Chapter 2 The Meeting
After they returned to Coruscant, Master Ywin led a number of lightsaber techniques and mechanics classes for the Younglings while he instructed Rachel to start learning Huttese. She tried to focus on the language, but it was a difficult one. It was harsh and contrasted a lot with the languages she already knew. He drilled her in it every night to make sure she was learning, but every night, she felt like she had learned very little. It was very different from when she had learned Basic and Cheunh with Thran.
It wasn’t long before the Council called Master Ywin and asked him to go somewhere else, but when he came to inform her about it, he told her that he didn’t want her joining him this time, and it left a sting.
Matyus had also gone on some mission with another Knight, and she couldn’t find Ketrin, so she didn’t have anyone she could really talk to in the Temple. She thought about finding Izo, but she didn’t know him well enough, so she decided to go down to the lake level and sat near the water and wait for Thran to answer his comm.
“I was beginning to wonder if you had returned from your mission,” he said when he finally answered.
“A few days ago,” she said in Cheunh, wanting the practice, and she couldn’t help feeling bad about not reaching out sooner. “It went all right, I think.”
“You’re unsure?” his holoimage raised an eyebrow.
“It was just…strange,” she admitted, not able to find a better or easier word to describe it, thinking back to the whole thing. “But then, I have never had to weigh that kind of judgment before.”
“What happened?”
She did her best to explain in Cheunh how she had been the one to come up with the idea of essentially splitting the planet in two, and it had nearly led to an explosive end, but Master Ywin had used fear tactics to make both sides see reason.
“That doesn’t sound very Jedi, in my opinion,” Thran said.
“But what else should he have done?” she asked. “Should he have let the house explode with him inside it? How many other deaths would have occurred or other injuries?”
Thran’s forehead creased in thought. “Be that as it may, I don’t think it was right, even if it did work.”
“I agree,” she shrugged. “I just do not know how I would have handled it.”
“I think you would have found a third way,” he said. “You have a unique insight that others generally seem to lack, and it’s gotten you pretty far.”
“More like gets me into trouble,” she tried to whisper, but Thran heard her.
“Perhaps a bit of both,” he smirked.
“Pretty far into trouble?”
He chuckled. “I suppose at times.”
Rachel looked out across the lake. A group of very young initiates had come down to play on the beach and to swim, and she couldn’t help thinking about her nieces. What would they be doing right now? Did they understand what had happened?
“Is everything ok?” Thran’s voice gently interrupted her thoughts.
“Yeah,” she said, still watching the children. “Just thinking.”
“Your eyes look like they’re a galaxy away.”
She looked down. “They were.”
“You still think about your family.”
“More than I should.”
“What do you mean?”
“Holding on to the past can lead one to the dark side.”
Thran’s forehead creased in confusion. “Explain.”
“When we yearn too much for the past, we can become…resenting of the present, even angry. We may come to hate anyone who was responsible for how the present came to be or how events in the past occurred. It can lead to seeking revenge.”
“You don’t have these feelings?”
“I miss my family. I miss the woods and mountains where I grew up. But I chose to come here with you. I have made peace with that. Am I not allowed to wonder what my family might be doing right now? I do not even know if they are looking for me or if they were told I died.”
Thran nodded. “It’s something I have wondered about as well. No explorations have been scheduled to Earth since I brought you back. We’ve continued exploring the rest of the Second Galaxy, but, to my knowledge, we’re leaving Earth alone for now.”
“Would your explorers even be able to look up my family if they went back?”
“Perhaps. It would be dangerous to meddle too closely, especially given our hasty exit, but I think it could be done. If even such an expedition takes place, I will suggest it.”
“I just want to know that they are safe. In my mind, they are, but I just want to know for sure.”
“I understand.”
They were silent for a moment before Thran changed the subject.
“Are you waiting for your next mission, or do you know when your next one will be?”
“Master Ywin was asked to go somewhere,” Rachel huffed. “And he left without telling me where he was going or what he would be doing or when he would be back. All he told me to do was study Huttese while he was gone.”
“Is that normal for a Master to leave his Padawan behind?”
“I do not know,” she admitted. “But nothing about my training has been normal.”
