When Vykk finally came to, he was bound securely to a chair. Looking around, he realized he was in an Imperial interrogation room. Adrenaline immediately began to pump through his veins as he struggled against his bonds.
"I see you're finally awake," an unseen voice intoned. "Sorry we kept you out so long, but your female friend put up quite a struggle. Incapacitated two of my men, if you can believe that."
"Who are you? Where am I? Why are you holding me?" Vykk demanded.
He finally came into the light. "I guess you can't recognize my voice unless it's chasing you."
"Tarven?" Vykk asked, incredulous.
Tarven nodded. "Where you are is immaterial, and why we're holding you should be quite obvious."
"I don't know anything," Vykk insisted.
"We can't just take your word for it. We need verification," Tarven argued.
"Fine. Dose me with truth drug or take some glitterstim," Vykk suggested.
"No thank you. I am well aware that anyone with formidable constitution can resist both of those interrogation techniques. I like to use the tried and tested method," Tarven said nastily.
As he said this, a black interrogation droid floated menacingly into the room. The door shut and Tarven began.
This was just great, Brianna thought. Trapped in an Imperial detention cell with her mission uncompleted, she could see no way out. When they apprehended her, she had immediately offered them huge sums of money to leave her there. Unfortunately, they were some of those few Imperials that didn't take bribes. She then shifted to death threats, claiming that her organization would enact swift retribution. They had just laughed, saying that any reprisal would probably fall on her shoulders. They were absolutely right. What most surprised her, however, was that they hadn't questioned her yet. Either they knew all about her, or they were trying out the weaker Vykk first. As if summoned by her words, three men entered her cell.
"Good evening Miss Brianna," Tarven greeted, "Your companion was most helpful. I hope for your sake that you follow his sterling example."
So the sniveling little vrelt had told them her name, she thought. She was glad that she didn't tell him her full name, or anything else for that matter. He thought it was just a spice run, but she knew better. If she could just hold out during interrogation, she might yet get out of this situation alive.
"Judging from the level of cooperation you exhibited when we detained you, I think we'll start where we left off with your friend Mr. Draygo," Tarven said.
A faint whirring sound could be heard from the doorway. It became clearer as the black droid floated into view. It was an IT-3 Interrogator droid. Brianna had never faced an IT before. They were reputed to be very good at what they did. Moreover, since they were droids, they didn't hesitate until their victims said something of value.
"I think first we'll try some simple chemical injections. If you have an allergy to any interrogation drugs, it would be in your best interest to tell us what you know before you go into cardiac arrest," Tarven said dryly.
As the droid injected Brianna with the first substance, her head began to feel as if it were floating. She could hear Tarven asking her questions about her mission. Why not tell him? They could only kill her once. She opened her mouth to answer when she had a sudden realization that they were drugging her.
"I was just his copilot. As far as I knew, we were delivering replacement parts for Kessel's atmospheric generators," she answered flatly.
Tarven sighed. He made sure the hypo was loaded with the increased sensitivity drug and instructed the droid to inject her with it.
"That last shot strengthened your pain receptors and damped down your endorphins. Feel free to volunteer any information that you think we'd like to know," he said.
The droid began to work on her with its laser scalpel and electroshock probe. Amid her screams, Tarven couldn't discern anything coherent escaping her lips. After five minutes, he decided to pause the droid, hoping that she would be simultaneously grateful for the reprieve and fearful of a continuation.
"I would like to release you, but that can't happen until you tell me what I need to know. Now, who are you working for?" he asked sharply.
Every inch of Brianna's body was throbbing with pain. For a full minute after he asked his question, all she could do was moan. Finally, she got some sort of grip on herself.
"Didn't he tell you?" she croaked.
"He told us you were smugglers. He was under the impression that he was working for you smuggling glitterstim from Kessel," Tarven replied tersely.
Deciding to divulge part of the truth, she replied, "I only told him that to motivate him. I knew he was a smuggler and that he was a good pilot, but I didn't think he'd react well to a legitimate job. Most if not all smugglers have outstanding warrants from one side of the galaxy to the other."
Tarven's eyes narrowed. "If you must insist on misleading me like this, I'll just have to see if I can make you more pliable." With a vicious jab, he separated her jaw. "There, now you can't tell me anything of value even if you wanted to. Let the next ten minutes be an object lesson on the futility of lying to an Imperial officer," he said darkly.
