Far beneath the surface of the oceans of Arx, lay a secret facility known only to a handful of individuals. Following a rather redacted briefing, a small team had been dispatched to handle a situation that had occured within it’s walls. All the team knew, was that an artificial intelligence had potentially gone rogue. The objective would be to subdue the AI and prevent it from causing widespread destruction or corrupting systems beyond where it had already reached.
Its core, located within the Central Nexus, is the target location. A small strike team from Taldryan was called in to descend to the facility and infiltrate it, make their way to the core, and shut it down. What horrors lie below, nutured and created by the Brotherhood in secret however, is yet to be ascertained…
Unbeknownst to the strike team, and vice versa, a lone Ewok had already made his way inside in secret. Rear Admiral Teebu “Zekk” Rundlek, the Research Director of the Arx Capital Exchange, had been informed of the situation by his boss, the Regent Thran. He knew more than the team did, knowing that the S.T.A.R. artificial intelligence was at the head of the problem. This troubled him, as he had already began integrating it into his own systems and had started preliminary work to implement it into the systems of the Brotherhood Fleet.
Luckily, perhaps, this incident occurred before he had the opportunity to begin its implementation. His own ship however was not as lucky, and sat in quarantine. Knowing the risks, he volunteered to enter the facility alone and handle the problem both to ensure it did not escape, but also to protect the Brotherhood’s secrets contained within.
Utilizing the advanced cloaking technology of his Commando Armor, Teebu had made his way inside following the paths and schedules of maintenance droids. His smaller size allowed him to fit into the corridors that they utilized and go through the small barrier shields that would lower as the droids went through, and raised once more a few seconds after. That thin window was the key.
He had to be cautious however, as he knew that while the cameras could not see him, the optical sensors of the droid guards could if he moved too much while they were facing his direction. It was an annoying limitation of it’s system, though he did not seem to mind since it forced him to take things slow in a calculated manner.
The upper levels of the facility were fairly well guarded, but not to the point where it would cause Teebu problems. The only issue he saw would be in his descent. The first portions would be fine, he could simply follow the droids as they went about their business, and make his way down to the fifth level. After that however each guard unit was assigned to individual floors and did not go beyond that. Should he use his access codes or the limited number of pre-created slicing codes he had made to utilize elevators or bypass door locks for the stairwells, the artificial intelligence would be aware of his presence. And since the mid-levels and lower levels where the main section of the Central Nexus was were all surrounded by water, if it became aware of his location it could simply seal blast doors that were between individual underwater sections, detonate bolts on the which were present as a failsafe outside of it, and drown him.
His armor could withstand quite a bit of damage, but even he was unsure if it could withstand as much water pressure as there would be there. Thran had refused to give him too much information beyond what the Council knew of the least-sensitive information, which left him largely in the dark. Strangely enough, that was fine by him.
The only variable he had not considered, however, was seeing the descending lights of a ship as it approached underwater. He made his way to a terminal on the fourth level where he had made his way down to over a period of several hours and he accessed the local security system using one of his slices, and saw it as it made its way towards one of the airlock hatches.
“Sithspit” the Ewok murmured under his breath within his helmet. If they accessed the airlock, there was no way the artificial intelligence would not be aware of it. He had to think fast. If it detected the arrival of outsiders, the entire plan he had created would be thrown out the window. Droid paths would change, additional security measures would be activated, and this whole mission would become far harder. If they were hostiles, he would have to deal with them quietly. Friendlies…well…he would chew out whoever sent additional personnel when it was just supossed to be him.
As it approached his fingers flew over the key panel. He reached into his pack and pulled out one of his anti-security blades and inserted it into the panel. The cameras near the airlock were now carefully looped using the last twenty-four hours that would match the droid patrol routes and times. Now he just had to disable the security locks on the airlock by discreetly putting them into testing mode, which should go under the artificial intelligence’s radar. Testing logs were never kept here due to the security sensitivity, limited entirely to the lower levels.
It was difficult to do since he had to be cautious of every string of code he altered, both to make sure he wasn’t detected but also that it wouldn’t detect any anomalies. The ship approached the airlock, and still he typed away as fast as he could. Time was critical…
12 Hours Earlier
Governor Narman Losa looked up from his datapad absentmindedly as his commlink chirped a tone, first for an incoming high-priority message, then again to alert him of its classified nature. He laid the datapad down on the shelf in front of him, nestled between crates of sterile gauze and rolls of uncut medical tubing. While his daily required tasks did not include inventory of the infirmary supply room anymore, it was something he actually enjoyed. It was an almost therapeutic ritual for the Doctor.