“That’s true,” he said, but his attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere.
“Ra’chel,” he said hesitantly, “may I call you back shortly? I’m receiving a call via the comm the Senate gave me, and I don’t recognize the code.”
“Ok,” she said, feeling her brows furrow slightly. “I am not going anywhere.”
He nodded and his face vanished as the comm shut off.
Rachel’s gaze drifted back to the children as they splashed in the water, and she smiled. They had no worries. No cares. They were safe and protected. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt that.
She sat up a bit straighter and rested her hands in her lap. She stared down into the water until her eyelids closed. Around her, she could feel the life and energy from the plants and water. It connected to her and to the children and Jedi across the lake from her. The Force gave them all life and it flowed into, through, and around them all. Breathing slowly and deeply, she took it all in and allowed it to fill her, allowed it to wrap itself around her like a protective cocoon, feeling its warmth and security.
If there was one thing she could rely on, it was the Force. Even if she had only been able to sense its presence for a little over a year, it felt like an old friend who had always been there, as comforting as the coat her grandmother had made for her years ago and as secure as a mother’s arms. Yet it was strong. She felt its strength as it renewed hers, restoring her muscles and rejuvenating her mind with every breath.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but the pinging from her comm startled her out of the meditation, and when she looked across the lake, the children were gone.
“Thran?” she answered the comm, bringing his holoimage up.
“I am sorry,” he said, an undercurrent of energy beneath his voice. Evidently the call he had taken had been in Basic because he had continued. “The call lasted longer than I had anticipated.
“It’s ok,” she said, studying his face. “Is everything all right?”
“Someone from the Rattatak System has reached out to me,” he said. There was a hint of excitement. “They are creating a government for themselves and would like to set up an alliance with the Ascendency and have asked to set up a meeting and discuss what such an alliance would look like.”
“I take it you’ve already set up the meeting?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, but from his tone and eyes, she could see there was more.
“What do you need?” she asked.
His face tightened slightly. “Your help,” he said. “I know that I ought to ask the Jedi Council for help, but since I am merely an Ambassador and not a Senator, I do not know if I can do so.”
Rachel thought about it. The Jedi acted as mediators in these kinds of scenarios all the time. She didn’t know what kind of status the people needed in order to ask for their help. And to go on a mission like this without the official sanction of the Senate, the Council, or even her Master seemed a bit risky.
“I realize that in asking this, I put you in a difficult position,” Thran continued. “However, I believe that having a Jedi there will hopefully keep some peace between our two parties.”
“Even though I’m just a Padawan?”
“I think that is where your age may give you an advantage,” Thran said. “While most Jedi Padawans are young, you are the age of a Jedi Knight.”
“So, you want me to lie as well?”
“I do not think they will ask for your rank in the Jedi Order,” Thran responded. “And we can say that you are my bodyguard, if that will work better.”
Another lie.
“I’m not sure.”
“I understand your hesitation,” Thran said. “I know I am asking a great deal from you.”
She looked into his eyes. His expression was tense but hopeful. He was clearly excited at the prospect of gaining an ally for the Ascendency even though others may not recognize the small hints of emotion through his stoicism.
She was torn. She wanted to help her friend, but could she go against the Jedi?
And yet, didn’t it say in the Code that the Jedi were called upon to help? And Thran was asking for help, albeit not through the Council’s normal channels, but who was she or the Council or any Jedi to deny someone if they asked for assistance like this just because they didn’t go through proper channels?
“All right,” she said. “I’ll help you.”
A genuine smile broke across his face. “I will prepare to leave immediately then.”
“Let me grab a bag first, if I may,” Rachel said.
“Yes,” Thran said. His mind was clearly ahead of the present moment. “Shall I wait for you at the Senate hanger or Jedi hangar?”
It was a good question. If she left the Temple on foot, she could be going anywhere on the planet. If she left from the Temple hangar, they would know she was leaving the planet with someone and without consent from the Council.
Did she have time to tell the Council what she was doing, or at least tell Master Zev or Master Xal? Perhaps, but she had left her Jedi commlink in her room, and as much of a joke as she liked to make of it, she really didn’t have anything to pack into a bag. She had her lightsaber hanging from her belt, and she was wearing freshly cleaned robes. What else did she need?
