There's an unspoken rule around the Junior Wraiths: If any "outsider" (non-Wraith) is caught trying to mess around with Cerise, they get one warning and after that, they get seriously hurt. Most of the time, that works, except with one person...

Part 1: Capture

Cerise Ritril whistled quietly as she walked back from the Twin Suns Headquarters. She and Alana Ynrer had managed to get a lot done today with the squadron's ships. Of course, it had taken a lot of persuading to get Uncle Jag's permission to add some upgrades to his ship, but it had still been a good day's work.

As she rounded the last corner, she came face to face with several tall, burly men who all smelled like last year's dead fish. Leering down at her, one smiled, if you could call it that, at her.

"Going somewhere, sweetie?" he asked.

The girl tried not to gulp as she looked right back up. "Yes, in fact I am. Now please move because I really don't want to have to hurt you."

The man chuckled and turned towards the others. "She thinks that she could hurt us. Maybe she's a Jedi."

Well if the idiot couldn't tell that she was from her lightsaber, why should she be the one to inform him? "Maybe I am. Now excuse me gentlemen."

She took a step to the right but the man blocked her again. She cursed silently.

"Not so fast sweetheart. How about a kiss first?"

Things were rapidly going downhill when Cerise heard familiar voice say in a mild tone, "Is there a problem here gentlemen?"

All three turned around to face Tynian Afyon. The shortest one sneered. "We're just having a friendly chat with this girl."

"It didn't look to friendly to me. You all right, 'Rise?" he asked. She nodded silently and went over towards him.

The tall man laughed. "What, is she your girl?"

Kai Loran stepped out from behind Ty. "No, I am."

He backed up, hands held up and his expression mocking. "Oh apologies, milady."

The short one sneered again. "Protective little brats. You the stand in parents or something?"

Tynian raised a blonde eyebrow. "No, just one of her many ah- big brothers. And I don't reckon that you'd want to meet her father about now." His blue lightsaber came to life with a snap-hiss. "I believe that you gentlemen were leaving?"

It took all of five standard seconds for the men to disappear. Tynian shut his lightsaber down and returned it to his belt.

She grinned up at him. "Thanks Ty."

He nodded. "No problem, though I'm sure you could've managed."

Cerise nodded a goodbye and then headed off towards the Wraith HQ. Through the Force, she felt Tynian reach out with the Force to talk to someone. Probably her brother Kavin. Sithspit.

As she entered into the building, she headed straight for the hanger bay, which was as far away from the communications room, as she could get and she wanted to work on some of those captured TIE fighters anyways. The Wraiths and Junior Wraiths had managed to steal a squadron and a half of various types of TIE fighters in varying degrees of reparability.

She had just lowered herself headfirst into eyeball's cockpit when she felt Kavin's Force presence come into the hanger bay. "Cerise?"

She cursed under her breath and yelled back, "In the third eyeball, Kav!"

Rapid footsteps approached. "Mind coming out of there so I'm not talking to your feet?"

Sighing, she pulled herself back out and jumped down to come face to face with her four inches taller brother. "What Kavin?"

"Why didn't you use TK against those men earlier?"

Well that was her brother all right, cut right to the power cable. "It would've been a waste of time and Force use."

"Waste of time? 'Rise, you don't know what those men could've done to you! Have you already forgotten what happened to Kai?"

Cerise winced slightly. "No, I haven't and I don't think that Kai has either. In fact, I don't think anyone has."

Kavin held up his hands. 'Alright, alright, fine. But still, you use the Force about as much as Aunt Asyr use to."

"If you're trying to tell me something, just spit it out."

He sighed. "Alright, I'll cut to the power cable. You need to use the Force more, Cerise."

"Mom and Alana get along fine without it."

"And I'm sure that if they could use it, than they'd use it."

"Kavin, I'm coming dangerously close to using TK right now."

"Cerise, all I'm trying to say is that you need to be more careful. Admiral Daala knows that you're Mom's weak point and that Mom and you are Dad's weak points."

"You're one of Mom's weak points too, so is Dad."

"Yes but you're weakerer."

"Ah. Is there such word as weakerer?"

