Heart Of Darkness (Star Wars)

Chapter 10: Nothing Like Them

I walked towards the booth where Carn and Catrinna were sitting at. They had glasses of Corellian brandy at their table along with plates of nerf sausages, Mounder potato rice drenched in rancor sauce, ryshcate drizzled with Carbosyrup, and a bowl of Corellian cream puffs. My mouth practically watered upon seeing the food. My stomach gurgled and churned. I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning. I reached out to grab a cream puff, when Carn slapped my hand. I winced as I pulled back my hand from the table.  

"Wait just a moment. How many credits did you steal tonight?" He inquired.

"I didn't steal." I retorted. "I asked for the credits."

Carn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever kid, doesn't make a difference to me. Now how many kriffing credits do you have?"

"I have a nine hundred credits." I informed him.

Carn stared at me, not impressed. "Nine hundred credits. Only Nine hundred credits. Oh Kohira, you can do much better than that."

He turned on his comlink before speaking. "Dekkil, Ara, Warat, you know what to do."

At that moment, Carn's friends surrounded me. Dekkil, the male brown Besalisk with menacing yellow eyes grabbed all the credits I had. Warat, the male orange Twi'lek grabbed one of my arms, holding me back while Ara, the female gray Nikto held my other arm. Dekkil counted the credits himself before handing it over to Carn.

"She has a thousand credits." Dekkil informed him.

Carn glanced down at the credits before placing them in his pockets. Once they were safely secured, he rose from his seat. Tears filled my eyes. "Carn, please...I wanted to keep some of the credits to buy something to eat-"

Wham! He slapped his hand across my cheek. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks as I felt the burning sting where he hit me.

"Quiet!" He snapped. "Are you not grateful for what I've done? I've given you a place to stay, a job, and even grub to eat."

"You don't feed me anymore!" I cried out. "I had to steal food from the vendors just to keep myself from dying of starvation!"

At my words, the band had stopped playing and everyone had turned to stare at Carn and me. Carn clenched his fists as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Take her to the back room." Carn ordered through his clenched teeth.

Ara and Warat then dragged me with Carn, Catrinna, and Dekkil trailing behind us. I begged them to let me go, but my cries were all in vain. When we reached the back room, Carn stormed inside, placing around like a madman.

"Drop her, drop her now!" He ordered.

At his words, Ara and Warat dropped me onto the cold hard ground. Carn took out a stun-baton, waving it near me. My hands trembled as I knew what was about to happen.

"Get up!" Carn spat as he moved closer towards me.

I violently shook my head. "Please no!"

"Get up!"

"Delmira, please get up." Mando begged.

My eyes opened upon hearing Mando's voice. I looked up to Mando struggling against Burg. Burg threw Mando against the control panels, causing him to collapse onto the ground. Ani let out a growl as he charged towards Burg. Burg raised an arm, hitting Ani and sending him out into the hallway. He yelped as he was thrown back.