Author's Note: This is actually something co-written between me and my boyfriend for fun. We wanted to share it and see what other people thought of our hair-brained ideas. As such, I do my best to comb through for consistency, however I do miss a couple of things here and there when it comes to the spelling of certain words. I'm from the United States, he's from New Zealand and we grew up with two different versions of English. Please bear that in mind when reading it in case you see "center" in one part and "centre" in another. Otherwise, enjoy, have fun, and leave a review!
PS: If you have read/are reading 'A Time Displaced Sith', yes... this story has Nathrrya in it. The writer of TDS is my boyfriend and I'm helping him to co-write that story as well. ;)
Update: I had to change a word. I'm that nit-picky about sticking to the universe.
EPISODE IV - CHAPTER ONE
Nathrrya stood on the bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer, Accuser. She made a sound like a quiet snort through her nose as she thought about it.
Imperial… The irony. Seems like I traded one warring galaxy for another four thousand years later. Wonderful.
The red headed Sith woman had a very low opinion of Emperor Palpatine. When she originally met the man it had been a very unpleasant experience that seemed to cling to her like a sticky film on her skin she couldn't shake off. The old man was hanging onto his sanity by a mere thread and his delusions were obvious to those with a brain. Somehow he had the idea that his secret Force-sensitive assassin, Mara Jade, was a secret. Nathrrya scoffed at the idea, knowing very well that wasn't the case. Palpatine's apprentice, Darth Vader, was a vast improvement but Nathrrya knew that if she dug deep enough into the man's history she would find a very broken human being under the guise of that life-support suit he wore. Even Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller, wasn't much of a secret and Nathrrya had to admit she felt a little bit at home amongst the age-old Sith games. Almost.
Captain Firmus Piett looked across the bridge of his ship to Lord Therin. She stood at the centre before the great window of the bridge with her hands clasped behind her back, her head bowed slightly, and looked to be deep in thought. What she was pondering he could only guess at. All he knew about her was her name and the fact she was a Sith like Lord Vader. Her female companion, whom he never could remember her name, was also a Sith and very skilled in the use of a double-bladed lightsaber as well as dual-wielding them. She was younger, more energetic, and perhaps a little more bold in her communications as she was constantly arguing ideas and commands. But unlike Lord Vader, neither woman had yet to choke any of the crew to death. While the younger Sith woman threatened it she never laid a hand on any of the officers or crew. Nathrrya, on the other hand, lost her temper once and it was enough for the crew to understand she was not to be trifled with. No one doubted her capabilities.
"There are orders from Lord Vader," Piett said, speaking up to gain the woman's attention. He had walked across the bridge to stand next to Nathrrya but far enough away to respect her personal space. "There is a suspected rebel ship that has obtained a copy of technical readouts of the Death Star and looks to be making high speed towards Tatooine. We are to capture the ship and retrieve the plans."
The woman turned to the captain and gave him a disgusted look when he mentioned the Death Star. In her eyes it was a Force-forsaken battle station and a complete degradation. It was commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin, whom she detested more than anyone, and was the Empire's superweapon, able to destroy a planet with one single blast of its laser cannon. She lifted the corner of her lips in a silent snarl. The Death Star reminded her too much of theSilencer. She thought back to the Cold War when the Silencer was commissioned and build. When she learned about its inception and creation she had a very strong word with the commanding officer of the weapon - Darth Nox, otherwise known as Vitani Aria. She was a well-known Sith assassin that climbed the ranks in the Dark Council over four thousand years earlier. Nathrrya would never forget that.
Apparently the rebels had the schematics for the Death Star. Good, she thought bitterly. With any luck they can blow that damned thing out of the sky and I only pray Tarkin is on it when it goes boom.
"Strange," she mused aloud. Piett raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would the rebels make for that forsaken dustball of a planet?" Nathrrya knew that Vader would avoid Tatooine at all possible costs. Wouldn't mean that he wouldn't send in Starkiller, though. She turned to the captain. "Plot an intercept course, best speed."
