Chapter 4
Plan
Tanner woke up in a dark room, chained to a chair. He struggled, and tried to get the binds off him. However, the harder he struggled, the tighter the restraints became. "I'd stop if I were you," a voice said from the shadows. "They'll just get tighter."
Tanner struggled a bit more. "I've noticed," he said coldly.
The voice moved to the other corner when it next spoke. "Why did you come here?"
Tanner shrugged. "I'm looking for someone my master needed me to find."
The voice moved again. "Who are you looking for?"
"The who is none of your concern." Tanner said, colder than before.
The voice sounded closer to the door than before. "What if I could tell you where he is?"
"Then I suggest you do so and let me go."
"Why should I let you go?" A patronizing tone came from the person standing across the room from him.
"So I don't have to kill you." The answer was obvious, to Tanner.
"Oh, tough guy over here. Thinking he's so awesome, but you're tied to a chair." The voice mocked him now, and he didn't like it.
Tanner's temper flared, and he spoke to the voice. "At least I'm not a weakling who uses shadows as a defense."
The person behind the voice stood in shocked silence for a moment. The door suddenly flew open. The light temporarily blinded Tanner, and all he saw was a flash of red bursting through the door. As soon as the darkness returned, Tanner looked about himself. His lightsaber was gone, but his combat armor was still on him, from his suit to his boots. He grinned, and waited. Two, five, ten minutes passed before he decided it was safe to use his secret weapon. He clicked his heels together, and a small lightsaber activated where his big toe would be. He kicked, ignoring the tight feeling around his chest, and the table to which he was chained collapsed. His restraints slackened, and he was able to free himself. He stood, stretched, and walked toward the door. There was no alarm, so he assumed there were no guards. He chuckled at the lack of security for their prisoners, and opened the door. There was a clone outside the door; however he appeared to be fast asleep. Tanner looked over the room, and found his lightsaber nowhere to be found. He grimaced, and started looking around, moving objects, lifting things, looking everywhere for his weapon. He even moved the clone, who seemed to be a heavy sleeper. Unfortunately, Tanner was unsuccessful in his search. He sat on the floor next to the sleeping clone, and thought. I have no weapon, no cover, and they will probably come check on me any minute. Suddenly, Tanner had an idea. He grabbed the snoring clone, who suddenly jerked, and was awake. Tanner, thinking quickly, hit the clone upside the head with its own helmet, knocking it unconscious. Silently and quickly Tanner stole the armor off the clone, and put it on. He stashed his own armor in his cell with the unconscious clone, and locked the door. He then grabbed the blaster, and put on the clone's helmet. There. He thought. Now I can pass as one of them, and find Nick.
He exited the prison hold, and began to wander around. He looked for any sign of clones, when he smelled food. The mess hall, maybe I'll hear something about my target there.
Tanner walked in the room, helmet on, to find a crowd around a table. Standing atop it, was the girl he almost attacked from the bush. She was telling the crowd around her a very exciting, elaborate story, talking with her hands and using different tones in her voice at varying parts. Tanner racked his brain for her name, but he couldn't remember. He moved closer, trying to listen to what she was saying. "…and the droids rushed me, guns blazing. They were shooting all over the place, per the usual am I right?" that comment raised a murmur of approval from the clones surrounding her. "And as they were shooting, I dodged." She demonstrated the motion, and her long, red hair touched the table as she bent backwards. Tanner was shocked, and his face would have shown it if he hadn't been cloaked in his disguise. That red was the same color as the flash he saw in his cell, this was the coward who had been interrogating him! "And then, fifty more came after me. I sliced through them like butter, and turned tail to tell the General what we were up against, when an assassin came out from the trees! He grabbed me, and tackled me! I tried to escape, but he knocked my lightsaber out of my hand. He grabbed his knife, planning to make my death slow, and painful, and made his signature mark on my arm. Just as he went in for the kill, I kicked him in the cojones and escaped while he was writhing in pain. That, my friends, is how I got this scar." She lifted up her left sleeve, and there it was. A thin slice that went from her shoulder, around her bicep twice, down the inside of her elbow, and around her wrist twice. "It was painful for a while, but it's been three months since I got the stitches out and it's healing quite nicely if I do say so myself."
"That's our clumsy Kolie! Getting attacked from behind on a scouting mission," a clone shouted.
Cheers and laughter came from the rest of the clones while "Kolie" glared at the clone in question. "That's COMMANDER Clumsy to you Ace! And don't call me Kolie you all know how much I hate it!"
Ace frowned, but in a joking way. "Fine. Boys, what do we call the Commander?"
"Commander Clumsy, or Nick, SIR!" The clones chorused.
NICK! Tanner thought. Nick is a girl! That's why Vaal seemed to be so protective of her earlier, she's his padawan.
"Good work boys!" Nick said. "Now we return to our regularly scheduled lunch break! Captain Ace, I'm going to… err… meditate or something Jedi related. Keep the boys out of trouble, understand?"
"YES SIR!" Ace said. He picked his bright orange and white helmet up off the table and said, "Alright boys, you heard the Commander break it up! Get back to your chewing, we spar in 45."
Nick smiled at Ace, and exited the cafeteria. Tanner turned to follow, but a clone patted him on the back. "Hey, I know you're new but we are allowed to take off our helmets. It's easier to breathe."
"But I'm on a mission from the General. I have to go, I'm supposed to retrieve the padawan."
Ace shook his head. "Look, buddy. You best be treating the Commander right. Address her as 'Commander Starfall' and DON'T call her 'the padawan'."
Tanner bit his tongue. He wanted to shoot back a retort, but knew better. He nodded, saluted, and said "Yes sir!" He ran off, his plan forming in his head. He would come up to his target, knock her unconscious, and drag her off to his ship. He grinned, and turned the corner in the direction of his prey, and – WHAM!
AN: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. You'd figure since it's summer I'd have more time off. lol NOPE! Don't you just love cliffhangers?! Two chapters in a row baby! I love reviews, and I only have one :( Just no flaming ok! R&R, favorite whatever you want! (I'm in a ! kind of mood today) Idk when the next chapter will be posted, so thanks for being patient! TTFN and catch you on the flip side! ~Alyss