monstrous test subjects and the nightmarish testing chambers, the thought of what the Whiteclaw scientists would want to keep a secret...
Still, she had to remain strong and focused, for the sake of her team. So she just nodded as they stepped out of the turbolift and said, "We'll be fine. Most of the Imperials are up on Level One still, trying to get a handle on that prison riot. We'll be alone down here."
"At least until those stormtroopers get here," Ti'ica muttered, busying herself with her datapad once again.
The others were waiting for them at the end of a long, unadorned hallway with smooth durasteel walls. Jay found herself feeling a little claustrophobic, as if the walls were pressing in on her tighter and tighter with every step she took. There was a fork in the hall ahead, where the others were waiting for them. Rame was shining a handheld glowlight down the left-facing hall, but it looked to Jay like the one they had just left. Plain, smooth durasteel as far as the light could reach.
"So," she said to Vhetin, "does your map show us where to go?"
He consulted the holographic readout, then pointed to the right branch. "This way. We have to cut through a block of repurposed holding cells, then through some kind of storage area. After that, it's a short walk over the water filtration tubes and into the maintenance bays."
She nodded and gestured to the group at large. "Move out, people."
After a few hundred feet, the hall was illuminated by glowing red emergency lights. Jay was glad to be able to find her way without the use of her handheld light, which cast eerie highlights across every surface. That said, the scarlet glow of the new illumination made everything look bloody and ominous. She didn't know which was better.
Rame took point, pistol at the ready. He moved down the hall at a slow, cautious pace, sweeping his weapon over the hall. Jay found herself marveling once more at how easily the farmer was able to fall into his duties as an infiltrator. Mandalorians never ceased to amaze her.
"See those square plates on the walls?" Vhetin murmured as they progressed. He pointed to several square-shaped outlines in the durasteel. "Emergency turrets. They have them all over the Facility. They usually operate on pressure-pads or motion sensors. In the event of a break-out, anyone who passed through areas like this would be blown into red paste in the blink of an eye."
"How do the troopers get through?" Shae asked. "I mean, they're the ones who have to try and restore order."
"Special transmitters in their helmets," Vhetin said, tapping his own polished white helmet for emphasis. "They broadcast a signal to shut down the pressure pads or sensors as soon as the trooper is close enough. Kind of like a friend-or-foe ID chip in a starfighter."
Shae shook her head. "They weren't messing around with security here. I guess it's a good thing you shut down power."
"Door ahead," Rame called from the front of the group. They came to a halt, staring at a set of huge permasteel doors marked with bio-hazard signs. There were seven compound locks set into the door's housing, keeping the entrance sealed tight. Jay was willing to bet a rancor could punch the door and not so much as dent its surface.
"Where's a jetii when you need one?" Shae murmured, eying the massive compound locks. "If we had one of those spoon-benders here, they could just wink and rip this door apart with their mind."
"Or cut through the locks with a lightsaber," Laniff agreed. "Sometimes I wonder if us honest mando'ade really missed our calling. We'd probably have much better uses for telekinesis."
Jay patted Ti'ica's shoulder and gestured to a readout on the wall. "We don't need telekinesis. We've got our own miracle worker on hand. You're up, kid."
The girl nodded and moved forward, pulling a slicer spike from a pouch on her belt. With careful, precise movements, she slid the spike a the slot on the wall readout that looked like it was designed for an access card. She then hooked a thin transfer cable into the end of the spike and plugged the other end into her datapad.
She stared at her pad for a moment, then let out an impressed whistle. "Looks like you were right, Vhetin. Whatever these scientists were doing here, they definitely wanted to keep it hidden. They've got a machina-level firewall base with secondary and tertiary layers, plus Shadow-Seeker encryption codes embedded in the system, with-"
Jay raised a hand and cut her off. "Can you get the door open?"
"If I can re-write some of the encryption codes and hack my way into the backdoor scientist access portal, I can spoof a code that'll fool the Shadow-Seekers and the-"
"Yes or no."
A pause. "Yeah. I can do it. Give me a minute."
A few tense minutes later, the door let out a loud clank and all seven compound locks sprang open. A deep rumble shook the air. Everyone present raised their weapons, prepared for anything, and Jay gestured for Ti'ica to get back behind them. The girl did so, slipping through the group and taking position at the rear of the group.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Shae muttered.
