"Stupid oaf. Wouldn't know a woman if she sat on him," Deltina grumbled into her liquor. After she had just made her own advances to him, practically throwing herself at him, in her opinion, he had just stood there as if nothing had happened. Nothing! "Why can't men be simpler and less troublesome?" She downed her shot of tequila in one quick drink before standing up and stalking towards the exit doors.
"M'Lady, what has ailed you on this fine night of celebration in your honor?" Rocknai swept in beside her and matched her stride for stride to the door, a look of sympathy and concern on his face. Deltina was about to roughly cast him aside when the sight of her friend chatting with another woman caught the edge of her eye.
"It's nothing, really. Thank you, Kahama," Deltina mumbled as she forced a few tears from her eyes. The prince elegantly stepped in front of her.
"Nothing? It must something. Quite a something to make you cry. Come, we shall adjourn to my apartments and you can tell me all about it." Deltina smiled softly and linked her arm in his and the two strolled off towards the exit.
Arbinger stood in the middle of a group of finely dressed woman, all pressing in on him with questions.
"Exactly what's it like being a Jedi?"
"Can I become a Jedi? Can you sense the Force in me?"
"How many adventures have you been on?"
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Arbinger all but shoved the women to the floor as he strode out of their circle.
"Ladies, please, I'm afraid I can't answer all of your questions, as I have an important conversation with…" he scanned the room quickly and soon saw both the prince and Deltina walking out of the ball like two lovers on a stroll, "with the prince. If you'll be so kind as to excuse me." He turned about and left the simpering nobility at his back as he took large strides to catch up to his partner and anathema.
Arbinger quickly followed the two outside into the darkness of the spaceport. Afraid he might be seen or smelled by Deltina, he vanished into the shadows to stalk them. As he flowed silently behind them, he caught snippets of their conversation.
"Ah, don't let the bugger bother you, Deltina. He's a hired hand, and a man besides. You can't expect too much out of him." The prince walked with purpose and panache, holding onto Deltina's arm without seeming to notice anything but the owner. "And besides, why would you want a dirty, disgusting man like that, when you could have me?" His voice lowered as he ended his statement. Arbinger chuckled once with sarcastic mirth, or would have if he had any shape. His intuition had always served him well in the past, and now it was telling him to rip the scoundrel in two.
"Why thank you," Deltina giggled softly. She scanned the room behind her quickly. She had been sure she had felt something move. "But Arby is such a dear to me, and I can't just abandon him. He's like family."
"Yes, you're family. And I consider us friends. But," he clicked the door softly behind him," I'd like us to have something more." He drew from his sleeve a remote control. He pushed a small black button and a gas mask appeared beside him. "What do you think of that?" Deltina looked slightly confused at first before putting her back up, readying for some form of attack. She instinctively reached for her lightsabers, but she had left them in her room, across the hall from where she stood now.
"Well, Kahama. Actually, I'm afraid the answer is 'no'. I like you and all, but I'd rather not. After all, you're," she waved her hand up and down as if showing him an obvious fact, "human." Kahama scowled at this.
"Well," he slid the gas mask on, "have it your way." He quickly pushed a yellow button on the control and vapors of green gas came shooting out of the vents. Deltina looked around frantically and began using the Force to try and keep the fumes from her, but there were too many coming too fast. She soon started to wobble on her feet and throwing out her arm, fumbling for support.
"Hey… What is this…schuff?" Her speech began to come slow and slurred.
"Why, it's laughing gas. Or a form of it. You see, you now have almost no control over your body or your actions. So I can have you as mine." Kahama scowled viciously as he threw the girl onto his bed, turning off the gas. "You should have said yes. I much prefer someone more…wiling." He took off his gas mask and leapt on the bed after Deltina.
"Stop right there!" Kahama froze where he lay, looking around quickly to see the voice.
"Who's there? How dare you intrude in my chambers! Show yourself!" Kahama stood up on the bed, searching left and right quickly, the remote held steadily in his hand. WHOOSH! Vroom. Two orange shafts of light emanated from the corner of the room.
"And how dare you take advantage of her. I don't care what consequences there are. I'll cut you down where you stand." Kahama turned quickly and pointed his remote at Arbinger.
