MC: AOTE: Fraught With Disappointment

[Rogue Nine]

Conn laughed at Beryl's exclamation. "I knew you were planning something, Psycho." He waggled a finger at her. "You were always too smart to be caught by the Imperials."

 

The radiation scanner ground to a halt, silencing the droning hum. Conn stood up quickly and moved over to Sam. "Well, I'm sure that was aurally pleasant for you," he said, guiding her back to the table. Sam merely nodded, a finger in her ear, trying to rub the humming out of her eardrum. Sitting her down, Conn gestured for Beryl to follow him over to the machine. Pointing her to the yellow circle, he punched a few sequences into the console and started it again. "Have fun," he said, giving her a toothy grin as he made his way back to Sam to administer her midi-chlorian test.

[starmark2k]

((OCC-I'm running out on things to do on this day so can someone tell me how long it'll be until we get to day 3.))

 

Nic was once again shackled to the wall by metal bands around his wrist. He had two metallic devices attached to his head on either side of his cranium. Nic withered in agony and he screamed out in pain, the commander and two officers stood away from him, watching him.

 

The commander held a small remote in one hand and a stop watch in the other. He smiled and occasionally looked down at the watch that was ticking away. After a few more moments the commander looked at the timer one more time then held out the remote and pressed a button.

 

Two lights on both the devices attached to Nic’s cranium flashed on once then turned off. Nic's legs gave way completely from underneath him and he fell to the floor with his weight being held completely by the Shackles. He breathed heavily and tried to pull himself back on to his feet but all his strength had now abandoned him.

 

"Interesting Mr White, most people pass out after two minuets of this treatment and you lasted the whole ten." The commander announced. “So, What do you know about the Prisoners you were transporting?”

 

“Do you really want to know?” Nic asked.

 

“Of course.”

 

“O.K.” Nic replied. “They are your biological parents.”

 

The Commander sighed and pressed the button on the remote again, the lights on the devices on Nic’s head lit up and he began to scream in pain.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Kriss continued to watch the monitors before he turned around and faced Jana. “I’ve heard those strong with the force create bonds with people they spend a lot of time with. They can feel the other person presence, feelings and even the pain they feel. Can you feel his pain?”

[JasraLantill]

As the radiation scanner began to hum around her, Beryl silently berated herself for blurting out her intentions of escape to Conn. She was still worried about the Imperials knowing the results of her midi-chlorian test--after all, despite 'feelings' that told her Conn wasn't intending her any harm, he hadn't said he would help her escape or agree to come with her either. She just hoped that whatever happened, Conn would give her and Sam the clearance that they needed to get to the other facility as Beryl was certain that was where Ryshana was being held. If the Imperials found out later that Beryl was a Force Sensitive and a threat, so be it. She'd deal with that later.

 

Beryl then began to think about what she had to do in the next couple of days. After she and Sam gained entrance to the other facility, the first order of business would be to establish where Ryshana was being held. Of course, Ryshana didn't know that Sam would be accompanying her, but it was too late to do anything about that now. Second, she had to assess the security measures for the facility and figure out a way around them. And third..., third...,....

 

The humming was growing louder, permeating her entire body it seemed, and she was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate.

 

Third, she had to recruit Sam into going with them. That wouldn't be difficult. Beryl couldn't imagine that anyone would actually want to stay given the chance to leave. And lastly, she had to plan out their escape route. That would take some doing, but she would have a better idea of the prison's layout once she got into the other facility. And if this place had indeed been a mining colony before a being a prison, it was more than likely that there were alternative cargo bays someplace that had been used to transport the materials in and out of the mines.

 

Finally, Beryl felt the scanner's hum begin to decrease, and then felt Conn tap her shoulder. She saw his lips mime words as he gestured her to sit in a chair next to Sam.

 

"What?" she said to him, taking a finger and rubbing her ear. Either her hearing had been severely affected by the scanner, or he was pulling her leg, but she thought he had said that the tests were over.

[Grace]

Jana smiled sweetly at Kriss. "You know, there's a logical answer to that question, given the amount of time I've spent with him. That answer is that yes, I feel his pain and that, not only do I feel it, but I resent it. That resentment could cause me to vent some anger on you, as you are the one who ordered this torture."

