Episode I: Part 10

The door hissed open and stale air rushed through, escaping the shadowy corridor lit by dim emergency lighting. Partially hidden behind the steel doorframe, Deuce leaned out for a quick look. He toggled the chin switch in his helmet once for low-light, again for thermal then back to normal vision.

"Clear."

Kells and Doc quietly stepped through and crouched down on either side of the hallway. The sergeant edged past them, moving ahead a few steps. Quietly, the door hissed closed. Doc studied the hallway ahead of them for a moment.

"Lieutenant, at the end of the corridor, I am registering an intermittent energy spike."

"Weaponry?"

"The power output is inconsistent with any weapons I am familiar with. Readings would be more consistent with a power regulator for a bacta chamber."

"Sergeant, location of the com signals?"

The sergeant pulled the pocket scanner from his belt. "Just ahead."

"Life readings?"

"Ten."

"With luck that's them."

Doc heard the hiss a moment before the door behind them opened. Four mining droids, armed with blaster rifles and an extra layer of armored plate, hovered through.

"Behind us!" The droid called.

Instinctively Deuce spun, dropped to one knee and squeezed off four single bursts a heartbeat before the droids could fire. All four droids fell to the deck, a smoldering hole in each one.

"Good shot!" Kells hurried back to check the way they came.

"Sergeant, I have never seen a human react so quickly."

Deuce chuckled. "Doc, they didn't even make it interesting. Next time, I think I'll close one eye."

Suddenly, Kells ducked behind the doorframe as a volley of blaster fire singed the metal. Once the volley subsided, he leaned around and fired two shots at his attackers. "Sergeant, we've uninvited guests."

Deuce grabbed a small, palm sized sphere from a belt pouch and tossed it to the lieutenant.

"One door prize."

Kells caught it and flicked the activation switch on. A pair of lights winked to life just before the Lieutenant threw the thermal detonator and raced past the sergeant and Doc.

"Move!"

The clone grabbed Doc by the shoulder plate and hauled the thin droid alongside him. "Get the lead out, Sparky!"

By the time they reached the far end of the corridor, the thermal detonator did its grisly work. A muffled explosion shook the building.

"That'll wake the neighbors." Deuce remarked.

"Indeed, and our target too," Kells replied while he typed in his access code.

The door obediently slid aside, revealing a clean catwalk that formed a second floor of a two story laboratory. A ramp on either side of the door curved down to the first floor. Overhead, bright lights streamed into their corridor. Suddenly, the trio threw themselves aside as a rain of blaster fire burned past them.

Kells leaned around the doorframe, his heart froze. Deuce and Doc looked quickly as well.

Deuce shook his head while Doc muttered. "Oh, Shabla."

Gerri woke to the sound of her own screams and those from one of the troopers. For the countless time that hour, she fought against the restraints that immobilized her on the medical table. Off to her right, GH-9, the gray-blue painted medical research droid known as the 'Master' watched while an assistant medical droid plunged a long needle into the woman's right leg.

"The restraints and sedatives would not be necessary if you would only cooperate."

She screamed again as the needle extracted a bone marrow sample. The needle burned as it withdrew, leaving Gerri shuddering in agony. Instinctively, she opened herself to the Force, or at least she tried to. Just as she felt it flow through her, a needle in one of the restraints pricked her skin and injected her with a small dose of sedative. It was enough to disturb her concentration, but not enough to dull the pain. Dimly she heard Echo scream from the next table over as he suffered the same bone marrow extraction process.

"If it wasn't for these restraints, I'd have gleefully pulled you apart with my bare hands." Gerri spat.

GH-9 waved a metallic hand. "Spare me madam, I am a droid, I have no sympathy or fear to play upon."

The medic droid turned away from Gerri and deposited the fresh samples into a storage container. Another droid with Echo's sample followed suit a moment later.

Gerri blinked against the numbing effect of the drugs. She hated being helpless, being 'contained' as some laboratory sample was culminations of her worst lurid nightmares come to life. Watching troopers, people she had come to quietly consider 'her' troopers, be subjected to the same thing made it that much worse.

