Chapter 21
When Arryn awoke, she noticed that she was not on the rooftop and breathed an internal sigh of relief until she remembered that she was still a captive of the Sith. She felt something hit her squarely across the jaw. "Wake up, Jedi brat."
Arryn eyes adjusted to the light of the room and she saw Senator Ballastiodes standing in front of her.
"I have had it with your antics. Do you think you can play games with me?" He snarled.
Arryn kept her face impassive. She heard the door opened and turned to see Arriette and Emory enter. Ballastiodes sent them a look. Arriette touched Emory's elbow as if to say I'll take this one. Emory folded his arms and leaned on the doorframe. Arriette stood next to Ballastiodes. She glared daggers at Arryn before saying, "Do not forget that I am a fully trained lord of the Sith. You are only a pitiful apprentice, and to a Jedi no less. My powers surpassed yours eons ago, so face it. You are defeated, and if you want to stay alive, it will do you good to remember that."
The door burst open again and Governor Schualberke, flanked by two Imperial guards, came in.
"Can we just get this over with?" Asked Arryn, formulating a plan in her mind. "I am sick of being your captive and I'd rather like to go home now." All the heads in the room turned to her.
"You are going to talk?" asked Arriette.
"Only if I don't have to go back out on that roof," Arryn retorted.
"Very well, then. Talk."
"How do I know you'll uphold your end of the bargain?"
Arriette sighed. "I promise with everyone in this room as a witness."
Arryn raised her eyebrow. "And I am supposed to believe your word? I am not that gullible."
The Imperial guards raised their blasters at Arryn, sensing a threat.
"And point those things somewhere else!" she called. They didn't move. "If you want me to talk, you'd better tell those guards over there to lower their weapons."
Emory signaled to them to lower their weapons. The guards complied with obvious hesitation.
"What sort of tangible evidence would you like?" Asked Arriette in a poisonous tone of voice. The truth was that Arryn was just stalling for time. She certainly wasn't going to talk, but she needed to bide her time to make the Sith think she would.
"Untie me."
Arriette laughed. "You wish."
"Yes, I do. Do you want me to talk or not?"
Arriette thought for a moment. Her eyes narrowed to slits. "Fine." She motioned to the guards at the door. "But keep her hands bound in case she gets any ideas."
The guards removed the ropes that held Arryn to the chair and went back to their stations by the door.
"So begin. What do you want me to tell you?"
"Let's start with-" Arriette was interrupted by a loud crash coming from down the hall. The momentary distraction was all Arryn needed. The guards fired their blasters out of reflex. Stupidly, they had forgotten that the room was magnetically sealed. Arryn ducked as the blaster fire ricocheted of the wall and hit the two ysalamiri by the door. They were immediately killed. Arryn got her senses back and while the Sith were ambling around in the confusion, Arryn had the ropes off her wrist and was through the door. She smacked the panel next to it as she ran, and the door closed behind her with the Sith, Imperial guards, Governor, and Senator all locked in. Arryn stopped for a moment to think. She let out a small laugh and trotted down the hall.