After walking some distance, Mona adapted and managed to break into a small run.
"Thank you for trusting me," Amir said to Mona as they rounded a corner.
For some reason, Mona also seemed to have resisted the brainwashing. Amir didn't believe Tulio would have spared these two test subjects out of pity.
If Mona had resisted leaving with him from the start, it would have wasted a lot of time.
"There's no worse choice than staying here. So why not try trusting you?" Mona said, gasping for breath.
For her and Milisen, staying here was already the most painful, unbearable thing. If any glimmer of hope appeared, no matter how slim, they would rush forward to grab it without hesitation.
Because the two of them were different from the other children. Whether they were clones or those captured as infants, the others all accepted their arrangements like walking corpses, undergoing experiments obediently. But the two of them had an "older sister" when they were young, one who told them how wonderful the outside world was, how vast and beautiful the galaxy was.
Even though that sister had never seen much of it herself.
Two security droids walked toward them. Facing Amir, they were no longer indifferent. Red lights flashed in their photoreceptors, and they raised the blasters integrated into their arms and fired.
"Hide!" Amir turned sideways, shielding Milisen behind him, and shouted to Mona.
Snap-hiss!
He activated his lightsaber, and the green blade swung rapidly, precisely deflecting the blaster bolts.
This most likely meant Tulio had recovered from the mind control, realized Amir's betrayal, and revoked his clearance.
"As expected, the Jedi mind trick's effect is far too brief."
The deflected blaster bolts struck the combat droids' alloy plating, kicking up sparks, but failed to penetrate the heavy armor.
Completely unaffected, the droids advanced steadily on Amir, their blasters maintaining continuous fire.
But the closer they got, the more it suited Amir. Once they were within striking range, Amir suddenly accelerated, closing the gap. His right hand danced lightly, the green blade flashing as it severed the weapon arms of both droids.
As the arms clattered to the deck, Amir widened his swing, cleanly cutting the still-moving droids in half at the waist.
With the danger eliminated, Amir waved to Mona and continued to run.
. . .
The Bridge
"The nearest fleet has been called for rescue..." Gideon's aide reported.
"What is wrong with this damn bug? Why won't it leave!"
The Exogorth's body was covered in severe burns, injuries that were worsening under the attacks of the surrounding TIE fighters. It roared in pain but showed no intention of fleeing, as if it had a blood feud with the cruiser and would fight to the death.
By now, the creature had coiled a full circle around the warship. Its head had moved to an area on the ship's ventral hull, as if something was constantly attracting it. After finding a specific spot, it began to ram violently.
"It's ramming the Rest Area where the test subjects are!" the aide shouted, looking at the holographic tactical display.
Gideon lunged forward. "Quick! Pull up all surveillance from that location!"
A technician rapidly operated the console. The screen in front of them showed the feeds from the Rest Area and the training ground.
Gone! They were all gone!
Gideon's heart felt as if it were being tightly squeezed.
What happened? What exactly happened? No, no, there's one left. 032 is still there, sleeping quietly in the bacta tank.
But what use was that? Almost all of 032's value had been squeezed dry. He was no longer important. What was important were the twenty-plus fresh, talented test subjects!
The warship began to shake violently. The surveillance images flickered constantly. The two security droids in front of 032 were knocked to the ground, and the bacta tank suddenly cracked.
Gideon paid it no mind. He wouldn't care even if the tank shattered and 032 died. The most important thing now was to find something else useful, to stop this loss!
Just then, the aide brought a communicator to Gideon. "It's Tulio!"
"Patch him through!" Gideon hoped Tulio could bring him some good news.
But in the end, he was disappointed.
"Amir was faking! He was never brainwashed! He... he escaped!"
For the first time, Gideon found the Ithorian's stereophonic voice to be incredibly annoying.
"Where is Amir?" Gideon's face turned completely dark. He had been tricked, played for a fool, and he had actually thought he was about to succeed!
He suddenly realized the key. None of it mattered. None of the test subjects mattered. The only thing that could salvage this disaster was Amir! As long as he captured him, as long as he completely understood his secrets, no one would care about this accident. Everyone would only remember his achievement!
The technician pulled up all the internal surveillance footage. Finally, in one of the service corridors, they saw the running figures of Amir and two children.
"Immediately deploy all combat droids to intercept him!" Gideon steadied himself during another lurch, snatched a blaster rifle from a nearby stormtrooper, and marched out. "All of you, with me!"
. . .
Service Corridor
Amir felt a bad premonition coiling in his heart.
He deactivated his lightsaber and glanced at the wreckage of four droids scattered beside him. He felt the obstacles were increasing, as if all the ship's security forces were converging on him.
He didn't dwell on it. These droids' stiff firing stances and predictable trajectories posed no threat to him, unless he was flanked by a large number of them.
"Ah!" A scream suddenly came from Mona behind him.
Amir turned to look. He saw she had tripped over a destroyed droid's arm and was pushing herself up from the floor. That was fine, but when she inadvertently glanced at the droid's severed torso, she saw a horrifying sight: there was faint flesh and blood visible in the cross-section of the machine!!!
Terrified, Mona couldn't help but scream.
These droids were built from living beings! They were cyborgs!
Fighting down her nausea, Mona scrambled up and continued running toward Amir.
Amir had seen it too, but he just turned back silently and continued moving forward.
. . .
Main Corridor
A group of children walked toward the hangar. Combat droids constantly passed by them, ignoring the small figures. Although they were scared, they knew the droids were only enemies during training; normally, they wouldn't be attacked.
Just then, a violent tremor shook the deck. None of the children could keep their balance. They fell to the ground or collided with the walls. For a moment, they were scattered everywhere, but this didn't stop their progress. They stood up, chaotically but quickly, and continued toward the direction of their orders.
It was just ahead. Maybe when they reached the hangar, they wouldn't have to endure this shaking anymore, one of them thought.
Soon, they reached an open area. This was the central hangar bay of the cruiser, where ships would rise into the interior via lift platforms.
At this moment, all the TIE fighters were gone, launched to fight the beast. Only one medium-sized, disc-shaped freighter remained parked in the bay.
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