CHAPTER SEVEN
Jaden grimaced at the sight that greeted him when he lowered the Junker's boarding ramp. Before him were frozen oceans that stretched across the landscape. Raining down on them were large pieces of hail, which made the ground very rough and difficult to navigate even with an environmental suit and a glowrod equipped like he had.
Standing with him, also dressed in environmental suits, were Toah and Khedryn. Marr had elected to stay behind on the ship, and Jaden could sense that Khedryn was tempted to do so as well, perhaps out of a subconscious desire to maroon the Jedi. Whether out of good nature or fear of the repercussions he might have faced, he had changed his mind.
"The signal's coming from about ten miles away from here," the Junker's captain said, reading his portable scanner. "The hailstorm seems to grow stronger the further you go."
"Any life signs?" Toah asked.
Khedryn shook his head. "The storm's blocking out everything except the signal."
"Then let's find out for ourselves," Jaden said, moving ahead of the other two.
* * *
"He is coming home."
A head full of white hair nodded. Black eyes twinkled with anticipation.
"He will finally realize what he was meant to do," a dark voice said in response. "He will free us and lead us to our destinies."
"What if he refuses to?" a third voice asked. "What will we do then?"
"Then we will make him see," the first voice said, sounding wistful. "He has to see. He may have forgotten his original purpose, but we will make him remember."
"Indeed we shall," the second voice said. "I will make sure of it."
* * *
Ice crunching beneath his feet, Jaden peered through the veil of hail falling before him, using the Force to enhance his vision, though it didn't help by much. Up ahead was what appeared to be a facility of some sort. As they came closer to it, he saw that it was marked with the emblem of the Galactic Empire.
After Jaden informed Toah and Khedryn of this, the latter said wryly, "Oh joy. Guess there'll be a stormtrooper welcoming party waiting for us."
But there was no such thing waiting for them when they reached the facility. In fact, the place was all but abandoned; windows were boarded in, the exterior was riddled with dents and cracks, and the entrance door was partially closed at a weird angle, disengaged from its connectors.
"Bad feeling meter increased twenty percent," Khedryn murmured.
Jaden walked up to the damaged door and peered through its small opening. Seeing nothing but darkness, he held his glowrod through it. He found no sign of stormtroopers or any Imperial officers at all. Shoving the door away to create a wider entrance, Jaden stepped in to the facility, with Toah and Khedryn close behind. The sight that greeted them was a quite peculiar one indeed:
Everything was set up as if people had been using them just mere moments before. Stormtrooper armor and equipment rested idly on racks; sabacc cards were spread out across a table, as if the players had left them with the intention of returning to their game; and holographic pieces of a dejarik game fizzled in and out on a holotable.
"Fifty percent," Khedryn said. "Let's get out of here."
"Not yet," Jaden said. "Can you see where exactly the signal is coming from?"
Taking the scanner from the shaking Khedryn's hands, Toah said, "Down the main corridor, fourth door to the left."
The three men went down the corridor and entered a large chamber, which appeared to be some sort of lab. Rows of vials- some of them filled with colored liquids- dominated large shelf-cases while a short series of steps led into a pit with computer stations and monitors.
"See if there's any archival security footage," Jaden said to Toah. "I'll check if there's any recordings."
"What about me?" Khedryn asked.
"You good with a blaster?"
"Sure."
"Stand by the door and shoot off anyone who doesn't want us here."
With that, Jaden moved down into the pit and began searching through one of the computer's archives. To his disappointment, most everything was encrypted and required a security code. If only he had brought R6 with him....
Suddenly, a voice spoke in his mind. It sounded too quiet and fast for him to put a face to it, but he knew he recognized it. All it said was a single word: Iteration.
Acting almost subconsciously, Jaden entered in the word and in an instant, the holographic form of a human woman, dark haired and middle aged, appeared. The name tag on her lab coat identified her as "Dr. Gray."
"The project is underway," the Imperial scientist said to the holo-cam recorder. "As per Grand Admiral Thrawn's orders, we have begun the creation of what we call 'Jedi-Sith clones,' using the DNA of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Palpatine, as well as those of powerful Force-sensitives."
Still searching for footage, Toah said, "Think the clone Palpatine we dealt with all those years ago had anything to do with that?"
Jaden shrugged while Dr. Gray continued speaking. "I have great hopes for this experiment. They say it's near impossible to clone a Force-sensitive. True, it's been attempted many times in the past, but rarely with successful results. But we here in the Empire always strive for progress."
With that, the scientist's figure disappeared. Jaden then searched through the archives again before bringing up another hologram, this time of a man in a disheveled lab coat, panic stricken on his face. His tag read "Dr. Blue."
"I don't know how much time I have left- they're almost through the door- so I'll be quick. If anyone comes across this, tell Grand Admiral Thrawn that the project has failed. The clones have gone mad and- oh, stars, they've gotten through!"
Something lunged at Dr. Blue and the hologram fizzled out. Silence reigned for a short time until Khedryn broke it.
"One hundred percent."
"Toah, don't bother with that footage," Jaden said quietly. "We need to get out of here, asap."
"You are not going anywhere."
Jaden froze. It was the same voice he had heard in his head. He could now tell who it belonged to... and did not believe it.
The sound of clanging echoed in the ceiling. Suddenly, a figure dropped down from it and landed right before Jaden, igniting a silver lightsaber blade. The figure lifted its head and locked Jaden with its dark gaze.
It was Jedi Master Kam Solusar.
Black eyes twinkling with anticipation, the clone grinned savagely and lunged.
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