-Tag-
I don't think I've ever been more uncomfortable in my life. For the entire ride, Sadie and I were wedged together tightly in the tiny cargo hold of the speeder. We were pressed armor-to-armor with almost no wiggle room at all. We were sweaty, hot, and cramped. Sadie said nothing the entire duration of the trip. I suspected that she was upset, and in all fairness I didn't blame her. I had lied a lot to get her in this situation. And now she was spending hours in an incredibly uncomfortable place as we approached a horridly dangerous situation. Zygerrians were known throughout the galaxy for their superior physicality, resilience, and sophisticated methods of entrapment and manipulation. They had built a slave empire and served nobody, aiding the Order and Alliance based on whoever was paying. They could go toe to toe with Seyley and could withstand the strongest Wookiee's devastating punches.
But we were going to give them a run for their money. I had an all new supersuit and Sadie had the Force.
At long last, the speeder started to slow. I let out a little sigh of relief. Soon, we would be free. We had made it. And the best part was that nobody knew we were here.
The speeder finally came to a halt, and I could faintly hear muffled voices coming from outside. I noticed some blips on my tracker, and waited until they went away before reaching for the handle to leave.
"Stop," Sadie hissed at me right before my hand reached the door.
Obediently, my hand froze in mid air, and I watched as her helmet turned slightly from side to side. Probably using the Force.
"What's the situation?" I asked her.
"Shh," she hissed at me, and I noticed that two dots appeared and started moving about. "Guards. They heard you and are now looking around. Shut up and let me do my thing," she said under her breath, barely audible.
I watched the blips come closer, and with them came the quick snippets of dialogue the guards were sharing.
I felt Sadie tense next to me as they stepped by the door, and we waited. After an agonizingly long time, they left. They decided not to check this one speeder. Lucky us.
Or Sadie had something to do with it.
Whatever the reason, they moved back and disappeared from my tracker. I waited a few minutes before opening the door, grabbing onto the sides, and pulling myself out. I landed on the ground with a loud CLANG as my boots met the metal floor. Unfortunately, that clang was also heard by the guards, one for each of the two hallways leading out who had just been standing still, and had not yet left.
"You're an idiot," Aly remarked, choosing now to finally speak to me.
One of the Zygerrians charged toward us, electric staff in hand, while the other reached for his comm to start calling for backup. He was quickly cut short as the comm cracked right in front of him and a knife embedded itself deep in his skull. Sadie had nimbly hopped out right behind me.
"Right," Aly said, and I turned just in time to see the electric staff about to run through me. Time slowed around me as I got out of the way, grabbed the staff, jerked it out of his hands, kicked him so hard that he went flying against the wall, and threw the staff, hitting him mid-flight and impaling him against the wall.
The world returned to normal and I stared at the twitching Zygerrian, trying to wrap my head around what happened.
"Aly, what was that?"
"Enhanced reflexes."
Of course.
"Nice work. We have only a matter of time till they check in and nobody responds," Sadie said, clearly annoyed with me.
She sprinted ahead of me down one of the halls, and I followed closely behind.
"Do you know where you're going?" I asked through the helmet.
"About to find out."
The hallway opened and we were outside. Shouting and scurried movement was everywhere as a ship was being docked. It was a traditional Zygerrian ship. Its tan and bronze color scheme and pointed design gave that away without question. That meant that they would be distracted and we could stage a successful surprise attack.
But it also meant we were on a time crunch. We had to get the prisoners before they were loaded and jettisoned off into space, never to be seen again.
"You've been found," Aly said.
"What?"
Instead of Aly, I heard some static and then the clear voice of a Zygerrian saying "...guard was stuck on a wall with his own spear. Whoever we're dealing with, they ain't pushovers. Be prepared."
Apparently Aly was sending it through the comm so Sadie could hear as well because she said "Kriff. This'll be interesting."
She suddenly turned and reached a hand out. A Zygerrian who was coming around the corner was thrown against the wall with a thud and fell unconscious, dropping his blaster.
"There! Over there!"
The shouting was accompanied by the thundering footsteps of guards rushing at us and a purple beam pinged right by my foot.
"Snipers. I got em" Sadie said, kicking her jetpack into gear and soaring up. I grabbed the blaster on the ground and Aly said "Time for some fun."
The blaster fire started peppering me, but I barely batted an eye. I charged forwards, firing at them without a care.
"This is poorly thought out," Aly said as I reached the first guard and decked him, sending him flying sky high before aiming at one twelve meters to the right and shooting him in the head a few times. The third was charging at me, so I lowered my shoulder to meet him, cracking his legs from under him and sending him tumbling over me.
"What are you talking ab-"
"THREE TO LEFT, FOUR TO RIGHT!" Aly yelled.
