Some ill-advised general once claimed that hungry soldiers made for more ferocious warriors. The more scarce and horrible the food, the more rage they would show in battle. Though it had been largely disproved over History, it seemed that Lady Elsbeth still believed in the cruel principle. This was Shin's only logical conclusion as she put down her watery cup of stimcaf and stared at her frugal breakfast. Picking up her fork, she poked at the pale recomposed omelet in her plate, scrapping the driest lumps off of it, in search of more edible ones.
She'd been dwelling all night long on last evening's "talk" with Sabine. She hadn't expected the girl to be fully cooperative. Shin herself had driven a lightsaber blade through her guts, leaving her for dead, after all. Then Baylan had killed her Master, forced the girl into surrender, and taken her prisoner. Sabine was entitled to be a little salty about them. But Shin hadn't expected such a trivial interrogatory to blow up like that in minutes.
I should've pressed the interrogation then and there. That idiot was finally quiet. She thought. But retreating for the night had seemed the better choice. If Sabine's look last night was any indication, the girl would have resisted her out of pure spite after she choked and threatened her. She had underestimated how stubborn the Mandalorian girl was. Shin bet that there wasn't even any critical intel for Sabine to spill, but if she hadn't already been resisting out of principle before, she would now, for the symbol of it. Those fucking Jedis and their principles. You would think they'd have had enough of dying for the sake of it, she rambled.
"I take it that the so easy task of recovering mundane information from Miss Wren has defeated you, hasn't it ?" Toned Baylan's voice behind her shoulder.
Shin didn't jump, having felt him approaching a minute ago. Master Skoll never woke up exceedingly early, and she had hoped for a moment of peace in the mess hall, as she decided how to proceed next, before having to confess last night's debacle.
"I've set the tone with her, I'm just not… rushing it, is all." Mumbled Shin, nervously breaking apart and picking at her omelet.
Baylan sat across her at the table, setting down his own cup of stimcaf. He started to stir it mindlessly, not looking directly at Shin.
"If Lady Elsbeth's guard's report is any indication, I'd say you've set quite the loud tone." Her Master stated. He took a sip from his cup, casually, before putting it down again, then darted at Shin in all seriousness.
"Shin, I realize that I'm the sole person on that ship who sees an interest in keeping the girl alive. That's all right. I can't expect everybody to foresee things as I do. It is my burden to steer the present into the most desirable future, even when nobody believes in the path I discern."
He put his cup aside, leaning into the table to get closer.
"Nevertheless." He continued, in a grave tone. "It is important everybody believes in my word. And I can't seem to nurture the thought of a disobeying apprentice either."
Shin's breath shortened. Baylan's ice-blue eyes suddenly felt like the cold embrace of a frozen lake. Shocking, deadly, unequivocal. She shivered, desperately wanting to break eye contact, but not daring to.
"So when I give a prisoner my word she'll be unarmed, but she requests a medical kit to her guard after you visit her… then there's a contradiction of sorts". Rasped her Master, in cold anger.
Shin finally lowered her eyes to her plate, trying to find some composure in poking around with her fork, thoughtlessly shredding the poor omelet to a pulp.
"I… I misjudged the right approach. The girl is fierce, and things got out of hand. Nothing… too serious." She gulped, staring intensely at her fork, not daring to look up at Baylan again. He said nothing, obviously not yet content.
"I'm sorry…" Se said finally. "I'll work her more intelligently."
"I suggest you do." Said Baylan coldly. He stood up firmly, visibly done with her for the moment, and started to walk toward the ship bridge. "Oh and Shin ?" Midway out, he stopped, shooting her a severe look.
"Please don't play with your food." He said, sharply. "It's bad-mannered."
He walked out of the mess hall, and Shin's shoulders fell as she let a long breath out. She'd been a bit overstating to Sabine how easily she could choose to disobey Master Skoll.
Shin shot out the elevator one's more into the brig's deck. If I can even rough her up, then yesterday is a carnage, she thought. She'd had to go back in with an empty promise to torture and kill her. If Sabine called her bluff, she had no avenue to go on. And if she switched gears to a more manipulative approach, she would have to walk back yesterday's confrontation. Either way, she hated her chances.
But her trail of thought got interrupted by a sudden stream of muffled screams and loud noises coming down from the brig. As thick as the ship doors were, she distinctly recognized Sabine's voice amongst the screaming. Is that girl ever shutting up? What the fuck is she rioting about again? Rambled Shin, pressing her pace.
She stepped into the brig and the screaming got loud, Sabine's voice high-pitched in anger.
"I SAID FUCKING NO. BACK OFF YOU SON OF A BANTHA !"
"Come on. Shut up and be quiet now." Said a croaking masculine voice.
Shin turned to the cell, to find the door wide open. The guard, the one from yesterday, wasn't at his post but inside, his helmet off, brawling with the Mando girl. He shoved her face down against the bunk and started to pull the Mandalorian girl's pants off. Sabine struggled against her cuffs, trying to get back up, but the guard pressed a button on his wrist pad, and a jolt of electricity sprung from the handcuffs. Crying in pain, Sabine fell down again, dazed. The guard then started to unbuckle his own belt with a very obvious intention.
