From the outside, the lab didn't look too big, or too heavily guarded. Then again, Ahsoka had no idea just how far underground the lab ran, or what secrets it held in need of protection. For all she knew there was a platoon of destroyer droids awaiting her inside, or worse.
Instead, as if stood, the only defenses she could currently see, aside from the remote location, was a pair of B1 battledroids standing guard on top of what appeared to be a landing platform, guarding a door that Ahsoka suspected led deeper into the base.
Looking over the familiar architecture of the base, it appeared that that was the only way in or out.
She could turn back now. Report back to the Chancellor that she had found something and let others deal with it instead. She was only here to recon after all.
The problem was that she wasn't really able to recon the base at all, not if it was buried in a ravine, its secrets with it. The only way for her to get enough recon would be to infiltrate the base itself.
And that meant getting past those droids, a feat easier said than done when she wasn't armed.
She supposed she could, and would most likely use the force to destroy the droids, but that ran the risk of alerting other droids to her presence. Palpatine had all but ordered her to be discreet and not be spotted by anyone, including battledroids. The last thing she needed was one reporting to their superior about her infiltration.
So than severely narrowed her options. She would have to be stealthy, but that still meant she had to enter through the front door, past two battledroids.
Simply put, she needed a distraction, one that was innocent enough so that it would not be suspicious.
Glancing around the forest, Ahsoka began to run ideas through her head. She could drop a tree she supposed. She was strong enough in the force to topple one if need be, though the strain would be immense.
She could imitate a creature as well. Perhaps a hunting roar or something to draw the battledroids away? Then again, that risked drawing too much attention.
Sighing, Ahsoka turned back to look at the hidden base, surveying to see if she had missed anything, any secret entrance.
She still found none. And the two battledroids remained motionless.
She needed to get closer, to see if they was anything hidden. Creeping through the bushes and vines slowly, Ahsoka ensured she remained hidden, despite her contrasting skin color not blending in with the trees around her. Her only breath of relief was that battledroids, particularly ones of this model were not that perceptive, even during combat.
As she approached the opening in the foliage around her, Ahsoka stopped. The last few meters to the door would be in the open, across the landing pad, which was currently unoccupied.
She could rush the droids, and perhaps dispose of them in the bushes before anyone came to see why they hadn't reported in. Still, that would only buy her some time. The guards had to remain where they were in order for her to infiltrate this lab without anyone knowing she was here.
Just as she was about to abandon any pretence of stealth, the unexpected occurred. The small avian creature that had led Ahsoka to the lab earlier swooped down upon the battledroids, lightly glancing one of their heads with its claws, before taking off in the bushes, hooting mischievously.
The response from the battledroids was what sealed the deal.
"Hey! Watch where you're flying jerk!"
"That was just rude!"
It was then that the creature came back around, swooping down at the other droid and landing on his faceplate before beginning to scratch at it.
"Ahhh, get it off, get if off!"
"Hold still, I'll shoot it off!"
The avian then took flight again, heading off deep into the forest, two angry battledroids pursing it, their high pitched voices echoing through the canopies as they went. Ahsoka allowed herself to chuckle briefly, before seizing her opportunity. For some reason, that avian had helped her, twice now. If she ever saw it again, she would make sure to thank it.
Darting across the now unguarded landing pad, Ahsoka reached out into the force, slowly opening the door that led into the Separatist base, before slipping inside unnoticed.
If Ahsoka thought security outside was lax, then inside it was virtually non-existent. As she navigated the dark grimy hallways, looking for something that would give her the intelligence she needed, she ran into a grand total of zero battledroids.
Questions ran through her head. Where were the guards? What was going on here? Was this even a secret Separatist lab or something else? Had someone captured and reprogrammed some battledroids?
Shaking the thoughts off, Ahsoka continued, moving in the shadows to avoid detection. She hadn't even seen a security camera yet! Something was wrong.
In reality, she supposed she should be grateful. Stealth was most certainly not her expertise, most likely due to her rather unorthodox training as a padawan, so the less challenges she was faced with the better.
Still, it'd be nice to have some sort of challenge. She'd hate to have to say that this was all for nothing.
Passing through another doorway, Ahsoka found herself in what appeared to be disposal room. The room was virtually empty. Battledroids didn't leave much in the way of leftovers, considering they didn't eat or drink.
That being said, there was something. A nasty stench hit Ahsoka's nose, forcing her to hold it to keep the stench at bay. She had smelt death before, but she never got used to it, nor did she find a way to block it out.
Moving forward into the room, Ahsoka found the source of the stench.
There was a pile of what appeared to be carcasses just left to rot on the floor. Various limbs and what appeared to be mutilated organs lay in a clump, insects crawling all over them.
Looking closer at them, Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief. These weren't the body parts of any organic sentient species she knew of.
Reaching a hand out tentatively, Ahsoka overturned one of the body parts, which she now identified as a leg. It was small and scaled, no bigger than her hand, and resembled a leg of the small lizard creatures she had seen in the forest earlier on.
Examining the pile of limbs further, Ahsoka began to identity each part, and each part seemed to belong the one of the lizards she had seen earlier. She found another leg, a tail, another leg, and most disturbingly, a head severed from a body, which also lay in the pile.
Shuddering to herself, Ahsoka rose back to her feet from where she had been inspecting the body parts, rubbing her hands on her trousers to remove any gunk she had on her hands.
She was used to filthy conditions. They no longer bothered her at all.
But that didn't mean she liked seeing them, especially not ones as grim as this!
What could the Separatists possibly be doing here that required them to butcher innocent creatures in such a way?
