No. 25 SILENCE IS GOLDEN
Lost Voice | Duct Tape | "You better start talking."

"Did you shut that kid up like I told you, Jen?"

Jen scowled. "Yeah, yeah, I tied him up in the back and taped his mouth shut, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to watch over him!" Alask crossed his arms and glared at him.

"He's a kid." He gestured to the image on the monitor. Alask was absolutely kriffing paranoid when it came to people on his ship and had holocams in literally all the rooms. Especially the cell. The kid they'd picked up, whose bounty was shockingly high for such a scrawny bastard, glared at him through the holocam. There was no way he knew what they were saying, though. "What is he, fourteen?"

"Bounty says nineteen.

"Bounties love pretending they're more moral than they are, they wouldn't want people balking at bringing in a child."

"And are you?" Alask turned towards him, glaring. His crisp Core accent was at odds with his scruffy dark beard—theories among the crew were that he was ex-ISB, or even current ISB who had to slum it with all of them because he pissed off the wrong person, or the secret bastard of some posh person. The Emperor, maybe. Either way, Jen didn't say anything explicitly bad about the Empire in front of him, which probably made everyone else suspicious of his loyalties, but better than being dragged in and tortured for all he was worth because Alask decided he was a Rebel. "Balking at bringing in a child?"

"If it was for free I would."

"The millions of credits soothe your conscience?"

"It's for a good cause. My pockets."

Alask snorted. "That's why you're in charge of guarding the prisoner. If he escapes, you're the one who loses your cut for the next five marks."

Jen rolled his eyes but went to check on Skywalker.

"And," Alask called after him, "go into Tinto's bunk and shoot him."

Jen paused. Before he could ask why, Alask continued:

"He's gonna sell Skywalker back to the Rebels. Just do it."

Jen went and did it—now, quickly, while he knew that Tinto was still asleep. Lazy bastard always crashed first thing after a raid, never bothered hanging out with them afterwards. A bolt through his skull, and he was dead. He was looking forward to splitting the bounty three ways instead of four, then.

Skywalker was still in his cell, chained to the wall. There was a bench opposite him that Jen sat himself down on, studying him. Alright, maybe he wasn't fourteen. But he couldn't be much older than sixteen. Seventeen? If he was a legal adult he'd eat his helmet.

This was the one who had blown up the Death Star? Damn. He'd known the Rebels got harsh—just look at some of the brutality the Partisans got up to, even if the Alliance seemed to wanna pretend they weren't just like them—but indoctrinating a teenager made even him uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable enough to wanna help that teenager, of course—but hey, maybe that's what the Emperor wanted to do with him. Help this poor kid out of his situation.

Ha.

"You awake, kid?" Jen asked, just to get some reaction out of the still, slumped body. He'd heard he was a Jedi, and Alask had these fancy Force-sensitive binders he'd insisted on Jen using, but Jen hated touching them and hey, he hadn't seen any Jedi shit from this guy yet. All he'd done is sit there and look sorry for himself. Which was good, Jen hated it when they fought and screamed, made his job a lot harder—he wasn't a sadist—but it was pretty disappointing. He'd got himself all excited for this. "C'mon, I know you're awake."

Skywalker stayed sullenly silent. Admittedly he had to stay silent, his mouth was duct taped shut, but still. He could have the decency to open his eyes for Jen.

"If I don't know you're awake I'm gonna assume you died and pitch you into deep space. Your bounty's for alive only, you know, we ain't risking getting into trouble because you decided to die on us." He had only minor injuries—broken face, broken arm, broken ribs—and shouldn't be dying on them just yet.

You won't dare risk killing such a valuable bounty unless you know for sure he's dead. Jen shook off the thought. That was obvious. But he wanted Skywalker awake.

"Kid, wake up. Seriously. Now."

He didn't move. Jen stood up and punched him in the face.

That got a response. Skywalker didn't stir—he was already awake, the bastard, obviously—but he did pry his puffy eyes open to glare at Jen. They were a fetching shade of blue. At least, he assumed they must be when they weren't so bloodshot they looked purple.

"Alright. Good to know you are alive." He inclined his head mockingly. "Thank you for your time."

The prisoner gave a small, pained scoff, the tape on his mouth rippling. Jen didn't care.

"Jen!" Alask barked. "Stop tormenting the kid."

