Crystal woke to a pounding at her door. She wriggled free of the covers that had gotten tightly wrapped around her from her nap. The air was freezing and dry, not really meant for someone that hated the cold and hated it being dry.
She slipped her feet back into her shoes and stood up. The knock came again from the door.
"Yeah...Yeah... I'm coming"
She let out a noisy exhale and reached out to open the door. The first thing she noticed was that the door was heavier than she remembered her bedroom door to be. Crystal opened the door to find a weird droid standing right in front of her.
She jumped back and landed hard on her butt, letting out a slight scream. She planted her hand on her butt and rubbed it then looked up to the droid who was holding a tray in front of her.
The droid in the hallway was old and worn out. Its head had an indent above its right eye that looked to be about the size of a large fist. Worn out paint was fading on his arms and legs. There were scrapes in the paint on his chest. In the droid's hand rested a silver plate with some type of food on it.
"Your food." said the droid mechanically. It stepped into the doorway and Crystal backed into the room to make way for the droid. It set the tray down then turned around, making noises like it was about to fall down in pieces. Crystal noticed its steps were lengthy and slow as it trudged along.
"Wait! Please… Why am I stuck here? And what is this food? And where did the Grievous go? He is the one that got me into this mess... well kinda... And where is my father? Is there any news on him?"
The droid kept walking forward and stepped out the door, slamming it behind him. Crystal ran to the door with tears rolling down her face, hammering her fists against the closed door. She had to find a way out of this room; it was getting old being stuck here with nothing to do. She sunk down to the floor with her hands lying palm up. Lifting her head up, she looked around the door for a panel. She spotted some type of box beside the door.
Placing her fingers on the box, she pulled on the door of the panel. She grunted since it would not budge. Letting out a sigh, she moved around the room trying to find something to help her open the door. When she passed by a very small looking desk she saw that there was a pen placed on top. Picking it up, she walked back to the panel and slammed it into the gap between the door and the panel. When the pen was securely wedged into the gap she pushed it to the right and snapped the door off its closed tab. It swung open, revealing a tangle of different colored wires and lights.
This was the hazardous part. If she clipped or pulled the wrong one she could find herself dead or stuck for good with a door that would not open. She moved the pen over to an orange-colored wire and placed it behind the wire. After pausing for a moment to debate whether or not this was the right one, she moved to the blue-colored wire. Then she moved back, not sure anymore. There were many other colored wires but they just didn't seem right to her. They were green and yellow and pink, and unlike the red and blue ones, there was more than one of each color.
She took a deep breath and held it as she pushed on the red wire to break it. Feeling a snap between the pen and her hand, she released her hold and stepped back to try and avoid any electric shock that may be coming. That is when she noticed that the door had slid up, providing her with a way out.
She cautiously walked over to the door and leaned her head out, looking both ways to see if anything was in sight. She looked to the right and found that no one was down the hall. It was safe. She released a slow sigh and started to step out the door.
"Why hello there, my little girl. I see you are a smart one that has a knack for escaping." Said an elderly-sounding voice from behind her.
Her movement froze and her heart sank. Time seemed to slow down as she turned around to view the person that was talking to her. As soon as she set eyes on the old man she felt the life being sucked right out of her. Something about this guy was telling her to run away. The smile on his face was no ordinary smile; it was a smile of a demon.
"Hel...lloo" Crystal's cold lips were too frozen to say anything else as she tilted her head up to glance into his deep, dead eyes. His hair was pushed back and white like a ghost.
"Haha… There is no reason to be so alarmed my young child. I wish you no harm. Grievous has told me your story, about how he saved you. Although he would not call it saving." The old man laughed to himself. "I want to let you know that we are trying hard to find your father and get him back, but we believe you might hold the password to his personal computer, which holds very valuable information to us." His eyes seemed to consume Crystal and she could not pull away. Her mind seemed to be disconnected and lost.
"I'm...sorry, I don't know his password." The words escaped from her lips like he was controlling her mind. Was he? Her mind seemed to act on her own.
"Do you have any clues as to what it might be my child?"
"I... don't ...know." Tears started to well up in her eyes as horror swelled within her heart.
"It is alright my child. Please follow me and I will give you a tour of this compound to get your mind off your father. It might help you remember the password, if he did tell you in some form. I also sense that you are bored of that room, as I would be" His lips formed back into a smile and he placed his hand on Crystal's shoulder. A chill ran down her spine.
He nudged her along the hallway and started to point out different rooms and what each one was for. She noticed that a lot of the rooms were for droids and research.
He pointed out one door and opened it to show her a room full of food machines. She walked in with her eyes wide open. There was so much food in here that she thought she would die. Her stomach let out a low growl and the old man chuckled.
"Sounds like you are hungry." He gave off a chuckle.
"Yes, Yes I am. A droid came into my room but… well... I did not eat it."
