Wild Space

Once they got his armor unbent enough that he could easily breath Tao was more or less fine. He would have some severe bruises, to say the least, but nothing more serious.

The clone, Buster, was a different story. He would need a bacta tank and some serious time to recover, the lazer sword had pierced him all the way from front to back and nearly severed his spine.

“Sparrow!Get out of that corridor, NOW!” Deux thundered in his head.

He reacted as fast as he could, he grabbed poor Buster and threw him over his shoulder as he ran at top speed down the hall.
”We’ve gotta get out of here!” He screamed at his companions.

Unfortunately, as he came around the corner he could see the blast doors were nearly closed. He put every bit of speed into it he could but he wasn’t going to make it. He turned to run the other way but the door right behind Hatch, the other trooper, was also closing. A bad situation got much, much worse when stun blasts came from the walls. The whole team went down and Sparrow was barely conscious enough to see Trey slip out of the droid and back into Tao.

He woke up more or less back where this whole adventure started. He was strapped to a table and there was medical equipment everywhere. A doctor, he assumed one of the arkanians, had slashed Tao open without apparent need to first sedate him and the poor man was screaming in agony as the doctor rooted around. Sparrow idly noted the doctors bare hands and gave a grim smile.

“It worked! You’re awake!” He could hear how relieved Deux sounded.

“The pirates sent a fleet of ships to defend this hellhole. Chess says it’s handled but it will take a while. The rest are in the detainment cells here. (A location and a map to get there popped up in his mind). Tao is in bad shape but the guy doesn’t seem to be trying to kill him, he is trying to get Trey to surface.”

“Why doesn’t Trey surface and end him then?” It’s all part of Tao’s plan. He wanted Trey to get in and get all the info from the doc before..”

The doc hit the floor as the change started. Trey slid out and headed for the nearest med droid. The second the synth was aboard the bulky droid trundled forward and started tending to the spy.

“Tao knew it was unlikely we could capture them alive, when he realized they wanted us he made the call to ensure we got the info no matter what it took. He authorized re-raising him if it ended badly.”

And it might, the door slid open and another arkanian walked in, this one was much more solidly built than the doctor who had been working on Tao. He held a small device in his hand and, as the droid moved towards him he triggered it. The droid ground to a halt.

“Hard wired kill switch to the main power feed.” the man said conversationally. “I have need of your creature. I will use it to accelerate my plans to gain revenge for the snub given by your pathetic republic.”

“Technically speaking, I’m not even a citizen.” Sparrow groaned out.

“Deux, are you back aboard?” Sparrow asked as he glanced around the room. He spotted CJ unconscious on another table. All three of their armors had been already removed and casually tossed aside. He was fastened to the table with thick, steel manacles, they fit tightly around the base of his hand and had little give when he tentatively pulled against them.

“No, I am in the computer core with Domi, there wasn’t time to make it back. This core is a puzzle, though. There is layer upon layer of information and security at each level. It will take us a bit longer to be able to shut everything down.”

“Deux, I REALLY hate to ask this, but I need you to turn off my pain receptors, can you do that?”

“As it stands I can dull your pain but I can’t totally remove it without more of myself inside you.”

“Wonderful, remind me to complain about this for a very long time to come.”

“Trey, can you hear me?”

“Yes Sparrow, I am getting ready to attack this new arkanian.”

“I don’t know what that guy is, but he’s no arkanian, be prepared for surprises. I will distract him when I begin plan b, you just be ready.”

“Plan b?” Deux asked.

“You’re gonna love it,” said Sparrow, “now get to that numbing, I’m about to need it.”

As Deux got to work doing whatever it was he was doing to make the pain manageable Sparrow started psyching himself up like he was about to perform a martial arts move, although no martial art would endorce the idiocy that was coming.

The arkanian, or whatever he was, saw Sparrow start the breathing exercises and stepped closer to see what was happening.

When he sensed he was as ready as he was likely to get Sparrow jerked his right arm back absolutely as hard as he could. He could feel his thumb break and his hand crushed and ripped as it tore through the too small opening.

“I thought you could numb me!” he roared in his mind at Deux, that had HURT.

