Chapter 9 Seduction and Deception
Present Time
She stood before them with her hands bound behind her back; a small pretty woman with dark eyes and long black hair braided into a plait that reached nearly to her waist. But her dark eyes hardened with anger as Anakin brushed her mind lightly and then withdrew, "Who sent you here?" He demanded.
"I have no more to say to you than I did to these Republican toadies." The woman retorted.
Obi-Wan sighed, "I think it would be wiser if you just told us what we want to know." He suggested.
"Is that a threat, Master Jedi? And here I thought you were above that." The woman replied sarcastically.
"Oh that wasn't a threat, it was a warning." Obi-Wan answered lightly, "I really would advise you to cooperate."
"A warning?" The woman repeated and then laughed, "You really are a bunch of hypocrites; laser needles couldn't force me to tell you anything."
"We have no intention of torturing you, Miss; although if I have to force the information from you, it might be a little...unpleasant." Anakin replied as he brushed her mind again, pushing a little harder this time.
The woman moaned and struggled against the binders securing her, "What are you doing?" She asked.
"If you let me into your mind, this will be much easier." Anakin told her.
The woman shook her head, "No..." She moaned.
Anakin sighed, "Please, don't make me do this." He pleaded.
"Listen to him, Miss; it will be so much better if you just open your mind and let him in...or better still just tell us what we need to know." Obi-Wan added.
"I'm not afraid of you." The woman replied defiantly and then spat at them.
Anakin pursed his lips, "You leave me no choice." He said and then addressed the guard with them, "Bring a chair; it would be better if she were sitting down."
When the guard returned with the chair, Obi-Wan pushed her down into it and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, "I'm going to ask once more before we begin to just tell us what we want to know." He said.
The woman shook her head and turned to glare up at him, "All of you freaks should be dead." She replied venomously.
With a sigh, Anakin nodded to Obi-Wan, "Alright, I'm going to try to make this easier for you." Obi-Wan told her and then closed his eyes and merged with the Force.
Anakin joined him a moment later and began to push his way into her mind. Obi-Wan's presence moved gently forward, carefully trying to ease Anakin's probe; even so, the woman shifted uncomfortably as she fought to keep the Jedi master from reading her thoughts. "Don't fight; it will only make things more uncomfortable for you." The voice in her head told her.
"NO, Please!" The woman whimpered, throwing head from side to side in a futile effort to extricate the intruder.
But Anakin would not be so easily displaced and only plunged deeper, easily pushing aside her weak defenses. He gleaned the information they needed as quickly as he could and withdrew, leaving Obi-Wan to dissipate the feeling of intrusion Anakin's forced probes always left.
When Anakin opened his eyes, the woman he now knew as Telia was glaring at him with hate-filled eyes, "You had no right to steal my thoughts." She hissed.
"And you had no right to take our younglings." Anakin replied, "We are only trying to get them back."
"They aren't yours, they are Belarid's; and they must be exiled by law." Telia answered, maintaining her defiance.
"Oh, but they are ours; you gave up your right to them when you decided they were abominations who must be destroyed. They are gifted, loving children who have done nothing to deserve the fate you wish to doom them to. The Force gave them to you, and you throw them away; what gives you the right to do this?" Obi-Wan demanded.
"Belaridian law; to protect the rest of us from them. You have no idea how dangerous they are, but we do; we all know the history. We all know what they are capable of." Telia answered passionately, "Can't you see what they are; what they will become? They will murder all of you, just as those before them murdered their families; we are doing this just as much for you as we are for ourselves."
Obi-Wan sighed and shook his head sadly, "I see it was foolish to think that destroying the evil that perpetrated the slaughter would put an end to those misguided beliefs. And right now, we do not have time to make you understand why those ancient children turned into killers." He replied as he ran a hand over his face and turned away.
Nine Hours Earlier
"You were right, Melak; we have no choice but to take the abominations while we have this chance; we will be doing the off-worlders a favor, and they will thank us when this is over." Telia announced in her next communication.