"Yes my lord."
Moments later the Accuser seemed to elongate before she vanished in a flash of light as they hit hyperspeed.
Captain Raymus Antilles paced back and forth on the bridge of the Tantive IV, a very concerned frown gracing his features. It was obvious to him that they were far from being free of Imperial pursuit, even after effectively maneuvering out of the paths of several Imperial Star Destroyers. Pausing in his pacing he looked out of the window of the bridge at the gold and orange planet of Tatooine. They were almost at their goal.
"Captain! An Imperial-I class Star Destroyer has dropped out of hyperspace just behind us. They're demanding we shut down our engines and prepare for boarding."
Antilles furrowed his brow even more and frowned deeply at the news from his comms officer. They were so close! The doors to the bridge opened and he turned to see Princess Leia Organa enter. He felt better seeing the determination in her eyes. But there was no hiding the slight fear that came off her. She heard what the officer had said.
"What's the name of the vessel?" she asked.
The officer looked down at their computer terminal. "It's the Accuser!"
Leia huffed out a very unladylike curse which caught the captain off guard. "Damn it… that's Lord Therin's ship."
Not much was known about the mysterious red haired Sith woman. She and another woman appeared out of nowhere about six months ago and both had been assigned to Vader's Death Squadron. Nathrrya was given the Accuser while the other just kept things in line and went and did a bunch of grunt work, which she seemed to like. Strangely, though, the death rate of Vader's officers had actually decreased since the two women joined. No one in the Alliance or the Imperial military knew what to make of that.
Leia turned to the captain. "It could be worse; it could have been the Devastator." The captain was thoughtful about her statement and he had to agree as the Devastator was Vader's flagship. "Do your best to evade them. I need to see to our cargo."
"I'll do my best, your highness." He bowed to the princess as she departed from the bridge.
Back on the Accuser, Captain Piett held his usual professional air. "They haven't answered our hails and have entered an evasive pattern."
Nathrrya felt a longing pang in her heart which she quickly pushed away. Captain Piett was a lot like Quinn.
"Did you honestly think they'd comply?" Nathrrya raised an eyebrow at the captain. Piett hesitated, wondering if she was being sarcastic or if she really wanted him to answer.
"One lives in hopes of an easy mission."
Nathrrya scoffed. "Sorry to break it to you, Firmus, but easy missions are very misconstrued concept."
The captain was shocked that his superior called him by his first name. He watched her step forward on the bridge towards the gunnery pit. "Weapons, disable that corvette!"
Upon the order the Star Destroyer came to life. Officers punched away on their terminals, sending messages, codes and orders to each part of the cruiser's personnel. Alarms and lights flashed, making the entire crew aware that detention actions were being issued and carried out.
A sensor operative got an alert on her screen. "My lord! Some escape pods have been launched. There are lifeforms aboard."
Nathrrya nodded and pulled out her communicator. "Tara, ready yourself to take a mission to Tatooine." Putting her comm away she looked around and began to bark orders. "A mission is being assembled. They'll land when it's time. Tatooine is an inhospitable planet and whatever lifeforms are there won't get very far. But I want that corvette secured!"
Lord Therin walked along the main passage of the captured corvette with Captain Piett at her side and two stormtroopers at her back, blaster rifles ready should something attack. As she walked she made a mental count of the bodies, both rebel and Imperial. In her long history of operations like this, boarding procedures were never pleasant and she never liked them. She stopped short at the face of a particularly young looking rebel. She frowned, feeling it wretch at her heart.
She went down on one knee near the young man and sighed. "Piett, they're getting younger. When is this madness going to end?" Nathrrya whispered a prayer and closed the young man's eyes.
The captain wasn't sure how to respond. "When the rebels stop fighting?"