 

Reibe tensed, as if expecting Jana to do something to Captain Raikeeli. But she did not, instead turning her eyes back to the monitors. "However, not all minds think logically. Yes, I feel his pain. No, I do not regret it. Pain is something a Force-user must become intimately familiar with. So instead of attacking you, I'm going to thank you. The training I am receiving from the torture of your brother is infinitely useful."

 

Reibe smiled faintly, surprised at Jana's calm response, but pleased with how well she'd reacted to the question that ought to have set anyone else off in a fit at Kriss Raikeeli.

[steven]

After several hours of torture and testing, Jack was sent back to the cell with the others. "Hey guys, long time no see, anything happened while I was away?" Jack asked Cloud and Oliver.

[Grace]

"Well, it's sorta hard to tell, what with us being locked away in here," Cloud answered slowly. "But it seems that Jana's friend Reibe is aboard as a... interrogator, I think, or maybe something more. Anyway, she's seen both Jana and Nic so far... and for a little while, she had Jana pretend that her mind had been completely wiped clean."

 

"But this morning, Jana came down here unguarded," Oliver said. "And she said something about Reibe training her to use the Force."

 

"Which makes no sense, since we all know Jana's never been Force sensitive," Cloud cut in. "But I guess maybe... she hides it well?" He shrugged.

 

"Oh, and Nic's away being interrogated again, I think," Oliver finished. He shrugged. "That's about it, really."

[steven]

"Reibe... I can't stand that women," Jack cursed. "Wait, your saying Jana's is a bloody Force Adept? Create, not another one. I thought we'd have enough of them." Jack muttered to himself. "Okay, any idea on how we're escaping?"

[Grace]

"Well, as much as you can't stand Reibe, I almost hope she's involved in the escape," Cloud muttered. "Somehow, I expect something pretty damn spectacular out of her... Jack, you wouldn't understand this, but through the Force she feels... the only way to describe it is 'wierd'. Like she's there... but not there, and yet was there... and will be again... oh, I don't know. Just wierd."

[steven]

"I also hope she's involved in our escape, because I'm just scratching for a reason to throw her down a flight of really long stairs," Jack replied "You see Cloudy boy, I've heard rumours about Reibe.."

[JasraLantill]

Beryl's hearing had returned, and it looked like Conn was now running Sam's midi-chlorian test in the machine. Sam seemed unconcerned about the whole affair. Beryl, on the other hand, was still a bit concerned. Would Conn support her in her plans to escape, or would he turn her in to the Imperials in exchange for a better position for himself? She wasn't entirely sure. It had been a long time since she had seen Conn. And people changed. Especially, when they worked for the Imperials.

 

"So, Doc," she started, "So, how much more testing do you have to do? I mean, are we finished? Are we getting our clearance to work in this 'mysterious' other section? Don't want to be depriving those people of clean sheets and clothes, now do we?"

[Rogue Nine]

"Oh no, perish the thought," Conn replied wryly as he scanned a passkey through his terminal, then gave it to Sam. Then he beckoned to Beryl and indicated for her to take a seat on the table. When she was seated, he took a fresh needle and inserted it into her arm. "Standard procedure, just squeeze the gauze pad until you fill the little baggie up," he told her.

 

"Joy," Beryl said, rolling her eyes and complying.

 

Conn moved over to a cabinet and pulled out a number of pill bottles. Shaking a few out, he placed them in a tube container and handed them to Sam. "You know the drill," he told her, shaking a finger at her. "You get caught with these..."

 

"They didn't come from you, I know," Sam replied, grinning cheesily.

 

"Good girl," Conn said as he strode back to the table where Beryl had already filled up 3/4ths of the blood packet. "I think that's good enough," he stated, deftly removing the needle from her arm and placing a bandage over it. He took both Sam and Beryl's blood packets and placed them into a freezer by his desk. Reaching for another passkey, he tapped at his terminal a few times and swiped it over, then gave it to Beryl. "Okay kids, here's how this works. I finish running my tests and find out everything is satisfactory, those passkeys will activate, giving you access to the other facility." He gave them a guarded look. "They do things a bit differently over there, so be careful, all right?"

 

Both women nodded at him.

 

"Well then, you've both been lovely patients, but I'm afraid you've got to go now," he said, shooing them out the medbay door. As they exited, Conn called out, "Ach Beryl, you forgot something."