"Well there is now."

"Ooo, yay! You invented a word!"

Kavin frowned slightly at her. "Someone's a bit snippy today."

"Someone, has not slept in the last," she checked her chrono, "75 hours."

Kavin's frown deepened. "Three days? That's just stupid, Cerise."

Inwardly sighing, Cerise reached out with the Force to Keira Fel, who was inside. Hey Keira! Do me a favor?

Kav being overprotective again? the understanding reply came back.

You're telling me. Please?

Sure, I'll be out there in a second or two.

Silently, Cerise blessed the fact that her brother was dating someone like Keira Fel. She, too, also suffered from over protective siblings.

Kavin tapped her elbow. "Coruscant to Cerise."

She turned towards him. "What?"

"I was talking to you, little sister."

"I know. I was using the Force."

At that moment, the hanger bay door opened again and Keira appeared. Kavin turned around just as she got within three feet of him. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it as Keira took hold of his sleeve.

"Leave your sister alone, Kavin. She can take care of herself," Keira said firmly, grinning up at Cerise.

Kavin turned to look accusingly at Cerise who grinned innocently back at him. "Well you did tell me to use the Force, Kav."

He threw his hands up the in air. "Women!" and then allowed himself to be dragged off by Keira.

Cerise stayed next to the TIE for all of three seconds before she had climbed back into it, head first. She had already repaired the majority of the Skipray blastboats that she and Alana were taking to Commenor in a week. She still needed to fix a few hyperdrives, but she could do that tomorrow.

For now, she was just going to tinker with the TIE eyeballs until she really felt the need for sleep. Which should be sometime in the next five hours or so.

Force, she hoped Aunt Tyria wouldn't be mad at her for forgetting to sleep every so often.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cerise grinned inwardly a week later as she delivered the last of the Skiprays. Alana Ynrer came up to stand next to her.

"Thank the Force that we won't have to deal with those anymore. I'd rather refurbish twenty of Skywalker's Advanced TIEs than even go near one of those factory new Skiprays again."

Cerise nodded in agreement. 'Factory new' quite often translated into factory screwed up. If it would give you some idea how hated those Skiprays are, it had taken Alana almost a full month to consecutive work to bring Anakin Skywalker's bright back to flying condition.

The Jedi glanced down at her chrono, almost 1700.If she took her X-Wing back to Coruscant, she could be back by 1900 and actually get some sleep.

She was startled out of her thoughts as Alana waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello, Ynrer to Ritril. You there?"

Cerise grinned slightly at her fellow mechanic. "Yeah, sorry, just thinking. So 1100 tomorrow at Comet HQ then?" Alana nodded. "Alright then. I'm going to fly my X-Wing back to Coruscant, it'll be faster."

The two mechanics exchanged farewells and then went to their respective ships. Cerise plotted a course to Coruscant, pulled back the hyperspace lever, and then allowed herself to sleep, giving her droid orders to wake her in three hours.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She was rudely awakened an hour later by her R2 unit's blaring alarm. She started to mutter curses at the thing before her gaze was caught by the Knight Hammer that was quickly growing larger on the starboard side.

"Sithspit! Zu, can you get us out of here?"

A negative beep.

"I don't care if we don't have a course plotted yet, just microjump or something!"

Another negative beep.

"What do you mean we can't? It's just-" And then she stopped as she realized what must have had happened. The Knight Hammer had pulled her out of hyperspace and then mined it. She was so screwed. An ion bolt came out from the Supe and hit her just as a tractor beam also caught in its grip. Triply screwed.

On her list of things to do: Apologize to Kavin for blowing him off about being protective. Learn to fly better. Apologize to Kavin some more for telling him that she could handle things. Calm her father down. On a second thought, maybe she should just let him go and kill Daala. Had she mention apologize to Kavin?

Two standard minutes later, she felt her X-Wing set down in the Knight Hammer's docking bay. Grabbing her lightsaber from her belt, she took a deep breath. Now was a time when she really wanted her dad's explosive collection. But wishing wouldn't help her any, not one bit.

