Description: Right-Hand to the Chieftess of Berk and Senator Astrid Hofferson wakes up to find herself abducted by the Separatist's secretive new Sith Lord, Darth Fury, on the orders of Count Dooku. With the older Sith commanding that she reveal Republic military secrets to save her family from slaughter, will she give in and doom her people to Separatist victory and rule - or is there more to Darth Fury than she could have imagined?
It was not a gentle awakening.
Air rushed into the Right-Hand's lungs too quickly and fire raced through her throat and chest, searing her inner flesh painfully. Astrid gasped helplessly and bolted upwards from whatever cold surface she was laying on. How long had she been out? Long enough that the sudden exposure to light stung her eyes and blurred her already unfocussed vision enough to make the world around her a muddy and obscure mess. It took some time but eventually, her breath calmed and her eyes drifted shut to block out the blinding florescent light hanging above her head.
For every moment she was conscious another question found life inside her mind and began the process of shredding her nerves to pieces. Where was she? What happened? Where were her handmaidens? Why was her head aching like this? But Astrid had no answers right away. Everything was... clouded. Her memories were only half-formed in her mind. Some were only sounds without context. After a moment, she lifted a trembling hand to gingerly touch her throbbing head. She'd never suffered a headache as bad as this before, it felt like her brain was pulsing inside of her skull. The pain was so bad her head felt heavy.
It took several moments to fight down a sudden wave of nausea that followed the second attempt at opening her eyes. Groaning, Astrid let her face rest in the palms of her hands and squeezed her eyes shut yet again. If this didn't pass quickly she risked slipping back into unconsciousness and that couldn't happen. No, she had to focus on getting out of here. Wherever here was.
Slowly, the Right-Hand peeled her eyes open once more and tried to take in her surroundings. It almost looked like she was locked inside... a cage?
She was a prisoner... Someone had locked her in here! A sudden rise of panic surged through the Right-Hand's stomach and up into her chest with the realisation. The situation was far worse than she'd thought! She'd been taken! By who? Where was she? Her breath came in shallow, panicked pants as question after question flooded her mind. No! No, stop it. There was no need to lose her nerve and overreact. Astrid was a skilled woman, she was hardly defenseless. Led by instinct alone, she reached for the brown belt that'd been strapped around her waist earlier. Thank the Gods, she always carried small pins designed for the exact purpose of picking locks after that awful business on Berserk three years ago. The experience had reinforced the lessons on preparedness she had been given in handmaiden training while she was Chieftess. Astrid just had to get one of the pins and work quickly. She might not be left alone for much -
Her belt was gone! Along with her red cloak... Whoever had taken them had been smart enough to assume she would not simply wait around to find out what they had planned for her. She was the former Chieftess and current Right-Hand to the Chieftess, she would get herself out of here. All Astrid had to do was get out of this cell, find a ship and then it would be easy to send a distress signal to the Jedi council, the Senate and the Chieftess. Perhaps some good may come of all this; if this was a large Separatist base, then perhaps her capture could provide the necessary information to further the Republic's efforts to win the war.
It took slow movements and a great effort but after several long moments, Astrid managed to slide her legs off the cool metal bench and plant her white boots onto the grimy floor below. Her headache grew worse with the motion and the Senator's vision swam again. She had never felt head pain like this before... Had she been hit when she was taken maybe? Or drugged? She would put nothing past Separatists and Sith, they were as cruel as they were calculating.
