"What should we do?" Hak asked.
They couldn't go in or stay out. They were in a dilemma.
Standing in front of what appeared to be the iron-eating rats' nest, Hak didn't dare go in.
"The iron-eating rats we've seen before weren't this troublesome. And there are way too many of them," Hak said, frowning.
"Step back. I have an idea," Amir said, suddenly remembering something.
He took a cylindrical iron block out of the bag on his back.
"What is this?" Gulina asked curiously.
"It's a concentrated shockwave bomb. I almost blew myself up when I made it," Amir said with a smile.
"Can the shockwave kill them?" Hak asked. Typically, shockwaves were used to subdue enemies and weren't very lethal.
"I modified it by compressing the explosives inside. The sound waves it emits are powerful enough to kill most creatures," Amir explained in a low voice. "Plus, the destructive range decreases beyond five meters, so it shouldn't damage the equipment."
"That's amazing, Amir. You always surprise me. You're so reliable," Hak exclaimed excitedly but kept his voice down, looking rather comical.
Amir extended his right hand, holding the concussion grenade. The grenade floated into the air.
Under the Force's control, the cylindrical grenade slowly flew toward the metal nest.
Amir flew it slowly to avoid disturbing the iron-eating rats inside.
The top of the iron lump had a large hole as if made for the bomb.
Amir moved the bomb over the hole and let it slowly descend.
"Cover your ears," he reminded the two, as the blast bomb's shockwave might damage their hearing.
The iron-eating rats below began to stir.
But there was no time for them to react. Amir activated the bomb's trigger directly using his Force.
Unlike pressing the surface switch, which causes the bomb to explode immediately, pressing the switch triggers a seven-second delay. However, Amir activated the internal detonation mechanism directly, bypassing the waiting period for the fuse to ignite.
A faint spark flashed unseen in the darkness.
This tiny spark ignited the concentrated explosives.
"BOOM!!!" A deafening explosion echoed from the warehouse, followed by a prolonged humming sound.
As the shockwaves reverberated, flames erupted from the iron lumps, bursting out of every hole in the nest and fiercely reaching toward the outside.
"Does the shockwave have this function?" Hak asked in shock.
"I told you it was modified."
After waiting a while longer, the iron lumps began to melt, and no more sounds came from inside.
"What a waste," Amir muttered to himself before rushing to the corner to inspect the instruments.
Hak also regained his composure and began checking the instruments in the warehouse.
Gulina had no idea what was going on, so she began keeping watch. Fortunately, the loud noise did not attract any other iron-eating rats.
Amir discovered another connection port nearby that seemed to lead to the database.
This time, he seized the opportunity, connecting the port directly to the connector on his left wrist guard.
The processor began downloading the data automatically.
Soon, the massive database was transferred to the small wrist guard.
While Hak inspected the equipment, Amir began reading the data.
The first thing that appeared was the work log. Amir flipped to the latest entry, which was an ordinary treatment procedure with nothing out of the ordinary. However, it was after this seemingly routine treatment that the entire space station ceased functioning, and there were no further records.
Amir refused to give up, continuing to scroll down and search for clues.
Suddenly, his eyes widened. He had found a piece of data.
It was an ordinary experimental dataset detailing a gene sequencing experiment on iron-eating rats.
At first, it seemed unrelated to the current state of the space station, but Amir took notice anyway.
The name of the researcher conducting the experiment caught his attention, though.
"Boris Ascot!"
Amir said the name aloud, and the image of the old man flashed before his eyes.
Three years ago, Boris had approached Amir on the side of the road and asked if he knew anything about his origins. Amir replied that he did not.
The old man told him to go to the Imperial Military Academy, where he would find the answers.
At the time, the old man was dressed neatly but his clothes were worn. His face bore a look of profound suffering, resembling the despair-stricken souls one might encounter on the streets of Coruscant.
Amir asked him who he was. He replied, "Boris Ascot. Listen," he said, gripping Amir's shoulders and looking him in the eyes. "Listen to me."
The old man stared at Amir for a long time but said nothing in the end, only sighing and shuffling away into the distance.
Snapping back to reality, Amir opened the experiment report.
It was ordinary, and the experiment hadn't yielded useful conclusions.
However, Amir felt that there was more to this experiment.
Perhaps that was all there was to it, but Boris Ascot had done more than this.
Amir closed the data and turned to look at Hak.
He seemed to have found the instrument he was looking for and was checking to see if it worked.
"How's it going?"
"This should be it, but it seems to have some issues."
"Let's take it back first. There's an anti-gravity board over there." Amir spotted the anti-gravity board in the corner that could transport the instruments.
There were three in total. Hak pushed the larger one while Gulina placed the other two on the board.
Amir took the lead again, finding a shorter route this time instead of returning the same way.
Earlier, they had taken a detour to connect the power first.
The return journey was smooth, with no further issues.
They opened the door to the control room, transported the instruments to the spacecraft, and everyone sighed in relief.
Hak and Gulina had arrived in an older, still-operational G-series spacecraft that would struggle in combat.
This was the current state of the rebel organization, but things would improve in the future.
The holographic recorder contained information about bases where retired combat aircraft were stored. Though these aircraft weren't ideal, they would make operations more convenient.
"Let's return to the base and check on the children," Hak said.
Amir hesitated. The recent discovery had sparked some theories in his mind, and he wanted to verify them. Additionally, Lango's location remained unknown.
He turned to Gulina. "Can you share the sensations you experienced during your premonition? I'd like to try to learn from them."
"Hm? I'm not entirely sure. It was something the tribal chief guided me through when I was a child." However, I do remember the process the team leader guided me through.
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