Coruscant
Along with every other Clone in 79's, Kagi had gasped in pain. Based on the fact the pain originated in his head, and every Clone in the bar felt it, he could only conclude that the inhibitor chip he shared with all of his brethren had been disabled.
But Kagi was a true believer in the Sith. He didn't need an inhibitor chip to force him to work against the Jedi.
When the bartender was looking the other way, searching for a lime wedge to squeeze into Ahsoka's Tonirita, Kagi slipped three drops from a thermally-insulated vial into the Togruta's half-made drink. For her role in disrupting the Sith Grand Plan, Sidious wanted Ahsoka's death to be the most brutal and painful death conceivable, and the contents of that liquid, aptly named DOOM, was the most effective way to torture her to death without needing to capture her.
DOOM, an acronym for Diverse Organism Obliterating Malady, was the final product of the Doom Objective—a project undertaken by the Blackbar-Panaka corporation and a sect of Palpatine's Sith cultists on Naboo. Kagi had seen the effects of DOOM in a gaseous state on organics in holovids.
Upon being breathed in, one component of DOOM first bonds with a victim's electrolytes, draining them and causing fatigue. Then over ten or twenty seconds, the blood carries DOOM to the victim's thyroids, which rupture, leaving the victim in excruciating agony. As the substance is carried from organ to organ, severe internal bleeding occurs all over the body as veins rupture. Sidious's favorite aspect of it though, was how DOOM interacted with organic material on the surface of a body. After thirty or forty seconds of agony, the substance would oxidize.
This was a fancy way of saying that any sort of hair or feathers in contact with the gas would burn, causing the victim to undergo rapid spontaneous combustion. The effects were particularly explosive on Wookiees, Bothans, Talz, and other furry sentients, but even humans and similar offshoots like Pantorans, or Mirialans had enough hair to be completely incinerated when the oxidation spread to the outermost layer of the skin. Even species without head hair, like Twi'leks, still usually had enough body hair to burn. Togruta would presumably be susceptible as well. Rapid oxidation reactions also occurred on plants, turning sections of lush forest and grassland into an inferno, making DOOM not only one of the most painful ways to die imaginable, but also making it into an extremely effective weapon of mass destruction.
In a liquid form though, DOOM had never been tested on anything but plants. However, the Naboolian scientists assured the Chancellor and Kagi that, as a poison, it would be tasteless, have no visible color, and would not begin reacting until the temperature it was exposed to rose above 23ºC (the internal temperature of a Togruta stomach was above 37ºC). They also assured Sidious that there was absolutely no chance of liquid DOOM boiling into the air and spreading beyond the targeted individual.
Still, Kagi did not want to take any chances. He was willing to die for the Sith cause if need be, but not willing to die from DOOM. The second after the third drop of DOOM fell into Ahsoka's virgin Tonirita, he got out of his barstool and walked as quickly as he could to the building's exit.
No. Sidious needs confirmation, Kagi thought to himself, planting his feet in place. He risked a look over his shoulder, and saw Ahsoka talking animatedly with the Clone seated right next to her. She thanked the bartender for the drinks, tapped her glass against the trooper's in a toast, and then took one cautious sip. And then another.
Kagi was surprised at his own feelings when Ahsoka downed the rest of the glass. Rather than finding the occasion joyous, Kagi shuddered grimly.
Sidious may enjoy murdering a seventeen year old with the most vicious weapon in his arsenal, but Kagi didn't. His face screwed up in dread when Ahsoka suddenly looked disconcerted. Her skin went from orange to a paler hue as the electrolytes were drained from her blood.
"Edge, something's wrong," she croaked, massaging the front of her neck.
"Did you choke on—"
He was cut off by the Togruta's blood-curdling scream, so loud it silenced every conversation in the bar, echoing off every surface. Kagi was surprised no glasses broke.
"MEDIC!" Edge shouted.
Feeling that was enough confirmation of the Togruta's death, Kagi bolted through the door, sweating profusely. In spite of his training and disposition, the Togruta's agony had sent him into a panic.
He was so panicked that he had completely forgotten he was not alone on this mission and slammed face-first into his co-conspirator, Nites.
Nites grunted angrily, falling backwards onto the permacrete. "Are you alright, sir?!" he asked incredulously.
Panting, Kagi reached down to offer Nites a hand up. "The target's been exposed," he gulped. "Dying as we speak."
"Understood," Nites said, then pointed to a droid Kagi hadn't even noticed. Their other target, a crime scene analysis droid named Russo-ISC, was deactivated and standing next to Ahsoka's speeder. A restraining bolt was affixed prominently to his chest. "Do you have the package?"
Kagi let out a shocked exhalation of breath. He had also forgotten about their third target, the accursed device Ahsoka and the droid had designed. Running, the Clone pushed his way back into the cantina, fighting his way through crowds of his brothers as he neared Ahsoka's stool.
No one surrounding her body even noticed when he grabbed the Togruta's bag and headed back to the door. In the doorway, Kagi turned around, risking one last look at the fallen Jedi.
The Togruta had not burst into flames as every being exposed to gaseous DOOM had, but she was discolored, bleeding through her neck and lekku, and her skin was changing color from orange to a bruised black.
