Instinct kicked in in an instant. Years ago, when she had been much younger, full of energy, and arrogant, she would have charged in in a situation such as this. She would have relished the challenge to prove herself to her master. To prove that she was worthy of being his apprentice.
But now, after so long, she was a Jedi no longer, and she knew better than to charge in.
Especially when faced with a threat such as General Grievous!
Holding her breath, Ahsoka delved deep into the force to steady herself. If she made even a tiny sound, she would be found out.
And without a lightsaber in her possession, she had no real way to counter the cybernetic monstrosity that stood in the room below her.
So she held her breath and waited. After all, she needed what was in the room too.
The Neidmoidian seemed to be in discomfort at the presence of General Grievous, not that Ahsoka blamed him to honest. Despite only coming face to face with him twice in the past, Grievous was certainly not a welcome sight to behold. Perhaps in his prime, before his 'enchancements' he would have been a sight to behold and respect.
Now, he was nothing more than a murderous monster.
Sneering at the cyborg below her, Ahsoka listened as the Neidmoidian spoke.
"As you can see General, we have made great strides with our research. The biological makeup of these creatures is fascinating, allowing them a seemingly mythical defence against such raw power the likes we have never seen before. Properly utilized, this biological advancement could be used for the benefit of the Confederacy."
Throughout the discussion Ahsoka watched for Grievous' reaction. There was none, nothing that showed he was interested or bored, or that he was about to get angry.
For all she knew he could be asleep.
"The only major issue is replicating such a power. The creature itself relies on a small gland located within its internal body. It is in the end an organic organ, and thus much harder to produce artificially than it would be to grow it within a specimen. If we are to produce this weapon in viable numbers, we will need many more specimens for study."
From where she was in the vents, Ahsoka could not see what the doctor was gesturing to behind him. The only indication that something was there to look at was the light green glow that both the doctor and Grievous were bathed in.
Still, despite her lack of vision, Ahsoka was still able to piece together some of what the doctor was saying. There was evidently a link between the doctor's description, and the pile of dead creature bodies she had found earlier. No doubt they were the specimens.
The question was what they were being studied for?
Before the doctor could give away any more information, the General interrupted him, his mechanical voice clearly frustrated.
"I care little for your project doctor. I am here for my own reasons. Now leave! I have an important transmission to make."
Clearly the doctor was not expecting such as harsh and vicious remark from the general. The Neimoidian sputtered several times, gesturing behind him towards where to green glow was emanating from, as if he was pointing out he had more to explain and felt that it was rude to have been interrupted.
It was obvious to Ahsoka that the doctor was passionate about his work.
When the doctor made no move to leave as per Grievous' instructions, the cyborg growled aloud, swiping one of his clawed hands forward and grasping hold of the doctor's neck.
"Out! Now!"
Ahsoka watched as Grievous released the doctor, who are coughing slightly from where he had been choked, made a quick dash for the exit, leaving Grievous alone.
The cyborg general chuckled slightly at the incident, before extracting a small circular device from his cloak, a device that Ahsoka recognized as a transmitter.
Still holding her breath, Ahsoka watched through the grate of the vents as Grievous thumbed the transmitter on, leading to a life size hologram coming into existence before him.
The hologram figure was that of an elder human male, one dressed in regal looking clothes, and one who sported a unique looking lightsaber on his belt.
Ahsoka had to refrain from gasping when she realized who Grievous was contacting.
"Count Dooku, I have arrived at the Myrkr facility as instructed. What exactly did you wish of me?" The General inquired, confusion in his cybernetic tone.
Hologram Dooku seemed to look around the room himself for a few moments, as if taking in the research that the doctor had tried to explain to Grievous beforehand.
When Dooku had seemingly finished his inspection, he turned his attention back to Grievous.
"Do not sound so disappointed General. Your presence here was not requested by me, but rather Lord Sidious himself."
Ahsoka felt her eyes widen in shock. Sidious was a name only ever heard in whispers. Supposedly it was the name of the true Lord of the Sith, the person behind this entire war. Until now, Ahsoka hadn't even been sure he existed. He was treated as some sort of boogieman by most.
But now, hearing the name spoken by Count Dooku himself all but confirmed it.
Sidious did exist!
The question was who was he?
Or her?
Or it?
