Undisclosed Location
"There, that's the last of it.." the woman at Azrael Zell's side as she drew the greenish bio fluid from the body of the Azguard lying on the table in front of them.
The woman was licking her lips in concentration as her hand held steady while removing the rather long needle.
"Hmm..." she murmured noticing strange markings on the skin. "Caste identifier's perhaps?"
She turned to the Moff and he simply shrugged, quiet in his impatience.
The syringe went into a the last of many containers housing Azguard biomaterial.
"The Imperial Sciences will be getting some of this, won't they Moff Zell?" the woman asked as she stripped off her operating gloves.
"Of course, my dear." Zell instantly replied running the quantities off in his head allocating some to the biogenetics facilities that Arliss controlled, some to xenoweapons developement, some to each protectorate to research any way their leaders felt necessary...
"There will be enough."
"What do we do with the rest of the prisoners?" a soldier asked.
"We are moving to Phase III, which requires.. well.. a better environment than this." the Moff gestured.
And then suddenly the lights dimmed.
"What the @#%$ was that?" the Moff nearly shouted in anger.
"Signal! Coming in strong!" Zell was already out the door and into the comm room.
"A communications signal?" he barked out entering briskly.
"Not sure sir! I don't think so... the computers are not able to put together any coherent mesage.." the comm officer turned and Zell took a look.
"That's not a comm signal. I don't know what the @#%$ that is. Origin?"
"Extrapolating. The power descent rate is being calculated as its strength."
"Do we know the general @#%$ direction it came from, at least?" the retired Moff asked, incredulously.
"Yes sir. There!" pointing to an unexplored area on the galactic map.
Zell's eyes narrowed and a small feral grin appeared. "Very interesting. Ask the monitors if they have noticed anything different in any of the..."
And that is when the alarm sounded, lockdown being implimented.
"Moff Zell", a Stormtrooper entered drawing Azrael's attention. "We have a situation."
"Care to elaborate?"
"A prisoner has escaped."
Zell's eyes lit up with anticipation. "Has the little @#%$ tried to strike at the scientists?"
"No sir. He seems to be heading in one direction destroying cameras."
"Can we confirm?"
"No sir."
"Get me a thermal scan of the building. That'll tell us. Seal off the rest of the lab from that entire wing and have the scientist effect a quarantine.
Statis all the prisoners."
As the trooper relayed Zell's orders and blastdoors were heard lowering, the woman came running in. "An alien woke up?"
"After we identified a signal alien in nature..."
"External control?"
"Perhaps. If so, then this does open up possibilities for controlling their entire race."
"That's my girl." Zell chuckled appreciatively.
"The entire wing is sealed, all vents closed. It's going to get mighty uncomfortable in there soon enough. Do we know if anyone has been.."
"Two troopers confirmed dead."
"So we assume the little @#%$ is armed."
The woman saw the thermal scanning systems being set up and remarked, "Perhaps you could direct the readings to another location so we can see can gauge how he reacts."
"You mean whether his little wanker will extend if we ring a bell?" Zell commented offhandedly.
The woman pursed her lips. "Crude but essentially correct. While we can measure their brain sizes we have no real gauge for the intelligence of the species."
"They are attacking the Empire. It can't be that high.." quipped Zell.
Another xenobiologist came into the room. "What about the other bodies on tables in the cell?" he asked.
"They are trapped and we cannot get to them since the wing is sealed off. The alien may try to use the bodies as food to survive."
"They already believe in killing themselves in the face of overwhelming odds, so the fact that this one is trying to escape.."
"Makes him a retarded person in their little macabre society?"
"I don't know but who knows what he'd use the bodies for.."
"Can we get a visual on the bodies strapped down?"
"Yes, the camera in the cell is active... only the cameras in the halls have been damaged."
"Playback and let's see the little @#%$. I also want the serial number to the trooper assigned to be watching the monitor." The Moff's voice shot out harshly.
They watched as the body twitched on the screen, the time index on the camera matching that of the signal. They saw the creature attack the troopers with it's claws.
"Classic territorial responses." a Xenobiologist exclaimed. Another pointed, "I don't see how you might classify this as a reptile, Doctor. It's classic .."
"Bullshit." Zell started. "Initiate viral quarantine in that room, now!"
And small openings appeared on the walls.
Flames of fire roared out and soon the room was engulfed, burning eveything.
"If that beastie is carrying a disease, we may need the Imperial Animal Control to come in and.."
"It is able to fly a ship.." the woman said incredulously.
"It is able to push buttons that happens to fly a ship," Zell corrected. He grinned, "Until we know more about them, I plan on keeping my mind open."
"Sir! We've triangulated an origin of the signal!"
Zell's smile got wider. "Now we send an encrypted databurst to Muunillist."
"What about the alien?"
"Throw in a Mon Calamari prisoner and let's see what happens."
"Which one?"
"One of the special ones.."
And a blastdoor opened as soldiers with blasters at the ready pointed down a bare hall intent on shooting anything that moved.
They pushed an emaciated Mon Calamari prisoner into the hall and closed the blastdoor sealing it.
The scientists, xenobiologists and company watched the thermal scanners with interest.
*
Corellia
"Sir.. Ravager's escape pods launching!" Admiral Chandler watched as the pods let go of their dying mothership, silently congratulating the Corellian Anvil ship for holding out as long as it did.
Chandler's Fleet was positioned several km's above the Centerpoint task force, having leveled out.
"Very well.. begin.."
"Sir!" another ensign shouted, through the viewports, they witnessed the mighty Reign Class Star Destroyer break apart, explosions claiming it's structure.
"Admiral.. the enemy warships have been captured.." the Sith on the bridge suddenly announced.
Ibren simply nodded and glanced at one of them, the one Ton Karlos had liberated.
They will be sorely undermanned... unless..
Turning to the Sith, "Tell our Tie Devils that remained with the enemy Viscounts and the Command ship to cover the Ravager's escape pods.
Let's see how many of Admiral Pitta's men we can transfer to the enemy ships."
"As you command.. Admiral.." and the Sith began relaying orders.
And the scene of battle changed.
Coalition Forces regrouped, even while under heavy fire, and flew straight up...
"Sir, Conclave ships are.. ..holy @#%$! Their commander is crazy!"
"You're relieved!" Chandler ordered coldly as a replacement was drawn up on the secondary scanning station.
Irritation soon left Ibren's shoulders as he watched Theren Gevel's fleet rip the enemy ISDs to ribbons.
The Coalition maneuver to go straight up through the gap the debris of the Ravager left put the remnants of the GC First Fleet at a 90° perpendicular angle once more, leaving the bows of Chandler's fleet pointing straight at the underbellies and the uppersides of their ships respectively.
"Their shields are gone.." the replacement mentioned and Chandler nodded in acknowlegement.
"Fire."
And the enemy hulls collapsed under the hail of fire..
The Corellian night was alive with flashes and burst of light..
Damages:
1 ISD destroyed
Remaining ISD's heavy damage
3 Vicstars remaining heavy damage
3 MC-90s destroyed
5 Light Cruisers light damage
5 Light Cruisers heavy damage
edit: spelling