Nathrrya stood and glanced at her captain for a brief second. "Perhaps." She turned and spotted the captain of the corvette they had boarded. He was wounded but still alive, if barely. "But some of the Alliance's grievances are not without a foundation, Piett. Rebellions don't start without a reason, like a fire won't start without ignition fuel. I can think of several reasons, as I'm sure you can as well. Take away the reasons and watch a rebellion die like a fire denied oxygen. Either that or you throw the galaxy's largest military operation at the problem and hope for the best…"
She turned to Piett with a stern and steadfast gaze... "Which path do you think the Emperor has taken?"
Firmus Piett nervously battled the urge to tug at the now constricting collar of his uniform jacket. He always knew that Lord Therin could speak her mind and she often did without much consequence, but to do so, on a rebel ship was outrageous, even for her. He couldn't even see Lord Synge doing this either, and the brunette woman was much more outspoken than the red head. He cleared his throat. "I see your point, my lord."
Nathrrya nodded and turned her attention towards the Alliance captain. Antilles couldn't believe what he was hearing: it seemed Palpatine had traitors among his own ranks and rather high up from the sounds of it. Every so often the Alliance would take in Imperial defectors, but they were few and far between due to the intensity in which they are controlled. He never thought Lord Therin as a defector but the information would be of use to High Command all the same, whether or not he would be able to supply the information. He'd be lucky if he reported in at all.
Piett and Lord Therin went to the nearest computer terminal and the Imperial captain punched in a few codes and frowned. "My lord, the Death Star schematics are not in the main computer."
Nathrrya sighed and eyed her captain with an 'I told you so' glint in her eyes. "Never easy." She turned to the Alliance captain and suddenly the man wasn't able to take a breath in. He clawed at his throat as he slowly was picked up off the ground and hovered a few inches from the floor, his face turning red with the effort to get some oxygen.
"Now, Captain, where are those transmissions you intercepted?" Her eyes began to turn yellow. "What have you done with those plans?"
The clawing Antilles did on his throat was no good in relieving the pressure against his windpipe. "We didn't intercept any transmissions...ahhh… This is a consular ship, my lord! We're on a diplomatic mission…"
The Sith increased the pressure on the man's neck to hurt but not kill. Her eyes deepened as she called more on the Dark Side. "If this is a consular ship… then where is the Ambassador!"
The Alliance captain refused to answer and Nathrrya had to respect the man's tenacity and loyalty. Instead she snarled and released the man, allowing him to fall to the deck in a sputtering, coughing heap. She turned to Piett for a moment before she addressed one of the Stormtroopers. "Commander, tear this ship apart if you have to. I want the plans found and bring me the Ambassador. Whoever it is, I want them alive!"
The Stormtroopers scattered as soon as they got their orders. It wasn't long before Princess Leia was brought before the Sith lord by a small squad of soldiers. Nathrrya raised her head at the young woman as they brought her before the red head.
"Lord Therin," Leia said, not pleased about being manhandled. She glared at the Sith woman. "I should have known. Only you or Vader could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not stand for this when they hear you've attacked a diplomatic-"
Nathrrya snorted and cut off the woman's tirade. "Don't play games with me, your Highness," she hissed. "You weren't on any mercy mission this time. You passed directly through a restricted system and several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies." She pointed an accusatory finger at the princess. "I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Leia said with a shake of her head. "I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan."
"You're a part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take her away!"
Captain Piett watched nervously as Princess Leia was marched away by the Stormtroopers. She was guided through the smouldering doors that had been blasted through on the side of the corvette. Once she was out of sight he turned to his superior.
"Holding her is dangerous, my lord," he said. "If word of this gets out it could generate sympathy for the rebellion within the senate."
Nathrrya listened and nodded, understanding what her captain was saying. "Yes, but it's a risk we have to take. We've traced the Rebel spies to her and now she's our only link to finding those plans and their secret base."
"True, but she'll die before she tells you anything, my lord."