Ahsoka had no idea, and her thoughts were pulled off track as Grievous responded to Dooku.
"And what purpose does Lord Sidious have sending me to this facility. I am no scientist! I am the general of the droid army!" Grievous' voice boomed as it always did, interrupted only by the signature hacking cough he seemed to possess. Ahsoka has no clue where the cough had originated from, or why the general didn't seek a way to fix it. If she were to guess, she would link it to the so called 'improvements' of his cybernetic form. Perhaps the organs within his metallic shell were damaged in the process?
Shifting her thoughts back to the discussion between the two Separatist leaders, Ahsoka focused on what Dooku had to say.
"Intelligence from my master seems to hint that the Chancellor of the Republic has sent an agent of his to investigate rumours about this facility. My master believes that said agent is a Jedi. Knowing your, 'skills' at engaging them, Lord Sidious saw it fitting that you deal with this apparent infiltrator."
From where she was above in the vents, Ahsoka could have sworn she saw Grievous begin to bounce slightly in excitement at the word 'Jedi'. It was clear that the cyborg Kaleesh ws greatly anticipating a possible fight against a Jedi.
Still, that didn't stop the general from inquiring further.
"How do we know that Lord Sidious' intelligence is correct Count?" Grievous spoke, another cough raking his body mid sentence.
"My master's intelligence is always accurate General. Conduct your inspection of this facility. But keep your eyes open for this Jedi." Dooku replied, his ever regal and calm voice full of authority. It was odd seeing someone order General Grievous around in such a manner, but Ahsoka could see why Dooku was the one doing so. The man oozed respect and power. He had been a powerful Jedi.
And an even more powerful Sith Lord.
"It will be done Count Dooku."
And with that, Grievous disconnected the link, before pivoting sharply on his clawed heels and heading towards the door the doctor had left through.
Ahsoka listened as the heavy clunks of his footsteps reached the doorway, stepping through it, and then beginning to fade away in the distance behind a now closed door.
When she was certain the coast was clear, Ahsoka released the breath she had been holding, before beginning to contemplate her next move.
Somehow, despite this being a secret mission for the Chancellor, Count Dooku's master had discovered that someone was had come to infiltrate. She didn't know if they knew it was her, or if they assumed it was another Jedi, but that didn't matter.
Simply put, the mission was no a lot harder. It was easier to infiltrate a facility when no one knew you were coming. And it would have been equally as easy to escape without being detected.
But now General Grievous was here, and he knew that someone was coming, if not already here.
That made her escape plan far more complicated. No doubt the General would place extra guards around the facility to cover all exits. If Ahsoka were to guess, then no doubt the General would have brought a squad of his own bodyguards along with him.
And without as lightsaber in her possession, Magna Guards would be a considerable problem to deal with.
Grievous would be even worse mind you.
Taking a deep breath, Ahsoka began to consider her options.
She could flee, find a way out without the data and report back to the Chancellor with apologies.
Or she could risk it, and drop into the room below her to find out what she had come for. The download shouldn't take too long… she hoped.
Either way it was a double edged sword, and Ahsoka had not come this far to back out now.
After all, Anakin hadn't taught her to run away.
Steeling herself, Ahsoka reached out to undo the latch, opening it slowly and cautiously to avoid any sounds that might give her away, and dropped down into the room, landing in a crouched position.
Ahsoka surveyed the room for a few brief moments, analysing key strategic positions that she could fight from and move around if need be. From her analysis, there appeared to be little in the way of security. No cameras or sensors that she could see at least.
Rising slowly from her crouched position, Ahsoka began to shift her focus from tactical analysis to intelligence. That was, after all, what she was here for.
The first thing that caught her gaze was the source of the glowing green light she had seen from above. Before her was a tall tank, filled with some sort of liquid. In a way it resembled a bacta tank designed for people to rest and heal in, but from the bright green glowing liquid inside of it Ahsoka doubted the tank served medicinal purposes.
Upon closer inspection, something caught Ahsoka's eyes. There, floating in the centre of the tank, surrounded by the green water like liquid was a small creature, specifically one of the lizards she had seen earlier outside of the base in the jungle, and again in various body parts within the base itself.