"Hey, it's nothing that hurts, the bounty doesn't say alive and unharmed—"

"I still don't want him choking to death on his own blood. Get out of there if you're too bored. I'll tell Vaj to replace you."

Jen rolled his eyes. But hey, maybe he could get some sleep like Tinto, now. Hopefully a less permanent one. "Alright, alright, boss, I'm coming." He stepped out of the cell, making sure to lock it behind him. Skywalker wasn't escaping on his watch. He wasn't forfeiting a third of that beauty of a bounty.

Alask wasn't in the cockpit when he strolled past it; he glanced at the screens and scoffed when he saw Vaj wasn't even in the cell yet. Skywalker had closed his eyes again, changing his position to sit cross-legged. Jen was wasted in such a sluggish, incompetent team.

No matter. He strolled into his bunkroom and hit the pathetic excuse for a mattress, kicking his feet up. Dirt sprayed from his shoes onto the bedding.

Nothing let him sleep, though. Maybe it was a fear of ending up like Tinto. He rolled his eyes and rolled out of bed. They'd been in hyperspace for hours already. He should get something to snack on—not those ration bars. He knew that Tinto had had some fresh fruit in his bunk he was hoarding from the rest of them; if he didn't eat it, no one would.

He ran into Vaj on the way out and rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't you be watching Skywalker?"

"What?" she scoffed at his back, but he blew right past her. "Where are you going, anyway?"

He didn't answer her, whistling under his breath. Tinto's apples weren't hard to find, and he savoured the crisp crunch under his teeth. When he had the cut of the bounty that was owed to him, he was never eating starsforsaken rations again. He chewed through the whole apple then grabbed the others—there were another three, honestly, he could've shared earlier—to drag back to his bunkroom. Tinto's was starting to smell of blood and death.

The apples jostled under his shirt as he moved. Horribly, Alask caught him in the corridor. "What the hell's going on?" he asked. "Why are you not watching Skywalker?"

Jen tried to duck around him before he could notice the apples. "Didn't you say you'd put Vaj on that?" He stopped just at the entrance to the cockpit, frowning. "Hey, why's the navicomputer recalculating?"

"It's what?" Alask growled. He stalked towards it. "Who the hell did that? We gotta get that fixed, if not we'll drop out of hyperspace in minutes."

"Aren't we supposed to?" Vaj reappeared, looking exasperated. "You told me to change it."

Alask glared at her. "You know full well I did not."

"Yeah, you did. Didn't you tell Jen to watch Skywalker as well?"

"That, I did. Get back there."

Jen still had those blasted apples to hide. "What? You said you'd send Vaj in to do that."

"I did not, now get in there! I gotta fix this."

"But—"

"Now!"

"Alright, alright." Jen ducked down the corridor to where Skywalker's cell was, grimacing. He snuck out another apple and bit into it. "It's your lucky day, Skywalker, you've got me back for company—"

The cell was empty. The chains that had held him dangled from the wall, untouched.

The chunk of apple fell out of Jen's mouth.

"Skywalker's gone!" he shouted, fruit mushing the words. He whirled back around, apples scattering over the floor in his haste. Forget about them. Without Skywalker, he wouldn't ever have apples again. "Where the hell is the prisoner?"

"Where the hell is Tinto?" Vaj was saying. "He was meant to be in touch with our contact by now, let him know we were on our way."

"Go check his bunk," Alask ordered. He turned to Jen. "What is it now?"

"Skywalker's gone." Just as he said that, Vaj screamed. They both ignored her.

Alask's face drained of colour. "What? Where?"

"I don't kriffing know, do I?"

"We don't have any escape pods and it's clear he's not in the cockpit! Go check the bunkrooms—"

"Skywalker's loose?" Vaj demanded, returning. "Then he killed— he killed Tinto."

"Already? How long—"

"I killed Tinto," Jen said.

Vaj spun on him like a needle. "You killed my boyfriend?"

"Yeah? He was gonna sell us out to the Rebels. Alask told me to."

Alask stared at him. "I did not."

"What? Yeah, you did—"

"I didn't tell you guys to kriffing kill Tinto, and I didn't tell you to change the hyperspace course! What's going on?"

"Maybe you're losing it," Jen suggested. Vaj punched him, hard enough to send him stumbling back, blood streaming from his nose. "Ugh!"

"You killed my boyfriend. You're the one losing it—"

"I didn't order this, Vaj," Alask said. "You know I didn't—and where is Skywalker—"

Vaj yanked out her blaster and levelled it in Jen's face.