I was rammed from the side, knocking me to one knee, and then from the other side, knocking me fully down.
"You need to watch your motion tracker more," Aly said as I was being pressed down by a pile of Zygerrians.
What a dick.
"You know I heard that, right?"
Shit.
"The suit is strong, but not indestructible. Might be a good idea to get up."
I heard a few blaster shots, and a few of the Zygerrians fell limply on me.
"Get your ass up and do something," Sadie said.
I headbutted the Zygerrian on top of me in the choobies so hard that I heard a distinctive popping sound. Instantly, he doubled over screaming as he clutched at his groin region. I threw him off and with my right hand now free, whipped the gun around and smacked the one holding my left in place, sending him backwards before shooting him and quickly aiming the gun at the squealing Zygerrian who I headbutted. He was curled in the fetal position, completely incapacitated. Nevertheless, I released a shot into his head, cutting the shrieks of pain short.
"Waste of a shot," Aly remarked.
I didn't care. It was a mercy kill. If I'd been him, I'd want the same thing.
The other Zygerrians who were holding my legs down scrambled away in fear.
"Starting to bring prisoners up," Sadie said.
I glanced towards the ship that was coming down and noticed that the chain by the landing platform was starting to grind, bringing something massive up. I grabbed an electric spear and threw it at the chain, using the suits advanced aiming to land it perfectly, halting the chains progression on the gear. I then sprinted towards the chain through the chaos that Sadie and I had managed to cause. The spear had begun grinding at the gears, releasing a horrible mechanical screeching as it struggled against the long metal rod. I aimed my blaster and fired at it. The chain fell off the wheel and started falling down the hole, pulled down by something massive that was screeching as it rubbed against the walls. As I made my way to it, I saw a large shipping container had gotten stuck haphazardly in the shaft, chains laying on top. I used the ladder and quickly made my way down to the container. When I stepped on it, it shrieked horribly and shifted down a few centimeters.
"Aly, how far down is the shaft?"
"Approximately ten meters."
"Is that lethal for anybody inside?"
"How in the hell do you expect me to know?"
I grabbed the edge of the container, sliding my fingers right before it was meeting the wall, sat on the container, and pushed my legs against the shaft. The container shrieked before falling to the ground and landing with a crash that reverberated through the shaft.
I sat up, no worse for wear, and noticed the opening of a small door that stood a meter above the top of the container.
"Ships leaving. I got it," Sadie said over the intercom. Thanks for the heads up, partner.
I ripped the door off its hinges and threw it across the shaft. Inside, the main yellow lights were gone, replaced by the flashing red of the emergency alarms. I walked over to the middle of the shipping container and punched it, leaving a large fist shaped dent in the steel. Another punch got me right through. I then grabbed the edge of the hole and pulled with all my might, slowly ripping metal away and making the hole bigger. When it was big enough for the average fully grown organism to go through, I used my hands to try and smooth out the rough steel edges of the platform and peered inside. Approximately one hundred prisoners were inside, all looking rather scrawny and malnourished and all staring at me with gaunt, fearful eyes.
"Congratulations! You're being rescued!" I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
"Oh my god," Sadie said.
"That was really bad," Aly concurred.
One of the slaves, a Russo, stepped forwards and asked "This is no joke?" in a heavy accent.
"No joke."
"Free?"
"If you come up."
He looked back at the others and waved his hand, saying "Come!" before reaching for my outstretched hand. I hoisted him up, then pointed him towards the door, which he crawled through with zest. One by one, the prisoners were pulled out, until only a little boy remained on the bottom, refusing to budge.
"Come on," I coaxed, but he wouldn't move.
"Hey, so I took the ship down. Engines destroyed. But we may have hit some buildings around the hole so just be careful" Sadie said as I noticed the light from the top of the shaft get blocked out as a massive chunk of cement begin falling towards us.
"Get to the kid and use armor lock. Only way," Aly said.
"What?"
"I'm taking the reins."
As soon as I thought "what", I started moving towards the kid using moves I didn't know I had. As soon as I reached the kid, I bent over to protect him and stuck my fist into the ground. The shield around my suit started glowing a brilliant white as the massive chunk of debris landed, destroying the steel and sending up a giant cloud of dust in the process.
I was in the same position I was in before when the dust settled. There was a small ring around me free of debris or dust of any kind. The only things in the circle were me and the kid, curled into the fetal position, scared to death but very much alive.
"Releasing armor lock now," Aly said, and my internal systems started flashing like crazy. "It'll take you substantially longer to recharge your shields again. Here. You can have control now."
I heard a familiar sound, and Sadie flew down. "You look like shit," she commented. "Got us a ride out. Where are the passengers?"