Shaking the disturbing thoughts out of her head, Ahsoka began to move back to the door she had entered through. This room had been a dead end, and whatever information she needed was more likely in another part of the base.
All she needed to find was a terminal of some sort. Then she could find out the secrets of this place.
As Ahsoka approached the door however, a high pitched voice caught her attention.
A battledroid!
"Why are we being sent up to the landing platform again? I thought OOM 43 and 44 were guarding it?"
"They were but they got distracted by something. 43 said something about an evil bird."
"43 must have some screws loose. There's no such thing as an evil bird!"
"Tell that to him then. Anyway, someone's gotta be there when the General arrives for his inspection. Unfortunately, that's us now."
"Oh no… really?"
"Yes, really."
The animated discussion began to fade away, suggesting that the droids had disappeared round the corner.
Breathing a sigh of relief at not being discovered, Ahsoka considered her options.
There were droids in the base, she just had managed to avoid them, until now. Ahsoka was almost certain her luck wouldn't hold forever.
She needed a new route.
It was then that an idea came to mind, one that most of the time fell to her anyway.
Looking up at the ceiling, Ahsoka spotted an access hatch, one that led to what Ahsoka assumed were cooling ducts. It would be uncomfortable, but it would allow her to move around the base unspotted.
Delving into the force, she waved her hand once, opening the hatch above her, before vaulting upwards through the open hatch and into the ducts above. When her body was in comfortably, she closed the hatch behind her and began to crawl.
The ducts were a tight squeeze, and incredibly uncomfortable, especially for her montrals. But still, Ahsoka pushed through, not deterred by the small space. She wasn't claustrophobic, which was good, but she could see how some people could easily be.
Moving through the ducts, Ahsoka tried to stay as quiet as she could. Sure, she was not going to run into any droids this way, but they could still hear her if she made too much noise.
Turning another corner in the duct system, Ahsoka found herself above another access hatch. She could see through this one into the room below. Hopefully anyone in the room itself wouldn't see her.
Looking around the room, Ahsoka spied what she needed. In back was terminal, one that looked important.
All she had to do was get to it, download what information she could onto the data drive she had in her bag from Palpatine, and get out.
Easy.
As she moved her hands to open the hatch, the sound of a door opening halted her.
Below her, two battledroids entered the room, flanking a Neidmoidian dressed in what appeared to be a lab coat.
Ahsoka remained as still as possible as the Neidmoidian turned back to the door he had entered from, addressing someone who hadn't entered yet.
"This visit is a privilege General, but I can assure you that our experiments are yielding the results you desired."
It was then that another sound hit Ahsoka's montrals. The sound of footsteps, but not footsteps. Instead, it sound almost like claws, moving across a metal floor in the form of footsteps.
And then the figure entered the room, and Ahsoka felt body freeze up with dread and horror at the familiar individual before her.
"We shall see Doctor," The mechanically terrifying voice of General Grievous snarled in reply, "We shall see."
Author's thoughts
So yeah, been a while huh? Sorry about that.
Truth be told I haven't really had a lot of free time lately. I recently started a new full time job that involves sitting in front of a computer screen for eight hours a day. As you can imagine, by the time I get home the last thing I really want to do is sit in front of a computer screen and type words.
Furthermore, and to be completely honest with you all, I have not really had any inspiration lately, and have been suffering from writers block too. I know how and where I want this story to go, it's just I can't find the motivation to write it currently.
That being said, I'm not giving up, nor has my interest in Star Wars or fanfic faded. I still currently keep up to date on what is happening, such as the Vader comics with the Inquisitors in and such. I've also been playing a fair amount of that Galaxy of Heroes mobile game. So I'm still interested, it's just finding time to write it that is the issue, and being bothered to.
Honestly, the only thing that keeps me wanting to write more is the idea that their are people who want more. Every day I think about what you lot will think about my story direction, and that excitement is what keeps me writing.
So yeah, I may not be here as frequently as before, but this story will get written, one way or another.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this short chapter, and that it sets up what is as stake for the next one. What could Grievous be up to?
Next time round Ahsoka must navigate a dangerous situation, and General Grievous makes a call to someone.
As usual, comment and speculate at will. Speaking of which:
TerminatorJedi1995: Yeah it's taken a while to get to the action, but here it comes. Glad you liked seeing Morai early. She's awesome that way, and you certainly haven't seen the last of her.
As for your question... Palpatine has his reasons for not giving Ahsoka a weapon. In time you will see why. It will all make sense in the long run.
SLE's fave guest: Glad you enjoyed Morai's appearance. She is here for a reason, that's all I will say. And no, as it stands we don't know how the two first met in canon. Hey, Dave Filoni... me thinks you have a story that needs telling here!
FoD is decent for what it is. I enjoy it, but then I am easy to please. Each to our own.
And, assuming you are talking about a certain array of 7 ring worlds with that superweapon talk, they were built for a reason. A damn good one at that! I'd have fired them in those circumstances as well!
Flying Dragoon: Thanks for the recommendation. I will/have looked into that. :)
Jayson-Master of Storm: I'm glad you are enjoying the description at least. The action begins soon I promise.
Myrkr is a canon planet... I wonder why I chose to use it?
Cmedina1: Yay for the daughter indeed. She is always watching.
FoD is a mixed bag I'll agree, but I don't mind it. I won't denounce it on sight.
Ahsoka and Anakin watching trash will be great, especially when one of the movies they will watch will be about them!
Palpatine considering making Ahsoka and Inquisitor... interesting idea. ;)
Aya Song: Stupid mistake fixed. Thanks again. XD
jojobinks01: Both Palpatine and the Jedi got what they deserved in canon. I wonder what will happen this time?