"I'm afraid not. You see, if you take one step, all I have to do is push this button and you'll-" he gasped as the remote flew from his hand across the room.
"How foolish do you think I am, Rocknai? I know who you are, what you are, and what you've done. So I shall strike you down here and now!" Arbinger flung himself at the prince, saber held high for a quick slash, one across the torso, the other across his neck. He roared, and as he was about to strike, he froze midair and started floating upwards, an unseen force holding him in place.
"I'm afraid I must stop you there, Kowachi." Arbinger's eyes widened at this name. "For you see, we still have need of the prince." The voiceless entity chuckled with mirth. "But I will make a bargain with you, Kowachi. If you come willingly to me, I'll spare the girl. Kahama has no power here, so I can assure you there will be no interference." The prince was about to yell in rage but was thrown against the wall with a loud THUD! that echoed in the room. He slid slowly down from his position into a rumbled heap of mass and bone. "But, if I must use more force, I'll kill the girl in front of your eyes. As you can see, I'm quite well capable of it." Deltina's head began to rise, and her body followed. She looked at Arbinger with a misty gaze.
"Hey…buddy! Look where we are! In zhe sky…" she fell silent as something held her mouth shut.
"All I have to do is turn her a little bit this way," her head turned to the right, her body remaining where it was in the air, "and soon she won't have anything holding up that pretty little head of hers. See?" Her head turned farther to the right, she trying to shout out some cry of pain. "What do you say?" Arbinger stared, horrified, at her state. He ground his teeth slowly, and then acquiesced.
"Alright, put the girl down and make sure no harm should come to her. I'll come willingly." The voice laughed manically as Arbinger's last sight was Deltina's form being lowered slowly to the bed.
Deltina slowly opened her eyes to see a bright, white light shining down her. She tried to open them farther than the crack she had made but her head throbbed violently with the effort. She moved her head slightly to one side and hissed with pain. She moved her fingers and was rewarded with blinding pain and very little movement.
"Hey! She's awake!" The nurse came and stood over her, blocking out the blinding light. "Deltina? How do you feel?" She tried to answer and only got a small sound out her mouth before she realized it was no use. "Yes. Yes of course. That makes sense. You and the prince had a rough night last night." Deltina tried to bring back memories of the previous night. All she could recall was walking with the prince to his room and then arguing about something before everything went fuzzy. "Not sure what happened, but we'll get to the bottom of this. The prince will tell us everything in due time." Deltina tried to recall what happened to the prince before the thought struck her like lightning. She tried to sit up quickly and cried out in pain. "Something the matter, sweetie? Don't worry, the prince is all right. He's just in the other room. Took quite a nasty hit to the head…" Deltina let the orderly prattle on about what she willed, her mind running as fast as it possibly could in her shocked and slowed state. She remembered hearing a sickening thud and then looking at Arbinger, a voice talking over everything. She didn't remember what it was talking about, or what was going on, but she had a sudden feeling Arby had been kidnapped. Or dead. Tears started to leak from her eyes as she silently began considering the fatal possibilities.
"Finally, Kowachi, I can have my revenge!" A cloaked figure stood before the chained Jedi, his arms and legs spread out as far as possible and locked tight to keep him from moving. The cave was dark and dank, not more than six and a half feet tall. The passage leading into the small section was a tiny slit, barely allowing anyone of any build through. There was no light or sound that came from there. Water dripped slowly from a stalactite onto a small puddle on the floor. Arbinger gently rattled the chains to find there was very little slack and no way of breaking them. He lifted his head and stared contemptuously into the hood of his captor.
"So, Sith, you have found me. Now why don't you tell me your name, as custom states." The hood only chuckled.
"Yes. Custom would make that very true. So, I shall abide by the laws you broke, Kowachi." The stranger lifted his hands to the cowl of his hood and slowly pulled it back, revealing a thin and pale face with a horrible red eye on his forehead and a long, thin scar trailing up from his chin to the eye. "My name is Darth Malic, apprentice to the once great Darth Sojun. And I am here to claim your head for treachery to the order of the Sith and the death of our master, Darth Sojun."