The air was becoming increasingly hot the closer they came to whatever sourced a systematic gushing sound and four successive loud hisses.
“We need some light.” Ahsoka said quickly before clamping her mouth shut again, just fast enough to evade the pervasive stench.
Without another word, Rex lifted his wrist and activated a small illuminator, taking heed to direct its light away from the edges of the pod if possible, ‘I don’t even want to know what I am standing in,’ he thought to himself, assured that he wasn’t the only one thinking as much. He shined the light outward, piercing the pitch black of the channel they were traveling to reveal a simple, but narrow, walkway. Guard rails appeared every few seconds but slowly enough, and staggered, giving them all the same idea to count them. Rex established that they were traveling much slower than he had initially anticipated and leaned into Ahsoka slightly for stability.
Ahsoka embraced the cue and wrapped an arm around Rex’s shoulder so that he could articulate with both hands instead of risking verbal communication. He lifted the light slightly and brought his other hand into view, counting with an extended finger to mimic the timing of the guard rails, then double tapping another finger between the cadence to symbolize what he was sure they had to do. He lifted the light to his face and nodded, Ahsoka realizing the validity of the thought began tapping his shoulder as a timing mechanism, then pulled Nara closer to do the same. Rex shone the light upward so that he could see both of their acquiescent nods before returning it to himself with a finger toward his chest then straight into the air. The message was received by both woman who could not have agreed more, Rex would jump first.
The air was only getting hotter and Rex knew he had to commit lest they all the discover the source of the sounds that only grew louder in concert. He closed his eyes, hitching his knees to the rhythm of Ahsoka’s shoulder taps, and lept the short distance to the walkway with stumbling success, sliding briefly into the wall opposite from the residue on the bottom of his boots. Momentum carried him another meter before he snatched his hands out clumsily for one of the guard rails. Rex felt the welcome stability the nearest offered and clamped a meaty hand around the warm metal with a solid grip. Catching his breath momentarily, he opened his eyes, immediately training them on the light source from his left wrist shining down upon the muted dull black of corrugated metal. He risked a deep inhale through his nose, rewarded with the scents of rusting metals and earthy decomposition. Although far from glorious, they were a Canto Bight lottery win removed from the putrid rank of the pod.
Rex waited a few moments without moving a muscle, focusing in silence on the deep inhales and exhales that cleared the foul stench from his lungs, each breath returning a measure of calmness to the hammering of his heart in his chest. The moment his breathing had returned to somewhat normal he aligned himself with the guard rail he currently held with his straining grip and pushed himself back into the wall, immediately drenching his back in a spreading wetness he wasn’t sure he wanted to identify. Daring his body to cooperate, he let go of the guard rail to press his hand onto the wall, carrying it back quickly to bath the appendage in the light of his wrist device. With a deep sigh of relief, he found the fluid clear and odorless as he lifted it to his nose. Rex was sure it was only water as he lifted the hand to his mouth and dabbed at it with his tongue hurriedly. ‘Water.’ He reaffirmed himself.
The gushing sound, closer than he had realized, aggravated the oppressive silence with its suddenness, startling Rex and causing a knee buckle and short slip of his left foot. Firing his right hand out once again for the guard rail, he aimed the wrist device down the channel to his right as the cadence of hisses quickly followed. He could feel his heart pounding against his rib cage anew as the hissing was replaced by footsteps drawing closer. The blood in Rex’s veins began to run cold as he shone the light from left to right with increasing volatility, whisking the finer details of the channel itself in and out of focus, elongating shadows and producing images in his peripheral that weren’t there.
A new sound, a light whirring that was similar to gravity inhibition or hover repulsors, began to increase in volume, again the properties of the construction around Rex made it impossible to determine direction. He chided himself briefly as fright began to take hold of him with too many elements working against his natural senses. ‘Jumping at shadows Rex, calm down.’ He thought to himself the moment the gushing commenced once again. His heart stopped briefly as he whirled to his right again, the light reflecting off of a pair of eyes. Rex’s reaction took his feet from under him, sending his head against the wall before his body slipped from the wet surface in a breath depleting thud to the metal beneath him, smashing the back of his head hard into its unforgiving surface with a bounce.