 

Beryl looked at him curiously. "I did?"

 

"Yeah, you did," he replied, placing something in her hands. Before she could look at it, he gently pushed her out the door. "Take care, B," he whispered in her ear as he turned back into his medbay, the door sliding shut behind him.

 

Conn paced back to the midi-chlorian tester and opened it. Sam's blood sample was running, but the tube containing Beryl's was sitting inside a hidden crook in the door, untested. He pulled it out, then tossed it into the incinerator by the door. He strode back to his desk, then slumped into his hair and rubbed his eyes. "Here we go," he sighed to the sterile medbay air.

[steven]

"What was the all about?" Sam asked as Conn's door shut, refering to the object Conn had handed Beryle not a minutes before them.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl shrugged and shook her head at Sam's query. She began to open up her fist to see what it was that Conn had pressed into her hand before pushing her out the door, but then closed it tight again as Darryl soon appeared around the corner of the corridor.

 

"There you are!" he said, shaking an irritable finger at the two women. "I was sure that I had something important to attend to, but when I got to the security checkpoint, I'd forgotten what it was. It was only when the guards asked me about you two that I remembered I was supposed to be escorting you to get your clearance from the doctor!" He sighed. "I only hope the Big Cheese doesn't get wind of this oversight on my part."

 

Damn, Beryl thought. Need to concentrate harder next time.

 

"Well, Darryl, you obviously have a very stressful job," Beryl said smoothly. "And it's been documented that people with stressful jobs sometimes have momentary lapses of memory. It's perfectly normal."

 

Darryl frowned worriedly. "Normal?"

 

Beryl nodded. "There was a recent article about stress in the HoloNet News."

 

"Really?"

 

Beryl nodded again. "Really." There was always an article about stress in the lifestyle section of the HoloNet News. Beryl inwardly grinned. Whether or not the most recent one specifically mentioned memory lapse as a symptom of stress, she couldn't remember. Obviously due to too much stress, Beryl thought amusedly.

 

"Besides, Darryl, the Doc seemed to know what he was doing," Beryl continued. She looked askance at Sam, then nudged her gently with her elbow. "Didn't he, Sam?"

[steven]

"Huh? Sorry... The Doctor? Oh yeah, very persesional. This time he only stared at us when we got naked, not like the last Doctor, don't let me get started, Beryl let me tell you, your glad you got arrested when you did," Sam said as he streched behind her ear.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl raised an eyebrow at Sam's confession about Conn's unprofessional predecessor. Strangely, Darryl let out a longing sort of sigh.

 

"Ah, yes... Doctor Gossen...." He let out another mournful sounding sigh. "He had a great bedside manner. And those dreamy brown eyes. And lovely soft voice. And such large soft hands, and...." Darryl cleared his throat as he noticed Beryl's inquisitive smirk. "Yes, we have to deal with Doc Harlowe instead," he said briskly. "By the way, he did give you two your clearances, right?"

 

Beryl held up her passcard. "He gave us these, so, yeah... I suppose so."

 

Darry snorted. "Well, then let's go."

 

"Where are we going?" Beryl asked as she and Sam started to follow him. "Back to our cells?"

 

"Your cells?" Darryl laughed. "Try the mines. There's still six hours of the shift left today. And the warden doesn't like people lazing about."

 

"And the Big Cheese doesn't like upsetting the warden," Beryl concluded.

 

Darryl grinned. "You catch on fast."

 

Darryl led them past the security checkpoint, and then instead of taking the lift down to the cell block, he led them down a long corridor. At the end of the corridor was an industrial sized cargo elevator.

 

"Well, there you go," he said. "When you get down there, you'll be given tools and an assignment. You can travel back with the rest of the prisoners when it's time to go."

 

Beryl smiled grimly. "Great."

 

Darryl grinned broadly. "Not really. It's dirty, dusty, and, from what I've heard, it's hard physical work." He looked at Sam. "Don't worry. Sam knows the drill."

 

Darryl pushed the lift button, the door closed, and Sam and Beryl were alone in the elevator on their way down to the mines.

 

Beryl finally opened up her hand to see what it was that Conn had given her. Seeing it, she gasped.

 

"A datastick?" Sam asked.

