Onadax- Sunday morning Fandom time
Jaina was recovered enough before undertaking her next mission, one she'd been happy to go on herself. She had droid-makers to hunt. Technicians had analyzed Cundertol's arm and confirmed, in fact, that he was a Human Replica Droid. It wasn't like cloning, either; this was his consciousness being put into a body built and grown specifically for the purpose of housing it. With that information, she'd done a little... interview of the pilot who'd been shuttling Cundertol around to find a planet name, and from there she found the company that had manufactured him, ODT.
And despite all the security, getting inside was as easy as a Force leap and some well-timed mind tricks.
After that, it got harder. ODT was secretive enough that she openly had the barest of intel on the place, so she was going in blind. She walked in with her hand on her lightsaber, ready to activate it if she had to, especially since the last time she'd faced one of these droid-people, she'd spent the night under medical observation. But once inside, she surveyed the building as far as she could with the Force, nd only sensed a handful of people, really, and only one that jumped out at her as being different.
There were no alarms, no one in the way of her following that presence. She didn't like when things were too easy. It meant when they went wrong, they went really really wrong.
She found him in a massive room, holding two of the Droidmaker machines, which she recognized from research. There didn't look to be anything wrong. He was a good-looking man, maybe ten, fifteen years older than her, just another guy working in a building. Which happened to have crazy secrecy surrounding it and turned people into droids.
"I can assure you," he said, noting her lightsaber in hand, "your weapon won't be necessary."
"Maybe, but I'm hanging on to it all the same," she said, stepping further into the room.
"We're all civilized people here," he said, actually laughing a bit.
"You'll understand if I don't take your word on that." She came closer, still on edge, still waiting for something to happen. She doubted it was just that Bakura had made her paranoid.
"Such hostility. Let me see if I can work out why you're here," he mused. "I have no memory of doing business with you, so you can't be a disgruntled client. Your unease suggests that you're not a prospective client, either. Are you a competitor then? A commercial spy? Jedi Knights don't usually get involved in business matters; they're above such things, I hear." He turned back to her, looking puzzled. She wasn't sure if it was an act or not, but either way he'd definitely been expecting her. "I'm afraid you're going to have to help me out; I'm running short on ideas."
"My name is Jaina Solo," she said.
The man looked curious. "Solo? Any relation to Han Solo?"
"He's my father."
"Ah! My brother was at the Imperial Academy with him. A year below, if I recall. It's a small galaxy."
Two years had taught her a lot about how small a galaxy could be. She wasn't here for niceties. "I've just come from Bakura."
"And how are our friends, the Ssi-ruuk?" he asked, clearly up on current events.
"I believe the Imperium is currently under heavy fire from the Yuuzhan Vong," she reported. "We don't know if it will survive. If it falls, that's one more crime we can lay at your feet."
The man didn't seem so pleasant when faced with that accusation. "What does this have to do with me?"
"I'm here because of your HRDs," explained Jaina. "Do you realize that you put the population of an entire planet at risk?"
"Impossible." He shook his head. "Human Replica Droids are designed to save lives, not end them."
"If that's true, then why do you hide out here in the Minos Cluster?" she countered. "That's not the action of someone who's proud of their achievements."
"Perhaps I'm afraid the Galactic Alliance will try to claim this technology for itself." He smiled at her, continuing, "No, the reason we are here is to avoid confrontation with people like yourself; those who are bent on judging us without having heard our side of the story. And also to protect the identity and reputations of our clients, such as our friend from Bakura."
Jaina raised her eyebrows. "Then you admit that Prime Minister Cundertol came to you?"
"I admit only that we had a client from Bakura," he returned smoothly. "I don't know his name. He paid the fee and we provided the service. Then he left. What happened after this is not my concern."
And see, that was Jaina's whole problem with this. "What happened afterward was that Cundertol murdered the entire crew of the ship that ferried him here in order to protect his secret," she told him. "He betrayed his world in exchange for a phony stab at immortality." And this was especially bad when you considered what the Ssi-ruuk would have done to the people of that world.
