Manaan

Danika

The instant I saw that mercenary all my fears fell away. I was back in my element, a ground pounder taking charge. The man we left guarding the sub was calmer, ready to fight again.

'How did you do that?' Bastila asked. 'I didn't feel any of the force in your words, but he relaxed almost immediately!'

'I told you that you underestimated those without the force. All I did was what an officer that saw him in that condition would have done. Stiffened his spine. When everything goes to hell, it's that officer standing there as if he knows he's going to live forever that takes you forward.' The door opened into a docking tunnel attached from the docking bay to a vast structure beyond.

We reached a computer console, and T3 tied into it. 'Any thing moving?'

Statistically everything is in constant motion thanks to molecular displacement. Care to be more specific?

'Smart mouth. Scan the facility. What life forms are moving? Include Droids in that before you start to complain.'

There were droids wandering the halls. They were set for full wartime footing, meaning that without an access code, we would have to destroy them. Well I wasn't being charged for damages. T3 locked them down.

The halls were clear because just about every room in the station was filled with Selkath. They all had glazed eyes, and wandered around. For a moment, I felt perhaps there was no danger, but right about then a human in a lab coat made a break for it from where he had been hiding in a locker. Every Selkath within ten meters charged at him, and ripped him apart. Some of them stung him with spines hidden in their dewlaps. That explained the poison victims.

'T3, can you control the speaker system throughout the base?'

Affirmative. If you are going to suggest a 'sonic bullet', I would suggest a range that will not kill or harm you as well.

'That is exactly what I was thinking. But I don't want to kill the Selkath either if we can avoid it.'

Setting Human lethal range locked out. Trying sub-sonic settings that are not dangerous to humans

I felt a rumble in my feet, and twisted my head. Non-lethal doesn't mean it didn't hurt. The Selkath went even madder than they had been, slamming into walls, then collapsing. 'Are they dead?'

Negative. Selkath are more resistant to sound vibrations than humans. They will be incapacitated for several hours.

'All right, how do we get to the refining facility?'

Access way not completed. Entry via enviro suit.

I shuddered. Bastila noticed it immediately. 'Danika-'

'Bastila, remember I died in a suit. I felt the air run out. I don't... I don't think I can do that again.' I stared at the ocean beyond the armorplast.

'Then I will go-'

'No. This is my problem. I must deal with it.'

We walked down to the locks that accessed the sea. The one closest to my goal was locked with a password. T3 couldn't circumvent it.

I shook my head. 'What happened down here?'

We reached the lock. Even searching through the complex, there was only the one suit. I grabbed it. I know Bastila would have gone, but I couldn't let her. This was my fear. If I didn't face it now, I never would. I slipped on the helmet, and as it locked I found myself frantically clawing at the locking ring. She caught my hands, holding them. 'Look at me!' She demanded. My eyes were closed. I opened them, seeing her face right there. 'Do you want me to go?' I shook my head frantically. 'Then you have to get yourself together. I am depending on you!'

I shuddered, nodding. She attached a small device to the suit. 'I was reading the data files. They used these to drive away Firaxa. Use it if they get too close.' I nodded again. I knew if I opened my mouth I would be begging to get out of this damn suit, let her do this!

She stepped aside, and I saw the lock door. I didn't want to go out there. Couldn't go out there! But my hand rose, and I keyed it open. The door closed behind me and water sprayed down on top of me. I wanted to scream, but I knew she'd hear it. Hear and open the door, and go instead. I couldn't let her do this. I had to!

The exterior door opened. The room beyond looked like the one I had just left. As I waddled into the room beyond, I heard someone cursing. From the sound he had a lot of experience cursing on a lot of other worlds.

'Report.' I said.

'Who is that?'

'Danika Wordweaver. We're here to rescue you.'

'Yeah about a day too effing late if you ask me.' He snarled.

'Faris?'

'Yep, that's me. Captain in the Republic infantry no less, once upon a time.'

'I only reached sergeant.' I replied.

'Then they're scraping the bottom up there.'

'No. My commission is less than six months old.'

'Oh, new meat to tell me what to do?'

'Nothing of the kind, Captain.' I replied. The Riffed troops from the last war were still sensitive. 'I'm new. Got a sitrep for me?'