“I’ll meet you at the Senate hanger,” she said.
The shuttle ride to Rattatak was oddly quiet. Thran spoke very little, which was a bit unusual for him, especially given his earlier excitement about the mission. He did make two holocalls, one sounded like it was in Cheunh, but Rachel had let him have his privacy and did try to study Huttese like Master Ywin wanted her to, but she grew restless.
He had offered the single bedroom to her, but she had stayed in the main lounge area. His shuttle didn’t seem like it was really meant for two people, but it was doable. There was only the one sleeping room, and the refresher was next to it, and that made up one whole side of the ship, the other side consisted of the lounge with its single couch and table, and cabinets that lined the wall until the exit ramp. The back of the ship was where storage was kept and the engine room was, and the cockpit was all the way forward and barely allowed for the two chairs inside it. But it was all Thran. Bare minimum, maximum efficiency, and only a touch of comfort.
She was practicing her lightsaber forms in the lounge area when Thran came in and sat down. He had had a questis in his hand, but as she tried to focus on the techniques, she could feel him watching her. She closed her eyes, felt the Force surrounding her, and blocked out the distraction. She moved through the forms and stances, swinging her lightsaber in fluid motions. As she felt herself gain more confidence, she sped up the movements, gracefully changing stances as she felt one with the lightsaber in her hand. Her speed again quickened, and she could feel herself moving through the form as though it was a natural part of her. She wanted this to become second nature. She wanted each movement to become muscle memory. Her heart was racing, and she felt the sweat starting to fall from her forehead, but she knew that she could keep going.
She switched forms, shifting from the simple movements of form one to the defensive movements of form three, her lightsaber merely an extension of herself. Again, increasing the speed of her movements, she wanted to be able to drop into these motions without thought or hesitation.
When she finally stopped and opened her eyes, she was breathing hard. She deactivated her lightsaber and felt her heart beating fast against her chest as sweat dripped down her face and ran down her back.
She looked over and saw that Thran was still watching her with studying eyes. She tried to ignore it but couldn't help feeling slightly embarrassed. She didn’t know why though. The Masters watched her practice all the time. Why should Thran watching be any different?
“Your form is quite graceful,” Thran remarked.
Despite already being warm from the exertion of the exercise, she felt her cheeks warm as she looked away.
She was saved by the beeping that came from the cockpit, indicating that they were coming up on their destination.
Thran got up and walked to the cockpit and sat in the pilot’s chair. Rachel hung back a few moments to wipe the sweat from her face and let her heart resume a normal rhythm.
The ship dropped out of hyperspace just as Rachel sat down in the co-pilot’s chair, and a few moments later, a raspy voice came over the comm.
“State your identity and business.”
“My name is Ambassador Mitth’ra’nikuru,” Thran said. “I am here to meet with Governor Kazor Venin. We have a meeting arranged.”
“Do you have proof of that?” the voice asked.
“Would you like to ask the Governor yourself?”
There was a short silence. “Very well. Permission to land granted. Follow the indicated vector and land in the main hangar, and someone will meet you.”
The comm clicked.
“He sounded friendly,” Rachel said.
“I am sure he is simply performing his duties,” Thran said passively as he moved the ship onto the vector they had been given.
It wound up being more of a landing pad than an actual hanger, but it was still full of ships of all shapes, sizes and colors, and Thran landed the ship where he was indicated to do so. As the shuttle landed, Rachel saw one person near the edge of the landing pad.
“That must be who was sent for us,” she commented, pointing out the window.
“Perhaps,” he said as the ship set down with a small thud, and he began shutting down all the systems. “Let us go and find out.”
As they exited the ship, they found out that the person wasn’t so much of a greeter as she was someone who was there to give them directions. Her icy white eyes looked them both up and down before pointing out the way to the Governor’s Building, and Rachel couldn’t help the uneasiness that settled over her as they walked into and through the small city.
There were very few people walking around, and those who were looked as though they didn’t want to be caught outside for too long. Most dodged her eyes, but there were some who met her gaze head on with glares of suspicion.
