Chapter 5

"Do you know what power is?!"

Jacen's eyes didn't want to open and recognize that he was awake. His legs screamed it to him; his arms steadily ached the reality of his condition; his head throbbed to him continuously that he was no longer unconscious, but his eyes remained closed. Now his ears rang out the truth.

"I'm talking about true power. Not the ability to deflect blaster bolts with a sword or the ability to lift rocks and twigs with your mind. I don't care about such tricks. Fear is power. Fear that you can subject on people. People who, in return, give you power. Knowledge is power. The knowledge to understand your enemies. The knowledge to advance yourself past them and make them fear you. That is power. The Jedi draws his power from life. What if there is no life? Where will your power come from? You are dependent, my boy. You are dependent on the same thing that supports you. You live. You use that life to gain your power. If you lose one, you lose the other, and both are as fragile as a pile of leaves in the wind. I could crush you now and remove all of that famed power with the pull of a trigger or flip of a switch."

Jacen opened his eyes to regard this boastful old man as he walked around him, flaunting his power. "You are weak. You control nothing, only yourself, and that control is dependent on the Force. I control this entire planet and rely on no one for power. I produce it, and I make it grow. I decide who lives and who dies. I decide who gets elected and who gets overthrown."

Jacen tested his bonds. He was encased in some type of metal he wasn't familiar with. He was lying flat on his back with his arms above his head. He couldn't move much, but he could feel that his hands, feet, and waist were encased in this metal. "You might not believe me. All you know is that I am some old man who can shoot lightning from my fingers. I live in an old warehouse and have thugs under me. I steal necklaces and like to torture little boys. What you don't see are the politicians who make sure their houses are locked before they go to bed. You can't know about the notes that these men in 'command' find telling them what to do. You've never seen the burning house or sick, dying, only child of those politicians who don't listen. You couldn't have seen that. You are too absorbed with yourself to notice anything that doesn't either excite your instincts or your hormones."

Jacen tried to move his appendages against his restraints to no avail. He prodded them with the Force, but they were incredibly stable, and without seeing what he was doing, he couldn't be sure of positive results. "Your uncle calls himself a master. But what is he a master of? A small moon? A few students? That isn't much of a master. I know of hermits who claim more territory on desert islands. The Emperor had power, but even he was too self-absorbed to see what was going on around him to control that power adequately. Your religion's history is full of people who are either so devoted to pacifism or so devoted to death and destruction that none of you ever had the chance to realize what you had or what you could do with it. A taste. That's all I want. I want just a taste of the potential you have at your fingertips. But, no, I have no talent in your religion, so I am forced to make do without it and look at me. I am standing, and you are lying flat on your back. What does that tell you? It tells me that power isn't in reading someone's mind or swinging swords, but it comes with fear and knowledge.

"Vader, the Emperor, Exar Cuun, they had fear, and they could use it, but they had no knowledge and could not see tomorrow as they tried to look years in advance. They were too caught up in their illusion of power that a young boy, slightly younger than yourself, took it all away."

"That same boy, your uncle, craves knowledge. He spreads it to everyone he meets. He can't confront the evilest opponent the galaxy has ever known without trying to convert him. He preaches how you need to know the Force and your role in life concerning it. Oh, and he knows fear as well. He knows what it's like to fear. He cowers in abject horror at the idea of facing darkness. He walks into battle, content to die in each encounter he faces. Is that the mindset of a man who wants to spread his knowledge? Dead men can only teach by example, and what kind of example does he leave behind? He's a hermit. If he knew how to rule, how to make people fear him, he could be the most powerful man in the universe, but he would rather wear robes and drink tea as he lectures teenagers on the proper way to levitate rocks."

Jacen looked around the room as the Master collected his thoughts. The room was obviously some type of prison cell. There were no windows in his field of vision, which was very limited. He closed his eyes and opened his mind. The room was tight. One door was presently open and seemed to have no locking mechanism on it, but on further probing, Jacen found that it was self-sealing, and when closed, it would be just as secure as a wall. He was cast in a metal block that was part of the floor, and the floor was part of the walls. He was, for all intents and purposes, part of the room.

