Rori drifted in and out of consciousness for a long while, kept under by
the strong sedative that had been administered to her. She eventually
returned to consciousness, hearing the dull thrum of the hyperdrive and
feeling the cold, metal floor of the holding cell pressing against the left
side of her face. She wondered where the Imperials were taking her, then
tried to raise her head to get a good look at her surroundings.
The fact that it had been Rori's birthday was utterly forgotten, replaced by the vague feeling that she was indeed seven years old and not six years as she had been the day before. It didn't matter a bantha's toenail, because it certainly didn't feel like a birthday anymore.
Rori stayed pressed against the floor for awhile, paralyzed as much by fear as by the sedatives. *Still can't move…* the seven-year-old thought, very unhappy with her situation. She drifted back to somnolence and awoke again a few hours later, this time feeling a little more mobile. She wiggled her fingers experimentally, then tried getting up into a sitting position against a wall.
Rori noticed a food tray of some sort sitting right by where she'd been laying, figuring the Imperials didn't want her starving to death.
"I'm… I'm still alive?" she muttered to herself, and shakily picked up the tray of food. "Why, though?"
Roger Alighieri observed the child carefully, watching how she reacted to her new circumstances. "An interesting child…" he said to himself. "She'll be quite useful if dealt with properly."
Alighieri was not one to deal with people carelessly- especially small children. Rori in particular he would have to be extremely careful with so as not to turn her against the Empire. She seemed rather upset as it was, which was quite understandable, but hopefully that would pass. He also hoped that the child's fear wouldn't paralyze her into complete inaction.
"I suspect she will be rather difficult to control- it will be a tough challenge, albeit a rather welcome one…" Alighieri said to himself, and smiled. Only time would tell how his plan would unfold.
A week later back on Corellia, Dain Telonia had finally completed repairs on the Flare Rider. He calmly told Joseph and Annaka that it really was best for him and Marc to get going; there was nothing further for them to do there.
"Stay safe," Joseph cautioned. "And you, Marc- be good!"
Marc smiled in a subdued manner, obviously still shaken by Rori's disappearance. "I will," he promised.
"And do try to let Jance alone," Annaka added, all the while knowing Marc would do no such thing.
Marc played with his necklace all the way to Yavin 4, remaining silent almost the whole time. Dain felt sorry for the little boy- he would likely bear the scars of what had happened for a very long time.
He only broke his silence when he and Dain landed on Yavin 4.
"What about Jan?" Marc queried. "I think she's trouble…"
Dain wished he could answer that. The older Firehawk sister was a strange one, to be certain- she had a talent for toying with minds and was highly adept at manipulating water and ice. She also exhibited cunning far beyond that of most twelve-year-olds. One never knew what was next with her.
Besides that, Jance also tended to isolate herself voluntarily, interacting with others her age only when necessary. She was quiet and introverted, spending the vast majority of her free time in the library studying the Holocrons.
"Dain!" a voice greeted from outside the Flare Rider. A woman with long, sun-streaked auburn hair and piercing, blue-violet eyes came up to the ramp of the Flare Rider.
"Dain, get your rancor's ass out here!" Alana Timaris called out. The tall woman flashed a smile in Marc's direction as he cautiously peeped out.
"Hey, little Zion," Alana said gently, seeing that something was up. "Something the matter?"
"Yeah, a family friend went missing," Dain replied. "Related to someone at this temple, actually."
Alana bit her lip. "Well, don't I at least get a hug, you cheapskate?" she demanded playfully.
Much to Marc's chagrin, the two Jedi embraced each other tightly, then locked together for a moment in a brief kiss.
"Bleah," Marc said, sticking out his tongue. With that, the Jedi boy ran into the Temple- and nearly bumped into someone else on the way.
"Oops," Marc said sheepishly, looking up into a pair of deep blue and very intelligent eyes, in an elegantly-featured face framed by soft waves of raven black hair. The twelve-year-old girl these features belonged to stared down at Marc for a moment, her lip twisting in mild annoyance.