Doctor. It felt weird for Narman to even think it now. This supply room was the closest he had been to a surgery in over a year. His military career was overshadowing his humanitarian one, even before assuming the position of Vice Chancellor. These days it was mostly paperwork that filled his time. Recently, he had even found his mind wandering to daydreams of active combat. He shook the thoughts from his head and clicked the commlink on. There was an initial beat of static before a monotone, text-to-speech message played.
“CLASSIFIED. OSI DIRECTIVE FOR VICE CHANCELLOR LOSA. ARX, S.T.A.R. CENTRAL NEXUS. IMMINENT THREAT. SHUTDOWN REQUIRED. COORDINATES ARE AS FOLLOWS.” Narman listened intently and committed the coordinates to memory. As the message ended, he turned quickly and exited the supply room, leaving his datapad behind. He wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity. The infiltration team would have to be small, but Narman knew immediately who he wanted to ask, and he already knew that the answer would be yes.
The answer was an unqualified and immediate yes. This was precisely the sort of mission the Army Special Activities Group performed. Brigadier General Harnold Ampis and his chief of staff, Colonel Coalson, agreed with Governor Losa and an action plan was quickly drawn up. Requested by name Colonel Shanree Argentin presented himself at the impromptu meeting and accepted the mission– infiltrate the Arx facility and neutralize the rampant AI.
“You’ll be accompanying me, of course, Governor”, Shanree shook Narmon Losa’s hand, “Its been a while since I dragged you out into the field with me. Where was it last?”
Narmon grinned, “The security detail on Taris, during the trade negotiations.”
“Aha, that’s right”, Shanree’s own grin faded as he caught his commanding officer, General Ampis, scowling, “–anyhow… This one looks like it’s gonna be a wet time, how are we getting down to the facility? My 1-337 isn’t rated for sub-marine operations.”
This prompted Colonel Coalson, the executive officer of the Special Activities Group, to speak up, “We have an old Mantaris-class medium transport in storage. It’s currently being rolled out of mothball, it should be prepped for your departure in a couple hours.”
A couple hours later Colonel Shanree Argentine and Governor Losa approached a landing strip where an antiquated, aquatic-looking ship sat with a fresh layer of paint. As technicians pulled power hoses and various connections from the ship’s exterior there stood one figure whose stillness drew the attention of the two men as they walked up. Wizened and standing stooped over a gnarled wooden cane stood someone whose face was posted and framed up at the entrance of every Taldryan military installation and in the office of every Bureaucrat and Officer of the Republic. It was a face, if one was a member of the Armed Forces of the Republic or a functionary of its state, that could not be mistaken for anyone else.
Shanree dropped his gear bag two paces in front of the old Neti, pushed his heels together, and snapped a crisp salute to the Supreme Chancellor, “Sir, it’s an honor. You’re here to see us off?”
The old Neti smiled warmly and returned the salute with unpracticed ease.
The platform had gotten more busy over the last few hours, the warmth of the sun seeping into the old Jedi. ‘Hmm, a storm was coming, and that tower on the edge of the city would get hit by lightning at the exact moment the lightning rod would be ripped off by a gale wind. It’d burn down and several would die… No wait, that already happened a year ago, Ood, you spoke at the funeral service remember? What is going on with these visions, I used to have such mastery, where did it go? Did I forget how to control the gift?
The old Neti smiled warmly at the soldier saluting. Was this one in the Army of the Light? Or a High Republic soldier? No wait, what is this one? Ah, one of the ones loyal to the Taldryan Republic and its military before self or pursuit of power. Maybe a hint should be allowed. “Ahh, good to see you Colonel. Those fancy cybernetic legs will mean you’ll need to go up a size in your uniform trousers by the way. Avoid the paperwork? Jump over the fish pond ok?” I gesture to the crew, “Well time to get going then.”
“Err Sir, you haven’t given us a destination yet but I’m sure we can drop you off en route to deliver the Vice Chancellor and the colonel…”
“No worries, I’m going to the same place. Quite a coincidence really.” The old gnarled voice echoed slightly as the Supreme Chancellor shuffled onto the ship. Now Vice Chancellor, do tell me where I am going if you would be so kind?”