“Rex.” The clone could hear his name. It is close, his mind told him. ‘Open your eyes fool.’ The thought was involuntary. The organs obeyed as they slowly creased open, revealing nothing but the darkness in return, although he could sense the touch of someone’s hand upon his forehead, ‘a hand that had no body?’ Reflexively, to supply his brain the information it needed, he lifted his left wrist to what should be the ‘hands’ face, startled briefly by the eye’s reflection once again, but falling into a washing calm as the orange pigment and white facial markings of Ahsoka welcomed him. “Rex?”
“Ahsoka…” Rex murmured as he let the knowledge calm him. “I fell down.”
“That you did. Take my hand.” She replied, pushing her hand into his, her other at his back for support, lifting him to rest on his back side before helping him to swivel with his back to the wall. The wet surface felt immediately relaxing as he pressed his aching back into its warmth, “Thank you.”
“Take a moment Rex, and then we’ll have to get moving. I have no idea where we are.” Ahsoka whispered lightly.
Rex turned his head slowly toward her as she knelt beside him, “Nara?”
“I don’t know. I am sure she jumped, but I couldn’t hear anything with that gushing.” Ahsoka whispered again, turning her head slightly behind her, “I found a solid wall at the other end of this walkway and called out several times.”
“I never heard any of that if you did.” Rex whispered laboriously.
“It wasn’t vocal Rex.” Ahsoka stated with a wink.
Rex only closed his eyes briefly in response before returning them to the metal beneath him, “I think it’s service access Ahsoka, if you found a wall then there must be an access hatch of sorts to get to this.” He said slowly, lifting the light to the opposite side of the channel, “and there’s no access on that side…” Rex continued pointing a finger toward the center of the beam. “Help me up, please.” Ahsoka assisted the clone to his feet as they both turned their heads to the left, the only clear option they had.
Ahsoka took the lead walking in the opposite direction the pod had traveled, reminding Rex of the strange whirring sound. He lifted the light toward the center of the channel while trying to focus on the sound he remembered before possibly concussing himself.
“There.” Ahsoka whispered, stopping short as she raised a pointed finger of her own, “another pod?”
“Looks like.” Rex responded with a renewed sense of disgust gripping his stomach. They both stopped briefly to observe the empty pod as it whisked past them, open like theirs was but empty of contents. Rex made it a point to hold his breath, not wanting to repeat the nauseating process anew. A few moments later the gush could be heard followed by the hissing volley, “that must be a steam bath of sorts, some method to clean those things out.”
“Then we exited at the most opportune moment, given the heat.” Ahsoka answered, her own eyes following the pod as Rex maintained it in the focus of his light source.
“Let’s keep going.” Rex offered, his hand on Ahsoka’s shoulder for stability, the only admission he would offer that his head was still reeling from his fall. They proceeded onward through another four cadences of gushing and hissing, finding only the same walkway beneath their feet. The whirring began again as the path widened somewhat in the light of Rex’s comm device, offering a turn of direction to their left and into a short hall and lift door access beyond. Ahsoka turned to approach the lift access, but Rex stopped short, noting a heavier pound against the air from the approaching pod.
“Ahsoka, somethings different about this one.” Rex turned to whisper, his hands gripping a railing in front of him, “it must be heavier?” The question seemed logical, but he didn’t remember hearing the sound at all when all three of them were in their own pod.
Ahsoka approached, her hand upon the short railing as the pod came into view. On their own plane, the contents of the pod were clearly visible as the head of the boy they had shown mercy bobbed over his lifeless body, Rex flipping the light quickly upward out of a mix between respect and horror. The pod came to a sudden stop just to their right, both of their eye’s training on the new center the light projected and finding a blood red orb staring back at them.