"So now I am faced with a decision. I have this planet in my grasps and have plans for more. I have developed a power base here. This is just one of the many compounds I have placed over this world. The petty thieving and mayhem you see on the outside is just to keep the men interested. Besides, I like to collect art. I was planning to make a few visits to some nearby planets and see if I can't persuade them to see things my way, but now you're here with your mother and her government soon to follow. You see, I have knowledge. I know what the New Republic stands for and what their influence here will do to me. Well, now I have to make a decision. Do I continue business as usual, ignoring this change of events like the Emperor did, or do I treat your government with the respect they deserve? That isn't much of a decision. The real choice lies in what I need to do with you. Feel happy that you have lasted this long. Each breath you take sets a new record for all previous in your position. On the outside, you look to be too valuable to simply kill. Will your government listen to me if I hold you for ransom? Not likely. What will their reaction be if I say that you are dead, and we don't want any more representatives? I can have our diplomats say that you know. I have a little bit of influence in that area."

"I have an idea," Jacen said, finding a spot to speak in the Master's never-ending tirade. The Master stopped his pacing and stood over the prone Jedi with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. "You can let me go, and I can go tell Mommy how it is."

The Master regarded Jacen for a moment, not knowing what to make of this sarcastic juvenile that lay before him. "I suppose that I should let Ariela go with you as a gesture of good faith."

"What is this hang-up you guys have with Ariela and me? Just give me the necklace, and I'll be happy."

"I should kill you now. Likely I will anyway, though Herink has been begging me to let him do it. It is quite pathetic to see a grown man beg, but it seems that you have made him look foolish twice now."

Jacen didn't recognize the name, but he could guess whom he was talking about. "What can I say?"

"Well, I must leave you now. I need to make a few arrangements. As I said, I think your usefulness is at an end, and Herink will probably sneak in while I am gone and kill you, so I guess this is goodbye."

"Wait!" Jacen said, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"What is it now?"

"You're not following protocol."

"Protocol?"

"Yea, you're supposed to tell me how you do everything. The bad guy always does it right before he kills the good guy so that when the good guy evades the assassin, he can bring down the bad guy."

"You read way too many books. This isn't fiction, my friend."

"Humor me."

"I've already told you everything you need to know. Knowledge is the key. Knowledge exhibited in technology. When a ship uses a tractor beam to bring in another ship, do you gasp in disbelief and say that the bigger ship must be using the Force? Or when a bare wire is lying on the floor, shooting out bursts of electricity, do you point at the object and say that it is using the Dark Side to produce the sparks."

"Are you trying to tell me that you have all these devices built into your body?"

"I told you that I produce my own power. I have designed myself to inflict fear in others. My knowledge in technology has created who I am and what I can do."

"So, I guess you plug in every night just like a droid, huh." Jacen felt his throat contract as he finished the statement but had been ready for it and fought back with the Force.

"I am completely self-sufficient. Always remember that." With that, the Master left Jacen alone.

The door chimed quietly. Ariela tried to smirk at the irony. The door chime was a poor means of announcement, especially for who she knew to be at the door. She thought back to her childhood. She had grown up in near poverty, far from the luxury and technology that surrounded her now. Back in her home, the walls were made of wood, and the doors had knobs. When people came calling, they knocked on the door.

The chime sounded again. The electronic trill was so impersonal. Ariela could remember her mother tapping softly on her door to wake her in the morning. She could remember her brother knocking as hard as he could to demand entrance. He was young and felt that somehow he was being cheated if anyone did anything without him. Privacy was hard to teach to him. Then there was the time she had tried to get too much privacy and had snuck a boy into her room at night. Her father's pounding on her door had been quite emphatic then.

Ariela sighed as she listened to the chime a third time, still making no move, physical or vocal, to respond to it. She missed her family dearly. She longed to be near them again. It was a futile longing, she knew, because no distance, no matter how many light-years vast, could compare with the small gap between life and death, and she and the rest of her family were on opposite sides of that gap. What she missed most of all was the feeling of being needed, of being made to feel special and unique. Back then, everyone's knock had been different. Everyone's step on the wood floor in front of her bedroom had been personal. Now everyone was content to be simply a number or statistic.

She knew who was on the other side of her door as she listened to the chime for a fourth and last time. Everyone was content to be represented by a monotone chime. Of course, technology was forcing it upon them. They could have knocked if they wanted to, but the double-layered, vibration-resistant durasteel wouldn't have made so much as a soft tapping sound. Or so she had thought.