The Sith woman clicked her teeth together thoughtfully. "Let me worry about that, Captain. Right now, I want you to send a distress signal and then inform the senate that all aboard were killed."
Piett took note of her demands and was about to leave to carry them out when another Imperial Officer came running up to them. "My lord, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship. The logs were searched and no transmissions were made and it was found that an escape pod was jettisoned towards the planet, but there were no lifeforms aboard. Most likely a decoy to throw us off."
Hearing this rang bells in Nathrrya's head and her eyes flared with the Dark Side ever so quickly. She spun towards Piett with her face almost red with fury. She cursed, using a word that a woman shouldn't be heard saying, and it was clear to her captain that she was angry.
"Droids!" she screamed. "Damn the Force! She must have used droids to carry the plans off the ship. Captain, send Lord Synge to the surface and track down those mechanical dump heaps and retrieve those plans. You are to see to it personally."
Captain Piett saluted his commanding officer. "Yes, my lord."
The surface of the dustball planet was hot and scorched. A desert planet unlike any other it was considered one extreme of a two sided coin to the planet Hoth. The Sith Infiltrator shuttle flew down from the outer atmosphere and landed just outside of the closest spaceport. Dust was still settling when the hangar hatch opened and a female figure walked out onto the burning rock. The woman was shapely, wore green everything and had hair blacker than night and eyes so vividly green that they were unnerving. Already she could feel her skin drying out from the lack of moisture in the air. She licked her lips and placed a booted foot on the actual ground.
Behind her an assassin droid followed. It was a dirty old thing that had programmed itself to follow the woman around. She overhauled the systems and gave the droid a better blaster, painted him black and yellow and, using some old memories she had, reprogrammed the droid to have a very specific vocabulary and speech pattern.
"Query," the droid said, looking around. "Master, does this planet hold meatbags?"
The woman grinned. The memories. This was HK-79's first mission out with her after building him.
"Yes, HK. It does. Not many, but if there are sand people, kill them. They're disgusting anyway. And stay away from the Jawas... they like things like you."
"Affirmation: Yes, Master!"
The woman raised her hand to her face and activated her communicator. "This is Lord Synge to Lord Therin. I'm on the surface. Commencing the search for the pods and humanoids now. I'll let you know if I find anything."
"This is Lord Therin. Coordinates set. Try not to kill them right away. I want them captured and preserved and brought to the ship."
Another smirk. "I'll try, Nat. You know me."
"That's what worries me, Tara."
She cut the comm and looked around again. HK-79 glinted in the light of the suns and it shined in her eyes. She groaned and turned away. K'natara, or Tara as she was sometimes called in private, was a Sith warrior. She was born with her Force abilities to a family of non-Force users and was taken at an early age to train in the ways of the Dark Side. She didn't always have the title of Sith Lord, but since there was no one around to stop her, she adopted the title for herself. Her former master would have been rather proud if he were still alive to see her. But he wasn't. She happened to watch him as her good friend and ally, Nathrrya, ran him through nearly four millennia ago. The memory brought a smile to her face but it was short lived.
She kicked at a small dust pile and sighed. "Four thousand damn years and I still abhor this Force-forsaken dustball."
Tara and HK-79 set off in the direction of the closest humanoid settlement. HK's sensors were able to pick up several life forms around them, but none were hostile and Tara didn't bother to investigate. She looked down as she walked and noticed something shiny in the sand. She knelt down and picked up the piece of metal. HK-79 came up beside her and scanned the piece of debris but she didn't need him to tell her what it was. A sudden ripple ran through her and she felt herself shiver against the intense heat of the planet. Something felt off and it was coming through the Force. She stood and got back on her communicator.
"I found something," she said. "And something here is rippling in the Force. Since you don't want me to unnecessarily kill something, what would you have me do?"