"I am surprised to see that Grievous would be kind enough to have food brought to you. He is not the type of…thing…to normally show kindness. Would you like something?" He asked as he laid his hand over his chin.
"Could I have a bag of chips? I don't care what type. Something that I can walk and eat so I don't slow you down." She quickly said so she would not waste time. She wanted to end this walk around this cold place with this guy before she went crazy.
He walked over to a machine and waved his hand in front of it. The machine lit up and dropped a bag of chips down. Crystal gasped and stepped back at the sight.
"Haha, I take it you do not know of the force?" His eyes seemed to swallow her.
"Nooo, I don't."
"The Force flows through every living thing, its power can only be harnessed by beings that are 'Force-sensitive.' The Force flows through all life, with only rare exceptions; outright sensitivity to it is a more uncommon trait. The potential for Force-sensitivity is established at birth, but awareness, experience and training are necessary to harness the power of the Force."
"Oh, okay. I think I kinda get it."
"Don't worry child, in time you will learn some of the way of the force." His smile got brighter and he turned to leave as he handed the bag of chips to Crystal.
Crystal opened the bag and started to jam the chips into her mouth as she followed behind him. He pointed out different aspects of the building as well as the defense systems. They reached an elevator and stepped in as he punched in numbers. The door closed and she noticed that the elevator only went down a short ways before it stopped and the doors opened.
She first noticed that droids were all over the place, running about doing their assignments for the day. As the man continued to walk down the hall and point out more rooms she noticed that the rooms were looking less like research stations and more like places to repair droids…or something else. Soon there were only a few droids roaming the hallway and weird markings were painted on the walls.
Now she paid more attention to what was in the rooms and what this man was talking about. She could hear some type of fighting going on down the hall and they were heading right for the source.
"What do you think about that, General?"
"WHAT DO I THINK? We are outnumbered and stand no chance there. If we proceed we will lose many droids and be forced to retreat. We must stand our ground until more droids arrive. You know nothing about WAR!
She knew that voice and she knew what was being discussed could mean nothing good for her.
The door where the noise was coming from opened up and a blur of white stepped out then came to a sudden halt, looking dead into the eyes of the old man. His eyes seemed to slant down in an irritated look.
"Count Dooku, my lord." He lowered his body and bowed to the man, his eyes never leaving Dooku's face. Crystal would hate to have a staring contest with Grievous. His body straightened up.
"How did the conference go? Are we still on schedule, Grievous?" Grievous seemed to suck in air at the sentence that was spat at him.
"We have a slight problem with the Jedi that I will deal with as we solve the issue at hand. I am planning to leave tonight to complete my mission as soon as possible my lord." His only expression came from his eyes. His body was hard to read.
"Are you sure you can handle Jedi at this time? You must retrieve the password before the worst happens and we lose everything!"
"If we don't deal with the Jedi they will slow us down. I have dealt with Jedi scum before in even less time. This is no different. You have trained me well in your arts."
"As you wish General, just be aware that it is not yourself that I am concerned with. You are taking this young girl with you. You will watch her carefully her and keep her safe. She cannot stay here in case the rogues come back, and I myself am traveling too much to watch her. As you are on the mission to retrieve her father, she will go with you. It will also train you on how to better PROTECT what you are told to. It seems you can only protect yourself and run away."
Grievous' head and sensor panels moved back, and his eyes looked like death itself.
"MY LORD...!" Grievous started to yell before his body was instantly pushed back into the wall, leaving a huge dent in the wall behind him. His eyes were wide with shock as he tried to register what had happened to him. His gaze met Crystal's and she felt sorry for him. His eyes gleamed back at her and started to narrow into a death glare. His cape was spread out beneath him, giving him the appearance of an angel of death to Crystal. One of his feet looked damaged and sparks occasionally hissed from the joints.
"Do you understand?" General Grievous's eyes looked back at Dooku with an angry glare but there was also defeat in his gaze.
"Yes my lord." He pushed his arms out and pulled his body up. His weight seemed to be shifted to one side since his talon-like foot was damaged.
"And take care of your body Grievous. You left that damaged component from your last battle unattended like an idiot. Weak." Grievous was taken aback by the comment. He whirled around, his cape blocking his face from view as he limped down the hall. Crystal guessed that he was going to get himself repaired.
She felt sorry for him. This Dooku just came in and ordered him around then punished him so severely.
"I better take you back so you may prepare for your departure." Dooku said with a smirk and turned to show her the way back. Crystal glanced back to see the last image of Grievous as he turned the corner and disappeared from her vision.
Thanks again for reading. Sorry for the slow update. I am trying to stay ahead in all my classes and draw more to get my skill up so yeah, I have been busy and I'm sorry. More to come :)
I want to thank the person that is helping my with all the edits and i also want to point out that im working on a animated story bored for this as well :)