“Where do you suppose everyone is?” she asked Thran, trying to see if he picked up on any of it.
“Considering the time of day,” he said. “It is entirely possible that everyone is working.”
She glanced at him, but she saw he was tense. She considered his explanation, but she couldn’t shake the bad feeling she had about the whole thing and wondered if he was trying to convince himself.
She continued to look around the square leading up to the Governor’s Building, and something definitely felt off. There were fewer and fewer people the closer they came, and as she reached out for the Force, it felt like there were holes all around the building. She couldn’t see clearly into some places, and the minds of some people were completely unreadable. She watched the guards that flanked the doors going into the building. They didn’t have any sense of hostility, but that didn’t always mean anything.
“Ra’chel,” Than’s voice cut into her focus, “relax. It will be all right. We are merely here to talk with them.”
“Something doesn’t feel right,” she whispered earnestly as they got closer to the door. “I don’t trust it.”
Thran looked at her, his red eyes studying hers as his jaw tensed. “I trust your feelings,” he said softly. “But we are here to talk with them. I will try to keep my guard up while also keeping an open mind.”
Rachel wasn’t sure the two were entirely compatible, but they were too close to the guards at this point, and she didn’t want to argue in front of them.
They were escorted inside, and the Governor came to meet them. He was large for a Rattataki, and silver and gold chains and jewels hung from both ears, and he had a small, jeweled nose ring piercing. She wasn’t sure if the metallic rings that wrapped around his head in an almost crown were more piercings, implants, or were removable, and she didn’t want to find out. Dark gray circles ringed his ice-white eyes, and what looked like black cuts sliced across each of his cheeks.
“Welcome,” he said in a loud, deep, raspy voice. “Welcome to Rattatak! I am Governor Kazor Venin. I am glad we were able to set this meeting.”
“As am I,” Thran said evenly, inclining his head. “I am Ambassador Mitth’ra’nikuru of the Chiss Ascendency. And this is Ra’chel,” he gestured to her, “my bodyguard.”
She hadn’t been entirely comfortable with the bluff they had set up, but it would be better for them if she did not reveal that she was a Jedi.
“Excellent,” Governor Venin said, his sunken white eyes sizing her up. “Come. We will talk in the main conference room.”
They walked down the hallway, and two guards fell into step behind Thran and Rachel, and she still could not shake the uneasy feeling that grew with each step they took.
As they came up to a door that opened, a guard came out carrying a metal box, and the Governor turned back to them. “I must ask that you place any and all weapons in this box,” he said, gesturing to the box. “For all of our safety.”
Rachel’s entire body tensed as she felt the Force warning her, but she could not do anything about it. This was Thran’s mission. He was the one who should be making the calls.
Thran turned to her and nodded. He took his charric from his belt and placed it in the box. Rachel had told him he should carry more weapons than that in order to protect himself, but he hadn’t listened.
With a deep breath, she pulled her lightsaber out from its concealed place under her robes behind her back.
“A Jedi,” the Governor said with some amusement and sarcastic awe. “You insult me, Ambassador. We have no need for mediation at this meeting.”
“Ra’chel is merely here as a bodyguard,” Thran assured him. “She is not here to mediate. However, I do ask that she is in the room with us when we negotiate.”
The Governor stared at Rachel, his gaze making her uneasy, but she tried not to let it show.
“Very well,” he said. “But first…” he gestured to the box, indicating that she put the lightsaber into it.
Rachel gripped the lightsaber in her hand, feeling its weight, sensing the crystal inside it. It was as much a part of her as her own hand. As a Jedi, she was not supposed to ever willingly part with it.
Thran shifted next to her, and she felt his eyes on her. She stepped forward and carefully placed her lightsaber into the box next to Thran’s charric. When she glanced back at Thran, she could see the apology in his eyes.
“Excellent,” Governor Venin said, his voice was no longer the boisterous greeting tone but was more businesslike and even cold. “Let us continue then.”
He led them into a plain room, and Rachel watched out of the corner of her eye as the guard holding the box placed it on the ground opposite the door before taking a flanking position to the door. The conference room they entered had one medium-sized table surrounded by chairs. There was nothing hanging on the walls, and the one wall across from them that had windows had shades pulled down over them. Very little light came from light-rods lining the ceiling.