 

"No. Not a datastick." Although Beryl was positive that her midi-chlorian test results were on this stick, there was something more important on it--a message on a piece of flimsi that read, 'take me with you.'

 

"A message," Beryl said. "Sam, in case you haven't figured this out, we're escaping, you and me." She smiled. "And Conn's coming with us."

[starmark2k]

((OCC- Again sorry about the lateness of my reply, but i shot my self in the foot with a nail gun and Overdosed on Indigestion tablets so i've been in and out of hospital... Begin the sympathy ... Anyway i'm up and running (well limping) and i can breath without having a tube up me nose.))

 

"Thats Interesting" Kriss Raikellii replied smiling. "Most people would feel empathy, few people outside the empire can witness such treatment and not feel anger, especially when they know the victim so well."

 

Kriss looked up at the moniters again and watched as the torturer picked up the modified stun baton and began stabbing Nic with it. "Well if you'll excuse me there is somthing i must be getting on with but please stay and enjoy the show."

 

Kriss stood up and walked pass Reibe and Jana.

______________________________________

 

In the Cell Three trooper walkedinto the cell where the rest of the crew were kept prisoner. Two of them held their weapons out and pointed them at Jack and Cloud. The third Troop walked over to Oliver and grabbed him. "come with us!" he ordered pulling Impe to his feet and dragging him out of the cell.

[JasraLantill]

The mines were as Beryl had expected—dingy, dank, and dismal. Although most of the actual ‘mining’ was done by droids, a great deal of lifting, hauling, and transporting the mined minerals (which Beryl soon found out was Duralium and Lanthanide) was done by the prisoners. It was hard, sweaty work, and Beryl was immediately glad that she had secured herself the job in the laundry in the ‘other’ facility.

 

She kept her eyes and ears open a she worked loading up a transport with buckets full of the minerals, casually asking her fellow workers questions about how the ore was mined and transported out of the facility. By the time that she, Sam, and the rest of the prisoners were heading back to their cells, Beryl had found out that not only were the mine shafts all interconnected, but that there was a tunnel that directly connected the mines with the ‘other’ facility. And, there was a transport hanger where twice a week a transport ship would come to take away the raw ore for processing. Tomorrow, she and Sam would head off to work in the laundry in the other facility, and somehow she would need to contact Conn to let him know of her plans to release Ryshana and escape.

 

Beryl reached her cell, tired and sweaty, and lay down on her bunk. Dinner, or at least what the Imps had deemed to call the meal, had been no more appetising than breakfast and the meal sat like a lump in her stomach so she was in no mood to deal with her overbearing roommate Ice, despite having Max the trustee in the bunk across from her.

 

So, when Ice came in complaining that she had heard that Beryl and Sam had secured jobs as laundry workers in the ‘other’ facility, Beryl wasn’t about to back down.

 

“Getting a cushy job in the laundry,” Ice grumbled. “You think you’re better than everyone else here, don’t you, Blondie?”

 

“No, not everyone,” Beryl said, her eyes meeting the steely gaze of the albino Ice. “Just you.”

