Break the Chains

[Adder]

The urge to cry, or maybe laugh, washed over the supine woman like a wave of cool, smooth water, bubbling up in her chest with nearly overwhelming an intensity. Her whole body relaxed like a string that had been taut for far too long, and for a moment, Adder thought she was going to snap from the sheer amount of tension released. It left her as a sharp exhale, a heavy breath that made her breast feel infinitely lighter.

It was hard to tell how long the redhead would've remained there on the cold metal floor, were it not for a melodious voice that broke through her stupor as a shadow fell over her. It was the gentle tickling on her face that was the final straw, however, and Adder felt the laugh spill over with a strange sense of gratitude following on its heels.

On instinct, the woman batted the braid away and shot up into a sitting position, coming eye to eye with those bright orange orbs of the Jedi girl.

"Yeah! I'm… I'm okay," she said as her chuckling subsided, replaced by a keen smile. She held the blonde's gaze for a few more seconds before peering over her shoulders to check on the slaves. The twi'lek was rescuing the others, opening cages and breaking locks, but only a few had the energy to come out; others still didn't move at all.

The sight brought the weight crashing down again, and Adder swallowed hard.

"They need help," she said quietly as she scrambled back on her feet, dusting her jacket off nervously as she made haste towards the cages.


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She looked over to the slaves.

Yes they needed help. More than a few were injured, some were traumatized, and she was willing to bet that one or two were even dead. It was a grim thought, one that didn't belong in the mind of a twenty two year old girl. Yet it hung there, disgust drifting through her as she began to wander away from Adder and towards the slave cages.

The Twi'leks shied away from her, moving to the side as she headed towards some of the cages that were still sealed with locks or chains. Her lightsaber flared into life, the blade flicking against cold steel.

"Get those who are able to the Hangar bay." She directed the Twi'lek woman from earlier. "You'll get help there soon."

The Covenant would be arriving any moment now on the Rising Tide, they just had to ensure that the Twi'leks made it until then. Her gaze shot back to Adder, eyes locking on the womans. "Let's find the control room, make sure the hangar is open."

They needed to help these people, but Aela was neither a healer, nor had any real medical knowledge. They needed her friends to get here, some of them were actual healers. The Tide would also have food and water, something that the now freed slaves desperately needed in order to get better.

 

[Adder]

Some of the locks and cages in the back, Adder found, were newer, and the twi'lek girl the Jedi had rescued hadn't been able to open them on her own. The redhead jumped at the chance to help, fishing her datapad out of her jacket now that she actually had a spot of time. With a few flicks of her finger, she brought up a small program she had compiled some time ago in an effort to make her investigations run more smoothly.

In a minute or so, the last lock switched from red to green, and the ex-cop helped haul a few weakened twi'lek out of the cramped space before finally rejoining the lightsaber girl a few paces away.

"There's probably more of them holed up in there," the woman pointed out and picked up a discarded blaster rifle from an unconscious thug. "When's that backup of yours coming?"

Adder tried not to sound as worried as she felt, but the truth was that her moment of hysteric exhilaration had been short lived, and the day behind them was a terribly long one. There was a reason most officers died in the line of duty in the evening, and that reason was creeping up on the redhead slowly, but surely with every step they took down the winding corridors of the hostile space station.

She could only hope that the blonde would be there to compensate for her shortcomings.

"Alright, looks like that's it. I'll disable the door and you… can you use a flashbang, actually?"


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

Aela shook her head. "Don't need one."

Her mother had always been a fan of non-lethal techniques when it came to the force. Some of them weren't really all that useful in the long run, most could be shrugged off by powerful force users, but a few things Kira Talith had taught her daughter were always useful. As the two women wandered down the hall Aela began to build the force within herself. A gradual gathering of power that seemed to swell within her chest.

"Open the door on my mark." Aela said calmly. "Exactly on my mark."

Too late, and the door would be in the way, too soon, and Aela would end up with more than a few dozen blaster burns on her body.

It was a fine balance, and it also meant that Aela was putting quite a bit of trust within the woman. Her life was not something that she dealt out easily, but Adder had proven herself reliable and trustworthy. If they were going to do this, they were going to do it in a way where she wouldn't have to kill anyone. Slowly they found the way to the command center, the thick blast door sitting closed at its front. The Jedi Master let out aloud sigh, then slowly moved before the door.

She stood, her lightsaber off and her palm slowly stretching out towards the door.

Her eyes cast over towards Adder, then back at the door, slowly falling shut as she concentrated. "Tell me when you're ready."