"Back already, Zion?" Jance drawled, mildly sardonic. That seemed to be one of Jance's hallmarks- referring to everyone by last name.
"Y-y-yeah…" Marc stammered. Jance always made him nervous- he swore the older girl enjoyed it.
"I still owe you one for dyeing every shirt I had neon green… plus the zillion-and-one times you scared me with that darn rubber spider of yours!"
Marc blinked but didn't reply.
Jance studied Marc curiously, trying to puzzle out what was inside the boy's mind.
"You're thinking about Rori…" Jance stated at last. "What's happened to her now?"
No one on the ship save Alighieri himself knew precisely where Space Station Omega was. Its location was a jealously guarded secret- no one but the people in the highest echelons of the military and the science department knew the location.
Alighieri himself docked the ship after providing proper clearance codes. He collected Rori from the holding cell- the girl was thankfully unconscious at the time, asleep. That would make the transfer about a thousand times easier.
"Were she awake, the child could create quite the inferno if given the chance…" Alighieri mused aloud. Hence, the name of her project: Inferno. It made perfect sense.
It would definitely be a challenge to work with Rori, or perhaps even convince her to show her ability. She might have had an ingrained fear of using her power. Well, Alighieri would take care of that, one way or another- and hopefully accomplish a few things in the process.
Marc stared wonderingly at Jance. How had she known? "Rori?" he queried dumbly.
"You can't fool me, Marc," the older trainee said under a pretense of playfulness, but Marc knew there was something more.
"Something happened to her…" Marc said soberly. He didn't want to discuss it further, but Jance didn't leave him alone. She even used the Force to pick up bits and pieces from Marc's thoughts.
"Imperials…" Jance said quietly. Beyond that, she said nothing else to betray her feelings.
Marc couldn't help wondering if Jance that was actually glad that had happened. It certainly made sense, considering what had happened in the past.
"Jan-Jan, there's a spider on you!" Marc exclaimed, and threw a rubber spider at Jance.
"AIIIEEEE!" Jance screamed. "Get it off! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"
Marc laughed and scuttled away. "Toodles!" he cried, and shot off with a couple of his friends.
Jance clenched her teeth and shook her fist after Marc. "That's another one I owe you!"
Marc ignored Jance and turned a corner before the older trainee could do anything to him.
Jance similarly flounced off. "That boy," she muttered to herself, "is going to find himself in really hot water one of these days."
"Hello, Jance," a voice said from behind her.
"Oh, hi, Master Timaris," Jance greeted nonchalantly.
Alana smiled at Jance, studying the girl closely. It had been Jance's little sister who'd been taken by Imperials…
"You… you know what happened."
"Imps got Rori… why wasn't she here in the first place? She would've been safe!" The girl was quiet for a moment, then spoke up again, this time with a distinct edge of bitterness in her voice. "If she were here and not with the Zions, she wouldn't have been taken…"
Alana thought she saw Jance's deep blue eyes go a steely gray momentarily, but it must've been just the light.
"I guess there's nothing I can do about it…" Jance murmured, and sighed convincingly. Inwardly, though, Jance was laughing her head off. It was certainly good to hear that Rori was being... well taken care of.
Jance kept these thoughts well hidden so Alana couldn't pry into her mind, and looked up with an innocent smile. "Wanna spar?" she asked.
Alana was momentarily thrown by Jance's change of subject, but covered it up and smiled. Jance was one of the best duelists in her age group that Alana had ever seen.
"Yes, why don't we?" Alana said mildly, and led Jance to one of the training rooms.
Jance grinned back, and twirled one of the practice sabers that was kept around for that purpose. "Maybe I'll beat ya this time," she said cheekily.
Alana raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that," she said, igniting the violet blade of her lightsaber.