The Master crossed the short distance to the back of the lab where his 'test subjects' were held. "You know, a communication not long back suggested that there are many buyers extremely interested in a stable genetic sample of a Force user. I suppose they expect to attempt to clone one of their own. While it is not something I find scientifically interesting, it does not allow for an interesting economic gain. My research is expensive."

"What?"

Misunderstanding her surprise for confusion, the Master continued. "I suppose the sedative does dull the faculties. Let me be more direct. Once I've no further use of you, you will be placed in cryogenic hibernation and parts of you sold. Nothing life threatening, and cybernetic replacements could always be fashioned to keep you functional."

Gerri yanked at the restraints in a rage. "You corrupt, malfunctioning bastard! By the Force I promise you I'll shred your circuits!"

"I think not! You'll cooperate whether you choose to or not. You're a resource now, one in particularly high demand!"

A dull rumble reverberated through the walls.

"I authorized no demolitions, what was that?"

Obediently, one of the assistant medical droids activated a view screen. The view from the facilities' local security system blinked into view. GH-9 spun to face a pair of droidekas.

"Contain them!"

The droidekas answered with a series of fast tones and rolled up the ramp towards the laboratory entrance on the second floor. GH-9 hovered over to a console in the center of the lab and typed in a code.

"I am impressed your companions evaded my patrols to make it this far." To one side, a lock clicked and a panel receded into the wall revealing a concealed room beyond. A hiss grew as a pale gas billowed slowly into the holding cells. "If they manage to survive, I fear they'll find nothing to rescue."

Kells, Deuce and a droid Gerri did not recognized appeared through the laboratory door. Immediately, they ducked aside just before the two droidekas opened fire on the trio.

Blaster bolts scarred the doorway. In return, Deuce tossed a thermal detonator. It bounced against the droids' shields before it detonated. The explosion shook the room, rattling the droids and ripping the catwalk beneath them to metallic shreds. Deuce looked out in time as the droids fell to the first floor below.

"Clear."

Kells nodded and rushed in, ducking down behind the railing and a forgotten stack of crates to the left of the door. Deuce stepped in to the right, ducking behind a different stack of storage bins.

"Deuce, keep that ramp clear."

The sergeant dropped a set of power clips on the floor at his feet, and then pulled the DC-17 he wore slung on his back and dropped it as well. Doc joined him a moment later and pointed down the ramp.

Deuce looked over, armed messenger droids rushed up the ramp towards his position, firing sporadically. Five seconds and several blaster shots later, the lightly armored droids fell, a smoldering collection of wreckage. He checked the power level on his ammo clip, it was at fifty percent.

"Ramp clear, LT."

Kells nodded but his attention was on the scene below. Ten meters away towards the back of the lab, Gerri and Echo were strapped to tables, still dressed in the torn and bloodied remains of their uniforms. The rest of the squad was secured in a set of holding cells against the back wall only three meters beyond the tables. GH-9 hovered in the middle of the lab near a command console for the entire laboratory. There was little to no cover beyond the landing, only one way down and the droids easily out-gunned his tiny force. He frowned.

"This isn't going to be easy."

Suddenly eight battle droids filed through the open doorway below. Behind them a large shape lingered just out of sight in the darkness. Once in the lab, the droids opened fire immediately, missing as the lieutenant ducked under cover.

Then as suddenly as it began, the blaster fire abruptly silenced. At the bottom of the intact ramp, the two droideka rolled to a stop, unfolded and deployed their shields. Battle droids took up a guarding position around GH-9, the medical droids and the captives.

Lieutenant Kells waited to a count of five. "I am Lieutenant Dison Kells of the Galactic Imperial Forces. For crimes against the Empire, you are to order your droids to stand down. If you do not, we will have no choice but to open fire."

GH-9 was quiet a moment before he replied. "I do not agree Lieutenant."

Kells exchanged a glance with Deuce who merely shrugged. The droid continued.

"You are out-numbered and out-gunned. While you may have the high ground, you are at a tactical disadvantage. I have your squad mates here with me. You cannot chance a grenade. That could easily harm one of them. I understand your species all too well. Humans strive to protect their own."

"I saw gas filling those cells." Deuce whispered. "Doubt they have much longer."

