MC: AOTE: Fraught With Disappointment

[Rogue Nine]

Max smirked as she led Sam and Beryl over to the elevators. She pressed her palm up against the reader. It beeped, then turned green, and the doors rumbled open. "Okay, everybody in," she said, ushering the two women into the lift. When they were all inside, Max punched a sequence into the controls, then the lift started again, only it felt as if they were going down.

 

Beryl arched an eyebrow. "Say Max," she started. "Isn't the other facility above us?"

 

Max chuckled. "Yeah, it is. Imps don't want regular prisoners knowing its exact location, however. This lift takes us to the transport to the facility."

 

The blonde snorted as she looked from Max to the drab gray walls of the elevator. "It's not like we can see anything other than the lovely upholstery," she said, waving a hand around.

 

Max shrugged. "I don't make the rules, newsie." She caught Beryl's gaze with her brown eyes. "Speaking of rules, they've got quite a few over there, so I need the both of you to be on your toes. Just 'cuz you were able to finagle your way into these jobs doesn't mean you get to take it easy." She leaned up against the elevator wall. "The Imps never make things easy."

[JasraLantill]

Max was right. The Imps never made anything easy. First, the three travelled down to the mines. There, instead of taking the shuttle to the work area like the rest of the prisoners were doing, they took another elevator down to another underground shuttle station. There they went through another security checkpoint, and then waited for another shuttle.

 

“Good thing we’re not in a hurry,” Beryl commented dryly as the three of them waited for the shuttle.

 

“The Imps are always very careful about who they let go into the other facility,” Max said. “You’ll be closely supervised.”

 

Beryl snorted. “Why? Are they afraid we might starch their underwear?”

 

Max smiled. “Probably. But that’s also the reason why I’m escorting you down here. Once there, you’ll be assigned someone else.”

 

“Someone else?” Sam asked. “I thought you had access to all areas?”

 

“Only in the prison facility. Not in the other one. It’s... very exclusive.” She eyed Beryl over. “You did very well to get assigned to the other facility so quickly. Don’t know many people who could do that after only one day here. None, in fact.”

 

“What can I say?” Beryl said. “I know what I want, I go get it.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

The shuttle soon appeared and the three women boarded. By the time that the shuttle stopped, Beryl estimated that they travelled about three kilometres, given the time it had taken and her guess at the speed they were travelling at. They disembarked and were met by a guard, who barked an order at Beryl and Sam.

 

With deep suspicion Beryl eyed the guard. "A what search?” She looked at Max. “You really weren’t kidding when you said they were tight on security here….”

[steven]

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.

 

"Hey Nicky-boy, get up," Jack said as he lightly tapped Nics cheeks. "nic...Nick NICK! Get your ass up now!"

 

"we need some sort of escape plan you need to be include, cause as much as I'd love to for agreeing to do this, we can't leave you behind," Jack continued, trying to wake him up. He then turned to Oliver and Cloud to say "Gentlemen, this is OUR captain, this strongest out of all of us and he can't take a simple torture session. Don't surpose any of you have a glass of water?"

[JasraLantill]

"I dunno, Beryl," Sam said. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip. "It can't be that bad, and...."

 

"Look, I'm not letting him do a strip search on us," Beryl said matter-of-factly. "He's leering at us already and...." She gave the guard a hard stare. "Hey! Isn't there some sort of Imperial regulation about male guards dealing with male prisoners, and female guards dealing with female prisoners? I'm sure there is. The Empire has regs for everything."

 

"There are no female guards available," the guard smugly replied. "So, get in there." He motioned towards a small cubicle. "Or you go back to the mines."

 

Beryl's eyes narrowed, and she began to concentrate. "Max is a trustee. And she's female. She can do the search for you."

 

The guard blinked. "If you're that concerned about it, the trustee can do the search. She's female."

 

Beryl gave him a quick, but sardonic grin. "Fine." She nudged Sam. "C'mon," she said. "Let's get this over with." She and Sam went inside the cubicle, followed by Max, whose face was displaying utter amusement at the transaction she had just witnessed.

