The Emperor's Plague

11

When Nolaa Tarkona’s armada arrived at the plague storehouse, the Twi’lek leader could barely contain her excitement. She gripped the bridge rail and leaned forward as the Wookiee woman Raabakyysh guided the flagship into orbit high above the small asteroid. Nolaa’s single head-tail thrashed from side to side, while she observed the expressions of her crew through the optical sensors in the stump of her other head-tail. She saw anticipation, eagerness for battle, and a bloodthirsty desire for vengeance upon the cursed humans.

The asteroid depot itself was small and nondescript, studded with pressurized domes. Slash marks showed where excavation had shaped the giant rock. The place looked abandoned, though the numerous domes and airlocks and hollow bays offered plenty of hiding places for small ships. She had feared she might encounter an entire guardian fleet of New Republic warships—but she had beat them all. She had arrived first.

“The human-killing virus is down there,” she said. “It is the only weapon we need for our ultimate victory. Raaba, you will command my armada while I go down personally to make sure we get everything we need. Corrsk, Rullak, come with me. Bring guards … and plenty of weapons. I’m not in the mood for further delays.”

Nolaa spun about as Raaba proudly took her seat in the flagship’s command chair.

The Diversity Alliance guards suited up, belted blasters to their waists, and prepared to go down to secure the Emperor’s plague.

After docking to an isolated dome at the pole of the asteroid, Diversity Alliance guards stormed out of their ships. They marched through mazes of interconnected corridors, weapons raised and ready to shoot anything that moved. Nolaa fervently hoped her soldiers wouldn’t blast any of the plague cylinders in their enthusiasm. She didn’t want to waste the precious deadly substance. She walked with brisk footsteps, her dark robe swirling, her body armor confining but protective. This place stank of humans. It had been built by the human Emperor, used by human scientists, guarded by human stormtroopers. The twisted biologist Evir Derricote had worked here—also a human.

But in a way he hadn’t been so terrible…. Derricote had, after all, devised the means for bringing about the extinction of his own race.

“Spread out,” Nolaa said sharply. “This is a small asteroid. It shouldn’t take long to find what we need.”

Directing Rullak and Corrsk each to take a team of guards, she herself took charge of the third group.

“And remember, this was a munitions storehouse.” She turned back with a smile, flashing teeth that had been filed to delicate points. “Keep an eye out for anything else we might find useful to our cause.”

They split up, each choosing a different hallway. As Nolaa’s group passed through pressurized doors, she saw how foolish the Imperials had been for not installing better security or identification locks. It made her task almost too easy. She and her soldiers marched down the stone-floored corridors, casting a critical eye at the metal walls, the interlock doors, the decades-old technological enhancements. Someone with less finely attuned senses might have thought this place similar to the comfortable Twi’lek tunnels on Ryloth—but to Nolaa Tarkona it had an entirely different feel. This had been made by humans, dug out as a pit in which to store weapons, not a civilized place for a species to grow and expand.

The soldiers fell into step with her; the pounding of their hard boots echoed in the chill, sluggish air. They explored each alcove and side passage under the pressurized domes, searching for the place Fonterrat had described—the chamber that contained the plague. It held the future of the Diversity Alliance, and the death of the human race.

They came to a series of small cells. Each had been sealed and marked as contaminated and hazardous.

Curious, Nolaa peered through the thick transparisteel windows at what seemed to be secure pens, each with a cot and a refresher unit but few amenities. Inside lay the desiccated, plague-ridden corpses of various aliens. She saw the remains of a Quarren, a Wookiee, a Twi’lek, and many other species that were unidentifiable because of the advanced decomposition. Test specimens for other genetically engineered diseases, targeted at specific alien species. Here, before her eyes, was clear-cut evidence of the horror Evir Derricote had intended to inflict upon nonhuman species.

Any glimmer of pity that might have remained in her for all humans who were about to die faded in an instant. Nolaa Tarkona could not wait until the murderous species was eradicated entirely.

“Pick up the pace,” she said. “Let’s find that plague and get out of here. The Diversity Alliance has important work to do.”

On the flagship, Raaba growled orders, insuring that the other ships in the Diversity Alliance armada into line. The asteroid field was sparse but still held hazards for clumsy navigators or inexperienced pilots. Raaba wanted their cluster of ships to act like a military fleet, to Pull together like a well-trained force. Attitude was essential. They cruised above the weapons depot, and she growled for two outlying vessels to tighten up the formation. While Nolaa Tarkona was on the asteroid, Raaba intended to keep the armada alert. They had no reason to anticipate any resistance, of course—or that New Republic forces might come after them—but Raaba would not be taken by surprise.

Lowbacca and Sirra had already done that to her…. Leaning back in her command chair, Raaba scanned the asteroid below. She used the ship’s high-resolution sensors to study the pockmarked surface, analyzing the structural refinements Imperial engineers had added: the blister domes and bunker outcroppings, the fuel station, the numerous small docking ports. Then, as she focused in on what seemed to be an anomaly, she sat up with a growl and stared at the image before her eyes, unable to believe what she saw.

In an instant she recognized two small craft nearly hidden in the rocky shadows beside the domes: the Rock Dragon and Zekk’s ship, the Lightning Rod. She leaped up from her command chair with a startled roar.

The young Jedi Knights were already here! They had arrived at the weapons depot before the Diversity Alliance.

Raaba toggled the communications system, sending a tight-beam transmission directly to Nolaa Tarkona. She had to warn her leader that she might be walking into a trap.