'S-BAR.' He rasped back. 'I went in with eight, and now I'm the only one left.

I translated it as Screwed Beyond All Repair. 'No, Bastan Twill made it back to the lock.'

'Then that's a 20% survival. Not at all good.' I heard a ping, and my suit read it. Another suit, 20 meters to my left.

'It's something. I was at Zanebra and we lost more than that.'

'You mean someone survived that goat rape?'

I waddled toward him. 'You're talking to one of them. What were you planning?'

'The bug-out boogie. I can't get through the building; those damn fish are everywhere. But if I get over to the lock near the boat bay, I can get clear.'

'Maybe so, sir. But what about the people in the Harvesting section?'

'They can wait for backup with some serious firepower. Maybe some heavy weapons.' I came in sight of him, and he was already heading into a section that was solid. 'I blew the walls to flood this area when the fish went bananas the second time. We had orders not to hurt them. I think I'll throw that goat rapist in the sub for that mission.'

That made sense now. This area should have been open, but the walls and fixtures were definitely not designed for immersion. I passed a body that had been slammed into a wall hard enough to almost weld it. I came around the corner, and Faris was jumping out onto the ocean bottom through a ten-foot gap in the wall. 'Come on. Just watch out for-'

As he spoke, something huge came from the side, catching him like a trout catching a mayfly. Blood sprayed as it powered away from the opening. I came to it, watching his legs float back to the bottom. The Firaxa that had taken him was a lot bigger than the average mentioned.

I closed my eyes. I could hear my breath, and frantically looked at the gauge. I still had seven hours. I mentally made my heart slow down. The mud was right there. I looked at the sonic projector mounted on the glove. I silently prayed as I took that last step. It was clear for the moment. I checked the map I had. The harvester section was to my left about thirty meters. The connection to the main section was on the other side of it.

I started waddling that way. This suit was not made for rapid movement. I mentally attached jets props hell, while I was imagining a damn hyper drive to it, but my mental manipulation did not supply the equipment. A Firaxa bulleted toward me, and I hit the projector. The animal froze as if I had prodded it, then turned and shot away. I grinned, and every time I saw one of them I hit it with a shot. I reached the door, and had started it cycling when something made me spin and trigger it. A Firaxa spasmed less than a meter from me as I fell through the hatch.

I sobbed as the water came down, pulling off my helmet as soon as if was clear. Recycled air, but it wasn't inside a shoebox damn it!

I climbed out of the suit, and drew my light saber. It wouldn't have worked under water, but I wished it would. I keyed the inner hatch, and was swinging before my target was in view. Three Selkath were there right at the door, and all were down before they even knew I was there. I staggered past them, and went hunting. There were half a dozen more, and I dealt with them. I found a map of the harvesting section, and noticed that the control room was off by itself. I went that way, and found a force field in my way. I found the intercom, and flicked it on.

'Hello! Is anyone in the control room?'

I heard someone scream then a fan above me kicked in. I felt the air being pumped from the room. I lit my lightsaber, and punched it into the wall near one of the control nodes for the force field. It shorted out, and suddenly I could breath again. I stormed forward. There were two people in the room. The woman started crying. 'I'm sorry.' She kept repeating. The man came to her side, and laid his hand on her shoulder.

'Sami just panicked We heard your voice, and she thought the Selkath had gotten into the control room.'

I nodded, relaxing. 'I hope my voice really isn't that raspy.' I said. Sami smiled a little at that. 'I'm Danika. I was sent down to investigate.'

'Nomi Nolan. I was the director of this mess before it all went to hell. Sami is our science advisor. He sat at a terminal. 'We haven't had contact with the base for at least three days.'

'I came originally about the artifact you discovered.'

They looked at each other. 'We only reported it last week. Too soon for you to have been sent.'

'I knew it was here, just not where.' I replied. 'What can you tell me?'

'We were assembling the last section of the harvesting arm. There is an overhang, and we estimate fifty kilotons of Kolto might be trapped below it. The arm has to extend out over the rift itself and down to scrap Kolto from the side. We were setting the foundation legs when someone spotted this obelisk just sitting there on the bottom. Here, Sami, see if we have Munroe's data feed.'

