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| - The stark lighting of my new habitat shocked me as I slowly peeled open my eyes. Dried blood had somehow gotten into the way of my vision, and as I tried to reach up and brush it away I realized I couldn’t move any limb of my body without a sharp spasm of pain jolting through it. Groaning, I slumped forward and felt my wrists strain against the leather straps holding me against a duracrete wall. “Are you willing to cooperate now?” A cold, malicious voice slithered through the room. From the singular darkened corner of the room, the Inquisitor stepped forth; her hood was thrown back, revealing her sickly yellow eyes that danced wickedly in the bright light. “Tell me, Naelah, what will push you to your very limits? What will make you release what you’ve been holding inside for so long?” Spitting out the blood and mucus that had gathered in my mouth, I lifted my head and looked directly at the Inquisitor. “Never,” I croaked, and the word scraped against my dry throat. Swallowing, I winced as the pain slid up and down the back of my throat before I was able to say, “I’ll never join you.” “Oh no,” The Inquisitor continued on in her cruel voice. “I was never asking you to join us, merely to show us the extent of your powers.” She walked across the room, her dark cloak jutting out in the whiteness of the room. “What will it take to make you snap?” In a moment, she was beside me and holding my chin in between two fingers. “Nothing.” I grimaced and tried to pull away from her fingers, but her grip was too strong and I was too weak. You will not break, I told myself firmly as I lifted my gaze to look into her yellow ones. You will not break. “Very well,” She spat and thrust my chin away as though she were disgusted. “I’ve had enough of trying to pry things from you Naelah. I could just kill you if that is what you want me to do, though I daresay your father won’t be happy about that.” She turned and began to head back to the darkened corner of the room. “What is your choice?” “I’m not giving in,” I muttered weakly and watched her body stiffen. Then, I felt an acute ache in my leg that quickly traveled throughout my entire body; something, I had realized, was traveling rapidly through my bloodstream and causing me to feel pain in a more intense manner. I looked wildly at the Inquisitor and saw her turn around with a satisfied smirk on her face. “Would you like to change your mind?” She asked as an IT-0 droid hovered into the light. The shiny metal parts glinted forebodingly in the harsh lighting, and slowly it started making its way toward me. “Because if you reconsider now, I can take this terrible thing away,” She continued as her voice dripped with sarcasm. “No,” I said in a muffled voice as the droid came closer. “No,” I repeated as something silvery appeared in my peripheral vision. Suddenly, a sharp, skull-shattering pain ripped through my entire body and I looked wildly at the Inquisitor, whose eyes gleamed with delight. “NOOO!” I screamed out in agony and strained against the leather ropes, ignoring the way they cut into my wrists. “NOO!” As I was screaming, I didn’t notice the sudden stop and jerk motion of the IT-0 droid that was supposed to be torturing me. For some reason, the pain kept pulsing through my veins like fire, but the droid had stopped its method of torturing me. All I saw was the widened eyes of the Inquisitor as she stared at me in complete and utter shock. I lurched forward, screaming in agony, and before I knew it I felt a rushing, strangling power fly up within me until I couldn’t contain it anymore. One moment had suddenly changed everything about the position I was in. Something vast and something terrible exploded from me that sent the IT-0 droid reeling back until it splattered into a wall next to the Inquisitor’s head. As I screamed, the power only proceeded to keep ripping out of me as though hell were being unleashed. I watched with terror-filled eyes as the body of the Inquisitor was thrust into the air, and then back against a wall in one precise motion. Even as my enemy sunk to the floor, unconscious by the looks of it, I couldn’t help but think, what is going on with me? What has she done?! I watched the Inquisitor’s head lull forward with a serenity that shocked me, but before she had completely passed out I saw her murmur something. Suddenly, the power died within me like a flame being extinguished. At once, I dropped forward like a heap of waste and I fell against the leather bands holding me in. The pain of the leather cutting deep into my wrists was somehow trivial to the feeling of the slow-moving heat moving through my bloodstream, eating everything in its wake. As I felt it crawl through me, all I wished for was a deep, untroubled sleep to take me away from