Disclaimer etc: see 1st chapter
Choices
2 - Awakenings and Pain
The floor was cold beneath his back, cold and hard.
Jacen slowly opened his eyes. He studied the grey ceiling above him with a slight frown. Where am I? he thought. His mind was a blank.
He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, surveying his surroundings. He was sprawled in an austere metal cell, alone. He cautiously stood up, stretching his muscles. He was unbound, which surprised him. But it didn't do much to help him. He couldn't get out.
He let out a long breath, and then his memory came flooding back.
With a shocked gasp he brought his hand up to his chest, feeling the laser burn its way through his body again, but his fingers found nothing. "What the hell?" he said softly, looking up and around again.
He tensed as he heard a pneumatic hiss, and a door slid open in the faceless wall. A black-haired man stepped in, his arms folded. He surveyed Jacen with piercing amber eyes. "Jacen Solo," he said. His voice was normal, nothing rasping or sinister, but all the same it put Jacen on edge.
"Who are you?" Jacen demanded, shifting his weight slightly. "What do you want?"
"My name is Velac," his captor answered. He smiled at Jacen. "As for what I want… I'm hardly likely to tell you, am I?"
Jacen clenched his fists. "Why me?" he demanded.
Velac shrugged. "You seemed to be the… most vulnerable of your companions," he replied. "You are described in my files as something of a pacifist, a nature lover, unlike your sister Jaina and that Dathomirian girl—"
"Her name is Tenel Ka," Jacen bit off.
"I'm sorry." Velac corrected himself, and Jacen felt that he actually was. "Tenel Ka. She seems to be very… aggressive. A trait that appears to be shared by that young man, Zekk isn't it? He was once in a Dark Jedi, and a bounty hunter. Quite a résumé. And I am hardly likely to expose myself to the wrath of a Wookiee, your friend Lowbacca."
"So, you think I'm… weak," Jacen interpreted, almost spitting his words out.
"Oh no." Velac hurried to correct Jacen's words. "Not weak. Just more vulnerable than any of your companions."
Jacen gritted his teeth, and didn't answer.
Velac started to slowly pace across the cell in front of his captive. "Unless you misbehave," he continued, "you will be treated well. I don't want to harm my captive."
"I'm a bargaining chip then."
Velac smiled, but there was no warmth behind the expression. "You could describe your situation thus."
"You do know that I won't be just abandoned," Jacen warned, his expression unreadable. "My family and friends won't stop until they find you, and thenyou'll have to contend with Jaina, Tenel Ka, Lowie and Zekk."
Velac smiled. "You see Jacen, that's where you're wrong," he said.
Jacen couldn't stop himself frowning. "How so?"
"Your family won't come after you, because if they do, I'll kill you."
"You just said that you don't want to hurt me," Jacen said slowly, confused.
"But they don't know that," Velac said, a smile playing around his lips. "I will send your family a… message, detailing what I want, and what I will do to you if they don't deliver."
Jacen resisted the almost-overwhelming urge to smash Velac's face in. "They won't bargain with you," he said, confident in the truth of his statement.
Velac smiled again. "That's another point on which you are mistaken my boy," he answered softly.
Jacen felt a cold finger run up his spine.
Velac beckoned in four guards. They stood at his shoulders, intimidating. Jacen unconsciously took a step backwards. Velac's smile widened as he turned his gaze back to Jacen. "I did say that I don't want to hurt you," he said, his voice soft.
Jacen took another step back, and realised he was pressed up against the wall. Damn it, he thought.
Velac had turned back to the four burly guards. "I want you to rough him up a bit," he ordered. "Not enough to cause permanent damage, but enough to make him look… hurt." He looked back over at Jacen, his amber gaze burning in Jacen. "He still has uses. I don't want him dead."
The four guards moved towards the young Jedi.
"Tenel Ka."
She moaned, trying to block out the insistent voice. She was tired, she just wanted to rest. Couldn't the voice see that?
"Tenel Ka, c'mon, wake up!"
Go away, she thought, registering the voice's words, but trying to ignore them.
