A Father's Blade: Chapter Seventeen

For Geoff Il today is just like any other day.

He leans back in his chair, his feet propped up on the desk in front of him, part of his mind idly drifting, while he pretends to watch the series of closed circuit cameras which are situated throughout the complex.

While he knows he is supposed to be alert – he trusts the computer to actually alert him if something happens.

And in the six years he has worked for BioTech Industries here on Ambria, nothing has ever happened.

He enjoys his job because it is a quiet job. Peaceful. And nothing ever happens.

Unfortunately for Geoff Il, today is not his day.

The computer barks an alarm, startling him, and he tips back in his chair, toppling it over, and cracking his head against the hard tile floor.

Uttering a curse, he stands up, and punches a few keys into the console, to discover that Thesim Gra has wondered into the observation area of Black Sector. And though the computer says he has access to those test subjects, he is expressly denied access to the observation corridor.

Geoff shrugs at the seemingly conflicting orders, but turns on the camera for that section of the building. He frowns as the person in the video is a young woman, only a few years younger than he himself is – with blonde hair tied back into a tight pony tail. He frowns for a second, and checks the profile for Thesim Gra, making sure it says male.

He is reaching for the microphone to tell her that she needs to report to personnel because of an error in her badge when she holds her hand out towards the wall and to his surprise the window suddenly rips out of it.

He curses out loud in his surprise, and slams his fist on the alert button. Then he picks up the commlink and taps in the code for the guard's station. "We have a Jedi in Black Sector."

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The Twi'lek girl hesitatingly steps out of the cell, her red eyes locked on Tahiri's face, the girl's own face angled to hide the hideous scars which run down one side. Confusion and distrust sing in the Force.

And Tahiri nods her head, flooding the Force in return with feelings of comfort and good will. Her hand is still stretched out, palm up, fingers open. A sign of trust, a request for trust.

"I'm not going to hurt you, and I won't let them hurt you anymore either."

The girl slowly slips her hand into Tahiri's and she helps the girl take the step up out of the cell and into the hallway where Tahiri stands.

"My name's Tahiri. What's yours?"

Her voice is hoarse from disuse. "I'm Aseem'lya"

Then the door which Tahiri had entered the hallway through slams open, four guards stepping through – two of which are Yuuzhan Vong warriors, and the other two feel human in the Force.

Aseem'lya steps behind Tahiri, hiding behind her.

The two humans drop to a shooter's crouch and level blasters at her. Their plasteel armor is glinting in the dim lighting of the hall – the full face visors giving them an anonymous air and reminds Tahiri of things she saw in old holograms of Rebel soldiers during the Galactic Civil War. The Yuuzhan Vong warriors take up position on either side of the humans, their amphistaffs uncoiling from around their arms – their vonduun crab armor glistening.

One of the humans calls out, "Get on your knees and put your hands on top of your head. Now!"

Tahiri looks down and back, looking at Aseem'lya's face. "Step back into the cell and wait for me to come back. Okay?"

"You won't leave me will you?"

She smiles at the girl. "Of course not. I promise."

The human calls out again, "Now! On your knees!"

Tahiri hears the clicks of safeties being turned of as she watches Aseem'lya scampers out from behind her, dropping back into the cell she came from, scurrying back into the corner which Tahiri had first seen her. She turns back to the guards and hunkers down slightly, acting as if she is dropping to her knees.

With the Force, she grabs the remains of the transparisteel window and hurls it down the hallway, aiming towards the humans.

She quickly follows, and notices as a pair of guards, one Yuuzhan Vong and one human, jump to either side of the hallway, out of the way of the chunk of transparisteel. She is already running that way, heading towards the guards on the left. As she draws near, she touches the Force, and jumps, flipping once, she sticks her feet straight out, and lands squarely on the stomach of the human.

She can hear him retching inside his visor, and grins as she grabs his blaster rifle, dropping into a roll as the warrior slices his amphistaff where she had just been.

She stops and aims the rifle across the hall, firing off a quick shot – striking that warrior in the face. He flies backward, slamming against the wall, his countenance now a blackened smear.

Then an amphistaff slices in again, taking off the front half of her blaster rifle. She glances towards the other warrior, and hurls the useless gun at him, speeding it up slightly with the Force.

It strikes his shoulder, knocking his weapon wide for a moment – just enough time for Tahiri to fling herself backwards and into a standing fighting stance.

He brings his weapon back around and charges, the amphistaff held near his waistline as he uses it like a spear.