The droid looked from the lieutenant to the sergeant and back. "According to my scans, those are all the droids he has left to him." Doc paused, "They would be the best equipped too."

GH-9 hovered forward slightly. "Lieutenant, come now. This benefits no one. If you give your word to leave the planet I will allow you safe passage out of the facility."

Silently, Deuce cast his vote with a slow shake of his head. Doc mimicked the gesture. Kells thought for a moment then reached under his tunic into a hidden pouch. Once during a quiet moment together, Gerri gave him a trust. Something she told him to only use in a dire emergency. Since Doc was unarmed, they were now at five to one odds or worse. To Kells this was the definition of dire emergency. He tested the weight of the metal cylinder in his hand. He needed to even the odds. "Droid, what is your designator?"

"My identification is GH-9, but I have been dubbed 'Master' by those here."

"I see." Kells peered around the crate once more. He caught Gerri's attention and nodded once, hoping she would understand to be ready. She nodded slightly in return with an anxious look.

"I have considered your offer."

"Then you agree?"

"No!" Kells jumped up from behind the crates. "The Empire does not make deals with terrorists!"

He pitched the lightsaber cylinder up and out in a high arc then raised his blaster in a blur of motion. Four quick blaster shots narrowly missed the Master, burning high and to the left of the droid's head.

Mistaking the metal object overhead for a grenade, the droids around GH-9 shifted into a protective circle then opened fire. Two droids tried for the lightsaber with little success, the remainder targeted Kells. Blaster bolts slammed into the lieutenant, picking him up from where he stood and tossing him back against the doorframe behind him. Smoke rose from numerous burns on his chest and uniform as he slumped to the catwalk.

"LT!"

Eyes wide, Deuce felt his heart beat in his throat. Immediately, Doc dodged between droideka shots to Kells' side. He snatched a small first aid kit off the lieutenant's belt and went to work.

With an animalistic growl the clone spun, fired twice at the shielded droidekas then tossed a grenade. He knew those shields were not perfect and could be beaten down. Once the grenade crested above the two droids, Deuce fired twice, detonating the grenade at what would be eye level for a standing human. The backwash of energy peeled away the shields, weak from the grenade earlier. The storm of blaster fire that immediately followed melted the droidekas' circuitry. When the two crab-like droids fell, the large figure in the darkness began to shamble forward. The sergeant's current ammo clip whined its electronic warning that it was out of charge.

The clone sergeant ducked down under cover as silence fell over the small battlefield. He tried to eject the ammo clip, but the overheated spent clip jammed partway out. Swearing, Deuce dropped the carbine next to him and hefted the DC-17. He had two spare clips, he adored his long time DC but a DC ate power a bit faster than his carbine. In the doorway, Doc struggled with his patient, but the lieutenant looked unchanged. Frustrated, Doc reached down and pulled out a small sample container hidden in his torso. Deuce watched in silence as the droid injected the viscous, almost bacta-like fluid into the lieutenant.

In the background, the hiss of gas echoed ominously and mingled with the faint gagging sounds off the trapped stormtroopers. GH-9 looked up at the catwalk, then over to his droid bodyguards.

"I tire of this. They are putting me behind schedule, wipe them out."

"It's not them you should be worried about."

Behind GH-9, Gerri turned away from the holding cell controls. Force fields dissolved giving the trapped soldiers much needed air while the gas to the cells quickly dwindled away. The medical table restraints lay on the floor, shattered from the lieutenant's well placed shots.

Suddenly, for reasons he could not understand, GH-9 hovered backwards as an illogical fear for his safety raced through his logic circuits. A chilling smile spread over the Sith's face. Already the last dose of sedative wore off while she approached the center of the lab.

"You should worry about me."

She ignited her lightsaber, the ugly hiss of the blade echoed through the room. Behind her, the ten formerly trapped stormtroopers hefted makeshift weapons from broken and blasted furniture and deactivated droid parts. With a roar of defiance, the troopers rushed the battle droids.

Gerri leapt forward, using the Force to bridge the gap between her and GH-9 in a blur of motion no normal eye could follow. A shrill, electronic shriek filled the laboratory amid the sounds of blaster fire and combat as the Sith Adept kept her promise.