 

[Adder]

"I," she started, and then promptly closed her mouth again. It didn't come naturally to Adder to follow, and in fact her propensity to question authority had been one of the main reasons why the redhead had been stuck with dangerous fieldwork down in the seedy underbelly of Coruscant despite her competence at doing her job. It was a long time ago now, but the woman could still recall some of the heated conversations — well, shouting matches might be more appropriate — she'd had with her superiors when it came to disobeying orders.

"Okay."

With a deep breath, the woman pulled from her thoughts and focused on the task at hand, acutely aware that the other was depending on her for whatever she was about to attempt. She could feel the urgency seep into her tone, and it made Adder's stomach twist up into nervous knots.

She'd once been in a position almost exactly like this one, and had failed completely and utterly. She was loathe to bury yet another person because of her own mistakes.

Another deep breath, and then the woman was done fiddling with the last of the wiring she'd exposed, double checking the alterations she'd made to the circuitry of the adjacent blast door to make sure that the inspired slice would indeed work as planned. Kark it. They didn't have any more time, and Adder didn't know what else to do. It would work.

It had to work.

"Ready," she said, firmly, with far more confidence than she felt.


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She breathed.

Her chest rose and fell, her eyes fluttered behind closed lids, her entire body shook. She concentrated as much as she could, poured all of her energy into her palm. She relaxed herself, brought herself to a trance like state. The words of her mother rang through her head, the instruction that she had received all those years ago. Aela took in a heavy breath, her eyes slowly folding open.

"Do it." Almost on cue, the doors began to fall open.

Adder timed it perfectly, the blast doors beginning to sink away just as Aela unleashed the power she had been building. It was not a push of the force, not a press, but instead a wave of invisible force that struck at the very nerves of the Slavers. It would pin them in place, thousands upon thousands of links of invisible chain binding them. They would be rooted to the floor, their hands frozen, their legs stuck, every part of their being simply paralyzed.

Stasis field, it was called, a technique that her mother had once used on the Host Lord of the Primeval.

Now Aela used it to freeze a dozen slavers in place.

 

[Adder]

Do it.

The words rang in her ears even long after she'd reacted in time, opening the door just when the blonde released what Adder presumed was a wave of some kind. She half expected a burst of blaster fire to come seconds later, cutting down the Jedi and then her as well, but it never did, replaced by a deathly quietude that resounded louder than any shots ever could.

Only then did the redhead remember to let go of the wiring she'd used to force the door to open, and Adder had to mentally will herself to move forward. The tendrils of a horrific past experience faded back to the abyss of memory as the urgency of the situation pushed them aside, and the woman stepped into the control room with her Westar at the ready.

You could hardly tell she'd nearly ended up in the same position as the thugs before her, frozen in space and time by whatever [member="Aela Talith"] had done to them.

"Are they… how long will they be stuck like that?" she asked as she weaved carefully through the maze of angry-looking statues. Her target was the main computer in the middle of the room, but the chances of it being unprotected were low. Maybe the slavers had been dumb enough to leave it unlocked?

A girl could dream.

She let out a small chuckle, dispelling some of the lingering anxiousness as her fingers descended upon the interface in search of the hangar control; they didn't have much time left.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

Her palm slowly lowered, her arm shaking from the sheer efforts that had gone into placing such a stasis field across the entire room. A heavy breath passed from her lips, her head becoming light and a small sense of dizziness catching her off guard. For a moment her world spun, though she managed to catch herself before she fell to the floor.

She took a few long steps towards the door frame, leaning on it for support.

"An hour." Aela said as she closed her eyes and placed her head against the cold durasteel, resting for a moment. "Maybe more. It depends on each individual persons willpower, how strong they are and how much they're willing to fight."

Her eyes locked on one of the statues. "Generally, cowards are stuck for longer."

They could understand every word, see everything the two women did. Stasis field did not freeze you, so much as simply paralyze. It was a horrid sensation truth be told, rendering you completely helpless. Kira's mother had taught her through use, and Aela had experienced the sensation more than a view times.

Her eyes drifted closed again, the Jedi Master catching just a few seconds of rest.

 

[Adder]

Her breath settled somewhat, the ragged inhales becoming deeper and longer as she worked on the terminal's encryption, focus sharpening and zeroing in on the letters streaming down the screen. Her fingers danced across the interface with occasional pauses as she pondered her options, trying to determine the quickest way to slice into the system.

They had an hour before the thugs could move again, but Adder somehow doubted that these were the only ones still conscious in the whole place. The station was spacious, and it was only a matter of time before they figured out what was going on — and where to find the two culprits.

A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that the Jedi looked just as tired as she felt. The ex-cop sighed as she redoubled her efforts, entirely disinterested in finding out what would happen if they had to face down another group of angry slavers.