"I'm glad you're still with us, Telia." Melak answered, "But I doubt the fools will ever understand why this must be done."
Telia's image shimmered as she nodded in agreement, "You may be right, Melak; but we must do this for everyone's sake." She replied, "How reliable is your information?"
"Very; it came right from the mouth of a Jedi." Melak told her.
Telia narrowed her eyes and scowled, "I find it hard to believe a Jedi would volunteer that information." She said.
"Well, this particular Jedi has a penchant for self-preservation; we just threatened his life." Melak replied with a sly grin, "It's not the first time he's turned on them."
"So, even the high and mighty Jedi aren't all perfect." Telia surmised, "The little freaks should be ours in a few hours; we'll meet you at the rendezvous point and you can take charge of them."
"That's excellent, Telia; contact us as soon as you have them." Melak answered.
"As you wish, Melak." Telia responded with a nod that ended the transmission.
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Terak moaned and sat up, "I really have to go collect the equipment from the freaks." He said, "I should have finished and reported back to my uncle by now."
Next to him, Devan sighed heavily, "Oh alright; I guess Melak will be wondering where you are." She replied.
With a grunt, Terak stood up and brushed off his clothing and then extended his hand to help Devan to her feet, "Still think I'm dangerous?" Devan asked as she smoothed her short hair back into place.
"It's what I like about you." Terak answered, pulling her towards him.
"You have good taste." Devan whispered just before he crushed his lips against hers in a hard kiss.
Devan indulged him for a moment before pushing him away, "That's enough, lover." She gasped.
"Yes, back to work." Terak agreed, as he triggered the door to the utility room they had sequestered themselves in.
"So, do I get to watch?" Devan asked, "I would just love to see the look on their faces when you take away any hope they have to survive."
"You really are twisted, aren't you." Terak replied.
"Well, you should talk; I hear you tried to kill your own brother." Devan answered.
"He's a freak that my mother gave birth to; he's not my brother. And what I did, any good Belaridian would have done; it's just too bad he didn't die like he was supposed to." Terak explained defensively.
"Easy; I didn't mean to touch a nerve." Devan assured him.
"Sorry, I guess that's a sore subject with me; I spent five years in a prison colony because of that freak." Terak told her.
"Well, I spent four there partly because of him, so I do understand." Devan said, "Now, can I watch, or what?"
"Why not; you can even help if you want." Terak decided.
Devan smiled and put her arm around his waist as they made their way to the cargo hold.
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"Where do you think they will dump us?" Ferri asked as he stroked the forehead of one of the now-sleeping younglings.
It had not taken much to coax the younglings into sleep; the ordeal had exhausted them, and even with the Force dampening collars, the apprentices had managed to will them all and the Initiate, Shel, into Force sleep with little difficulty.
"I don't know; but knowing Belaridians, it won't be very far from Belarid." Zak answered, "Which should make us easier to find."
Ferri shook his head, "You are an eternal optimist; even if we're exiled close to Belarid, do you know how many places that could be?" He countered.
"Yes," Zak replied, "But we must trust in the Force to get us through this; it's not just you and me, Ferri."
"I know." Ferri sighed, "I just don't know how much help I will be."
"Just having two of us is help e..." Zak's answer was cut short as the door to the cargo hold slid open, stirring the younglings into wakefulness.
"What do you want now?" Ferri demanded.
"We want all your gear." Terak answered calmly.
"Why? We have no weapons, no comlinks; what we have is harmless to you." Zak said.
"Melak doesn't want you to have any unfair advantage when you're exiled." Terak told them, "Now, be good little freaks and let Devan have those belts."
Devan moved toward them, "Come on, handsome, hand it over." She ordered.
Ferri glared at her, "We won't stand a chance without equipment." He replied, making no move to relinquish his belt.
"Oh, you want me to do it? And I thought you didn't like me." Devan said as she knelt down and reached out to unfasten it.