Thran and Rachel sat on one side of the table that was nearer to the door, and the Governor sat adjacent to them, still near the door. Rachel was a bit surprised he didn’t go to the other side of the table, but she also wasn’t entirely familiar with the customs of the people on this world. If they had any customs. They were only just forming their new government. Perhaps he preferred to be nearer to those with whom he spoke.
Rachel tried to sit back as Thran began speaking with the Governor, asking him about how his new governorship was going and how setting up the new government would look, but Rachel felt a sudden warning from the Force.
She tried not to let it show. Keeping her face neutral, she reached out with the Force to scan the room and the rooms surrounding them, but the wall across the room from them was invisible to her—like a void in the Force. She could feel nothing beyond it, and the wall itself seemed to waver as she watched it from the corner of her eye, and she didn’t like that it was to her back.
The guards in the hallway were tense as if waiting to strike at something.
“So,” Governor Venin said, “I have told you about my government, tell me about yours. How do the Chiss operate? Hm? Do you have a strong military? How far does your Navy reach?”
“I do not believe that I am at liberty to discuss such details,” Thran side-stepped the question. “However, if you wish to discuss what we may offer you in support as you form your new government, I would be happy to do so.”
“Hm,” he mumbled. “So you merely want all of our information without giving any of your own?”
“For one,” Thran said pointedly, “our military has little to do with how we govern. Second, our government operates very differently from any government I have ever come into contact with, and as such, I do not believe it will be helpful for you to hear how it works. We do, however, wish to help in forming your government as best we can and as we are able if you are willing.”
Rachel saw Governor Venin sit back in his chair, making a very subtle movement of his hand on the armrest as he did so, but it was enough to set off a warning alarm through the Force so loud, that Rachel acted almost without thinking.
She reached outside the room to where she could feel her lightsaber and gripped it with the Force, lifting it up and calling it to her hand even as the doors opened, and the two guards came in with raised blasters.
The lightsaber ignited the moment it reached her hand, and she jumped between the guards and Thran, blocking their blaster fire from hitting him even as he stood up and took a defensive stance of his own.
Rachel grabbed the blasters with the force, pulling them towards her, and Thran rushed at the guard on the right, while she pushed the other into the wall.
She had barely any warning before an electric shock hit her square in the back, sending her to the floor. She swung her lightsaber around to try and catch the next volley of it, seeing that where there had once been a wall, there was now an open room filled with six guards. As she tried to process this, she heard a stun bolt come from behind her, and she expected to black out, but when she turned around, she saw Thran fall unconscious.
“No,” she shouted, trying reach for him, but another stun blast hit her from behind, and everything went black.
Rachel slowly opened her eyes. Her body felt weak and tired. But more than that, she had a very odd sense…
No, a lack of sense.
She tried to reach out with the Force or even feel the Force’s presence.
She couldn’t.
She couldn’t feel anything.
Her heart raced as she sat up, feeling the ache that the electric shocks had left behind. She was in a small cage, sitting on a metal bed, which sat not quite in the center of it. It was encased in bars, and the floor was made of transparisteel. She tried to look down and see what it was floating over and immediately regretted it. Below was a dark ravine, the bottom of which she could not see.
Nearby, she saw another cage with someone lying on a bed just like she had.
The person in the other cage stirred, and she could see that it was Thran. She wanted to reach out to him with the Force to make sure he was ok, but she felt nothing. She tried to call out to him, but her voice gave out.
“Thran!” she tried again. She stood and reached out for the bars of the cage. “Thran! AH!” She jerked her hand back from the bars.
There was an energy field protecting the cage and evidently preventing her from touching the side of it.
“Well, well, well,” she heard a sultry male voice come from somewhere above her. “Look who woke up.”
Rachel looked around for whomever was speaking, but she didn’t see anyone.
“Oh, you won’t find me,” the voice said. “But I can hear you, see you, and control everything that happens to you.”
She stopped looking for the speaker and turned her attention to Thran who had also sat up now and was facing away from her.
“Thran!” she called out to him. But he didn’t react.