“Here we go…” Rex stated, pushing himself from railing as he quickly pulled his DC-17 from its holster. He pulled the trigger with authority, missing to the left and again to the right, just before the snap hiss and blurring white of Ahsoka’s secondary saber bisected the orb altogether. The pod fell immediately from its suspension clattering to the channel floor two meters below them. Ahsoka already had her hand outstretched, retrieving her saber as quickly as she had cast it. Rex only shook his head, turning from the scene and toward the lift access acknowledging the aftereffects and dizziness that persisted.
Ahsoka was Rex’s side in seconds as he shone the light around the lifts frame, frantically searching for a control set of any kind. The kinship they shared promoted the silence between them, both understanding the urgency of their escape without having to say as much. Coming up short of anything with buttons or actuators, Rex passed over twin sets of circular access ports, quickly backtracking to bring them into view once again. “Code cylinders….” He whispered with aggravation.
“Nara has them…” Ahsoka offered with a sigh.
Rex immediately began fumbling with both hands at his pockets, the light skewing reality as it danced over surface until it stopped suddenly and refocused on R3’s repurposed memory core in his right hand.
“Good thinking..” Ahsoka said, patting him on the shoulder lightly.
Rex didn’t waste time, folding the end over as Ahsoka had done in the Bacta chamber, he inserted the exposed circular end into the access socket of the lift terminal. Within seconds the lift door opened, bathing the small recess they stood within in a bright white light. They were both mildly aware of yellow flashing light coming from the channel as the lift door closed swiftly in front of them.
✦
N’dali sensed it immediately and was prepared for the signal this time. She was able to place a majority of her other activities on a passive standby but only after assuring herself that Chams would not be compromised before working to establish a link to the closest outlet she could to R3’s active ping. Her present host was close enough to the realized proximity of the signal as she found two active transponding sources that were within less than a meter of the ping itself. ‘Ashla…’ She thought to herself, finding the familiarity with source closest. N’dali thrust her coding through the link and into the self-activated channel.
✦
“Ashla?” Ahsoka’s wrist comm chirped as it hung loosely at her side, startling both occupants of the lift simultaneously. Rex wasn’t sure who Ashla was, but the voice was unmistakable. He fired a quick glance toward Ahsoka who was already looking at him.
“Ashla?” N’dali asked again over the comm.
Ahsoka, bewildered, slowly lifted her own comm to her lips, “N’dali?….”
“The same. Please do not ask how, we do not have time. R3 is with you?”
Ahsoka, still stunned, did not respond right away.
“What’s left of him.” Rex replied for them both.
“There is insufficient information with which to assist. You are on Botajef, yes?” N’dali was quick with the basics.
“Um, sort of.” Ahsoka stumbled.
“In orbit above it.” Rex replied.
“I do not understand.” N’dali was straightforward.
“We think this is Aborah, I downloaded what we could on my comm device.” Rex answered with as much information as he could.
“Hold please…”
“Definitely N’dali.” Ahsoka whispered to Rex, still in disbelief himself.
“Rex, raise your arm.” N’dali said over Ahsoka’s comm.
Rex raised his left arm in compliance as the holoemitter within his wrist comm chirped to life. “This is the information I had been looking for. You are central to a docking hub for massive distribution efforts, Viper variant 11-3K Mechis II probe droids…”
“Yes, we had gotten that far too.” Ahsoka admitted.
“Well, on a scale that could swarm the galaxy if distributed properly, but more directly to the point, you are currently rising through the lower levels into the mid-section of a facility I cannot identify.” N’dali continued quickly.
“Aborah...it seems to be cloning facility.” Ahsoka said quickly.
“Factory…” Rex added with a hint of disgust.
“That is concerning.” N’dali added quickly, “I have acquired your download Rex and can guide you both verbally if you wish to deactivate your device.”
Rex complied quickly, lowering his arm in return.
“I can alter your exit from this lift, gaining entrance to the lower levels of the upper quadrant. From there you will have to listen carefully because there is notably more biologic activity within the upper levels. The first thing we need to do is access a more secure terminal after you exit the lift. I have only access to the facility’s basics within the lift terminal.” N’dali recited quickly, almost gelling the words into an incomprehensible jumble. Ahsoka was uncertain if it was excitement or a pressing need to hurry for reasons the Thebasken wasn’t willing to divulge that authored the haste.