Ferri gripped her wrist, "Don't even think about it." He warned.
"Give it to her." Terak commanded with weapon drawn and pointed at the nearest youngling who stared up at him impassively
Ferri huffed angrily, "Do you feel powerful threatening harmless younglings?" He asked, pushing Devan away from him.
"Give Devan your belt, freak." Terak ordered again as the youngling continued to gaze up at him, "Unnatural freak; why aren't you afraid?"
"Fear leads to the Dark Side." The youngling answered.
Apparently unnerved by the calmness of the child, Terak broke eye contact with her and turned his attention to Ferri, "Give Devan your belt, now." He repeated.
Shaking his head and muttering under his breath, Ferri removed his belt, glared at Devan once more and threw it at her, "Thank you, handsome." Devan said and then leaned toward him.
Ferri shoved her back, "Don't touch me."
"I like it when you play rough, Ferri." Devan whispered, running her hand along his bandaged leg and then squeezed it tightly, "I can play rough too."
Ferri clenched his jaw and ground his teeth, determined not to give her the satisfaction of crying out.
"Stop it, Devan." Zak intervened.
"Devan, quit playing around." Terak said impatiently.
"Yeah, alright;" Devan answered and then patted Ferri's leg, "Maybe later, lover." Then turned her attention to Zak, "And now you."
"This isn't right." Zak said as he unfastened his own belt and handed it to Devan.
"No, you being born, that's what isn't right." Terak retorted.
Devan toyed with Ferri's braid for a moment; still reeling from the pain she had inflicted on him, Ferri did not resist, "Devan, come on, that's enough." Terak commanded.
Devan sighed and shook her head, then stood up and joined Terak, "See you later, lover." She promised, handing the belts to Terak and following him out.
Zak waited for a few moments after the door had slid closed before turning his attention back to Ferri, "How are you doing?" He asked.
"I could use one of those hypos, I think." Ferri answered.
"You got it." Zak replied, "Shel?"
The Initiate reached inside her tunic and pulled out one of the med kits they had hidden away, "How long do you think it will take them to figure out we tricked them?" Ferri wondered as Zak opened the kit and retrieved one of the painkilling hypodermic syringes.
"I don't know; I think we put up enough of a protest to fool them though." Zak answered, "Do you want to do this, or should I?"
"I hate those things; you do it." Ferri replied.
Present Time
"Those sneaky little freaks!" Terak exclaimed as he opened one of the pouches, the third one, on Zak's utility belt and found it as empty as the other two.
"Just keep checking, maybe they were always empty." Melak instructed.
Terak shook his head and opened another...empty pouch, "Huh uh; empty just like the other three." He said, but moved on to another, "Those dirty, sneaky little freaks; they must have emptied these before we took them away."
With a sigh, Melak took the other belt and began checking it, "Well, I never said the Jedi were fools. You have to admit that was pretty clever." He replied when he found Ferri's belt as devoid of equipment as Zak's.
"Well, if sending Telia into a trap wasn't reason enough to go after them, surely this should be." Terak declared as he picked up the empty belt and threw it against the wall.
Melak sighed, "Well, it does give them an advantage they shouldn't have." He conceded.
"So, what do we do?" Terak wondered.
"First we wait to see if Telia is just running behind time; we're halfway to the rendezvous anyway. If she doesn't show after a couple hours, then we'll assume she's been taken and go back to deal with them." Melak answered, "If she does show with the rest of the freaks, then we can take care of Zak when we exile them."
Terak huffed angrily but did not argue; he wanted to deal with Zak now, but Melak was in charge, so they would do this Melak's way. However, he wondered how Devan would take the news that her precious Jedi paramour had tricked them.
Okay, I've reached the end of what's been written; I've spaced posting the chapters out as well as I could, but now you've caught up to me. I promise to update this as I write, so be patient. I thank those who have stuck with me this far, and I hope you decide to stick out to the end!