 

Once inside the cubicle, Max did the search relatively quickly. "So, is that how you got this job?" she asked Beryl as she patted her down. "Convincing words? Because I can tell you that's not going to work wth the guards you'll find inside th.... Oh, you won't be needing this." She extracted the sabbac deck from Beryl's pocket, then grinned. "No gambling allowed in there."

 

"And just who am I going to gamble with?" Beryl asked. "Besides, if I bomb out on this job, I'm going to need that."

 

Max considered for a moment. "Fair enough." She handed the cards back to Beryl. "You do realise that people disappear in there for breaking the rules," Max said nonchalantly.

 

"Disappear?" Sam asked. "Like...?"

 

"Like disappear," Max said. "Never to be seen again." Finished with her search, she looked at the two women. "You two be careful in there. There are no trustees there, only Imps."

 

The women all exited the search booth and stood by the guard once again.

 

"They're clean," Max told him. As the guard punched in his security code to open up the outer doors to the facility, she nodded to Beryl and Sam. "Well, I'll see you later. Only people with clearance cards get to go through those doors."

 

"Yeah, see 'ya," Beryl said. The doors opened and she and Sam stepped inside.

 

After swiping their security keys, they went through a series of doors--where the one behind would close before the one in front would open. Great, Beryl thought. Security in this place was definitely tighter than in the main prison area. Just making her mission that much harder.

 

The final door opened and the two women were faced by a man with a medium skin tone and very dark, black hair. He was wearing what Beryl thought to be a Jedi tunic, but the reason why she thought that was mainly because of the lightsaber that hung off his belt, along with a a small, grey box.

 

Beryl and Sam stood there for a moment, then finally, in a tenative voice, Beryl said, "Erm... we're here for the laundry detail."

[Grace]

"I've got a glass of something a little more potent," Reibe said, appearing on the other side of the containment field, Jana close behind her. She handed a cup of something to Jana and gestured to the cell. "In you go then."

 

Jana frowned. "But... we've only just spoken about this. How do you expect..."

 

"I expect because I know how quickly you learn," Reibe interrupted. "Now go on."

 

Jana handed the glass back to Reibe. "You'd better hold this for a second." Reibe took it without a word. Then, Jana took a deep breath and walked slowly toward the containment field.

 

"Think yourself through the particles of the field, Jana," Reibe said softly, barely audible. "You can do this."

 

Zap! Jana staggered back, startled. Then, she whirled on Reibe, giving a highly intense version of her 'look'. "You said I could do it!"

 

"You can!" Reibe shot back. "You didn't think through the particles. You thought past them. There's a major difference. Try again."

 

Jana took a deep breath, closed her eyes and stepped forward with determination... straight through the containment field. Her eyes snapped open wide. "I did it!" she exclaimed. Reibe smiled and passed her hand through the field, handing the glass to Jana.

 

"Now, give that to Nic," she instructed. "It'll give him a little more energy after what he's been through... should keep him alive."

 

Jana propped Nic's head up and poured a little of the drink into his mouth. As an automatic reflex, he swallowed. Then, he choked.

 

"Never said it tasted good," Reibe observed from the other side of the containment field. Jana shook her head in silent frustration.

 

"Nic," Jana whispered in his ear. "Can you hear me?"

 

"Of course he can hear you," Reibe scoffed. "Now concentrate on his injuries. Remember my hand."

 

"You healed that," Jana reminded her instructor. Reibe smirked thoughtfully.

 

"Ah," she said. "Right. But you've got to try."

 

And Jana tried. One of the cuts on Nic's chest began to ease closed, repairing itself. Then, Jana groaned and collapsed. Reibe sighed.

 

"Well, it's a start, I suppose," she muttered.

 

"What have you done to her?" Cloud shouted, rushing to Jana's side and pulling her off Nic. Reibe shook her head.

 

"It's not what I did to her," she corrected. "She overexerted herself." She stepped through the containment field and stooped to lift Jana off the ground.