He slapped her hard across the face, then began uppercutting her stomach, which caused her to vomit all over herself. He then began jabbing her kidneys repeatedly. Only when she began to spit up blood did he move on. He landed five devastating right hooks to her left temple, yet she remained conscious. Sensing that she was weakened enough, he undid her restraints and she sagged to the floor. Hoisting her by her jacket, he slammed her against the wall. Letting her slump to the floor once more, he began kicking her in the stomach. She folded around the first impact and resumed throwing up blood and chunks of partially digested food. Then he landed a devastating kick to her windpipe.
As she struggled for breath, he looked at his hands. Most of the blood was hers, but some had come from tiny gashes in his hands caused by the ferocity of his assault. He looked back down at her and saw that she was breathing normally again, albeit with a slight wheeze. He lifted her bodily into the air and threw her against the opposite wall. He thought he distinctly heard one or more bones snap. Smiling, he resumed landing sharp kicks on every inch of her body. He kicked her back, her legs, her arms, her chest and everywhere in between. Tiring of that, he jerked her up by the arm. Holding her right arm firmly in his hands, he broke it. A strangled scream escaped her lips.
The beating went on for another five minutes. Beginning to feel somewhat fatigued, Tarven looked up at the chronometer and raised his eyebrow in surprise. He had been beating her senseless for fifteen minutes. Satisfied, he left her lying there and locked the door behind him on his way out.
She could barely move, and when she did, she felt endless agony. Ripped in several places, her clothes barely preserved her modesty. Not only her body, but her mind reeled from the thoroughness of the beating. She was glad he broke her jaw. After the first few minutes, she had been mumbling the answers to all of his questions in the vain hope that he would cease. She had never been trained to endure an interrogation like that. She could handle drugs and verbal abuse, but she hadn't anticipated that they would beat a woman like that. She could only find solace in the fact that they had thus far not graduated to more invasive torture.
Five men entered her cell. Two were stormtroopers and the other three had the distinct look of medics. Two of the medics lifted her gingerly onto a repulsor gurney and the group led her out of the cell. Her eyes were so swollen that she could only discern light changes. They soon arrived in a bright medical ward. The stormtroopers retreated to a respectful distance as the chief medic went about ascertaining her condition. After setting her broken bones, he and the other two medics prepared her for bacta immersion. First, they sedated her. Then they stripped off the ragged remains of her clothes and carefully fitted her with special breathable undergarments that wouldn't hinder bacta therapy. Ten minutes later, she was floating lifelessly in a bacta tank.
It was two days later when Brianna finally swam back to consciousness. Her eyelids flew open and immediately shut at the brightness that assaulted her eyes. Gradually, she reopened them and saw that she was in a bacta tank. Two medical technicians were working in the immediate vicinity. There was also a stormtrooper standing guard in the far corner of the room. She slowly focused on his helmet. She saw the helmet twitch and felt a sense of impending doom, realizing that they now knew she was conscious. The stormtrooper canted his helmet slightly, obviously reporting to his commander. Minutes later, Tarven strode into the room.
"I see that you've been healing up quite nicely. In fact, the chief medic says that you'll be ready to leave the infirmary by tomorrow. Then we can pick up where we left off," Tarven said with an evil grin.
For the first time in years, Brianna felt the stirrings of genuine fear. She knew it was only a matter of time before the Empire got what they wanted out of her. That time would be considerably shortened since the sadistic Tarven was the chief interrogator. No matter what happened, Brianna's future looked bleak.
Vykk was embarrassed that he had been broken so easily. He hadn't even put up a fight. Tarven had come in and played a recording of Brianna's "interview." Vykk could only hold his mouth open in horror as he listened to her anguished screams and ragged moans. After the first five minutes, he began glaring daggers at Tarven, who only smiled. Towards the end, Vykk had been struggling against his bonds, wanting to do nothing less than tear Tarven limb from limb. He eventually subsided and returned to his private shame. From the sounds of it, she had mentally fought tooth and nail, whereas he had been nothing but a sniveling coward.
Vykk was seething with hatred, now free of the bonds and sitting alone in his cell. In his mind, he thought of various creative ways of destroying the Empire in general and Tarven in particular. He just had to wait for one inept guard and he'd be home free. Standing up, he got a lightheaded feeling. Leaning against the wall for a minute, he let the dizzy spell pass. Walking over to the door, he felt a feeling more powerful than hatred. He felt hope swell in his chest, and a sense that he was at least partially in control of his immediate future. He took off his shirt and sidled up to the door, waiting to strangle the first person that walked through it.