Jance thumbed on the blade of the practice saber, which was a sort of sickly pea-green-white color. "This lightsaber needs help," Jance commented. "Oh, well." With that, the young trainee began to warm up with a few experimental thrusts.
Alana had to smile. "Better than getting one that's bright pink," she returned, and went into a defensive stance, watching Jance to see what she'd do.
In a quicksilver movement, Jance darted forward and stabbed at Alana, and was quickly parried away.
Alana parried a couple more strikes from Jance, then slashed at the young trainee in an arcing movement that almost bisected her. The Jedi Master followed it up with a series of feints, testing Jance's judgement.
Jance eyeballed Alana, a confident smirk pulling at a corner of her mouth. She sprung high in the air when Alana tried to sweep her feet from underneath her, and landed a few feet away in a combat crouch. She brought her lightsaber up into a defensive position.
Alana lunged at Jance, who used her smaller size to her advantage and dodged to one side. She flipped out of the way to give herself more working room, and Alana continued to press the attack.
"You're getting better, Jance," Alana commented. Jance had managed to work her way out of the corner she was in with her usual fluid grace, and with a few more deft moves she'd reversed her and Alana's positions.
Alana was now pinned against the wall, with Jance grinning triumphantly and pointing the sickly green lightsaber at her. However, Alana wasn't a Jedi Master for nothing- she switched her own violet saber to her other hand and brought it around in a slashing movement at Jance's saber hand, striking the blade out of the trainee's grasp and sending it flying across the room. The Jedi Master smiled benignly, her saber now pointed at Jance's chest.
Jance darted a look from the deactivated practice saber to Alana, frowning slightly. "Well, darn," she murmured, "I thought I had you!"
Alana smiled. "You're very good, Jance, but you have a lot of learning yet to do," she commented, and closed down her blade. She returned the hilt to its position on her belt, and picked up the practice saber from the ground and put it away. "See, if you get too cocky, your opponent can exploit that," she continued, studying Jance the whole time.
Jance laughed ruefully. "Yeah, guess so," she admitted. "How about we go eat? Saber fighting makes me hungry!"
Alana smiled. "Agreed," she returned, and headed for the dining hall.
The fact that it had been Rori's birthday was utterly forgotten, replaced by the vague feeling that she was indeed seven years old and not six years as she had been the day before. It didn't matter a bantha's toenail, because it certainly didn't feel like a birthday anymore.
Rori stayed pressed against the floor for awhile, paralyzed as much by fear as by the sedatives. *Still can't move…* the seven-year-old thought, very unhappy with her situation. She drifted back to somnolence and awoke again a few hours later, this time feeling a little more mobile. She wiggled her fingers experimentally, then tried getting up into a sitting position against a wall.
Rori noticed a food tray of some sort sitting right by where she'd been laying, figuring the Imperials didn't want her starving to death.
"I'm… I'm still alive?" she muttered to herself, and shakily picked up the tray of food. "Why, though?"
Roger Alighieri observed the child carefully, watching how she reacted to her new circumstances. "An interesting child…" he said to himself. "She'll be quite useful if dealt with properly."
Alighieri was not one to deal with people carelessly- especially small children. Rori in particular he would have to be extremely careful with so as not to turn her against the Empire. She seemed rather upset as it was, which was quite understandable, but hopefully that would pass. He also hoped that the child's fear wouldn't paralyze her into complete inaction.
"I suspect she will be rather difficult to control- it will be a tough challenge, albeit a rather welcome one…" Alighieri said to himself, and smiled. Only time would tell how his plan would unfold.
A week later back on Corellia, Dain Telonia had finally completed repairs on the Flare Rider. He calmly told Joseph and Annaka that it really was best for him and Marc to get going; there was nothing further for them to do there.
"Stay safe," Joseph cautioned. "And you, Marc- be good!"
Marc smiled in a subdued manner, obviously still shaken by Rori's disappearance. "I will," he promised.
