Chapter Seven: Extraction
1081 days ABG
All things considered, Weave decided that he kind of liked the dizzying height and the blast of chilled air that slipped around the mountains of the planet Sethos. His implant allowed him to see every piece of granite with absolute clarity, so he was not worried as he and the captain maneuvered their way around the side of the mountain from their drop-off point at an obliging ledge. Considering that they weren't so intent on sneaking unnoticed into the facility, it was a simple matter to slip into a loose bit of grating and make their way into the heart of the building.
Weave found that he was looking forward to meeting Creon Dai again, albeit in a grim sort of way. I'm glad that the captain didn't let Traxis come; I appreciate his intentions, but he'd just make everything more complicated. A glance at Stonewall told him that the other man appeared calm, but he didn't miss how the captain's hand occasionally crept to the lightsaber beneath his kama. "Sense anything, yet?"
Stonewall paused as they crawled along the vent, his head tilted. Though his eyes were hidden by the visor of his bucket, Weave knew that he very likely had that odd look on his face that Force-users got when they tapped into the strange energy. After a moment he nodded. "He's not far. Agitated about something..." He could hear the smile in the captain's words over their secure channel. "Kali, is your team in position?"
The Jedi's voice sounded through the comm. "We're ready, Stone. I can sense him as well. Something's got him a little flustered."
"He hasn't seen anything yet," Traxis added, his voice crackling through the static.
The captain motioned to Weave and they continued on. The vent they were in was cramped but provided enough room for the men to move freely; after about twenty minutes Stonewall halted again and glanced up. They had reached a grating in the floor above them and after a few moments the captain indicated that they should exit. After coaxing the rusty latches loose, Stonewall slipped into the hallway first, offering his hand to Weave; soon they were stalking down a dark corridor.
"Something's off," Stonewall said over the comm. "I don't like it."
There was a pause before Kalinda answered. "I sense it too...he's agitated, but there's something else wrong. Something..." She trailed off and Weave noticed how Stonewall's entire body tensed. They had stopped in a shadowed alcove of the corridor and Weave took the opportunity to remove his bucket and scan the area with his implant.
Interesting. At least this thing's coming in handy. He noted a strange dance of molecules in the air and after a moment realized that they were some kind of pheromones, emanating from a nearby room. Further study indicated that there were traces of anesthetics and other medicinal compounds as well. I don't have the Force, but I know a lab when I see one. Creds to ingots he's in there. Rather than speak, he nudged Stonewall's shoulder and pointed. In the glow of his night-vision, Stonewall looked almost ghost-like as he nodded, and Weave thought that he was speaking to Kalinda over the comm. Weave clipped his bucket to his belt and glanced at Stonewall again, who squared his shoulders.
We're going in.
Milo was grateful that Crest only chuckled as he listened to the exchange between the rest of their group, and kept his comments to himself. Distractions would have been an unwelcome presence in the younger clone's mind when they'd crept along the outer edges of the facility, as well as while they'd vaulted down the building's side in order to reach their present position so that Crest could set the first of his charges.
Now that they were in place, the younger clone tightened his grip on the cable and ignored the part of his brain that urged him to look down, as that would be a very, very bad thing to do. Not that I'm afraid of heights, but it's probably better to just not think about the fact that we're dangling above tons of rock and mountain and...damn. "How's it coming?"
His brother managed a casual shrug despite the fact that he was also hanging from an ascension cable about a klick from the rocks below, according to the omnipotent HUD. "Almost got this one set. Then we get to move on...you doing okay, shiny?"
Milo gritted his teeth. "For the umpteenth time, I'm not a shiny! Why can't you get it through your thick skull?"
"The more you deny it, the more I'm going to say it," his brother replied. "That's how I work, in case you haven't figured it out by now, Mi." He gave a dramatic sigh. "You make it almost too easy, sometimes...newbie."
"I swear, when we get off this kriffing mountain-" Milo forgot to think about how high they were and how nervous he had been a few moments ago as he glared at his brother, unable to even finish the thought.
"Done. Let's move on." Crest ignored his brother's ire and began to reel in his own cable, Milo following a moment later. They moved upwards along the smooth face of the facility towards the domed roof where they'd been dropped off by an obliging Force-push from the Jedi, something else that Milo really didn't want to think about that at the moment. After they reached the roof, they released their cables and made their way to the next point to repeat the process.
His brother's movements were fluid and almost nonchalant even though Milo knew that Crest couldn't possibly be comfortable with their position. "Once we're done out here, I'll need to set some charges inside, just to make sure we have some especially lovely fireworks. A good soldier likes to be thorough, after all."
Nodding, Milo rappelled down the side of the facility again, keeping an eye out for trouble while his brother set the next charge. "Crest?"
