Yoho!
Wow! This one was really hard, especially the beginning. Somewhat... odd!
Hope you like it, though.
It has a lot of violence in it; physical, mostly.
Romashka: Glad to hear you're still with me. And thanks for the info.
SilverWolf: He, he! I intented to thrill you with that scene! First I thought
of a cliffhanger but you know, I couldn't be that hard...
Enjoy the next part!
DISCLAIMER:
Of course, Star Wars was developed by George Lucas and Thrawn came out of Timothy Zahn's head, Parck too.
The other characters were given their life by me! (He, he!!!)
I used a bit of another writer's story for this chapter.
VANGUARD, a fellow FFN-author, wrote in her story "Beginning End" about Thrawn's last
command aboard a chiss ship. I highly recommend you read it (and maybe review as well, for
there have not been many reviews, yet...)
Anyway, I emailed to Vanguard and together we came up with some of Thrawn's history
mentioned in this very chapter you are about to read (very small ones).
Vanguard said she wanted to write a story about these parts sooner or later...
Well, I'm done!
Now straight to:
"INTO ENEMY HANDS"
From Caius Julius
Chapter 5: Zaarin's reply
When Thrawn came back to his senses he half expected his captors had brought him back
to the interrogation chamber. Instead he was in his cell. Alone.
He didn't know how long he had been unconcious - maybe a few hours.
His throat was dry and he still had the taste of blood in his mouth; he swallowed a
few times to get rid of it.
Carefully, he tried to move a bit but gave the attempt up at once. The pain in his muscels
only increased.
What about his massage? Had Parck recieved it, did he know how to use it?
Thrawn could only hope so. If not, Zaarin was very close to victory - too close.
But this was beyond Thrawn's reach. Zaarin would make sure his prisoner didn't get a chance to escape again.
Thrawn sighed and tried to focus his thoughts on another subject.
Parck. Despite his pain Thrawn couldn't help smiling as he thought of the day he had first met the then-Captain of the VSD "Strikefast".
Parck had freed him of his exile, a captivity with a whole planet as a prison.
Thrawn closed his eyes. Again, his thoughts drifted towards a point he wanted to avoid.
He tried not to think at all but didn't succeed. His view was captured by the wall in front
of him. Memories flashed through his mind. He had been locked away in an imperial
prison before. That had been at a time when he obviously had provoked the wrong party
inside the Emperor's inner circle.
Then, his enemies, too, had token great pleasure in laying him in chains. But he had
known all the time that there was no real threat to him.
Today, it was a completely different matter...
No! He had managed to come across his present serious problems again!
Slightly, he shook his head, ignoring his aching body.
The last time - the only time - he had felt this helpless had been after his arrest through
the Ruling Families.
They had brought him back to homeworld as a prisoner on his own ship - and then had court-martialed him. Better: They had put a sentence on him.
He had been informed about the sentence itself in his cell a few hours afterwarts.
It had been a death-sentence.
He sneered as he remembered that particular day.
They did not dare to take me to court personally. Out of fear I could talk my way
out of it. Cowards!
He had been reprieved to exile - obviously the Ruling Families hadn't dared to kill him,
either. But they had humiliated him. The whole journey to his place of exile they had
had him tied up and locked away. Only after the arrival on the planet they had removed the binders.
At least I've had the hope to escape someday, Thrawn thought with an ironic smile.
Now there was only death... or worse.
The sound of the opening door interrupted his thoughts.
A soldier entered the cell.
He knelt down in front of Thrawn. In his hands he held some foot.
"If you promise not to cause any trouble, you can eat yourself. I do not want to feed you -
and trust me: you wouldn't want that either."
Thrawn looked up to him and nodded faintly.
The soldier opened his binders and the chain around Thrawn's neck.
"Don't do anything stupid!" The man gave him a meagre but welcomed meal.
Grateful, Thrawn rubbed his wrists and began to eat.
When he was done, the soldier tied him again and left without a further word.
As the hours passed, Thrawn tried to sleep or take some rest but was not able to.
Too much pain, too much to think about. Although he knew he could do absolutely nothing.
After what seemed like an eternity, stormtroopers opened the door to his cell and entered.
Thrawn had waited for them for hours now.
They freed him of his binders and led him out of the room.
Inside the interrogation chamber, Zaarin was already waiting for his prisoner.
He gave Thrawn a wolfish smile as the troopers tied him onto a metal desk.
Zaarin scrutinized him for some time before addressing him.
"I underestimated you, I have to admit. My men tried everything to decode your strange
message - in vain.
It seems to be an interference, but I don't believe that, you know? You're way to clever
to be stopped by a broken comm-unit."