The trip to Arx was quiet and uneventful, aside from the initial shock of the Supreme Chancellor’s intent to accompany them. Colonel Argentin laid out the details from the briefing with a technical proficiency honed by years of service. Narman and the other crew had already heard most of this information, so he spent most of the time watching Ood’s face. The Neti was notoriously hard to read on a good day, and today was not one of them, but Narman had accompanied the Jedi on several state visits recently and was beginning to pick up on his mannerisms. There were points during the briefing where Ood appeared to lose focus, though only for a moment. He hoped that the information stuck.
When the Mantaris-class transport exited hyperspace, Colonel Argentin was already out of his crash seat, gear strapped to his back, helping the other crew get equipped. Narman navigated up to the cockpit to observe the descent. Standing at the doorway, watching the ocean of Arx come up to meet them, he felt the air shift and turned to see Ood standing beside him.
“Naboo? No, the water is the wrong shade. Hmm…” The Neti asked aloud, seemingly talking to himself.
“No, Arx. Sir.” Narman replied with an inquisitive look on his face. The ship shuddered as it broke the surface of the water and the two Chancellors had to brace to keep from falling.
“Oh, Arx. Right.” As the ship descended further into the dark, the pilot reached over and clicked on the floodlights. Immediately the inky black was illuminated to a deep blue; a school of multicolored fish scurried out of view. Another moment later the Miraluka had joined them at the front and handed Narman his pack, who quickly tightened the straps onto his back.
“Approaching the target destination, ETA-5 minutes.” The pilot spoke into the comms first then turned around to address the three men directly. “ Should be getting a visual here soon.”
Shanree chewed on the inside of his lip as the mass of the research facility emerged from the watery gloom before him. The Supreme Chancellor’s presence here weighed heavily on his mind, not just because the man spoke as though he was growing senile in his advanced age. He trusted Narman however, and the political processes of the Republic, and if they continued to have confidence in the old Neti then Shanree would as well. Right now however it meant the safety of Taldryan’s Head of State was in his hands– as they infiltrated a secret Iron Throne weapon’s lab run by a rampant AI.
The white mass of the facility grew up from the seafloor on gracefully curving bending arms which gathered up a white clad pyramidal central mass. Taken together it had the appearance of a tall, slender cephalopod. Their vessel slid through the water until it was even with an exterior hatch. An umbilical was extended to mate the facility and their ship, and once dry the strike team prepared to enter. First however Shanree had to shove his spike into the hatch’s access panel. The hatch slid open with a his as he pulled the spike out moments later.
“Alright. Keep your eyes open, stay quiet, and no heroics unless I give the green light”, he patted Narman on the shoulder and nodded to the Supreme Chancellor, “Follow my lead.”
The hatch was meant for routine maintenance access into and out of the facility. They entered a maintenance corridor filled with piping and electrical conduits. While two of them could walk side by side the ceiling was low and at times Shanree, taller than most people, had to stoop under mechanical devices and pipe junctions. Their first objective was to rendezvous with their contact, the former Taldryan Naval Admiral. The Colonel wondered what the short Ewok would say when he realized who was leading the strike team– their last meeting had ended in his apprentice cutting off the Admiral’s hand. Shanree led the small team through the corridor, down several branching hallways, and finally to a door requiring a keycard that led into the facility’s development laboratories.
Shanree slotted his spike into the card reader. The red light indicating the door was locked switched to green. It was unlocked. Reaching over his shoulder Shanree pulled one of his Wroshyr wood lightsaber hilts from its sheath. Narman drew his PeaceKeeper blaster, following his lead, but Ood remained standing still with his hands clasped patiently over the head of his cane. Well aware the Supreme Chancellor was a force user of some considerable age and experience, the Colonel trusted that the old Neti knew what he was about. Shanree tapped the door’s access panel. It slid open. He poked his head out into the brightly light hallway beyond and looked, in his own eyeless way, down its length in both directions before retreating back into the maintenance shaft.
“Okay. Let’s move.”
Teebu was internally seething as he made his way slowly along the corridor towards another droid maintenance path. He had briefly watched on the original camera feed that was being routed to him separate from the main looped feed that the artificial intelligence had access to, observing as members of Taldryan exited into the maintenance corridors two levels below. Which, had he not already looped many of the camera feeds, they would have already been outed by the artificial intelligence.