 

"No you don't!" Cloud shouted, lunging for the short woman. Reibe ducked and Cloud went sailing over her, colliding with the containment field, zapped with an electric surge, and deposited in an ungraceful heap on the floor.

 

"He'll wake up with a terrible headache in just a few minutes," Reibe said calmly, lifting Jana and carrying her out through the containment field. "When he comes to, kindly remind him that he is Force sensitive and ought to know by now how to handle a headache."

 

She started to carry Jana out of the detention block, but she paused for just a moment. "Also, if Nic wakes up, tell him Jana saved his life. And then tell him that he still shouldn't move around much... Jana repaired the cosmetic damage done by that particular cut... he's still got some internal bleeding." Smiling cheerfully, she added, "But don't worry. It won't kill him."

 

With that, she left, carrying Jana back to her room to recover.

[stingerhs]

The man studied Beryl and Sam over for a moment as they stepped off the train as he did with all of the new workers for the Facility. From what he could tell, neither of which was going to pose a threat him much less the security of the Facility, but there was something.... powerful about Beryl that he couldn't quite place right away. If he wasn't mistaken, then she had to be a-

 

"Erm... we're here for the laundry detail," Beryl stated.

 

"I'm aware of that. I was just getting... acquainted with you. Follow me, please," the man stated as he turned around and opened a door. Beyond the door, one could see a long, narrow bridge with no railings that extended out over what looked to be a deep crevice. Off in the distance of almost 300m away, one could barely make out the silhouette of a moderately sized building, and even those that weren't sensitive to the Force could sense a feeling of dread emanating from the building even from the distance.

[JasraLantill]

“Acquainted with us?” Beryl exchanged a guarded look with Sam. “How acquainted does he want to get?” she whispered to her friend. “I signed up to wash clothes and bedlinens, not dirty them.”

 

As the door opened, and the man stepped forward, Beryl took pause. She could see the outline of a structure up ahead, but more importantly, she could feel a foreboding sense of… doom emanating from it. Even the path that led to it looked appropriately dangerous and terrifying. She was really beginning to regret being here.

 

“Whoa. A bridge with no handrail?” Beryl cocked an eyebrow as she stared at the long walkway in front of them. Gingerly, she peeked over the edge. She couldn’t see the bottom, but then again, they were underground and it was sort of dark. “And over a bottomless pit? That’s got to be some sort of a health and safety violation,” she commented wryly. “What happened? Budget cuts before the builders were finished?”

[stingerhs]

"No, its an extra security measure. Without guardrails, there is absolutely no cover for anyone coming or going. The automated turrets located above us and across the bridge on the outside of the Facility will also ensure that no unauthorized personnel can come or go without the proper security measures.

 

As for the ground beneath us, it is approximately 200 meters below the lowest point of the bridge. It is also home to some rather nasty creatures that would love to enjoy the delicacy of your broken body whether it is living or dead. The turrets also serve a two-fold purpose in that sense as it will target any of those creatures that get within pouncing distance of the bridge. As we cross, you will likely hear something that sounds like whispers in the distance. In reality, it is the way these creatures communicate.

 

Now, if would please follow me, there is really nothing to worry about as long as you remain within 2 meters of myself, so stay close," the man replied to Beryl.

 

With that, the man turned around and started walking down the bridge.

[JasraLantill]

“Automated turrets? A 200 meter drop? Nasty, and pouncing, carnivores? Remain within two meters of you?” Beryl didn’t like the sound of any of this, not one bit, and by the look on Sam’s face she didn’t like it either. The Imps sure didn’t want anyone getting out of this place without being noticed. “You guys sure must have some very special ‘laundry’ in this place.”

 

Curious if she could hear the whispery calls of the invisible creatures below, Beryl paused to peek over into the abyss once more, only to have Sam roughly tug on her arm.

 

“Beryl!” Sam hissed, waving her hand to urge her not lag beyond the two-meter limit. “C’mon! Keep up!”