"Hey! Hey, put that thing away!"

"Is this your plan?" she hissed. "Take us out one by one, so you can get a bigger cut? We all know what you're like about money, Jen. You'll do anything for it."

"Whereas you'll do anything for a quick kriff, is that it—"

She shot him in the foot. Jen howled. "Alask ordered me to do it, kriff you!"

"I did not."

She pivoted the blaster onto Alask. "Did you?" she demanded. "Really?"

"No!"

She obviously didn't believe him. Jen sure as hell didn't, hopping on one foot. She butted him in the chest with the still-smoking tip of her blaster. "And what about you, huh? You're ISB, we all know it. Disgraced or just low on the ladder? You planning on hiring this crew to capture Skywalker then deliver him to your higher-ups yourself having killed all of us off, getting all the credit—"

"Is this a mutiny?" Alask demanded. "You both pretending I gave you orders I didn't? Without me, you don't get Skywalker's bounty, I'm the one here you need—"

"Tinto was the contact. He's the only one connecting us to the buyer. Is the buyer even the Emperor? Or were you lying about that too?"

"It's the Emperor," Alask said. "Jen, back me up. You know I wouldn't have ordered any of this."

"You did order this!"

"I am ISB," he snapped, staring down Vaj's blaster. "Alright? Happy? Yeah, I am. But I'm still gonna pay you. So, you can put that down, shut up, and we can all get what we want, alright? Trust me."

"I can't do that."

Jen scoffed. "Why would we do that?"

"Are you insane?" He looked between the two of them. Faster than Jen's eyes could track, he drew his own blaster. "You're actually insane—"

Vaj got him in the chest, but he'd been aiming for the head. They both went down. Jen gaped at the amount of blood spewing over the already filthy floors.

He looked back up.

Well, then. There was only one thing for it. Go to Tinto's bunkroom again, get the contact details and coordinates, fix their hyperspace route, find Skywalker, and get that bounty. And pick up those apples again. At least he wouldn't have to share anything this time—he was almost salivating at the thought of it.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace. He wasn't expecting it; he almost slipped on all the blood, yelping. But he caught himself and ran to the cockpit.

He had no idea where they were. This was the middle of deep space, and the stars were unfamiliar. But he recognised that massive ship. Lord Vader's Executor.

Alright, this could work. He'd hand Skywalker over to Vader, then, not the Emperor. He'd still get paid.

They had latched onto the ship. A shudder, and then they were tractoring him in. He turned—he needed to make the place acceptable for them to board, make sure Skywalker was trussed up neatly for them—but found he couldn't move. He stayed standing behind the pilot's chair in the cockpit, staring into nothing.

Not his head, not his arms, not his legs, but he could move his eyes. They flicked up to the holoscreens. The cam for the cockpit fed back to him: Skywalker was standing in the entrance. Jen hadn't even heard him approach.

The duct tape was still across his mouth: a stark grey square.

"What's this, kid?" he tried. The words came out garbled when he couldn't move his lips. "Let me go!"

Skywalker's eyes crinkled like he was smiling at him.

The ship settled in the belly of the Executor. The landing ramp whined and lowered. Sharp footsteps strode up it, but it was the respirator that truly announced who had arrived.

It released a sharp, semi-exasperated breath. "Was the insanity really necessary, Luke?"

Skywalker's lips were still sealed, but he spoke. Always, Father.

"I will have to explain the loss of an ISB agent to the Emperor. Palpatine still wants the Death Star pilot apprehended."

Tell him that the very scum he liked to associate with killed him. If he wants to lord it over bugs, he should be wary of catching a disease.

"That is so. Then, the Death Star pilot escaped, and we happened to run into the bounty hunters' gutted ship." On the holocams, Vader brushed a thumb down Skywalker's cheek. "The Rebellion suspect nothing?"

Princess Leia considers me her closest friend.

"I am proud of you. What are you going to do with this one?"

Skywalker turned Jen around: his limbs unlocked, and he jerked around in a clatter of muscles contracting. His eyes were glittering gold as he beheld him.

He was particularly cruel. You're always telling me I need to practise my interrogation techniques, Father.

"He will tell you nothing of worth."

I know. Vader reached for the tape over Skywalker's mouth and tore it away. Skywalker grimaced, smacking his lips, but grinned with slightly bloody teeth. "That's the fun of it."