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| - I don’t know how much time had passed, or how I ended up in the brig of whatever ship this was, but all I knew was that my back ached, my head throbbed and my breathing was labored. All I could remember was the helmet of a Mandalorian warrior and the hiss of his voice in my face and the sharp jab of the point of his gun in my back. I wasn’t alone in the bar he found me in either; I was with the new Sorrusian that tried to jack a couple of credits from me. Sighing angrily, I pushed myself off the ground and promptly fell under again as a wave of nausea passed over me, leaving my muscles quavering and head pounding. Groaning, I leaned against the cool durasteel walls of the brig and hoped that I would, in some way, be able to get out of whatever issue I was in. Looking around the tiny room, I realized that this wasn’t some large ship like I had previously thought, in fact, it was probably on a small transport of some sort, but I couldn’t be too sure. So, with nothing better to do, I slid back down the wall and brought my knees to my chest, hoping that I would be able to get out of this hell-hold in some way, and hopefully it would be soon. Swirling the contents of my drink around in the dirtied glass, I sat on a rickety bar stool that faced the entrance to what Naelah told me was her usual spot. Curiously, she had disappeared a few minutes ago and I thought she went to the ladies’ room, but I could hardly say that now; at least twenty standard minutes had passed since I’d last seen her, and I knew for a fact that even ladies don’t take that long. Worry had not really started to cross my mind until another ten minutes had passed by. Abandoning the remnants of my drink, I decided to go for a little jaunt back to the ladies’ room to make sure that she wasn’t back there, but even on my way back there I decided she wouldn’t have staked it out in a ladies’ room. She might have been young, but she was smart enough to run from me if she truly felt threatened; after all, she did outrun me back on the street. Remembering the chase with a wry grin, I spun around and made my way out of Naelah’s preferred bar. Out on the streets I saw the sun slowly dipping between the buildings around me and concluded it was almost sunset, which meant that all the bad things of the lower levels of Coruscant would be popping out. Frowning worriedly, I realized that Naelah could very well be out here somewhere, and something—anything—could take a sixteen-year-old girl from the streets. Cursing, my eyes darted back and forth on the streets as another thought came into my mind. I sat at the controls of the Hell’s Call, sitting slightly leaned back in the pilot’s seat. My helmet sat on the empty copilot seat. I enjoyed the cool air of the climate-controlled cabin, as well as the satisfaction of a nearly-completed job. All I had to do was bring the girl to Bilbringi, specifically to her father, and collect my pay. For such an easy assignment, the Moff sure did pay well. Speaking of the Moff, I probably should inform him that I am en route to his little planet, with his cargo in tow. I reached over and grabbed my helmet. Putting it on my head, I opened the link the grateful Governor had given me to contact him. It was his personal link, should it be necessary to contact him at odd hours when he wasn’t in his office. I opened the link and waited for his response. The Imperial-class Star Destroyer Dark Force sat in a triangular formation with two Star Destroyers of the older Victory-class. To the Dark Force’s starboard side floated the Fallen Hope, while, to port, sat the Master of Death. These massive warships formed the small fleet of one of Palpatine’s Dark Side Elite, who has recently taken an interest in the Moff of the Namadii sector. The Moff stood on the bridge of the flagship, beside a shorter figure, robed in dark maroon garments that hid the figure beneath. The Moff knew little of the Dark Sider, not even its name. His personal comlink beeped. Politely excusing himself, he went to the back of the bridge and opened the incoming link. “Moff Tieres here,” he spoke quietly. He had a feeling he didn’t want the Destroyer’s command crew overhearing this call. “Governor, I have your daughter.” Tieres recognized the dark voice of Phiht Piroc on the other end. The Mandalorian hunter was quick with his work, indeed. “That’s great news!” His voice was raised slightly. “I don’t have much more time to speak, as I’m in the middle of a meeting, but I look forward to seeing her soon.” “Of course.” The link cut, leaving Tieres to return to the pressing business he had with the Imperial Inquisitor. He walked back down the command walkway of the Star Destroyer, returning to the side of the mysterious