The Akurian Queen

With enough clearance behind the shorter Jedi, Dan trained his gun on Torik.

"So what's your excuse, then?"

Again, an impasse. Hopefully Novgorod heeded his demands. Right now they were very, very alone.

Dan waited for that moment. The moment where someone blinked, or something changed almost imperceptibly.

"I have numbers," came the smug retort.

"Numbers that you simply do not have. A woman with a light sword won't do you much good in the grand scheme of things, my friend. Blasters however, will."

The stormtroopers were close enough now that one could almost reach out and touch the Jedi barring their path.

"Of course, the key is to make sure you have more guns than the other guy... "

Torik gave the Jedi a wink.

"... or gal."

But, they could not be here for the rest of the day, and the bounty that he stood to collect on these two was enough to make him hurry things along.

"It's time to give up, General. Lay down your weapons and come peacefully; you may be given fair leniency in whatever the Empire has planned for you." He of course didn't care one way or the other what the Empire did to these two; the credits were enough for him to forget entirely about them on his way out of the system.

And as if to punctuate the privateer's words, the stormtroopers rushed the three rebels.

She could've reached out and touched the Imperial soldiers had she so wished; instead, s'Il stood poised, unwilling to be distracted. Even as they lunged forward she was prepared, her saber coming around in a smooth arc to take the arm off the trooper closest to her. He went down, but not before knocking her off-balance as he fell, and before she could right herself, star exploded into her vision.

She stumbled to the side, shaking her head as she felt gloved hands close around both arms, pushing and pulling her down to the deck.

In the scrum, Dan fired, missing wide right of Torik's face. He adjusted for a shot on one of the advancing stormtroopers, but he was on him faster than anticipated, with a stun rod jammed hard into his side.

He collapsed into a heap alongside Lok, suddenly lamenting the intangibles being against him for once.

The pilot had been taken to the main hold, left to sit bound with the other commando who'd initially been left behind, and it wasn't long before the shuttle itself was released, left in space to eventually fall through Akuria II's atmosphere. With Novgorod having slipped back to the outer edges of the system, he was free to do as he wished, and Torik took a certain delight in the temporary power he held over the stormtroopers on his ship. He directed them to place the Jedi and the General separately, in the two extra bunks that the Akurian Queen had. Each had of course been secured with binders, and their weapons confiscated. Beirhannon had seen to it to inspect whatever personal items they'd had, and it was something he'd found in the jacket of the general that piqued his curiosity enough to step inside the room holding Dan.

Torik held up a small box as he leaned back against the far wall.

"Don't see one of these in the hands of people like you very often," he sneered.

"People like me?"

Dan leaned against the wall of the bunk, keeping an inscrutable face in the midst of his captor. His eyes went to the box, and then back to Torik's face. Who was this man? He was taking an unhealthy amount of interest in his life.

"Yes, people like you. Right now, friend, Rebels are seen in lower standing than even smugglers, which is what allows men like me to make money off men like you."

He opened the lid, giving the ring inside an appraising look.

"How much did you spend on this thing... if you spent any credits on it at all, even."

He snapped the box shut once more, stuffing it into his own jacket pocket.

"No matter; it'll net a decent amount of credits regardless, on top of what I'm getting for you two."

"What's your game?"

This was becoming irritating. Dan just wanted to know why this asshole even took the time to twist the knife. If there wasn't more to this, it was dirty and unprofessional.

"I'm caught. Money in hand. End of story. You keep taking a shine to these little projects, and someone's going to take it personally one day."

Another smirk, and Torik pushed away from the wall.

"Hardly."

He keyed the door open, stepping backwards through the doorway while giving a mock salute to Dan.

"It's been fun, Dan."

And with that, the door closed.

She was only aware of as much as her captors allowed her to be, which considering the inhibiting drugs that she'd been pumped full of, was not much. She was conscious, but everything had become dulled. Lying on the cot in the bunk she'd been non-too-gently stored within, the Jedi gave a light groan as she felt the ship shudder gently. They were descending into Akuria II's atmosphere, and it wouldn't be long until they landed.

His clearance codes had been given, and Torik spent a few lingering minutes watching as the autopilot took them down into Akuria II's atmosphere. He scratched at an itch on his arm, and blew out a long breath from between his lips.

Finally he leaned forward, switching the controls to manual and bringing his ship the rest of the way down. Cruising low, he brought the Akurian Queen over a mountainous, snow-capped ridge before dipping down into the valley below and the unmistakeable base that was nestled along the snowy foothills.

