"The inside of this place opens directly onto space. That doesn't seem very safe." Aphra wrinkled her nose and took a few deep breaths. "But the power only came back recently, and we can already breathe in here. There must be an independent power system running."
"You said you saw Ruur, Master Deathstroke?" Barriss drew her Lightsaber but did not ignite it yet.
"Not physically. But I sensed him through the Force, inside that enormous crystal cluster hanging upside down in the void." Su Ming glanced at the bodies sprawled around them, then stepped onto the bridge.
He had sensed him. Ruur was like a green seed frozen in space, yet brimming with life.
It was a contradictory sensation. It was not simply Life Force; it held plenty of other elements Su Ming could not understand.
"These people look like civilians, or maybe relatives of the Jedi. They had no weapons." Walking behind Deathstroke, Aphra needed only a glance to spot what set the bodies apart.
"But their life force was drained anyway." Zero Three walked beside his master and made a show of shaking his head. "Good thing I'm a robot and don't have to worry about a lifespan. Still, seeing what happened to these people makes me sad for them."
Zero Three was a robot with principles. He was good at killing and enjoyed it, but he never killed unarmed civilians.
Robots were the exception. They were made of metal, after all. Even then, Zero Three was humane enough to switch off their pain modules before killing them.
"Never mind that. Did you save the footage? This discovery could make me famous. I might even get a seat on the Archaeological Association's board." Aphra did not care how these people had died. She cared about what she could