The doors trembled for a moment, then a blast of air erupted from the seam. Everyone present grimaced and turned away save for Vhetin, who was still wearing his trooper helmet. The storm continued as the doors rumbled slowly open. Foggy, humid, foul-smelling air rushed from the entryway, obscuring any sight of what lay within. Jay's hair was buffeted about by the wind and she had to hold her breath against the horrid stench.
When the air flow finally abated, they were cautious to proceed. Past the door was a large, open room that stretched into darkness. They could hear movement inside, murmured voices, and a persistent, hollow thump, thump, thump.
"Laniff," she whispered, readjusting her grip on her pistol and double-checking the charge. "Take point."
"Why do I have to take point?" he demanded. "Have Shae do it."
"Kriff that," the woman spat. "She gave you an order, nu'gett'se. Get your ass in there."
The man shook his head with a muttered curse and stepped forward, into the shadows. It was a few long moments of silence before Jay called, "Well? Are we clear?"
"I'm not dead yet," he called back. "So I think so. Rame, if you want to get in here there's a control panel. We might be able to get some lights on."
Rame looked to Jay for confirmation. She nodded and he made his way forward, into the darkness. Jay looked to the rest of her group and said, "We'll wait for the lights to come on, then we'll head in with the others."
"What do you think we'll find in there?" Ti'ica asked nervously, glancing at Vhetin.
"If we're lucky," he said, reloading his rifle, "just a bunch of empty storage cells and dusty old bones."
"And if we're unlucky?"
He pulled back the charging rod on the rifle. Jay felt comforted by the the satisfying clack and the quiet hum that followed. She followed suit with her own weapon, making sure it was ready to fire as soon as she needed it.
"If we're unlucky," he murmured, "our best plan is to run. Run fast, run far, and don't look back."
The lights within the room flickered, then pulsed to life. She squinted against the sudden flare, then was eventually able to make out the figures of Rame and Laniff as they worked on a terminal near the center of the room. A shower of sparks flew from the device and Rame cursed and yanked his hand back, sucking his bleeding thumb.
"Damn power converters," he muttered as Jay slowly stepped into the room. "Never know when they're going to pop in your face."
"Aw, boo-hoo," Laniff said, tapping into the terminal and bringing more lights online. "Ram'ika got a boo-boo. Get over yourself, vod."
Shae looked around the room as lights began to spring to life. Jay quickly followed suit, taking stock of their surroundings. Vhetin stepped into the room, heading for the farthest corner, seemingly oblivious to anyone and anything that surrounded him.
The room was larger than she had originally thought. The floors were made of polished durasteel and there were banks of cells on either side of the room, blocked off by thick transparisteel barriers. Inside each of the cells was a filthy, bleeding corpse. They were sprawled in various positions across the cell floors, arms spread wide or clasped tightly around their shoulders as if they were cold.
And in some of the cells, the people held within were sitting up, looking around, or throwing themselves against the transparisteel barriers. Such actions were what had caused the deep thump, thump, thump they had heard before.
Jay cursed and raised her pistol, sweeping it over each of the cells. Shae stepped up next to her and folded her arms. "Don't bother. They can't get out of there. We're safe."
"No, we're not."
Jay sighed and let out an exasperated laugh. "Oh, Cin, I've missed your pessimism."
"It's not pessimism," Vhetin growled from further down the long, rectangular room. "We've got a serious problem."
"What?" Rame said, frowning and standing. Jay was just as concerned; there was a note of tension in his voice that she didn't like.
He was standing at the door of an empty cell, rifle shouldered. He shook his head before taking a cautious step away. Jay took a step towards him. "Cin? What's wrong?"
"When I cut the power to the Facility, some of the security systems must have shorted out. This cell door short-circuited. Whoever was in here is gone."
"How do you know it's not just an empty cell?"
He shook his head and gestured to the cell floor. Jay squinted and saw a dark blood smear on the ground just outside the cell.
"I don't think a scientist made that."
He gestured to another open cell, then another and another. All had similar evidence of breakouts.
"We're not alone down here," he murmured, then shook his head again. "This is really bad."
Everyone looked to Jay for their orders, but in truth she had no clue what to do next. They were stuck down here on Level Three with no way of going back, troopers were closing in, and now bio-warfare test subjects were running loose in the middle of it all. She had no idea where to go, what to do, or even where to begin planning.