Hitting the cockpit switch, she ignited her silver blade and jumped down to land with a cat like grace on the cold deck below. Holding the lightsaber vertically in front of her, she kept her back to her ship as she took in the situation around her. Great, she was surrounded by little stormies.

They started firing stunbolts at her and she became hard pressed to block all of the shots. At one point, she was forced to do a back flip to avoid four shots. Too bad she didn't have the Halcyon ability to absorb energy like Aunt Mirax did. Oh yeah, and add some more things to her list: Apologize to Aunt Tyria for not working as hard as she could have with her lightsaber skills. And yes, apologize to Kavin. Behind her, she felt a presence come up and aim a blaster at her. Whirling around to block the shot, she came face to face with the one and only Admiral Daala before the Admiral took advantage of her shock and fired a stun bolt into her.

Her last conscious thought was to turn her lightsaber off before she hit the ground and was lost to the blackness of unconsciousness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tyria Tainer knocked on the doorjamb of the computer lab. Getting a somewhat affirmative noise from Tyria Ritril, she came in and sat beside her sister-in-law.

"Hey, do you know where Cerise is?" Tyria Tainer asked.

She shook her head. "She was moving those Skiprays to Commenor with Alana yesterday. She's probably still over there."

"She's not."

Tyria Ritril sat bolt upright. "What do you mean she's not with Alana?"

"I mean that she's not with Alana."

Tyria stood up abruptly. "Did you check the hanger bays?"

She nodded. "Already did so. And her rooms. Tyria, she's invisible in the Force right now."

She grabbed her comlink and fiddled with the frequency for a moment. "Kavin, find your father and get down to the computer lab, now!" Not letting her son protest, she changed frequencies again, this time to talk to Alana Ynrer.

"Alana, Tyria. Where's Cerise?"

Alana's worried voice came back. "I don't know. We took her X-Wing out to Commenor before we even started and he had someone ferrying us back to Coruscant to get more Skiprays. We finished around 1700 yesterday and Cerise flew her X-Wing back to Coruscant. We were supposed to upgrade Comet today at 1100 but she didn't show up. I figured that she was just catching up on some sleep so I went ahead and started on my own. And then Commander Tainer commed me earlier asking where she was."

Tyria opened her mouth to reply when Kavin and Cloud came bursting in.

"Mom! What's wrong?" Kavin asked her.

She held up a hand and turned back to the comlink. "Alright, thanks Alana. I'll talk to you later." Flipping the device off, she motioned her husband and son towards chairs, barely registering the fact that Tyria Tainer had left the computer lab.

"You two, try and find Cerise in the Force," she ordered tersely.

Father and son exchanged confused glances but complied and looked up moments later with even more confused expressions on their faces.

"She's a blank," Cloud said worriedly. "Like she's either shut herself off or there's an ysalamiri around."

Kavin nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and she's normally got a blazing Force presence too."

The comlink/datapad hook up arrangement that Tyria had had set up started to beep. She made no move answer it. Finally, Kavin grabbed it and looked at the message on the screen.

He looked up, confused. "All it says is D. -7345261."

Cloud started to pound his forehead into the desk. "No, no no no no no. This is so unfair. Why her?"

Tyria just sat there frozen, staring at the string of numbers.

Kavin looked between his parents, even more confused then before, if possible. "Wait, what does that have to do with Cerise?" he asked.

Silently, Tyria pulled up the Antilles home comm. Iella answered. "Antilles."

"Hey Iella. Is Wedge around there too?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah, one second, let me find him. You need to talk to him?"

"Both of you guys actually."

A moment later, both Wedge and Iella were listening.

"Something wrong, Tyria?" Wedge asked her.

She almost choked on that one. Was something wrong? Oh no, nothing at all, absolutely nothing. Fighting back the sarcasm, Tyria managed to say, "Daala's captured my daughter. Daala's got Cerise."

Kavin turned and gaped at her as a shocked silence reigned.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kavin frowned as he watched his stony-faced father and now twice as seclusive mother. Over the past few days, Tyria had become extremely seclusive and seemed to build a wall around herself. She was currently sitting in a chair away from everyone but Cloud and had her knees pulled up tightly to her chest.