red-robed figure. The hooded figure’s gaze turned for a brief second to the Moff. Tieres could swear he glimpsed glowing yellow eyes in the hood’s dark recesses, but he couldn’t tell before the Inquistor turned to look out the viewport at the stars. “She’s been found,” the Inquistor’s soft voice mewed from within the hood. “Yes, Inquistor. She should be arriving any time now.” “Good. We have much to discuss before then, Moff Tieres.” It was now pitch black in the lower levels of the capitol planet and the only light that managed to cut through the inky darkness was that of apartment buildings, but even that was only a grimy trickle of light. I walked onward, invisible to everyone but myself, and realized that I had lost Naelah; the one girl who actually looked at me as though I were her equal, not a dirt poor, stinking thief. I sighed and wondered where she had gone, but that line of thought didn’t last long. Up ahead, I noticed two hunched figures in the darkness. Cursing under my breath, I realized what they were sitting there for. In moments, if I continued up the path I was heading they would jump me and slice my throat, and then take what little money I had. Luckily, I had not drawn their attention so I swiftly headed into a nearby alleyway and walked up it as quickly as possible. The alleyway cut across a row of houses, and soon I was on a completely different street. This one was more alive than the other street, and I realized that I must be getting close to the heart of Lower Level Coruscant. Not really paying attention to where I was going, I ended up feeling a smaller body collide with my own, and looking down I noticed a girl with long brown hair swept up in a ponytail. My heart jumped at the possibility— “Naelah?” The girl looked up at me with frightened eyes. Shaking her head, she said, “No I’m…wait, how do you know my sister?” As I looked more closely at her, I saw that she was indeed not the same girl I ran into a little while ago. This girl was more of a woman, with a slightly sharper face and more defined features. Her eyes looked as though they would hold wisdom, but at the moment they were wide with fear. Swallowing my disappointment, I managed to smile tightly at the woman before me. “Did your sister go off to find you?” Relief started seeping into my voice, but I couldn’t be too sure… “Why would she do that? She hates Coruscant,” She said with a little bit of a slur touching her words. I could assume that she had been out partying earlier, and got lost on the way home. “Um…well she’s my girlfriend and I think she’s angry with me.” I searched my mind for the best possible explanation about how I knew this woman’s sister, but all I could come up with was: “I think she went home because of our argument.” “Home?” The girl repeated drunkenly, and I noticed that her jaw was slightly slack. “Back to Bilbringi? Why would she do that?” “I…to Bilbringi?” Could she have possibly gone all the way home? My heart jumped at the thought, but I still remained unsure if that was true. “Would she go home?” “Well I haven’t seen Naelah in ages, but I know that she wouldn’t stay in Coruscant very long, even if her life was dependent on it. She despises the capitol planet.” The girl smirked in my direction and cocked her head. “So I didn’t even know little Naelah had a boyfriend…you look pretty old to be hers.” “I’m just worried about her.” “Ok,” The girl responded cockily. “If you wanna catch her she’s probably on Bilbringi, but I think she ran from home…I just remember Dad was furious about it…I dunno,” She was beginning to lose whatever grip on reality she had. “Here, why don’t I take you back to where you belong?” I offered. “The University,” She nodded tiredly and leaned on me. “Name’s Anita by the way, tell Naelah I said hi when you see her.” And without another word the girl, who I now knew as Anita, slumped forward and I caught her in my arms. This was going to be a long night. Nothing I could possibly do would pull me out of this situation. I sat stubbornly in the little cell of a room I had unwillingly and unknowingly been thrown into. I stared at the wall, wondering where in the galaxy I was, and more importantly, how I was going to get out of this place. Letting my head fall back against the cool steel wall of the cell, my mind wandered back to those months prior to my escape. I thought about my father especially, and what he ended up doing about me, for I had not seen any special reports about my absence. Strangely enough, my sister had also come to mind. I had not thought about her in years—ever since she had so readily departed our home of Bilbringi and left my mother in ruins. While I wondered about her, I heard a noise in the distance indicating something changing on the ship. I stood