Chapter 14

"Leave us." Pav ordered the three Weequay goons he'd hired. The three hesitated for a moment eyeing Chewbacca cautiously. "Leave if you want to get paid." Pav snapped. That got the three moving. They exited the room in no time at all. The rat like man quickly turned his attention back to Breha and raised his hand warningly as she tried to take a step towards him. "You need to prove who you are. Without a doubt." His eyes dropped to the grey scarf before returning to meet her gaze.

"You know it's me Pav." Breha tried to persuade him. Pav narrowed his eyes questioningly at Breha before his gaze flickered back to Han and Chewie who stood behind either of her shoulders. Why the likes of someone like her would be in league with Han Solo was beyond him – but he guessed everyone got desperate at some point.

"I need proof, Relik." Pav's voice didn't waver. An uncomfortable lump settled in Breha's throat as Pav used the name she'd gone by when she was last at Tessler. He noticed her hesitation once again. His eyes widened as realisation passed over him. "They don't know do they?" he asked. The look on Breha's face gave him his answer and he burst into a round of sniggers once again. "Oh this is rich Rel." He laughed. "Han Solo the smuggler doesn't even realise what he's smuggled."

Han grew tired of the riddles the pair were talking in and leant forward to grab Breha's arm. He pulled her back so that her ear was level with his mouth.

"Care to fill us in?" He asked lowly. Breha shrugged out of his grasp and took a few steps away from him, turning so that all three men in the room could see her.

"You know how I said small timer?" She asked as she raised her hands to grasp at the edges of her scarf. "I lied." She admitted. The material unravelled from around her face and where there was once just pale skin, intricate silver lines now crawled all over her jaw, neck and shoulders. Han's brow furrowed as she continued to remove her jacket to reveal more extensive coverage of her arms, even over her hands. The vest top she wore prevented them from seeing anymore but there was no doubt in his mind that the silver tattoos covered most of her upper body. Han's gut lurched. There were only a few people who bore tattoos like that – lines that were only visible under the specific wavelength of light emitted by the lights at Tessler.

Tattooing was a large part of the culture at Tessler. When Breha had said she was marked by a small timer Han had assumed there was a small identifying mark on her neck that showed she worked a garage for someone. He hadn't even considered that those extensive silver lines were the marks she bore. There were many factions at Tessler, each had their own iconography for tattooing those that worked under them. The most significant of which were the pilots who flew in the races and the vulture-mechanics that were sent in after to compete for parts. Both events were sports to be bet upon. With each successful return the pilots and vulture mechanics would get tattooed more to show their achievement and value. It was a mark of strength for the leader of a faction to have heavily tattooed pilots and vulture-mechanics serving them.

"Breha." Han whispered hoarsely. For Breha to be tattooed to the extent she was she would have had to have competed countless times and made it back.

"Don't." she shook her head. She turned to face Pav who was grinning gleefully. "Happy?" She snapped.

"Very." He grinned as he sauntered towards her, eyes roaming over the tattoos. He stopped in front of her and ran the back of his first two fingers lightly down Breha's neck. "My Relik is back." He purred in her ear. Pav laughed again as Breha slapped his hand away angrily and exhaled heavily through her nostrils, moving quickly covered herself back up. "There was once a time you wore those marks proudly." He reminded quietly.

"That's not me anymore." She huffed, the scarf now firmly back in place. Pav turned to look at her sceptically as he slouched back down into his chair. The Tessler races changed people and as much as she tried to deny that and hide it away he knew her efforts would be wasted.

"Apparently so," he sneered mockingly. "Breha is the name you're going by now?" Pav asked. She shot him a dangerous glare. Her name didn't sound right coming from his lips. "Just asking." He excused with a smirk. "Wouldn't want to slip up in front of the wrong people." He added slyly whilst motioning for his three visitors to take the seats opposite his chair. Breha's teeth ground together but she accepted his offer to sit down and bit back her sharp reply. She still needed him.