 

~~~~~~

 

A guard came in to the med bay. “Another patient for you, doc. Small scuffle in the cells,” he said, brusquely shoving Beryl in through the door. “Just patch her up and we’ll be back to retrieve her after we escort the other one to solitary.”

 

“You kriffin’ piece of Hutt slime!” Ice cursed Beryl from the corridor. “You won’t be so lucky next time!”

 

The door shut and Beryl wiped the blood dripping into her eye from the cut above her brow, then gave Conn a smile with red stained teeth. “Hullo again.”

[Rogue Nine]

Conn looked up from his console to see Beryl standing at the door looking decidedly worse for wear than he'd last seen her. She had a cut above her eye and her lips and knuckles were bloody. He shook his head as he quickly rose and strode over to the blonde smuggler.

 

"I distinctly recall telling you to be careful, Beryl," he said as he helped her over to the operating table. "Why is it that no one ever listens to the doctor's orders?"

[JasraLantill]

"Well? How else was I going to get to talk to you? Make an appointment?" Beryl rolled her eyes. "I don't have that much time. Besides, I'm not as injured as I made out." She looked pointedly at him and lowered her voice. "Were you serious?" When he gave her a confused look she added, "The flimsi."

[Rogue Nine]

"Of course I'm serious," Conn told her as he reached into his kit for bacta swabs. "I know you, Beryl. You're way too smart and resourceful to be taken in by the Imps unless you had some sort of out plan." He leaned in, squinting as he dabbed at the cut above her eyebrow. "And it was a little too convenient that you came in with a Jedi. Speaking of which..." He eyed her cautiously. "Did you like my present?"

[JasraLantill]

"Do Wookiees climb trees?" she answered sarcastically. But then, her expression softened. "Yes. I liked it very, very much. Thank you. Although, average men normally choose flowers or sweets for a present. Then again," she grinned, "you're not an average man."

 

She met his eyes and her tone grew more serious. "I'm not one, you know--a Jedi. But I'm getting my friend out. Only... I'm not quite sure how. Yet," she added. "But I've only got a few days. If you're in, I'll need to be able to contact you. Preferably without picking a fight. I don't want to end up in solitary confinement like my roommate did."

[stingerhs]

((i'm going to assume that we're moving on to Day 3))

 

Ryshana's eyes slowly opened as she laid there on her bed in the hospital room. As she stared upwards at the ceiling, she wondered for a moment why she was there. She recognized the place, but there was no denying the hollowness of the memory. The room was silent except for the low hum of computer equipment.

 

Then, a voice interrupted the silence in the room, "Ryshana, report to the exercise room for your daily training session."

 

In an almost mechanical method, Ryshana just sat up in her bed and removed the connector from the back of her head. Turning to her left, she got out of the bed and exited the room. Heading down the hallways, she never stopped looking forward in an almost purely mechanical fashion. It was almost as if she had been wired for what was happening, and nothing inside of Ryshana's mind screamed out in alarm.

 

Finally arriving at the exercise room, Ryshana entered the room and stood at attention. "Ryshana, you'll notice a lightsaber available for you. Pick it up please," the same voice stated over an intercom.

 

Reaching outward with the Force, Ryshana felt a lightsaber about 3 meters away. Reaching out her hand, she used the Force to pull the lightsaber straight to her hand. Across from the room, a hidden door opened, and a skinny woman dressed in a prisoner's uniform hesitantly stepped through. In the woman's hand, a shiv was clenched tightly, and she was noticeably afraid as she stood there sweating and shivering.

 

As Ryshana noticed the woman, she instinctively studied the woman to determine what kind of threat she could pose. Aside from the fear and the shiv the woman wielded, Ryshana could tell that the woman was far from a true threat. "Ryshana, kill this woman," the voice stated calmly over the intercom. Upon hearing, the intercom, the woman just shook her head as she stared at Ryshana.

 

Without hesitating, however, Ryshana activated her lightsaber and reached out with the Force. The shiv that the woman was holding suddenly shot out from her grasp and flew across the room to where Ryshana was standing. Clenching her hand, the woman cried out in both pain and fear as the shiv had cut through her grip. Blood oozed out of her fingers as she looked up to see where Ryshana was.

 

Ryshana was already almost over to her, but frozen in fear, all she could do was to watch Ryshana approach. With her left hand, Ryshana reached out with the Force and lifted the woman off the ground. With the woman in the air, Ryshana then thrust her lightsaber up into the woman's chest as she stood nose to nose with the woman. As life slowly began to leave the woman, all she could see was Ryshana's lifeless and uncaring eyes.

 

From the main entrance of the exercise room, Twerna suddenly appeared as the door opened. "Good work, Ryshana. Now, Ryshana, what is your status?" he asked.

 