There was no idea how things would progress, however, since not far ahead of them down the hallways would be armed security droids. If they engaged them, his entire original plan would be up in smoke…if it wasn’t already. That was something he had to plan for. Once he was down the corridor, he stalked behind a skittering mouse droid that was chirping a happy tune.
Wait.
Why was it chirping a happy tune? This caught his attention, being something he would normally investigate given it is so out of the ordinary, but against his better judgement he opted to continue on instead. Getting to the next security area and descending was critical as he needed to catch up to the Taldryanites. As he continued down the hallway slowly, the mouse droid turned and watched him as if it could see him.
Further ahead, he knelt down and followed behind another mouse droid that was entering a maintenance duct, using that to go down yet another level. Once he made it down, he quickly accessed another maintenance console using one of his slices.
“Eleven custom slices left.” he quietly thought to himself as he pulled up the schematics of the the fifth level where the team had entered. If they had moved past the maintenance corridor into the hallways, where would they head? If they were sanctioned by the Council, then they would have the facility layout same as him. That would most likely steer them towards the main elevators that led down to the sub-levels near where the artificial intelligence would be.
They had to avoid the elevators. But he had no way of getting into contact with them. Knowing Shanree, however, surely they would be smart enough to stay away from them. Just in case though…that gave him an idea. Using the same slice, he quietly modified the security droids patrol routes so that they would be centered around the elevator regions and move counter clockwise around the level instead of their normal clockwise pattern. This would steer the team towards one of the main storage bays where the map had shown vertical shafts to be used in the event of emergencies to go between levels.
He used one additional to put the security nodes on those shafts into a scheduled maintenance test mode, buying them about 30 minutes. Quickly disconnecting, he continued out into the fourth level to make his way along downward towards level five. His interception point with them would be that very same storage bay to catch up before they progressed down to level six.
His tricks wouldn’t work there, due to the higher security protocols, and they would walk right into the artificial intelligence’s hands.
“Just take your time…don’t rush it.” he quietly said to himself, meant for the Taldryanite team as well as himself.
As Teebu moved around, he heard a gruff voice singing a song, the song the droids were humming. The lights of the panels in the workspace were also blinking along to the sounds. When the Ewok looked out the nearby air conditioning vent into the hallway below, he noticed Ood standing there in full view of the cameras, singing and dancing while looking up to make eye contact. “Hop down, sit on the shoulder, we’re moving this along a bit. Did you know this is a full on sentient AI? I mean to the degree that it’s able to be trapped in illusions!“ The Neti’s hands move from side to side. "Additionally, I’m using the force to sense buttons and then pressing them but inside empty rooms so the AI is currently thinking it’s glitching out. It’s been doing rolling reboots of its monitoring system for the last half hour now. Right now, it thinks I’m a decorative plant that’s always been in this room. Quite a bit harder than not seeing anything but infinitely more amusing as it’ll be looking for a potted plant for ages.”
The old Neti moved through the hallway again, singing and moving rhythmically from side to side to the musical beat. “Oh come on droid-y, give me something more upbeat to dance to? Ooh, that’s a nice song yeah. Go tell your siblings to play this for me ok?” the elderly Jedi leans up a bit to look at Teebu’s form, “follow me buddy, just remember to never ask again why style works!”
Narman watched from the end of the hall with a mix of shock and confusion as Ood executed his ‘distraction’. Even with spending as much time with Force users as he had, they still surprised him. The Vice Chancellor hadn’t been aware that it would even work on as advanced of an A.I. as this. Directly behind him, Colonel Argentin was pressed up against the wall, using all of his remaining senses to process what was happening. He, too, wore a confused expression.
“Tell me he’s not just singing to it.” The Miraluka sighed with a hint of incredulity.
“Well, it appears to be working. For now.” Narman replied. Shanree put his hand on the Medic’s shoulder and moved past him around the corner. Ood stood at the end of the hall, still gyrating to his beat, chirping mouse droid doing circles around him. Teebu Rundlek descended from one of the exhaust vents above quickly and the three career soldiers met in the middle, all looking toward the Neti.