"Mi?"
Don't look down. Don't look down. He swallowed. "Hurry it up, will you?"
A quiet chuckle. "I'm with you there, vod."
The clone boys had found a loose grating and were currently clustered together beneath the floor in a ventilation shaft, trying to plan their next move when Zara felt the presence of another Jedi. Her head lifted and she was only faintly aware of No-Name shushing the others and her heart hammering in her chest while she concentrated on the familiar presence. Master Tallis? The corridor above them was dim, lit only by several pale-yellow lights that looked to be older than she; through the grating the clones around her were cast in a broken light.
There was relief in the Jedi's reply. Zara. Where are you?
Zara cast a look at the others, eyes resting on No-Name last. "Where are we?"
"Er..." He glanced around, clearly at a loss. "Not sure, sir." In their haste to escape detection, the group had spent the last several hours crawling through the facility in an attempt to throw any potential pursuers off of their trail.
One of the others – Keo, she thought – squinted through the grating. "I can hear some kind of noise in the distance...sounds like a generator."
Indeed, after a moment of concentration, Zara could make out the faint vibration in the air, along with the scent of raw, humming energy. She took a breath. Near a generator, Master. I don't know exactly. Part of her wondered at the fact that she was able to communicate with her master now, but she reckoned that it was maybe more due to proximity than her own skill. Are you here?
Stay where you are; we'll find you. The adamant tone of Master Tallis' thoughts was akin to her voice, and Zara sighed with relief.
No-Name cleared his throat and she realized that they were all staring at her. "My master is here," she whispered. "She's coming for us. She wants us to stay put."
The boys looked about as relieved as she felt. "Gladly, sir," No-Name replied. He glanced at the others. "Everyone stay sharp; it looks like we're almost out of this place."
"Finally," Risky muttered. They settled against the wall and waited.
Zara looked down at her wrists; the cuffs were starting to chafe and she really wanted them off, but she couldn't figure out how to operate the locking mechanism, even with the Force. As she studied the device, she felt No-Name approach her.
"May I take a look, sir?" She nodded and held out her wrists to him, watching as he frowned over the cuffs. After a moment he picked up her wrists with a light touch and began to fiddle with the latch, his brows drawn in concentration. They remained so for several minutes before she saw a faint smile appear on his face; moments later there was a cool brush of air against her skin and the cuffs clattered to the floor. As she met his eyes to thank him, the smile broadened into a grin and he spoke before the words left her mouth. "You're welcome, Commander."
The very last thing that Creon Dai was expecting to see were two adult clones striding into his lab as though they didn't have a care in the world. He could not speak for a moment until his eyes fell to the clone on the left, who was blessed with a very familiar implant around its left eye. Despite the churning in his gut, Creon smiled. "You have returned to me."
The other, non-modified clone lifted its hand and brought a small cylinder up from beneath its armor; in the next instant Creon watched the glowing blade of a Jedi weapon ignite and fill the room with a wavering blue light. "Creon Dai: you are under arrest," the clone said as the other – the one he'd given the implant to – lifted its blaster and pointed it at the Kaminoan. "You will come with us." The saber hummed, the energy beam so bright in the darkness that for a dangerous moment, Creon couldn't take his eyes off of the hypnotic sight.
The glow of the modified clone's implant was barely discernible beside the lightsaber, and Creon wondered how it was faring. He tempered his movements to be as smooth as possible when he stepped forward, so not to startle either creature. "How are you liking your modification?"
"You will raise your hands and turn around," the clone said, its voice monotone, despite the fact that Creon thought he could detect a flash of anger in its gaze. "Creon: it's over."
"I can tell that you are not using it properly," Creon replied, keeping his movements and his voice steady. "If you let me go, I can show you everything that you're now capable of. If you'd only give me a moment of your time." He pitched his voice to the obsequious tone that he'd heard Lama Su use with Humans before, as they seemed to enjoy the respect of other species.
The Force-sensitive clone tilted the blade; in the next moment it was against Creon's throat, the energy-beam hot as it rested centimeters above his skin. "I can't fathom what a moment of his time will do for you." This one's voice had taken on a darker tone, blending with the noise of the lightsaber. The smell of ozone filled the Kaminoan's nostrils.
"Captain." It was the modified clone, whose voice was wavering. "It's okay. I'm okay." It looked at Creon but remained frozen in place.
There was a pause as the other clone tilted its head for a moment before letting out a sigh and Creon felt the saber move away, then a pair of cuffs being clasped about his wrists even as they were brought behind his back. "Where is your research?" Its voice was more calm, though Creon thought he could sense the Force behind its words.