Thankfully, Rame took charge. He clapped his hands to draw attention to himself and called out, "All right people, we're working in hazop conditions now. Assume that everyone who isn't in this group is potentially infected. Keep anyone you see at arms length and don't go wandering off. We've come too far to lose people now."
His rallying call snapped Jay out of her helplessness. She instantly jumped into action, issuing orders and switching on her comm to warn the others.
"Ti'ica," she said, "shut and seal the door we just came through. The last thing we need is these monsters doubling back on us."
The girl nodded and stepped up to the terminal that had kept Laniff and Rame so busy. Jay watched the Twi'lek, then nodded, satisfied she would do her job well. She turned to the others and said, "Shae, take Laniff and scout out the area ahead. If there's anyone there, neutralize them with non-lethal force and warn us. Rame, go with them and turn on lights wherever you can. We're at enough of a disadvantage without being locked in the dark with these things."
"Yes, ma'am."
She finally turned to Vhetin, about to ask him to relay everything he knew about the test subjects, and found him just staring into one of the occupied cells, rifle lowered, obviously lost in thought. She hesitated, then strode toward him.
He was obviously taking this hard; his capture had led to a lot of pain and suffering. If she knew him at all, he would see it all as his own fault.
"Hey," she said quietly. "Are you all right?"
He said nothing, expression as unreadable as always behind his contoured stormtrooper helmet. Jay couldn't even hear him breathing. She followed his gaze and stared at the twisted and mutilated test subject held within the cell. The subject, once a human male, was laying face-down on the floor. His hair was falling out in clumps, his skin was covered in bruises, sores, and open wounds, and he was twitching sporadically. If the man noticed there were people watching him, he didn't do anything about it.
She glanced at her partner again. "What the hell are these things?"
He was silent for a long time again. Then he murmured, "They're me."
"What?"
"All my strengths," he sighed, "none of my weaknesses. They're everything that makes me who I am."
"They aren't you," she reassured him. "You're more than your physical abilities. These are just monsters."
"They used to be people, Jay," he said, his voice almost too quiet to hear. "They were fathers and mothers and sons and daughters. They had normal lives, normal families. And I ruined it all."
He shook his head. "There's so much blood on my hands... how can I ever set this right? How can I ever undo all this pain?"
Together, they stared at the test subject for a time. He finally seemed to notice them, because he looked up at them with bloodshot eyes, parted his cut and bleeding lips, and let out a low, mournful groan.
Jay shook her head and looked away. The sight of these people in such a state simultaneously filled her with revulsion and pity. She glanced at her partner, who was still staring at the man, and said, "You can help put things right by getting out of here."
"How does that help these people?" he said, gesturing to the occupied cells that surrounded them. "How does my escape help erase this horror?"
"You can strike back," she insisted. "Fight this project. Destroy it."
He shook his head. "It's impossible. You spent three months just trying to find me. Who knows how many different branches of this project are out there?"
She scowled. "I never thought I'd hear you give up so easily, Cin."
"What?"
"Look around you," she said. "You really think the Empire is going to be satisfied with just this? They won't stop here. Yes, they've taken hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. But if someone doesn't stop them, they'll take countless more."
She poked him in his polished white chest plate. "You can't help these people. But you can stop the Imperials from doing the same thing to others. You can stop this from getting any worse."
"But-"
"Don't give me any buts, Cin. You're a kriffing bounty hunter. You're trained to handle impossible odds. You've told me so yourself during our training. And I'll be damned if I've come this far just to see you break down and start crying like a kicked Ewok just because you made a bad decision.
"We are going to get out of here," she continued, "we are going to leave this Force-forsaken hellhole, and then we are going to hunt down the people that did this and make them pay. Understand?"
He stared at her for a long time, long enough to make her think he was about to argue with her. Then he nodded and said, "You're right. What's been done here is done, but I can stop this from happening again."
He took a deep breath and some of the tremendous weight seemed to be lifted from his shoulders. He hefted his rifle once more and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "You go on ahead, Jay. I'll catch up with you in a minute."
"You sure?"
He nodded. "I'm not going to miss out on a chance for some payback. I'll be right with you."
She stared at him for a few moments before she stepped away and headed after the others. Once her back was to him, she couldn't stop a grin from tugging at her lips. She glanced back at him and thought, There's no pep-talk like a military pep-talk.