“He can’t hear you,” the voice said. “Another fun feature. They are sound proofed by the forcefields surrounding them. Oh!” His voice took on the tone of a child showing off a favorite toy. “And my favorite part of all is that it works perfectly on people like you.”
She turned her head to the side, wondering what that meant. People like her?
“I see you are confused,” the voice said mockingly. “You see, you are not the first Jedi we have encountered. And so, we have perfected the ability to make Jedi blind to the Force.”
Again, Rachel felt her heart rate spike. This cage was preventing her from feeling the Force. She looked over at Thran again. He was looking around his own cage.
She couldn’t reach out to him with her words or with the Force…
He stood and spotted her. He took a step toward the edge of the cage, but Rachel motioned for him to stop.
Too late.
He tried to grab the bars just like she had, and he hit the force shield. He looked up and around the cage before looking back at her, and she could see his mouth moving. She pointed at her ear and shook her head. He looked again at the cage before looking back at her with a mixture of resolution, understanding, and sadness in his eyes.
“Now that you are both awake,” the voice came back over whatever speaker it was using, and Rachel could see that Thran heard it too. “You are going to give me the information which we seek.”
Rachel saw Thran’s lips moving in response, but she couldn’t hear him.
“We need the information we asked you for when you came here, Chiss,” it must have been answering a question. “You will tell us about your Ascendency. Where are your Navy vessels located? How large is your Navy? The inner workings of the Chiss military. Things of that nature.”
Rachel again looked over at Thran. His mouth remained shut in a thin line for a while before he said something.
“Perhaps your friend here knows something more useful then,” the voice said. Thran looked at her.
“What would I know?” Rachel said. It was against her nature to lie, but she would rather die than give away any secret she knew about Thran’s people.
“I think you know more than the average outsider…” the voice said menacingly. “And I believe that your Chiss wouldn’t want you to suffer, now, would he?”
“I’m merely his bodyguard,” Rachel again lied. “What would I mean to him?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thran look away from her. Could he hear her?
“We shall see.”
Abruptly, the cage moved from under her, causing her to lose her balance and catch herself against the cage’s wall, causing a surge of the electric jolt to shoot through her hand and up her arm.
The cage was moved around Thran’s and brought to rest on a ledge. Three large, strongly built Rattataki walked down the ledge, all wearing armor and carrying strange looking weapons in their hands.
She looked back around to Thran who was standing with his fists clenched, anger flashing in his glowing eyes. She saw him say something up towards the top of his cage.
She heard her own cage open as the guards entered it, each brandishing their weapons. Rachel tried to move away from them, but the cage wasn’t very large. Especially when three more bodies were inside it.
The weapons were long and black, resembling a kind of club, but the ends of them had four points jutting straight out.
They maneuvered her into the middle of the cage so that she was surrounded. She instinctively dropped into a defensive position. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thran say something, but his eyes were on her—a mix of pain and anger.
“Begin,” the voice said.
Rachel was prepared and yet not prepared for the assault that came at her from all sides. She knew that if she had the Force, she would have been better equipped. She blocked the two clubs that came at her shoulder and hip from the front and side, but from behind her, the club bashed straight into her left knee. It cracked as she fell to the ground. She tried to block the clubs as they continued to strike into her back and side, but she couldn’t keep up. They hit her over and over, and she wound up lying on the ground covering her head with her arms, trying to curl up into as small a target as she could, but her left leg was too painful to move. She gritted her teeth against the pain, and her whole body went rigid as she tried not to cry out.
“Enough,” the voice said calmly, and the beatings ceased, but Rachel still laid there, unable to move.
“Are you ready to talk now?” the voice said in a mocking tone. But Rachel clenched her jaw. It would take far more than that to get her to say anything.
“What about your Chiss friend?” the voice cooed. “Do you think he is ready to talk?”
Rachel tried to look over to Thran, but the muscles required to move screamed at her. She caught only a glimpse of his face, but it was enough. The last time she had seen him this angry, he had killed an entire facility’s worth of people.
She tried to shake her head to tell him not to speak, but everything hurt. More than just her knee was cracked, she could feel it.