"There's nothing phony about it, I assure you."
"I'd say that is a matter of opinion."
"And I'd say in return that the galaxy can tolerate many differences of opinion," he said calmly. "We are running a business here. We cannot be held accountable for what our clients do with their lives following the procedure we offer, no more than we are accountable for their actions prior to it. My responsibility for this Cundertol fellow ended the day he left our labs."
The bothersome thing about this was that he just didn't care. Cundertol had sold out Bakura to the Ssi-ruuk because their entechment processes were what kept his consciousness in that body. Entechment basically stole a person's life force from them, enslaving the person and leaving them no choice in the matter at all. It was a terrifying prospect, and he wasn't even having a reaction. He was just explaining his business like nothing bad had happened. "So it all comes down to the credits, right? As long as they pay, you couldn't care less who they are," she said. "It doesn't bother you that you've taken infirm and aged criminals and unleashed them into the galaxy to continue their criminal activities indefinitely."
"You make it sound as though that's all we do."
"What else is there? Uploading stalkers to security networks? Giving psychopaths combat droid parts to play with?"
"We sell life, Jaina Solo, not death," he said defensively, and Jaina couldn't help but be struck by the fact that she'd just been reminded that she'd said much the opposite not too long ago. "Perhaps if I can explain who I am and how this operation came to be, that might help. My name is Stanton, and but for this procedure I wouldn't be here now. Although the Republic's experimentation with HRDs stalled when their Project Decoy failed, the research didn't stop there. A man called Simonelle picked up where Decoy left off, and he had some success. One of his researchers, Massad Thrumble, actually succeeded in creating a fully operational HRD, which was, unfortunately, employed as an assassin."
Jaina nodded, a bit impatiently. She'd already done her homework here. "You're not telling me anything new. Simonelle is dead, and so is Thrumble. We've already checked them out. And the assassin you're talking about was called Guri. She worked for Prince Xizor in the Black Sun organization." An organization which she'd helped try to take down when she was a kid. They were the bad guys, thanks.
'But you're under the impression that she was destroyed after having her memories wiped," Stanton said, though he did seem impressed with her knowledge.
"You're saying she wasn't?"
"Your uncle thought she deserved a chance at a decent life. His attitude was, to our minds, absolutely correct. She had every right to live, as does every sapient being. The fact that she was built rather than born should make no difference whatsoever."
"I'm not saying I disagree with that. I'd apply the same principles to her- or yourself- as I would any human or alien," Jaina said, stepping further into the room. "But if she's working as an assassin, or engaging in any form of criminal activity, then it's my job to bring her down." She'd been working with the military for the bulk of the last year, but she was, and always would be, a Jedi.
"I can assure you she's not, so your rough justice won't be necessary," he told her. "Guri has nothing to do with our business venture now. All she did was allow herself to be used as the template on which our subsequent HRDs were modeled. There are parts based on hers in me, as well as all of our clients. She is our mother, if you like, and is held in great reverence."
This whole thing was sick. "She did this willingly?"
"Of course. She had had her assassin programming removed by then. When my brother met her and learned what she was, he immediately conceived of this venture. They were partners during the R&D phase," he said. "Afterward, they went their separate ways."
She was curious about this brother. She'd been here what, five minutes, and he'd come up twice? This is the same brother my father went through the Academy with?"
"You may have heard of him. His name is Dash Rendar."
She knew the name, and knew enough to be able to know that that shouldn't have been right. "But Dash Rendar's dead."
"On the contrary."
"Then where is he?"
Stanton smiled. "You don't honestly expect me to tell you that, do you?"
"If you insist that you're not doing anything wrong, then why won't your brother talk to us? Or to my uncle, at least?"
"And find himself on the point of a lightsaber?. I don't think so."
He feinted for the door, and Jaina put herself in his way to block him from going anywhere, said lightsaber ready. She knew they could move fast, and she wasn't taking any chances.
"Your reactions are good," Stanton nodded. "I approve. How many years did it take you to master the lightsaber? To attune to the Force?"
