Chapter 18
(1200H. Hour 21 of 36)
Jaina, dressed in a fresh set of civilian clothes—a pale blue jumpsuit and a white cardigan—with her hair neatly pulled back into two inconspicuous-looking low pigtails, silently walked through the Separatist base, keeping her head down, her cover intact. It wouldn't do for the Separatist scientists to think that she was snooping around, or sticking her nose where it didn't belong. She tried to push her exhaustion and her anxieties away, and focus on the task at hand.
At least they still had fifteen hours left.
Her footsteps slowed slightly as she began to hear the loud roaring of the corpse incinerator machine once more.
No Master to cover up her eyes this time.
Jaina forcefully kept her gaze straight ahead as she turned the corner into the corridor with the glass wall. As much as she tried to not look, to not think about it, she couldn't help the thoughts from flooding her mind anyways.
Countless bodies, being burned alive all at once…
…and then they were gone, turning into ashes that would then disappear from sight.
The countless lives completely destroyed—becoming nothing but dust, all their hopes and memories, all their joy and love…wiped off the face of the galaxy in a matter of seconds.
It was horrifying.
Why had the Separatists even done this? Was it truly necessary—just for the sake of developing a weapon? All this research to develop something that would take even more lives?!
Had all these innocent people been destroyed, all in the name of war?
The Padawan's hands trembled violently as her legs slowed down to a stop, her breath trapped in her throat.
Breathe, young one.
It was what her Master would've told her.
Jaina forced herself to take a shaking breath, her body remaining frozen in place, even as her legs grew as weak as jelly.
Breathe, she thought to herself. Move.
Move.
Slowly, she began to take one shaky step, and then another…her legs wobbling as she scurried away from the machine and its loud roaring.
Durd was a monster.
Jaina finally turned the corner once more and stumbled into the data repository room, immediately slamming the door shut and leaning on it.
Slowly, she slumped against the door, her breaths coming in shallow wheezes, her heart racing in her chest. Her hands continued to tremble, despite all her efforts otherwise, and a mixture of nausea and fear spread through her.
Get a hold of yourself.
Just for good measure, she took a few more deep breaths before pushing herself away from the door and checking the progress of the file transfers.
31% complete, six hours in.
Jaina ran a hand through her hair—her hands still shaking. The Padawan slowly scrolled through the different terminals, checking the files. But her mind was still in a bleary haze, the loud roaring of the incinerator still echoing in her ears.
Don't think about the room. There's nothing you can do, she told herself. Focus.
Jaina's eyebrows twitched at one of the folder names. PROJECT: Defoliator.
She hovered her finger over the Open button, hesitating only for a moment before clicking it. The files began to open, one by one.
She looked at the different documents, her confusion only growing.
Plans…images...scientific data…reports.
Jaina slowly scrolled through the various folders, trying to make sense of the different files.
"Chemical bonds…" she murmured to herself, reading through the executive summary out loud. "Particles launched with a projectile…to trigger airborne fission reactions…cause oxygen to combust …while leaving specific metal alloys untouched…"
Her eyes widened.
This was the bioweapon project the Separatists were working on? A weapon that targeted the oxygen around it and set it aflame—destroying everything around it, in a matter of minutes?
Her hands trembled.
This wasn't a bioweapon. It was an airborne incendiary , designed to leave droids untouched while wreaking death specifically on living beings, beings like—
Suddenly, nausea rose up in her throat.
Beings like troopers. Beings like Jedi.
The Separatists were building a weapon of mass destruction…to be used against the very backbone of the Republic. An incendiary that would, in a matter of minutes, maybe seconds, burn everything in its path to ashes.
She slumped heavily against the terminal, her head suddenly spinning, and her breath catching in her throat.
Breathe.
"This must've been what Elissa was talking about," Jaina muttered to herself. "Capable of destroying all organic matter…"
The words echoed in her mind. All organic matter.
She shivered, feeling a sense of icy dread wash over her.
Was this really how far the Separatists were willing to go? She knew they were reckless, but not to this extent.
Her fingers hovered towards the bottom of one of the files. Prototype: Lanteeb Facility, Room 17A. Just down the hall.
Jaina paused. Her Master had told her not to deviate.
…But this was important …this weapon could spell catastrophe…perhaps it was foolish to do this, but it certainly wouldn't hurt…
She could be quick, stay for a couple minutes, just long enough to get some information, and then they'd still have 16 hours left to keep an eye on the data transfer.
It'd be a quick look, and no one would be the wiser to her deviation.
As long as she was careful, anyway.
Jaina glanced at her wrist comlink for a moment, debating whether or not she should leave her Master a message…ask for his permission before setting off to seek more intel. But…he was probably busy with his own undercover tasks…he needed all his wits about him, to handle his meeting with Durd…this would just distract him…
There was no reason to worry him over this. She could just go in for a couple minutes, and then get out.
She could do this. It wouldn't take too long, she wouldn't get caught, and she'd be able to get some valuable information.
Jaina pursed her lips and carefully stepped back out into the hall, a new urgency in her footsteps Her heart pounded in her chest, a sense of anxiety and dread washing over her, as she headed down the hall, stepping carefully, one foot after another.