“I did! This is what I can’t numb, it could be worse.”

He rolled off the table, jerking his opposite wrist hard against that cuff, but he managed to shove his bleeding hand right into the bastard arkanians wide open mouth as he stared in shock.

“I hope you’re in Trey!” he shouted.

“I am!” the synth replied.

Suddenly the arkanian began to.. well, sort of bubble, his features shifted and moved around. Gradually he transformed into a reptilian alien.

“What the hell?” Sparrow said.

“That’s a clawdite.” Ahsoka said from behind him. He turned around and there was the rest of the team, minus, of course, the wounded clone.

Sabine looked at his bleeding hand and his other wrist and the med droid that was now working on Tao again and then announced, “you’re not allowed to work alone anymore.”

“I thought you all would need help.” Sparrow said weakly as the adrenaline rush subsided.

“Sure looks like someone certainly did.” Ahsoka said as she put on two pairs of gloves before she efficiently tended to his wounds.

“Is it over?” he asked.

“Yes, there may be some clean up and we probably need to search this place top to bottom but this individual was the one in charge.” Said Sabine.

Seeing the other figure, now transformed, she asked, “who was this guy?”

“Another of the scientists. He rooted around in Tao with his bare hands.”

“Not smart.”

“No, it wasn’t, but Trey managed to get his memories too before they were wiped so hopefully we can get a clear picture about this place.”

“I only wish that were true.” Trey said, “I have collated all the data I gained with what Deux and Domi gathered from the computer core. This entire facility was set up by another player. The clawdian was hired to be the front man and run it. The scientists were recruited by him with the arkanian story, but it’s a complete fabrication.”

“So who is the backer then?”

“The clawdite didn’t know and what’s more, he had no intention of asking. He was paid to not ask questions, so he didn’t.”

“There’s also nothing to indicate who it is in the computer system either.” Deux kicked in, “we have searched every hidden layer and there is nothing.”

“We will gather up all the data we can and can give it to you two to get to the Republic?” Sparrow asked.

“Sounds good. We really need to track this back.” Ahsoka said, “there is a sense here. This place did great evil, possibly greater than we know.”

“What we know is bad enough. I guess the Cruiser is about done with the pirate fleet?”

“Yes, they are going around picking up the survivors now.”

“How many did we lose?” His heart hurt at the idea that this had cost people their lives, but thinking of the number of the droids they had fought.. Well, it was for the greater good he supposed.

“I don’t believe any died, there were a fair number of injuries from impacts and battle damage, but no one I know of has died.”

“Confirmed, the Cruiser reports 0 fatalities as a result of combat action and Buster is expected to make a full recovery.”

“I figure the first thing we need to do is a full investigation of this place. We need to make sure it’s safe and there are no more prisoners anywhere.”

“I have gone through all the security cameras and I don’t see anything moving around but droids. There are the other labs to check, as the facility has numerous spaarti cloning cylinders and some may be full.”

The cruiser ended up docking to the ship and they had the aid of the clones for the investigation of the station. Sadly, other than the new arrivals all the prisoners must have been changed into the things they had battled and none seemed to have survived the computer control shut down.

There were clones in the cylinders, obviously some strange mix of races. Various options were discussed but they couldn’t decide on a plan so they decided to let them mature, while making sure they gave them the best education they could, and then basically let the clones decide for themselves.

The work on the ship took the next couple days. With the help of their allies and all the droids the synths had brought, or could add from the ship they cleaned the place from top to bottom and granted a decent burial to all of the poor prisoners they had been forced to fight.

Sparrow wasn’t very specific on his plans when he was asked. He needed Miley to finish going through the data they had amassed and the onboard labs. He had an idea of what he wanted to do but it would require his whole team, as well as some others, to agree.

Bo Katan arrived two days later, with a fairly large mandalorian force. He met her on the cruiser and immediately offered it as a gift to the mandalorian people. She was a bit standoffish, he thought, and not quite the woman Sabine had described.

That changed a few hours later when Sabine had him meet her onboard the cloners ship. Sitting there in the chosen meeting room was Bo.