Star Wars Rogue Knight - Chapter 42

Extract from Imperial Strategic Operations Archive

Retrieved from Dromund Kaas

Voice 1: “It was an otherwise unremarkable system. Just a single white dwarf, a thin disc of rogue comets and useless rocks floating in space and a frozen ball that an enthusiast astronomer might mistake for a tiny planet.”

Voice 2: “Not surprising. Please continue.”

Voice 1: “There were no resources of note there. The surrounding systems were similarly empty. Useless. Far from the trade lanes too, making sure that no one respectable would have a reason to go there. Thanks to the gravitation fields of a bunch of red dwarfs and a single, lazily moving black hole, which were nearby, as far as interstellar distances go, that tiny ice ball was well protected from prying eyes.” The voice paused, laughing bitterly.

Voice 2: “It was hard to find and even harder to reach hellhole.”

Voice 1: “That made it perfect. It was exactly what the Bio-Warfare division was searching for. And so, Black-site 34 was born. Just like it’s sisters, that place was meant for bleeding edge research. Some of the best minds in the Empire were sent to work there. Some of the most insane too.”

Voice 2: “Genius and insanity are the two sides of the same coin. You were sent to do what the Empire required from you.”

Voice 1: “Keep telling yourself that, Major. I know better.” The man paused. A wet coughing could be heard. “It was in one of those facilities, the ones build deep below the perpetually frozen surface of the planetoid, where we made a breakthrough. An unholy combination of hundreds of viruses. Then I enhanced it further, adding genes to strengthen it’s properties. So it could be more resilient, so it could spread faster, yet remain undetected for about a week or so.”

Voice 2: “So you succeeded?”

Voice 1: The first man chuckled mirthlessly. “Beyond my wildest dreams. That was before the Sith Alchemist overseeing the project got personally involved, using the ‘mysteries’ of the Force.” He sneered. “It’s because of that damn madman!”

Voice 2: “We are aware of the Darth’s intervention.”

Voice 1: “Are you really? When I was done, we had it! A strategic weapon that could gut the Republic in just a week or two!” The scientist sneered. “You know what he did with it. To test it. Heh, perhaps that’s better in the end. Even your superiors decided to bury the project when they saw what it was capable of.” The scientist paused. A note of horror entered his voice. “You did it, right? You purged the Black-site?”

Voice 2: “The last remaining samples are contained. Now tell us again what exactly does it do.”

Voice 1: “No, no, no… Fools. It can’t be contained! It’s just waiting! You need to…” More wet coughing.

Voice 2: “Administer the sedatives. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Voice 3: “He won’t make it. It’s burning through the antidote.”

Voice 2: “Pity. Order the druids to purge the ship and then sent it straight into the star. That kriffing shit creeps me out.”

=RK=

Lab 3

Black-site 34

Outer Rim

It laid dormant for millennia. Slumbering. Waiting.

The stasis tanks keeping it in check kept humming with energy fed by matter-annihilation plants buried near the frozen core of the small world. All of that was maintained by a horde of droids, making sure that everything ran as expected. The sentient machines futilely waited for their Sith Overlords to return.

For four thousand years they waited. And no one came.

Until now. The ancient ventilation systems shrieked to life, cool air flooding throughout the facility. And deep bellow endless corridors and fail-safes, an organism shuddered in anticipation within it’s stasis tank. For even in it’s slumber, it could sense fresh meat approaching.