“They know we’re here.” Rex offered with a quip, positing the sum of their knowledge up to the point. “I wasn’t able to secure that before Ahsoka could.”
“Yes they do know, but that registry came from a source far removed from your own.” N’dali slowed her verbiage somewhat.
“The lower levels...the lift...the channel?” Rex and Ahsoka exchanged confused glances with one another.
“The facilities control center. Level AA.”
“How…” Ahsoka asked the question that didn’t seem to have any apparent answer.
“Irrelevant at the moment, you are arriving at your destination. Exit the lift and take the first left into the corridor beyond. Do either of you have a headset?” N’dali asked with a small degree of unexpected hesitation.
“I think so.” Rex responded quickly, rummaging through the pack at his hip quickly before extracting a single ear bead, “yes, transferring now.” He stated synching the ear bead to his own device and pressing the unit into his left ear.
“Good, then we do not need to worry about audio disturbance.” N’dali responded, pinging the device in Rex’s ear for a split second with a piercing squelch just before she called his name, testing the transfer.
“I read.” Rex responded to the check.
“On you Rex.” Ahsoka said, placing a hand on his back as he lowered his body closer to the ground the moment the lift doors opened with a slight hiss. He shuffled his stance quickly to the intersection N’dali had mentioned and peered around the corner. The expansive corridor resembled the Bacta level in austerity, and aside from large clear windows gracing either side, they were identical. Rex felt his instinctive crouch deserved as he shuffled quickly to the edge of the first clear partition to his left. Lifting his head only enough to see through the panel he noted three pod that were similar to the ones on the lower levels, the contents, however, vastly different. The liquid within had a stunning clarity to it despite the mix of green and blue coloring flowing in circular patterns around dormant bodies within. Neat rows of monitoring equipment lined the right side of the chamber, blinking through their observations with wavy patterns on spotless display screens. He returned his gaze to the pods themselves, noting the peacefulness expressed on the faces of each of the three individuals within, all of them identical in appearance. Human female of approximately fifteen years in age, cascading blonde hair that floated through the liquid substance all about their heads in chaotic patterns Rex found soothing. At the moment he questioned their lividity, they each exhaled through black mouthpieces, expunging a cascade of slowly moving bubbles upward, one after the other.
Ahsoka’s inspection mirrored Rex’s as she crept in and peeked just above the clone’s head. She tapped lightly on her friend’s shoulder when she noted the Arabesh above the monitor displays, offering a suggestive direction with a pointed finger, “-01, -02, -03,” She whispered lightly into Rex’s right ear. Ahsoka turned her head slowly to view the panel inset into the wall to their right and the seams of access door that were barely visible. Above it the Arabesh was clear, ‘Z21’. She continued downward along the seam to the right of the doorway, finding a circular terminal once again, white to match the color of the walls. “I think I understand Rex.” She whispered again, “these levels are where the cloning takes place. From here up. The lower levels are reserved for experimentation I think.”
“Ahsoka, this place is an afront to everything I stand for.” Rex whispered in disgust. “We need to help them.”
Ahsoka was afraid the clone would say that as she closed her eyes, an effort to will some way to make that happen into existence, “I have no idea how…” She admitted, lacking anything of merit to add beyond. She continued gazing through the window before her attention was drawn to the bubbles of exhale once again. Her eyes fired open with a haste that surprised her despite registering what she was seeing. “Ask N’dali if she can access what she needs from the terminal at the door just here.” Ahsoka stated a little louder than she wanted to, reaching a hand forward toward a doorway Rex couldn’t see, not once taking her gaze from the sight contained.
“She said no, but there should be one inside the room that she can.” Rex responded quietly, turning his head upward to see the expression on her face. “What is it?” He asked immediately, sure it was either horrifying or disgusting, probably both.