 

As Beryl reluctantly followed their escort, keeping within the two-meter boundary, she indeed began to hear the whispers of the mysterious creatures their escort had mentioned. The space between Beryl’s eyes wrinkled a bit as the whispers grew louder. She swallowed hard. The sounds were very disconcerting--the whispers almost intelligible, but just out of reach of understanding. She started to wonder if they might be similar to what a ‘paranoid’ person might hear. She’d seen a few people, over-worked design engineers mostly, who had gotten themselves so addicted to the stim effects of spice that they heard ‘whispers’ and visciously accused people of talking about them as they walked by, even though no one was. There were probably certain drugs that could be used to induce similar hallucinations, too. Although Beryl wasn’t sure if any of them could be inhaled, she resolved to ask Conn about that the next time she saw him. Perhaps the creatures weren’t real at all, only suggestions in her own mind. If that were the case, perhaps the abyss itself wasn’t as deep as their guide had said it was either. It all required more investigation. But right now, Beryl felt she should just focus on the task at hand—getting to know the facility, the habits and behaviours of the guards, and how things worked around here.

 

As she moved closer to their escort, Beryl asked, “So what happens if we’re more than two meters away from you? Do we get fried by the turrets, or just… dumped off the side to be dinner for something?”

 

“Beryl…!” Sam warned her in a tone just above a whisper. “Stop asking questions!”

 

“Sam, you don’t ask, you won’t know,” Beryl replied in a normal tone of voice. “And last time I checked, ignorance of the rules wasn’t a valid excuse in the Empire’s eyes.” She grinned sardonically. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here right now. And I’m pretty sure that I’d rather get punished for something I said or asked about, than something I did or neglected to do because I didn’t know the rules.”

 

She focused her gaze on their escort leading their way across the bridge. “So?” she asked him boldly. “What happens? Fried by turrets, ripped apart by carnivorous creatures, or….” Her eyes flicked to the man’s lightsaber on his belt. “Or do you just get to slice us up with that over-sized hand-held beam-cutter of yours?”

 

Sam gave Beryl a look of utter disbelief. “Beryl!” she hissed in warning.

 

Beryl knew that Sam was feeling uncomfortable at having what appeared to be an armed Jedi escorting them. But Sam had been a prisoner too long. She no longer questioned anything, merely accepted it as the way things were, and didn’t like it when someone rocked the boat. But Beryl being Beryl, and Beryl being Corellian, she just couldn’t accept rules without first knowing what the consequences were for breaking them. She couldn’t help it—it was just her nature. Besides, she wasn’t entirely sure that their escort was a Jedi—Force-sensitive or not, just because he was wearing a Jedi-looking tunic and carrying a lightsaber, didn’t mean he was any more of a Jedi than she was.

 

“What?” she replied, raising an incredulous eyebrow at Sam. “I just want to know.”

[stingerhs]

The man simply kept looking forward as Beryl asked her questions. When she finally asked the last one, he replied, "If you don't stay within 2 meters of me, then the turrets will auto target you, and even though I would do my best to make sure that you didn't get hit by using my 'over-sized hand-held beam-cutter' to deflect some of the blaster rounds, I can't guarantee anything.

 

Its also a good idea to stay close because the creatures occasionally have a hunger-induced urge to climb along the underside of the bridge and pull an unlucky victim to their death. I keep telling them to install another set of turrets to cover the underside, but they don't want to send another 400 or so prisoners to their deaths as it was when the turrets were first installed."

 

Now halfway across the bridge, the man closed his eyes for a moment to feel around him. As he continued to step forward, his senses through the Force rapidly diminished and finally vanished entirely. Reaching around behind him to a small box on his belt, he pressed in a series of codes, and almost instantly, he could feel the Force yet again.

 

((a note about the box: the group has now passed into a zone where the ysalimiri are blocking out the Force. however, the box enables the user (and only the user) to maintain a connection to the Force. in other words, Beryl will no longer have the use of the Force from here unless she can get her hands on one of those boxes.))

