Rilkor choked on his food and jumped from his chair when he saw the small red-headed alien standing in the doorway. How could she have gotten onto the ship without anyone noticing? He backed away from her and put his back against the wall. Lenora was surprised also, yet seeing Anise standing there gave her a glimmer of hope.
Anise stood there staring at Lenora. She looked confused and just blinked. Anise took a few steps towards her, took a quick look around the room, made eye contact with Rilkor, and then looked back at Lenora.
"My apprentice, Rilkor," Lenora tried to bluff returning to the fake Imperial accent. She didn't know how to get Anise to react. She was here but still seemed incoherent, unable to understand what was happening.
The bounty hunter took a step closer to Anise. She ignored his advance.
"You still have leverage. Release me and tell me who hired you. Then you may leave with your life."
Rilkor slowly pulled a knife from his belt. Anise didn't react. Then he pulled a pistol. Still no reaction.
"This is your only chance, hunter."
"Why hasn't she killed me yet?"
"Anxious to die?"
Rilkor just waited. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Anise stepped closer till she was standing over Lenora. She didn't seem to notice the hole in her stomach or the ever expanding puddle of red she was lying in.
Rilkor kept moving closer until he was standing over Anise. He waved his hand with the knife in front of her face. All she did was take another look around the room and back at Lenora.
"Ha!" Rilkor exclaimed. "What the hell is wrong with her?"
He poked Anise in the shoulder with the blaster and she just got down on her knees next to Lenora and leaned over her face. Lenora closed her eyes as the hope drained away.
"Some apprentice you got there. I guess she just came to watch you die too. This is something, huh? I gotta write this one down or something. No one's gonna believe this."
Rilkor put his pistol back in its holster and started to move away.
"Don't," Lenora said suddenly.
"Don't what?" Rilkor said turning back to her.
"Please, don't kill her. She's all I have left."
"You don't say."
Lenora let the tears come finally.
"You've already killed me. I know, I feel numb. I'm dying."
"That's for sure."
"She didn't do anything to you. She's not a Sith. Just please, let her go. She's like a daughter to me. Give me your word that when I pass, you'll let her go. I beg you."
"Wow. I've never seen a Sith cry before. I'm touched. I mean, most of them beg. But never cry. Especially not for someone else."
"Please."
"I've never seen a Sith care about anyone. This is surprising," he said rubbing the back of his head. "Well, since you put it that way."
Rilkor leaned over Anise and put his knife to her throat.
"If you care that much, I can think of nothing better than for your last vision to be her blood spraying all over your face."
Rilkor pulled on the knife. To Lenora's surprise the blade penetrated Anise's skin. A line of red formed under the knife before Anise finally grabbed Rilkor's wrist. She pushed the knife away. He tried to overpower her and pull the knife back into her neck but he couldn't budge her arm. He stared in astonishment at this tiny thin arm that had turned into a statue he couldn't budge.
Anise twisted his arm pointing the blade towards him and slammed it into his chest, piercing his armor. Then she flung him by the arm into the wall headfirst. The sound of breaking bones and crushed metal echoed throughout the empty freighter.
"I'm not cleaning that up, Ril!" The hunter's companion shouted from the cockpit, "What the hell are you doing in there?"
Lenora didn't bother trying to stand. She slid on the floor over to the legs of the workbench. She used the edge of the square leg to try to force the headband off. She had to alternate moving each side a small amount. The junction points were cutting her skin and pulling out hair but it was moving. A final bit of effort and the piece came off.
It was like removing a blindfold. Immediately her senses returned and she could feel the world around her. She could feel Anise's presence. She felt a distant and fleeting sense of panic subsiding. She pictured where her lightsaber was. She rolled onto her side and summoned the hilt into her hands.
Rilkor's companion entered just in time to see the hilt fly across the room and a single blade ignite cutting through her bonds. Lenora propped herself up on one elbow and pointed the saber with the other hand at the woman.
"Don't move," she ordered.
The woman froze.
"Tell me where Nezi is."
"She…she's here. In another compartment."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Get her and bring her to me, now."
"Whatever you say. She's right here. Look, I'm just the help, you know. I just pilot the ship and do paperwork, and, you know, things like that."
"NOW," Lenora shouted.
The woman ran from the room. Anise started to wander around the cabin. Lenora slid over to her mask on the floor and put it on over her bloodied face and the voicebox too.
The woman returned with Nezi. Nezi could barely stand on her own. Her face was badly beaten. Both eyes were nearly swollen shut, and her once green skin was more purple with bruising. The skin on her arms showed signs of being repeatedly burned and electrocuted. She was broken mentally, in a state of mind Lenora hadn't felt since she met Nabrina almost two years ago.
"Here she is, a little banged up but safe and sound."
Nezi was still too terrified to speak but she looked pleased to see Norah Kae alive.
"Now, we can work something out. I had nothing to do with what happened to her."
A lie. Lenora sensed it immediately.
"I can tell you anything and everything I know. No need to do anything, you know, rash. I bet you want to know who hired Rilkor right there. I can tell you that."
Another lie.
"All you gotta do is let me, you know, just…"
Lenora threw her lightsaber at the woman so fast it passed completely through her chest and melted itself into the wall behind her. It stayed suspended in the wall for a second before starting to sink as the metal liquefied around it. The woman fell to her knees with a surprised expression and then slumped over on her face.
Nezi dropped to her knees next to Lenora and began crying.
"I couldn't resist anymore, my lord. Please, forgive me. I had to tell them everything."
"Nezi, you have to get me back to the base. Fly me back to the base. Quickly."
Nezi picked her head up and saw the gaping wound in Lenora's stomach and gasped.
"You're forgiven, Nezi. Please. Hurry."
"Of course, my lord. Right away."
Nezi rushed to the cockpit as fast as she could. Her legs were unsteady and she fell several times before getting into the pilot's chair. She sealed the doors and took off for the spaceport in Tesor. She called ahead to have a doctor meet her vessel.