"That's none of your business."
"Ah, but this is precisely my business. People should make the most of what they have- or what they can have," he explained. "You, a Jedi, must surely agree with that. Can't you see the opportunity standing right here before you?"
Oh, ew. "If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting- "
"Why not? After all, there are no negative side effects. We can make you stronger, more beautiful, taller-" Hey. "-anything you want. Using the Ssi-ruuk entechment process, we enable you to retain full connection to the Force. You, Jaina Solo, can be at the vanguard of a brave new regime!"
This was going somewhere weird fast, and Jaina's hand tightened on her weapon. "I don't think so, Stanton."
"Don't dismiss my offer out of hand. Think of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong- a war you appear to be losing," he said pointedly, and Jaina suppressed a wince. The politicians said one thing, the populace said another. "How long would their biological weaponry last against an army of HRD soldiers? Think of all the people who have died or been injured since the war began. Is there no one you wouldn't have saved if you could roll back time and give them an indestructible body?"
If he'd said that at any other time, she wouldn't have felt like she'd just been kicked when she heard those words.
"Think of yourself," he went on. "I notice you're favoring one leg slightly. Are you injured? If you were to accept my offer, that kind of thing need never happen again. Think about that."
When he moved closer, she didn't stop him. Terrifyingly, she was actually thinking about that. She'd feared a broken sternum or ribs when Cundertol hit her, and she would have gone on fighting him anyway, knowing how bad she'd be trounced because she'd been felled by broken ribs before. She'd been out of her mind with exhaustion at Ebaq 9 and had to go on anyway. And this was nothing compared to Myrkr. Or when she'd been blinded on Duro, and Mara wouldn't kill Nom Anor because Jaina wasn't in a position to fight. Put that way... it made some sense.
"Think about it, Jaina," he said, "before you say no again so readily. I can assure you that our methods have advanced considerably since the early days. There is no pain, no discomfort at all. Only awakening to a new, superior existence. We can give people immortality, increased physical resilience and strength, and freedom from all the small irks that make life in the flesh a chore- including death! Who wouldn't want to do business with us? That this service is currently only available to the rich- or, as in your case, the very deserving- is no fault of our own, since the process is extremely expensive. But that won't stop trillions of people from demanding it. No one wants to die, not if they can help it. Let the word get out that there's an alternative to dying and the ensuing riots would make the Yuuzhan Vong invasion look inconsequential by comparison. But on the other hand, isn't it time someone took a stand against life's greatest enemy of all- death itself? And who better to do that than the Jedi?"
Jaina had said-however indirectly- that she no longer wished for death. She'd also never been presented with the choice, and was almost startled to realize that not dying was actually an attractive possibility.
And then what? Look at what Cundertol had done because he had the power to do so. Just because the capabilities were there didn't mean they were a good thing to have. She'd had two missions go wrong now just since leaving Fandom. Those problems, and in some respect, those frailties, were things she had to work on now to get better. A lot of people had fallen to the dark side just trying to take the easy way...
Besides, she'd done the research to see how this was all done. Skin was grown in a vat. It was disgusting.
"No. And this time I have thought about it. The Jedi have seen too often what happens when people have nothing to keep them in check," Jaina said. And dimly she realized that they might end up headed for that once again. Other than that brief thought, the possibility of what would happen to Jacen didn't even register. "That you're giving this technology to criminals gives me even less reassurance that your motives are pure."
Stanton sighed. "I can see that it's going to take more than words to convince you."
She raised her weapon at that, because no. "Maybe I'm not ready to be convinced."
He laughed. "Jaina, we'd never process you against your will! I simply meant that it might take time to convince you, rather than words. And believe me when I tell you that I have all the time in the galaxy. I'll talk to you again one day, when you're aged and frail and your parents are gone; when your children are older than you are now, and death is lurking in the nearby days ahead- and I look exactly the same as I do today. Perhaps then you'll be more receptive to what I have to offer."