The pounding was like thunder, and it sent Ariela leaping off her bed in horror. "Come in," her voice shrieked, and the computer barely recognized her voice pattern and the command. The door opened to reveal a flustered Borgan, or at least most of him. The door slid to a halt when it was only three-fourths ajar due to a slight warp that had been inflicted upon it only moments ago to get Ariela to open it.

Borgan turned sideways, mumbling something under his breath about the unreliability of today's high-grade durasteel, and managed to squeeze his wide frame into Ariela's room. Ariela had regained as much composure as she could, sitting on the edge of her bed. A single light from an old electric lamp sitting on a small table next to the head of her bed produced the only light in the room, and it cast eerie shadows on the big man in front of her. She knew her face showed signs of recent tears, but she didn't care. The stone-cold giant in front of her hadn't shed a tear in his life, she was willing to bet. He probably didn't even have any tear ducts.

"We are a little disappointed in you."

Not half as disappointed as I am with you, Ariela didn't say. She sat on her bed, staring unblinkingly at Borgan, ready for the lecture she expected.

"Your loyalties are with us. In Convern province," he said, changing topics abruptly, "they have discovered an ancient underground city in a series of vast caves that a drilling operation has uncovered. They have recovered some inc-"

"What happened to Jacen?" Ariela interrupted in a calm voice.

Borgan regarded her for a long moment. He came very close to throttling the young woman right there but held back. "They have recovered some incredible artifacts that they are at a loss to interpret. We want you-"

"You killed him, didn't y-"

"We want you to relieve them of the trouble," Borgan cut her off through clenched teeth. "You have a ticket aboard the sub-rail leaving from the downtown central station tomorrow at-"

"You did kill him."

"You will be carrying two cases in which to bring back the artifacts. You will need to-"

"No."

Borgan took a swift step forward and slapped her across the face in a blur of motion. Ariela rolled with the blow and landed hard on the floor next to her bed. The slap had little force behind it, for Borgan could have just as easily knocked her head clean off. Ariela picked herself up from the floor and sat back down on her bed. She looked hard at Borgan, having to blink a tear from her left eye. The big man watched as the tiny water droplet rolled down her red cheek, still throbbing from the slap. "I won't do it."

Ariela found herself on the floor again, this time on the left side of her bed and with a matching welt on her right cheek. She picked herself up again and sat down without so much as a sound, letting the tears come down her face in larger numbers now. "I'm done."

Borgan held his third slap in check, seeing that physical punishment wouldn't work in this situation. "Yes, he's dead."

Ariela had already expected this, but the fact of her guess being confirmed didn't exactly slow the tears from her eyes. "I've paid my debt. I want out now."

Borgan looked at her as if she had grown a third ear. "You want out?"

"I have more than paid my debt to you through the countless things I have lifted, and now I want you to keep your promise that you made to me all those years ago." Ariela was reigning in her flooding emotions and trying to make her argument as she had planned, knowing from the start that it was a moot point.

"You owe us your life. If I hadn't saved you from that band of thugs, you would be dead now. How can you repay me for saving your life? Exactly what credit number did you arrive at that adequately defines the value of a life?"

"My life isn't worth Gamorrean dung in here. I could pay for my life with the glass necklace you gave me to swap with the real one. What good is my life if I can't live it? Life is more than breathing in and out, eating and sleeping, stealing and killing. Life involves joy, sorrow, happiness, sadness, and love."

"You do love him."

Ariela's built-in reply to that question misfired. She had bitten off so many heads in the past day when she had been asked that question that her answer had become automatic. It no longer was. "Maybe. Maybe I do, but then I don't really know what love is. I lost all my emotions back on Trinxon when I lost my family. Not that you would know that, you emotionless piece of steel."

Ariela expected retaliation to the insult, but Borgan did not feel insulted. "You will be carrying two cases in which to bring back the artifacts. You will need to be trained on how to handle the artifacts and store them in the cases. Go to the seminar room after the noon meal." Borgan left.