A landing pad became visible, and the privateer brought his craft down gently, wasting no time the moment the landing struts touched the ground. He knew that the Jedi woman would be in no position to use the Force, as the drugs he'd been provided to keep her docile and inhibited had done a wondrous job. It was a wonder she even had the wherewithal to breath, even.

Stepping from the small bridge, Beirhannon grinned to himself, one had stuffed into the pocket of his jacket and turning the small box he'd taken from the General over in his fingers.

It was time to earn his pay.

The subtle shift in engine noise, the inertia change from a gravity well and atmospheric resistance, much less the commotion made by the landing struts gave Dan all the information he needed. They were landing. It seemed that Torik was at least straight with him in one thing - the Empire had a presence here.

Isolated and alone, he could only hope that Lok was in a better state than he was.

She heard the door open, and the tromp of booted feet as they crossed the short distance to the cot she lay on. Her muted awareness allowed her only the ability to acknowledge what was happening, and as the Lupine was grabbed roughly by each arm, she felt her body being dragged up, propped between two stormtroopers like a lifeless marionette.

She felt her feet drag across the deck, and her head fell forward, hair falling into her face as she wrestled with her inner self. She ordered it to respond, to move, to offer resistance. And each command was ignored as her metabolism fought the aggressive drugs that'd been injected.

The Lupine hung limp from between the two stormtroopers, and as they pulled her from the room out into the small corridor, s'Il could only get out a weak groan.

The doors opened at last, and a pair of stormtroopers entered. Dan didn't pay them any mind or look at them. Hard to size a man up who wears a mask, after all.

"On your feet."

Of course, he wasn't going to make it any easier on them than they deserved, and he remained sitting, forcing the two troopers to heft him up and frog-march him out of the makeshift prison. It was there that he saw Lok, on the ground and clearly not herself.

"What have you done to her?"

With an aloof smirk, Torik rounded a corner, coming into view as his two charges were brought out of their rooms. The Jedi had been summarily muzzled, and her limp form helped to give him a sense of assured bravado.

"A precaution, General," was his cheerful answer.

"I can't have a Jedi mentally aware enough to pull mindtricks now, can I?"

He watched with half-lidded eyes as a pair of binders was once more fitted to Dan's wrists.

The sound of the boarding ramp lowering met his ears, and his grin became thin-lipped and determined.

"Time to meet the Maker, Dan."

She was in a muddled and cloudy haze, her world a swirling mass of unresponsive motor functions. All that she could do was force herself to remain conscious enough of her surroundings, and watch as the powers that be had their way with her.

She heard Dan's voice, and then Beirhannon's, but it seemed as though each spoke through a filter that muffled their voices and made them seem so distant. Firm hands hauled her up from the deck by each lifeless arm, and once more she was hefted up between two stormtroopers.

She tried to speak, to interject, to offer some sort of verbal defiance; but even her voice failed her. She felt her handlers move forward, leading the way through the Akurian Queen and down the boarding ramp.

"And yet you're still gloating over me as if you have a personal stake in all this."

Still denying them the satisfaction, Dan didn't cooperate, making them frog-march his body weight along the way to the boarding ramp.

"You're a whore, Captain. If the Empire sees you enjoying it too much, they might start asking why they bother paying for the service."

The bitter wind of Akuria finally could be felt from the opening in the hull, and Dan responded with a grimace.

Following after his two unwilling passengers, Torik let out a laugh as he made his way down the ramp.

"I was only answering your question. This has nothing to do with me enjoying what I do, and more with me making sure that you as... comfortable and informed as can be. Before the Empire sinks their claws into you, that is."

The cold breeze carried with it the sounds of military precision, and he allowed himself a bit of an extra swagger.

The group stopped at the end of the ramp, and he gave a pointed look to the delerious Jedi before turning his attention one last time to Dan.

"You're in luck; by Akurian II's standards, this is a very good day."

The Rebel commander squinted his eyes against the bracing blast with its stinging flakes.

"I'll make sure to mention it on the postcards I send."

Dan again looked to Lok, still a thrall to whatever sedatives coursed through her veins.

"Still, not quite sure I follow why you'd care. Trying your hand at playing soldier?"

"Your safety and health means I get paid in full. It's far more for selfish reasons than me actually caring about your state of mind."

The group stopped long enough for the rest of the stormtroopers to disembark with the captured Rebel commandos, and in no time at all they were moving once more.

The base itself was not large, as it had been given outpost status at best; but there were still facilities enough to house those that had gone crossways from the Empire. A smattering of snowtroopers stood at the entrance to one of the small bunkers that dotted the small area, and when a black-clad officer emerged, they snapped to attention.

Torik gave a nod to the Imperial as they drew close.

"Fine day, Commander Durrin, wouldn't you say?"