"And do try to let Jance alone," Annaka added, all the while knowing Marc would do no such thing.
Marc played with his necklace all the way to Yavin 4, remaining silent almost the whole time. Dain felt sorry for the little boy- he would likely bear the scars of what had happened for a very long time.
He only broke his silence when he and Dain landed on Yavin 4.
"What about Jan?" Marc queried. "I think she's trouble…"
Dain wished he could answer that. The older Firehawk sister was a strange one, to be certain- she had a talent for toying with minds and was highly adept at manipulating water and ice. She also exhibited cunning far beyond that of most twelve-year-olds. One never knew what was next with her.
Besides that, Jance also tended to isolate herself voluntarily, interacting with others her age only when necessary. She was quiet and introverted, spending the vast majority of her free time in the library studying the Holocrons.
"Dain!" a voice greeted from outside the Flare Rider. A woman with long, sun-streaked auburn hair and piercing, blue-violet eyes came up to the ramp of the Flare Rider.
"Dain, get your rancor's ass out here!" Alana Timaris called out. The tall woman flashed a smile in Marc's direction as he cautiously peeped out.
"Hey, little Zion," Alana said gently, seeing that something was up. "Something the matter?"
"Yeah, a family friend went missing," Dain replied. "Related to someone at this temple, actually."
Alana bit her lip. "Well, don't I at least get a hug, you cheapskate?" she demanded playfully.
Much to Marc's chagrin, the two Jedi embraced each other tightly, then locked together for a moment in a brief kiss.
"Bleah," Marc said, sticking out his tongue. With that, the Jedi boy ran into the Temple- and nearly bumped into someone else on the way.
"Oops," Marc said sheepishly, looking up into a pair of deep blue and very intelligent eyes, in an elegantly-featured face framed by soft waves of raven black hair. The twelve-year-old girl these features belonged to stared down at Marc for a moment, her lip twisting in mild annoyance.
"Back already, Zion?" Jance drawled, mildly sardonic. That seemed to be one of Jance's hallmarks- referring to everyone by last name.
"Y-y-yeah…" Marc stammered. Jance always made him nervous- he swore the older girl enjoyed it.
"I still owe you one for dyeing every shirt I had neon green… plus the zillion-and-one times you scared me with that darn rubber spider of yours!"
Marc blinked but didn't reply.
Jance studied Marc curiously, trying to puzzle out what was inside the boy's mind.
"You're thinking about Rori…" Jance stated at last. "What's happened to her now?"
No one on the ship save Alighieri himself knew precisely where Space Station Omega was. Its location was a jealously guarded secret- no one but the people in the highest echelons of the military and the science department knew the location.
Alighieri himself docked the ship after providing proper clearance codes. He collected Rori from the holding cell- the girl was thankfully unconscious at the time, asleep. That would make the transfer about a thousand times easier.
"Were she awake, the child could create quite the inferno if given the chance…" Alighieri mused aloud. Hence, the name of her project: Inferno. It made perfect sense.
It would definitely be a challenge to work with Rori, or perhaps even convince her to show her ability. She might have had an ingrained fear of using her power. Well, Alighieri would take care of that, one way or another- and hopefully accomplish a few things in the process.
Marc stared wonderingly at Jance. How had she known? "Rori?" he queried dumbly.
"You can't fool me, Marc," the older trainee said under a pretense of playfulness, but Marc knew there was something more.
"Something happened to her…" Marc said soberly. He didn't want to discuss it further, but Jance didn't leave him alone. She even used the Force to pick up bits and pieces from Marc's thoughts.
"Imperials…" Jance said quietly. Beyond that, she said nothing else to betray her feelings.
Marc couldn't help wondering if Jance that was actually glad that had happened. It certainly made sense, considering what had happened in the past.
"Jan-Jan, there's a spider on you!" Marc exclaimed, and threw a rubber spider at Jance.