"I wouldn't count on it, Stanton. And besides, I intend to be talking to you a lot sooner than that. It'll be one day in the not-too-distant future when you're safely locked up and unable to hurt anyone," she said, and added for good measure, "Or perhaps even dismantled for spare parts."
Amazing, even when death wasn't a possibility, he sobered at the thought of that changing. "Life is all we have, girl. Do you think I'm about to let you take it away from me? I plan to live forever or-"
"Or die trying," Jaina finished for him "Yes, very droll. My issue with you is not your life or how it is maintained, but what you do with it. More specifically, how your clients use the second chance you give them. If you can't be made to see that you have a responsibility to ensure that no one dangerous gets their hands on this technology, then..."
"Spare me the rhetoric." Stanton glanced at a chronometer set in the wall to his right. "I have no more interest in it than I do in this conversation. So, if you don't mind, I think I'd like you to leave now."
"I have no intention of leaving here without you, Stanton."
He clapped his hands, and two lines of ten combat droids were suddenly marching out from behind the Droidmakers. And now things went wrong. It was about time. Now she could stop waiting for it.
"Word spreads when people ask after ODT," Stanton explained. "I knew Jedi were looking for me, so naturally I prepared for the worst."
Jaina tossed the droids a little smile. "You'll have to do better than that."
"Of course. No droid could ever hope to be a match for a full Jedi unless it's a Jedi inside a droid," he agreed. "But your death was never my intention, Jaina Solo. While we've been talking, my shuttle has been warming up and my staff has evacuated into it. We'll take our leave now, while you fight your way past these."
Great. "Your shuttle will never break orbit."
"A lame threat at best," he said, and she had no idea why these guys kept smiling when they revealed their plans. "I suspect you'll be a little too busy to sound the alarm. You see, not only will you have to dispense with these primitive fellows, but you'll have to do it as quickly as possible. In about five minutes this whole complex will be going up in a ball of flame hot enough to incinerate any mere flesh within it."
Of course. And it was down to timing again. "You'd destroy your entire facility just to cover your tracks?" she asked, incredulous.
"We can always build another one. That is, in part, why our fees are so high." Stanton bowed to her, mockingly. "I bid you farewell, Jaina Solo. I hoped briefly that you might see reason. You would be perfect for our cause: such potential, such vitality! But I guess it's not to be, this time. Rest assured, though, that if we do meet again, our conversation will end very differently."
He was already running away as the droids moved in for their attack. She didn't have time to follow him; droids were easy enough to take care of, but she did have to try not to die here before she could go after him. She was deflecting bolts with her lightsaber and severing droid parts, focusing easily on dismantling all twenty.
When all twenty were nothing but sparking pieces on the floor, she reached out with the Force... and didn't find Stanton. He was already gone.
Which meant she had pretty much no time. At all.
Cursing, she flipped over the droid parts rather than taking the time to step around them, running through the door and down the halls to the exit. She thought there was maybe nothing so nerve-wracking as having to wait for the door to open with her commandeered security pass and not being able to do anything to rush it along. When the door finally began to open, she didn't even wait for the door to clear fully before she was sneaking past it, taking fire from the eight guards located at points at the perimeter. She wasn't worried about mind tricking them this time, deflecting the bolts with her lightsaber. She was able to take the perimeter wall with a Force leap, tucking herself into a little ball so that when she hit the ground, she could roll to her feet and keep running.
She would have thought she'd be used to explosions by now, but when the compound went up, it was still deafening, finally clearing to ringing in her ears. The shock wave knocked her off her feet, but she got up effortlessly and kept running till she was sure she was out of harm's way.
Finally she stopped and turned to look, amazed at how far Stanton was willing to go. Protect the enterprise by destroying it. The whole compound was a burning mass, and Jaina bit back a smug thought that she'd managed to get out of there in roughly a minute and a half without being a droid. And now with all the evidence burning up, they were back at square one at tracing him down and stopping this.
But here was the thing: when people talked too much about their plan, about their business, what have you, they let details slip. They gave names, and gave you the next place to start because they were too busy bragging. Maybe they were more like at square two.