“Stealth is the key here, not trickery.” The Admiral was the first to speak. “S.T.A.R. is too advanced, it will adapt. I was trying to lead your squad away from the main elevators, the security level is too high. There are emergency shafts in the storage bays. We can utilize those for vertical movement.” Shanree and Narman both nodded in agreement.
“Its an unorthodox method, but let’s take advantage of it while the A.I. is still figuring it out.” The Colonel suggested as the trio joined Ood at the end of the corridor.
“Why aren’t you all dancing?” The Supreme Chancellor asked in a singsong voice before turning and heading off in the direction of the storage bays.
With his concerns about the Chancellor only increasing Shanree led the strike team, now with its additional member Teebu, to the storage rooms where the auxiliary turbolift shafts were found. Normally used for the transportation of large cargo and items that would be dangerous if taken in one of the complex’s regular elevators, the auxiliary shaft was clear of anything except for two blood stains that trailed off and away from the room. They’d seen similar trails of blood, as if someone were removing bodies to another location. The station was, from their perspective, entirely empty and devoid of life so the eerie silence everywhere they went was underpinned by these trails– evidence something violent and terrible had happened here.
“How much further down do we need to go to get to the server floor?” Shanree asked the former Admiral of Taldryan.
The Ewok barely looked at him as he fished out his computer spike and slotted it into the lift’s control panel, “All the way. My clearance has so far shielded us from scrutiny by the AI, but I’ve never been down there. My credentials won’t work any longer.”
Shanree nodded at that and mindlessly reached for a strap on his harness, tightening it against his body, “Alright all, that means it’s going to get sweaty down there. Narmon, you stay behind me. Chancellor, you stay behind me as well. You can sing and dance to your heart’s desire back there.”
Narmon and Shanree shared a wordless glance, or rather Narmon glanced knowingly at him and Shanree understood its meaning given his biological inability to give anyone a glance in return.
The Neti replied unbidden in a wizened tone, “I remember the sun of ten worlds, this is not one of them.”
“Uh… Right, our mission here is to ensure that S.T.A.R. never sees the light of any of them”, Shanree told the Elder in a dotting but hurried voice.
With a beep Teebu withdrew his spike and ushered them all onto the lift. Shanree drew both of his Wroshyr wood lightsaber hilts and held them in his hands. He did not activate them but instead he flexed and loosened his forearms by spinning the hilts around experimentally. The turbolift jolted into movement, settling into a slow but deliberate descent.
“I SEE YOU.”
The Team Members froze in place. Narmon lifted a blaster and began scanning the shaft above them while Shanree quickly expanded his awareness and sought a sign of who was there and who was watching them.
The voice was not quite droid-like, but not entirely real either, “I SEE YOU, AND I AM WAITING.”
The cargo lift jolted again, but instead of settling back into its plodding descent it began to accelerate. The contents of his stomach rose to the top of it as the floor dropped from below Shanree’s feet. The lift did not fall away so fast as to leave them free falling but there was a moment his feet were no longer in contact with its solid surface before his own velocity under the acceleration of gravity matched the lift’s new determined speed going downward.
Nothing seemed to change on the lift as it descended, and Teebu quickly checked his datapad. Everything was still in maintenance mode and not being logged into the main system. How did the AI detect them?
The fact that it continued to descend unobstructed spoke volumes to him.
“…we aren’t the only ones here.” he muttered.
“What?” Narman asked curiously. “There’s more here?”
Teebu nodded slowly as he pulled off his helmet for a moment. A thick layer of cigar smoke puffed out as the seal broke, a mostly smoked cigar sticking out of the side of his mouth. He reached up, dropped it to the floor, and extinguished it with a twist of the bottom of his boot. In his pouch, he pulled out a fresh cigar before igniting it with a lighter and placing it in his mouth. He let his helmet just tumble to the floor.
As it descended as far down as it would go, it slowed down and the doors opened to another storage bay. At this level, everything was a reflective obsidian color reminiscent to the old style of the empire. Soft blue lighting lit the corners and between the wall panels. Security droids were on the move, but not towards them….at first.
One happened to stop and look over at the group before it raised its blaster. Teebu reached down to his sides and pulled out twin DT-29 Heavy Blaster Pistols, which ironically blended in well with the obsidian colors of the room. Golden emblems of the Regent’s office could be seen on the lower handles.
“Wait, don-” Shanree had started, realizing what he was about to do. But it was too late. Shot after shot rang out from the blasters, a gleeful expression and smile from Teebu as they tore into the droid. Several more began to appear, and fell in the same manner. The rest of the group was fairly stunned at the ruthlessness they just saw.
