STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Chains

Escape begins to look pretty grim as you get closer to the Bridge. The number of thugs escorting you seems to grow like a snowball rolling downhill. You are faintly aware that you have crossed the gap between the Market and the Bridge before you are brought inside and blindfolded.

It wont end like this, Wentar reassures himself. The force is still with us, we will pull through.

What does Wentar sense now that he is blindfolded?

Your senses are muddled simply because you cannot focus; you think Nelgrin broke something. There are people around, the Bridge is a crowded place.

But eventually... you sense a smoldering ember in the darkness. A familiar presence. All at once you feel you should have known that your old Master was not down in the detention level. You would have felt him, as you do now. He is here.

You are thrown roughly on the ground and pinned down while your hands are bound, and you can sense Vlad experiencing the same beside you. Then, your blindfolds are removed and the thugs withdraw.

You are on the Bridge, in the control room that operates the entirety of the space station. Ahead of you is the helmsman's station. Past that there is a figure standing in front of a great viewport, his back to you. The uncharted moon hangs in the blackness beyond it, spotted with incoming and outgoing space traffic.

"We have brought the intruders," Hanza says, stepping past you and up to the figure. "They were armed with these." He hands your lightsabers over to the figure. "I think you know what they are."

"Jedi," the Rodian says with heavy inflection. He pauses. "Leave us, Hanza."

"What? Why?"

"They will not harm me. Not in their state."

Wentar kicks himself for not realizing that sooner. He knew he should have visited the bridge at least once.

Wentar stays silent during the exchange, observing the relationship between Hanza and the Rodian, who he assumes is Loj'oon.

You assume correctly.

"I'll be right outside," Hanza says, turning to leave.

"I need you to coordinate the clean up of the detention level," says Loj'oon. "If they damaged anything, prisoners might escape. Keep things stable down there. No disintegrations."

Hanza curses under his breath and stomps out. The door closes behind him.

"So," Loj'oon says. "You are Jedi. Is that correct?"

"Yes, that is correct," Wentar says, seeing no reason to lie at this point. "And I assume that you are Loj'oon."

"I am," he says. "Are you here to rescue your friend?"

"That was the plan," Wentar says.

Loj'oon shakes his head.

"What were you thinking?" he asks, annoyed. "That two Jedi might succeed where one didn't?"

"We were thinking more about rescuing our friend than the odds of success," Wentar replies, choosing to not mention anything about he slaves he was also aiming to free for now.

"Apparently," Loj'oon says. "What is your name, Jedi?"

Once again Wentar sees no point in lying. "Wentar Reiua," he says. "Though does it really matter at this point?"

"I want to know who I'm dealing with," Loj'oon says. "And you?"

"Vlad Shafran," Vlad says, following your example.

Loj'oon nods and walks around you.

"You Jedi are quite the blundering fools. I would have thought an assault on my station would have been better planned. Or that there would be more of you..."

"The only mistake was assuming there was any truth in the rumors about where our friend was kept," Wentar says, wondering where this conversation will lead. "But I don't think right now is the right time to be thinking about 'what if's."

Loj'oon sighs.

"Look... Wentar, Vlad," he says, experimenting with your name. "You are stepping into matters that you do not understand. Don't try to escape my clutches, Jedi. It would be foolish for you to do so. I'm surprised Hanza brought you to me alive."

"Indeed, I have met Hanza before. Honestly the only reason I think we are still alive is so he can find some way to humiliate us even further, to satisfy his ego," Wentar says. "However I can make no promises about trying to escape. I would rather die fighting for my freedom than executed in chains."

"As I said, you do not understand!" Loj'oon says, rounding on you with a raised fist. "You will DIE if you try to break out of the Seat!"

"Then I'm under the impression that we will die either way," Wentar says simply. "Though I am curious, why haven't you had us killed yet? Why not our friend either? Not that I would like such a thing to happen, it just seems odd."

"You're worth more to me alive," Loj'oon says.

"How so? Do you intend to ransom us back to the Republic?" Wentar asks. "Or use us as bargaining chips between other pirate clans?"