But Creon ignored it, keeping his eyes on the the clone with the implant. "You can see the molecules in the air, can you not? You can do more...so much more. I can show you, if you release me. I can make you better." The cuffs tightened on his wrists and the lightsaber had returned to its place at his neck, but Creon ignored all of it as he focused on the clone before him, who stood stock-still, his gaze on the Kaminoan. "Let me show you."
General Tallis sighed and looked at Kalinda. "I have a vague idea of where she is, but all I can really tell is that it's dark and she's still with the clone cadets." She shifted in her crouch; they were at the rear entrance to the facility, watching as the sky darkened with the evening's approach. From their position, the place looked deserted. Traxis knew otherwise.
"There doesn't seem to be much in the way of security," he remarked. "Good for us, I guess. But it's odd." He glanced behind them; after dropping off the other teams, Kalinda had set the ship down a close by, tucking it between two particularly nasty looking pieces of mountain. I don't like these kinds of missions. Too risky. Too much can go wrong. Things are always simpler in battle – just point at the unfriendlies, shoot and don't forget to duck. He exhaled in frustration.
"I only see one security camera, and can't detect any type of motion-sensors," Kalinda replied, indicating a faint light at the rear entrance; there was a high wall with a single panel adjacent to a slender door, about fifty meters in front of them, past the relative safety of the cluster of rocks which they were currently sheltering beneath. She looked at them each in turn. "I don't want to set off any alarms just yet, so both of you stick close to me until we're past it. Honi, do you think you can get us in once we reach the panel?"
The red-haired Jedi frowned at her. "Of course, but what about your shield? Shouldn't you conserve your energy until we're with the children?"
But Kalinda was already concentrating and Traxis took a moment to appreciate the bubble of energy that he could barely see, faint in the air around scanned the area again; if he looked closely, he could make out the armored figures of his brothers as they scurried over the top of the facility and decided that maybe he didn't have it quite so bad, after all. Rather be on solid ground then on the roof of that creepy place, with nothing between me and the rocks below.
"Let's go." The dark-haired Jedi's voice was quiet in the darkness and Traxis' hands automatically reached for his blasters as they began to move across the rocky ground. It was always strange to travel like this, in plain sight; on the one hand knowing so very visible in his white armor, but on the other trusting Kalinda's use of the Force to keep him hidden.
Doesn't mean I have to like it, though. Their feet made little sound as they moved towards the entrance; he estimated that the camera's range was broad, as the flat expanse of rock it looked over was rather wide, and it took them what felt like a long time to reach the door. Once they were beside it, General Tallis made herself useful by managing to unlock the panel. Everyone winced at the audible hiss that sounded once the door opened, but they were in luck, as it was the only sound. The moment the trio stepped inside, Kalinda sighed and relaxed; Traxis found that he almost missed the presence of her Force-shield, but he knew it was necessary for her to save her strength even as they continued into the facility.
Suddenly, the dark-haired Jedi paused, her gaze growing odd and distant, which meant that she was likely talking to the captain through the Force. Traxis checked his impatience. It's annoying sometimes to be out of the loop, but they have saved our shebse more than once with that little trick. After a moment she exhaled and looked back at the others, her expression grim.
"Kalinda?" General Tallis sounded concerned, but the other woman shook her head.
"It's okay. Come on, let's not waste any more time."
Kali felt Stone's anger in the Force as surely as if it were her own, directed with all of his considerable focus towards the Kaminoan. But she could also sense the roots of the anger within him: a palpable fear that was centered around his brother's well-being. Stone. You can't give into fear and anger.
He's trying to bargain with Weave. After everything he put him through, after everything that he's done. She could almost feel Stone's grip on his saber tightening even as he held the blade against Creon's neck. It was disorienting to experience his perceptions even as she tried to make her way through the facility, but she was reluctant to break their connection.
I know. But Stonewall, you must be stronger than that. It will only lead to ruin in the end.
After a moment she felt him relax and the anger and fear were sifted out of his thoughts. I know, Kali. It's just...difficult.
She smiled and sent him a tendril of the only thing that she thought would help. I know it's hard, but I have absolute faith in you, and I love you. Now, keep your mind on the mission, soldier. She missed his reply, as her attention was snapped back to the moment by Honi's hand on her arm and the other woman saying her name.
Kalinda shook her head and replied; they continued on. Moments later, Honi spoke again. "I can feel her. They're close." Her voice was a whisper.
"Lead the way." Kali nodded and shot a glance at Traxis, who was peering around with care. "Ready?" Only her own reflection was visible in his visor as he nodded; Kali then took a moment to check in with Milo and Crest. "How's the ordo coming, guys?"