With nothing more to do here, Jaina turned and started back for the Falcon, glad to be going back to where things were normal, at least for a little while.
[La la la. Dialogue taken from the short story Or Die Trying, by Sean Williams and Shane Dix. I bet Kyle Katarn wouldn't have let this happen.]
And despite all the security, getting inside was as easy as a Force leap and some well-timed mind tricks.
After that, it got harder. ODT was secretive enough that she openly had the barest of intel on the place, so she was going in blind. She walked in with her hand on her lightsaber, ready to activate it if she had to, especially since the last time she'd faced one of these droid-people, she'd spent the night under medical observation. But once inside, she surveyed the building as far as she could with the Force, nd only sensed a handful of people, really, and only one that jumped out at her as being different.
There were no alarms, no one in the way of her following that presence. She didn't like when things were too easy. It meant when they went wrong, they went really really wrong.
She found him in a massive room, holding two of the Droidmaker machines, which she recognized from research. There didn't look to be anything wrong. He was a good-looking man, maybe ten, fifteen years older than her, just another guy working in a building. Which happened to have crazy secrecy surrounding it and turned people into droids.
"I can assure you," he said, noting her lightsaber in hand, "your weapon won't be necessary."
"Maybe, but I'm hanging on to it all the same," she said, stepping further into the room.
"We're all civilized people here," he said, actually laughing a bit.
"You'll understand if I don't take your word on that." She came closer, still on edge, still waiting for something to happen. She doubted it was just that Bakura had made her paranoid.
"Such hostility. Let me see if I can work out why you're here," he mused. "I have no memory of doing business with you, so you can't be a disgruntled client. Your unease suggests that you're not a prospective client, either. Are you a competitor then? A commercial spy? Jedi Knights don't usually get involved in business matters; they're above such things, I hear." He turned back to her, looking puzzled. She wasn't sure if it was an act or not, but either way he'd definitely been expecting her. "I'm afraid you're going to have to help me out; I'm running short on ideas."
"My name is Jaina Solo," she said.
The man looked curious. "Solo? Any relation to Han Solo?"
"He's my father."
"Ah! My brother was at the Imperial Academy with him. A year below, if I recall. It's a small galaxy."
Two years had taught her a lot about how small a galaxy could be. She wasn't here for niceties. "I've just come from Bakura."
"And how are our friends, the Ssi-ruuk?" he asked, clearly up on current events.
"I believe the Imperium is currently under heavy fire from the Yuuzhan Vong," she reported. "We don't know if it will survive. If it falls, that's one more crime we can lay at your feet."
The man didn't seem so pleasant when faced with that accusation. "What does this have to do with me?"
"I'm here because of your HRDs," explained Jaina. "Do you realize that you put the population of an entire planet at risk?"
"Impossible." He shook his head. "Human Replica Droids are designed to save lives, not end them."
"If that's true, then why do you hide out here in the Minos Cluster?" she countered. "That's not the action of someone who's proud of their achievements."
"Perhaps I'm afraid the Galactic Alliance will try to claim this technology for itself." He smiled at her, continuing, "No, the reason we are here is to avoid confrontation with people like yourself; those who are bent on judging us without having heard our side of the story. And also to protect the identity and reputations of our clients, such as our friend from Bakura."
Jaina raised her eyebrows. "Then you admit that Prime Minister Cundertol came to you?"
"I admit only that we had a client from Bakura," he returned smoothly. "I don't know his name. He paid the fee and we provided the service. Then he left. What happened after this is not my concern."
And see, that was Jaina's whole problem with this. "What happened afterward was that Cundertol murdered the entire crew of the ship that ferried him here in order to protect his secret," she told him. "He betrayed his world in exchange for a phony stab at immortality." And this was especially bad when you considered what the Ssi-ruuk would have done to the people of that world.
"There's nothing phony about it, I assure you."
"I'd say that is a matter of opinion."
"And I'd say in return that the galaxy can tolerate many differences of opinion," he said calmly. "We are running a business here. We cannot be held accountable for what our clients do with their lives following the procedure we offer, no more than we are accountable for their actions prior to it. My responsibility for this Cundertol fellow ended the day he left our labs."