Tahiri touches the Force and jumps, flipping up over the warrior, and can feel a line of fire running down her back where the warrior's blade has nicked her. She lands and twists around, kicking her foot our, slamming it into the back of his right knee.

The force of the impact causes him to bend at the knees and she reaches up and pulls him down over her, slamming his head into the tiled floor. Grunting, she rolls the heavy warrior off of her and the Force screams in warning. She hops out of the way as a blaster bolt tears through the air where she had just been standing.

She spins and looks across the hall to see the other human lining up a second shot. Stretching out her hand, she sends a wave of telekinetic energy at the human, slamming him into the wall. He crumples to the ground, he head lolling at an odd angle.

A massive fist slams into her lower back, sending her stumbling forward and crying out in pain.

She turns around to see the final warrior bending over to retrieve his amphistaff.

Casting her hand behind her, she calls the blaster rifle to it from across the hall.

The muzzle slaps into her outstretched hand and she rears it back, her other hand joining the first as she rushes towards the warrior.

He straightens and she slams the stock into his head, right beneath his ear. He spins with the impact, dropping to the ground. Exhaling slowly, she flips the gun around, and puts the muzzle to his ear, quickly pulling the trigger.

She looks at the blaster rifle for a moment, and then returns to the cell where she had left Aseem'lya. Stopping in front of the broken window, she jerks her head towards the doorway. "Come on, I don't know how much more time we got – and we need to get everyone else out of their cells."

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Chase skids to a stop and does not want to move. He can feel warmth trickling down his face and knows that he has a bloody nose, and the pain which radiates out from it, probably means that it is broken as well.

Finally he opens his eyes, to see the skeletal droid walking towards Noelani, its arm raised, pointing at her. He notices that she's settled herself on the edge of the railing.

And then she's gone.

"Noelani!" His scream is out of his mouth even before he realizes it, and he struggles to stand, his bruised body complaining as he does so.

He gets to his feet just in time to see the hunter droid going over the edge as well.

Cursing, he rushes towards the edge. Grabbing onto the railing, he leans over, trying to see her.

But all he sees is the deep darkness of the forest. He is not even able to make out the forest floor from this height.

"Noelani!"

He climbs upon the railing, fully intending on jumping down himself when a pair of strong, powerful, furry hands grab him and pull him back away from the edge.

He kicks his feet and struggles against the being holding him. "No! Let me go!"

The Wookiee tosses him aside, and for the third time in the past five minutes, Chase is skidding along the wooden planks which make up the platform.

Chase looks around, and sees three more Wookiees surrounding him – and recognizes one of them as part of the security detail who took him off of the Corellian's ship. He sighs, as they stand him back up and once more put him into stun cuffs.

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Kyp drives his commandeered speeder wildly through the streets. Dodging pedestrians and other transports, ignoring the yells and shouts from those he swings past. A short distance from the main entrance to the BioTech complex he slows to a stop, watching the gate and the four guards standing around there. Navy armor. Full face helmets. Blaster rifles slung over one shoulder.

He frowns for a second, watching their actions.

Closing his eyes, he reaches out to Tahiri once again, feeling her closer, clearer, and decides she's definitely still inside the complex. Shrugging, he pushes down on the accelerator, causing the speeder to jump forward; he swings wide and aims towards the gate.

As he closes, he has to admire the guards who rather than bolting, drop into shooter's stances and lift their blaster rifles. When he's a dozen meters away, they open fire – Kyp tries to dodge the bolts, but there's too many.

Suddenly, the speeder lurches to the left, and Kyp has to struggle to keep it aimed towards the gate. He glances in the rear viewer and sees the smoke coming out from it. Then the speeder dips down, running a large furrow into the ground, slamming against the gate.

For a moment, Kyp wonders if the gate is going to come down, but then it collapses, slamming atop the speeder. He looks to the left and the right, noticing that the guards are recovering, and slowly advancing towards the speeder, the rifles aimed towards him.

Grinning, he ignites his saber and slices away the roof and the gate. Then he uses the Force to push himself up out of the whole. The guards track him, letting loose a hail of blaster fire. The bolts that come to close, he bounce back towards the guards, but most he just ignores as he flips and lands within the complex.

He faces the four guards, and they fire.

His grin falters as he bounces the bolts back towards their senders, each of them striking home, burning a hole in chestplates or visors. He shuts down his lightsaber, and darkness claims the area. Startled, he looks up at the light that was shining above the gatehouse, wondering when it was hit during the fight. Giving an internal shrug, he shakes his head, and then dashes to the building.