Nathrrya was about to leave the captured corvette but something about the Princess had been gnawing on her mind ever since meeting Leia Organa when her communicator went off. She listened to Tara's message and frowned at the information she was given by her fellow Sith lord. She raised her comm to her lips. "Just be careful. I have a feeling Starkiller or Jade may be around looking for wayward Jedi - some of them are still unaccounted for. It's unlikely any are on Tatooine but it's not impossible. Just remember your orders and bring anyone alive back to the ship."
Tara confirmed her orders and switched off her communicator. She motioned for HK-79 to follow her as they followed the path of debris but it was getting thinner and was spread farther out. The suns were getting higher in the sky and the heat was getting more intense, causing HK-79's sensors to go on the fritz and an unbearable sweat to stick her clothes uncomfortably to her skin. Parts of Tara were sweating that she didn't know could. That proved how long it had been since she's been on this particular planet and she was eager to complete her mission and get the hell off.
But she found her mind beginning to wander as they continued on. The scorching heat sucked the moisture right out of her skin and it beaded in glistening drops on whatever exposed skin she had, continuing to add to her discomfort. The dust made her nose itch and she couldn't help but recall her early years on the Sith homeworld of Korriban as there were similarities between the two planets. She made another mental note to look for the homeworld one of these days.
"Observation: Look, master. Off in the distance there seems to be a group of life forms. Shall I despatch them?" HK-79 had a pitch in his mechanical voice to indicate he would be thrilled to comply with the order if she so deemed it.
Tara pulled a pair of binoculars from a pack she had brought with her from the ship. Putting the eyepiece to her face she scanned the horizon in the direction HK-79 indicated. She furrowed her brow as she caught a glimpse of a young man, dirty blond hair, and an older gentleman. They were trading with travelling Jawas. With them seemed to be two droids - a protocol droid and an astromech.
Curious. She zoomed in on the droids and couldn't help but notice how they seemed to be well cared for. They were relatively clean but had become dusty from possibly roaming around the surface of the planet for a little bit. The protocol droid's sheathing was shiny and seemed like something a royal droid would be designed to look. The astromech was white and blue, usually indicative of a droid used on small luxury cruisers. She frowned and got the feeling of the rippling effect in the Force when she put her attention on the younger man. There was something about him that felt off and she couldn't place it.
"Nat," she said, getting back on her communicator. "I think I found Republic droids - an astromech and a protocol. Want me to bring them in?"
Before she could get an answer HK-79 turned around suddenly, raising his rifle and started to shoot at something. Tara felt the Force ripple again and she dropped everything, pulling out her two light sabers and activating them. The black laser of each blade emanated a pale green light - crystals of her own design - and they clashed with the Sith traditional red blades of Starkiller. Tara snarled as she pushed him back. He went flying backwards and had used the momentum to flip and land on his feet.
"You're really getting on my nerves," she said as she advanced towards him, spinning her blades around at her sides for effect. "Haven't I handed you your ass enough times for you to understand that I'm stronger than you?"
Starkiller held a flat, stoic expression on his face but he eyes held a fire that she loved to see - it meant they were going to have some fun. His brown eyes looked towards her assassin droid and he used his blades to deflect the blaster shots away from him and towards the Sith woman. Tara, in her turn, used her blades to do the same. She cursed, thinking that the noise of their battle may have scared off the humans and those droids. If that was the case and she lost them, she would have to spend more time tracking them down and she was getting very upset.
Starkiller used the Force and threw one of his lightsabers towards HK-79. In the blink of an eye the droid had been cut in half and lay in ruins on the dusty ground. Tara looked at her fallen droid, her anger growing. She snapped her head back towards Starkiller and snarled. She Force leaped to him and crossed their blades once again.
"That's going to take DAYS to fix, you son of a nerfwench!"
The other Sith only smirked in that infuriating way. It always got under her skin because she would swear he was flirting with her. She just wanted to cut his head off and stick it on a pike for display; apparently that was too much for anyone to comprehend because she was always instructed not to. Regardless, the two continued to clash their blades together, both skilled in the art of dual-wielding. Tara knew that Starkiller had observed her fighting skills and that was something he was known for, adapting the skills of others and blending them into his own unique fighting skills.