The bothersome thing about this was that he just didn't care. Cundertol had sold out Bakura to the Ssi-ruuk because their entechment processes were what kept his consciousness in that body. Entechment basically stole a person's life force from them, enslaving the person and leaving them no choice in the matter at all. It was a terrifying prospect, and he wasn't even having a reaction. He was just explaining his business like nothing bad had happened. "So it all comes down to the credits, right? As long as they pay, you couldn't care less who they are," she said. "It doesn't bother you that you've taken infirm and aged criminals and unleashed them into the galaxy to continue their criminal activities indefinitely."
"You make it sound as though that's all we do."
"What else is there? Uploading stalkers to security networks? Giving psychopaths combat droid parts to play with?"
"We sell life, Jaina Solo, not death," he said defensively, and Jaina couldn't help but be struck by the fact that she'd just been reminded that she'd said much the opposite not too long ago. "Perhaps if I can explain who I am and how this operation came to be, that might help. My name is Stanton, and but for this procedure I wouldn't be here now. Although the Republic's experimentation with HRDs stalled when their Project Decoy failed, the research didn't stop there. A man called Simonelle picked up where Decoy left off, and he had some success. One of his researchers, Massad Thrumble, actually succeeded in creating a fully operational HRD, which was, unfortunately, employed as an assassin."
Jaina nodded, a bit impatiently. She'd already done her homework here. "You're not telling me anything new. Simonelle is dead, and so is Thrumble. We've already checked them out. And the assassin you're talking about was called Guri. She worked for Prince Xizor in the Black Sun organization." An organization which she'd helped try to take down when she was a kid. They were the bad guys, thanks.
'But you're under the impression that she was destroyed after having her memories wiped," Stanton said, though he did seem impressed with her knowledge.
"You're saying she wasn't?"
"Your uncle thought she deserved a chance at a decent life. His attitude was, to our minds, absolutely correct. She had every right to live, as does every sapient being. The fact that she was built rather than born should make no difference whatsoever."
"I'm not saying I disagree with that. I'd apply the same principles to her- or yourself- as I would any human or alien," Jaina said, stepping further into the room. "But if she's working as an assassin, or engaging in any form of criminal activity, then it's my job to bring her down." She'd been working with the military for the bulk of the last year, but she was, and always would be, a Jedi.
"I can assure you she's not, so your rough justice won't be necessary," he told her. "Guri has nothing to do with our business venture now. All she did was allow herself to be used as the template on which our subsequent HRDs were modeled. There are parts based on hers in me, as well as all of our clients. She is our mother, if you like, and is held in great reverence."
This whole thing was sick. "She did this willingly?"
"Of course. She had had her assassin programming removed by then. When my brother met her and learned what she was, he immediately conceived of this venture. They were partners during the R&D phase," he said. "Afterward, they went their separate ways."
She was curious about this brother. She'd been here what, five minutes, and he'd come up twice? This is the same brother my father went through the Academy with?"
"You may have heard of him. His name is Dash Rendar."
She knew the name, and knew enough to be able to know that that shouldn't have been right. "But Dash Rendar's dead."
"On the contrary."
"Then where is he?"
Stanton smiled. "You don't honestly expect me to tell you that, do you?"
"If you insist that you're not doing anything wrong, then why won't your brother talk to us? Or to my uncle, at least?"
"And find himself on the point of a lightsaber?. I don't think so."
He feinted for the door, and Jaina put herself in his way to block him from going anywhere, said lightsaber ready. She knew they could move fast, and she wasn't taking any chances.
"Your reactions are good," Stanton nodded. "I approve. How many years did it take you to master the lightsaber? To attune to the Force?"
"That's none of your business."
"Ah, but this is precisely my business. People should make the most of what they have- or what they can have," he explained. "You, a Jedi, must surely agree with that. Can't you see the opportunity standing right here before you?"
