Two men quickly escorted Amir to a room. It was a simple quarters: a single bed tucked into a corner, a narrow washroom, and a clean but austere layout. Everything about it reminded Amir of his days at the Imperial Academy.
John Mori left, leaving behind an agent and a combat droid at the door.
Amir knew immediately he wouldn't be walking out of this room easily.
He didn't act rashly. Instead, he casually surveyed his surroundings, checking twice before he found two very well-hidden surveillance cameras.
Someone would be watching him constantly.
Slipping his hand under the cover of his clothes, Amir signaled the spider droid back into his wrist device, keeping it out of view from the cameras. Now was not the time to go digging into data.
To avoid suspicion, Amir behaved like an ordinary detainee. He paced the room, then picked up a book lying on the desk and flipped through it.
The book contained an overview of the lab's basic principles and philosophies, along with a list of "achievements."
The philosophies were interesting enough, and Amir read them carefully. But when it came to the so‑called achievements, he could only smirk inwardly. They had listed a lot, but there were almost no real results.
Still, it was more than enough to fool a normal person.
After skimming through it, Amir lay back on the bed, pretending to rest but letting his mind appear restless.
In the laboratory
Gideon watched the monitor in front of him, a thin smile curling his lips.
"Sir, the hypnotist is ready. When shall we send him in?"
"No rush. Let the boy rest a bit. He must still be nervous," Gideon said, his mock‑kindness barely hiding his amusement.
"Yes, sir."
"Have the test results come in?" Gideon continued.
"Preliminary results are back. The fibril density in Subject Zero's blood is far higher than in any other test subject. The final numbers may exceed our theoretical limit."
"Heh," Gideon chuckled. "Tomorrow bring him in for a full physical. All the test subjects implanted with the same DNA fragments have shown uncontrollable mutations. We must discover what makes him different."
"Yes, sir."
"How much longer to fully decode his DNA?"
"About a week."
"A week… That's nothing. We've waited this long already. Soon the Imperial Inquisitors will be here. Arrange their meeting with Borris."
"Understood!"
A knock came at Amir's door. He got up and responded.
"Your meal," said a medical droid he recognized from the lab as it delivered his dinner.
"Thanks." As the door opened, Amir glanced outside. Sure enough, the combat droid and agent were still at their post.
He took the tray and quietly returned to his room, eating in silence.
He devoured the tasteless meal quickly and drank some water, then walked into the small washroom.
Closing the door, he scanned the space. By his experience, there were no cameras here.
Immediately he opened the stolen data from the spider droid.
A quick review revealed nothing too sensitive. The truly important data would be heavily locked down, accessible only to high‑level clearance. Even if Amir had the skill to break it, it would take a long time.
What he did retrieve were basic ship defenses, the layout of different sections, and mundane logs of the lab's activities.
He memorized the defense map and noted where security was heaviest. Then he examined the section names.
One name instantly caught his attention.
"The Rest Area…"
Right next to it was a Training Area.
Imperial soldiers and researchers wouldn't be quartered here. Amir had served on warships—crew always stayed in upper decks' dormitories. Which made this Rest Area particularly suspicious.
Confirming its location, Amir left the washroom. The whole process had taken little time—nothing to arouse suspicion.
Out of the cameras' view, a spider droid quietly slipped into the ventilation ducts.
Time passed. As Amir sat on the bed thinking, the door opened again—this time, an Ithorian in a long white robe entered.
Its hammer‑shaped head bent forward, making it look short, but its bearing radiated authority, almost compelling trust.
Amir immediately braced himself.
"The Force…" he sensed the alien reaching toward his consciousness with it.
"HmmmSooohTuuhhhOoooh" The Ithorian's twin mouths on either side of its long neck produced a layered, resonant sound. Though garbled, Amir recognized it as Basic.
"Hello, Tulio."
"From here on, I will introduce you to our project—and to your future work."
As Amir adjusted to the strange speech, he began to clearly understand the meaning behind the words.
"Of course."
"This experiment began before the Empire was even founded. At first it was only us, working in secret. But after the Empire rose, we gained enormous support—funding, equipment, test subjects. With top‑level backing, our project advanced rapidly and was granted the highest priority."
As the Ithorian finished speaking, Amir felt a flicker of something—a sense of legitimacy, almost admiration: A project with top‑level support must surely succeed…
He crushed the feeling the moment it appeared.
"And you, Amir—you are our most important piece. Within your body converge all our early research results. You are the first. Our success. Your adaptability to the Force far surpasses any data we've ever recorded."
There it was again—that familiar sensation…
Amir suddenly realized the source: Jedi Mind Tricks.
It was similar, but different. The Jedi Mind Trick created a strong, short‑term hallucination, clouding consciousness and making the target believe and execute implanted suggestions.
What the Ithorian was doing was subtler. He was using the Force to erode Amir's fixed perceptions, making his mind unstable, then gradually reshaping those perceptions with his own words and will. No harsh intrusion, no obvious command—thus no instinctive resistance. His slurred pronunciation forced listeners to focus harder, and once Amir followed the cadence and listened through, the brainwashing would take hold.
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🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past
📢 The Force Calls! 📢
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