It hurt him to see his usually strong, unshakeable mother like this. She had always been the one who had always stood strong and never backed down. He'd tried to use the Force earlier to understand what was the matter with her. All he had gotten however, was a tangled web of emotions along with some random images and memories. But none of it had made any sense to him and it probably never would.

He watched as his dad hugged his mom reassuringly, though his expression was still hardened.

The Jedi managed a half smile as Uncle Wedge and Aunt Iella walked into the room and the General gave him a reassuring smile.

Nodding in return, he went back to pacing across the room, unable to just sit and wait.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tyria bowed her head towards her knees as Wedge and Iella came in, unable to look at them or Kavin. She was surprised: Cloud hadn't actually gone ballistic, yet. He'd gone, blown up a lot of things for a bit, and then come back inside to her. Neither of them had slept for the past couple days. Instead, they'd remained awake and worried about their daughter.

"She shouldn't have to go through this," Tyria mumbled. "And if she wasn't my daughter, she wouldn't have to."

Cloud wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She could tell that he was hurting just as much, if not more than she was. Thirteen years ago, she'd been captured herself by Daala for a second time. Cloud and she had never really talked about what had gone on during that long block of time. He'd been a bit uneasy around her in the first week back and at the time, she hadn't understood why. But from bits and pieces of information she had gotten from her husband, her brother, and Nicola, she'd learned that Cloud had had more than the one vision they had both shared. Apparently, Cloud had had several dreams where his doubts had become solid in the shape of her saying that he hadn't deserved her. It had taken a long night of talking and some very, er, pointed actions to convince him that she hadn't married him because she pitied him.

A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up. It was Iella. "Are you two ready for this?"

Cloud looked at her, a question in his expression. She let go of her knees and nodded resolutely. "We have to do this. If we keep putting it off, we let Daala win."

Iella nodded and took a step back. Tyria stood up and took the seat in front of the comm unit. Cloud and Kavin follow her and stood behind her. "Kavin, could you-" she gestured towards the frequency changer.

He nodded. "Sure Mom," He fiddled with the dial and tuned it to 7342561. It took all of a minute for a holo of Admiral Daala to spring to life.

The Imperial raised an eyebrow at them. "I've been expecting this for the past three days, Commander."

Tyria rolled her eyes. "Let's not waste time here, Admiral. I don't like you and you're not too fond of me so let's not bother with these damn formalities."

Daala narrowed her eyes. "Alright, we'll do it your way, Commander."

Tyria nodded and crossed her arms. "Where's my daughter?"

Daala grinned ferally. "Don't be hasty, Commander. We're getting to that in time."

"Where's my daughter?" Tyria repeated.

"Really Ms. Ritril, you've got quite the one track mind there."

This time, it was Cloud who replied. "Where's our daughter?"

Daala rolled her green eyes. "Well I suppose I could let you see her for a moment or two." She beckoned impatiently and two stormtroopers took a few steps forward, holding a pissed looking Cerise between them.

Behind her, Tyria heard Kavin suck in his breath and say softly, "What are they doing to you, Cerise?" And there was little need to wonder what had caused the question. Cerise's face now sported a bruise and her right arm hung at an odd angle. From Tyria's own "fun" experiences, Cerise's arms were probably starting to be covered with injection sites and bruises.

"Doesn't this scene look familiar?" Daala asked tauntingly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cloud balled his hands into fists, trying not to lose his temper at a mere hologram. Beside him, Kavin opened his mouth to say something to the Admiral but shut it as Cloud put a hand on his son's shoulder, stopping him.

In front of them, Tyria was saying. "You're not amusing me Admiral. What do you want with Cerise?"

Daala laughed, though it was a mirthless one. "It's not so much what I want with your daughter as it's what I want with you and Major Loran. Speaking of the Major, has her little daughter gotten over Kessel yet?" she asked tauntingly.

Good thing Face and Adra weren't there, very good thing. Good thing Tynian wasn't too for that matter.

Tyria's eyes narrowed. "So it was you. But no matter, you're trying to get off track here."