Oh, ew. "If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting- "
"Why not? After all, there are no negative side effects. We can make you stronger, more beautiful, taller-" Hey. "-anything you want. Using the Ssi-ruuk entechment process, we enable you to retain full connection to the Force. You, Jaina Solo, can be at the vanguard of a brave new regime!"
This was going somewhere weird fast, and Jaina's hand tightened on her weapon. "I don't think so, Stanton."
"Don't dismiss my offer out of hand. Think of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong- a war you appear to be losing," he said pointedly, and Jaina suppressed a wince. The politicians said one thing, the populace said another. "How long would their biological weaponry last against an army of HRD soldiers? Think of all the people who have died or been injured since the war began. Is there no one you wouldn't have saved if you could roll back time and give them an indestructible body?"
If he'd said that at any other time, she wouldn't have felt like she'd just been kicked when she heard those words.
"Think of yourself," he went on. "I notice you're favoring one leg slightly. Are you injured? If you were to accept my offer, that kind of thing need never happen again. Think about that."
When he moved closer, she didn't stop him. Terrifyingly, she was actually thinking about that. She'd feared a broken sternum or ribs when Cundertol hit her, and she would have gone on fighting him anyway, knowing how bad she'd be trounced because she'd been felled by broken ribs before. She'd been out of her mind with exhaustion at Ebaq 9 and had to go on anyway. And this was nothing compared to Myrkr. Or when she'd been blinded on Duro, and Mara wouldn't kill Nom Anor because Jaina wasn't in a position to fight. Put that way... it made some sense.
"Think about it, Jaina," he said, "before you say no again so readily. I can assure you that our methods have advanced considerably since the early days. There is no pain, no discomfort at all. Only awakening to a new, superior existence. We can give people immortality, increased physical resilience and strength, and freedom from all the small irks that make life in the flesh a chore- including death! Who wouldn't want to do business with us? That this service is currently only available to the rich- or, as in your case, the very deserving- is no fault of our own, since the process is extremely expensive. But that won't stop trillions of people from demanding it. No one wants to die, not if they can help it. Let the word get out that there's an alternative to dying and the ensuing riots would make the Yuuzhan Vong invasion look inconsequential by comparison. But on the other hand, isn't it time someone took a stand against life's greatest enemy of all- death itself? And who better to do that than the Jedi?"
Jaina had said-however indirectly- that she no longer wished for death. She'd also never been presented with the choice, and was almost startled to realize that not dying was actually an attractive possibility.
And then what? Look at what Cundertol had done because he had the power to do so. Just because the capabilities were there didn't mean they were a good thing to have. She'd had two missions go wrong now just since leaving Fandom. Those problems, and in some respect, those frailties, were things she had to work on now to get better. A lot of people had fallen to the dark side just trying to take the easy way...
Besides, she'd done the research to see how this was all done. Skin was grown in a vat. It was disgusting.
"No. And this time I have thought about it. The Jedi have seen too often what happens when people have nothing to keep them in check," Jaina said. And dimly she realized that they might end up headed for that once again. Other than that brief thought, the possibility of what would happen to Jacen didn't even register. "That you're giving this technology to criminals gives me even less reassurance that your motives are pure."
Stanton sighed. "I can see that it's going to take more than words to convince you."
She raised her weapon at that, because no. "Maybe I'm not ready to be convinced."
He laughed. "Jaina, we'd never process you against your will! I simply meant that it might take time to convince you, rather than words. And believe me when I tell you that I have all the time in the galaxy. I'll talk to you again one day, when you're aged and frail and your parents are gone; when your children are older than you are now, and death is lurking in the nearby days ahead- and I look exactly the same as I do today. Perhaps then you'll be more receptive to what I have to offer."
"I wouldn't count on it, Stanton. And besides, I intend to be talking to you a lot sooner than that. It'll be one day in the not-too-distant future when you're safely locked up and unable to hurt anyone," she said, and added for good measure, "Or perhaps even dismantled for spare parts."