As she rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight, Vhetin sighed and stared at the man in the cell. Who had he been before Whiteclaw? An enforcement officer, a chef, a carpenter? What had his family been like? Who were his friends?
In the end it didn't matter. This man was a monster now, like all the other test subjects. He was a man-made abomination and the pain Vhetin saw in his eyes led him to believe the man knew it. Even with the Whiteclaw serum ravaging his cognitive systems, he must have known he was not as he should be.
He deserves a better end, Vhetin thought. A warrior's end.
So he reached forward and keyed open the transparisteel barrier separating him from the test subject. The barrier slid up into its housing in the ceiling, leaving the cell completely open.
The test subject was instantly scrambling to his feet, screeching and growling and reaching for Vhetin. Vhetin waited as the man leaped for him, then calmly raised his rifle and shot him twice in the head. The man crumpled and fell to the polished floor, unmoving.
Vhetin sighed again and stared down at the man. Then he knelt next to the man and closed his bloodshot eyes. He put his hand to the man's clammy forehead and took a deep, calming breath. He closed his eyes.
"You've endured your pain with the strength of a true Mando'ad," he murmured. "Find peace, ner vod."
Then he stood, shouldered his rifle, and walked away, after the others.
No one asked him where he'd been when he caught up to the rest of the group. They didn't ask what had happened, even though they must have heard the blaster shots. Jay just met his gaze, nodded slightly, then motioned for everyone to get moving. Vhetin appreciated their silence; the last thing he wanted to do right now was talk.
After five minutes of uneventful exploration, Jay was coming the rest of her team, updating them on the situation. Laniff and Shae were taking point, relieving tension by trading insults and various wisecracks between each other. Rame was in the middle of the group with Ti'ica, who was once again busying herself with her datapad. Vhetin was about to go and speak with Rame, since some of the synthflesh on his shoulder was beginning to peel and he needed to refresh the coating, when something caught his attention.
It was a slight movement from the corner of his eye, nothing much. But something about it made Vhetin's instincts scream, ambush. He slowed to a halt, then turned to look down a branching hall. It was dark, the dim red emergency lights doing little to cut through the shadows. But there was definitely something moving in there. He raised his rifle, glanced after the others, then slowly made his way down the hall. If it turned out to be nothing, he could easily catch up to the others again. If it was a threat, it needed to be dealt with.
There it was again; a flicker of movement from the shadows. Vhetin narrowed his eyes and set his HUD systems to scan the hall ahead. Whatever was in there was too big to be a stormtrooper and too quiet to be a Darktrooper.
He raised his rifle. "Whatever you are, come out with your hands up."
There was no response, save for a clicking, screeching sound, like two knives being scraped together. Vhetin narrowed his eyes. He knew that sound from somewhere. It sounded familiar, and the memory it brought to mind was definitely one of danger.
He was about to speak again when something flew from the shadows. It was small and dark and angular, sporting a multitude of razor-sharp appendages. He thought it was a spider turret until he saw that it was flying.
Scav droid! his mind screamed at him. He cursed and ducked as the droid went whizzing by his head. He pivoted on his heel and dropped into a kneeling position, sighting in on the droid as it came around for another pass.
A heavy weight hit him in the arm and he looked down to see another scav clutching to his arm. It looked up at him with glowing white photoreceptors and let out a warbling clicking sound. Then a high-pitched buzz overpowered the sound as the droid began to drill into Vhetin's gauntlet with a specialized boring appendage. He cursed and shook the droid away, watching it float back into the air.
Four more scavenger droids flew out of the darkness. Vhetin snapped his rifle up and destroyed two before the remaining ones began weaving back and forth in front of each other, disrupting his aim. He backpedaled, sighting in and squeezing off two precisely-aimed shots. A scav droid exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel, the pieces skittering across the ground. The three remaining droids shot forward and latched themselves onto his body. Two hit his right arm and one hit his left shin. They began drilling immediately. There was a ear-splitting scraping sound as the drills dug into the plastoid stormtrooper armor, sending shattered fragments of metal flying.
Vhetin cursed and ripped the droids away, managing to smash one beneath his heavy boot. The others he quickly shot before they could regroup. Within a few moments, he was alone again in the still hallway, surrounded by pieces of scavenger droid.
He narrowed his eyes and called, "Is that all you've got?"