"Tenel Ka!" She heard a sigh. "Come on! You gotta help get Jacen back!"
Jacen? Her mind was a blur. Where did Jacen go? He was shot, and then…
She jolted upright in a millisecond, her eyes wide, gasping for breath. She felt Jaina's hand on her back, supporting her. "Jacen?" she demanded.
"He's gone," Jaina answered. She started to help Tenel Ka to her feet, but the Dathomirian shrugged her hand off. "Did you see who took him?" Jaina asked, her voice barely hiding her worry.
Tenel Ka nodded. "I did not recognise him," she answered. "But I did see him."
"Jaina! Tenel Ka!" The voice was accompanied by a growl of greeting.
The two women turned as Zekk and Lowie barrelled up the steps. "Are either of you hurt?" Zekk asked, instinctively looking Jaina over.
"We're fine," Jaina asked, quickly hugging Zekk.
Lowie let out a roar.
"Master Lowbacca enquires after Master Jacen," Em Teedee translated, the prissy droid flitting around the Wookiee's head. The droid did a 360 degree turn, and then looked down at the four friends, his optical processors dimmed with worry. "Oh my. Master Jacen appears to be missing."
Tenel Ka clenched her hands into fists, her nails digging crescents into her palms. "That will not be the situation for long, I assure you," she said, looking up at the translator droid.
"Where are Raynar and Lusa?" Jaina asked. "And Mom, and Dad, and Uncle Luke?"
"They're helping with the injured," Zekk replied. "There was quite a bit of fighting going on. No one wanted to let those men get away with Jacen."
Lowbacca nodded, and growled again.
"Lowie's right," Jaina said. "We need to see if there's any sign of a ship in orbit. If they've got Jacen for ransom, then they're gonna need to be close enough to transmit a message."
Tenel Ka nodded, as did Zekk.
"What are we waiting for?" Jaina asked.
With a groan, Jacen spat the congealing mess in his mouth onto the steel ground. A mixture of saliva, vomit and blood landed on the ground, and Jacen rolled onto his stomach. His body hurt all over. Bruises and scabby cuts covered his form, and every time he moved another wound was dragged open.
Velac had ordered his goons just to rough Jacen up a bit, but they had gone a bit too far. The Jedi knew that something inside him was broken, and that same something was gonna kill him, if his captor didn't get there first.
He shivered as the door slid open, his bare skin prickling. The guards had roughly taken his robes, leaving him half-unconscious, dressed only in a pair of ripped undershorts. "Oh my, my," he heard Velac say. "That wasn't supposed to happen." A sigh. "Looks like I'm going to have to get rid of those four guards. I can't have them around if they are going to treat my guests in this manner."
Jacen felt a hand in his hair, dragging up his head. Velac stared down at him. "Sorry about that Jacen," he said, studying the Jedi's features. "But I guess my aim has been achieved."
Velac released his hair, and Jacen let his head drop to the deck with a thud. Jacen felt his hands being yanked painfully behind his back, and he moaned as a set of metal cuffs were snapped around his wrists, the sharp edges digging into his skin. He felt a trickle of something warm slide down his arm and pool in the small of his back.
He was roughly yanked up to his knees. When the hands released him, he slumped down, his head hanging forward. Velac tutted softly. "No, no, Jacen," he remonstrated. "You have to stay upright."
Jacen pulled his head up, staring blearily at his captor. One side of his mouth slid up in a sneer. "Not likely," he replied.
Velac forcefully slapped Jacen across the face. "You will be respectful," he said, without a note of anger in his voice. The calm and passive tone chilled Jacen even more.
Jacen stared at his captor fiercely.
"Now all I need you to do is sit up and look at the camera," Velac said to Jacen, staring straight at his prisoner. "Simple. And if you can't do that without attacking me, or insulting me, then I will have you chained and gagged." He smiled maliciously at the young Jedi. "And I believe that seeing you restrained in that manner would cause your family more distress than otherwise."
He was right, and Jacen knew it. He bit his lip and straightened up, staring at the lens of the camera that Velac had set up before him. His captor reached around the device's casing and switched it on, recording Jacen's pitiful state.
