Confirming that the hilt of his lightsaber was still tucked securely beneath his arm, hidden by the folds of his tunic, Amir discreetly shifted his posture.
He focused his mind through meditation, channeling the Force to purge the lingering effects of the hallucinogenic gas from his bloodstream.
These pirates must deal in spice often. They must extract this paralytic byproduct at the base. Hondo probably just grabbed whatever was closest.
He sold me to the Empire and took my ship, but he left me my lightsaber. Is he not afraid I'll escape and come after him? Or does he think I'm done for, and he's giving me a chance to die fighting, with some dignity?
The Empire hadn't even searched him thoroughly. Amir looked down and saw his wrist gauntlet was still attached; only his backpack had been confiscated.
While recovering his mental focus, he waited. Not long after, the blast door to his cell hissed open.
A man with a commanding presence stood at the door, flanked by a towering security droid.
"Amir. We finally meet," Gideon said smoothly.
"Hello, Colonel," Amir replied perfunctorily, a mocking edge to his voice.
If anyone had dared to use that tone with him in the past, Gideon would have been furious, but this time he remained calm.
"My name is Gideon. I believe we have much to discuss. There is no need for hostility. After all, you were once a cadet at our military academy."
"Once," Amir emphasized.
"Everything we do is to bring a more stable order to the galaxy. Only order can bring lasting peace. Wasn't that your stated purpose for joining the military back then?"
Amir remembered his interview when he first joined the Imperial Academy. He had naively said his goal was to contribute to galactic peace.
"I left the Academy precisely because it went against that purpose."
"That's because you were too young. You had seen too little." Gideon was remarkably patient.
"Come with me. I will show you what I am creating. And I will show you, Amir... just how important you are to the entire galaxy."
Outside the door, an agent stepped forward to hoist Amir up.
Amir had recovered his physical strength—his head was just a bit foggy—but he pretended to be weak, allowing the agent to support his weight.
Gideon led the way, walking with his hands clasped behind his back.
"This is just a cruiser. Most of our research is conducted at a planetside base, but the most critical phase of the experiment has been arranged here, under my direct supervision."
"The Emperor sent me here. Everyone thought I was demoted. But I wasn't. I know what a great experiment this is. Through this, we can change the galaxy! Before I knew you were still alive, all the research here was essentially a meaningless waste of time. But I persisted for nearly ten years, because I knew there would be a chance. And as long as a sliver of a chance remained, everything could change."
"Finally, I found your file. For this, I brought back the 'long-retired' Boris Ascot."
Amir raised his head and stared at the back of Gideon's neck. Although Boris was just an old man he had met a few times, he could feel the kindness in him. It was Boris who had suggested he go to the Academy, and it was Boris he had met on the prison ship.
And the "brought back" Gideon mentioned undoubtedly referred to that prison transport interception.
"But the old man wouldn't talk," Gideon continued. "Luckily, I also found his student. Someone who could understand the greatness of this experiment. He told me you were still alive, and he provided the method to track you."
As Amir listened, the doubts that had plagued him recently began to dissolve. Although he was a prisoner, he felt a strange sense of relief.
A known danger is always better than an unknown one.
So the question now became how to escape. Gideon would definitely try to persuade him to cooperate with this so-called experiment. As for what it entailed, Amir could only wait and listen.
It was most likely nothing good.
What Amir had to do now was play along, to get Gideon to divulge as much intelligence as possible.
Once Gideon realized he couldn't persuade Amir, he would resort to force. Amir just wasn't sure how long he could stall before that happened.
"Now we know. You joined the Imperial Academy back then; Boris must have convinced you. He succeeded. We overlooked the Academy, searched all over Coruscant's underworld, and found no trace of you."
"In addition, someone else helped you erase your digital footprint. Even if Boris wanted to, he wouldn't have had the capability. There must be a third party. But none of that matters anymore. You are finally back where you belong."
Amir suddenly thought of Senier. Before he went to the Academy, Senier had idly asked him why he was joining. Amir didn't hide it and told him directly about Boris. After that, Senier had even specially arranged a job for Boris so the old man could survive.
"Right here." Gideon stopped and keyed open the heavy blast doors in front of him.
The spacious laboratory was in stark contrast to the utilitarian grey of the corridor. It was bright, sterile, and filled with dozens of doctors—or rather, scientists—in white lab coats, bustling between consoles.
At this moment, everyone's attention was drawn to the entrance, so no one noticed a tiny, flat droid detach itself from Amir's wrist gauntlet and slide silently onto the floor.
"Look, Amir. The galaxy's most brilliant geneticists are all here. The most advanced instruments are given to us first, we have an unlimited research budget, and every Imperial official must cooperate with our directives. Everything was ready... except for you."
"And now, you are here."
Amir put on a polite, weary smile to match the situation.
In Gideon's eyes, he was likely just a street kid from the underbelly of Coruscant, steeped in the desire for survival, who at best had some talent and was a good pilot.
He didn't know the extent of Amir's grasp of the Force, so he dared to be so lax with security. He didn't know Amir's true experiences or his state of mind, so he thought he could tempt him with money and purpose.
"What do you want me to do?" Amir finally asked.
A faint, triumphant smile appeared on Gideon's face, the look of a man who enjoyed playing with living puppets.
"You are smart, kid. A wonderful change happened to your body... sixteen years ago?"
"What?" Amir showed a reaction of shock. Although part of it was acting, the statement did genuinely rattle him.
"Yes, child. You were born under our watch. We were family." Gideon paused, looking at Amir with a twisted sort of nostalgia. "You were born unique. We need that uniqueness. I hope you will rejoin our family."
"You want me to be an experiment?"
Amir looked past Gideon to a corner of the lab.
A girl was strapped to a medical table. A "great scientist" was standing over her, inserting a needle into her arm to drain her blood.
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