I pointed to the door and then the kid. She nodded and said "Let's get moving then. Don't want them regrouping."
-0000-
Lord Terrias was pacing around his conference room when Lysis arrived, prompt as always.
"My Lord."
"Major problem. Ster Bureem and the Specs escaped. I'm sure that you're aware of that already."
"Yes my lord." It was not common knowledge. As a matter of fact, Lord Terrias hadn't told a soul, and had kept it under wraps completely. And yet Lysis knew. He was impressed yet again with the Zabrak.
"Well I found evidence that he was at Mirial."
Lysis stiffened.
"You are in charge of this. Charybdis, his Junel, the Kiar, the Maleko, use whatever you must. It is all under your control. We need to bring him in."
Lysis nodded and said "Yes my lord."
As he turned and walked off, Lord Terrias said "One more thing." He slid two chips to Lysis, who turned them on. Two Wanted posters appeared, one for Catherine Cress and one for Darin Kravhenn. Master Nerosi had informed him that these two were to be hunted down. No matter what.
"You are in charge of hunting these two down. Bring them to me. They could be potential threats, but they can also prove to be… invaluable."
Lysis stared at the task he had been presented and, after a moment, said "What means am I given to track, capture, and possibly eliminate them?"
"Any means necessary."
"And what should my priority be? These individuals or the Seyley?"
Lord Terrias rubbed his chin before saying "Use your judgement."
Lysis nodded curtly and said "Yes my lord" before promptly leaving the room.
Putting his main strategist on hunting duty and not on the war would usually be considered a bad move. But Lord Terrias wasn't worried about the war. This war meant nothing. Only Master Nerosi cared about it. Not him. Only Darin. Especially Darin. So much potential, so much ability.
Such a stupid mistake. Darin shouldn't have ever been used as a guinea pig.
But so be it. What's done is done. A monster was created. A raging fire was born.
No, not born. Fueled. Unleashed.
And with Darin, a hope had taken flight.
He rubbed the tattoo on his left wrist.
He had risked it all. Risked his life. And the experiment had been successful. His cells had accepted the treatment. He had accepted the treatment. He felt the Force flowing through him stronger than ever before.
So why, why, why did Zarenth's cell cultures keep rejecting it? Why didn't they work? He didn't know. He couldn't use the late mothers cells. They were dead. He'd done full genome sequencing, full proteome analysis, and still. The cells kept rejecting it. Over and over and over. If they kept rejecting it in vitro, they'd never accept it in vivo.
He cursed Nerosi for demanding all successful projects be taken to Malastare. He needed to analyze them further! Understand why some accepted it and some didn't.
He glanced at the report on his desk from the tissue sample Sylvia had allowed him to take. A simple cheek swab, but it was better than nothing. And it yielded nothing fruitful. Yet.
Master Nerosi had tasked him with finding Darin. Bringing the young man to him, either on his knees or in pieces. Didn't matter. But Nerosi was a fool. A brilliant, tactical, terrifying being of the Force. But a fool.
Terrias cursed his Master. A younger Terrias was eager to serve, to learn, to grow, to become the figurehead of the Alliance Nerosi needed for his puppet theater. He was serving a greater good. A big picture that maintained stability in the galaxy.
What a joke.
Terrias knew what he had REALLY become. He'd become a fall guy. Someone to take the heat so Nerosi could do whatever he damn well pleased. Make huge moves for whatever reasons he makes them, and leave the carnage for Terrias to stomach. For Terrias to take the fall.
Someone had to, right?
Before, he'd been content with that. He could take it.
Not anymore. Nerosi had ordered Terrias to alienate a people he had respected. He had cared for. These decisions, these actions that Terrias was forced to make, they were taking a toll.
It wasn't until Zarenth that Terrias even cared about legacy. About what he would leave behind.
Terrias had changed. Not for better, and not for worse. He had simply changed. And as he got older, and wiser, he saw the fool he'd been made out to be. The tyrant he had allowed himself to turn into. And he would not stand for it. Terrias would find a cure for his son. Terrias would save the boy. No matter what. But he needed to bide his time. Keep pilfering Alliance resources to fund his efforts, and keep complying.
He would find Darin. But he would not turn him over. Darin would help him. Terrias hoped that it would be voluntary. Darin was a brilliant young man. Terrias had obtained his reports from the Order. Darin was 'uniquely academically gifted', as Lysis would say. Having another set of eyes, another head to think with, that could help. Not to mention, Darin was a successful treatment recipient. Perhaps HIS cells could unravel this mystery.
And maybe Darin could help Terrias kill Nerosi, so that Terrias could hide away on an outer rim planet with his son and live in peace.
But that was wishful thinking. One step at a time.