Shoving the now lifeless body of the prisoner off of her blade, Ryshana turned around to face Twerna. Standing at attention, she then replied, "Ryshana reporting in. Ready for duty, sir."

[starmark2k]

((I’ll finish off day two then move on))

 

Oliver sat in the chair in front of Captain Raikellii’s desk, His hands were no longer in binds and he was alone with the captain. Kriss looked at the medic intensively with a sinister smile, he occasionally viewed the console screen to his right but always looked back at Oliver.

 

“Is that everything?” Kriss asked the other man.

 

“Yeah, That’s all I know.” Oliver said with a hint of guilt in his voice.

 

“So I’ll catch your crew Red handed trying to free a prisoner of the Emperor, but you will be set free and you will be reinstated.” Kriss replied standing up and looking at Oliver. “Do not think to go back on this deal or you’ll have a bounty on your head so high, you won’t be able to hide.”

___________________________________________________

Day 3

 

Nic’s unconscious body was dragged by the two Imperial officers towards the prison cell where Jack, Oliver and Cloud were. His body had been bruised and burnt from the torture and at some point he must have been knocked out cold. The Imperials got nothing from him but they weren’t actually looking for any information the commanders orders were simply ‘Make him suffer‘.

 

Reaching the cell Nic got thrown into it and his limp body crashed on the cold floor in the middle of the room.

[Rogue Nine]

Conn nodded. Striding back to his desk, he pulled out what looked like a deck of sabacc cards and brought it back to the table where Beryl sat. He held it out to her and she took it.

 

Beryl smirked at him. "I know it's been a while, but now seems hardly the time for us to start playing sabacc again."

 

"Well, I never did get my timing just right," Conn replied as he swabbed at her bloody right hand. "That's a very cleverly disguised comlink." At her surprised look, he grinned. "Yeah, I've been bored here. Treating the miscreants and detritus of society tends to do that to you."

 

"How do I use it?" she asked, looking it over.

 

"The send button is on the side. It's wired to go directly to my voicemail, so you'll have to leave me messages." He shifted over to touch up her split lip. "The signal is encrypted and it piggybacks on a few different intrahub signals, so it's fairly secure. Don't let anyone see you using it, though."

 

Beryl rolled her eyes at him.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl returned to her cell, and collapsed tiredly on her bed. It was lights out, it was dark, and it was quiet. Beryl inhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and tried to ‘centre’ herself with the Force like Ryshana had taught her.

 

She wondered how Ryshana was doing, where she was, and if she was in any distress. Beryl still couldn’t sense her through the Force, no matter how hard she tried, but she knew she was still alive. At least that was something.

 

“Doc patch you up?” Max’s voice asked in the darkness.

 

“Yeah.” Beryl shifted in her bunk. “Shoulder’s still a bit sore though.”

 

“Well, no wonder,” Max commented. “Suppose when someone jumps on your neck it’s bound to hurt a bit. You know, you’re pretty lucky I was here.”

 

“Yeah. Thanks.” Truth was, Beryl wasn’t as injured as she should have been. She had used the Force to cushion Ice’s blows, and by not fighting back, she hoped that Max would assume that Ice had severely injured Beryl. And she had. With the help of the other trustees, Max had quickly intervened in the altercation. Now, Ice was in solitary confinement and Beryl had gotten to speak to Conn, which was what Beryl had intended to happen.

 

“Say, Beryl,” Sam started, “if your shoulder’s sore, I’m a pretty good masseuse. Maybe I can….”

 

“Sam….” Max cautioned.

 

Sam kicked the bunk above her. “Maybe I can help you, Beryl? I’m not claiming to have a healing touch like the Doc, but I can work out kinks pretty well.”

 

Beryl cracked an eye open. “Really?”

 

Beryl could actually hear Sam smile as she rose out of her bunk. “Really!” she said enthusiastically. “I’ll show you.” Sam crossed over to Beryl’s bunk and knelt down near Beryl’s head. “It’s simple really,” she said as she started to massage Beryl’s shoulders. “See, it’s all in the wrist.”

 

Sam’s ministrations felt good and Beryl began to relax, although as she drifted off to sleep she wished it was Conn’s hands on her shoulders….

 

~~~~~~~

Day 3

 

The next morning, Beryl awoke to the sound of the claxon alarm. She yawned and went to stretch, but the frowned as she noticed that Sam was curled up next to her in the bunk.

 

“Morning!” Sam said cheerily. “Did you sleep well?”

 

Beryl stared at her for a moment, then slowly looked over at Max, who was trying to suppress a grin.

 

“Sam?” Beryl turned her head to look at her again. “You do realise that you have your own bunk, right?”

 

Sam nodded. Then grinned.

 

Beryl sighed. “Right.” Beryl cleared her throat and rose from the bed. “Well, c’mon, Smiley,” she said to Sam. “Let’s get to our new jobs.”

 

“I think she has a crush on you,” Max whispered as Beryl passed by her.

 

“No?” Beryl said sarcastically. “You think?”