She turned, and began running through the computer. Then she pointed at the large screen. Someone in a suit was waddling through the mud toward a series of lights. 'When we found it, I ordered lights installed. Doctor Munroe is... I mean he was the chief of oceanographic sciences for the facility. He was heading toward it when everything went to hell.'

The camera stopped as the person halted to get a better picture. A Star Map obelisk stood there thrust out of the sediment. He approached it, careful to keep it in the camera focus. Then something rose beyond it, a mass of black. Then the screen went crazy, then blank.

'We got a call from Chuck Feelis, shift supervisor. This was the last section, so we were on an all hands evolution. All but ten of our people were out there, including our cargo lifters.' He signalled Sami again.

The screen became a sensor screen, with green lights representing the people. Two were marked as cargo lifters. One of those lit up as a voice said. 'Looks like we can get the pylons in without damaging whatever it is.-'

'Chuck, in the rift.' As we watched a huge blip appeared, coming up out of the rift fast.

'Holy-' the word cut off as Cargo 1 disappeared down its throat. Cargo 2 caught a shock wave from whatever it was, slamming into a pylon, and went out as well. Red markers suddenly came out of nowhere around the men. As we watched, the lights disappeared.

'Those red markers are Firaxa. There was a sonic pulse strong enough to fry our sonar right before they came in. Five of our people got back into the buildings but our troubles had only started.'

'We had reports that Selkath had fallen, frothing. Then they suddenly began attacking our people. We watched men being ripped apart alive as we ran for here.' Sami looked horrified. 'Nolan got up the force field, but it was too late for most of them.

'We've been waiting for a rescue since then. There are no environmental suits in here.'

'What was that black thing?'

'That is what freaked everyone out before the Selkath went crazy.' Nolan brought up a scanner.

It was a Firaxa. But it was huge. That's what, four hundred meters long?' I said in a whisper.

'About that. These Firaxa sharks don't have any natural predators except each other. They live until something kills them.'

I stared at it. 'And the sound came from that?' They nodded silently.

'We think it came up because our construction bothered it.' Nolan said. 'But we can't tell anyone because we can't get out of here!' Sami waved at the ocean. 'Even if we had suits, the Firaxa have gone mad! They're attacking everything that moves out there!'

'And the Selkath are attacking everyone inside.' Sami added grimly.

I nodded, keying my com. 'Bastila, have T3 set that sonic shock wave he created to go off every ten minutes.'

'We're moving back to the terminal.'

I nodded. 'Then we have to get rid of the shark. Any ideas?'

Sami nodded 'We've been working on a repellant since the project began. The Firaxa take a man every now and then. We've tried sonic fences, turrets that fire sonic charges, sonic mines, but nothing fazes them for long. The repellant was supposed to make a smell or taste that bothered the Firaxa. But it isn't working quite right yet.'

'It works well enough for that!' Nolan said. 'If we can't get support, we're dead either way!'

'But the repercussions to the environment!' Sami gasped.

'I don't give a damn about an ocean I don't have to live with!'

'But it might taint the Kolto-'

'Wait a minute!' I shouted. 'What is wrong with the repellant?'

'It doesn't chase them away.' Sami said softly. 'It kills them. Horribly.'

I stared at her. She nodded. 'We tested in right before everything went to hell. We had a captured Firaxa in a tank, and dropped a small amount in the water. It causes the skin to rupture and the gills ruptured a few minutes later. We can't just let it loose in the ocean! We don't know what it will do to the other sea life, and the Kolto-'

'And the Selkath.' I added. I pictured Shasha with her skin rupturing, blood spraying out. Even if it only affected the Firaxa, what would happen to an

environment without them? There were laws about this! 'How large was the dose you used?'

'A milliliter in a fifty thousand-liter tank. After the test we figured one hundredth of a milliliter was still toxic in the same volume.'

I pictured only a liter flask. That would poison one hundred cubic kilometers of ocean! 'There must be another way.'

They looked at each other. 'Well if the last section wasn't there, maybe it would go away again. But that is three months of work in construction, and we don't have enough explosives-' Nolan began.

'There's the hydrolium.'

'Sami, the tank on the last section is fifty liters! If that went up, the whole base could go!'

'Not if the fuel lines were started. We could turn on the grinder head, and that would put fuel in the line instead-'

'It isn't like that is much better!' Nolan almost screamed. 'It could still blow the entire station to hell!'