Amazing, even when death wasn't a possibility, he sobered at the thought of that changing. "Life is all we have, girl. Do you think I'm about to let you take it away from me? I plan to live forever or-"
"Or die trying," Jaina finished for him "Yes, very droll. My issue with you is not your life or how it is maintained, but what you do with it. More specifically, how your clients use the second chance you give them. If you can't be made to see that you have a responsibility to ensure that no one dangerous gets their hands on this technology, then..."
"Spare me the rhetoric." Stanton glanced at a chronometer set in the wall to his right. "I have no more interest in it than I do in this conversation. So, if you don't mind, I think I'd like you to leave now."
"I have no intention of leaving here without you, Stanton."
He clapped his hands, and two lines of ten combat droids were suddenly marching out from behind the Droidmakers. And now things went wrong. It was about time. Now she could stop waiting for it.
"Word spreads when people ask after ODT," Stanton explained. "I knew Jedi were looking for me, so naturally I prepared for the worst."
Jaina tossed the droids a little smile. "You'll have to do better than that."
"Of course. No droid could ever hope to be a match for a full Jedi unless it's a Jedi inside a droid," he agreed. "But your death was never my intention, Jaina Solo. While we've been talking, my shuttle has been warming up and my staff has evacuated into it. We'll take our leave now, while you fight your way past these."
Great. "Your shuttle will never break orbit."
"A lame threat at best," he said, and she had no idea why these guys kept smiling when they revealed their plans. "I suspect you'll be a little too busy to sound the alarm. You see, not only will you have to dispense with these primitive fellows, but you'll have to do it as quickly as possible. In about five minutes this whole complex will be going up in a ball of flame hot enough to incinerate any mere flesh within it."
Of course. And it was down to timing again. "You'd destroy your entire facility just to cover your tracks?" she asked, incredulous.
"We can always build another one. That is, in part, why our fees are so high." Stanton bowed to her, mockingly. "I bid you farewell, Jaina Solo. I hoped briefly that you might see reason. You would be perfect for our cause: such potential, such vitality! But I guess it's not to be, this time. Rest assured, though, that if we do meet again, our conversation will end very differently."
He was already running away as the droids moved in for their attack. She didn't have time to follow him; droids were easy enough to take care of, but she did have to try not to die here before she could go after him. She was deflecting bolts with her lightsaber and severing droid parts, focusing easily on dismantling all twenty.
When all twenty were nothing but sparking pieces on the floor, she reached out with the Force... and didn't find Stanton. He was already gone.
Which meant she had pretty much no time. At all.
Cursing, she flipped over the droid parts rather than taking the time to step around them, running through the door and down the halls to the exit. She thought there was maybe nothing so nerve-wracking as having to wait for the door to open with her commandeered security pass and not being able to do anything to rush it along. When the door finally began to open, she didn't even wait for the door to clear fully before she was sneaking past it, taking fire from the eight guards located at points at the perimeter. She wasn't worried about mind tricking them this time, deflecting the bolts with her lightsaber. She was able to take the perimeter wall with a Force leap, tucking herself into a little ball so that when she hit the ground, she could roll to her feet and keep running.
She would have thought she'd be used to explosions by now, but when the compound went up, it was still deafening, finally clearing to ringing in her ears. The shock wave knocked her off her feet, but she got up effortlessly and kept running till she was sure she was out of harm's way.
Finally she stopped and turned to look, amazed at how far Stanton was willing to go. Protect the enterprise by destroying it. The whole compound was a burning mass, and Jaina bit back a smug thought that she'd managed to get out of there in roughly a minute and a half without being a droid. And now with all the evidence burning up, they were back at square one at tracing him down and stopping this.
But here was the thing: when people talked too much about their plan, about their business, what have you, they let details slip. They gave names, and gave you the next place to start because they were too busy bragging. Maybe they were more like at square two.
With nothing more to do here, Jaina turned and started back for the Falcon, glad to be going back to where things were normal, at least for a little while.
[La la la. Dialogue taken from the short story Or Die Trying, by Sean Williams and Shane Dix. I bet Kyle Katarn wouldn't have let this happen.]