She kept her head down as she passed through groups of engineers and scientists alike, many of whom seemed too busy on their own datapads to notice her or ask questions. The Jedi Padawan silently snuck down the corridor, ducking her head, avoiding the eyes of the other Separatist scientists and engineers, trying to keep as low-key as possible.
As she inched closer and closer to the open-air hall that led to the prototype lab, her mind raced with possibilities and concerns.
She had disobeyed her Master's orders, and she knew what her punishment would be. But it wouldn't matter, not as long as she found something worth the risk—something that would help the Republic stop these weapons from being deployed.
Stopping outside the door to room 17A, Jaina glanced up at the ceiling, searching for any potential weak points in the ventilation system. Her eyes quickly settled on a single ventilation shaft set into the ceiling only a couple feet away.
Perfect.
The Padawan glanced around the hallway and spotted a security camera a few meters away. She subtly raised a hand, using the Force to open another nearby door in order to block the camera's field of view.
Then she leapt into the shaft.
Jaina slipped silently into the ventilation shaft, her body pressing tightly together as she wriggled herself through the narrow space. She crawled down the vent, her breath coming in shaky hisses as she struggled to keep her breathing steady and her heartbeat under control. She glanced downwards through the grates as she turned the corner into the 17A air ducts.
Her eyes immediately widened as she spotted the prototype for the Defoliator, a massive and heavy cannon-like weapon, with a long barrel that loomed menacingly against the far wall.
Not good…
The Defoliator stood against the wall, silent and imposing.
At the opposite end of the room, a small chamber filled with different types of plants and flowers took up more than half the space of the entire lab. A tube protruded from the chamber, integrating with the end of the Defoliator cannon.
Suddenly a muffled sound from somewhere below pulled her out of her thoughts, causing her to glance back down and flatten herself against the vent.
She froze, not even daring to breathe. From below, she could hear someone slowly walking into the room, talking, and the sound of the door behind them shutting.
The hushed voices, barely audible through the ventilation system, continued to converse.
Jaina remained frozen in place, trying not to breathe too loudly or shift too much as she leaned in closer to the grate.
"…ignitions sequence engaged. Initiating…" One of the voices droned.
The Defoliator whirred with life, the barrel spinning, the gears and mechanics turning with an eerie clunkiness.
She glanced down through the grates, watching in horror as the barrel rotated, a series of gears and mechanisms grinding and clicking into place, preparing to launch the experimental chemical incendiary that would trigger the oxygen molecules to combust.
There was no way the Separatists could've actually perfected this technology…was there?
The weapon below continued to sputter and rattle, the gears and mechanisms shifting and shaking. As the cannon came to a trembling halt, the ignition sequence completed, one of the scientists spoke again.
"Initiating test firing."
Without warning, the Defoliator fired, releasing a shell into a tube that led into the glass chamber in the center of the lab.
Immediately, tiny flames ignited along the leaves of the plants inside, spreading quickly and burning through the foliage.
Jaina's eyes widened in horror. What the—
Even from the safety of the ventilation system, she could feel the heat of the intense flames that burst into the glass chamber. The plants and flowers shriveled and curled, consumed by the spreading inferno in a matter of mere seconds.
The scientist below, undeterred, glanced at a different set of monitors, and nodded. "All readings are normal. Incineration reaction is as expected." he droned.
In less than thirty seconds, every living thing in the chamber had been reduced to ash.
Jaina pulled out her datapad and glanced at the ongoing file transfer. 36%. The Republic needed to learn about this. Fast.
She didn't even want to imagine what the consequences would look like if they did not.
The Padawan crawled backwards the way she came, wriggling back down the vent, her mind racing with the implications and potential horrific possibilities if the GAR Research & Development Corps was unable to come up with a solution in time for the Separatists to mass produce this monstrosity of a—
She paused before climbing back down, hearing a familiar nasal voice from the main hallway.
Dr. Vindi.
Jaina grunted softly as she attempted to twist her body in one of the vents' tight corners, straining to glance towards the main hallway through the grates.
Vindi walked down the main corridor, accompanied by a pair of scientists talking in hushed tones and carrying large datapads. With a swipe of their keycards, they entered the adjacent lab.
She glanced towards another set of vents that likely lead towards 17B, and took a moment to debate her options.
Vindi was definitely checking up on the progress of… something …right now…and clearly the Defoliator was not the only project the Separatists were developing…
It was her duty to find out what they were hiding.
Jaina glanced down at her chronometer. She did have some time left to spare until the files completed transmitting…
But her Master would not be happy if he ever found out she'd snooped around the Separatist facility when he'd expressly ordered her to stay put in the data repository, or at their quarters.
Her mind bounced back and forth for several more moments.
She'd already disobeyed her Master's order to begin with…what was the harm in going just a bit further and discovering more information to bring back to the Republic…
Besides, the data repository had so much information on the other projects anyway—if she could get direct visual confirmation on other weapons, or other projects the Separatists were working on, all the better, right?
