Jaden offered no resistance when the Recovery was boarded by five of Mirax's crew members and they took him by blasterpoint down to the Venture's hangar bay. From there, he was led out of the hangar into a corridor toward a turbolift that rocketed him and the crew members to the top of the Star Destroyer. Along the way, he noticed several caged ysalamari, both within the hangar and out in the corridor.
Not much longer, Jaden was tied by a titanium cable to an old-fashioned wooden chair in Mirax's office, another caged ysalamari nearby, and the daughter of the Venture's former captain leered over him in anger. Without any words exchanged between them in person, she punched him across the face, sending two bits of teeth and some blood spewing out of his mouth.
"That was for Valin," Mirax said before punching him across the other side of the face. "That was for Jysella." Then a direct punch to his nose, which then bled from both nostrils, was followed up with, "And that was for my father."
Jaden spat some blood on the floor before looking back up at Mirax. "Is that all you're going to do to torture me?"
"Yes," Mirax stated.
"So can you untie me now?" Jaden asked neutrally.
"Oh, you think I'm the only one on this ship who has a beef with you for the ones I lost because of you, Korr?" Mirax retorted. "Oh, no. You were right, though, when you said I wasn't the only one who lost loved ones to that Darth Plagueis character." She then reached her belt and took out her commlink to activate it. "Come on over, Taryn."
A minute later, the door opened again, and Taryn Zel, the widow of Jedi Master Zekk, stepped inside, and before the door even closed behind her, she was already approaching Jaden. By the time the door did close, she kicked him straight and hard in the chest, sending him collapsing back to the floor, still in the chair. While the Grand Master gasped for breath, Taryn grabbed him by the hair and hauled him back up so that he sat upright in the chair again.
"Kell, Tyria, Jesmin, you're all up," Mirax said in her commlink.
With that, Taryn turned and headed to leave the captain's cabin.
"Do Tenel Ka or your sister know that you're here, having done what you just did, Taryn?" Jaden asked.
"I don't care if they do," Taryn said without turning around, stopping, or even slowing for the door.
A little after Taryn left, Kell, Tyria Sarkin, and Jesmin Tainer stepped into the room.
"Doran wouldn't appreciate what you're going to do in his name, Tyria," Jaden said.
"Don't you dare spout that crap that got my baby killed under your Order, you son of a bitch," Tyria said just as she unhooked and activated her lightsaber. She then walked over and stabbed him in the right leg, eliciting a painful scream from the Grand Master.
After she took the blade out, Kell took out his blaster, set it to lethal, and shot Jaden in his right leg, only excruciating his pain.
Jesmin finished it off by reaching out through the Force and sending the chair to the ceiling of the room, hitting Jaden's head against him. The Grand Master received double vision as a result.
"Aryn, will you do us the honors of finishing this all off?" Mirax asked in her comm.
The Tainers took that as their cue to leave the cabin.
When Jaden managed to recover singular vision through the Force, he saw Aryn Dro Thul, Raynar Thul's mother, step into the room with a deathstick lighter.
"I know that you didn't lead my son to death, Korr," Aryn stated as she approached him, "but I suppose you'll still understand when I do this to you."
Aryn activated the lighter and then Jaden's flesh on his face seared, his shriek of pain maximized now, as it was being burned.
Half a minute later, Aryn shut off the lighter, leaving Jaden's face a burned wreck, his screams of agony still prevalent.
Mirax then walked around the chair, pressed a button that opened up the titanium cable around Jaden, then she shoved him by the back of his head to the floor. When he hit the floor face-first, his screams became grating to the ear.
A minute after Aryn left, Jaden's screams finally died down, and he looked up to the blank-faced Mirax.
"I'll give you twelve hours to get off my cruise liner, Korr," Mirax intoned. "If you're not off by then, I will kill you. Is that clear?"
Jaden nodded wordlessly.
"There's the door," she waved.
With both his legs having sustained grievous injuries, Jaden had no choice but to crawl over with his arms alone. Mirax merely watched him with that blank expression that lacked even an iota of sympathy for his plight.
.
Neither the citizens of the Galactic Alliance nor its Senate bothered to wait a whole month before launching another election for the Chief of State. The entire process took only a mere three days, and by the end of that extremely short period of time for such an election, Commenorian Fyor Rodan was chosen as the next Alliance leader.
And with that, Rodan carried himself with an air of confidence and righteousness toward the podium positioned before the Imperial Palace to make his inaugural speech to the hundreds of media representatives who attended. They all quieted down once he cleared his throat.
"My fellow Alliance members," Rodan began, "as many of you may have already known, the Hapes Consortium had declared war on this august body when they attacked Coruscant two months ago. Admittedly, the attack had been provoked due to the incompetent actions of Chief of State Shesh. But the fact remains that my late predecessor Releqy A'Kla's efforts to cease war between our nations failed with her death and the deaths of every Alliance soldier who accompanied her to Hapes, including the likes of the esteemed Admiral Nek Bwua'tu.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is clear that the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and the Hapes Consortium cannot come to a compromise given all that has occurred between us. Therefore, in six months' time, when we have restored our military to fighting shape, we will attack Hapes. And I promise you all, we will not lose under my administration. Thank you."
Then the questions from the media crowd began.