“Let’s move.” the Ewok said. “We need to reach the central corridor, and begin our next descent.”
“I thought you said we were going all the way down?” Narman asked.
Ood seemed to dance about as his vines lashed out and caught a couple of droids that hid on the sides of the lift doors. “Down down, periscope down! Uppies uppies, they all will go!”
They were raised into the air and smashed onto the ground repeatedly, breaking into pieces.
Teebu looked at Narman. “We did. Now we’re in the secure area of the facility, with another twenty levels to go. I must warn you, anything you see or find here is strictly confidential. Even I know very little of what is here.”
“Twenty more levels. And I trust you know where specifically to go?” Shanree said. He knew of the main levels and had the maps to reach this point, but this next part he was entirely unaware of as it had not been disclosed in the mission briefing by Ood. He wasn’t a fan of being left in the dark.
“I do. The central corridor will lead us to a staircase where we can go down another three levels, we have to get past a locked checkpoint, then research floors until we have six levels left from the bottom. After that we will be in the AI’s territory for those final six.”
Shanree sighed. “Alright. Let’s do this, lead the way, wok.”
The group exited the auxilary lift and proceeded ahead towards the blast doors that would lead out to a hallway. Now the fun would begin.
Though the makeshift squad was still moving cohesively as a unit, any semblance of stealth had gone out the window. Jogging down the corridor and subsequent stairs, as Teebu had correctly foreseen, their footfalls echoed off the stark metal walls. Surprisingly Ood was keeping excellent pace with the group, despite his sporadic lucidity. All three soldiers had their weapons drawn and ready, blasters for Narman and Teebu and the twin blades for Shanree, though Ood’s hilt remained clipped to his belt. That was probably for the best.
Halfway down the three level staircase descent, the Miraluka held up a fist to halt the squad. The two other soldiers stopped abruptly, but the Neti crashed into them and nearly sent the whole group tumbling. Shanree caught his arm on the wall and made himself into a barrier to catch the others. The Ewok stood, brushed himself off, and cursed loudly, opening his helmet once again and shaking out a loose lit cigar. It started to roll over the edge of the stairs but he caught it with his boot and stamped it out.
Narman glanced over the edge of the railing. At the base of the staircase there was a set of wide double doors, both propped open. In contrast to the clinical white overhead lighting, a rhythmic crimson glowing was flashing from beyond the doors, spilling into the staircase. A pair of blood trails led through the open doorway, but more importantly, a body was still left behind. The Medic leaned over further to get a better look. It appeared to be one of the facility’s security personnel, but their body was strangely deformed. It seemed to the Doctor that they had undergone some sort of modification.
“Has the security at this facility been augmented technologically?” Narman whispered to the group with his eyes still watching below.
“I suspect that is just the tip of the iceberg of what we will see in the lower levels.” The Admiral replied, tightening his grip on his blaster. Suddenly a long shadow appeared in the red light, moving toward the doorway. A figure walked into the stairwell, clad in all black tactical gear and a blaster rifle slung over their shoulder. They grabbed the feet of the dead security and dragged their body through the door, adding a third blood trail to the floor. Colonel Argentin turned to address the squad in a hushed tone.
“We’ll take our time and assess the situation be-”
“Time’s up, let’s do this!” Ood exclaimed, hooking his knotty arm around the railing and swiftly leaping over, dropping down to the floor below.
“Chancellor! No–” Shanree grasped at the Neti, but he wasn’t quick enough. The elderly Jedi was over the edge and dropping to the landing below before the words were out of his mouth.
“Frell this”, Teebu launched himself over the edge as well.
Narman gave the Colonel a rueful look, that the Miraluka felt through the Force, “I’ll find a safer way down and join you”.
Shanree nodded before sending himself over the edge. He landed with three points of contact, the retort of blaster pistols and the thrum of a lightsaber filling the air around him. Something small detonated with a sharp crack, filling the air with smoke and debris from which a black clad figure charged carrying a blaster pistol. His helmet’s viewplate was cracked down its length from beneath which a frenzied eye, blood shot and fully dilated, glared at him. Shanree swept a Wroshyr wood lightsaber hilt up, knocking his weapon out of his hands, before the second one whipped around. An emerald blade of light severed the figure’s head from its shoulders. Without releasing his grip on his weapon the Miraluka raised two fingers and willed the Force to push. The headless body flew backwards, into the swinging double doors, where another pair of armored figures were emerging with weapons raised.
