Chapter 58: The Rebel Way

When Rey woke the following morning, she was rated and quite content. She had gotten to bed early the previous night and had also gotten to talk with and teach Fama for an hour or so. By all accounts, it had been a good evening and had prepared her well for the following day. She was excited to undertake her mission, and it had never crossed her mind that she might end up destroying the Northern Dragon information processing plant. She had only wanted to break in, steal the proper data files, and then get out. Primidian had sent over extremely detailed plans down to the minute and had provided them every kind of support.

Everything had gone well, breaking in. She and Emi, who had many more skills than just being a political advisor, managed to retrieve both items they were looking for without fault. However, just as they were begging to escape, two guards with Death Sticks in hand walked into their secluded maintenance tunnel. These two men were terrified to see two people dressed in the fashion of Dark Apostle cultists and fired their blasters. With stormtrooper-like precision, they missed Rey and Emi in their diseases and hit the main coolant line. The red-oily liquid that was very friendly to computer hard drives began to catch fire and combust at a frightening rate.

Like so, the two 'cultists' and guards began to fly together as the expulsions and flames grew closer and closer to them. They managed to get to the end of the hall where the emergency bolt locks were closing. One of the guards fell at the finish line, and Rey leaped back to pull him through as the gate descended completely. They all let out sighs of relief as they watched the room be emptied of air and filled with chemical smog. However, the disappearance of the flames also let them see the incredible amount of shrapnel that had burst its way through the coolant system's mainframe. After a few arcs of electricity escaped it, the machine went dark, and a passive buzzing that filled the building faded.

With the lifeblood of any supercomputer no longer flowing, the computers that were computing untold quantities of information began to heat up. The first explosion was distant but was followed by several more and the blare of sirens. The four people stared at each other and, as a group, began to flee.

Rey and Emi broke away from the guards and tore off their robes, revealing facility uniforms underneath. It would have been best to blame any crime on the cultists while keeping their faces hidden, but now that an evaluation was happening, they couldn't draw attention to themselves. As a safeguard, they both had expertly crafted masks to make Rey look much older and bald and Emi much uglier and yellow.

Once they were running again, the Jedi cried, "Why is everything exploding?"

Emi responded casually, "The computers are overheating because the coolant system went down. These computers have an explosive cooling agent, so they're all going to blow up soon."

Rey glanced to her aid and screamed, "Who invents a coolant that explodes."

The cyborg responded, "People who are cheap and have secrets they don't want others to find out."

This made surprising sense, though it frustrated her greatly, causing her to let out a groan. While fleeing, they encountered an unconscious worker, and Rey carried them till they encountered a small pack of fleeing employees. She handed the man off and asked, "Is there anyone unaccounted for?"

An important-looking Neimoidian with a holoboard blurted, "Who are you?"

Rey wanted to curse, but just as she was about to risk the use of a Jedi mind trick, one of the employees offered up, "Their transfers from Jhin Corp, sir, they only arrived today."

Rey glanced at the man, who nodded subtly, and she blurted, "Yep, that's us, and I have to say you have a very poor operation going on here."

The manager figure let out a groan as he responded, "There are four people on floor three who seem to be trapped, and it's too dangerous to send help. Aside from those sorry bastards, everyone else is either their way or escaped."

The Jedi nodded, "My associate and I will go rescue them; you lot get out of here."

Rey handed off the unconscious while the man who had spoken up for her added, "I'll guide you."

They exchanged a brief moment of eye contact before she nodded and barked, "Good, we'll be off then."

Their team of three fled, and in their wake, one of the other employees remarked, "I want to work for Jhin Corp."

His manager smacked him on the head and grumbled, "You won't work anywhere if we don't get out of here."

Rey was relieved to see the group start moving again, and once they were out of earshot, she turned to their new friend and asked, "So ah, who are you."

The middle-aged man with thinning hair and a worried complexion responded, "John Fredrickson, the Admiral messaged me that the two of you might cause trouble." He then grumbled to himself and added, "He didn't tell me anything about blowing up the place."

Rey felt bad and responded, "This wasn't the plan we had in mind."

John laughed at this and called back as they reached a flight of satire, "No worries, I've wanted to burn this place down for years."

Emi decided to address the real issues as they began to climb, the sounds of explosions growing more regular, "The identities you mentioned, are they real."

John was starting to pant but got out, "Oh yeah, they're real, nothing left to chance on this mission."

