Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 9

Author's Note: I am very grateful to everyone who is taking the time to read, especially comment and vote! If you have any tips writing tips, please feel free to comment.

As always, I continue to hope that I am doing justice to the spirit of Star Wars as well the respective authors and characters from which I borrow. Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

Mandalorian (Mando'a) words

Kotyc (koh-TEESH): strong

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Chapter 9

Hearts see what blinds the eye.

Old Tochinite proverb, generally given as advice prior to an arranged marriage

Location Unkown, Unknown Days ABG

The blackness of a hood came over Arlesse's face, threatening to suffocate her. She tried to get her hands on her head and remove the smoothing material, but the paralyzing pain of a stun blaster tore into her skin. She fell helplessly against the grip of unfamiliar hands.

A jolt in her neck that felt like pure agony caused her to awaken from her unconsciousness, and she released a tortured scream, forcing her to open her eyes. 

Trying to see through the remnants of a painful haze, she lifted her head off the cold, steel floor and saw there was a droid before her. 

Arlesse had no idea how much time had passed between the stun blast that had rendered her unconscious and the pain that had awakened her. She just knew that she was no longer in familiar and comfortable territory.

Blinking hard, her eyes focused on the droid. It was thinner than a standard R2 unit, only about half the width of the R2 series. It stood about three feet tall, and was painted black with accents in deep red as though it was made to look like some incarnation from one of the droid hells.

Arlesee would have expected to see mechanical tools or other helpful devices protrude from this droid; however, this small, mechanical monster didn't wield anything that was remote friendly. 

Instead of tools like a normal R2 unit would use, this one had been modified with vibroknives, electrical probes, a small burning laser, and a syringe that was filled with a light gray liquid.

As Arlesse's eyes focused more clearly, she saw that one of the electric probes was still aimed at her, threatening to release its painful shock again.

Arlesse tried to back from the droid, to distance herself from that weapon of agony, but the cold, hard surface of a metal wall blocked her. 

She glanced around the room and found that it was no greater than a small bedroom and saw that there were no windows or decorations. It was simply a four-walled metal room. 

There was barely enough space for a bed, but no luxury was supplied.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man entered the small room. His head and the rest of him were covered in black wrappings to conceal the true size of his body mass. A burn scar crossed his face from his left temple to the center of his chin, seeming to split his lower lip in half.

 Arlesse also noticed that his nose sat crookedly, and she could guess that it was a sign that it had been broken numerous times. She felt herself flinch as she looked to his ice-green iris. They were set deep in his sockets, and there was no trace of kindness to be found in them.