Ariela sat on her bed, unmoving. What was she going to do? She couldn't fight this battle and expect to win. At least she couldn't fight the battle alone. What was it with Jacen? She had met better-looking guys. She had met stronger guys. She had even met more intelligent guys. However, she had never met anyone who had piqued her curiosity as this young Jedi did. What was a Jedi? Ariela had only studied what was necessary to pass as an art expert at the many museums she had visited and eventually robbed. Jedi were new to her, and the fact that Jacen was one seemed to excite her even more.

The words Borgan had spoken still rang in her head. -You do love him.- She hadn't loved in so long that she couldn't be sure. She knew that she loved the hope he had brought into her life. Hope that there was still a world out there that could provide her with real joy. Ariela had seen that life in the young man's eyes as they had danced together and even as they had fought together. He had a carefree attitude and took what was thrown at him in stride, handling everything that came his way. Ariela had a vague memory of being like that back when she was young. She had been able to handle everything. Well, almost everything.

Ariela paused as she reflected on exactly what Borgan had said. -You do love him.- He had used the present tense.

Jacen closed his eyes and gathered as much strength as he could muster. He tried to pull his arms and legs free, but there was simply no leverage to be had and no give in his bonds. He couldn't move at all. His arms were encased in metal up to his elbows, and his legs and torso were restrained likewise. The feeling of security was unlike anything that Jacen had experienced before. He couldn't so much as wiggle a finger. It felt like the metal had been poured over him in a molten state and allowed to harden around him. He knew that was impossible, though. His flesh would have evaporated as soon as it came in contact with the molten metal. Steel had a melting point high enough to evaporate skin and bone on contact.

Something struck Jacen. This wasn't durasteel or any other type of steel. Jacen wasn't as well versed in technology and construction as were his brother and sister, but he knew enough about materials to be able to recognize common metals. For the first time, he actually examined the metal encasing him instead of just how it was securing him. It was definitely not steel. In fact, it looked more like lead, but it was far too strong to be the soft metal. However, its low gloss resembled lead, and Jacen wondered if it wasn't some kind of strange alloy. What was it that made lead special? Lead had a low melting point! Of course, Jacen thought, that would explain the cold temperature in the room. Lead's melting point was still far too high for his skin to tolerate, but perhaps this strange alloy had an even lower melting point.

Jacen closed his eyes again. Instead of filling himself with the Force, he channeled the energy into the metal. After a few minutes of hard concentration, Jacen began to feel the metal loosen its hold on his appendages. The casing seemed to settle upon itself and gained the texture of extremely thick cream. Jacen slowly pulled his right arm free of the bond. He held a small lump of the metal in his hand and squeezed it in front of his face. The metal oozed out between his fingers. Jacen was standing up a minute later, totally free from the casing.

Jacen's limbs were incredibly sore from the straining he had put them through in their tight confinement, and he spent several minutes flexing and stretching to alleviate the stiffness. A sudden mental alarm brought him into action. He spun towards a section of the wall and watched as the door's outline made itself visible in the previously smooth wall. The master had told him that Herink would be coming in for him, and the big man was evidently one to keep his appointments.

Jacen ran up to the wall and flattened himself against it, next to the doorway. The door swung inward, and Jacen saw the glint of a wicked blade lead the thug into the room. Herink took one long look at the empty casting and then spun around to receive a solid right to the jaw from Jacen. The man staggered back but recovered quickly and charged. Jacen threw a Force wave at him, but it did not affect the enraged man. Jacen dodged a deadly swipe across his midsection and spun away from the wall as Herink charged with his knifepoint leading.

As Herink turned away from the wall, Jacen tried to apply a chokehold with the Force, but the effort involved in dodging Herink's continued attacks made him lose his grip. Seeing that there would be no easy way out of this, the Jedi positioned himself to intercept Herink's furious attacks.

Herink swiped high with his blade, and Jacen batted it wide with his right hand and sent a punch toward the thug's head with his left. Herink deftly moved his head a few centimeters to the side, and Jacen's fist flew past the big man's ear. Not letting the missed punch become wasted, Jacen opened his hand as he brought his arm back, grabbing onto the back of Herink's head to pull his face down to Jacen's upcoming knee. Before the move could come to completion, Herink brought his blade back across his body, aimed at the inside of Jacen's elbow. The Jedi released his grip to keep his forearm attached.