As she sat down she glanced over to her father and Chewie. She wasn't entirely sure what his reaction to her tattoos and what they meant she'd done was. He was unusually quiet, which unnerved her and his face seemed to be stuck in a frown. His gaze met hers for a moment and anger began to replace his frown but it faded the moment he dropped her gaze. A sick gnawing began in the bottom of Breha's stomach.

"So Breha," Pav continued to wear that annoying grin of his. Her eyes narrowed coldly as she turned to face the informant.

"I need information." She said simply. Pav raised a brow. "There's a man being held by Tut Veeta, a pilot." Breha watched Pav's reaction carefully. To Han and Chewie, Pav kept an incredibly straight face but Breha knew him and could see that he knew something about Poe. "You know who I'm referring to." She added when Pav went to open his mouth. The informant shut his mouth quickly and pursed his lips as he regarded Breha.

"Information like this is going to cost you." He said.

"I figured it was about time you repaid that favour." She replied with a raised brow.

"Why the interest in the pilot?" Pav asked curiously.

"Information like that is going to cost you." Breha replied quickly earning a laugh from Pav.

"You may have a different name, but you haven't changed at all." He grinned as he pointed a finger at her. Breha's gut twisted uncomfortably.

"The pilot Pav?" She raised a brow.

"Yes, yes the pilot." He rolled his eyes as he stood from his chair and walked over to a large black box. Pav placed his hands either side of the box causing a seamless draw to open at the front. Inside the draw was a small data chip. He returned to his chair and pressed the centre of the chip, a hologram of Veeta's area materialised with a blue dot noting Poe's location. "This is the pilot's last known location."

"How old is the data?" Breha asked, her keen eyes roaming over the map analytically.

"2 days as of tonight." Pav replied. Breha nodded and held out her gloved hand. Pav clicked the button in the data chip causing the map to disappear and threw the small black device to Breha.

"Thanks." Breha said as she stood from her seat, Han and Chewie followed her action. "And you haven't seen me." She added warning him to keep his mouth shut.

"You and I both know, for the right questions at the right price I've seen everything." Pav smirked. Breha tensed and her hand flew to her blaster instinctively, gloved fingers caressing the metal. "Ah, ah ahhh." Pav warned her like a mother would a child who was about to do something wrong. Han tensed as Pav hopped from his seat and sauntered over to Breha. The informant's hand right arm looped casually around the front of her neck to cup her head from behind as he leant forward and whispered in her ear. Pav stepped away from Breha, his hand running along her covered skin and a warning look passed between the pair. Breha swallowed thickly before nodding and removing her hand from her blaster. Her eyes fell momentarily to Han and Chewie and motioned for them to follow her out of the room.

Breha's shoulders were tense as she led the way back through the walkway. With the race over there were many more tattooed individuals roaming the halls. They commanded nothing but respect and fear from anyone who passed them by. Crowds cleared to let them walk whatever path they desired.

Han was no longer walking so closely behind her and his silence continued to unnerve her. Just as she passed by a small gap in the wall of the walkway Han's hand quickly grasped her upper arm and dragged her with him into the small space. It took all of her restraint not to scream at the sudden movement.

"Guard the entrance." Han said lowly to Chewie, the wookie nodded his hairy head in response and turned to lean against the gap. His wider frame almost completely blocked off the entrance.

"What are you doing?" Breha hissed quietly as they entered a small area where the gap widened out, not by much though, three people would be cramped in the space. Han turned her around and pushed her back against the wall, his hands quickly ripped the scarf from her neck. Breha's open mouth quickly shut as she realised what he wanted to see. Her head fell back against the wall and her eyes stared at the ceiling, glaring at the light that made her past visible.

Han's brown eyes roamed over the silver lines reading their iconography; he wanted to know exactly who claimed his daughter as their property. She'd been too far away for him to read them properly in front of Pav. The more he read of the silver lines the tighter his chest felt. He raised a hand to graze over the marks and he could feel her swallow thickly. The tattoos were unmistakeable – Tut Veeta claimed her.

"Breha." Han said, pain obvious in his voice. He looked up to her face and his heart ached at the pain and disgust she tried to hold back. Her eyes widened as Han easily wrapped his large arms around her and cradled her head into his chest.