"Well, at least you won't be bored and you'll be out of my way."
Tara screamed and made a brash move. She deactivated her light sabers and dropped them to the ground. With her hands, now freed, she grabbed his wrists in a death grip and leaned back, pulling him forward towards her. She fell onto her back in the dust and used her feet to kick at his abdomen, effectively flipping the man over her and onto his back. The force knocked the air from his lungs and she flipped over on top of him, pinning him down on the ground. She grinned down at him, now having the upper hand.
"Your master is an idiot," she said. "He didn't train you as well as he should have."
No one knew who Starkiller's master was, but she and Nathrrya weren't no one. Between the two of them they knew that Starkiller was Vader's "secret" apprentice, just like Jade was Palpatine's "secret weapon" but they were far from secret, at least to the two Force sensitive women. Tara and Nathrrya weren't against the idea of there being multiple apprentices and masters in the Sith. Time had proven that something called the Rule of Two came into existence not too long ago: one master, one apprentice, within the Sith at any one time. It stopped the inner conflict that apparently wiped out the Sith to begin with. Tara and Nathrrya could only roll their eyes at the stupid idea but it had a point - the Sith wouldn't have been wiped out if it wasn't for the in-fighting between the Sith. It made sense why the Jedi managed to survive this long - they didn't have that kind of inner betrayal the Sith had.
(-)|(-)|(-)
The young man, Luke Skywalker, tapped his uncle's shoulder with a furrowed brow. Luke heard blaster fire off in the distance from where they were while they were doing trade with the travelling Jawas. He pointed towards where the sounds were coming from and the older gentleman, Owen, looked in the direction his nephew was indicating.
Both men stayed where they were and listened. Owen heard the unforgettable sound of lightsabers hitting against one another and he frowned heavily. He couldn't see that far clearly but he didn't need to see to know that it was a bad sign. He put his hand on his nephew's shoulder.
"I think it's time we left, Luke," he said. "Grab the two droids and let's get home."
Luke heard the concern in his uncle's voice and looking towards the Jawas he saw they were just as eager to get going as well. He motioned for the two droids to follow.
(-)|(-)|(-)
Old Ben Kenobi stood outside of his little hovel within the dune sea and had a very concerned look upon his elderly face. Almost instantly he was able to feel the three distinctive Force signatures as they rippled along the surface of Tatooine. One was average of an apprentice but familiar to him, two were incredibly strong and one of them was on the planet and the other was orbiting. The one signature with the familiarity caught his attention the most. It had that feel to it like the signature of his former pupil. The two odd ones had appeared most unexpectedly six months prior… no warning and no preamble.
Ben furrowed his brow as he looked along the horizon. He couldn't figure out what could have brought those three other Force users to Tatooine and all at the same time. If they had somehow come across Luke's presence it didn't bode well for him, Luke or his family and this concerned the old man greatly. He sighed - he really was getting too old for this. It had been years since he fought a duel, almost two decades, and while he tried to keep in shape it was the ever forward motion of time that was taking a toll on him physically. Ben knew he would struggle if he faced off against Vader if they were to ever meet again.
Compassion of the Jedi, He thought bitterly. I should have killed him when I had the chance… and now the galaxy has paid dearly for that compassion.
He turned his face towards the heavens. Again he frowned and it went deeper into his face. None of the three Force users were hindered by a life support suit nor mechanical limbs. As a matter of fact, they all felt young to him through the force. They would more agile, quicker, more on the ball as one could say. He would be utterly outmatched by just one of them and completely destroyed if all three came at the same time. The old Jedi didn't want to think about that.