"What are they doing to you you poor creature?" Ahsoka whispered sadly at the sight, laying a single orange hand on the glass tank. She could not feel any life coming from the creature itself, and it wasn't moving, save for the shift of the liquid within the tank itself. Thus she could only assume the creature was dead.
That was a small comfort at least. If, as it appeared to Ahsoka, they were experimenting on these small creatures, then at least the creatures were dead before they were horribly mutilated.
Clearly, whatever they hoped to gain from such brutal experiments was important. Doubly so if General Grievous himself had been sent to investigate and safeguard.
Moving her gaze away from the tank, Ahsoka spied the console she had seen earlier in the back.
Walking quickly and lightly Ahsoka crossed the distance between herself and the console, her hand pressing down upon the interface, powering it up.
She expected there to be some heavy level of security encryption, security that she could no bypass alone, at least not without the help of someone like R2D2.
For now, all she could do was install the dataspike she had been given, download as much data, encryption be damned, that she could, and take it back to the Chancellor for his code breakers to crack.
Extracting the small disk into a slot on the terminal, Ahsoka began the download.
The majority of the information was encrypted, that Ahsoka could see. But there was one small bit of information that gave itself away freely.
A name.
"'Project Nullify' huh? What could you be?"
General Grievous stomped around the control room of the Myrkr facility, listening to the incessant whining of the Neimoidian doctor. Barely five minutes in his presence and he already wanted to kill him!
Growling under his breath, Grievous began to scrape his metal talons along a railing. Where was this so called Jedi he had been sent to hunt down?
If both Dooku and Sidious had sent him on another wild convor chase he would certainly give them a piece of his mind!
Growling aloud this time, gaining both a fearful look from the doctor as well as a perplexed one from a pair of battledroids, Grievous resumed his angry pacing.
This was a spectacular waste of his time! He should be out leading the war, not playing cat and mouse with some so called…
"General, we have had an unauthorized breach in our security in the quarantine lab. Someone is trying to download the files!" The panicked voice of a battledroid sounded out, alerting the General.
Grievous spun instantly, glee flooding his senses.
Lord Sidious had been correct!
There was a Jedi here!
And he was looking forward to facing them and gaining yet another lightsaber for his collection.
Author's thoughts
Another chapter, another severe lack of action. Oh well.
Hopefully you liked the first appearance of everyone's favourite cyborg kaleesh. Despite the way he is portrayed, I personally find Grievous to be a badass. I mean who else can wield 4 lightsabers at once, and spin them like rotary saws?
Anyway, things hot up next time. Grievous knows someone is here, and he is fully intent on finding them.
As usual, comment and speculate at will. Speaking of which:
Travis Middleton: Glad you are enjoying the story so far. I've tried to go for a different approach that my last set of stories. Ahsoka working for the Chancellor is an idea I have rarely seen, that is without her going full fledged Sith lady. Still, only time will tell what happens.
TerminatorJedi1995: Thanks for the congratulations. The job is not what I want to do in life but it is something I can do and it's money at the end of the day. Gotta start somewhere.
Glad you liked Grievous showing up. He is one of my favourites and he gets treated so unfairly in canon.
The bioweapon is something alright. It is possible to figure out what it is as well. Lets see if anyone figures it out huh?
SLE's fave guest: Thanks for understanding. I am trying to find the time/motivation, really I am, it just coming slowly. I kinda burned out after 'To Take Down an Emperor', and need to find a way of topping that story, which is the best one in my opinion.
Still, I will update whenever I can, such as now for example. :)
Mysterious Guest one: Grievous always shows up at the worst possible time. There are many outcomes indeed, let's hope you like the one that I choose.
Also, thanks for understanding. I'll keep updating when I can. :)
Jayfeathers Friend: 2003 Grievous was awesome. Took on 5 Jedi and Shaggy by himself. So awesome. I'll try to make him as badass in this story, whilst maintaining his canon counterpart as well.
Lux is an interesting character as well. I might include him at some point.
Aya Song: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully this chapter was just as good.
jojobinks01: The experiments are indeed disturbing. Whatever could they be creating?
Mysterious guest number two from chapter 4: Sorry, I completely forgot to reply to you last time. My bad!
Ahsoka is ok for now, but Grievous is on her tail. As for Lux, he might appear, but I don't know if I will be doing a romance for this story yet, aside from Anakin and Padme of course.