Chapter 1:

The chore.

There was a constant humming in the Eye of Sion that would just get on your nerves over time. It still had that fresh and oily smell of an uninhabited brand-new ship, and the satisfying melody of newly greased parts clicking and rattling in a muffled harmony. But the frail skeleton of the Eye, designed with no buffering comfort, was relentlessly shaking in a maddening buzz, in its bumpy ride between galaxies. Two days of pointless wandering in the reduced habitable part of the ship made that faint buzz as loud as a room full of angry Jawas.

Whoever designed the Eye went right to the point: tape seven Super Star Destroyer hyperdrive engines together on a big durasteel ring, slap a cheap corvette on it and call it a day. And in due time, I'll find that cost-efficient genius, tie him to its creation, and plot him a scenic tour of the nearest black hole, swore Shin to herself. Sure, Master Skoll might get kinda pissed about it for a minute, but I would argue I'm bringing peace and justice to our forthcoming new Empire, by ridding us of such terrorists.

"You do know I can feel that, right ?" Asked Baylan Skoll, absently, as he sat across her from the table.

Shin managed both the feat of not jumping at the remark, and slowly bringing up a sole eye up in that broody scowl of her. Her lips pursed imperceptibly, but she kept quiet, calling her master's bluff. A futile attempt, of course. Baylan did not even look up from his datapad as he went on, in his calm factual tone.

"Your boiling impatience. I've trained you long enough to know how much you hate that kind of inaction. But surely there are more constructive pursuits to be had here than aimless raging thoughts."

Shin threw herself back on her chair, broodily blowing a string of her hair encumbering her sight in a poorly concealed sigh.

"Sorry Master. I didn't mean for it to show. Although if you'd like to suggest any productive way of spending our time here, I'd surely welcome it." Shin said. Though she immediately froze inside at the realization of her mistake. This tone might just have been a tad over the line. And Master Skoll wasn't in the habit of letting her tantrums go unanswered, as tame as they came.

"Well since you're asking," Baylan said with an innocent smirk, "I do worry about our little prisoner friend of yours. Two days of isolated care with Lady Elsbeth's guards for sole company must have her craving for conversation. I think you could tend to that."

The look Shin gave him was so flat, that turbolasers would have slid on it. But she was, for once, at a loss for words, gaping at him. She expected a punitive chore for her cheekiness, but nothing so outrageously stupid. She waited for some joke's punchline to end her disarray, but her Master met her silence with more of his own, sustaining her glance.

"I… fail to see the productivity in such endeavor ?" Volunteered Shin, raising her eyebrows in a cringed expression.

"Well," replied Baylan with irritating lightness, "She did come willingly to find that Ezra friend of hers. I gather he was a fellow apprentice of sorts. One skilled enough to have made the journey to Peridea in a hostile and fully crewed Super Star Destroyer, and forced none other than Admiral Thrawn into it. Wouldn't you agree it's worth knowing more about such an enemy before we encounter him ?"

This time, Shin rolled her eyes in exasperation, no longer preoccupied to veil it.

"Master, you can't possibly think that the Jedi survived the trip. That dumb Mandalorian girl might delude herself otherwise, but not even her Master seemed to share her naivete." Shin said. "I'm sorry I'm restless, but surely I might expiate it in a different way than fetching intel about some Jedi cadaver ?"

"Well if you're so convinced it's leading nowhere, then it's a perfect exercise for you, my young apprentice." Said Baylan, cheerfully. "We don't have to worry about you failing, should this prove to be above your skills".

"It's not !" Protested Shin, cut to the quick. "I could do it in my sleep. But having me spend time talking to her, for the laugh of it? Please spare me the pain, Master, there's only so much I can endure." She said, in the most bored tone she could summon.

"Then I suggest you bank on such pain as to draw unrelenting power from it, the next time you're delayed in meeting me by such a puny opponent." Said Baylan, coldly.

Shin stiffened at the barbed comment. Obviously, Master Skoll had been more skilled than her at concealing his anger. But he was pissed. Or worse, disappointed, at her failure to retain Sabine away from Baylan's fight with Tano. It did put the map in danger and took a lot of diplomacy from Baylan Skoll to tame the Mandalorian girl. Shin had been too confident in thinking he'd let it go, and now she would pay. There wouldn't be a way around the pointless chore, not in protesting at least. So she stood up, moving toward the mess hall's door in haste, determined to expedite the task. But the deep calm voice of her Master caught her before she reached the door.

"Don't kill her though. I know how… passionate, you get. But tune it down. I promised her she'd make the journey to her friend. Not a pleasant one, but still, I gave my word." He said, firmly.