'What is this hydrolium?'

'A liquid fuel. We use it for machinery that requires a lot of energy, but where nuclear power packs or fusion generators are contraindicated. That would heat up the nearby ocean, and we're trying to impact the ecosphere as little as possible.

'The problem is, hydrolium reacts with water. You inject a decigram into the engines, and spray it with water. It releases as much energy as a block of blasting explosive. Fifty liters is enough to level the entire base!'

'Can the tank be drained off?'

'No. It's a sealed unit. The only thing it feeds to is the line to the engines.'

I pictured my options. 'I need some blasting explosives.'

'We don't have any in here.' Nolan admitted. 'But a grenade could rupture a line easily enough.'

'What about filling just one line?'

'No can do. It's all of them or none.' Sami said.

'But the lines should rupture by themselves. When the tank sensors detect that, they should shut down.'

I fingered my vest. I had grenades there. 'I need a bag of some kind.'

I stood under the flood, trying to stay calm. Bad enough I had to set off a massive explosion, but I was going to be in the water when it happened. If the shock wave caught me, I would be pulped. Nolan had marked a small storage bay. With the door closed, it should take most of the shock without too much damage. I didn't mention the qualifier.

The door opened, and I sprayed the outside with the sonic projector. A pair of Firaxa that had been waiting for me bolted away. I waddled out, and spotted the line of deck plates they had laid out down the run of the structure. I went down them, watching for Firaxa.

The Hydrolium tank was back near the end of the new structure, the lines already attached. Nolan had said he would start one of the grinding heads when he saw me in the scanners. I moved out farther. Part of me hoped we could keep from destroying the entire thing, but I didn't have any hopes.

Ahead of me, I could hear an engine cycling, then a screeching as a grinder head was dropped to the rock, ripping Kolto from it and flinging it back into a hopper. I jumped to the top of the storage bay, and moved onto the framework itself. I found the hydrolium line. 'All right, stop it!' I shouted. As I did a swarm of Firaxa charged into the light, headed for the grinding head. They tried to rip the head free, worrying at whatever they could reach. I saw a Firaxa begin ripping at the fuel line and instinctively leaped down, pulling the door closed.

There was a thump, and the door slammed hard, springing back open. Then suddenly the lines began to explode like fireworks. I caught the door, and pulled it to just as the hammer of the gods slammed the shed. I was bounced around, and around me the metal of the shed began to fall apart in shards. I ripped open the door somehow and dived outside just as there was a tearing sound. A girder above me began to stretch, the metal vibrating in a tone that rose until I couldn't hear it any more, then it shattered. Across the section above me more and more girders did the same thing. Then 50 meters of the structure lurched, lifted the end toward me up, and dropped into the abyss.

'Danika.' I looked around. Metal shards had imbedded themselves in the deck plating, some deep enough to punch through into the sediment.

'Danika, report.'

I staggered to my feet. Where I stood there was the mass of the structure running back toward the base. The lines had ruptured as Nolan had predicted, but the tank had not. But in front of me the landscape had been scoured clean.

'Danika, please-'

'I'm all right.' I said. 'I'm heading toward the Star Map.'

'Be careful.'

I slogged forward. The Firaxa seemed to be ignoring me. I reached a section just short of the Star Map when I felt something approaching. I turned and stared up.

And up.

And up.

The giant Firaxa was headed toward me, as large as a space cruiser. I felt an urge, and reached up, feeling the smooth skin run across my glove. It seemed to enjoy that simple touch because it slowed down. For a moment I pictured the photos where someone stands below a cargo ship that is taking off, hands against the hull plating as if they had lifted it. I could have posed for it myself.

Suddenly I felt a sense of awe. These Firaxa sharks don't have any natural predators except each other. They live until something kills them. I pictured the goggle-eyed builders standing on a cliff face over the ocean, setting the Star Map up. Below them swam a Firaxa shark barely average in size. Then the sea had risen, the shark swimming up with it, but returning to where it felt comfortable, the trench that had been it's home. It had seen the death of that empire, and witnessed the birth of the Republic.

Perhaps the Republic will fall. I thought. And thanks to me this Firaxa will still be here, awaiting the next empire that arose maybe another 30 millennia from now.