Half an hour later, his wish came true. A stormtrooper walked confidently into the cell. Before he could react, Vykk was on him, pulling his shirt tight under the man's helmet. The guard instinctively went for his blaster, but Vykk jostled him enough that he dropped it. He then grabbed Vykk's wrists, attempting to loosen his grip. Doggedly, Vykk held on. As the seconds ticked by, the stormtrooper's resistance became more frantic until he finally sagged against Vykk, unconscious.
Vykk retrieved the man's blaster and pumped a stun shot into him. He then proceeded to strip the stormtrooper, donning his armor. He poked his head out the door, seeing if the scuffle had attracted any attention. Fortunately, he was at the end of a long corridor. Stepping out into the hallway, Vykk closed the door behind him. He quietly made his way to the control room. Once there, he found a terminal and accessed all available information on Brianna, including her cell number. He downloaded the route to her detention block onto a datapad he found in the pocket of his appropriated uniform. Stuffing the datapad back into the pocket, he left the detention block. Directly across from the detention block was the first turbolift. Vykk stepped inside and keyed in his destination. After the doors closed, he sagged against the wall. He was devoutly grateful for the stormtrooper helmet that concealed his features. The detention center guards hadn't even questioned him as he went about his business. Now he was on his way to rescue someone that by all rights he shouldn't care about. Nevertheless, she was the only person who had any answers.
As Brianna woke up, her first thought was of unbelievable pain. She had endured yet another torture session with Tarven. Unlike the first interrogation, Tarven hadn't laid a hand on her. He stood idly by as the interrogator droid did its work. The one piece of information they gleaned from her was her full name. They were able to parse it out amidst her escalating screams. She only had a few small marks on her. The droid had dug its vibroscalpel into sensitive nerve clusters and twisted the blade. At the end, there were twin rivers of tears running down her face and soaking her blouse. Her bottom lip trailed blood from where she had bit down on it. Before leaving, Tarven indicated what the next session would consist of. He described in grisly detail how he was going to take full advantage of her feminine weaknesses. A click at the door broke her out of her reverie. She steeled herself for the worst as a stormtrooper stepped into her cell. The stormtrooper slowly removed his helmet. All she could do was hold her mouth open in surprise.
"Don't just sit there looking like a Gamorrean," Vykk said sardonically.
Brianna stood up and stretched. She was still busy unkinking her muscles when she realized Vykk was staring at her. Looking down at her clothes, she blushed. "I guess our first priority should be finding me something to wear," she said sheepishly.
Vykk raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.
"Did you take out the officer on duty at least?" she asked.
Vykk tapped the helmet. Brianna thought for a moment, a mischievous look blossoming on her face.
Vykk frowned in consternation. Then he got it. "You've got to be kidding me," he said disbelievingly.
"What's wrong? You don't think you can play the part of the big, bad guard?" she asked with full pouting lips.
Vykk's face turned bright red, but he managed to grate out, "Maybe I can. You've obviously got the meek prisoner act down."
"Ooh, touchy. Not used to a woman that can think for herself, are we?" she asked.
"I guess not," he growled.
"Alright, alright, enough fooling around. We need to get off this ship before our escapes are discovered," she said, all business.
Nodding in agreement, Vykk added, "I agree, but I'm not leaving without my ship."
"That's fine," she said, "We need to steal a hyperdrive capable ship to escape anyway."
"Okay then, do you know where it is?" he asked.
"It's most likely in vehicle deep storage, which is a deck or two above the aft hangar bays. All we'd have to do is subdue the chief tech and maybe a couple guards. The chief tech's datapad controls the lift," she explained.
"That means we need to get you a weapon," he said.
"I'll just use yours," she said.
"Then what will I shoot with?" he asked.
"You won't," she replied simply.
"I am not facing armed men without a blaster," Vykk said adamantly.
Brianna sighed. "You obviously know there's more to me than meets the eye. Well, I'm blessed with a variety of useful skills, chief among them being that I'm an accomplished assassin. So I'm extremely deadly with a blaster whereas you're mildly dangerous."
Vykk bristled at this, but made no further comment.
"Please, just trust me," she implored.
"Alright, but I can't give it to you until we get there. A prisoner with a blaster would set off warning bells in even the densest of Imperials," Vykk pointed out.
"Agreed. Put me in stun cuffs and let's go," she said briskly.
"Yes, ma'am," he said, slipping his helmet back on.
Brianna walked calmly ahead of Vykk down the corridor. Arriving at the control room, Vykk nodded at the detention center guards, who responded in kind. Brianna and Vykk continued walking until they reached the turbolift. Stepping inside, Vykk keyed in their destination. When the doors closed, they both heaved sighs of relief.
"I can't believe we're going to get away with this," Vykk said disbelievingly.