Blood and rage flowed to Shin's head as she realized what was going on, every heartbeat drumming so loud in her temples that she mindlessly counted them.
Dudum. One.
She pulled the guard so hard with the force that he shot back out of the cell faster than if towed by a speeder. Flying past Shin in the brig's corridor, he crashed loudly on the wall behind her, loud ominous cracks stating he was down a few ribs. Shin's lightsaber, already out in her hand in a reversed grip, hissed to life. She didn't even look as the crimson blade shot through the man's chest. Shin's senses got overwhelmed with the acrid smell of burning flesh and the sharp cry of the guard. Sabine had spun back up and was looking at the scene with bewildered eyes.
Dudum. Two.
She killed the saber's blade and still turning her back on him, she force-choked the man a couple of inches into the air. She calmly pressed her saber's nozzle under the man's belt, facing it upward, and clicked the igniter twice, slowly.
Dudum. Three.
The man fell down in a cloud of black smoke, agonizing and grasping at his chest in disbelief. Shin had made sure the blade pierced every possible vital organ on its way, turning the man's entrails to a burnt goo.
Silence fell again on the brig, curls of dark smoke dancing in the pale orange light. Sabine was standing at her cell's door, her eyes jumping back and forth from the guard's dead body to Sabine. Her mouth stood wide open in shocked surprise.
Shin kicked one of the guard's arms out of her way as she marched to Sabine. Glancing at the girl's foot towing the cell's threshold, she gestured her back.
"Into the cell, now." She said, a bit more coldly than she intended.
Sabine walked backward into the cell like didn't dare turn her back on Shin, shaking a little. She tried to muster some form of composure, visibly resisting the urge to sit down on the bunk bed.
"I had this. Kinda. But… thanks, I guess." Said Sabine, avoiding Shin's gaze.
"You mind telling me what happened?" Asked Shin, forcing herself into a neutral tone. Sabine snorted at the question, gesturing in a resigned way.
"I just asked this assbucket for a sanitary kit and a fucking pillow. Your boss didn't spring for the guest linen package here. And my last shower was days ago, I reek." Said Sabine, pinching her disheveled vest in disgust.
"And?" Pressed Shin.
"And apparently, that didn't deter your guy so much because he decided on a price I was not willing to pay, and tried to collect anyway." She shook her head in disbelief. "I said no and I smell like a dead tauntaun for the Force's sake! Are you all a bunch of fucking animals? Seriously, you guys got problems." Ranted Sabine, in disbelief.
"Did he have time to…?" Started to ask Shin, wary.
"No." Cut Sabine, cranky. "You turned him into womp-rat kebab a tad late to my tastes, but not too late."
She finally looked Shin in the eyes. And here we go again, thought Shin, flinching at the steely hazel intense stare. The girl was shaken, but the fire in her eyes was already coming back raging. Something pinched In Shin's guts: a mix of respect and interest, and even a hint of waryness. Without the cuffs, thought Shin, she would have painted the cell's walls with that guy. He shocked her with the highest setting, and she is already back up, she runs on pure might. The girl is savage.
Shin took one of her gloves off, and crouched over Sabine, starting to feel the girl's wrist for burns and bruises around the cuff. She did reek, but there was something intoxicating about her salty smell and sweaty face, fight and fire just perspiring and clashing with that underlying femininity of her. She does her nails, noticed Shin, mindlessly fiddling with one of Sabine's fingers. The black polish was quite scratched though, probably from their fight on Seatos. She lingered half a second too much, she realized, as the Mandalorian girl retracted her hands in awkwardness. Shin felt a small pinch inside at the girl's cringed expression.
"Yup, thanks, I'm ok. I've… had my share of being felt up today if you don't mind." Sabine said, bitterly.
Shin stood, taking a step back from her, a little sheepish.
"I'm sorry." She said. "For…" She let her sentence trail, awkwardly, back under the fire of those fierce Mandalorian hazel eyes. "Well uh… I'm sorry is all. I'll deal with the mess."
Feeling an unnatural blush coming to her cheeks, Shin turned heels, shutting the door behind her. But she was stopped in her momentum by Sabine's voice, echoing out the cell's window.
"Hey, I don't know why you killed your guy over me back there. I thought he'd be in line with you sucker-punching me yesterday. But anyway. You know… I'm not mad that you did, or whatever."
Shin took a deep breath, trying to reply in a matter-of-factly tone.
"My Master did say no harm would come to you. I might disagree personally, but nobody else here will disrespect his word on my watch. It's my job as an apprentice. That's all." Said Shin, replying over her shoulder.
"Ok then. I got it. You're not nice and all. Gee." Sighed Sabine through the cell door. "Now since you're sweet-talking me so much maybe you could jump a few bases and do something about those cuffs before you lea…"
Not waiting for Sabine to finish, Shin strolled out of the brig, force-dragging the guard's corpse behind her and throwing it out into the main corridor. She pulled her comlink, tuning to the service frequency.
"Send garbage disposal on cargo deck, corridor five. Right now. And a mop droid to the brig. No guard or living crewmember comes inside the brig again unless I or Master Skoll says so." She said.
The crewmember who took the call copied awkwardly but didn't discuss the orders.