"AIIIEEEE!" Jance screamed. "Get it off! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"
Marc laughed and scuttled away. "Toodles!" he cried, and shot off with a couple of his friends.
Jance clenched her teeth and shook her fist after Marc. "That's another one I owe you!"
Marc ignored Jance and turned a corner before the older trainee could do anything to him.
Jance similarly flounced off. "That boy," she muttered to herself, "is going to find himself in really hot water one of these days."
"Hello, Jance," a voice said from behind her.
"Oh, hi, Master Timaris," Jance greeted nonchalantly.
Alana smiled at Jance, studying the girl closely. It had been Jance's little sister who'd been taken by Imperials…
"You… you know what happened."
"Imps got Rori… why wasn't she here in the first place? She would've been safe!" The girl was quiet for a moment, then spoke up again, this time with a distinct edge of bitterness in her voice. "If she were here and not with the Zions, she wouldn't have been taken…"
Alana thought she saw Jance's deep blue eyes go a steely gray momentarily, but it must've been just the light.
"I guess there's nothing I can do about it…" Jance murmured, and sighed convincingly. Inwardly, though, Jance was laughing her head off. It was certainly good to hear that Rori was being... well taken care of.
Jance kept these thoughts well hidden so Alana couldn't pry into her mind, and looked up with an innocent smile. "Wanna spar?" she asked.
Alana was momentarily thrown by Jance's change of subject, but covered it up and smiled. Jance was one of the best duelists in her age group that Alana had ever seen.
"Yes, why don't we?" Alana said mildly, and led Jance to one of the training rooms.
Jance grinned back, and twirled one of the practice sabers that was kept around for that purpose. "Maybe I'll beat ya this time," she said cheekily.
Alana raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that," she said, igniting the violet blade of her lightsaber.
Jance thumbed on the blade of the practice saber, which was a sort of sickly pea-green-white color. "This lightsaber needs help," Jance commented. "Oh, well." With that, the young trainee began to warm up with a few experimental thrusts.
Alana had to smile. "Better than getting one that's bright pink," she returned, and went into a defensive stance, watching Jance to see what she'd do.
In a quicksilver movement, Jance darted forward and stabbed at Alana, and was quickly parried away.
Alana parried a couple more strikes from Jance, then slashed at the young trainee in an arcing movement that almost bisected her. The Jedi Master followed it up with a series of feints, testing Jance's judgement.
Jance eyeballed Alana, a confident smirk pulling at a corner of her mouth. She sprung high in the air when Alana tried to sweep her feet from underneath her, and landed a few feet away in a combat crouch. She brought her lightsaber up into a defensive position.
Alana lunged at Jance, who used her smaller size to her advantage and dodged to one side. She flipped out of the way to give herself more working room, and Alana continued to press the attack.
"You're getting better, Jance," Alana commented. Jance had managed to work her way out of the corner she was in with her usual fluid grace, and with a few more deft moves she'd reversed her and Alana's positions.
Alana was now pinned against the wall, with Jance grinning triumphantly and pointing the sickly green lightsaber at her. However, Alana wasn't a Jedi Master for nothing- she switched her own violet saber to her other hand and brought it around in a slashing movement at Jance's saber hand, striking the blade out of the trainee's grasp and sending it flying across the room. The Jedi Master smiled benignly, her saber now pointed at Jance's chest.
Jance darted a look from the deactivated practice saber to Alana, frowning slightly. "Well, darn," she murmured, "I thought I had you!"
Alana smiled. "You're very good, Jance, but you have a lot of learning yet to do," she commented, and closed down her blade. She returned the hilt to its position on her belt, and picked up the practice saber from the ground and put it away. "See, if you get too cocky, your opponent can exploit that," she continued, studying Jance the whole time.
Jance laughed ruefully. "Yeah, guess so," she admitted. "How about we go eat? Saber fighting makes me hungry!"
Alana smiled. "Agreed," she returned, and headed for the dining hall.