The two men measured each other for a brief moment and went back into the furious dance steps of death. Jacen felt the knife cut through his clothing several times, but he consistently batted it away before it could draw blood. Herink was fast, but Jacen was faster. Herink was also a creature of habit, and Jacen soon recognized a pattern in the madness of his attacks. The big man thrust ahead again, but instead of batting it aside with an open hand, Jacen grabbed the wrist and pulled hard, stepping aside as he did so. Herink stumbled forward, and Jacen gave him a swift kick in the rear as he went past. Jacen had been planning this move for the past few moments and had picked a spot on the wall behind him earlier in the fight. Herink's knife hand was out-stretched as he saw that he was on a collision course with the wall behind Jacen. He braced himself for the collision, but it didn't come. The big man's knife and arm sunk into the molten wall up past his wrist, and it held fast as Jacen cooled it with the Force.

Herink tugged furiously at his anchored arm to no avail. He turned to look desperately at Jacen and received a solid blow to the face. Herink's head bounced off the wall from the punch, and he fell into unconsciousness. His body slumped against the wall, supported by his arm.

Jacen stepped cautiously into the hallway and closed the door behind him. The entrance sealed itself, and Jacen saw it looked exactly like the rest of the wall. The perfect dungeon, he thought. No one can find it for a rescue. Jacen was aware of electronic surveillance throughout the compound and kept himself well hidden from the inferior devices.

As he walked down the winding corridors, Jacen tried to formulate a plan. He had come into the compound to free Ariela from captivity, but he now understood better the kind of people he was up against. He had no intention of leaving the complex without trying to get to Ariela again, but now he proceeded with extreme caution. What was he doing this for anyway? Jacen's built-in response to that question misfired. He wasn't here for the diamonds like he had told so many people. He was here for Ariela, that much he could answer with a hundred percent certainty. But exactly why he was here for Ariela still eluded him. Her beauty in the museum had initially excited him. He had then been drawn to her grace on the dance floor. Her secret identity revealed to him on the roof had made him immensely curious. Finally, he had become emotionally attached to her by her captivity in this organization. Now he didn't know what he felt. Love seemed like a strong word, but there was something to be said for it.

As Jacen found himself wandering into the dining area where he had fought with the Master, he was faced with a difficult situation. He had no way to find her. The two of them didn't share the mental link he was so accustomed to with his siblings. As he stood there thinking, he forgot that he was unhidden in enemy territory, and a man walked into the room carrying a tray of food. Jacen braced himself, expecting to be attacked or for some alarm to be sounded, but the man simply nodded toward Jacen, set the food on the table, and left.

A cook, Jacen thought. It must be close to noon, and he is simply preparing for the men to come and eat. Would Ariela come as well? Jacen looked around the room desperately for a place to hide. A few small potted plants in the corner called out to him as adequate cover, and he quickly hid behind them, adding to his camouflage with the Force.

Ariela ate her food without really tasting it. She had made up her mind. She would take the job. What other choice did she have? However, she had no intention of coming back. She was certain several henchmen would follow her to ensure she didn't try to run off, not like there was anywhere she could run. She planned to botch the job and get caught. Now that she knew what freedom looked like from gazing into Jacen's eyes, anywhere but free would seem like a prison to her. What was the difference between a provincial prison and this more private one? Likely, Borgan and the Master would find a way to get her released, and she would eventually have to come back here and face the music. Maybe she could kill someone while she botched the job. Murder had a stringent penalty on this planet of perfectionists.

Ariela walked back to her room, remembering that she had to go to that stupid information seminar about caring for the dumb artifacts. She'd go, but she wouldn't pay attention. Maybe if she messed up with the artifacts and ruined one of them, they wouldn't ask her to do anything else for a while.

The door to her room slid open as the sensors in front of it recognized her, and she entered. She had eaten early and still had time before the lunch hour was officially over, so she decided to take a shower to try and lift this gloomy mood from her mind so she could at least pretend like nothing was wrong. She went into her personal refresher, and thirty seconds later, she was standing in a cascade of falling water and rising steam. She wasn't in the shower for more than two minutes when a small light blinked above her water temperature console, telling her that someone was at the door. No, she thought, they can wait until I'm finished. When she saw the light blink again, she thought better of it. She wasn't sure if her door could take another one of Borgan's knocks.