"Don't count your hawk-bat eggs before they hatch," Brianna warned, "We've been damn lucky to get as far as we have."
"No doubt about that," Vykk consented.
Unexpectedly, Brianna's face softened. "But you did overpower one of our captors and came to rescue me from torture at the hands of one of the most evil men I've ever met. I can't thank you enough."
At that moment, a million thoughts passed through Vykk's mind. He grabbed hold of one of them and acted. Removing his helmet and letting it clatter to the floor, he cupped Brianna's face in his hands and kissed her. He inhaled her heavenly scent, savored the sweet taste of her lips and luxuriated in their gentle touch. He grabbed her waist, pulling her closer. Brianna responded with equal enthusiasm. The stun cuffs rendered her hands useless, so she used every other tool available to her to savor the moment. Shoving her tongue into his mouth, she drank of him. The outside world faded into oblivion for this, their moment of passion.
Several seconds later, they finally disengaged. Their faces flushed red as the heat of the moment faded. Both were breathing heavily. For a while, neither spoke. Brianna broke the silence.
"Wow. That was…" Brianna began.
"Amazing," Vykk finished.
"Yes," Brianna said.
Abruptly, she shook her head. "We need to focus on the task at hand. We need to get off this ship. Get your helmet back on and train that blaster on me. The turbolift is stopping."
Vykk slammed the helmet onto his shoulders and brought the blaster up quickly to cover her. Brianna stepped out first, then they made their way to the next turbolift. Three turbolifts later, they arrived at vehicle deep storage.
Exiting the turbolift, they made their way towards the chief tech. Looking around, they could see three guards. Vykk devoutly hoped that Brianna was as talented as she said she was. With this thought, he handed her the blaster and she opened fire. The first guard went down with two holes in his chest. She shot the second neatly through the head. Then she felt a laser blast pierce her right shoulder, spinning her around. As she fell, Vykk grabbed the blaster and triggered a flurry of shots in the remaining guard's general direction. As the guard took cover from the barrage, Vykk charged. After two seconds, the guard peered around his cover. When he saw Vykk running towards him with no weapon, he raised his blaster. His head flew back as a shot from behind Vykk stabbed into his left temple. His last vision was of Brianna holding the blaster steady in her left hand. Then he saw no more.
They found the chief tech holed up under his desk with his hands over his head.
"Don't kill me!" the tech cried desperately.
Given Brianna's weakened state, Vykk decided to take charge.
"We're not going to kill you. Once we find our ship, we need you to operate the vehicle lift so that we can escape. Alright?" Vykk asked gently.
"Al…alright," the tech said weakly.
"Locate the Lightfinger," Vykk ordered.
The tech pushed a few buttons and said, "Twenty meters up and to the right." He pointed it out.
Smiling, Vykk said, "She's a beautiful sight to behold, ain't she?"
Seeing the tech's uncertain expression, Vykk laughed.
"Okay, now position the lift and open whatever doors necessary for us to get out," Vykk commanded.
Dutifully, the tech set to work accompanied by various screeching noises as the doors and lifts arranged themselves. Finally, the noise died down.
"That's it," the tech said.
"Good job, kid. Now don't take this personal," Vykk said as he stunned the young technician. "There, that wasn't so hard." Then his eyes widened as he looked at Brianna's shoulder. "Are you alright?" Vykk asked, plainly stricken.
"I can make it to the ship, but I think you'll have to handle most of the piloting," Brianna replied with a weak smile.
"Okay, let's get out of here before something else bad happens," Vykk said cynically.
Vykk ran to the Lightfinger and lowered the ramp. Sprinting into the ship, he began the preflight. Seconds later, Brianna stumbled onto the ship and promptly collapsed. Knowing that the start-up sequence could survive a minute without him, Vykk rushed to help her. He half-carried her to the ship's small sickbay and laid her on the sole bed. Dashing back to the cockpit, Vykk flung himself into the pilot's seat and quickly got the ship underway. He carefully guided the Lightfinger through the maze of lifts and open blast doors. Finally coming up on the mag-con field, Vykk slammed on the accelerator and blasted out of the Star Destroyer. He got out of tractor beam range before the Bereavement's crew could bring them to bear. Needles of turbolaser fire began to lance out as a squadron of TIE Interceptors launched in pursuit.
"Come on," Vykk shouted at the navicomputer, "give me a course, damnit!"
Seconds later, the navicomputer coughed up a safe jump. Vykk pulled back the hyperdrive levers and the Lightfinger was gone before the TIEs could get in range.