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| - And so it had been decided: I was going to head to Bilbringi to try and rescue Naelah—a girl who I had only known for a short while, and in some strange manner she seemed to capture my interest. Unfortunately for me, Naelah’s older sister seemed to think this was a journey made for her too, but how wrong that was. “I’m coming with you,” Anita said sharply as she threw something else into the bag. We had finally gotten into the University, and I was now sitting on a trunk while she attempted to pack things. “I want to go home anyways; I can’t stand being around Coruscant if the police force is murdering my sister.” “You’re not going,” I replied simply, unwilling to argue with this girl, but I had no choice; she was as stubborn as ever. “Do you realize how much danger you might be in?” “And Naelah isn’t in any?” She retorted as she looked up at me. “Don’t try and stop me from saving my sister—I’m not letting you go without me.” “Anita,” I interrupted sharply, my temper getting the best of me. “I’m not letting you go with me and that’s final. If you really want to go, find your own way home.” I stood and stared down at her, waiting for a response. She stared at me for a few minutes before letting out a short scream of frustration. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” “Do I look like I am?” After studying my expression for a second, she spluttered, “But she’s my sister! You can’t just—you can’t do this to me! I know she’s in trouble Sterlo, I can feel it alright? I want to help her.” “You can’t plead with me, it doesn’t work,” I told her and backed away. “I’m leaving now, and I’m not bringing you with me. If I brought you with me you might end up in jail or something worse.” Sitting down in defeat, Anita let out a sigh and glanced up at me again. “Well,” She said sullenly. “Tell Naelah I said hi.” I smirked and replied, “Are you going to act like a two-year-old?” “No,” She responded with more grace. “I’m going to nobly accept defeat and let you go rescue my sister; go be the knight in shining armor if that’s what you want.” Shrugging, she let a short laugh escape her lips before shaking her head. “That’s not what I want,” I told her quickly, and realized that she was joking with me. “Knight in shining armor or not, I’m going to go and get her back, and I promise you that.” “Good,” She told me quietly as her demeanor shifted. “Because I want to hear that my sister’s alive and well, not dead.” She held my gaze for a fraction of a second, and I caught a glint of hardness in her eyes. “Thank you.” “Of course,” I responded just as quietly. “Naelah’s my friend now too, and despite the fact that I am a Sorrusian, it doesn’t mean I’m going to desert her when she needs me the most.” I offered a grin in Anita’s direction before heading to the door of her dorm suite. “This isn’t going to be the last you hear of me, or of Naelah,” I promised solemnly and left the room, as well as Anita, far behind me. All I remembered was the searing flash of light, and the immeasurable pain that seemed to rip through my body a thousand times over, but then my world went black. I recalled nothing, only the sharpness of thousands of knives shoved deep into my skin. Suddenly, I began to shiver uncontrollably and turned over, but my palm slapped against something hard and cold. In an instant, my eyes flew open and the scene that greeted me was dark and grotesque. I looked around; my view of the room distorted by my position, and saw that it was a prison cell. Gray duracrete walls rose up around me on all sides, and there wasn’t even a barred window to let light in. I must have been trapped in the lowest levels of some prison—even as I looked around I noticed the filthiness of the chamber, which only added to my despair. I attempted to shift my legs, but that thought was immediately shut down for as soon as I moved them a sharp, stabbing pain rocketed up my body and made me gasp out in surprise. I had never felt such pain in my life, it was beyond any consolation. As I lay on the cold, disgusting floor, I realized that that Inquisitor from the Empire must have put me down here, but I was still confused as to why. She thought I had some affiliation with the Rebel Alliance, but that didn’t make any sense; I faded from public view months ago and she knew that, but why was she so intent on finding me and questioning me? I knew that escape was not an option; I had given up hope for that a long time ago; and now, especially in this state I was not fit to run from a Sith. But something still bothered me. Why was a Sith so interested in a seemingly unimportant girl? It just didn’t make any sense. But before I had any time to continue processing thoughts, there was movement outside of my cell door. Someone was sliding back the heavy bolt that locked me in, and another person was slowly opening my door. And quickly, I forgot all about the pain I was feeling and sat up and began crawling backwards across the cell’s floor. I couldn’t let myself be taken again—I had to do something. I wasn’t going to be tortured again. When I looked at the white light now pouring into my cell, I understood that the vague flashes of memories I did have were of previous torture sessions. Oh Force no, I thought as I finally backed into a wall. No, no, no, I began panicking and ran my fingers over the dirty wall, not even paying attention to the pain that was