Ariela shut off the water and grabbed a towel. Her long blonde hair was dripping water all over the floor as she tried to dry herself. She reached for her robe but thought better of it. She was sure that it was Borgan. No one else had any reason to come calling. As many opportunities as the big man had had to take advantage of her, he hadn't. Ariela finally realized that he had absolutely no emotions at all, sexual or otherwise. Besides, if she showed up at the door in just a towel, it would drop a significant hint that she was busy, and now was not a good time.

She walked into her main bedroom as the door chimed a third time. "Come in," she said, and the door slid open. "Jacen!" Ariela was hit with several emotions all at once: surprise, joy, astonishment, delight, and embarrassment.

"Uh," Jacen said as he looked at her very shapely body beneath the small towel, "if this is a bad time . . ."

"Yes! I mean no! I mean - come in," Ariela finally managed. Jacen complied, and the door slid closed behind him. Ariela was thoroughly confused. Was this an impostor? She looked briefly into his eyes and realized he was genuine. What was she supposed to do now? What if Borgan came? Did they know that Jacen was still alive? She was not in a sane state. "I need . . ." she started, not sure where she was going with the thought.

"Clothes?" her visitor suggested.

"Yes!" she said a little too loud and triumphantly as if she had just solved the biggest puzzle in the known universe. "I need clothes." Ariela ran back into the refresher. She emerged seconds later, wearing slightly less material than she had when she entered. "Now I need . . ." she began again, thinking of how well her voiced thoughts had produced the answer last time.

"Pants," Jacen offered, trying not to stare at the nearly naked, confused woman.

"Yes!" Ariela hollered, enjoying her little game and how well she was doing. She raced over to her closet and donned a pair of loose-fitting black pants.

"And a shirt," Jacen went on, sparing her from speaking aloud again.

Ariela looked at Jacen with profound hurt in her eyes. "I know how to dress myself, thank you very much." Sure enough, a minute later, Ariela was publicly presentable. She had also calmed down considerably and was somewhat sheepish when she realized how she was behaving. As she pushed her second foot into her boot, her emotions caught up to her actions, and she ran over to Jacen. "You're alive?"

A million sarcastic responses jumped to mind, but Jacen thought none of them appropriate for the situation and merely nodded. "We have to hurry. I don't know how long we have before the alarm is sounded that I'm out."

"Right," Ariela said, now fully back in control of her senses. She ran over to the corner of the room, pulled out her bag, and began going through the contents.

"Do you know of a good way out of the complex?"

Ariela stopped what she was doing and looked up at the wall, thinking for a moment. What was she doing? They couldn't just walk out of here. She had tried that yesterday morning and hadn't gotten very far. "There are several," she said and turned to look at Jacen, "but none of them are easy. In fact, none of them are remotely possible. There are security cameras everywhere and security guards posted at every exit. Plus, once they find that you've escaped and I don't show up at my meeting, they will be scouring the place for us."

"Give us a little chance, please," Jacen pleaded with her. "How did you get out yesterday?"

"I waltzed through the front door," she replied.

Jacen regarded her for a few moments. "I hope you aren't surprised that you got caught."

Ariela gave him a dirty look. "I was hoping that it was so obvious that they wouldn't pay it any attention." She paused, returning to her mental list of exits. "There's the roof, there's the garage where all the vehicles are stored, and then there's the sub-rail."

"What's that," Jacen asked about the last item.

"It's the underground express transport system. It runs on electro-magnetic propulsion-"

"Yes, I know what it is. I meant, 'How do you get there from here?'"

"The new transit was built along the same path as the old one," Ariela responded, referring to the out-of-date grav-rail above the complex. "Which means that the sub-rail runs directly underneath this complex. Borgan has a secret tunnel that goes down into the system. He even has his own car that he can use to travel the railway when no other trains are due. But it's tough to get down there and if we get caught in the tunnel when a train comes . . ." Ariela slammed a fist into her open palm, letting Jacen imagine the result.

"That's the way we're going," Jacen said, feeling confident that the Force was leading him in the right direction.

"But-"

"No buts," Jacen cut her off.

"Okay," she said reluctantly.

"And don't worry," Jacen added. "It won't be as hard as you think."