Then something occurred to Jacen. It was a long shot, but maybe…
He breathed out, and then closed his eyes.
Tenel Ka, Jacen thought, reaching out with every ounce of strength in him. Jaina. Zekk. Lowie. Mom. Dad. Uncle. Guys, you can't give into this loony's demands. I'll be fine. Don't worry. He won't kill me; I'm too valuable to him. He told me so. I will be fine. Just get me out of here as soon as possible. Good luck.
He just hoped that they would get his message, and get him out.
He gritted his teeth, unable to stop the anger coursing through him.
Jedi weren't supposed to take revenge, but when he was free…
Velac was gonna pay.
Jaina frowned and leaned closer to the screen. "There's something up there," she said softly.
Tenel Ka was beside her in an instant. "Jaina?" the Dathomirian asked.
"I'm detecting a small object in Yavin 4's atmosphere," Jaina replied. Her fingers tapped a few of the controls, and she closed in on the reading. She looked up at Tenel Ka. "It might be a message capsule."
"Can you draw it in?" Tenel Ka asked, trying to conceal the tremor in her voice.
Jaina glanced up at her friend, and managed a reassuring smile, although she was terrified inside. "Yeah," she replied. "I'll drag it down."
Tenel Ka nodded to her. "I will gather the others."
They gathered in one of the main meetings rooms, with a computer screen at one end. Han, Leia and Luke were seated along one side of the long table, with Tenel Ka, Lowie, Zekk and Jaina on the other. Jaina held a middle sized message capsule in her hands. It was like a vacuum-sealed cylindrical tin, which rattled whenever Jaina moved it.
At some unspoken signal, Jaina pressed the release of the capsule's lid with her thumb. There was a pneumatic hiss into the still air of the room. Jaina prised off the lid and peered inside. She bit her lip, and upended the cylinder on the table. A message disc fell out, skittering across the table, followed by a package wrapped in brown cloth.
Han reached out and unwrapped the brown cloth from the package. His fingers shook as Jacen's lightsaber slipped out into his hand. Luke pulled the brown cloth out of Han's unresponsive fingers. "His robe," he said softly. He dropped the material to the tabletop carefully, so the bloodstains weren't visible.
"How's Jacen's lightsaber here?" Zekk asked, a frown creasing his forehead.
Luke stared fiercely at the tabletop. "I told him to wear it," he said. "I told him to keep it with him." He leaned back, his entire body tense. "I could sense something was going to happen," he continued softly. "I should have done something."
Leia shook her head slowly, lightly touching her brother's shoulder. "You did all you could," she consoled. "And none of us were expecting an attack. We were all distracted."
Luke nodded, forcing himself to accept her words.
Jaina reached across the table and grabbed the message disc, and moved over to the computer, sliding the disc in. Her hands were shaking.
There was a short pause as the message loaded.
Jaina moved back to the table and stood behind Zekk's chair. He reached up and gently took hold of her hand, squeezing her fingers. She squeezed back, but kept her eyes on the screen.
The tension in the room cranked up a notch as and image fuzzed into view on the screen. As it snapped into focus, Tenel Ka felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. Jacen…
He looked absolutely terrible, but he stared out of the screen with bravery blazing in his eyes. There were bruises and half-scabbed over cuts running across his body.
A voice started to speak over the image. "Why hello." It was a man's voice, and he spoke clearly, careful pronouncing each word. "I take it that you recognise who this is, but I will just clarify it for you. Jacen Solo. Twenty-four years of age. Parents, Han and Leia Solo. Twin sister, Jaina Solo." There was a pause, and a soft laugh. "Recently wed to Tenel Ka Djo." Tenel Ka's fists clenched under the table, and her body tensed.
She stared up at Jacen, focusing on his battered features, just as he closed his eyes. Jacen? she thought.
Then his voice sounded in her head, overruling the cockiness of the man speaking on the message. Tenel Ka. She started. Jaina. Zekk. Lowie. Mom. Dad. Uncle.
"Umm, can anyone else hear Jacen in their head?" Zekk asked, puzzled.