Milo's voice sounded in her earpiece. "We're about done up here, Kalinda. Crest is setting the last charge now, then we're going to make our way inside."
"Should have some pretty fireworks for you, boss." Crest's tone was jovial.
Despite the gnawing urgency within her, and the weight of responsibility that had started to settle on her shoulders, Kali smiled. "That's what I like to hear. Stay in touch." She cast another glance at Traxis. "Remind me to thank Weave again for this comlink. It makes all the difference." He nodded again, but said nothing as they continued on, following Honi, whose head was swiveling like she was searching for a scent in the air. The corridor was eerily quiet, and Kali cast out her awareness, searching for the presence of the young clones and the Padawan. Finally, she caught something, a flicker of fear that was trying to be snuffed. She cast a glance at Honi, who had knitted her brows.
"I sense it, too. I think we're getting closer." Their footsteps were silent against the metallic floor, and Kali was thankful for the shadowed halls, which she knew would make their flight easier. They walked for perhaps a few more minutes before Honi gave a sharp intake of breath and began to hurry down one of the side corridors, pausing before a grate on the floor as she crouched down. "Zara?"
A small, feminine voice sounded from below their feet. "Master Tallis?" Honi's shoulders slumped with relief and she began to try and work the grate free while Traxis turned to cover them. For several moments there was only the sound of shifting metal and Honi's quite mutter of frustration as the grate refused to budge.
As she moved to help her companion, something made Kalinda pause. "Honi?"
"I'm try-" As the red-haired Jedi started speaking, the distant wail of an alarm broke through the air.
The abiding warmth and love in Kali's thoughts was enough to help Stonewall push the bitter feelings from his mind as he gripped Creon's bonds. "Don't listen to him, Weave. We can find out what we need to from his notes."
Weave blinked once and kept his eyes fixed on Creon. "You have him?" Stone nodded and his brother exhaled. "Good. I'm going to take a look around." As he stepped towards the interior of the lab, Stone felt a new presence appear in the room and noticed Creon's head turn, though it was a subtle motion. A trickle of danger tugged at his mind and he glanced at his brother.
"Weave, duck!"
He did, just avoiding a small blur of flesh and metal that had launched itself at him. Creon chuckled and Stonewall found that he had little patience for the aiwha-bait at the moment; he pushed the Kaminoan to the floor and whirled just in time to face the small clone boy who was lunging at him with a ferocity he'd never seen in a Human. For an instant he was nonplussed, but Stonewall regained his senses and called for his brother to help restrain Creon while he reached out with the Force to calm the boy.
And it was a boy, despite all appearances. He was perhaps seven standard years old, with an intricate series of wires and metalwork covering his right arm; his eyes were blank and held only the cold glare of a machine, which was the most disturbing thing that Stone had ever seen. But he was still sentient, as evidenced by the fact that he held still as Stonewall sent the Force to him. The captain was dimly aware of Weave coming to stand by Creon, holding the Kaminoan in place while he moved to the boy, his hands lifted in a gesture of peace.
"It's okay, ad'ika," he said in his most soothing voice. "I'm on your side. I'm a brother." As he spoke, he reached to touch the lad's consciousness but was met with only a squirming fear, as well as a sense of alien, of other that he could not place, but reminded him of something he'd encountered before.
The clone that Creon took after Caradoc...he felt the same way right before he died. Stonewall swallowed and did not take his eyes off the boy.
Above their heads, the wail of an alarm made everyone start, and again he heard Creon chuckle. The boy tensed as if to spring. Stonewall could feel Weave's agitation like his own. So he did the only thing he could think of: he laid his own will against that of the lad, coaxing whatever part of him would listen to relax.
After a moment the young clone's body seemed to unclench and he appeared to be more at ease. Behind him, Stonewall felt his brother shift in place. It was then that the boy's eyes widened but it was not the clone captain that his gaze had fallen on; it was Weave, who was staring at him with the same intensity, the lights of his implant blinking in the dim room.
As much as he wanted to let them commune, the alarm only flavored the air with more urgency, so Stone pressed his will harder and watched the boy's eyes close as he slumped to the floor.
No one spoke for a moment before Weave glanced at him. "Overdid it?"
Stonewall shook his head and activated his comm to call Kalinda. When she answered her voice was tight. "We're okay. I don't know who set off the alarm." There was a pause before she spoke again. "Honi and Trax are getting the kids out now."
He nodded; the knot of agitation in his chest had come undone at her first words. "We may have a problem," he tried not to shout over the alarm. "Creon is in our custody, but there's another boy here as well. He...did something to him...I don't know what, but-" He was cut off as Kali let out a curse; there was the sound of lightsabers being ignited.
Then, static.
Cliffhangers make life fun, don't they? :P
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