They had been at it for the better part of the day, and it was only a question of time before one of them slipped; and then the other was sure to follow. It was difficult enough fending off hardy criminals when there were just the two of them, but the redhead had little illusions about what fate would befall her should one of them be defeated.

"Yes!"

"It's done, I'm through," she announced with a wide smile on her face as she turned around to face the blonde, only to be met with the sight of her leaning against a console with closed eyes.

You have got to be chitting me.

"Hey. Hey, —" and then Adder dumbly stopped mid-sentence, realizing that she still had no idea what the Jedi's name was. Well. This is awkward.
She walked over to the the woman and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"The hangar doors are open."


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She opened her eyes, giving a small nod.

Using the force took a lot out of someone, especially when it was continuously used over the course of more than an hour. She could have used her ring or her lightsaber crystal to help, but that would only have weakened her in case of an emergency. They were mostly done now, the Covenant would be arriving soon and they would be able to relieve most of Aela and Adder's efforts.

"Check the stations communications." They would have that, or should have it at least. "Send out a base signal."

It was remarkable that she knew all this, given that she couldn't operate ships on her own. "Normal broadcast that reads 'Control Station, Enter Hangar, Rising Tide."

It was short, simple, and would be well understood by the rest of the Covenant.

It was very likely that they were already out there, watching, waiting. The Rising Tide, Aela's ship, was a stealth vessel. The ship was so proficient and good at what it did that even gravimetric scanners couldn't pick it up. That was in part due to its solar sails. The ship had been a gift from her Oma on her sixteenth birthday, and since then it had been invaluable.

 

[Adder]

Her hand dropped away the instant the blonde opened her eyes, and for the second time that day Adder felt oddly small compared to the other woman. Not so much because the Jedi was so much taller than she — though that certainly helped — but because of this… ugh. She couldn't even put a finger on it; just something her gut kept trying to tell her, as if there was some sort of aura about the girl.

As she headed back towards the control terminal, Adder frowned to herself, features contorted in thought as she tried to figure out what her instincts were on about. There was nothing particularly unusual about the blonde — not that the ex-cop knew another Jedi to compare her to — but she couldn't exactly call her 'ordinary', on the other hand.

Ugh.

She shook her head to dispel the confused thoughts and focused back on the interface before her, typing in a few commands. In a matter of seconds, the desired message was being transmitted to the arriving vessel, wherever it might be.

"Are you sure they're coming?"

She pointed at the scanners to her left, which showed no signs of activity in the vicinity of the station. The Jedi girl sounded so certain, but Adder couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't flown all the way out there with some delusional wackjob who thought saving the universe from bad people was her calling in life. The redhead knew better than anybody what a fate awaited on the end of that path, and it wasn't a pretty one.


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

Aela nodded.

"I sent the the coordinates the moment we got them." The Covenant was made up of young people, most of them sitting between ages of seventeen and low twenties, but they were reliable. Each and every one of them depended on the other, and each and every one of them was up to the task. Aela trusted them as much as she trusted her own family, and she knew that when they set out to do something they would inevitably end up doing it. That amount of trust was worth something. "You won't find them on the scanners."

Of course Adder wouldn't know about the Rising Tide or its capabilities. "They'll be in a stealth ship."

She knew that somewhere out there, within reach of the station, would be her friends. A minute passed, then suddenly static began to erupt from one of the communications stations. It was a short wave-form message, not one linked to the holo-net, but instead rather a short transceiver. It was garbled at first, but as Aela's ears perked she began to pick out a distinct voice.

"...On ou-....way...."

She smiled, recognizing the person who was speaking. It was a young man by the name of Dexen, the Rising Tides pilot. He wasn't as talented as Kaia or Kaili, but when neither of them were around he was capable of flying the ship better than most. If he was on comm's it like meant that Kaia was flying.

"See?" Aela said with a small smile tugging at her lips. "Lets get down to the hangar."

 

[Adder]

She leaned on the console and let her own eyes slip closed for a few moments, breath heavy as the weight of the day settled on her shoulders. It had been a long one, after all, and though Adder was no stranger to all work and no play, this was something else. Running across half the Galaxy on a deadline — literally — only to break into a huge station full of slavers with only two of them on their lonesome?

Sure, the redhead usually ran solo, but she also didn't tackle massive, interstellar operations when she was running solo. This whole affair had been madness from beginning to end, and it was nothing short of a miracle that they were still alive.

Well, some skill had been involved too, come to think of it. A lot of it, in fact.