[JasraLantill]

“So, is that what that box on your belt is for?” Beryl asked the man, to Sam’s obvious dismay. “Some kind of signalling device to let the turrets know we’re friendly? Are we gonna get one, too? Or do we have to be escorted out every night when we go ho….”

 

“It doesn’t matter what it’s for,” Sam snapped at her, rolling her eyes in the process. “All we need to know is that if we stay close to him he won’t have to deflect any rounds from the turrets.”

 

Beryl nodded. “Yeah. You know, deflecting rounds seems like a very handy skill to have.” Despite his warning, she peered curiously over the edge again, listening and feeling for any ‘so-called’ creatures that might be lurking about. “So handy, that I have to wonder just what it was he did to the Empire to earn him the punishment of having to do ‘new service worker orienta…”

 

One could say that Beryl felt something change as they crossed the halfway point across the bridge, but it was more to the point that Beryl felt… nothing. Gone was the warm internal glow of the Force, replaced suddenly by a chill running up her spine.

 

“…tions.’” She swallowed hard. It was a very odd feeling, she thought, but then again, she was in a very odd place--the middle of a large cavern, approaching a high security prison block, and where the circulated air was growing stale. It was probably nothing but nerves, she guessed, but she still stepped back behind Sam in the middle of the walkway, just to be on the safe side. “I think I just saw something move down there,” she whispered to Sam as a means of covering up her own discomfort.

 

Beryl cleared her throat as she quickly changed the subject. “Erm…, excuse me, sir?” she asked their escort. She winked at Sam, who was absolutely mortified that Beryl was still asking questions. “Do you have a name, or something that we’re supposed to address you as? Or is that something we peons don’t need to know?”

[stingerhs]

The man sighed to himself. "And how, may I ask, did you manage to get this assignment when you ask so many questions? Because, from where I'm at, you sound like you're a lot greener than most of the prisoners that get assigned here. You weren't pulling strings with the self-proclaimed "Cheese", were you?"

 

With a brief silence in the air, the man just shook his head. More stupid favor bartering by that bastard. I wonder what he has her doing here, the man thought to himself.

 

"Bah, nevermind. At any rate, my name is Jeez, and I'll be your escort throughout your little escapade through the Facility. I have but two simple rules, so listen closely. First, if I tell you to do something, you had better do it. I don't care if I tell you to jump off this bridge; if I tell you to jump off the bridge, you had better jump or you'll find your self falling off this bridge in two seperate pieces. Second, there is to be absolutely no communication between you and somebody else in the Facility outside of myself or your companions. No winking or gestures or the like, and especially no talking.

 

Lastly, and this is really a universal rule that applies to everybody, don't be stupid. It covers a lot of ground and loopholes; so try to use some judgement when you make a decision."

 

Finally, they reached the other side of the bridge, and Jeez stopped and turned around to face them. In the dim light in front of the door, one could barely make out two very large turrets above them mounted on a wall. Jeez himself then reached around and typed a set of codes into a hidden keypad in the wall.

 

"Now, before we go in, do you guys have any questions about my rules?"

[JasraLantill]

"No," Sam answered Jeez right away.

 

But Beryl took a moment to study the man standing before them. He was handsome, but there was something in his eyes that scared her just a little bit. She knew that he was deadly serious about his rules, and would not hesitate to use his 'hand-held beam-cutter to end her existence if it came down to it. Jeez was definitely the biggest obstacle in her way. Turrets and security protocols could be reprogrammed, chasms and railless bridges could be bypassed, but getting around a determined person...that would take some doing. She needed to find out more about him before she could be pushing any of his buttons.

 

At least her question asking session had seemed to have the desired effect of ,one, convincing him that she was a blathering idiot blonde, and, two, that she was as green as they come. Of course, there was some truth to that last bit--she hadn't been a prisoner for very long. But then again, she had no intention of becoming a 'veteran.'

 

She gave Jeez a cheesy sort of grin. "Do what you tell us, don't talk to anyone but you, and don't be completely stupid. I think I got it." She paused, as if she were thinking of something else to say, and Sam's eyes grew wide with horror at the thought. Finally, Beryl nodded and said, "Yeah, I got it."