up almost immediately and was prepared to spring into action, but if this guy had taken me down once he would have no problem taking me down once again. I bit my cheek with this knowledge and waited on the balls of my feet, hoping and praying that I wouldn’t be thrown into some torture cell, or become one of the horror stories I had heard about so often in my travels. A few minutes had passed and I felt the ship move jerkily underneath my feet and I realized we were stopping somewhere, though I had no idea where. Tensing in anticipation, I waited for the locking mechanism of the door to slide back. Through the past couple of years I had done alright with hand-to-hand combat, though I preferred having a blaster ready in my hand. This Mandalorian warrior though…well I didn’t know how long a sixteen year old girl would be able to stand up to him. He did already knock me out once, and I really didn’t want it to happen again. Gritting my teeth, I heard the shuffling of feet outside the cell door and heard a loud thump. Breathing quickly now, I felt my heart begin to race as adrenaline flooded into my veins. This was it, if I could just slide past him and run for it… The door slid open, revealing the tall, muscular form of the Mandalorian warrior. His gunmetal gray armor was covered in battle scars, showing that he had been in a lot of battles through the years, and, as with all Mandalorians, he was covered in weaponry. I looked at his face, which was covered by a helmet that bore a yellow, T-shaped visor, and tried to get a look at the face underneath, but it was impossible. Though he pulled no weapons, even though he was covered in them, I instantly felt my skin crawl at his appearance. I could very well die here and nobody would know. Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I tried to stare defiantly at the person before me, but he made it increasingly difficult. Despite my promise to not relent any ground to this warrior, I felt my feet move backwards of their own accord and suddenly I was backed into a wall with no where to escape. Swallowing again, I watched him move in and decided that it was now or never; if I wanted to live I would have to attack this warrior regardless of how I felt. So, I rolled onto the balls of my feet and launched forward at him, despite my weightlessness compared to him, I managed to at least make him stumble backwards. I fell back onto my feet and put my hands in front of me in a guarding position, waiting for him to strike back, but he didn’t. Taking advantage of that, I ran at him again and tried desperately to make him feel pain despite the armor on his body; I winced in pain as I felt my knuckles turn raw with the effort. Finally, I fell back to the floor and swept my legs around to try and knock him to the floor, but all he did was jump over them easily. What happened next moved so quickly I wasn’t even aware of what was happening until I was hefted into the air and slammed into the nearest wall. Feeling his hand tighten around my throat, I tried to remove it using my fingers, but it was impossible. I was left struggling for air as he continued to choke me. Looking directly into his mask with pleading eyes, I tried to tell him to stop, but he didn’t. Suddenly, though, I was dropped to the floor and something hard hit my head. I don’t know what it was, but all I remember was pain spreading out like a spider web and my vision going back. The last thing I saw was the Mandalorian’s helmet-covered face looking down at me as I lost sense of everything around me. “Fierfek,” I cursed. I hadn’t expected that. The little teenage brat had actually tried to attack me. Most beings wouldn’t even try taking a swing at a Mandalorian. Perhaps she was braver than I had initially thought. I wasn’t going to be taken by surprise like that again. Naelah lay on the deck of the small cabin I had locked her in, pretty unconscious. I didn’t want to choke her or anything, but captives with fiery attitudes often left little choice in the matter. She wouldn’t be making trouble for a while. Still silently cursing, I sealed the door and returned to the cockpit and seated myself at the controls. Activating the comlink, I hailed Bilbringi’s traffic control. “Bilbringi, this is the GAT-12j Skipray Blastboat Hell’s Call, requesting permission to land at the Governor’s Residence, priority code Alpha-Bravo-Tango.” “Hell’s Call,” came the reply, “this is Bilbringi Control. You are to maintain your present course along Vector 12-14-23. Deviation from the vector given will authorize the authorities to open fire. Confirm receipt of transmission.” I ran a quick course calculation. That vector wouldn’t take me down to the Governor’s residence. It didn’t even take me planetside. That’s when I noticed