Chapter 15

Jazz

Jazz woke up in a dark room on some kind of cot that was attached to the wall. Where am I? Jazz wondered as she looked around at the small room. Jazz didn't see anything special about the room and decided to use the Force to see what was beyond her walls. She got into a meditative position and opened her mind to the Force. There are thousands of men around me…only men. And some moving things too that aren't there in the Force…robots? Where the heck am I!? She then realized that she didn't sense any animal or vegetable life either. Jof had told her how to distinguish sentient and insentient life, as well as the difference between flora and fauna.

She then tried to find Jof and Danny. She could feel them, but they were far away, miles, thousands of miles away. "That ship!" Jazz shouted in surprise. I'm on the Empire's ship! I'M A CAPTIVE OF THE EMPIRE! Just then she heard a snap hiss sound from one of the walls and watched a small section open up. There in the doorway stood the tall bald man in red armor and cloak. "Ah…you're awake," Jazz's captor said. Jazz summoned the Force to her and shoved her hands forward, determined to push him against the wall. The man waved his left hand and gave a small smirk. "Surprised? I'm disappointed; it seems that Jof Favrem didn't tell you about the one who has been hunting her for the last year. You didn't think that the Jedi were the only Force users in the Universe, did you?" the bald man then waved his hand and Jazz was pushed into the wall next to her.

"You have power, but it's still unrefined," the man said. "I am Kandall Thal, Sith acolyte to the great Emperor Palpatine, or as he once called himself, Darth Sidious. I have power, little girl, like you could only imagine. The Jedi were weak, they denied themselves of so much in pursuit of such child's stories as 'peace' and 'justice'," Thal laughed as he said this. "And what about you then?" Jazz said. "What have you done with all your power?" Thal looked at her and let her drop to the ground before answering. "I have crushed my enemies beneath my boots. I have made weaklings suffer and helped them learn their place. I am quite proud to say that I have obliterated several spice smuggling rings and rendered their products poisonous, destroying both the buyers and the sellers. Addiction is such an ugly thing, wouldn't you agree?"

Jazz just looked at him in horror, he means all of it! He has no compassion at all! Thal then went on one of his knees near her and rubbed her hair off her face. "Such a beautiful young girl, why would you want to deny yourself your rightful pleasures?" He then grabbed her chin and made her look at him in the face as it moved closer. "You don't need to deny your passion among the Sith. Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through Passion we gain Strength, through Strength we gain Power, through Power we claim Victory; through Victory our chains are broken. The Dark Side is the path of Freedom!" Thal's face shot forward and claimed her lips like a lion on a gazelle. Jazz internally screamed and pushed him off her then stood up and punched him on the mouth hard enough to draw blood and spat on him.

Thal looked at her with a smile and wiped his blood and her spit off his face and licked it. "That's it! Give me your Anger! Only Hatred can save you now!" Jazz saw what he was doing and calmed down, "No, I won't become a monster like you." "That is what you think. Rest assured, my dear girl, that there are only two ways this will end: with you as my apprentice, or dead at my feet. The choice is yours," that being said, Thal left the room. Jazz spat on the ground again to get the taste of him out of her mouth and thought, I need to get out of here. Not seeing anything with her eyes, Jazz sat back on her cot and meditated, trying to find a way out. She sensed six guards outside the door, meaning that even if she could get out, she would have to deal with six men armed and armored while she was both unarmored and unarmed. She doubted she was fast enough to defeat them all.

Wait…I feel air…Jazz looked up and saw air ducts. They looked like a tight squeeze, but she might be able to squeeze through. Who knew being so skinny could save me one day, she thought as she reached out with the Force and pulled the covering off and slowly, gently brought it down to the ground. Jazz focused on letting the Force strengthen her body and jumped up into the air duct. Got it, she thought as she started climbing.

Thal

Thal made his way through the halls of the Decimation, all the while with visions of how the Emperor would reward him. My own fleet perhaps? Or maybe a planet of my own to govern. Or maybe I will finally prove I am worthy to be his successor… Thal always wanted to be Darth Sidious's successor, ever since he saw his power. He had desired the power for so long…He, not Darth Vader, should be the one standing by his side! Thal snapped out of his daydreams when Captain Stal marched up beside him. "What are you doing with that girl?" he asked. "I am turning her to my side of course. One must be…seduced to the Dark Side, it cannot be forced," he told him.

"Seduce!? She's still more of a girl than a woman! And do you have any idea how the men will feel when they hear about this!? They're not celibate monks, they're men who haven't seen any woman in months and when they find out you're keeping a female for yourself they'll mutiny!" Stal desperately whispered. Thal stopped and looked at Stal, "What would you have me do, Stal? Share her with the men, the over thirty-five thousand men here? Should they take turns with her or just go at her all at once?" Stal turned an unhealthy pale shade at the idea, "NO! I'd never suggest that! That's repulsive! I'm saying that maybe you shouldn't be seen having…a private meeting with her is what I'm suggesting."

Thal snorted at this and with an overly polite smile said, "Captain Elias Stal, I am offended that you would think so little of me. I would never use a prisoner so. I merely saw this as a chance to have a little polite conversation with one like me is all. I mean really, she is so very young; and shockingly underdeveloped for a girl of sixteen years. I would have never known her age at all if Vlad had not told me." Stal didn't know what to say to that as Thal kept his smile, and a predatory gleam shone in his eye. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you would like to see the men mutiny against me and run off with this ship yourself," Thal told him, walking towards Stal until Stal's back was against a wall.

"D-d-don't be ridiculous," Stal said, his face going pale as a sheet, "My loyalties will always be to the Empire and Emperor Palpatine!" "That is good to hear, Stal," Thal said as he pulled him away from the wall and wrapped an arm around his neck. "After all," Thal continued, dragging poor Stal with him, "it is important that we all work together for the glory of the Empire." "Y-yes," Stal agreed, finding it hard to breath with Thal's arm around his neck, "for the glory of the Empire."