rippling up my legs again. “Thank you gentlemen,” The Inquisitor’s cool, commanding voice came from the hallway, assaulting my ears. “That will be all.” Suddenly, the demon from hell was standing in front of my door, her hood back and exposing a shockingly regular face, but it was twisted by the lust for power and the desire for something else I couldn’t place. Her brilliant, sickly yellow eyes were flashing with excitement, and I was certain she would have no regrets killing me. I swallowed loudly and began to tremble as the Inquisitor swept into the room. Pushing my back against the wall as hard as I could, I had to grit my teeth against the pain that was erupting in my legs again. Oh Force please, I begged silently as I looked away from the girl with the horrid, yellow eyes. “How do you feel?” She asked, without raising her voice or kneeling in front of me. All she did was stand, enjoying her place of power, and look down at me as sarcasm riddled her tone. “Does it hurt? Do you feel a burning pain everywhere in your body?” I kept my mouth clamped shut as I glared at her, but when she kicked my leg I couldn’t help but utter a cry of pain as the shock rippled through me. I pushed myself off the wall and grabbed the leg and when I looked down I realized they were bloodied, bruised and looked grotesque. I gasped in shock and touched them, feeling the cuts and bruises everywhere. “Scared?” The Inquisitor taunted with an evil cackle. “How would you like to go back and experience it again?” Whimpering, I managed to pull my legs to my chest and held them there while she continued to stare at me through malignant eyes. Finally, I looked back at her and grimly set my face before I spat, “No.” “Oh you’re going to wish you never said that,” she replied delightedly, and after she stared at me intently for a second, I blacked out. It was a relief, but forever haunting me would be those awful yellow eyes. Traveling to Bilbringi was one of the strangest experiences I had ever encountered in my life—and for a Sorrusian that was saying something. I had met two highly intriguing girls, and now I was off to be a knight in shining armor to one. How much stranger could things get? And so, after a long and strenuous ride on the most uncomfortable transport I had ever been on, we finally entered Bilbringi’s orbit and I was finally able to look upon the home world of both Anita and Naelah. From space, Bilbringi was not nearly as dull as Coruscant’s day side, but it wasn’t all that attractive either. Then again, the entire planet was covered in metal mines so that would obviously make for an unattractive world. However, I could still make out patches of green and blue along the planet’s surface, and I wondered if the Moff’s home was somewhere around those areas. But my inspection of Bilbringi was interrupted by the captain’s voice over the intercom giving us the estimated arrival time along with departure procedures. As if I hadn’t already heard this speech hundreds of times before. So, I decided to settle down and take a short nap until we touched land. The woman who tried to keep up with my quick stride beside me couldn’t have possibly been more confused. I guess barging into her home and dragging her away can do that to someone. I pushed my way through the crowd, not caring who I shoved out of my way. I had a job to do, and they were in my way. And besides, who argues with a fully armored Mandalorian? “Please, tell me what’s going on!” The woman was insistent. I could see where Naelah got her fire from, since it certainly wasn’t from her father. The Moff seemed tired with the stress of his position, whereas his wife still had a youthful flare to her. “Is it Naelah? Did Enric send you? What happened?” Although I maintained my straight path through the crowd gathered in the starport, I turned my helmeted head to the woman panicking at my side. “Ma’am, your husband did send me. Naelah’s in Imperial hands, and I’m tasked with rescuing her. I was also charged with seeing you safely away from Bilbringi. You’re on the next transport to Coruscant. The governor wants you to get in touch with your other daughter and fill her in on what has transpired so far.” “But won’t Enric get in trouble? The Empire…” I shoved a slightly-drunk Rodian out of my way. I silently cursed stupid people, then turned back to her. “Ma’am, your husband is aware of the risks he’s taking. He’s doing it willingly. Your husband loves you and your family, and he wants to ensure your safety.” She sighed softly. “I know he does. It hurts me to see him put himself in harm’s way. He served the Empire as faithfully as he could, and now it’s come down to him and his entire family being hunted by those he served. It’s ironic, I guess.” We reached check-in counter. One of the personnel behind the counter motioned me over. I walked briskly to her terminal, where she looked me over with a mixture of awe and fear. “Can I help you, sir?” “Yes ma’am, you can. I called earlier to book a flight to Imperial City Spaceport on Imperial Center for one passenger. I’d like to check in.” “Of course, sir. Your name?” I hadn’t used my real name to reserve the ticket. