Milisen felt as if she were frozen in a cold ice cave, surrounded by walls of frost. Suddenly, she realized this wasn't a cave at all, but the familiar, sterile corridors of the warship.
At the edge of her vision, she saw Mona.
"Mona!" Milisen shouted, but no sound came out. She wanted to run forward, but she couldn't move.
She saw Mona struggle to pick up two heavy blaster rifles from the deck, heaving them onto her small shoulders with difficulty.
Isn't Mona dead? Milisen stared blankly at the figure in front of her. She still remembered Mona's lifeless body lying in the lab.
Suddenly, the scene shifted. Milisen saw Amir, the person she had just met. He had promised to take her to find Mona, but...
Amir was fighting a figure in black armor. The sound of lightsabers clashing mixed with blaster fire. The scene switched again, and Milisen saw Mona's figure. She was shooting!
She's not dead! Mona is not dead!
At this moment, she felt a warm aura spread around her, washing away the surrounding cold. In that instant, Milisen felt as if a fraction of her sealed-away strength had returned. She struggled fiercely, tearing herself away from the nightmare.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, she snapped her eyes open. A splitting headache assaulted her instantly.
"Amir?" Milisen asked, forcing back the pain.
Just then, reality set in. Her eyes dimmed. So, it was just a dream.
"Milisen!" A surprised, joyful voice came from beside her.
Milisen's face lit up like a flower blooming, the sorrow vanishing in an instant.
She tried to sit up to reach Mona, but Mona lunged forward, hugging her so tightly that she pressed Milisen back down onto the bunk.
Amir smiled, stood up, and walked out of the sleeping quarters quietly.
. . .
Most of the children were seated in the main hold, looking lost and confused.
The majority of them had lived in the experimental base and on the warship since they were infants. The only concepts instilled in them were to sacrifice everything for the experiment and to obey orders without question.
Now that they had left that familiar, regimented environment, panic was setting in.
Fortunately, one of them—a Rodian boy named Machek—had been captured at the age of four. Although he was also frightened, he remained relatively calm. He remembered that there was a world outside the white walls of the lab.
Amir had already used a reverse-brainwashing technique with the Force to gradually erase the compulsions Tulio had planted in Machek's mind. Although the conditioning couldn't be completely undone instantly, Machek had regained his normal train of thought. He was now helping to comfort his younger companions.
Beep-bloop!
BD-4 hopped out of the galley, chirping at Amir.
Hondo had powered down the little droid and tossed him into the cargo hold when he stole the ship. Luckily, BD-4 wasn't damaged. Amir decided to set up a protocol later that would allow BD-4 to reboot himself in emergencies.
If a similar situation occurred, the droid would be able to help.
Turning off the heating unit, Amir took the cooked food out of the autochef container. He was always extremely well-prepared when it came to rations.
After distributing food to the hungry children, Amir went to check on Milisen's condition. physically, she was recovering well, but her mental energy was severely depleted. She needed rest.
While she was still unconscious, Amir had used the Light Side of the Force to soothe the darkness roiling in her mind. Her body had relaxed, and the trembling had stopped. It wasn't long before she woke up.
Walking back to the cockpit, Amir looked at the starry sky stretching out before him.
He had already contacted Ahsoka.
On the cruiser, Amir had shut off his wristguard's transceiver to avoid being tracked. When he turned it back on, he found frantic messages from many people.
After replying to them one by one, Amir contacted Ahsoka. He couldn't properly care for nearly forty Force-sensitive children on his own; he needed the resources of the Resistance fleet.
Ahsoka replied that they had already begun preparing emergency bases, one of which could serve as a safe haven for the children.
The location was Gulina's home world, the planet Guderian.
It was a jungle world. The Empire hadn't found any valuable resources on the planet, and after capturing many inhabitants as slaves, they had withdrawn.
Ahsoka said that besides the dense jungle, there were many towering mountains forming natural barriers, and the surface was shrouded in thick fog—very suitable for hiding.
Amir was currently heading toward a safe hyperspace lane. From there, he could jump directly to the Guderian system.
They decided to settle the children there.
Including the group rescued from Coruscant, they would all find a new home on Guderian.
Ahsoka raised a significant point:
These nearly forty children were all Force-sensitive. They could form the prototype of a new Jedi Order.
Both of them had fallen silent for a long time at that suggestion.
Ahsoka was not strongly attached to rebuilding the Order as it was. Ten years ago, she had become disappointed with the Jedi. That ancient and powerful organization had lost its way, becoming entangled in politics and rigid dogma.
But this was new. A new Order would not be influenced by the Senate or bound by tedious, outdated rules. It would be a rebirth, dedicated to the study and understanding of the Force, to fight against the ever-growing dark side.
They still had Obi-Wan, and other hidden Jedi, to train the children. And there were the many safe locations provided by the holocron data. This wasn't just a dream; it was a possibility.
"They didn't choose the path of the Force. Most were forced into it," Amir said after thinking for a long time. "Clones, captured children... I think the choice should be theirs."
"Explain the ideals to them. Tell them the dangers and difficulties they will face. Those who choose to stay will become apprentices. Those who refuse—we must still give them a safe life."
Ahsoka agreed with Amir. They decided to discuss it further after meeting on Guderian to search for a hidden base location.
Regarding the image Amir took on Hoth (the ruins), Ahsoka had no leads for the time being. Obi-Wan, however, had something to say about it and wanted Amir to return to Tatooine.
. . .
After setting the autopilot, Amir pulled up the data he had copied from the cruiser's lab onto the console screen.
He quickly scanned through the files, looking for key information.
There were files about himself, and records for each test subject. Among them, Amir found the complete test logs for Subject 032.
As soon as he closed his eyes, Amir recalled the image of 032 clinging to the Exogorth's head. 032's body could withstand the vacuum and cold of space!
Not only that, his body and mind must hold other secrets.
As he was reading, Amir was startled awake by Milisen's voice.
He had fallen asleep in the pilot's chair.
Only then did he realize just how exhausted he was. Both physically and mentally, he had been pushed to his absolute limit.
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