One thing was certain - he couldn't sit around and wait for them to come to his doorstep. That just wasn't an option in his arsenal and he wasn't going to give the Sith a chance to find Luke. It was time to leave. Ben knew this would come and now it had. To hell with what Owen Lars said - he could come up with some suitably crazy, possibly half-brained idea, grab Luke and run like hell away from this planet and get as far away as possible.
Oh, to be young again! He had better ideas in his youth… they were about a third as half-brained but he had his moments.
He let a small smile grace his lips as he closed his eyes briefly. "Just like old times."
(-)|(-)|(-)
"Do you like me that much or are you going to get off of me?"
Tara glared down at Starkiller and begrudgingly got up. The two Force users dusted themselves off and the woman sighed when she looked at HK-79. A groan escaped her lips as she seethed at the idea of spending hours in the shop repairing the droid. She growled towards her unwanted visitor. "Damn it, Sparkle Star, those droids are hard to build."
Starkiller scowled at her nickname for him. He hated it when she used that term. It was demasculating, slightly demoralizing and just plain annoying. There were other adjectives for it as well but he was too impatient to sit and really think about them. He looked down at the junk heap that used to be her droid companion and toed a piece of yellow painted debris. "Assassin droids? Where the hell'd you get this? Weren't they completely out of production, like, a thousand years ago?"
Tara was looking through her binoculars "Shut up," she said, scanning for those life forms. "PROXY is similar."
"He's a training droid."
"He's basically programmed to kill," she retorted. "He's just not very good at it." She rolled her eyes and cursed when she couldn't pick up on the humans and droids anymore. "Ugh… why are you still bothering me?"
(-)|(-)|(-)
Nathrrya's face had a distinctly disgruntled look on it. She palmed the door control of Princess Leia's holding cell and indicated for the two Stormtrooper guards to remain where they were. She went in and closed the door behind her, leaving herself and the princess alone.
"I'm a senator and this was the best you could do?" Leia sat up from the very uncomfortable bench she had and gestured to the room in general. The red headed Sith smirked.
"I don't know… considering you could be convicted for treason this cell seems perfectly adequate, your highness." Nathrrya took a moment and silently studied the other woman, her eyes narrowing as she did so and returning to normal. "If I'm not mistaken, you're adopted, are you not?"
Leia frowned at the question but nodded. It wasn't a secret that Bail Organa wasn't her biological father. "I don't see how that has to do with anything."
"Truthfully, it's got nothing to do with anything," Nathrrya stated, matter of factly. She waved her hand to dismiss it for the most part, but gave the princess a different look, something that told Leia the Sith knew something more than she did. "It was my curiosity that got the better of me. What would you say, or how would you react, if I told you I thought you were Force sensitive?"
Leia blinked several times and began to laugh. Of all the absurdity that the Sith had in their heads, this particular Sith had to come and ask her if she was Force sensitive? Leia couldn't wrap her head around it.
"Me? Force sensitive? You've got to be joking. I'm the most Force blind person in the galaxy!"
Nathrrya stared at the princess for a moment longer and put a dismissive look on her face. "Not the answer I was expecting, but it does answer my question."
She was going to say something else to the captured woman but her communicator beeped. She picked it up and allowed the smooth voice to filter through the speaker.
"Please excuse my interruption, my lord." It was Captain Piett. "We have new orders… and I'm afraid you won't like them. Your presence is very much requested at the bridge as soon as possible and see them for yourself."
The Sith wasn't impressed and already had a bad feeling about what their orders could be. "Are they really that bad, Piett?"
"My lord, I would have told you what they were over the communicator if they weren't."
Son of a bantha… Nathrrya knew it had to be the kind of bad news that got under her skin, the kind where she would want to cause physical harm to something, and usually that something was the hapless data pad the orders were usually put on.
"Very well, Captain. I'll be there shortly." She disconnected the communicator and put it away. She turned her attention to the princess again and gave her a smile, though there was a lot of spite behind it. It made Leia shiver to see it.
"I'm sorry, your highness. I must cut our visit short. I do hope you enjoy your stay."