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. “Roykin Dermitchal.” I often assumed my deceased friend’s identity for this sort of situation, as a sign of respect to him. She looked at her screen, hit a few keys on the terminal, and grabbed the ticket the machine spit out. “Here you go, sir. Thank you for flying Imperial Starlines.” I walked away from the counter at a brisk speed, the woman I was charged with escorting struggling to keep pace behind me. I went through the spaceport, glancing at signs to find the departure terminal for Mrs. Tieres’ flight. Finally, we reached Gate E457 after a seemingly endless walk. I turned to her and handed her the ticket. “Ma’am, lay low once you get to Imperial Center. Don’t let your husband’s sacrifice be in vain.” She gulped at the mention of his sacrifice. “I won’t. Thank you for helping us.” I nodded. “Your husband pays well, and I’m not a fan of torturing minors. It’s technically illegal.” She gave a weak smile at my joke. “The Empire seems to bend the rules when it suits them. Please, do what you can for my daughter.” “Ma’am, I’ll give nothing less than my best to help her. You have my word, your daughter will be safe. I can’t promise you that you’ll see her for some time, though. Your husband wants me to get her to the Rebel Alliance. They can help her lay low for a time, to hopefully let this cool down.” She seemed even sadder than before. “Enric knows best, I guess. I always suspected he had contacts with the Rebels. I just hope they can help her.” “They’ll help her. I’ll make sure of it.” “Thank you. I appreciate all your help.” She reached up and hugged me, an extremely rare occasion for me, and with a final farewell she boarded the shuttle. As soon as I was sure she was aboard I left the starport and went back to the capital in a rented speeder. There was more business to attend to here. I had a promise to keep to a family with little hope left. “I think you’ll find Bilbringi most hospitable to your needs,” An older, pleasant lady was gibbering to me as the transport touched down for landing. “I have two nieces and a nephew living on the planet and they say that it is very good to them.” I smiled as best I could with my mind elsewhere, and managed to rumble, “I’m not here for very long—” But apparently, the woman thought that I had just made an opening for her to include some more pointless facts about the planet. “Oh, but Moff Tieres is really quite the gentleman to visitors; he appreciates all the outside visitation he gets, and because Bilbringi draws such people, it also draws the attention of the Empire, which helps the planet survive.” I glanced down at the woman with frank disgust in my eyes as she mentioned the Empire. “Have you heard anything on the Moff’s youngest daughter?” I asked, shielding my obvious intensity in the subject. “Why, not recently no; I heard that she was apprehended by the Empire a short time ago and that has been a black mark of Moff Tieres’ record, but he has a lot of other things to live for.” “If your daughter was arrested by the Empire don’t you think you’d be a little worried too?” “I don’t have children so I don’t know how I’d feel, sir,” She snapped back impatiently. “Now if you excuse me, the transport is unloading.” She gathered her baggage and stood up and walked toward the crowd of people briskly. Batty old woman, I thought as I stood up and started walking toward the throng that had started forming. Meandering through the hoards of people coming off the transport was no easy task, but I finally accomplished it and my feet landed on the hard, duracrete floors of the landing bay. Apparently this was the biggest spaceport on all of Bilbringi—at least it looked gigantic and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the largest since it was so close to the capitol. Looking around, I noticed the variety of people walking through the spaceport, but none were more noticeable than those who were in obvious collaboration with the Empire. I saw stormtroopers, but not nearly enough to be there to regulate traffic at a spaceport—this made me realize that Naelah’s being the Empire’s hands was not as usual as people were trying to make it out to be. Walking through the overly large and congested spaceport was a confusing and tiring experience, but soon I was about ten meters from the doors and I caught faint glimpses of the world outside. Bilbringi—the mining planet. But for some unexplainable reason my flesh began prickling on the back of my neck and on my arms. Gritting my teeth, I slowly began turning around to see what on earth had caused this sensation because it only occurred when I was in a dangerous situation. And then my attention drifted toward a tall, overbearing Mandalorian in full armor, so I could not see his face as he continued to push quickly through the crowd. I felt like I knew this person, and I felt as though I had met him recently. The hazy memories of a faded bar scene assaulted my mind, and suddenly I realized that this had to have been the person who kidnapped Naelah; he was the man who was responsible for bringing Naelah to her death. So, in return for harming Naelah, I would have to harm him. Feeling adrenaline pumping through my veins, I started tailing him and found it surprisingly easy—being a Sorrusian gets you into many places people don’t want you to be. The Mandalorian soldier was moving fast and it seemed like he was trying to run from something, but he wouldn’t break out into a full sprint. He pushed through people and ignored their cries out protest, and soon it was just him and me in a back alley in the middle of a city I knew nothing about. I had blocked out everything but tailing the supposed kidnapper, so