“Look between the pods Rex…” Ahsoka whispered in response, sliding R3’s memory core from his right hand and into her own. She stepped lightly toward the door, finding it as easily as she had the doorway adjacent. Rex squinted his eyes, trying to bring into focus the blur of green and white in the background before his iris caught the distinctive view of row upon row of similar pods that expanded both up and down out of eyesight. Without thought he stood from his position, damning any form of secrecy and began rethinking any thought of saving anyone from this place.
“What are you seeing Rex?” N’dali asked into the clones left ear, Ahsoka already twisting the makeshift key back to close the door to the chamber. Rex could only gasp in a mix of wonder and horror as he approached a clear divide between the chamber and the initial pods they had viewed, “N’dali there must be thousands here…” He recited as he glanced both downward, seeing an end to the circular rows of pods at least six rows below his own level, and upward stretching out of eyesight entirely.
“Eight thousand, two hundred and forty-seven. You are only looking centrally Rex, there are the same amount on the other side of the corridor you entered.” N’dali stated, clearly housing more information than she just previous. Rex turned quickly to see that Ahsoka had found a terminal access aside the monitoring devices.
“We can’t save them all…” Rex found himself saying, his own voice surprising him as thought transferred to speech without the decision to do so.
“Rex. I don’t know that even one could be.” N’dali responded, an issuance that deviated from every utterance thus far with an emotional quality Rex missed completely. “Aborah is a bastion with only two constants Rex. Life and death. There are no alternatives. You are in the place where everything begins.”
“I don’t understand N’dali.” Rex stated, catching Ahsoka’s attention.
“Symphar, Danth, Y’gall, Keno...you are where they all began.”
“What is it Rex?” Ahsoka asked with an urgent gaze.
He could only look into her blue eyes, his own glazing over with the weight of the galaxy thrust upon them, “the end is the beginning.”
✦
Assuring herself that Rex exited the pod safely, Nara insisted that Ahsoka follow, waiting five more seconds before activating the device at her own wrist and slowing the pod to a crawl. She stepped from its vile contents with a sure foot on the metallic walkway just beyond the divide that separated the main maintenance access causeway to the automated assembly just beyond her own position to the left. The mechanism that continuously boiled the air before sending superheated jets of steam at differing angles into empty pods that passed them by waited with a simmering pop until she released her pause upon the assembly altogether. Nara waited for a few seconds, listening through the silence for some sign that neither Ahsoka nor Rex had fallen before she walked another meter to her left and accessed a maintenance lift with her stolen code cylinders. She turned upon entering the lift, waited until the door closed, then tapped her wrist to start the process again. As soon as she heard the gush of gaseous water erupt she slid the cylinder into the access port, “Level D.” She said as the lift waited for her guidance.
“Your thoughts are hidden from me Nara, is it so easy to turn your back on those that have offered you a trust you’ve never had?” Zannah spoke through her mind.
Nara concentrated her thoughts into the space reserved for her alone, detached from the meanderings of the symbiotic spirit and assured herself they were hers exclusively.
‘Do not be so quick to judge, my reasons are my own, but they are just.’ Nara thought in return.
“You have successfully concealed much it seems, far more than the sum of the parts that arrived on Ambria.” Zannah returned, nascent of any accusatory proclamation or subjective criticisms.
‘There are few things that I had mastered prior Mistress, but concealment was mandatory. You have no idea the power that resides within Sidious.’
“Nor you it would appear.” Zannah replied.
Nara exposed a path to her own emotions briefly, one that Zannah followed but didn’t pursue verbally. Nara sensed the intrusion but found leeway in her own heart to trust the entity within with the sum of any information gleaned.
“You exhibit concern yet show no fear Nara, how is this?” Zannah pursued another path entirely.
“I have come to terms with the emotion Zannah, but my fear died on Conum Arnia...that was far more than symbolic. I would have thought you capable of recognizing that.” Nara said aloud, tired of the silence surrounding her.
“Capable, quite. But your complacency is almost autonomous.”