Kagi shuddered at his mission's success, then took one step out the door.
o.o.o.o.o
Lir Sey'les
Staccatos of rapid fire blaster shots thundered down the corridor to the vault, pinning the Direct Action Operatives and Clone Commandos down. Sey'les risked a peek behind around the corner and ducked back again, her danger sense blaring.
"HOLY HELL!" yelled Volar, Team Muun's sole Zabrak. On the opposite side of the hall, he recoiled behind a corner with his Z-6 as a sizable bolt tore an immense chunk out of the durasteel, followed by a spray of blasterfire that began to wear his cover away further.
Thus far, even without Jedi help, they had swatted aside squads of B1s and B2s with relative ease. Now they finally had encountered something that really slowed them down. Around the corner were five Super Battle Droids and a trio of hulking A-DSD Advanced Dwarf Spider Droids. The Spider Droids were just narrow enough, when huddled up to use their heavily plated forelegs as blast shields, for the three of them to span the entire corridor with the Super Battle Droids standing between them.
Turreted heavy blaster cannons perched atop their bodies swiveled back and forth, pumping occasional shots out towards both teams as the Supers laid down streams of suppressing fire from their wrist blasters.
"Use cover!" Mornsted grunted, squeezing off two shots as he leaned around Sey'les, before retreating behind the corner.
"Kriffing hell," Blade muttered as he fired a burst off at one of the supers, blue and grey armor shimmering as his shields took the hit. The B2 ducked behind one of the Spider Droids and let the shots deflect harmlessly off its armor. "I bet Delta Squad's never had to deal with a roadblock like this!"
Leangle, the green and gold armored demolitionist, looked over at his brother after he swapped out for his DC-17m's anti-armor configuration and laughed. "I bet you they've dealt with worse ner vod!"
Chalis shook his head. "Vau's boys get all the fun…" He muttered as he tossed a smoke grenade out, temporarily obscuring the droids before the immediate whirring hum of intake fans began sucking the smoke out of the hallway.
"Well there goes that plan!" Arsk-Solve grunted as he managed to nail one of the B2s in the leg with a stray shot, staggering it.
"The droids never use ship systems this creatively!" Blade interjected in Chalis's defense.
"Cut the chatter and focus on taking out their optics!" Garen ordered, snapping them back to attention. "We need to disable the targeting systems on those spiders before they can get a valid solution for their missile salvos!"
"Maybe we can blast the missiles when their launch pods open," Mornsted muttered.
"Very risky, sir," Sey'les growled. "How much damage do you reckon a detonator will do?"
"Nothing unless you can get it past their leg armor!" Blade shouted.
Pulling a charge the size of a small jogan fruit from her vest, Sey'les put her thumb on the trigger. "Heads up! 'Nade out!"
"Wait!" Mornsted yelled, but it was too late. The detonator was already soaring through the air.
"Shit. Sey'les you idiot!" Arsk snarled, covering his pointy ears. "'Nade out!"
As Blade predicted, the spider droid brought the armored plating of its frontmost legs together, creating a wall which the detonator bounced off, rolling back towards the Clones and Direct Action Operatives.
"FALL BACK!" Garen screamed, an order that was echoed by everyone in his squad.
Mornsted began to retreat, but froze in place, staring at Sey'les. "SEY'LES GET OUT OF THERE!"
Rather than retreating, Sey'les was squatted down, closing her eyes and shaking with concentration. Her hand was outstretched, as if manipulating something.
Around the corner, the detonator rolled back towards the droids. The spider droid at the front of the group pushed it away with its right leg, but inexplicably, the detonator rolled back at it.
Reaching out to the object with the force, Sey'les continued to nudge it back, thwarting the efforts of the spider droids to expel the detonator. Finally she found a gap between two of the spider droids, and rolled it right through, behind and underneath the spider droid standing in the middle.
The droids all stopped firing, coordinating their efforts to get rid of the detonator. Spider droids scuttled backwards to try and clear out while the B2s reached down at the device with their metal mitt hands. One of them grabbed the detonator and chucked it back in the Bothan's direction.
Sey'les was ready for that. The second the charge left the droid's hand, it flew back, bouncing off the droid's encased head before rolling again on the floor.
One of the B2s picked the detonator up again just before it exploded.
But Sey'les did not hear the explosion. Nor did she hear the swearing and panicked cries of her comrades, feel the shaking of the deck plating, or the intense wave of heat that followed the droids' destruction.
At that moment Sey'les's eyes were glowing white, and she was lying on the ground, screaming in agony.
Through the connection she had inadvertently created with the Togruta when she had stuck her snout into the cloud of manifestations representing Jedi, the Bothan could feel that something very bad had happened.
Ahsoka was in a burning agony, bleeding from her ears, neck, lekku, and coughing blood. Vaguely, through eyes which weren't her own, Sey'les could make out the dimming identical faces of a dozen Clones staring down at her, horrified expressions on their faces.
And then the Bothan retched as the pain tickled the back of her throat, vomited onto the corridor, and collapsed, losing consciousness before even Ahsoka did.
