Swimming Among the Stars
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars…that honor goes to the brilliant Mr. George Lucas and I just come here to get away from it all…
FYI: I use locations, characters, and races from many other games and anime shows.
Please REVIEW! Criticism is welcome so I can become a better writer.
A/N: I want to thank everyone for the reviews! Please keep 'em coming and I appreciate all the suggestions. This is my first fanfiction I've posted so I'm always looking for ways to improve. I apologize for my last chapter; I sort of ran the characters' personalities together. The only explanation I can give for Nayt being comfortable around Vara and Leon is that he's known them for a long time, and not always on bad circumstances. I'm so sorry for the delay. Writer's block and all... This is just a small little chapter to get everyone back into the story again and to provide a tiny ray of backstory. Now, on with the show…
Chapter 7: A Step Back
Part I – Captured
Location: Exchange HQ, Macbeth
"Oooh, my head." Asta hissed and reached to rub it but her limbs stayed put. They were attached to the wall by metal clasps. A glance to her left and right revealed Leon and Nayt in the same position.
The Iridonian cracked open an eye and took in his surroundings with a quick sweep. He frowned but the corners of his mouth turned up for an instant. Captured. Again. Just like old times… He darted his leg out and struck Leon's hip. "Hey, wake up." Leon moaned but remained motionless; his head drooped. Nayt kicked again but aimed for the ribs this time. "Come on, sleeping beauty, come back to the land of the living."
This woke him up. Leon growled and mumbled incoherently for a few seconds before tilting his head back. He blew out a breath and turned to his right to see Nayt glaring at him and Asta winking. A bad taste came to his mouth. "Where the hell are we?"
"Well thanks to your cracker jack flying skills, we crashed and are now in the hospitality of the Exchange." Nayt sniped, tugging at the shackles at his wrists. The chains rattled but didn't budge.
Suddenly, a sick feeling settled into Leon's gut. Relea…Vara…Fina… "Where's-"
"Jedi girl, psycho girl, and child aren't here." Asta piped up as she fished around in her mop of hair. "They took them somewhere else."
Nayt smiled viciously as Leon groaned. Both knew what the Exchange thugs did to female prisoners, especially attractive ones. If they do anything, so help me… His thoughts were interrupted as Nayt spoke to the Mithra. "So Asta, what are you doing, digging for treasure?"
She bared her teeth at him and growled. "Let's see who laughs last, Horn boy." She pulled a tiny silver cylinder from her crop of fiery hair and jammed it into the lock of the shackles. With a metallic click, she was freed. Shock was evident on Leon and Nayt's faces as their eyes widened. She rolled gracefully forward and hopped to her feet. Purring triumphantly, Asta peered down at the men; hands perched on her hips.
"Now what do you say to that?" She asked, twirling the lock pick between her slender fingers.
"I say you are a smart and wonderful woman." Leon said hopefully, plastering a grin on his face.
"Mmm, pretty boy knows the magic words." She leaned towards the bounty hunter and slowly unhooked his cuffs, looking him up and down as she went. Leon cringed. The bad taste in his mouth was back.
Leon massaged the circulation back into his wrists as Asta turned her tormenting attention back to the Iridonian. "So…" She murmured, dancing around Nayt.
"If you think I'm going to say that crap that Leon spouted, you're crazy."
"Tell me something I don't know, Horn boy, but if you want me to let you out…"
Leon's ears perked. Footsteps. "Will you two shut up!" He hissed and motioned for them to quiet.
Asta sprang towards the door and stood next to it. Leon joined her. "What about Nayt?" She asked but the Iridonian shook his head.
"Leave this part to me." They gave him a questioning look but he closed his eyes and dropped his head.
The doors swished open to reveal three guards: a Bith, a Twi'lek, and a human. The human stopped dead. "What the hell!"
"They left." Nayt growled. "And left me here." As the Bith reached for his communicator, Leon and Asta attacked.
Nayt did a leg sweep to drop the Bith and Leon grabbed the communicator and the alien's gun. The Mithra leapt onto the human's back and clawed his face. "Ah, get her off!" He screamed but the cat woman held on for dear life. Leon held the Twi'lek and Bith at gunpoint but made no move to threaten the human.
"Come on, Asta, you can take him." Leon called to her and she snarled in response. Dodging his flailing limbs, she wrapped her own arms around the thug's neck and twisted left, right, and up to cut off the circulation of air. Within seconds, the man's legs buckled and he fell to the floor with a thud. Asta gently hopped off of him and dusted her hands off daintily.
Asta went to unlock Nayt as Leon interrogated their new prisoners. "Now, you're going to answer some questions for me. What are the codes for the door?" The Twi'lek glanced at the Bith. Leon pressed the barrel against the alien's forehead. "I'm not in the mood for games, I'll ask once more." The Bith quickly rattled off numbers, his giant black eyes widening even more as he eyed the gun pressed to his partner's head. Nayt started shackling them to the wall as Leon asked his last question. "There were two women and a little girl with us when we were captured. Where are they?" The Twi'lek answered this one.
"The loud mouth broad and the brunette were taken for their fittings. Who knows what they did to the freaky little kid." Leon felt his blood turn cold and considered pulling the trigger right then and there but knew gunshots would alert the other guards to their escape but Nayt cut in before he even lowered the gun.