“Only because I have to conceal the sum of my emotions for the time being Zannah. They are quite active however, I assure you.” Nara said, fighting a sadness that Zannah would quickly identify and one that could thwart her intentions completely. She reached down to her wrist again and accessed Aborah’s security system, setting a distress entry that would notify central command that a security breach had occurred on the lower levels, assuring herself that neither her position, nor that of her companions would be compromised on the higher levels.
“I do not understand what is happening Nara.” Zannah commented, true to her prophetic claims earlier as she was out of both time and place, and now, clearly lost to the workings of the host that had willingly contributed to the symbiosis they both enjoyed.
“You will Mistress, I promise.” Nara replied, lowering her wrist to her side once again.
Long seconds passed as Nara struggled with her emotions, containing enough internal objectivity to keep the struggle concealed to her thoughts alone. All at once, the lift came to an abrupt halt, the doors opening with a slight hiss from its actuator. Nara stole her gaze forward, turning right with sure footsteps into the corridor that would lead her to ‘D22’. She passed view after view as she had expected without a glance into any of the rooms, ‘D2,’ then ‘D14’ when she bothered to look again. Not a soul could be sensed within the corridor itself, if there were any biologics within the rooms themselves, she didn’t care. She stopped abruptly and turned her gaze to the view she had expected all along and positioned the cylinder into the terminal for room ‘D21.’
The door slid silently open, her ears conceding to her mind what she knew she would hear and began stringing the words together before the Kaminoan in the room could utter them. Silent as a whisper, her eyes closed to the reality before her, “You are beautiful child, and we are so proud of you.” She sang the melody that haunted her dreams even now, a moment out of sync with the Kaminoan that faced the pods. Nara opened her eyes and struck her gaze with the building anger she had been harboring, surprising Zannah with its ferocity and the host’s ability to wield such force. The intensity of Nara’s gaze bore directly into the open eyes of the first pod, sensing the immediate trepidation within them and the fear as of yet unrealized. With a crushing fist, Nara deactivated the security features within the room before snapping her wrist to her side and activating a single blade from the oversized hilt. With three quick steps, she impaled the Kaminoan with a vicious thrust.
The Kaminoan displayed no desire to thrust or twist from death’s embrace as her life extinguished before she could register any pain. Nara let the dead form slump against the clear partition that now separated her from her own cloned replica within the pod, the woman within screaming in killing doses of the liquid in which she was submerged. The breathing apparatus lost to her grip in fitful efforts to free herself, it tumbled lazily to the bottom of the pod that was frantically churning with bubbles of vacated air. Nara looked up at the marker in Arabesh above the pods -01 designation, “subject twenty-five…” The anger that had taken complete control whisked itself into a higher level of rage as she stepped to the side, maintaining a vigilant eye on the slowing throes within the first pod and lashed out with the blade, shattering the glass partition entirely.
Zannah remained silent through observation alone, understanding enough of their presence to realize the validity of the actions taking place.
As the shards fell beyond sight below, Nara plunged her saber deeply into the center pod and tore through the encapsulated clone within with a sideways jerk, the monitoring equipment to her left eliciting a static tone. “I mock no memory,” Nara spoke with a dour tone, Zannah unsure if the emotional source was anger or sorrow. Nara blinked her eyes slowly before sliding the third pod and repeating the action. “I have no contempt.”
She said as the second tone added its chime of finality to the first. Nara then walked to the first pod again, the eyes of the body within fluttering with receding clarity, the throes of fear slowing to a crawl. Nara plunged the saber deeper into the chest cavity and held it there, only subtly aware of the crackling the blade endured as the fluid within gushed with force. Nara was certain the same had happened with the other two pods, but she had been unwilling to expend any amount of focus on what was happening, only the action itself. “The contempt is Aborah itself, I will not relent!” She snapped with a vicious rage, her voice echoing through the cylindrical chamber beyond and reverberating off the thousands of pods within her view. She closed her eyes, furrowing them tight before opening them with a resolve that fermented her following actions. She spun her head quickly and eyed the room across the corridor, room ‘D22’ and ignited the second half of the saber in her grip.