Cloud leaned forward slightly, bending slightly so his head was only slightly above Tyria's. "What do you want with our daughter?" he repeated his wife's earlier question slowly.

The Imperial's expression grew a bit more serious. "She's merely insurance of your wife's and Major Loran's, and Lieutenant Afyon and Lieutenant Loran's, good behavior. I'm sure we wouldn't want to injure your daughter anymore because my files were hacked into some more."

Finally, Cerise spoke. And when she did, her tone was as sharp as a vibroblade's. "Maybe if you used more security then a content Bantha, you wouldn't have that problem!"

Silently, Cloud applauded his daughter for her courage and cursed her for it in the same thought. One of the stormtroopers twisted his grip on her arm ever so slightly and she winced in pain.

Tyria gulped and forged ahead. "See? Even a sixteen-year-old could figure that one out, Daala. I swear, you need to go back to Thrawn or Isard for lessons in smartness. Except I forgot; they both hate you and Isard's dead."

"Laugh now Ritril, but I'm the one who's got your daughter so I'd tread carefully if I were you. Daala out." With a flicker, the image disappeared.

Shakily, Tyria pushed back her chair and stood up. She let out a breath she probably hadn't even realized that she was holding and the brave and strong Tyria disappeared. She made her way to a chair and sat down, her shoulders shaking as she cried silently, pulling her knees back up to her chest. Cloud took her in his arms once more and rocked her slowly back and forth.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cloud saw Iella cough and tap Wedge on the shoulder and lead him out of the room. A moment later, Kavin glanced at his parents briefly before nodding and following Wedge and Iella out.

Cloud wasn't quite sure how long he and Tyria sat there in the Intelligence briefing room. But it was late when they finally emerged and went back to Wraith Headquarters. By then, both of them had tears streaking their faces. Both had wept for the daughter who was being punished for what her parents did.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Outwardly, Cerise glared, while inside, she was currently a whirl of emotions. She'd suspected before that Daala had captured her because of who her mother was, but now it had been unfortunately confirmed. From her few minutes free from the ysalamiri's range, she'd managed to talk briefly to Kavin, send an apology to her dad, and, most importantly of all, steal a few slender and small rods that she could form into lockpicks since her set had been taken from her upon capture along with her lightsaber, blaster, and multitool.

She moved her foot around in her boot, trying to get the likely lockpicks into a more comfortable position in her boot.

As the mechanic came out of her thoughts, she realized where she was being taken to. The stormtrooper in front punched in the access code. They lead her in, being none to gentle with her bruises and other injuries.

Just as the troopers finished strapping her to the "board" again, Admiral Daala appeared in front of her, obviously just coming from the bridge. She dismissed the two stormtroopers with a curt nod and remained silent until they left.

"So," Daala started in a conversational way, "I'm sure you enjoyed seeing your parents for a bit."

"What's it to you?" Cerise spat back.

Daala frowned slightly. "Come now, Cerise."

"Flight Officer Ritril," Cerise corrected sharply.

"Do you really think that being snappy will help your situation any?"

"No."

"Then why do you persist on doing something so ridiculously stupid?"

"I've got Kell Tainer for an uncle and Cloud Ritril for a father. Mechanics and Demolitions like being stupid and they normally say what they want too."

The Admiral raised an eyebrow. "Miss Ritril, this could be a lot easier on you if-"

"I will not cooperate, Admiral."

Daala's features twisted into a feral mask. "Fine then, have it your way. I'll break you just like I broke your mother and Adra Loran."

Cerise glared back at her. "No you won't! You didn't break my mom, you didn't break Aunt Adra, and you're not going to break me! The only person that you ever have and ever will break is Aerolin Kast. And even then, you had to have Ysanne Isard to help you with that. Mom was right; you didn't get promoted for your brains, you got promoted for showing Tarkin a good time!"

Just like she had thirteen years ago, Daala raised a hand and delivered a stinging slap to Cerise's left cheek. "We'll see who wins in the end, Flight Officer." The door behind her hissed open and the two troopers reentered. She turned to leave and paused for a moment, then looked back at Cerise. "And how do you know Miss Kast was the only one I ever broke?" With that, she was gone and another torture session started.