Adder sighed softly as the crackling over the comms roused her from her musings, and with a suppressed groan the woman opened her eyes once more. It would've been so nice to catch a nap just then, but the redhead was well aware that dozing off in the lion's den had only one end.

"Alright."

Nothing else needed be said as Adder peeled herself away from the terminal — but not before locking the thugs out for good — and then followed after the inexplicably energetic Jedi. Madness. What else did space-magic help with?

A question for another time, then, because the two of them rounded another corner and were welcomed to a sight of countless slaves, huddled together for bodily and emotional support as they waited for the vessel to arrive.

She felt her heart clench in her chest, but the momentary bout of ache was dispelled at the thrum of ship thrusters in her ears. They were here.


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

It went quickly after that.

The Rising Tide seemed to disperse all sorts of things. First were the people of course, those were the most important. It was a conglomerate of Force Users and non-force users, most of them were dressed in medical gear, a few carries boxes of supplies, and some had their hands empty. Aela waved them over, speaking quick and terse words with them in order to relay where the slaves were being held on the station. The directions came with a small warning, and a plea to be careful.

The slaves were the ones that needed the most help, and she wasn't about to take up any more attention then she needed to.

A shift and she lead Adder towards the Rising Tide itself. The massive ship was neatly folded into the hangar bay, taking up more space than any three other ships. The vessel was painted a solid black, it's shimmering solar sails hidden beneath massive metal folds. She smiled up at the vessel, nostalgia and pride hitting her as she wandered towards the ramp.

Dexen stood there, a smile painted on his face.

"Took you long enough, we were out there forever."

Unlikely, they would have seen the initial starfighter battle and come to help. Aela knew that, but she could put up with a bit of banter if it meant she could keep competent pilots around. "I had to arrange a welcoming party."

It was a very rare joke from Aela, and Dexen took on a face of fake surprise.

"Humor, thats new. You get a new chip installed?"

Aela smiled, but didn't respond, instead she turned to Adder. "Dexen, this is..."

Slowly she trailed off. For the first time the young Jedi noticed that she didn't actually know the womans name. They had spent nearly a day together now fighting mercenaries and working together, but they had never shared each others names. She frowned slightly, then looked at her. "I'm sorry. I never asked your name."

 

[Adder]

Adder felt her fears fade as the tide of men and women that swept from the ship washed them away, and the woman felt a stark moment of redundancy as she was pushed to the side by the host of people pouring forth from the belly of the vessel.

She was tired, and aches previously drowned out by adrenaline were now making themselves known loud and clear. The mass of allies that had answered the blonde's call would take care of the rest, and with that weight off her shoulders, Adder, ironically, felt the rest of her day hit her hard and fast, eliciting a small groan from the woman as she braced against the hull of the ship for some much needed support.

She wasn't as young as she used to be, and running up and down the Galaxy chasing after bad people was starting to take its toll. Still, the redhead collected herself and brushed a few stray hairs from her face as she drew up beside the Jedi with a faint smile on her face. she didn't have the energy for anything more, however much she wanted to express her gratitude to the man for arriving when he did.

"Oh. Right!"

She chuckled once as she remembered having a similar thought not five minutes ago, shaking her head lightly.

"Adder," the redhead finally offered along with her left hand, her smile widening for a moment. "And you are?"


[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She stalled for a moment, then nodded.

"Aela." A small bit of hesitation clung to her before she continued. "Aela Talith."

It was something she was always uncomfortable with, something that made her hesitate. Some knew the name, others didn't, yet when they did their reaction was generally unfavorable. Her surname held more than a little stigma, particularly in this part of space. Her grandfather had made it so. His name had been Saul Talith, though many had simply known him as Moridin.

He had been the first Sith Emperor in nearly seven hundred years. He had conquered, killed, and swept a path of destruction over more than half the galaxy. His actions had tainted one of her family names.

Aela had always been upfront about it. Her father had once told her that the sins of Moridin were not hers, or anyone's to bare. That her grandfather had known what he had been doing, that he alone had been responsible. She knew that was true, and she accepted it, yet many in the galaxy did not. Aela knew that, and she was open about who she was, who her grandfather was. It was a truth that if hidden could eventually hurt.

 

[Adder]

She held the taller woman's gaze for a few moments, studying those vivid orange eyes with a keen stare of her own, and Adder felt an acute sense of discomfort wash over her as the blonde uttered her full name. It wasn't hers, though, and since the man beside them — Drexel? Daxer? Dexen! — was smiling a perfectly relaxed smile, it was rather clear to whom the emotion belonged.

Not that she would really need her fabled intuition to help her out on this one; the Jedi's constipated expression would've tipped off even an HK-series droid with malfunctioning photoreceptors.