He paused but continued when Thrawn didn't reply.
"However, I got word from our friend, Lt. Commander Bren, a few hours ago.
Believe it or not, the "Grey Wolf" did revieve a message - disguised as an interference...
Really, I can't help congratulating you. But whatever it has been you wanted to tell
your captain, he'll never know. Fortunately, it had been Bren who accepted the message.
As you can think, he made sure it was deleted from the computer - unopened."
Thrawn tried to keep his face as cool as possible. It could not be. If it was true, Zaarin
had as good as won. No, he mustn't give up now! Maybe Zaarin just bluffed to bring him
out of his shell.
Zaarin laughed coldly.
"You're probably wondering if I'm telling you the truth, don't you? Well, what you've just
heard was what Bren told me. On the other hand I'm not quite convinced your beloved captain didn't notice anything."
He shrugged.
"Anyway, he will know for sure only too soon. I'll send him something that will erase
all doubts."
With a careless gesture he mentioned Perolha, who had been standing next to the door,
to step forward.
The medic took out an injector and took some blood off Thrawn. He gave it to Zaarin, who
held it right in front of Thrawn's face.
"I'll send your friend Parck some little proofs, you know. Three, to be true."
Thrawn still didn't reply and Zaarin snorted disdainfully.
"You see, your blood is one part of it. But the captain will not be convinced that easy.
Therefor," he winked at two medi-droids, "I need two other things from you. These droids
here are better suited for this than me."
A stormtrooper next to Thrawn pulled out a knife.
Thrawn clenched his teeth but the soldier just cut through his left trouser leg.
Afterwards, the trooper took out a thin but strong ribbon and tied it around his leg
just above the left knee.
Thrawn slowly felt his leg go numb.
One of the droids put a scalpel onto his skin and made a deep, long cut through the flesh
above the prisoner's shin. With a seconed arm the droid kept the wound from closing.
Sharp pain ached through his entire leg and Thrawn closed his eyes to fight the agony.
The second droid moved closer and produced a small, mechanic saw. It drove it right into
the wound.
Zaarin told the droids to halt.
He bent to Thrawn, who still tried to suppress the pain.
"The droid will now take a small part of your shine-bone out. We'll kill two birds with
one stone: The bone is proof No.2 and you no longer will be able to cause any real
trouble again - like another escape, you know?"
"Fascinating inded," Thrawn remarked through clenched teeth.
"Isn't it?" Zaarin replied and mentioned thed droids to continue.
This new pain overwhelmed Thrawn. He teared at his restraints, he screamed;
the sound of the fast-spinneng saw blade burned itself into his head.
When the droids had finished their crule work, they closed the wound and sealed it.
The bloody bone they laid in an alcohol-filled container.
Again, Zaarin scrutinized his prisoner with a satisfied smile.
Thrawn's face was contorted with agony and he breathed panting.
"And now, my friend, we'll come to the last part. I'll explain it to you first.
The blood and bone your captain will no doubt identify as beeing yours, but only after
a rather long laboratory-analysis.
What I want is - well, you know me - somewhat more direct, more shocking.
What do you think is it he will immediately connect with you?"
He waited for Thrawn's answer, which never came.
"These two droids will remove a small part of your blue skin. As you can imagine,
that will be somewhat painful."
He laughed an signaled the droids to begin.
The scalpel-droid bent over Thrawn's abdomen and cut a rectangle into the skin above
the prisoner's stomach.
The other droid produced a few small claw arms. With them it gripped at one of the cuts.
The claws were red-hot.
Thrawn winced and braced himself against the binders as the driod slowly began to pull
the enclosed part of the skin.
Infront of his eyes stars seemed to explode. One more time his painful groans could be
heard inside the chamber. He struggled hard and was rewarded with a electric shock
against his temple. His muscels crumped and resistance became impossible.
In spite of its victim's screams the droid kept pulling at the bloody skin until
it finally detached.
Interested, Zaarin inspected the newest wound on Thrawn's abdomen.
He called for the medic and the man stopped the bleeding with some bandages.
Thrawn's face was a mask of pure agony. His breathing was heavy and he himself very
close to conciousness.
Zaarin bent down to him closely.
"I'd really like to see your captain's face when he opens his present, wouldn't you?"
He laughed.
After a while he sent everyone out and was still laughing when he himself left
the unfortunate prisoner alone with his pain.
TBC...
Well, I nearly fainted myself when I wrote this!
Ugh!
What do you say? Review, please!
I'll answer any questions as long as they don't spoil anything big - that's a promise!
All you have to do is ask!
Next to come:
Parck and Bren (will Parck finally act?)
I do intend to put more plot into it - no joke!
'Til next time!
