A cold smile curled across Arden Lyn's lips. "Ah, let's see what kind of tricks you're playing, Captain Jesse Darlen."
At that moment, a maintenance robot slid up along the rails in the passageway. It seemed to be trying to repair the hatch that the system had deemed damaged, but she kicked it straight back down. Then she jumped into the maintenance passage and casually crushed the robot beneath her feet.
She immediately slammed the button beside her. The forcibly opened hatch sealed shut, and the automatic pumps began repressurizing the compartment. Arden Lyn also removed her fully enclosed helmet in one swift motion.
Then she headed down the corridor toward the bridge.
Signs of fighting could be seen all along the way. Tables in the mess hall had been overturned, leaving the place in shambles. Bloodstains marked the walls, along with blackened scorch marks from blaster fire.
It seemed that a sizable riot had broken out even aboard the flagship, and Jesse Darlen had only just managed to bring the situation under control. No wonder only three ships in the entire Planet Defense Fleet had fallen under Separatist control so far.
Darth Sidious had indeed begun preparing for Rendili StarDrive's betrayal long ago, just as he had said.
Arden Lyn admired him in one respect, because this showed her that after more than twenty thousand years of development, although the Dark Side Force had declined, it had continued to evolve and grow, finally reaching the point of bearing fruit.
Yet at the same time, she was deeply wary of him. She simply could not see through Sidious at all!
Several soldiers approached from ahead. The moment they saw Arden Lyn, they froze briefly before demanding harshly, "Who are you? What are you doing sneaking around here?!"
Arden Lyn smiled.