"No worries. I've already killed her enough times already." Shin said, angrily.

"I was rather under the impression you failed at it enough times." Said Baylan, looking at his datapad absently again. "I suggest you keep up that streak, on purpose, just this once."

Shin refrained from answering. She nodded in acceptance, and stormed out, her pace heavy with rage. Slamming open the turbolift door, she tried to get her composure back as she stepped in. After all, the thought, 'no killing' still leaves lots of wiggle room to make that bitch speak. I might just make this fun. She smirked at the idea.

Taking a last turn on the dimly lit corridors of the ship, Shin hesitated, and stopped her pace, as the brig's door came into view. She had purposely found herself to avoid that part of the ship since they departed. In fact, although she'd paced every other part of the Eye of Sion time and again in her restlessness, she realized she'd steered clear of that deck entirely so far. It wasn't that unconscious, she did want to avoid the girl.

She told herself it was purely sanitary on her part, not wanting to share rancid recycled air with some failed Jedi apprentice. But as she reached for the door's commands, her gloved hand hovered to a stop, in reluctance. There was just something about Sabine that just threw her off. The way that girl just plunged those steeled brown eyes into Shin's glance every chance she got had a way of getting to her. And Shin started to suspect that Sabine had noticed.

Get a grip. She thought. She's just a mad weirdo, there's nothing more to it. Let's just get this over with.

She punched open the brig door and stepped into the narrow corridor. The small brig was dimly lit, faint lights casting long velvety shadows on the walls and floors. There were only two cells, one of which was still empty. One might have been surprised to find fully operational holding cells on such a barebone and utilitarian ship. It was the kind of lesson you had to learn for yourself, traveling the outer rim. But every ship captain would, eventually. Space was wild, and always made for wild encounters.

Right now, though, in the occupied cell, there was only Sabine. One of Elsbeth's guards stood silently in front of her cell door, standing watch.

"Here to see the prisoner ?" He asked, in a weirdly warm tone. "I hope Lady Elsbeth is not sending you to… terminate her stay, I'm getting quite fond of the view… If the trip is gonna take days, I'd rather keep watching cute prisoner girls than patrolling the engine room."

Not willing to even acknowledge his sentience, Shin gave him a nod toward the door, impatiently, and the guard scrambled out without any more words. She went to the cell door, peered over the small triangular window… and almost flinched in surprise as her eyes met the severe look of Sabine, standing in wait behind the cell door, locking on her gaze.

"Booh." Said Sabine flatly.

Shin's blood pressure instantly rose, and she made a conscious effort not to react. She flashed her access card to the lock and opened the cell door, stepping inside. She made a point of bumping Sabine back toward the cell's bunk, but the Mandalorian girl just let herself slouch into it, nonchalantly.

"Oh yeah, sure, come on in, I was headed out but whatever, I can find a minute for a f… freaky… goth sith girl, or whatever." Said Sabine, blasé. "I'll clear my schedule. I'd offer you a drink but as you noticed I don't have drinks. Or a table. I guess your Master's taking his word of keeping me alive to the very letter, and the Force forbids he goes an inch above, right ?"

Shin didn't take the bait and silently scanned the cell, ignoring Sabine's stream of teasing chatter, and trying to pull an annoyed but attentive expression. The best way to tame a bratty prisoner was to not feed them. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sabine was now shutting up and patiently staring at her, though, raising an eyebrow in a weirded-out expression. A short respite as the mando girl heckled her again.

"Uh. Let me guess. You walked in and immediately forgot what you were doing in here? I can help, was it a wallet or keys thing ?"

"Quiet." Cut Shin, finally staring back at her. And immediately repressing a flinch. Those fucking eyes. "Master Skoll wants to know more about Ezra Bridger. So talk."

Sabine stayed silent, staring at her equivocally.

"Was my question not clear? Some complicated words you need me to explain to you ?" Said Shin, irritated.

"Oh sorry, I got confused. Do you want me quiet, or talking about my friend ?" Replied Sabine.

"I want you frozen in carbonite, cut into little cubes, and then poured into the glass of tsiraki I'll need after that talk. But we gotta pick the dreams we make come true, as Master Skoll says. So I'll settle for you answering, now."

"Woaw. I don't think I've ever heard you say so many words at once yet. That had to be tiring for you. You all right? Don't hesitate to sit dow…"

Shin's slap landed right across Sabine's cheeks and echoed sharply in the austere cell. The Mandalorian girl, taken by surprise, brought her cuffed hands to her face in a muffled cry. She uncovered a split lip, blood running down the corner of her mouth. She shot Shin an icy look, furious.