Jaina took a shaky breath, trying to calm her racing heart, and then started crawling forwards.
After several torturous minutes, the Padawan made it to the other ventilation system, straining slightly from the effort as she glanced around to locate the grates that lead to room 17B. She carefully lifted herself into the other system, pushing the vent open and peering through.
This lab was much smaller than the Defoliator lab, and much more cluttered.
Jaina gazed at the absolute mess of notes, diagrams, drawings, computer screens, files, test tubes, and other instruments all over, spread everywhere from one end of the room to another.
Two long tables lined the center of the lab, each filled with blue-colored potted plants.
Odd.
As Jaina peered cautiously through the grate, she noticed a group of six scientists huddled around one of the long tables, muttering over one of the plants as they plucked the blue leaves, and began to place them inside some sort of tabletop grinding machine.
A few seconds later, Dr. Vindi appeared, glancing over one scientist's shoulder as the machine poured the liquified blue leaves into a vial.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Continue testing, continue testing!" he barked, in his nasal squeak.
The scientists nodded hastily, continuing to pour, strain, boil, and test their ingredients, working around each other in a flurry of activity.
As Dr. Vindi continued to hover over them, another scientist transferred the blue slime into a syringe, and brought it towards a small cage of womp rats.
The four creatures squeaked frantically as the scientist approached, but before any of them could wriggle free, the scientist began to methodically plunge the liquid into them as the rest of Vindi's team took down data readings.
Jaina closed her eyes for a moment, leaning her forehead against the cold steel of the vent. She took a deep, slow breath and tried to calm down.
Those poor womp rats…those poor creatures…it was a horrific sight…but she couldn't think about that right now.
She had to find out more about that strange blue liquid, and those strange blue plants.
She needed to understand what was happening.
After a moment of hesitation, the Padawan opened her eyes again and watched as some of the other scientists began to test the liquid on other living creatures: some smaller insects, a few different types of rodents.
The organisms began to contort and spasm as blue veins began to emerge from their skins.
Jaina's stomach turned, and she felt nauseous. "Oh Force…" she muttered under her breath, swallowing the bile in her throat.
The creatures began to thrash, cough, and wheeze as their bodies seized up, the veins in their bodies turning a deep blue shade. And In less than a minute after they'd been injected, they stopped moving.
Dr. Vindi looked at the results with a sneer, and nodded. "Ah, perfect. Let's try a higher dose next time." he chortled with an amused shrug. "Take this prototype to the human specimens downstairs. And make sure some of it is shipped to our Chommell Sector base. We need to figure out how to get this airborne immediately."
Jaina gritted her teeth, shuddering at the implications of what "human specimens" would likely mean. And airborne?!
She needed to get this information to her Master. Fast.
…But if she waited for the scientists to leave, then it would give her a chance to snatch one of the vials and bring it back to the GAR R&D Corps.
Jaina pursed her lips tightly.
She might be disobeying orders again, but this time, at least, she'd have concrete information.
She'd have samples. And hopefully enough for the GAR doctors to reverse engineer to come up with a counteragent.
The Jedi Padawan waited patiently, remaining carefully hidden from sight as the scientists continued to work.
Finally, after almost two hours, the scientists finished up, and slowly began to leave the lab, filing out of the room and into the hall.
Vindi glanced towards the plants one last time, that same twisted sneer on his face, then turned to exit.
After a slow count to ten, and once the main lab room door had closed, Jaina quickly wriggled out of the vent, dropping soundlessly to the floor.
She glanced around rapidly, checking to make sure the room was empty, then dashed across the lab, towards a long table full of the test tubes filled with the strange blue liquid.
She cautiously picked one up, wrapping it in a protective cloth, before shoving it into one of the pouches attached to her belt. Then she picked a few leaves from the plant and slipped them into a separate pouch.
"I'll only be a moment, I seem to have forgotten something!"
Jaina whirled around at the sound of Vindi's nasal voice outside the lab.
And the footsteps nearing the door.
Blast it.
Her heart froze in her chest. She dashed back across the lab, quickly scrambling back behind one of the tables as she heard Vindi reenter.
The Padawan pressed herself up against the table, forcing herself to remain as still and as quiet as possible as she peeked to the side, watching the Faust doctor reach for his datapad on one of the countertops.
He paused in front of the row of test tubes, his eyes immediately drifting to where one was now missing.
No no no no no.
Vindi's eyes narrowed the moment he spotted the single empty test tube slot.
He picked up the rack, lifting it to glare at it. His gaze slowly began to drift towards the lab tables, carefully checking them one-by-one as he walked cautiously around the room.
Jaina silently slid under one of the countertops, crawling towards the other end of the table and sliding herself underneath the cage of—
—womp rat corpses.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
They lay motionless in their cage, their skin still tinged with the dark blue color of the liquid, the long, blue veins still visible beneath their greyish flesh.
Jaina swallowed thickly, feeling bile rise in her throat again as she forced herself to avert her gaze from the horrifying sight. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking deep, slow breaths to stay calm, to stay still.
To think.
She needed to get out of here. Now.
