The engines of the Marauder burst into life and soon after the clunky freighter pulled away from the landing bay and into Vassek's dark atmosphere. Hondo Ohnaka sat in the Captain's seat and settled his hands casually across his chest; it had been a good day. Not only had his revenge been exacted but now he would fetch a hefty bounty for the two prisoners now in his possession. At first the crew was nervous about General Grievous being left alive, despite his heavy restraints, and had urged their captain to kill him right then and there. Hondo Ohnaka knew better. A living trophy held far greater value on the Black Market. He'd already made contact with a potential buyer. Yes, Hondo sighed with satisfaction, it had been a good day.
The lower deck of the Marauder was dark and musty and carried the heavy scent of engine fuel and smoke. Down here not even the crew wanted to be stationed so they invoked the services of droids, primarily reconditioned protocol droids who were painted in the colors of the Marauder pirates. A couple of these units shuffled past a cell door with the unconscious droid commander inside. They glanced in nervously and carried on with their business; he had a dissagreeable reputation.
Grievous was shackled heavily to the sidewall, with all precaution taken to prevent his escape. The stun blast had knocked him out cold for hours but now, finally, he was beginning to awaken. Grievous' reptilian eyes opened slowly. He didn't quite feel the pain but the electrical shock had rattled his system so much so that now he was out of sorts. Ever stubborn and determined, the general dismissed the feeling and took a step forward, only to be yanked back to the wall behind him. He tried his arms, tugging and pulling with every bit of strength he could muster in his dazed condition, but to no avail. They'd done a decent job with his restraints, that was obvious. It seemed Hondo had learned from last time. What, though, had they done with Winter?
General Grievous felt a surge of anger flare up in his gut; if she was harmed in any way...
What was the matter with him? He needed to worry about himself, not be concerned about the Padawan. Her welfare was not his problem, nor should it be. In any case, she was probably fine. His focus needed to be on breaking free from his shackles first and foremost.
"Ughhh...my head...," Winter grunted.
"What, what is this...Where's Gr-," she started but was quickly interrupted.
"The good general is indisposed at the moment, my apologies," Hondo announced with a bow.
"But why worry about him? You have bigger things to worry about, miss, erm, what exactly is your name, by the way," he realized he hadn't caught her name.
"Jabba the Hutt," Winter spat rebelliously.
"Oh, that's very good. And quite appropriate, seeing as how my old friend Jabba has offered a hefty price for the two of you," he clasped his hands together as he laid the news on her.
"What? You can't just sell us! We don't belong to you. We're not objects," Winter protested as she leapt to her feet.
She, too, was bound in chains and could reach no further than the tip of Hondo's cap. Winter growled in frustration and tugged until she'd worn herself out, trying to reach her captor as he skipped away, further from her reach.
"In my experience, everyone has a price," Hondo tipped his cap to the enraged Zeltron female and took his leave, locking the door behind him.
Winter collapsed to the ground, panting. This was a very bad situation. She needed to find Grievous and get off this piece of junk! But how? Her strength was gone and her fighting spirit was close behind. The situation was dire, even hopeless. She felt the tears in her eyes breach her lashes and fall down her flushed cheeks. With no one to judge her or fault her now, Winter buried her tear-ridden face into her hands and wept bitterly, not just for the present situation, but for all of it.
Below deck, struggling himself to be free of his chains, General Grievous was far from beaten. He'd fought and triumphed over greater foes than the likes of Hondo Ohnaka, he reminded himself. He needed to remain confident, not showing an ounce of weakness to anyone. Not even to Winter. Especially not to Winter. If only he was stronger...
BUZZZZ! BUZZZZ! The sound was faint but he clearly heard it coming from his comm link. The pirates hadn't thought to search him for anything but weapons and so his comm was still attached to his forearm and in working order. How fortunate! Grievous whispered his voice activation code quietly to access the comm without alerting the protocol droids. As the comm turned on he noticed noise coming from it. It was faint and almost inaudible but he continued to listen carefully. It sounded almost like...Crying? Why would that be registering on his end and from who? Grievous leaned in as close to his arm as possible to make out the identity of the voice.
"Jedi," he gasped.
He didn't recall Winter being given a communicator. How could she have accessed his personal comm link?
"Jedi, can you hear me," Grievous whispered again into the comm.
After a couple moments of hearing his voice call to her, Winter realized who it was that was speaking. How she could hear him she didn't know, but she was oddly glad to know he was there.
"Yes, it's me. Where are you? And how can I hear you," her voice shook as she wiped her face dry.
Grievous heaved a sigh of relief. "I don't know. But we can communicate and that's all that matters right now. From the looks of it I'd say I'm below deck, somewhere in the brig. But those imbeciles have me chained. What about you? Are you free," he questioned her, hoping the answer was yes.
"No, I'm chained up as well," Winter sighed in frustration, "I've tried getting free, but they're too strong. I just can't."
"Stop! Enough. You need to focus. This is not the time to give up. We need to," the clearly irritated droid commander faltered even as he uttered it, "work together. That's the only way we're getting off this thing. Do you understand?"
Winter was speechless. He actually wanted to work together, like as a team? That was perhaps the most unusual thing she'd heard in all the time she'd been stuck with this droid. That stun gun must really have shocked his system, she chuckled to herself.
"What's the plan?"
General Grievous thought for a second; was there a plan? If given more time he could come up with something acceptable, but seeing as how time was not on their side he needed to improvise.
"You're a Jedi, aren't you," he couldn't believe what he was about to ask, "Can you not tap into that power, the Force, as you call it?"
Winter was shocked. "Wait, you want me to use the Force to free us...Really?"
"What do you want? You want me to beg," he snapped.
"No, I just thought," Winter backpedalled.
"Don't think. Just do," Grievous ordered and ended the call; he'd lost his patience.
He couldn't believe he was leaving their freedom up to the Padawan and the "Force". What would Count Dooku say? Going against his better judgement, Grievous groaned deep from the pit of his core. Had he finally lost his senses? Perhaps.
