Phinian awoke gradually to a quiet, incessant beeping. His eyes wandered open, and his blurred vision took several seconds to focus. When he could finally make sense of his surroundings, he looked senselessly for the source of the sound. Finally, his blindly searching hands found the metal box he had left at his bedside the night before, grabbed it, and fumbled to switch off the beeping.
He rolled onto his back and squinted his eyes as he tried to study the box. At last, he comprehended that he had a new message. After taking a deep breath, he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, and stretched, yawning widely. He opened the box and activated the message. A figure appeared standing in midair, and he recognized it as Willyn.
Willyn had been keeping him updated on things since he left. He seemed to understand that he had decently legitimate reasons for walking out before, and continued to contact him even though Phinian had not once responded yet. He cleared his throat and began to speak, his mouth curved in a conspiratorial grin.
"Hey there, Finny. How's it going? Anyway, I don't have a lot of time for this, but I thought you should know. Lord Sidious hasn't announced it officially, but he's looking for a new apprentice. He technically he has to get one... I'm pretty sure It's a Sith law. And I've been thinking about something, Fin... if you really want to get somewhere, I'd look into joining up with Sidious. See, that's a guy that's going somewhere." He lowered his voice here, and his eyes became more serious. "I know you don't trust the Resistance. Sometimes I really don't either. But I know you have far more potential than I do, and you have what it takes to really make it out of here, and succeed... doing whatever you want. And you can always overthrow him, of course," he added with a wink. "But I get the feeling that Sidious is definitely the ticket out of here, really moving forward, and making a difference. Like we all wanted to in the beginning."
He smiled sadly. "Anyway Finny, I just want you to think about it. Or at least something along those lines... you can't just hide in your room forever, you know. All right, well, I'll see you soon... take care."
His image blinked out. Phinian continued to gaze at the area in which it had been, absentminded and considering. Willyn had always been an odd one. Only he would hatch the ridiculous idea to join a Sith Lord in order to achieve some dream. Although... as much as he did not wish it to, the idea was creeping into his head. He could see it now... many years later, himself as Darth Sidious's apprentice, a Sith Lord. Wielding powers known to no other. Commanding legions and legions of men at his disposal. Personally directing the end of the Republic, and establishing a new and better government. Phinian, the great visionary, the revolutionist, who destroyed the Republic... and the Resistance.
He laughed to himself. Yes, it would be interesting indeed.
Suddenly he heard the message transmitter beeping again. Looking at it in surprise, he realized that it bore an incoming message. With some hesitancy, he pressed a button on the console, and another personage materialized there. It spoke directly, without introduction.
"Master Hearstwing- you will report immediately to Liutenant Mar to answer for post desertion." And with that, it vanished.
Phinian blinked and laughed to himself. Well, I suppose I knew I couldn't avoid it forever, he thought, smiling wryly, and got up to leave.
When he arrived at the administration wing, he noticed several people waiting there, many with angry or indignant expressions, impatience clear on their faces. He chuckled and shook his head. Lord Sidious should have known he couldn't completely reinvent the Resistance society so easily, without any complaint. He would have a more difficult time than, Phinian was sure, he had anticipated. He walked to Liutenant Mar's office door, calmly flattened his hair, straightened himself, and tapped in a short series of numbers into a small console on the wall, signaling his presence.
"Please state your name," said a metallic voice from somewhere above him. He cleared his throat. "Phinian Hearstwing," he answered, now used to quipping his false surname on command. After a second, the door opened and the voice said, "You may enter." Phinian did so.
Upon entry, he looked around the room briefly, noticing very few decorations adorning the walls, which were colored a drab gray. There was one window overlooking Coruscant down below, and the room was dimly lit. As the door closed behind him, he looked back and saw two droid guards standing on either side, cold eyes locked onto him. He had little time to dwell on this, however, as a gravelly voice almost immediately came from around the corner, repeating, "You may enter."
Phinian coolly strode into the next room, where Liutenant Mar sat at a desk covered with several small stacks of papers. The man looked up at him, face lined with vague dislike. His eyes were small and narrow, but piercing. Outlining them were layers of papery wrinkles, and carefully oiled and combed thinning gray hair. He spoke and his voice was hard, unnecessarily loud. "Master Hearstwing, I have received information that you have not reported for duty in at least six days, and that a little over a week ago, you left your post without authorization."
"This is true," Phinian answered easily, and said nothing more. The man raised his eyebrows, his eyes now appearing slightly alarming.
"You do not deny your offense against the Resistance?" he demanded. "Do you realize you must be punished for your crime?"
"Yes sir," Phinian replied. He was trying very hard not to laugh.
Liutenant Mar sat back in his chair, his eyes narrowing once again. "Very well then. For two weeks you will serve double work as payment for your lack of responsibility. And-"
"Yes sir," Phinian cut in, not letting him finish. He was very tired of being lectured. "May I go now?"
Lieutenant Mar stared at him, plainly irritated. "No, you may not," he said slowly and deliberately, making Phinian exhale in frustration. He knew that this man delighted in annoying him, as he had had similar experiences with him in the past. Neither of them particularly cared for each other.
"Master Hearstwing," he continued, drawing every word out, "You must learn to take pride in your work. A movement of this magnitude and purpose requires members with discipline, and a strong work ethic. We can never succeed if the people of this great Resistance do not do their duty, and do it with discipline and a sense of responsibility." As he spoke, he looked Phinian in the eye, never wavering. And Phinian had finally lost patience.
"Excuse me sir," he interrupted, voice edgy, "But in case you haven't noticed, this Great Movement of yours is quickly turning into a spectacular failure, and it's not because of a lack of discipline."
"Master Hearstwing, you will hold your tongue!" Mar hissed icily. "You already do not find yourself in my favor, or even in that of this society. I would advise you to be careful of what you say in my presence."
"Absolutely," Phinian growled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I wouldn't want to stand in the way of this great progression, or your almightily infantile vision."
"Not another word!" Lieutenant Mar shouted, getting to his feet. "The hospitality this society has shown you is not unconditional, it may cease if I so wish it to!"
"You fool!" Phinian yelled back at him, his control now gone forever. "You ignore the incompetence of your leaders, you overlook each and every failure-"
"That is enough! You are nothing more than a worthless miscreant, and your insubordination will end here." He motioned to the guards by the door, who immediately ran to Phinian and placed his hands in binds. "I'll let Lord Sidious take care of you," Liutenant Mar whispered then.
Phinian smiled sardonically. "I'm sure you will. After all, you're still just a pawn in this bureaucracy, still just a servant to the Si-"
At this point he felt the steel fist collide with his ribcage, and as his world went black and he fell, he knew no more than Liutenant Mar's cold voice saying with some degree of triumph, "Bring him to Lord Sidious."