It swam on, and I ducked as the tail fin swept by. I caught a stanchion just in time to avoid being blown off the edge of the abyss. It swam up, sweeping like a fighter coming back, then it rolled, and dropped back into it's home.

I stood there in awe for several minutes. Then I shook myself, and waddled on to the Star Map. As with the others, it seemed to sense my presence, and opened up. I recorded the data, and slid the datapad back into its case.

Suddenly I stopped. I felt something, and knew instinctively that it came down the bond I shared with Bastila. Then... Nothing.

'Bastila.' I turned, waddling frantically toward the lock leading back to the base. 'Bastila, answer me.' I moved past the harvesting control room. 'T3-'

'Oh do be quiet.' A man's voice answered. 'My master has use for your friend, and I can reprogram the droid. It is you I am waiting for now. Come to me, my little Jedi. Maybe you can free them?' He laughed. 'All you have to do is defeat me. Come to the Sub bay. The corridor that attaches it to the main building. I will meet you there.'

'If you've hurt her-'

'Oh please. No threats. Just come.'

I felt rage flow through me, and locked it down hard. All it would do is distract me. I reached the door, ripping the suit off as the water dropped below my knees. I brushed my robe, then ran toward the docking bays. Around me the Selkath were waking up. I hoped their madness had passed.

I reached the door, that lead into the walkway to the sub bay and when it opened, I saw a man in black armor, standing in the center of the tube, facing me. I recognized that face.

'You were on the Endar Spire. You murdered Trask Ulgo!'

He shrugged, his voice a purr. 'I have killed so many people for my master. It is hard to keep track.' He walked toward me. 'You however have become an obsession for me. Did you know that? I wasn't sure who you were when I saw you. Your friend Ulgo was good enough for that. But I knew of you before my master Darth Malak did. Before Admiral Karath told him. I am Darth Bandon, apprentice to Darth Malak.' His lightsaber, a double like mine lit. 'I am your doom.'

He leaped, using the force to throw him across the distance between us. Our lightsabers clashed, and I blocked as he tried to cut with the off hand edge. I kicked, and he flew backwards, flipping in midair to land on his feet. Then he reached out, and I felt his hand catch my throat with the force. 'I want to look into your eyes, see you know when death approaches!' He screamed. 'Picture Bastila as Malak's devoted lave and your Republic in ruins! I want to feel your neck collapse!'

I pictured Bastila in chains with a slave collar and part of me broke. I growled. 'Is that the best you can do? Like this, fool!' I reached out, and his eyes went wide with shock as I grabbed his throat with the force.

'No, you can't!' He screamed as my force-hand crushed his neck like a vice. I pulled, and the head ripped free, flying toward me. I stepped aside as his body fell to its knees, eyes still unbelieving from beside my foot.

'If you're going to kill someone do it, don't talk about it.' I walked past his body. Bastan Twill lay dead in the next room, his head twisted completely around. I walked to him, then looked into the sub bay. Two dark Jedi stood there, and they stared at me in horror.

'Bandon-' One began. I caught them both, and their necks snapped.

'Ask him what happened in hell.' There was another sub in the bay. T3 sat there forlorn, and behind him, Bastila lay on the deck plates. A restraint collar had been attached around her neck, and shackles had been linked to it then to her hands and feet. She quivered as the system fed back into her every time she even thought of moving. I opened the bands, throwing the entire thing into the water, then hugged her, cuddling her to my bosom. Suddenly it struck me what I just done. I had killed three people using the force alone. The blackest of all the dark arts. I found I was crying. No please, I can't be what I hate!

She stopped shuddering, and I heard her take a deep ragged breath.

'Danika, Malak sent-'

'I know. He sent Bandon to me, I sent him to hell.' She looked up eyes wide and frightened. 'No one hurts my friends.' I whispered. Then I hugged her as if just touching her would heal the wound I had made in my own soul. 'I'm sorry.' I wailed. 'He boasted you'd be Malak's slave, and I just snapped. I killed him, I killed the ones with him with the force!' I wanted to scream, but deep inside, I knew that I would do it again. To protect those I loved I would kill anything. With whatever was at hand.

She hugged me, but deep in my heart I felt a doubt that had been growing since Tatooine. Bastila was lying to me. Betraying my trust.

But why?