Still, Adder couldn't figure out what was bothering the girl for the life of her. They had successfully saved countless twi'lek from being sold into slavery — or worse — despite the long odds and even longer day behind them, and it was only now that this decidedly unpleasant feeling had emerged.

It was strange, to say the least, but there was nothing to be done about it. At least not just yet, not when they hardly knew each other. Maybe later — if later ever came — Adder could indulge her natural curiosity and coax the information out of the clammed up girl. Now, however, the redhead would drop the matter along with her empty hand, smoothing the frown that threatened to pull at her face when her gesture had gone unreciprocated.

"Where will you take all these people?" Topic change. Always good.

"I kind of doubt the slavers left their homes intact when they took them."

The bastards had probably taken everything that wasn't nailed down and burned the rest. She'd seen enough plundered settlements to know how these things went when there was no Republic to protect you; and more often then not even when there was, these days. While the Senate spent their days bickering over pointless legislation — when they weren't robbing their people blind, anyway — it was men and women like them that battled the real issues.

Boots on the ground, with hands more often bloody than not. It made Adder's chest swell with sadness and regret, but her resolve never faltered in spite of it. If it did, who else would step up to help?

[member="Aela Talith"], perhaps, but people like that were precious few and far inbetween, and their enemies numbered in the thousands. What a lovely thought.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She had planned for that of course, planning was crucial.

"Sullust." It was a simple answer. "There is something starting there."

It was a way to describe the movement on Sullust, though perhaps a poor one. The small alliance that had slowly been forged on that world was slowly coming together into something grander. The underground cities on Sullust would be a perfect home to these Twi'leks, more importantly they would be safe there. "There will be food there, homes, work. They'll be safe and protected."

Aela smiled slightly, knowing that perhaps this would be the last time she could do a simple good like this. She knew that things were head of her, things that were much grander than rescuing slaves. Part of her realized that it was important to do the grander work, but another part of her feared it. She feared the idea of failing, of losing. It was a crippling insecurity.

"We're all going there." Aela explained quietly, looking at the members of the Covenant making their way towards the stations insides. For a moment she paused, then looked to Adder. "You're welcome to join us."

 

[Adder]

"Something?"

"Something what?"

She asked again, worried lines etched into her face as she followed the Jedi to the boarding ramp of the vessel. The blonde's backup was leading the tired slaves into its belly, slowly but surely helping everyone into the ship while a few stood guard against any remaining thugs who decided to try and salvage their credits with a last stand.

Adder shot one more glance over her mechanical shoulder at one of the corridors, and then turned back to [member="Aela Talith"], looking none the more assuaged.

"And what does 'us' do?" she asked with a trace of suspicion in her voice, past experiences brimming to the surface of memory like pieces of shrapnel still stuck in one's body long after the fact. She'd been part of another group of so-called 'do-gooders', of people who were supposed to help other people while putting the bad ones behind bars.

She'd also witnessed firsthand how poorly it worked, and how little they actually cared for the well-being of those who they were sworn to protect. The ex-cop swallowed bitterly and refocused her gaze on the blonde again, her jaw set and stubborn. She would not repeat the same mistake twice.

But she had also seen the Jedi do good here, with her own two eyes — okay, not entirely hers, but semantics — and it seemed that the girl genuinely believed in what she was saying. There was a glint in her orange eyes, a glint that Adder knew all too well; it was the same look she would see in the mirror a decade ago before she went out to the streets of Coruscant, determined to clean them of the human filth and injustice so ingrained in the duracrete.

She had failed, miserably so. Not only that; much of her time spent doing what she thought was right had actually been lining the pockets of the very people she'd been seeking to put in jail and have them punished for their crimes.

She outright refused to go through that again.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"]

She shrugged. "Something bigger."

That was really the only explanation that she could have. She wasn't talking about the Republic, she wasn't talking about the Jedi Order, or at least, not the current one. This was something new, this was something that would grow into itself, something that she could help shape and form. It was something that the members of the Covenant could create and forge for themselves.

"It's hard to explain." She further said. "There's a Jedi master, an old one. He's invited me, us to go out there and do what we've always done, but on a bigger scale."

"Help people." That was really all Aela ever wanted to do.

She didn't really know what else to say, how to explain it. She was simple that way, naive maybe, but it was true. All she wanted to do, all she had ever wanted to do was help people. It was an impulse that she had gained from her mother, one that she had since childhood. It was enough for her, and it was enough for most people within the Covenant. Those that followed her trust her decisions, and right now that decision was leading towards Sullust.

Towards the Galactic Alliance.