Luke nodded, an amazed smile tugging at his lips. "Sshh," he warned. "Listen."
Jacen continued, his voice never shaking. Guys, you can't give into this loony's demands. I'll be fine. Don't worry. He won't kill me; I'm too valuable to him. He told me so. I will be fine. Just get me out of here as soon as possible. Good luck.
The image on the screen flickered once, and then flashed off.
"Does Jacen know what he's asking?" Jaina's voice was worried. But that was understandable. Zekk squeezed her fingers again.
Luke leaned back. "I think we should trust him," he said calmly. "He's the one with that—" he smiled "—'loony', so I think he knows what he's saying."
Lowie growled, and Em Teedee sprung up from the table. "Quite right Master Lowbacca," the droid answered. The translator swung around to face the table. "Master Lowbacca comments that might not Master Jacen be telling us he is in perfect health so that we do not risk ourselves in a ransom transaction or rescue mission?"
Leia shook her head. "No," she replied. "He said, 'just get me out of here as soon as possible'. He wants to be rescued, but he doesn't want us to lose anything in order to set him free."
"He also said that he wouldn't be killed," Zekk said, his tone indicating he was contradicting Leia's words.
"Well, he hasn't." Han stated the obvious, his fingers still wrapped around the hilt of his son's lightsaber.
"But he's been beaten badly," Zekk completed. "Who knows what'll happen to him next."
"Don't say that," Jaina said softly.
"Sorry," he murmured, looking up at her.
Tenel Ka just listened. She was numb, and was trying not to show the others that she was absolutely terrified.
"What can we do?" Leia asked. "We don't know where he is. We don't know who it is that's got him."
"There isn't much we can do," Luke replied.
"I can examine the message," Jaina offered, her voice shaking. "See if there're any clues in there."
"I'll help," Zekk said softly. Jaina smiled weakly at him in thanks.
Lowie roared again, his golden eyes narrowed.
"Master Lowbacca enquires as to whether somebody could go up in the Millennium Falcon and search for any trace of a cloaked ship in orbit," Em Teedee translated.
Han jerked out of his trance. "Yeah," the ex-smuggler said. "I can do that."
"I'll come with you." Leia smiled wanly at her husband.
Lowie growled again, and Han nodded to the Wookiee before Em Teedee could translate. "Of course you can tag along," Han replied.
Luke watched Tenel Ka from across the table, and, as if sensing his gaze, she looked back at him. Are you okay? he seemed to be asking.
She inclined her head in a graceful nod to him, but inside she was both seething and numb. As the others left for their various tasks, she tried to reach out to Jacen with her mind, but felt nothing. She closed her eyes in pain.
Luke laid his hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked softly.
Tenel Ka forced back the tears. She pushed herself to her feet. "I will be," she stated. "Once Jacen is back."
Luke smiled slightly and nodded to her.
Jaina leaned forward towards the screen, her brown hair falling around her face. "That's odd," she said softly.
Zekk looked up. "What's odd?" he asked.
Jaina leaned back slightly and indicted the screen. "There appears to be a layer of programming underneath the message," she replied.
Zekk moved across to stand beside her. "It looks like a… communications program," he said, glancing at Jaina.
Jaina frowned. "Why would there be a comm program underneath this message?"
"D'you think it could be Jacen?" Zekk asked tentatively.
Jaina shook her head, a smile creeping across her lips. "Jacen doesn't have the technological skills to hide a something like this underneath a video recording," she replied.
"Then, who is it?"
Jaina shook her head, biting her lip. "Don't know," she said slowly. "I guess… I guess we'll just have to run the program and find out."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Zekk asked. "It could contain a virus or… something. Something that'd leave Yavin 4 defenceless."
Jaina didn't look at him, but a single tear leaked down her cheek. "We have to get Jacen back," she said softly. "He can't stay with that…" She trailed off.
Zekk gently pulled her back in her seat, away from the screen. He turned her around to face him as he crouched before her. He gently took her hands between his, and stared up into her face. "Just listen," he said softly. "We will find Jacen. We will find him, and make the man who took him pay, okay? Jacen will be fine. He said so himself. He's tough." Zekk searched Jaina's face. "Everything will be back the way it was."