Rey acknowledged this but couldn't help but blurt as she came to a striking realization, "If you're working for Primidian, then why couldn't you have just stolen the files."

John was clearly not a field agent and was gulping air but managed to pant out, "I'm just a data processor. Only the managers can check the building security or the terminal logs." They got to the third-floor landing and found the door blocked by debris. Rey drew her lightsaber and began to cut through it while the man added, "I mean, I Could if I had to, but once the evidence came out, Adolfus would kill me and my family." He had recovered some of his breath and added again, "Well, Primidian would have relocated us, but I have three kids, one grown and doing consulting work on the upper levels. Curasuants there home and don't get me started on the inlaws." Rey finished clearing a path, and they began to search the area. John coughed and added, "Plus, I've been collecting evidence against Adolfus for years. It was hard for me to get planted here, so I guess I'm kind of valuable."

Rey liked hearing the man's story and called back, "So you're a spy."

John pulled his head out of a break room and shrugged, "It's not that glamorous, but I guess so."

The Jedi considered everything and asked, "We didn't mess anything up, did we?"

The man shook his head but was caught off guard by an explosion from the room he had just exited. After a moment of recovery, he responded, "All the evidence I find I copy to a ghost drive and ship out of here." His eyes grew bright as he added, "With this place gone, I'll probably get reassigned to one of the other plants." With a wistful expression he finished, "I hope it's the Denmer Plant, nicer offices and climate control. They got a good thing over there."

Rey couldn't help but laugh as she arrived at a door that caught her eye. Its locking mechanism was stuck, so she cut around it and quickly hid her lightsaber. A group of workers fell out, having been banging on the thick metal wall desperately. One saved John and blurted, "John, you saved us."

The man hesitated but then nodded and shouted, "Sure did. Now let's get out of here."

They began to run while the same employee glanced at Rey and Emi and called, "Who are you two."

Emi looked over and responded, "Transfers from Jhin Corp."

One of the other employees called out at this, "Does Jhin Corp have good benefits?"

Rey felt a bit lost, but Emi responded as if speaking from a book, "Medical, Dental, and Six Month Maternity."

One of the employees nudged a comrade as they made it to the stairs, the hallway exploding behind them, and blurted, "Hell, they even get dental."

By this point, the group of computer analysts were out of breath and focused on fleeing for their lives. They all burst out of an exit just in time to see the roof collapse while taking out the third floor with it. A group of workers flocked to them and herded them away to safety as emergency droids with liquid nitrogen considered aries and started attacking the fire. Rey was a bit confused about what to do next, though Emi whispered to her, "Just play along; the police won't care."

After a three-hour wait, during which Emi gave a small class on the employment benefits and opportunities of Jhin Corp, a single police officer arrived. They found the manager, and after fifteen minutes, they left without any further questions. The manager then pulled out a comlink, looking nervous, and made a call. His face was red and sweaty for most of it, but after ten minutes, he hung up and let out a relieved sigh. He stood up on a passing gonk droid that was rather confused but remained still and addressed the workers, "Ok, everybody. Bad news: The plant burned down." He paused to let this sink in as though everyone might not be fully aware of this matter. He then continued by saying, "Good news, you all are on paid leave till you get reassigned." The crowd cheered at this happily. The manager then grew serious and declared, "I also have it from the boss himself; today, it never happened. There were no Dark Apostle Cultists, there was no fire, there was never any plant to begin with, hear me." Everyone nodded and made approving sounds, causing the manager to appear relieved, "Very good." He cleared his throat and added, "Also, a special thanks is due to John and our two transfers for helping to make sure everyone got out of the fire safely." The group cheated again while the manager adjusted his color and added, "Given the circumstance, the Jhin Corp transfer will be returning to Jhin Corp…" He hesitated but then spoke loudly, "And to anyone considering a transfer, please come speak to me so we can discuss new benefit possibilities." The group cheered loudly and celebrated Emi merrily.

After all of this, the crew of thirty or so workers decided to go get food at the local pub to celebrate the fire, and Reya and Emi joined them. It felt a bit awkward, given they had caused everything, but oddly enough, everything had turned out alright in the end. In a strange way, it was good to get to be around real people again, not politicians or tycoons, just everyday citizens working to raise their kids and live a good life. Rey left the meal more than a little tipsy, and she had some good laughs while Emi was there to keep her from getting into any trouble.

All in all, it was a very fulfilling morning.

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