everything. “What…have…I…” I raised my head once more and saw the Inquisitor’s lifeless form. “Done?” The word was barely a whisper as it escaped from my lips, but before I knew it I had fallen into a wave of darkness that granted me the peace I needed. The humanoid I remembered vaguely from that cantina on Coruscant stood at the entrance to the alley, hands held out to his sides, waiting for me to make my move. He had no blasters or any weapons I could see. Perhaps he was skilled in hand-to-hand combat. He wasn’t overly muscular, but I could see lithe muscle flexing in his arms. Well, if he wanted to play, I was more than willing to oblige. I flicked my eyes to one corner of my helmet’s HUD, and in response the vibroblades concealed in the armored gauntlets on my forearms snapped out. The humanoid’s eyes flickered momentarily in shock. Beneath my helmet, I smiled. He had no weapon, otherwise he wouldn’t be worried. I activated my HUD again, and a second set of blades snapped out of my gauntlets. This set, unlike the long stabbing blades over my wrists, were a set of climbing blades along the forearm. They also helped with slashing in hand-to-hand combat. The humanoid didn’t look nearly as confident as he did before, but he had set his mouth into a line of grim determination. I quickly evaluated the situation. I had seen him with the girl, Naelah, back on Coruscant. He had to have followed us here somehow. But he would have no idea that I was trying to get her back now, and he probably wasn’t likely to believe me. I had no reason to kill him, yet, and he could prove to be a useful ally when it came time to spring Naelah from wherever the Inquisitor was holding her. If he wanted to rescue Naelah, he couldn’t risk killing me because then he would have no idea what happened to his friend. Still, he was clearly set on a fight. I dropped into a fighting stance, left side toward him, right arm cocked back to deliver a punch. I could snap the blades back into their concealed compartments in a heartbeat, so I wouldn’t have to fatally wound him. But he didn’t know that, giving me a psychological advantage. The humanoid took a step forward in response, and in the flick of an eye he had leaped the distance between us. My left arm came up, blocking his first blow, and my right fist, suddenly with no blade, snapped forward to jab him in the chin. It was on. Standing at the other end of the alleyway, the bloody Mandalorian mercenary was staring at me through his fancy helmet, I was sure. Sure, I knew the reputations of many Mandalorians, but I didn’t care—this one couldn’t stand in my way of saving Naelah. Flexing my fingers against my thighs, I watched as he continued calculating his moves, and studying me. It was slightly intimidating standing across the way from this supreme fighter, but I had determination and willpower, something I was sure he didn’t have. Feeling adrenaline pumping through my veins, I shifted to the left and waited for his move. Impatience was drilling into my head, and the adrenaline made it difficult for me to stand still, but I commanded myself to despite the itchiness in my legs. I yearned to just hit the Mandalorian upside the head so hard that he’d be out cold on the ground—only then would I be alright with him. Naelah’s face fluttered into my vision and I realized that for the first time I was actually fighting for someone, rather than for myself. I had a reason to engage in a scuffle on the streets of Bilbringi, and this reason was somewhat noble, even if it was breaking a girl out of jail. Taking a deep, steadying breath, I lowered myself into a fighting position once more and stared down the hunter who stared at me, waiting patiently. He too dropped down into a fighting position, his left side to me, a practiced stance that revealed practice in hand-to-hand fighting. He was waiting for me to make the first move, I realized, and I suppose if that’s what he wanted that’s what he would get. With the thought of saving Naelah pushing me forward and recklessness edging every portion of my body, I launched forward and started sprinting down the alleyway, unaware of my surroundings. I was a stealthy fighter—I was a Sorrusian. Breathing even, and eyes set right on the prize, I jumped up right in front of the Mandalorian and pulled back my arm, closing my fingers into a fist, and within a moment that fist was sailing down towards the Mandalorian’s armed head. Before I could strike, I felt his armored fist slam into my chin, hard. I swung back, and the fight began. My fist hit the humanoid square in the jaw on the first blow. He reeled backward, but he came back swinging. I sidestepped another of his punches and jabbed into his side. I could tell the girl somehow affected him, perhaps in ways he didn’t realize. He was letting his emotions rule him, and he was making