Obliques: Alone in the Black

"Many a brave Je'daii wayseeker has ventured into Tython's wilds seeking enlightenment, only to disappear and never return. Such is the danger and mystery of own world. How more dangerous might be the worlds beyond?"
Shall Mar, A Life in Balance, 7,537 TYA

112th Year of the Five Brothers
11,347 TYA

Daneel Kayn woke up hurting, bound, and blinded by the fabric over his eyes, but he could still see with the Force. He peered out, seeking his comrades. He sensed Vediah and Jecca both; like him they were bound and frightened, and he tried to send calm he didn't feel.

The Force also told him that, while his fellow Jedi were nearby, they were being kept separate from one another. The only sound Kayn heard was his own breath and the faint drone of an air cycling system. He was alone, wherever he was.

So were Jecca and Vediah. He could feel the three Jedi like islands in a sea of hostile intent. The events on the Run River had taken him in a rush but in the dark he pieced them together easily. The so-called attack had been staged. A trap had been laid and the Jedi had walked right into it. It had almost certainly been laid for the Jedi in particular, which opened a host of unwelcome questions. Their operations in the Corellian system were supposed to be a secret kept by the UPFS, but they'd not been secret enough.

His captors had dropped him on a cold metal deck, blindfolded with hands behind his back, ankles bound. He rolled and flexed as best he could. He reached out to Jecca and Vediah, trying to ask if they'd been badly injured. He had a closer bond with the human and sensed her reply: Battered but nothing serious. From Vediah, he wasn't sure. His heart went out to the young Devaronian; everything she did seemed to end badly, through no fault of her own.

After interminable hours of lying alone, a visitor came. He sensed three hostile minds approach, heard the door open, saw outer light press against the fabric of his blindfold. Footsteps approached and hands roughly seized his head, yanking him into a seated position by tugging on his horns. Finally, those hands untied his blindfold and let it fall away.

Kayn found himself looking up at a figure silhouetted against the doorway's light. The one who'd joined him in this dark room was a Selonian; two thuggish-looking humans stood guard outside. The Selonian crouched in front of him to look him in the eye. Kayn marked the faint stripes on her fur and the mangled left paw, of which only two claws remained.

Which left no doubt as to who'd captured them.

In the common Corellian tongue, the Selonian asked, "Can you understand me?"

"I can," Kayn said. His mouth was very dry.

"I was told we'd taken two humans and a white-furred alien," Two-Claw tapped one of Kayn's horns. "But you're not human at all. I'm betting that gold-head woman's not from Corellia either, given the company she keeps." The pirate leaned closer. "So where are you from?"

"Does it matter?"

"It might." The Selonian lifted her mangled hand and traced the tip of both claws down Kayn's cheek. The touch was gentle but threatening. "How many of your kind are there?"

Kayn reached out to touch the pirate's mind. He hoped to influence her at least enough to push the claws from his face, but he felt a feral rage matched by fierce will. She'd be very hard to influence.

"I asked you a question," Two-Claw warned.

"Just three of us."

"Wrong." The points pressed enough to hurt but just shy of breaking skin. "People tell me things. I never heard anything about that white-furred girl you brought along, but I do know you've got some kind of fishy alien on your crew, and probably more. Plus, that ship you came on is different from the one you've used before. Similar, but different. This one's beaten up."

"What have you done to the ship?"

"My people are looking at it now. I've got good engineers, you know. They love what they're finding."

It sickened Kayn to think of these pirates picking apart a Jedi starship. The technology they'd steal could give them supremacy over the entire Corellian system.

"Maybe you could advise us," Two-Claw said thoughtfully. "If you teach us about your tech, maybe even help us build our own, I could make things good for you here."

"I'll never join you."

"Really?" The claws pressed deeper, piercing Kayn's cheek in two places. "You and me, all your special powers… We could do great things together."

"What powers?" Kayn whispered, though even it hurt.

"The kind you've used to mess with my pirates for months," Two-Claw snarled. "I really do wonder… You people must have come from far away, you've got supernatural abilities that shouldn't even exist, and what do you do with them? You join the police." She shook her head in honest confusion.

"You think I should be a pirate?"

"Pirate?" She snorted foul breath. "If I could do what they say you can, I'd take over the whole damned system. I'd make all five worlds my personal playthings."

"You don't understand us."

The claws pressed again, digging into the fresh wound. "If power doesn't entice you, what does?"

"Do you really care?"

"I have an inquisitive mind."

"We serve something greater than ourselves."

"A religious type?" Two-Claw sounded disappointed. "Hmm… Maybe there's something to it in your case. I'll ask the others when they get their turns."

"Don't hurt them."

"That depends on whether they cooperate."

"The young one, with the white fur… She doesn't even speak your language. You'll get nothing from her."

"A new recruit, is she? Do feel protective of her?"

"Don't you dare hurt her."

"If you help us with that ship of yours, I won't. Otherwise…" She withdrew the claws, withdrew the pain. "I can make things unpleasant for her. And I'll make sure you get to watch."

Kayn felt a surge of anger that begged to be used. He reached out with the Force, felt the Selonian's windpipe running between shoulders and furry head, and knew it would take just a little effort to snap.

But doing that would be surrendering to Bogan, the Force's dark side. He could never call himself a Jedi after that.

And more pragmatically, he was surrounded by dozens of pirates. He couldn't Force-choke them all.

So Kayn only sat there, sneering at the Selonian pirate. Two-Claw rose, turned for the door—

Then spun around and kicked Kayn hard in the stomach. The Jedi keeled over and fell to the cold metal floor, hacking out coughs.

"Think about it hard, my friend," said Two-Claw. "If you don't have a better answer by the time I come back, things are going to be very unpleasant for you all."

Then she turned and stalked out of the room. She didn't put Kayn's blindfold back on but there was no need. When the door swung shut, the Jedi was returned to absolute black.