"I'm sorry." Breha found herself mumbling into his shirt as her hands grasped his jacket tightly. Han hushed her soothingly as he ran a hand over the back over her head.

"Did he have you race?" Han asked.

"No." Breha answered quietly. Han gritted his teeth as he looked up the ceiling. If she didn't race, she had to have earnt those tattoos from competing as a vulture, which meant she'd killed for that man – rather successfully if the extent of her tattoos was anything to go by.

"That's not you, not anymore." Han assured her as he held her tighter. The breath caught in Breha's throat and she pulled back enough to be able to look her father in the eye.

"What if it is?" She asked quietly.

"Would they be the type of person to rescue a friend?" Han asked in reply. Breha paused as she looked at Han as if seeing him for the first time. Han gently let go of his daughter and handed her back her scarf, waiting as she wrapped the protective material around her face and shoulders once again. The pair exited the small gap and paused as they saw Chewie cautiously eyeing a shadowed corner between two stalls. The wookie let out a quiet whine.

"Someone's following us?" Breha narrowed her eyes on the gap the wookie had been watching. There was no one there now.

"Let's get back to the ship." Han broke the silence after all three failed to see anything more from the shadows. Breha nodded and fell into step behind her father and Chewie. Had she glanced back she might have seen the large brown eyes following the movements of the three with intrigue.

Poe's bloodied head was slumped forward. The skin around his eyes was swollen from the previous beating making the cracks in the dirty floor of his cell hard to see. He was pretty sure they only thing keeping him upright were the energy shackles around his wrist and ankles, holding him in a crucifix position. Every time he took a breath in a sharp stabbing pain erupted from his right side so he was fairly certain they'd broken some ribs. The door to his cell opened and the pilot managed to raise his head in defiance. He manged to make out a blurry fist swinging down and catching him painfully on the side of his temple. He grunted and felt fresh, warm blood trickle down the side of his face and neck. He was so covered in his own blood that the silver lines of his tattoos weren't even visible anymore.

"You know, starting with the head is never the best approach for an interrogation." Poe smirked. He was met with another round of hits for his comment.

… … … … … … … … … …

To JunJunyil: Thank you for your review! I'm so glad you're excited about Tessler! And the whole "marking" :D It's always great to hear such praise about the little world this fanfiction creates and that you love being in it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

To WaywardandWanderlust: Gah! Best praise ever! I've drafted soooo many MarySue characters by mistake before and cringed when I read back over them so for you to say that Breha is a breath of fresh air is fantastic! I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter!

To tssheila: Apologies for the cliff hanger! I try not to use them too often :D And Poe is around I just couldn't write his parts until other facts in the plot had been revealed haha. And considering the 'rescue' will happen next chapter Poe will definitely be back. Hope you enjoyed the chapter

To Bluedog02: Ahhh! Thank you! It's great to hear from someone that's been following the fic from the beginning (bodes well that I've managed to keep you interested!) And thank you for such wonderful praise. I genuinely work hard to try and keep everyone as in character as possible so it's great to hear that's the case! Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.

To heroherondaletotherescue: Thank you for your review… A bit more Breha and Han in this one you'll be pleased! And be prepared for a daring rescue coming this way soon!

To NicoleR85: Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.

To feelthatfire: Bit more of a wait and a bit more of a filler (apologies) but important pieces of information had to be laid down and hence this chapter was born haha. Thank you so much for your review, to make a filler chapter interesting is one hell of a feat and getting Han in character even more so! So it's great to hear that those are coming across :D I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I think we're all looking forward to welcoming Poe back into the fic. I've missed him.

To ShigureAyameHatoriFanClub: Pav is… Pav is a creep basically haha. In a place like Tessler "friends" are hard to come by, so it's more of a case that when Breha was at Tessler the first time around Pav was one person she could ensure was giving her true information and not merely lying to her. As for how Pav feels towards Breha, he found her interesting. I hope that helps explain things a little?

To saramichellegellarfan1: Thank you for your review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.