His comment was met with a tremendous roar from the shadows. Vhetin paused; that was definitely not the response he was expecting. In a moment, his rifle was up again and he set his HUD to scan for enemies. What the hell was in here with him?
His HUD blared a contact warning a moment before something huge and armored barreled out of the hallway toward him. He saw a flash of gray armor plating and leathery greenish-gray skin before whatever it was grabbed him around the waist and sent them both crashing to the ground.
Vhetin grunted as he landed, his rifle knocked from his hands. Whatever had attacked him put its huge, taloned hands on his chest plate and released a deafening roar. The creature had a large, tooth-studded snout and was slobbering like a rancor as it clambered off him, pulling a large vibrosword from its back. It had leathery, reptilian skin and bright green eyes that blazed with fury behind specialized optical implant visors. It was huge, its head almost brushing the ceiling, and muscle rippled along its arms and abdomen. Its heavy gray battle armor sported all kinds of weapons and monitoring equipment, as well as what looked like a specialized backpack carrying more deactivated scav droids.
A Trandoshan? Vhetin thought as he scrambled to his feet. And an Elite at that? What the hell is one of those things doing here?
In the end it didn't matter; it was obviously not a friendly. He leaped for his rifle, but the Trando slammed its vibrosword down, slicing the blaster in half. Vhetin cursed and scrambled to his feet again, pulling his stolen Darktrooper force pike from its sling over his back. He grasped it with both hands, flexing his grip as the Trandoshan hunched its back and roared again, tendrils of drool dripping down its mouth.
He wasn't about to let the lizard make the first move. He jumped forward and stabbed with his pike. The Trando knocked the weapon away and landed a heavy punch to Vhetin's chestplate, which had already been weakened by the scav droid's drill. The plastoid armor shattered beneath the force of the blow and Vhetin was knocked clean off his feet. He landed heavily on his back, gasping for breath. For a few moments, all he could do was lay there. Every inhalation sent a fresh spike of pain through his chest and he could feel preservative fluid sloshing around in his lungs.
He struggled to his feet, only to have the Trando smash its meaty fist against the back of his helmet and drive him to his hands and knees once more. He grasped his force pike securely, then swung up, using the momentum to bring him to his feet again. The blow sheared through the Trando Elite's armor, leaving a deep gash that unfortunately didn't break the alien's skin.
The Trando roared again and slammed its fist into Vhetin's solar plexus, making him double over. The Trando raised its vibrosword, preparing for a killing blow.
Vhetin jumped into action, bringing his helmet up in a vicious headbutt to the chin. The Trando staggered back, clutching its snout. Vhetin stepped forward and lashed out with a powerful kick to its gut, making it double over just in time for him to bring the lizard to its knees as he brought both fists down on the back of its leathery skull. He followed up with a knee to its face, sending it crashing down onto its back. It tried to rise, its face splattered with green blood, but Vhetin raised his force pike and planted his boot on the lizards thick neck.
He was about to plunge it down for a killing stroke when Jay's voice yelled, "Cin, stop!"
He hesitated, then looked up as he saw Jay and the others approaching from down the hall. Every one of them had their weapons drawn, but they weren't aiming them at the Trando. They were aiming at him.
"Jay?" he said, frowning. "What the hell are you-"
The Trandoshan suddenly grabbed his ankle and pulled, knocking him off his feet. It grabbed him by the throat, hauled him into the air, and slammed him hard against the wall. Vhetin grasped the lizard's wrist, choking and gagging.
It just stood there for a few moments, staring at him with reptilian eyes that were narrowed to slits. It eventually looked him up and down with its flashing green eyes, then sniffed him once, twice, nostrils flaring. It eventually let out a low growl and hissed, "Hmm... Human. Male. Ssmellss of antisseptic and blood. Itss combat training doess not ssuggest normal Imperial military. Maybe... hmm, maybe Sspecial Forcess?"
It narrowed its eyes. "Or perhapss..."
It looked over at Jay. "Iss thiss our target? The one you refer to asss Cin Vhetin?"
"That's him, Trassk," Jay said with a nod. "Now put him down. He can't breathe."
The huge Trandoshan turned back to Vhetin, sniffed him once more, then let him drop. He sprawled forward onto his hands and knees, coughing uncontrollably. Rame stepped forward to help, but Vhetin shook him off.