"Thanks for the information gentlemen, but you've outgrown your usefulness. Nighty night" With two swift kicks to the face, both aliens went unconscious.
Asta tapped the code into the door and the three of them were off. Leon started pressing buttons on the communicator, hoping to find a map of the facility and to not accidentally set off an alarm. There was a big red button on the bottom of the machine. Usually anything big and red spelled trouble, at least in his experiences. "So…" Asta began as they walked. "What is a fitting?"
Nayt smiled like a drooling shark. "It's where they find out what size the ladies are for their bikinis. Those beautiful…tight…revealing…metal bikinis… Asta made a noise of distaste.
"You're drooling." Nayt went to reach for his lips but stopped. He considered reaching for his gun and putting the cat out of her misery.
Leon smiled triumphantly as a map blossomed on the screen. "Armory on the second floor."
Asta suddenly started to pout. "Why didn't they take me to a fitting?"
"They didn't want to see your furry ass, that's why."
The Mithra swung at the Iridonian's head but he quickly darted into the elevator. "For your information, I look great in a bikini."
Leon rolled his eyes and wondered what he had done to deserve this as the doors closed.
Part II – Tight Spaces
Location: Exchange HQ, Macbeth
Relea peered down at her chest. Funny, they never looked as big under her robes. She reached down for the umpteenth time that day and adjusted the bottoms of her new attire. "How can you stand wearing this?"
Vara rolled over to face her, the chains around her wrists getting caught on a potted plant on the floor in the process. She grunted and tugged at them, knocking the fern over. "It's the not the first time I've worn a metal bikini."
The Jedi's eyebrow cocked from her curiosity but Vara put up a hand. "Maybe I'll tell you some night for a bedtime story, but I don't want to give the slime around here any creative ideas."
Relea sighed nervously and tugged the top of the bikini, trying her hardest to pull it up to hide even just a fraction of her cleavage.
"No matter how much you pull, you're not going to be able to stretch metal." Vara said, noting the uneasiness in the woman's eyes. She leaned back against a pile of plump, satiny, scarlet pillows, propped her feet up, and plucked at the grapes sitting on a platter next to her.
The Jedi frowned. "Well I'm glad to see you're not distressed or anything. Maybe you should call room service and see if they can bring us some appetizers and a bottle of wine."
Vara actually smiled at the woman's sarcasm. "I'm not worried. One: I've been in worse spots. Two: no one will do anything to us since we're Ovono's new goods, and Third: …" She paused, thinking. "And Third: I like grapes." She grinned in pleasure as she popped a handful into her mouth. Relea just shook her head. "Besides, don't be afraid to live a little, Jedi. You do have a passable figure."
Relea blinked. Passable? Why… Then her frown deepened. Vara was baiting her…again. "You don't look half bad, even though I would look a lot better in that color than you."
The Jedi peered down at the lavender two-piece that she was currently stuffed into. Vara tapped the top of her own costume. "Not that green isn't a great color for me too - damn it, why not be truthful, I'd look great in a brown sack, but me in purple has always been…magical."
The younger woman wondered if the grapes were spiked. "Uh…huh."
"Besides," Vara continued, munching on the tiny plum fruits, "these girls don't seem scared or anything do they?" Relea looked around the room at the other captives lying on the gigantic cushion that filled up the room. Widened eyes stared back at her, like frightened animals caught helpless in oncoming speeder lights.
"No, Vara, not at all."
Part III – Rescue Attempt
Location: Exchange HQ, Macbeth
"She doesn't look so powerful to me."
"I agree. She looks just like some little kid."
"Yes, but the stories I heard-"
"Maybe that's all they were-stories."
Hushed voices outside her cell caused Fina to slowly open her eyes. The world was all fuzzy. After blinking a few times, she managed to gain complete consciousness. Her gaze rested on two guards that were standing outside her cell, staring at her, one with confusion and the other with a frown. "Well it's not like we'd know, anyway. That Sith freak wants her and that's all that counts."
Fina's breath caught in her throat, a scream struggling to make its way out. Her vocal chords, silent from her days of captivity, ached to make themselves heard. She wouldn't allow herself to be taken back. She couldn't.
"We'll break into that untapped power of yours, child. Just think of the possibilities you have before you. Others would kill for your power." The small child stared back at the man, eyes unblinking.
"W-what do you mean, Master?" She whispered, her voice quivering just like her body.
"Blissfully unaware." He said to himself, ignoring her question.
Two swirled eyes watched him uneasily as he paced.
"Well, the time has come for your initiation. A giant portal awaits you and I will be the one to show you the way."
With a blinding flash, the entire room plunged into darkness. Master closed his eyes and concentrated, bending the Force in the room, causing it to contort and become corrupted with his very being. The tiny girl screamed, letting out a blood-curdling cry that echoed throughout the temple…
Fighting the terror that seemed persistent to take over her very being, the young girl summoned a deep, well-hidden strength and quieted her mind and brought warmth back into her numbed limbs. The girl stood up, ripping the chains that bound her hands straight from the wall.
The guards let out a strangled half-scream, half-cry as intense violet light flooded the cells and caused the entire room to explode in a spectacular flash of flames…