 

Sam exhaled a sigh of relief.

 

"Right, then," Beryl said, clapping her hands together. "Let's wash some clothes."

[stingerhs]

Pressing in the final code sequence, the door opened up and exposed an airlock. After everyone entered the airlock, they all waited a couple of moments as the pressure decreased by fair amount. Finally, the airlock completed the sequence, and the door to the Facility opened. Just inside was a small security station manned by two combat droids.

 

"Since this is your first visit, we need to log your retinal and fingerprint scans into the system," Jeez told Sam and Beryl. Motioning to a scanner system that could scan both the eyes and hands at the same time, Jeez stood back and waited.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl nudged Sam. "Well? You're in front. You go first."

 

"Huh?" Sam gave Beryl a quizzical look, then shook her head as she sidestepped to get behind Beryl. "No. You're the 'curious' one." She nodded to the scanner. "You go first."

 

"Fine," Beryl sighed. She had actually wanted to see how the scanner worked and what the droids would be doing during the scan, just so she could learn the 'system' here, but with 'Jedi' Jeez waiting behind her, she decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to dally too long in doing the task.

 

She stepped into the scanner, placed her hands on the wall pads and her chin on the rest that faced a blue fixation light. A bright flash blinded her for a brief few seconds and then an automated voice told her to step off the platform.

 

She felt her way off to the side, blinked a few times trying to get the 'spot' to disappear out of her central vision, but by the time that she could see properly, Sam had already finished her scan.

 

"Well, that was... fun," Beryl commented, still blinking a bit. "Jeez, do we have to do that scan thing everytime we enter this place?"

[stingerhs]

"Yes. You'll also have to have the scan performed along several checkpoints within this Facility," he stated. "Now, on we go."

 

Turning around, they headed down the first hallway, and up on the left, Jeez stopped in front of a door that was labeled "Laundry". Pressing in a quick code on a keypad next to the door, it swished open to reveal a set of stairs that led two stories under their current floor. As the group headed inside, you could distinctly make out the humming noise of machinery, and when they reached the bottom, you could see why. Several other prisoners were already hard at work loading and unloading washing machines and dryers, and off in the corner, you could see two prisoners folding and sorting through the clean laundry. There were also a couple of uniformed men standing guard throughout the room, although none of them were equipped with a lightsaber as Jeez was.

 

However, Jeez just kept walking to the end of the room where several empty carts stood next to what appeared to be an elevator. "Alright, your job is pretty simple: you'll be collecting bedsheets, towels, and clothing from the various floors and replacing them with clean bedsheets, towels, and clothing. Our first stop is the ground floor, so grab the cart, and we'll head over and grab the clean laundry that we need first," Jeez stated.

[starmark2k]

Nic blinked his eyes several times as he came round, He tried to pull himself up but grunted and grabbed his chest as a pain shot through his body. The Imps had cracked half of his ribs while they were roughing him up at the beginning of his torture.

 

"Are you okay." Oliver asked as he moved closer to Nic.

 

"Yeah, i feel like i've just got stuck between a Wookie and Trandoshan during a death match." Nic replied sarcastically.

[steven]

"Luckly that didn't happen this time," Jack replied "Well we're still in this prison cell and we still need a plan of escape.... Anybody got any suggestions?"

[JasraLantill]

"Our first stop is the ground floor, so grab the cart, and we'll head over and grab the clean laundry that we need first," Jeez stated.

Beryl eyed the carts, then nodded at Sam, and then the two of them headed over to them.

 

"What, no questions?" Sam whispered to Beryl under her breath. "Honestly, Beryl, if I knew how much of a problem you were going to be, I would have never taken you to see the Big...."

 

"Jeez?" Sam cringed as Beryl looked over her shoulder at him, obviously intent on asking him another question. "Is that one cart for the both of us, or one cart each--one for the dirty laundry and one for the clean stuff? 'Cause..."