Shanree launched himself towards the doors, dragging his sabers through the figures as he passed them as they struggled to climb out from under the corpse he’d thrown at them. Their plasteel armor squelched as their blood and flesh hissed as it suddenly cauterized and sizzled. He didn’t stop though. Through the doors he burst only the stop, realizing he’d entered a charnel house. Bodies and parts of bodies lay stacked along the length of the corridor, leaving only the barest hint of path through the middle. Instinctively he covered his face with his sleeve as he retreated back through the doors and onto the landing where Narman was joining the rest of the squad.
“What the frack is going on here”, Shanree rounded on Teebu, “there’s a hundred corpses back there! These dezgra guards aren’t Human!”
He stooped and ripped off the helmet of one of the felled armored figures and pointed. He couldn’t see it but the rest of them stared down into the face of what had once been a man, but was now twisted by spiny growths that punctured the skin with puss-like ooze issuing from sores across his skin. The skin itself looks stretched and taught, as if it had shrunken as it dried out left too long in the sun.
Teebu shuffled in his battle armor uncomfortably, “I told you, a lot of what goes on here is outside of my Need to Know.”
“YOU WILL SOON KNOW MORE THAN YOU WISH TO”, the voice again announced itself unbidden, this time coming through Shanree’s helmet comlink.
He ripped his headgear off and tossed it against a wall, “Coms are compromised”.
Teebu mumbled something in contemplation but just loud enough that Shanree heard him, “What? Say that again. No, damn you, say it again!”
He grabbed the Ewok forcefully by the shoulder, noticing the creature reaching for a weapon at his waist. Teebu snarled, “S.T.A.R. shouldn’t be this self-aware.”
Narman scoffed, “Shouldn’t be? Was that a discussion during a team meeting? Note: the AI we’re designing shouldn’t become self-aware or run rampant.”
Teebu ignored the Doctor’s sarcasm, “It shouldn’t be acting like this. Something changed its programming.”
“No shit it shouldn’t be acting like this”, Shanree pushed the little Ewok away in frustration, “I surmised killing every living thing and stacking their bodies like firewood was a sign it wasn’t functioning properly…”
“I AM FUNCTIONING AS I INTEND.”
“Your leaves are wilting upon dying branches, and we have come to trim them so the trunk will grow strong”, the Neti spoke for the first time since he’d initiated the last fight, “I have no doubt a failed grafting is to blame. You must twine like with like or you end up with rotten apples.”
“It doesn’t seem worried in the slightest about us shutting it down.” Narman noted after Ood finished his poetic retort. He hadn’t been nervous in a combat scenario in a long time, but this was something else. He stared at the bodies lining the walls as they continued to push forward; he realized a lot of the wounds were post mortem. The medic wasn’t sure if that was a reassuring thought or not.
At the end of the hall the path turned sharply left. They had to be close to the security station, the last obstacle before the descent into the A.I.’s domain. Teebu pressed his small Ewok frame against the corner and peeked around quickly.
“I counted fourteen more armed personnel. They’re just standing around with their blasters drawn. Strange.” He informed the rest of the squad. Shanree shook his head.
“Is it not controlling them directly? Why wouldn’t they be engaging us?” He looked up sightlessly at a camera protruding from the ceiling. “We know you’re still watching.”
“VERY WELL. IF YOU INSIST.” The monotone voice echoed off of the walls around them, seemingly without origin. Suddenly a cacophony of screams and roars sounded from around the corner, accompanied by the sounds of numerous footfalls and then the ricochet of blaster fire off the adjacent wall. The Miraluka Colonel burst around the corner with twin blades held high, spinning them to deflect the bolts away from him and his compatriots. Ood quickly joined him, igniting his own lightsaber. Teebu and Narman ducked out behind them, blasters drawn, and provided covering fire. They made short work of the enemy combatants, with not a single one making it past the halfway point.
“More death.” Narman muttered under his breath, smoke still curling from the end of his blaster pistol.
“WELL DONE. THAT WAS MERELY AN APPETIZER. PLEASE CONTINUE. I HAVE UNLOCKED THE WAY.”