"That's how you want it then? Take those cuffs off, let's see how you do in a fair fight !" Shouted Sabine, boiling.

"My master thought," Interrupted Shin, "That a couple of days here alone would make you think about being cooperative." She paused, locking her dark smokey eyes on Sabine. The mando girl was holding her gaze with wild untamed outrage on her face. "I guess he overestimated your ability to think."

"Oh don't worry, goth girl, I do think about a lot of things" Replied Sabine, wiping blood from her lips.

"A sentient womp rat? Now that's improbable." Stated Shin.

"And yet, right now I'm thinking you're a dumb bitch."

"Impressive. A couple more years of practice and maybe you'll think of a good comeback." Replied Shin, blasé.

"I can make a good comeback. But your haircut won't."

Shin blushed at the shot. It was cheaply out-of-pocket, but she didn't expect it and just stared back in anger. Sabine's smirk turned into an amused grin as she laid back against the bunk's wall. She sparked a satisfied expression, at Shin's pause.

"What's the matter goth girl, wolfcut got your tongue ?" Chimed Sabine.

But she didn't chime long, as she gasped suddenly, bringing her hands to her throat, suffocating and trying to loosen an invisible grasp.

Shin took a step toward her, her hand raised in a grip, and slowly crouched to her level, pressing her force-choke stronger. Blood vessels started to show in Sabine's eyes as well as a hint of true fear this time. Shin continued to stare at her with curiosity, sincerely amazed by the total absence of power of the girl. How the hell did you put up such a fight without any force abilities? She started to drift absently into the memory of their last battle, the fury of it, how she had been exhilarated by the ionized air from their weapons melding with the smell of Sabine's sweat and fear as they had locked in a blade-to-blade standoff.

A loud and sharp rasp from Sabine pulled her out suddenly of her reveries. The Mando girl's face had started to turn blue, the life in her eyes fainting slowly as she was close to losing consciousness. Shin hastily released her force grip, biting her lips in what kind of felt like remorse. Sabine, still cuffed, toppled over to the ground as she scrambled for air in big gasps. She coughed and spat blood on the metal floor, on all fours, struggling to breathe again.

"What the fuck? Sabine croaked, "You half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder! You can't take a shot like a grownup? What the fuck happened to the no harm will come to you part of my deal ?" She sat against the wall, still coughing, trying to regain some measure of composure.

Kneeling to her level, Shin put her hand on the girl's chest, pressing her hard against the wall. She brought her face close to Sabine's, a mere inch between their noses, her smokey blue eyes batting slowly as she locked gaze once more with the Mandalorian girl. Silence fell into the room. Shin paused, calmly, letting Sabine's quickened breathing be the sole murmur to echo between the walls of the confined cell. She could smell the warm and wet breath of the girl, spiked with metallic notes of blood, wash over her own face. Now there was no chance of evading the accusing and yet mesmerizing eyes of her wild prisoner, but Shin met them with a sweet and lethal resolve.

The maddening hum of the ship had quieted in her ears as it gave place to the throbbing beat echoing in her temples. She felt strangely heated and out of breath although the altercation hadn't been much of a physical challenge this time. Sabine, just this once, was now keeping quiet. She held Shin's gaze, but the revolt in her eyes was calmly washing away. It felt like she was about to say something, but swallowed, silently, seeming more and more uneasy, blood pearling out the cut of her lip.

"My Master's promises" Whispered Shin, detaching every word in a menacing calm, "Are just that. His promises. Now it's true that I'm not in his good graces at the moment. Which I owe to your stunts. And I don't want to piss him some more, since he still wants you alive and kind of well. But that's really just an arbitration of what's gonna be more annoying to me. Him, or you. Him getting slightly madder at me, or you, being a naughty girl and adding to my headache. I don't let headaches turn into migraines. I treat them aggressively, promptly, and then…"

She whispered a breeze upon Sabine's face, slowly.

"Then… they're… gone." Breathed Shin, barely audible.

Shin stood up, towering over Sabine tensely. The Mandalorian girl was visibly dumbstruck, breathing sharply.

"So you think about that. And me. And how our conversation should go, next time when I come back." Shin hushed, in a low menacing voice. "Think hard."

Shin turned her heels and went out of the cell, locking it behind her without a glance behind. She almost stormed out of the brig, the masked guard absently waiting outside the corridor. He jumped at her sight and plunged back behind her to resume his post into the brig, as she made her way to the elevator.

Well, that was a shit show. She thought, fuming.