 

"Beryl!" Sam whispered through clenched teeth. "What are you doing? Trying to get us killed? He said don't be stupid, remember!"

 

Beryl turned to her friend and said with all seriousness. "Just because I'm blonde, doesn't mean I'm stupid. I'm being practical. Two carts, two people, half the time, right?" She looked at Jeez then. "Right?"

[stingerhs]

((so we don't have to worry so much about specifics, the cart has two separate sections for the clean and dirty laundry. ))

 

"Wrong. One cart with two people. I'm assigned to escort the both of you through the place, and I can't be in two places at once. Now can we please move on with this," Jeez stated as he was somewhat annoyed.

 

And I have to work with these people throughout all of this? Next time, I just get a security guard to handle it and call it a day, Jeez thought to himself.

[starmark2k]

"Well unless you've learnt to walk through an energy field escape isn't exactly possible." Nic replied finally managing to pull himself up on to his feet. He staggered over to the field and looked down the corridor and saw two stormtroopers standing guard. "An if you do manage it you'll also need to be blaster proof."

 

"Looks like our lives are in Reibe's hands." Cloud announced walking over to the field aswell.

 

"Great!" Nic replied sarcastically continuing to look out the window and noticed the Stormtroopers walking down to the cell.

 

The Trooper got to the cell accomaniedby the Imperial commander who greeted them when their ship was boarded. The imperials deactivated the field causing both Nic and cloud to take a step back.

 

"We have no grounds to detain you any longer, you and your ship are free to leave." The imperial informed.

[JasraLantill]

"Yeah, sure,” Beryl casually answered Jeez. Inwardly, she smiled at his display of irritation, slight as though it may have been. It couldn’t possibly be so easy to irritate a real Jedi, at least not with all their years of training, so therefore Beryl concluded that Jeez wasn’t one. Maybe he had been at some time, but he certainly wasn’t one now. And knowing that fact, might make things easier for her later on. She hoped that he had categorised her as well—preferably as a stroppy, selfish, Corellian blonde that only cared about herself when it really came down to it. That would also make her task easier, and Jeez less suspicious when she asked him other, more sensitive questions. “No problem.”

 

She grabbed one of the carts and she and Sam headed to the area of the laundry where earlier she had seen workers folding the clean laundry. Behind them were shelves with the clean linen that Beryl assumed they would be loading up into the cart.

 

The two prisoners that were folding the laundry said nothing to either Beryl or Sam as they approached. In fact, except for a brief moment of eye contact, the two workers barely even acknowledged that Beryl and Sam were present. Instead, they kept their eyes down and attention on the laundry on the folding table.

 

Beryl thought this was very odd behaviour. Whether it be students or instructors, factory workers or managers, pilots or deck crew—anyplace where there was a group dynamic of ‘them’ versus ‘us’, there was at least some acknowledgement that one fit into one group or other and would be welcomed or shunned accordingly. She recalled Jeez’s rule about ‘no conversation’, but he did say that talking to companions was allowed. And, surely, fellow prisoners would be in that category.

 

“Hi,” she said to them, not whispering, but in a reduced tone of voice.

 

One of the women, looked up, grinned weakly, and then averted her eyes and returned to her work.

 

Beryl looked at Sam, who, oddly enough, seemed just as confused as she was with their behaviour. It was then that Beryl noticed that no one was talking in the laundry. The only sounds that could be heard were the hums and workings of the machines.

 

Beryl then turned to Jeez. “Erm…I really, really hate to ask this, but….”

 

Sam groaned quietly.

 

“…what’s wrong here? Did someone just die or something?”

[stingerhs]

Jeez looked around the room for a moment at Beryl's question. "Well, if you want to know, lets ask them," Jeez stated somewhat sarcastically.

 

"Prisoners!! Form a line!!" Jeez yelled out all of the sudden. Almost in an instant, the prisoners that were working almost instantly dropped what they were doing, formed a line in front of Jeez, and came to attention with almost military-like precision. In the back, the couple of guards that were there turned around to see what the commotion was. Seeing the guards, Jeez then yelled out, "Guards form a line!!" Without even a hint of a grumble, the guards quickly moved up next to the prisoners' line and formed their own line.