a small formation of Star Destroyers, pretty much bearing down on me from that vector. “Control, this is Hell’s Call. I have a priority passenger for Moff Tieres-“ “The Moff is aware of your arrival, as is the Dark Force battle group. You will be taken aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Dark Force. You will be briefed from there. Straying from the assigned vector will give a bunch of trigger-happy gunners authorization to blast your little Skipray to oblivion. Control out.” I cursed. No one said anything about Imperials or Star Destroyers or di’kutla Control personnel. I wasn’t a di’kut myself, so I corrected the Hell’s Call along the vector that would bring me aboard one of the most powerful warships in the Imperial Starfleet. I looked at my chrono and cursed again. It was only 0700 local time. This was going to be one long, hellish day. And, damn it, I really hate surprises. “Madam Inquisitor, the bounty hunter has arrived, carrying a priority passenger for the Governor.” Captain Gronnan was a tall man, impeccably dressed in the charcoal gray uniform of a Starfleet commander. “They’re being brought aboard as we speak.” The Captain couldn’t see my eyes under the maroon hood I wore. It was better that way. Best to keep the subordinates wondering. “Very good, Captain. Have a detachment from the 703rd escort our guests to the bridge conference room. I’d like to speak with them before we send the hunter on his way.” Gronnan nodded. “Very good, Madam.” He turned to one of the crew members in the pits alongside the command walkway of the Star Destroyer’s bridge. “Lieutenant, comm down to the barracks and get the Master Sergeant of the 703rd battalion to detail a platoon to escort duty on the hangar deck. They’re to escort our guests to the bridge.” “Yes sir.” The lieutenant turned and sent the order down to the barracks deck, as ordered. Everything functioned as it should aboard the Dark Force. I expect nothing less. I swept off the bridge to the conference room in the aft of the tower. I was eager to meet our guests. Most eager. Pissed was hardly the word I would have used right now. I was being escorted through one of the Empire’s massive Star Destroyers by a platoon of white-armored Stormtroopers, as faceless as I was behind the skull-like helmets. We were being brought to the bridge deck to meet with the squadron’s commander. I had heard rumors of the Dark Force. It was a scourge of the Outer Rim territories, crushing minor insurrections like small insects. Supposedly the commander could wield the Force, but that was a bunch of myth. There weren’t any Force-users left in the Galaxy, except for Darth Vader. That monstrous blend of man and machine wasn’t here though. He didn’t use anything smaller than a Star Dreadnought for his flagship. Twenty minutes, three turbolifts, thirty decks, some twenty corridors and a few hatchways later, we were escorted into a conference room in the Star Destroyer’s massive conning tower. The Stormtrooper platoon waited outside, presumably to escort us away once we were done. And they wouldn’t have been needed anyways. To either side of the hatchway stood two completely silent Royal Guardsmen, typically assigned by Palpatine to protect either himself or his top subordinates. Robed in red, they were supposedly masters of the Echani fighting art, wielding their force pikes with great skill. At the other end of the long conference table, standing as silently as the two Guardsmen on either side of the door, was a short, maroon-robed figure. Even though the hooded figure stood on the opposite side of a large room, I could feel power radiating from it like an electrical storm. From the way Naelah started fidgeting beside me, so could she. The door cycled shut, sealing us inside. The Guardsmen still didn’t move, but the robed figure on the other side of the table did. It reached up and threw back its hood. I hate surprises. They just wouldn’t stop coming though. I expected some sort of short, stocky, possibly bearded wizard or something. Instead, it was a short girl. She couldn’t have been much older than Naelah, but she was a half-foot shorter. For a girl considerably younger than I, she was attractive. This really worried me. Sending kids out to do dirty work seemed like the Emperor’s style, but a kid that radiated power like this Star Destroyer’s main reactor couldn’t possibly be good. The girl seated herself in the chair at the head of the table. She motioned for us to do the same. It was then I noticed the most troubling part of this girl. Her eyes weren’t some pretty brown or light blue as I had expected. They were a vibrant, sickly yellow. There was no way this could possibly be good. Not a chance in Hell.
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