"I'm fine," he gasped. "I'm fine."
He looked up and narrowed his eyes at the massive Trandoshan Elite. "Why did you attack me?"
Trassk's leathery lip curled up, revealing sharp yellow teeth. "You attacked the sscavenger droidss I wass ussing as sscouts. I ssupposed you were a threat. After all, you are dressed in sstormtrooper armor."
"I'm sure neither of you would have attacked the other if you knew who was who," Jay said, obviously trying to defuse the situation. Vhetin was still ready to kill the massive Trandoshan, while Trassk's quiet tone and blazing eyes suggested that it was ready to kill everyone.
"Vhetin," Jay said quietly, "this is Trassk, our other slicer. He's also a bounty hunter.
"Trassk," she continued, "this is the man we've spent all this time trying to rescue. Try not to kill him after all we've been through, okay?"
"You are the one providing my paymentss," Trassk snarled, taking a lumbering step back. "I shall obey."
"Good." Jay turned to Vhetin. "Are you all right?"
He nodded, rubbing his throat. "I'm fine. Let's just keep moving."
"Are you sure?" Ti'ica asked. "You're not exactly in top condition. And having a big hunk of muscles like Trassk beating on you isn't-"
"I'm fine," Vhetin said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "We need to keep moving if we're ever going to get out of here. Let's just-"
He was cut off as a distant boom echoed toward them from somewhere deeper in the Facility. Vhetin's gaze snapped up and he narrowed his eyes. Laniff glanced down the hall and muttered, "Ah kriff. What now?"
Shae also looked down the hall. "Sounded like a breach charge. Those troopers are probably going to be paying us a visit before long."
Jay put a hand to her comm unit. "D, status report. We're going to need a quick getaway."
Within the darkness of the transport ship, status lights warmed from green to orange. There was a dull buzz of mechanized equipment and a deep, synthesized voice rumbled, "I AM HERE."
The voice of the human female came over the comm. "We've got troopers closing in down here. Chances are they're heading to the topside access points as well. Looks like you're going to get your wish after all. Get ready to engage."
"I LOOK FORWARD TO IT," rumbled the being piloting the ship. There was another buzz of hydraulics and a highly reflective mass of polished durasteel shifted in the darkness. It didn't pivot to face another screen; this being didn't need eyes to see. Large, reptilian hands reached out and grasped the flight controls, bringing the ship around toward the revised landing point. There was a dull scraping sound as a huge, segmented metal tail slid across the metal deck.
"SHOULD I STRAFE THE ASSEMBLING TROOPS?" he inquired. "THE SHIP'S LASER CANNONS ARE MORE THAN POWERFUL ENOUGH TO SEND THE IMPERIALS INTO DISARRAY."
"Negative, D," the human female replied. "I think this situation requires a more... personal touch."
The being would have chuckled if he could have. Instead, there was a warbling creaking sound and a thin stream of lubricant fluid leaked onto the floor. He flexed his huge hands in anticipation. The barbed manipulator at the end of his segmented metal tail screeched open, then snapped closed like a rusty old Kath Hound trap.
"I UNDERSTAND."
He brought the ship into position a thousand or so feet over the rendezvous point. A quick scan revealed that there were indeed stormtroopers massing at the topside access point to the heat exchange ducts. He thumped one massive, taloned foot impatiently.
If he were a normal being, he would probably grouse about not being paid enough for this job. But, fortunately, he was not a normal being. He didn't care about payment. He didn't even particularly care about the bloodbath that was about to erupt below. All he cared about was testing himself against the masses of stormtroopers gathering near the heat exchange ducts.
There was a loud clank from the mass of durasteel and the status lights dimmed back to green. He had to calm down. The fight would come in due time. Until then, he needed to do his job.
And if all went according to plan, the Imperials wouldn't know what hit them.
Author's Note: Shae Verd and Laniff Dreysel appear courtesy of MandoGirl22 and Kadirika7211, respectively.
Additional Author's Note: Sorry this chapter's a little shorter than usual. I've been really busy on my end and haven't had much time to write. Next one will be longer and more action-packed, I promise. In the meantime, feel free to leave a review or PM me if you want to talk.
Can you guess D's real identity before his official reveal in the next chapter? He's a real Star Wars character from a while ago. If you can guess who he is, you've either done your homework or you really know your bounty hunters. :)