 

"Now, prisoners, what is your primary duty?" Jeez barked out.

 

"Sir!! Duty and obedience without question, sir!!" they all yelled back in unison. As one looked on at the prisoners, they would notice that there was some sort of a metallic device located at the base of their heads.

 

"Guards, what is your duty?" Jeez barked out.

 

"Sir!! To ensure the stability of the prisoners and maintain order, sir!!" they yelled back. Unlike the prisoners, however, there was no device in the backs of their heads.

 

Turning to Sam and Beryl, Jeez then said, "You see? They understand the importance of listening to my rules, but then again, these prisoners understand because they have been made to understand. I would rather not turn you over to my superiors, but please understand that all of the prisoners in this place are not to be talked to.

 

You see, these prisoners were once as you were; able to make their own decisions and choices. However, they made the wrong decisions and choices when they got here, and my superiors decided that they needed a little bit of practice with their medical specialties. Combine the two together, and you have these perfectly obedient prisoners that you see before you.

 

As for the guards, they've been militarily trained and thus no better than to question their superiors.

 

As for you two, I'd rather not have to report you in since I'm fully aware of what the consequences will be for you. I hope I've made myself clear, alright?"

 

Without waiting for a response, he then dismissed the guards and the prisoners. As Jeez turned around to check on something, one could notice a similar device, albeit better hidden, to that of the prisoners on the base of his head.

[JasraLantill]

“As for you two, I'd rather not have to report you in since I'm fully aware of what the consequences will be for you. I hope I've made myself clear, alright?"

 

As Jeez dismissed the prisoners and guards back to their duties, Beryl slowly exchanged a look with Sam. With her eyes narrowed, Sam frowned then mouthed the words, ‘No more questions,’ to Beryl.

 

Beryl nodded. She had noticed the metal pieces that slightly protruded from the backs of the prisoner’s heads. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the device was somehow responsible for their automaton actions. It was slightly distressing to Beryl to see what she would call a ‘spring jack’, a type of monitoring portal that was used on prototype ships during its initial testing phases, protruding from back of the prisoner’s heads—not because it was surprising to her that the Empire would sanction such an experiment, but more so because most of these prisoners were human, not ‘aliens’.

 

It was well known that the Emperor and his ‘friends’ discriminated and persecuted aliens. Part of the blockade running Beryl had done before joining the Echo had been to worlds that were mostly alien, but the problem was pretty much ignored by the majority in the over-populated and human-dominated Core worlds. She had seen the horrible truth of how the Empire treated non-humans, or ‘undesirables’ as the Emperor called them. Of course, she had no doubt that most Imperial ‘citizens’ would agree that prisoners, human or alien, were just as much ‘undesirables’ as any alien was… but where would it stop? Who would be the next group of ‘undesirables’? Rebels? Smugglers? Political opponents of the Emperor? Corellians…?

 

Jeez had his back turned, picking up a towel from the floor that had fallen from the folding table during the prisoners stampede to fall into formation at his command. Beryl noticed that he, too, had an implant, although noticeably smaller than the ones the prisoners did.

 

...Jedi? Beryl frowned slightly. If Jeez was a Jedi under some type of mind control, predicting his actions would be tricky. Very tricky. This was not a good situation. Again, she needed more information. She glanced at Sam. If Beryl asked another question, Sam was sure to thump her in the mouth.

 

Jeez placed the towel he had picked up from the floor onto the folding table, and then looked directly at Beryl. Obviously the question he had last asked had not been rhetorical.

 

“Crystal clear,” Beryl said to him. She ran her tongue across her lower lip. “So… how much clean linen do we need?”

[steven]

"Letting us go!?" Jack asked "What the... this isn't... Okay now I'm confused... This is more confusing than the time Beryl tricked me into watching Hutt porn," Jack shuddered "Bah, bad memories... But still? Letting us go? What's up with that?"