mistakes. He came in again, swinging wildly. He landed a blow on my chest, but the armored chestplate too the brunt of it. I grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and brought my helmeted head down hard, hitting him right on the nose. I threw him down onto the ground of the alley, and quickly analyzed him. Interesting. His nose didn’t seem to be damaged at all. Few species in the galaxy had the compressible skeleton of a Sorrusian. They were known to be skilled thieves, partially due to their ability to squeeze through partly-open windows or other small gaps impassible by the typical humanoid. They were also very agile in combat typically. I hadn’t encountered their kind often, but it usually was a memorable experience when I had. He clearly had a moral code as well, for he clearly fought for the girl. A man of honor was worthy of my respect. He pulled himself to his feet. I dropped back down again into a fighting stance, ready for him to leap. He didn’t disappoint. This time he managed to knock me off my feet. I hit the ground hard on my back, him on top of me, hitting me furiously. I brought my leg up and kicked up hard into his stomach, propelling him back and off of me. I jumped to my feet again and snapped out the fighting blades in my gauntlets. “Listen, friend, I’m trying to get your friend back,” I said to him as he regained his feet. He ran forward again, swinging manically at me, as I sidestepped or shrugged them off. Hitting the armor of a Mandalorian can’t be easy on his knuckles. “You can help me save her from the Empire!” He kept coming. His emotions clouded his hearing and he wouldn’t stop until he saw me dead. I slashed his jacket open with a swing of my right arm, nicking him enough to draw blood. He stepped back, looking down at his wound. I snapped out one of the blaster pistols belted on my waist, and by the time he looked back at me, he was staring down the business end of a WESTAR-34 blaster pistol, one of the best and most powerful on the market. “It’s over. Understood?” He glared at me. He was still forming fists with his hands down at his sides, but it looked like I had gotten through to him. “Enough play-time, Sorrusian. You can listen to me and what I have to say, or I can make it pretty damn quick for you. Are you gonna listen?” The alien was still glaring, but he nodded. “Good man. Naelah was taken by an Inquisitor.” The Sorrusian’s eyes widened in shock, showing he knew what an encounter with a member of the Imperial Inquisitorious would have meant for him if he had kept on his poorly-thought-out rescue attempt. “Her father, Moff Tieres, wants me to spring her out and get her to the Rebel Alliance. I can do it alone, but it’d be easier with some help. You in?” The glaring had eased up a little, and the Sorrusian nodded his agreement. “Good. To start, what’s your name?” “Sterlo,” said the other. I nodded. “I’m Phiht Piroc. We have a lot of work to do.” Cold. It was the first thing I felt when I was able to pry my eyes open once again, and almost immediately my body began reacting; at first, a cold sweat started pouring down my face, but then that quickly transformed into shivering. As my teeth chattered, I pulled my arms around me, hoping that in some way I could warm myself, but it proved to be fruitless. Lying defenseless in the cell of an Imperial Inquisitor, I began to realize what all of this was about. I wasn’t just Naelah Tieres, daughter of the Moff of Bilbringi anymore, I had the power to change the destiny of the Rebels, or so the Inquisitor believed. But I wasn’t defenseless anymore. Slowly, I began to right myself and tried to forget about the numbing cold that seemed to envelop me. I looked at the durasteel door that barred my escape and let a determination—let some raw willpower well up within me. I had the Force. The Force. I blinked slowly, comprehension dawning on me like the sun after a deep, dark night. I stared around the room for a brief moment before letting my eyes rest on the door; the only thing blocking my way out of this cursed cell. Unable to do much else besides stare, I clenched my hands into fists and willed it with everything I had, to open and let me go. I have the Force, the thought whirled around in my head like a million flies, and my focus on the door vanished. I couldn’t believe it, it was impossible to have the Force—the Jedi died out years ago. But weren’t the Emperor and Lord Vader gifted with the Force? Another voice cut into my already jumbled thoughts. Suddenly, I was frightened for my life. I didn’t want to join the Empire—I couldn’t join the Empire. They killed for pleasure, they used their powers to hurt innocent beings—I couldn’t join them at all. I don’t want to be evil, I can’t be evil. Why couldn’t this all just go away?
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