Star Wars: Dar'Aliit

Chapter Twenty-One: Reliance

18 BBY Inside the Bar Resistance

Stun rounds, contrary to popular belief, are not painless. They leave a stiffness in your limbs, a sort of paralyzing effect that doesn't wear off immediately. As I'm waking up, I can still feel the numb tingling in my fingertips.

I let them get the drop on me. I should've known better. I should've known she was a kriffing jedi.

My eyes are heavy but I lift my head as much as I can and look up. My arms are stiff and painfully tied behind my back. I think I'm sitting in a chair. A hazy view of the room tells me we haven't left the bar. There's a lot more people in the room now, though.

Adecki's three lackeys, though the Jedi herself is nowhere to be seen. Plausible deniability, I suppose. Can't be privy to a crime if you aren't in the room with it. The Jedi love that.

I squirm, testing how tightly my hands are bound. Too tight, and my body feels bruised. I'm sure they spared no empathy when they moved me over here. I don't know what I expected. Adecki puts on a good show, but that's all her sympathy is. Her little gang, they don't even try.

I blink a few more times until my vision has fully adjusted. The other three keep their masks on. Smart. If I escaped and knew their faces, they would be dead.

"We heard you work for the Empire," Doc steps forward, arms crossed. He curses under his breath.

I stare at him coolly.

Doc paces a few steps left, and then circles back right. "You came out here because we took those ships, didn't you?"

My lips are sealed. I look up at the ceiling and ignore them. I'm trained for this.

"Doesn't look to me like he's talking, Doc."

"He's a clone," Red pipes up. "They're resilient to this stuff, or something."

Doc stops his pacing and I look down only to see a blur as his elbow cracks across the side of my face. I jerk my head left, my jaw stinging in pain. It's enough to make my eyes water, but there's a desperate part of me that wants to laugh.

I'd die before telling them anything. A little pain is nothing. Still, my jaw hurts. I'll get him for that later. If I make it out of this alive.

Doc looms over me, he's closer now, practically breathing down my face. "Why are you here?" he demands.

I stare right back into his goggled eyes. Doc grumbles curses and steps back. "Grey, you handle this."

"Aw, but you like dismantling things."

"Things, not people."

Grey chuckles. He cracks both knuckles. I steel myself for what's coming as Grey lumbers forward. He glances at Doc, though, and the hierarchy is obvious. Without Adecki, these three look to Doc. He's either the oldest, or the most experienced.

Doc nods and Grey shrugs. He faces me. "If you talk, it'll go a lot easier."

I look him dead in his yellow eyes and rattle off the only thing any of them will get out of me. "My name is Kian. My designation is CT-nine-eight-two–

Grey backhands across my face, other side, this hurts more. He's got something metal under that wrap of his and it scores across my cheek and I have to bite my tongue not to audibly gasp at the pain. Grey grabs my shoulder and his face is in mine.

"Not the answer I was looking for."

I grit my teeth and spit back in his face. Grey recoils a bit, snarls, and grabs me by the collar. I can feel him trying to lift me out of the chair I'm tied to as my arms strain against my shoulders. I grimace but keep my cool as Grey tries to get back in my face.