Wolven | The Mandalorian

Chapter 17: The Believer

Chapter 17: The Believer
Word Count: 3,162
*EDITED*

Elodie stared up at the sealed door ahead of her. Her chest rose and fell in quick succession, and her nostrils flared. Whatever they had just tried pumping into her lay discarded on the floor, the acidic material sizzling on the metal decking of their laboratory. Beside it, three storm troopers who tried subduing her lay unconscious. Potentially dead.

She looked around the room wildly, searching for vents and other doors. It was useless; the place was airtight.

"It's good to finally have you back within our reach, Little Wolf." A voice called over the intercom. She looked up at the corners of the room, stopping when she found the camera directly pointing at her, following her movements.

The voice was smug and familiar. Belonging to Moff Gideon.

"I don't understand! What do you even want from me? I'm not like the child." The Wolven shouted out loud. Walking forward, she flipped the table she had been strapped to. It clattered against the opposite wall with a loud bang, and the gown she wore flapped open but she didn't care. As soon as they arrived on the cruiser, she and the child had been separated into different cells, and she had been forced to change from her leather bounty hunter get-up. They proceeded to stun her and fill her with multiple burning mixtures to try to sedate her.

"No, you're not. You are something else." He replied, staring down at the screen from the control room next door. "Wolven are very hard to come across, and you're the only one we've been able to keep alive for so long."

She held out her hands, "Do you want a medal?"

The door opened, and Moff Gideon stood there, hands tucked behind his back and a horde of storm troopers behind him. Elodie growled, her eyes changing to icy blue. "If you think they will stop me from getting to you, you are very badly mistaken." A powerful blast from one of the storm troopers' blasters sent her flying back into a medical cabinet. The metal folded under her weight, and the contents fell on top of her as she landed in a heap on the floor. Some form of sonic weapon? She thought to herself.

"The bridge has been informed that in the case of my absence or untimely death, the child should be terminated. I understand you are fond of him. You should weigh your options." Elodie cast her eyes up, claws scraping on the floor.

"When conducting the first round of blood work while you were with the Commander on Nevarro, we were surprised to find that your genes were capable of mutating when exposed to a series of stressors." He revealed, stroking a hand against his chin. His first officer stood to his side, watching the interaction. "I've been kidnapped for torture on an Imperial cruiser. Go and tell me more about stressors, please." She said sarcastically, glaring up through her hair.

"Oh no," He laughed, but it was vindictive and malicious, not jovial. "Not torture. Testing. We only want to unlock your full potential and see how we can isolate some of those genetic factors to benefit the future of the Empire." Moff Gideon came to kneel in front of her. "You see, there is no possibility where you or the child will survive this. We'll test you until you are no longer of value or until we have what we sought after. Then, we'll kill you. Preferably in that order, I don't find particularly useful results in postmortems as I do when my assets are alive."

"You're sick."

He flashed his teeth in a beaming smile. "I'm ambitious. I get what I want sooner or later." Moff Gideon rose to his full height, holding his hand to gesture for more guards to enter, flanking the doctor. "I'm sure you are well acquainted with our very own Doctor Pershing. He'll be taking very good care of you from here on out."