Caius Julius
Wow! This one was really hard, especially the beginning. Somewhat... odd!
Hope you like it, though.
It has a lot of violence in it; physical, mostly.
Romashka: Glad to hear you're still with me. And thanks for the info.
SilverWolf: He, he! I intented to thrill you with that scene! First I thought
of a cliffhanger but you know, I couldn't be that hard...
Enjoy the next part!
DISCLAIMER:
Of course, Star Wars was developed by George Lucas and Thrawn came out of Timothy Zahn's head, Parck too.
The other characters were given their life by me! (He, he!!!)
I used a bit of another writer's story for this chapter.
VANGUARD, a fellow FFN-author, wrote in her story "Beginning End" about Thrawn's last
command aboard a chiss ship. I highly recommend you read it (and maybe review as well, for
there have not been many reviews, yet...)
Anyway, I emailed to Vanguard and together we came up with some of Thrawn's history
mentioned in this very chapter you are about to read (very small ones).
Vanguard said she wanted to write a story about these parts sooner or later...
Well, I'm done!
Now straight to:
"INTO ENEMY HANDS"
From Caius Julius
Chapter 5: Zaarin's reply
When Thrawn came back to his senses he half expected his captors had brought him back
to the interrogation chamber. Instead he was in his cell. Alone.
He didn't know how long he had been unconcious - maybe a few hours.
His throat was dry and he still had the taste of blood in his mouth; he swallowed a
few times to get rid of it.
Carefully, he tried to move a bit but gave the attempt up at once. The pain in his muscels
only increased.
What about his massage? Had Parck recieved it, did he know how to use it?
Thrawn could only hope so. If not, Zaarin was very close to victory - too close.
But this was beyond Thrawn's reach. Zaarin would make sure his prisoner didn't get a chance to escape again.
Thrawn sighed and tried to focus his thoughts on another subject.
Parck. Despite his pain Thrawn couldn't help smiling as he thought of the day he had first met the then-Captain of the VSD "Strikefast".
Parck had freed him of his exile, a captivity with a whole planet as a prison.
Thrawn closed his eyes. Again, his thoughts drifted towards a point he wanted to avoid.
He tried not to think at all but didn't succeed. His view was captured by the wall in front
of him. Memories flashed through his mind. He had been locked away in an imperial
prison before. That had been at a time when he obviously had provoked the wrong party
inside the Emperor's inner circle.
Then, his enemies, too, had token great pleasure in laying him in chains. But he had
known all the time that there was no real threat to him.
Today, it was a completely different matter...
No! He had managed to come across his present serious problems again!
Slightly, he shook his head, ignoring his aching body.
The last time - the only time - he had felt this helpless had been after his arrest through
the Ruling Families.
They had brought him back to homeworld as a prisoner on his own ship - and then had court-martialed him. Better: They had put a sentence on him.
He had been informed about the sentence itself in his cell a few hours afterwarts.
It had been a death-sentence.
He sneered as he remembered that particular day.
They did not dare to take me to court personally. Out of fear I could talk my way
out of it. Cowards!
He had been reprieved to exile - obviously the Ruling Families hadn't dared to kill him,
either. But they had humiliated him. The whole journey to his place of exile they had
had him tied up and locked away. Only after the arrival on the planet they had removed the binders.
At least I've had the hope to escape someday, Thrawn thought with an ironic smile.
Now there was only death... or worse.
The sound of the opening door interrupted his thoughts.
A soldier entered the cell.
He knelt down in front of Thrawn. In his hands he held some foot.
"If you promise not to cause any trouble, you can eat yourself. I do not want to feed you -
and trust me: you wouldn't want that either."
Thrawn looked up to him and nodded faintly.
The soldier opened his binders and the chain around Thrawn's neck.
"Don't do anything stupid!" The man gave him a meagre but welcomed meal.
Grateful, Thrawn rubbed his wrists and began to eat.
When he was done, the soldier tied him again and left without a further word.
As the hours passed, Thrawn tried to sleep or take some rest but was not able to.
Too much pain, too much to think about. Although he knew he could do absolutely nothing.
After what seemed like an eternity, stormtroopers opened the door to his cell and entered.
Thrawn had waited for them for hours now.
They freed him of his binders and led him out of the room.
Inside the interrogation chamber, Zaarin was already waiting for his prisoner.
He gave Thrawn a wolfish smile as the troopers tied him onto a metal desk.
Zaarin scrutinized him for some time before addressing him.
"I underestimated you, I have to admit. My men tried everything to decode your strange
message - in vain.
It seems to be an interference, but I don't believe that, you know? You're way to clever
to be stopped by a broken comm-unit."
He paused but continued when Thrawn didn't reply.
