The room was silent. Mist flowed slowly past the mostly empty tubes. One tube was full of green liquid however. Suddenly, the doors to the functioning chamber opened with a gentle hum. Green goo inside the chamber seeped away into the base of the tube. A hand raised from within, still covered in green slime. It gripped the side of the tube, goo was flung all over the side of the tube, as the figure pulled himself out. His hands were on his knees, he was panting. The process he had just gone through was exhausting. Then the view screen sprang to life with Kinshoo the hutts face. The still recovering figure gritted his teeth in anger when the face appeared.
Kinshoo's tone was condescending, he begun tisking and shaking his giant head before speaking in his guttural language, 'my young disciple, yet again you offer noting but failure. Must I hold your hand to ensure the job is done correctly?'.
The figure silently took the robe from the droid nearby and threw it over himself.
Kinshoo continued, 'Am I to understand that you have not only failed to acquire the specimen, but have lost it's location as well?'.
The figure he took the light-saber from the droid and attached it to his belt.
Kinshoo smiled as he went on, 'fortunately, my network of informants have succeeded where you have failed. I happen to know where it is'.
The figure took the mask from the droid and pressed it to his face. A soft hissing noise could be heard. He turned to face the hutt, his sharp metallic voice rang through the air, 'where is he?'. Cypher's voice was full of determination and rage.
Kinshoo grinned as he replied, 'I am unsure if you can be entrusted any further with this mission, failure is not something I enjoy tolerating, yet it is all you offer me'.
Cypher's face turned to a scowl underneath his mask. The hutt was enjoying this, by reprimanding him, the chain of command was re-enforced, reminding Cypher of his place. Even through Cypher knew what the hutt was doing and why he was doing it, the process was so infuriating, he felt like smashing the view screen to pieces.
Cypher's answer was carefully chosen, a combination of what the hutt wanted to hear mixed with his own determination, 'the failing was mine, but I will have their blood. Give me their location and I WILL bring them back. There are no longer any lines that I will not cross to achieve that end'.
Kinshoo grinned at Cypher for a moment before replying, 'if you were willing to cross those lines to begin with perhaps we wouldn't be here now'. Kinshoo signed loudly and audibly, trying to milk the situation for everything he could. Kinshoo looked at Cypher directly in the face as he spoke, 'the co-ordinates are being transferred now. You may be happy to hear it, but they have entered the rebellions headquarters'.
Cypher's surprise and anger were hard to hide, his tone of voice did not mask it, 'you… you know where the rebellion is located? And you didn't tell me? Why was I not informed?'.
Kinshoo's reply was curt, matter of fact, 'because you are on a need-to-know basis'.
Cypher did not want to hear the second part of that statement, he cut Kinshoo off, 'you have allowed them to continue to resist our efforts while doing nothing to stop them?'.
Kinshoo smiled, 'I have eyes and ears everywhere, including the rebellion. I am fully aware of how much of a threat they are. Or more accurately, how much of a threat they are not. They were not worth the resources to attack'. He paused before adding, 'until now'.
Kinshoo gave Cypher a hard look, 'go to the station where they are located. Take whatever resources are necessary to obtain the specimen'. He also added, 'but should you fail it would be advisable not to return', he slowly added, 'If I kill you, you will stay dead'.
The view screen terminated and the hutt disappeared from view. As angry as Cypher was at his masters patronizing tone, he knew that he was right, he could not fail again.
Cypher pressed down a corridor and into the main laboratory. 'How much of the substance have you got ready?' he asked the newly appointed head scientist.
The scientist was shaking as he spoke, 'We… we have plenty master… but…. Well… without the specimen-'. Cypher cut him off, 'I'm aware of the risk'.
Cypher approached a cabinet that was full of test tubes and syringes. Within the tubes there was a dark purple liquid, it looked like a black hole was inside the tubes. No matter how deep you looked into the liquid, it looked like you were peering into a bottomless pit. Cypher took several tubes and inserted them into the syringes, then put the syringes into his robe.
Cypher turned his attention to his chief security officer, 'Assemble the ships, the fighters, the troops, everyone'.
The officer asked, 'are we going to war sir?'.
Cypher's response was blunt, 'it will not be a war, it will be a slaughter'.