Without warning, she felt herself lifted from the floor, and an involuntary cry escaped her mouth as they slammed her onto the bed in a sitting position, two of the guards going around the other side to hold her back while the third pointed his club at her, the four points threatening to stab her, but instead of stabbing her, an electric charge shot out of the end, sending waves of electricity coursing through her body.
As the convulsions wrecked her body, she couldn’t stop the screams.
“That’s right,” she barely heard the voice. “Scream. He’s loving every second of it.”
Volt after volt coursed through her as she tried to see Thran. His face was still contorted with pain and anger, his jaw clenched and rigid.
Rachel tried to think through the pain, but it was all she could do to keep herself from screaming. She didn’t want him to listen to her pain.
But if he could hear her screaming, that meant—
As the electricity finally stopped, she looked straight at Thran. “You stay quiet.”
She knew he heard her from the way his face changed. His mouth opened slightly, and the anger in his eyes shifted to disbelief and then to compassion before there was a sharp pain to the side of her head, and the entire cell went black.
Thran watched helplessly as the three armored guards beat Rachel. His blood boiled, and his body was tense with anger. He could hear her screaming out with pain, and there was absolutely nothing he could do… He hated this feeling. It was like sitting in that room on Earth all over again. Watching that awful man torture her for information she didn’t possess. Only now, she did know more. She knew much more.
When they stopped electrocuting her, he could see a different resolve come over her face.
“You stay quiet,” he heard her voice come over the speaker. His anger melted at the sound of her voice. Her strength and determination were unshaken by the pain. All he could do was stare at her.
Until one of the guards swung his club around, hitting her on the side of the head. He could tell right away that she was unconscious as she slumped sideways onto the bed, but he watched her body for several long moments to make absolutely certain that she was still breathing.
“So,” the voice came over the speaker above him. “You are willing to let this human endure pain to hide your secrets, Chiss?”
He remained silent.
“Why?” the voice asked. “She doesn’t need to suffer this punishment. You can end it at any time. All you need to do is tell me…Where is the Chiss Navy?”
Thran sat down on the bed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands folded together against his chin. He would not give this voice the satisfaction of thinking he would win.
“So be it, Chiss.”
Rachel opened her eyes and tried to roll to her side and instantly regretted it. Her hands tingled as though the nerves were the frayed ends of a rope. Her arms shook, her head throbbed, and there was a sharp pain in her side every time she tried to take a breath. There was no feeling in her left leg below her knee.
She tried to sit up, despite the pain, but her arms shook under her weight. She didn’t want to move her broken knee, but it wasn’t lying in the best position as it was.
She looked over to Thran and saw him sitting on the bed of his cage. He seemed to have noticed her movement and turned to look at her. His glowing eyes held a sadness in them.
“Ah,” the voice came again. “She’s finally awake. Clearly my guards hit you harder than intended. Or you have a…weak skull. I believe we are ready to resume.”
The three guards strode down the ledge again towards Rachel’s cage, only this time, they didn’t carry the weapons they had had earlier. She tried to stand up, but her leg prevented her from doing much of anything.
As they entered her cage, she felt a keen sense that this was going to be worse than the last time.
One of the guards brought out a knife and went to her left side, one went to the right side of the bed, coming up to her head, and the third went to the left side of the bed, yet stayed near her injured knee. The one with the knife looked at the other two and nodded.
The pain made it impossible to fight against them as the one on her right grabbed hold of her left arm and pulled it, twisting her upper body around, while at the same time, the other guard grabbed hold of her broken left leg by the ankle and twisted it to the left making her want to arch her body backwards to ease the excruciating pain, but she felt the piercing tip of the knife as it dug into her back.
Her scream echoed off the shielded cage as she tried to writhe away from the agony. She couldn’t move to her right without pulling on her knee, and she couldn’t move back without pushing into the knife, and trying to push herself up off the table pulled on her shoulder so much that she thought it would come out of its joint.
Her eyes were closed to the pain, but she squinted them open to look at Thran. He could still hear her, and she knew she could use that to her advantage.
“Close your eyes!” Rachel yelled through the anguish. “Thran—” she moved too far back and felt the knife sink further into her skin. She tried not to scream. “Stay…silent!”