"However, I got word from our friend, Lt. Commander Bren, a few hours ago.
Believe it or not, the "Grey Wolf" did revieve a message - disguised as an interference...
Really, I can't help congratulating you. But whatever it has been you wanted to tell
your captain, he'll never know. Fortunately, it had been Bren who accepted the message.
As you can think, he made sure it was deleted from the computer - unopened."
Thrawn tried to keep his face as cool as possible. It could not be. If it was true, Zaarin
had as good as won. No, he mustn't give up now! Maybe Zaarin just bluffed to bring him
out of his shell.
Zaarin laughed coldly.
"You're probably wondering if I'm telling you the truth, don't you? Well, what you've just
heard was what Bren told me. On the other hand I'm not quite convinced your beloved captain didn't notice anything."
He shrugged.
"Anyway, he will know for sure only too soon. I'll send him something that will erase
all doubts."
With a careless gesture he mentioned Perolha, who had been standing next to the door,
to step forward.
The medic took out an injector and took some blood off Thrawn. He gave it to Zaarin, who
held it right in front of Thrawn's face.
"I'll send your friend Parck some little proofs, you know. Three, to be true."
Thrawn still didn't reply and Zaarin snorted disdainfully.
"You see, your blood is one part of it. But the captain will not be convinced that easy.
Therefor," he winked at two medi-droids, "I need two other things from you. These droids
here are better suited for this than me."
A stormtrooper next to Thrawn pulled out a knife.
Thrawn clenched his teeth but the soldier just cut through his left trouser leg.
Afterwards, the trooper took out a thin but strong ribbon and tied it around his leg
just above the left knee.
Thrawn slowly felt his leg go numb.
One of the droids put a scalpel onto his skin and made a deep, long cut through the flesh
above the prisoner's shin. With a seconed arm the droid kept the wound from closing.
Sharp pain ached through his entire leg and Thrawn closed his eyes to fight the agony.
The second droid moved closer and produced a small, mechanic saw. It drove it right into
the wound.
Zaarin told the droids to halt.
He bent to Thrawn, who still tried to suppress the pain.
"The droid will now take a small part of your shine-bone out. We'll kill two birds with
one stone: The bone is proof No.2 and you no longer will be able to cause any real
trouble again - like another escape, you know?"
"Fascinating inded," Thrawn remarked through clenched teeth.
"Isn't it?" Zaarin replied and mentioned thed droids to continue.
This new pain overwhelmed Thrawn. He teared at his restraints, he screamed;
the sound of the fast-spinneng saw blade burned itself into his head.
When the droids had finished their crule work, they closed the wound and sealed it.
The bloody bone they laid in an alcohol-filled container.
Again, Zaarin scrutinized his prisoner with a satisfied smile.
Thrawn's face was contorted with agony and he breathed panting.
"And now, my friend, we'll come to the last part. I'll explain it to you first.
The blood and bone your captain will no doubt identify as beeing yours, but only after
a rather long laboratory-analysis.
What I want is - well, you know me - somewhat more direct, more shocking.
What do you think is it he will immediately connect with you?"
He waited for Thrawn's answer, which never came.
"These two droids will remove a small part of your blue skin. As you can imagine,
that will be somewhat painful."
He laughed an signaled the droids to begin.
The scalpel-droid bent over Thrawn's abdomen and cut a rectangle into the skin above
the prisoner's stomach.
The other droid produced a few small claw arms. With them it gripped at one of the cuts.
The claws were red-hot.
Thrawn winced and braced himself against the binders as the driod slowly began to pull
the enclosed part of the skin.
Infront of his eyes stars seemed to explode. One more time his painful groans could be
heard inside the chamber. He struggled hard and was rewarded with a electric shock
against his temple. His muscels crumped and resistance became impossible.
In spite of its victim's screams the droid kept pulling at the bloody skin until
it finally detached.
Interested, Zaarin inspected the newest wound on Thrawn's abdomen.
He called for the medic and the man stopped the bleeding with some bandages.
Thrawn's face was a mask of pure agony. His breathing was heavy and he himself very
close to conciousness.
Zaarin bent down to him closely.
"I'd really like to see your captain's face when he opens his present, wouldn't you?"
He laughed.
After a while he sent everyone out and was still laughing when he himself left
the unfortunate prisoner alone with his pain.
TBC...
Well, I nearly fainted myself when I wrote this!
Ugh!
What do you say? Review, please!
I'll answer any questions as long as they don't spoil anything big - that's a promise!
All you have to do is ask!
Next to come:
Parck and Bren (will Parck finally act?)
I do intend to put more plot into it - no joke!
'Til next time!
Caius Julius