Jaina managed a shaky smile. "Thank you," she whispered.
Zekk smiled back. He lightly kissed the tips of his fingers and pressed them to Jaina's cheek. She leaned into his hand, closing her eyes briefly. "Thank you," she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Come on," Zekk said softly. "Let's take a look at that program."
Jaina nodded. Zekk slid his hand down her cheek, and she turned back to the computer console. Her shaking fingers singled out the underlying program and ran it. It took a second, but finally a box appeared on the screen. Jaina frowned. "It wants my name," she said softly.
Zekk pulled up another chair and sat beside her. "Give it what it wants," he said softly.
Jaina nodded slowly. Her fingers moved lethargically across the keyboard. Jaina Solo, she typed slowly.
The box vanished, and the computer buzzed softly. Then a text file suddenly opened. Jaina blinked in surprise, as text began to appear, letter by letter.
Hello Jaina. I see you found this program without much trouble. I expected nothing less from a mechanical genius such as yourself.
Jaina looked at Zekk. "What is this?" she asked softly.
He shook his head, and glanced back at the screen. The cursor was blinking softly at them from the next line, waiting for more text to be entered. "Type something?" he suggested.
"Okay," she said. She reached out to the keyboard, and typed in a simple question. Who are you?
That is unimportant. All you need to know is that I have something that you want back.
Jaina gasped. Her fingers were immediately back on the keyboard, but before she typed she looked over at Zekk. "Go find Uncle Luke and Tenel Ka," she ordered.
"Jaina, are you—"
"Go!"
He went.
Jaina turned back to the computer, her entire body tense.
You have Jacen, Jaina typed.
Yes. I do.
Give him back. Jaina's fingers almost cracked the keys with the force with which she hit the keyboard.
Now, now Jaina. You know I'm not likely to do that. I want what I asked for.
Even if I knew what you wanted, I wouldn't give it to you, Jaina replied, her teeth gritted in anger.
Come Jaina. You really expect me to believe that you don't know what I want? You saw the message. Until I get what I want, you won't get what you want.
GIVE HIM BACK!
She could almost hear a laugh in her ears. Temper, temper Miss Solo.
She forced herself to calm down. Where are you?
Close.
The cursor continued to blink, but she didn't type anything. She was frozen. He's close. Jacen's close.
Her hands moved over to the keyboard, almost without her mind's orders. You have no idea what you have done. You have no idea how much you are going to wish that you had stayed a million light-years away from Yavin 4. You have no idea how much pain you are going to suffer because of this. I will get my brother back, and then I will kill you.
Jaina, we both know you won't do that. She could imagine his conscendingly arrogant voice in her head.
You don't know me. You will never know me. I will kill you.
He didn't reply.
She leaned back in her seat and watched as the cursor blinked hypnotically on the screen in front of her.
There was a thud of boots in the corridor, and Tenel Ka pelted in, with Zekk and Luke immediately on her heels. Jaina looked up at them. "I think I made him go away," she said softly.
Zekk smiled gently at her, and laid his hand on her shoulder.
Tenel Ka was reading the 'conversation' written in bold font on the screen. "You said some quite strong things," she commented.
Jaina smiled slightly. "I know," she replied.
"I don't think he's gone just yet," Luke said softly, his voice horror-struck.
"What d'you…" Jaina caught a glimpse of the screen, and her eyes widened as she read the black letters that were unfolding across the file.
"Oh no…" Zekk breathed. Tenel Ka's expression was stricken, and even Luke was frozen. Jaina's heart turned to ice as she realised exactly what she had just done to her twin brother.
It appears that rudeness runs in the Solo family. Jacen insulted me too, and he tried to attack me. I did not want to damage your brother, as he is a useful 'bargaining chip', in his own words, but now you have both made me angry, and when I am angry… Well, my temper sometimes runs away with me.
I do not regret this, but you really should have rethought your decision to mindlessly insult me, knowing that I hold your brother's life in my hands. And now, I seriously doubt that you will ever see Jacen again.