Amir unplugged the connector and looked at the others.
"Before you go—take some," Amir said, opening his pack and handing out explosives.
Once everyone had their gear, Din Djarin moved out first, heading straight for the stairwell. There were no enemies blocking the stairs—he could go directly to Level 19.
Obi-Wan and No. 32 went out after him.
Amir followed behind Pax toward the doorway—then he suddenly felt something. He closed his eyes.
Force foresight unfolded. Following the current of the Force, his awareness sank into a dreamlike state.
As the Force continued to flow, his consciousness drifted without order, and abruptly he arrived somewhere familiar—familiar, yet blurred, impossible for Amir to identify.
The air grew oppressive with every breath. Darkness was everywhere. A figure in a black robe appeared in the distance—he hadn't been there a moment ago. Amir only needed one glance for a violent tremor to run through his heart.
The robed figure faced him. From a wide sleeve, a crimson blade extended.
As the figure stepped forward, everything around Amir seemed to press down on him. Cold. Fear. It kept rising, like a tide climbing over his chest…
Footsteps like a drumbeat—striking his heart again and again, long and torturous—until finally the figure reached him.
A hand lifted.
Everything exploded outward, scattering—
And behind Amir, a gigantic maw like an abyss opened. Endless black mist poured from the corners of that mouth, swallowing him whole.
Amir jolted awake, a cold sheen of sweat breaking across his back.
Why would he see a premonition like that?
Amir sifted through every detail of the operation, trying to find a thread—anything—but there was nothing.
That black-robed silhouette had radiated crushing pressure, even inside the vision.
In that moment, Amir had felt an unstoppable power. Dense dark side energy had directly gnawed at his mind.
He had felt fear.
"What is it?" Pax turned back and asked, seeing Amir frozen in place.
"Nothing," Amir said, face grave.
He forced his emotions down quickly and reminded himself again: focus on the present.
Force foresight carried too much uncertainty. It was only a possibility. The time and place had been impossible to see clearly.
That scene might never happen.
Or it might happen months from now.
Or years.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was finishing the mission—getting the children out.
No more overthinking. Amir brought BD-4 with him and followed Pax up toward Level 10.
In the boundless void of space, a massive cruiser drifted.
On the command deck, a figure in a black robe slowly opened his eyes. A twisted smile spread across his face, as if he'd found something amusing.
He lifted a hand and flicked it lightly.
An officer beside him was slammed into a wall by invisible force, his face contorting in pain. His complexion flushed dark red as he clenched trembling teeth.
"You failed," the black-robed figure said. His hoarse voice was like a devil's whisper. "You should know the consequences."
The pressure vanished.
Gideon dropped from the wall. Gasping, he braced himself against it and hurriedly said, "W-we extracted his blood and analyzed his genetic sequence. Maybe—"
"Then you still haven't understood the nature of your failure," the black-robed figure said, lips curling. Beneath the robe, pale skin webbed with scars looked horrifying in that instant.
Gideon knew immediately he'd said the wrong thing. He clenched his teeth, shut his eyes, and prepared for another round of pain—
But it didn't come.
"Relax, my capable subordinate. This time isn't your fault. We all underestimated our opponent."
"So I'll handle it personally."
The black-robed figure stood. "Set course for the experimental base."
A technician, shaking, snapped to attention. "Report—our cruiser's hyperdrive hasn't been fully repaired."
The black-robed figure turned his head. The smile remained, but the chill inside it was unmistakable.
Gideon immediately cut in, voice tight. "Yes, Emperor!"
Sweat slid down his dark skin.
At last, the black-robed figure left the command deck and headed for the hangar.
Gideon sagged against the edge of the console, drained.
He'd survived.
He hadn't expected to be granted another chance after losing everything.
The blood sample taken from Amir while he was unconscious—the gene sequence they'd pulled from it—showed nothing special at all. Over the years, they'd even grown clones with identical sequences.
They were all rejects.
He'd tried again—considered cloning directly from Amir's genes—but it failed at the embryonic stage.
And the Emperor's arrival shattered Gideon's last scrap of hope.
Nothing could be hidden from that black-robed figure. He was like a demon forever hovering behind Gideon's mind. In front of him, Gideon had no secrets—only the option to grovel like an insect and beg forgiveness.
Still…
No—this was already the best outcome.
Gideon took a deep breath, straightened, and returned to the command console. The route had been arranged. He personally confirmed the hyperspace jump request.
The massive cruiser pulled away from the edge of the Imperial repair station, then became a streak of light and vanished from the region.
Obi-Wan and No. 32 reached the target level first.
When they stepped out of the stairwell, they saw only a single combat droid in standby. Obi-Wan destroyed it with a sudden strike, then sprinted toward the area where the test subjects were kept in stasis.
"Who are you?!" Obi-Wan had just opened the door when he spotted a researcher running checks on a child's body.
Obi-Wan flicked his robe aside and was about to surge forward—
Then a blaster shriek snapped from behind him.
A black, bloody hole appeared in the researcher's white coat. The edges were still burning, spitting hot red sparks.
Obi-Wan turned and glanced at No. 32's completely flat, unblinking stare, lifting an eyebrow slightly.
That shot felt… personal.
The researcher hadn't died. Obi-Wan stepped in, pinned him with a foot, and asked, "Where is all the data on these children?"
The files Amir had extracted didn't include detailed content on the experiments performed on the children. That level of detail could only exist in isolated storage.
Terror crushed the researcher's reason. He instinctively handed over the datapad in his grasp.
Obi-Wan took it and smiled, then turned to No. 32. "You want the honors?"
biubiu~
The two of them began waking the sleeping children. No. 32 handled shutting down the stasis pods and lifting the children out. Obi-Wan made a quick circuit and pulled a stack of clothing from a cabinet in the room.
Eleven children in total.
Worry settled into Obi-Wan's expression. He could only hope they recovered quickly.
Coming out of stasis took time. Waking up was a process. Regaining the ability to move after waking was another process. Obi-Wan touched the stim injectors Pax had shoved into his hands—these could give weak children enough strength for a short window, long enough to get them out.
If nothing went wrong.
But ever since a few moments ago, Obi-Wan had been carrying a bad feeling.
And it only made him want to move faster.
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STAR WARS: RELICS OF THE PAST
🌌⚔️ STAR WARS: RELICS OF THE PAST ⚔️🌌
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📢 THE FORCE CALLS AGAIN! 📢
Star Wars: Relics of the Past has 100+ chapters ahead available on Patreon! 🌠🛰️
Ancient secrets, forgotten relics, Jedi echoes, and buried truths wait in the shadows of the galaxy.
✨ Some things were lost for a reason.⚔️ Some powers should never be awakened.🌌 And some stories begin long after history tried to erase them.
Follow the trail of ancient relics before the rest of the galaxy catches up.
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