I didn’t realize we had exited the spaceport in favor of the actual capitol. The Mandalorian stopped, and without turning to face me, he said, “You need something?” in a rumbling voice that shocked me for a fraction of a second. But the moment of shock passed and I stared defiantly at his back while saying, “Yeah actually, I do.” Barely conscious, I was an easy victim of the Inquisitor’s inhumane cruelty; the woman, who looked more like a girl of my age, easily strapped my wrists into manacles hanging from the ceiling in a darkened room I presumed was a torture chamber, however I wasn’t exactly sure. The girl, who’s hood was now half-covering her face, had stepped to the front of me and simply stared for a moment or two, almost as if she were calculating how best to torture me. I stared back, letting my temper get the best of me, and despite my aching body I managed to hold the girl’s invisible stare. “Do you have something you wish to tell me Miss Tieres?” She questioned softly, her voice dripping with a sickly sweetness that wanted to make me vomit, but I hardly had the energy to make my stomach heave. “Or shall I just make this as informal as can be by calling you Naelah?” “I have nothing.” My voice shook with the effort as I spoke to the girl, but my determination remained solid—as it had in the past torture session that I barely remembered. But the pain, the pain I remembered as clearly as a piece of jagged glass cutting into me. It was surreal, but the Inquisitor had made everything about the last torture session hurt. I had come so close to dying, but she didn’t care—all she cared about was getting the information she believed I had. The Inquisitor made an unintelligible noise in the back of her throat, and then said, “Very well Miss Tieres, very well. Bring forward the device.” I let my head fall forward against my chest as I began to remember the bloodcurdling screams and the horrors of being threatened by a Sith. I left the room barely conscious, but I could remember the drilling of a thousand knives into my body, and the boiling of my blood as fires seemed to burn into my skin…the pain is what had nearly killed me, the overwhelming sensation of pain that crippled me beyond belief. Breathing raggedly, I managed to lift my head and stare into the yellow eyes that gleamed with lust—oh how I knew she wanted to see me in pain, to see my defenses crumble and everything to leak out. “Impossible,” I gasped as I felt hot, searing metal on my flesh and I let out a shrill scream that I tried to bite off, but I ended up whimpering instead. How many more times could I go through this? I hadn’t done anything! Pain blazed through my neck and at least a dozen other places and instantly my head fell forward. I screamed out in anguish and felt cool tears brush my cheeks, and then watched them glistening as they fell to the metal floor and landed with a soft hiss. “Now, Miss Tieres, I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here,” The Inquisitor said, and her excitement bled through the clipped words. Leaning over, she grabbed my chin between her thin fingers and jerked my head up to look at her directly. I groaned against the sudden movement, but made no other noise as I continued to stare into her malignant eyes. “You’re too important for the Empire to let out of its sight, and yet you managed to disappear for at least a year.” She squeezed my chin and said, “Now how did you manage to do that?” Disgustedly, she tossed my face away and turned around as she continued talking. “Well, my Master came to one conclusion and that conclusion seems most viable; Miss Tieres, you wield the power of the Force and you don’t even know it.” Everything in my body went numb as she stated this simple fact. The pain disappeared, and I could literally feel the blood drain from my face as I weakly lifted my head to stare at her. “What?” I pushed out of my throat, and yet it still sounded like a gurgle. “Yes, the Force is strong with you, and my Master wants you to serve him, and the Empire,” Spinning around, she continued in a forceful voice. “We want you to serve our purpose Miss Tieres; we want you to become one of us.” Utterly confused, I stared blankly at the Inquisitor and swallowed dryly. I didn’t even understand what this Sith was talking about. It was impossible for me to figure out in the state of mind I was in, but I certainly understood that I was Force sensitive. But that made sense…now that I started to think about it, it began to make sense. “So what will it be Miss Tieres? Will you join us?” The Inquisitor asked tersely, and folded her arms across her chest. “We won’t wait forever.” Summoning what I could, I spat, “No, I would never serve the dark—” but before I could even choke out my thoughts there was a searing pain somewhere in the back of my skull, and it rippled outward and began engulfing my entire body. I screamed and felt something new stir within me that had never happened before. Looking through squinted eyes, I saw the Inquisitor back away as something flew out toward her. “More! Let’s see the extent of her powers!” She shrieked wildly. And suddenly, my energy was spent and I blacked out completely, oblivious to the pain and everything else around me. But somewhere in my mind, somewhere behind an iron wall and buried deep something else was breaking loose. Perhaps I truly was gifted with the Force.
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