The guard holding her leg twisted it further, and she screamed in a way she had never screamed before. It felt like her leg was being torn off at the joint. She tried to ease the pain, but to do so was to drive the knife further into her back, but what choice did she have?
Her vision became blurry with tears as she leaned back into the cold blade. She cried out, hoping that Thran had listened to her and closed his eyes.
The guard holding her arm gave a sudden and violent yank, and she both felt and heard a horrid popping sound as the joint came out, and what was worse, the action caused the blade of the knife to come out of her back and then be driven right back in.
She screamed again, feeling the hoarseness in her throat like sandpaper.
“Stay…silent!”
She couldn’t see him—dared not to even turn her head. But even as she thought that maybe they had finished with their torment, she felt the knife slowly begin to twist in her back. The slowness of it only made it worse, and she felt herself slowly go limp as she lost consciousness from the pain.
Thran tried to heed Rachel’s words. He tried to close his eyes against her torment, against her agony, but her screams made him want to run to her side. He wanted to slaughter each guard in that cage without mercy.
“Now,” the voice said. “Tell me, Chiss. Where is your Navy located?”
Thran looked at Rachel as they twisted her leg in a gruesome fashion, nearly ripping it off at the knee. Her scream was unbearable.
“I will tell you nothing,” Thran said though gritted teeth.
Rachel pressed her back into the knife with a cry, and he could see tears falling from her eyes. His chest ached, and his whole body was rigid.
“I can end her torment with one word,” the voice said soothingly. “She is suffering needlessly. And for what?”
Her arm was suddenly and violently yanked upwards, and even over the speaker, Thran could hear the dislocation.
“I can stop this, Chiss. Just tell me…Where is your Navy?”
“Stay…silent!” Rachel’s hoarse voice came over the speaker, and Thran felt his heart break in his chest.
He closed his eyes. In the midst of all that pain—all that torment—she was thinking about him and protecting his people. A tightness gripped his throat, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to speak even if he wanted to. When he opened his eyes, he saw Rachel lying limp on the bed, and he fought to catch his breath, watching for her chest’s rising and falling, needing to know that she was still alive, and relief washed over him when he saw her breathing. Her face was still contorted in pain, but she was alive.
“Such a pity,” the voice said. “Such a waste. Such needless suffering for a people that cares nothing for her.”
Thran’s anger threatened to overpower him again. He wanted, with every fiber of his being, to lash out at this voice—to tell it how much Rachel was valued and cared about. But to do so would bring further harm to her. Perhaps even death. And he would never risk her life.
“Does her life mean so little to you that you let her suffer this way?”
His blood boiled, and he made himself sit down on his bed and close himself off. He could not let the voice get to him.
“Come now,” it said. “All you need to do to end her suffering is tell me—”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Thran said firmly, trying to keep his voice from shaking.
There was a noise from the speaker and something that sounded like laser fire, but then there was silence.
Thran looked up and over to Rachel, a sudden sick feeling in his stomach. Had they—?
No. Rachel was still lying there, though blood was beginning to pool behind her.
There was a sudden explosion behind him, and the door he’d seen the guards enter the cavern blew open, causing him to stand. Rocks and debris flew everywhere, and he wasn’t sure if this was more of their tricks to make him talk, but there, standing with charrics firing were several Chiss warriors.
They made quick work of the three guards who had just come out of Rachel’s cage, and two of the warriors instantly went over to it and began working to open it. One found the terminal that moved Thran’s cage to the ledge, and they opened it. He thanked them quickly before going immediately to Rachel.
“She needs medical attention immediately,” Thran told him, without taking his eyes off her.
“She’s in very bad shape,” the warrior said. “I’m not certain if she will survive that long.”
Thran’s chest tightened, and he gritted his teeth as he looked up at the warrior. “She has to.”
The warrior looked at him and must have seen the pleading in his eyes. “We’ll do our best.”
The warrior lifted Rachel’s body, and she gave a low moan.
As they walked through the building, Thran noted that every single Rattataki they passed was dead. Not a single one was left alive, and he found that he felt both relieved and yet angered by it. While they deserved a gruesome death for what they had done, he had wanted to be the one to give it to them.