The morning shower was longer than she desired, or perhaps it was what she really wanted. The water was refreshing and offered a sense of peace. The pressed button to turn the water off with a following of drying off. She makes her way to the chair of her table and crosses her pale legs, setting the wet towel from her hair on the arm of the chair at the moment. A long sigh is released right before there is a ring on her datapad.
“…Sandra.” Sandra picks up and sets to comms.
“Diana. Good to hear you’re still alive. How has your little spy ventures been? I hear you made a splash on Mon Cal among some closed channels.”
“Someone has to remind the bad guys that there’s a redhead around.”
“What’s an ex-spy and ex-jedi to do, right? Can’t take the Shadow out of the girl.”
“Right… and you can’t take the creepy out of a half-assed Jedi, Carter”
“You’re funny, Diana. But I didn’t call to throw words. I got a job. I need a bitch like you.”
“Go…”
“Jedi Padawan was taken prisoner. Taken by a local triad on Tatooine. They got a sandy hideout in the middle of the desert, but operate out of Anchorhead. I’ve been stalking and taking notes on the triad for about 4 weeks. I got a gal who had red hair and I need you to go in as her. Laurie Dekk, age 30, droid repair. Got long legs like you. Want in?”
“Tell me about the Padawan.”
“Just a kid, name’s Lux, but you know how much Jedi are going for right now. Two mill for this one, and young. Black hair and green eyes, Guardian Type, age 15, was taken when his Master got flashed and shot. The Master is recovering well, but the boy is still missing, of course. He’s a little taller than you. Just walk in and get the boy, and get out. Simple, right?”
“I imagine you could have done that already if you could. What stopped you?”
“Jedi don’t like making a mess, as you know. If you leave bodies, make sure it’s not the kid’s, alright?”
“Fine, i’ll do this for you. You did drag me back to ship when I was unconscious. I owe you EXACTLY one…”
“See you in the woods. Your planet is on lock right now. We’re taking the back way out.”
“See you there…” Sandra hangs up and sighs
In covert ops, you get used to seeing old rivals or enemies. Sometimes they’re looking for intelligence. Sometimes they’re looking for revenge… and sometimes they’re looking for a friend.
=============================================
Sandra goes to the designated drop point on Anchorhead and pulls a package from the noted location, buried under some sand, of course.
It only takes a moment to find a place to change and to meet with the people she was asked to find. She reviews the notes that Carter sent her and she practices some of the vocals, the manners, and face of the woman he sent a vid of. If anything, Carter was thorough and detailed. As a Jedi Investigator, he seems to know his way around.
It’s not long before the actual meet and she’s waiting for a speeder to pull up on the outskirts of the city. The speeder car pulls up with three guys in it and they nod. Sandra nods and she gets in.
“About time that you came, fellas.”
“No problem, but listen, there’s an issue.”
“What cha need?”
“You.”
The pair next to Sandra fire stun blasters at her and she’s out…
==============================================
Sandra wakes up in a metal chair with some wires on them. There’s a table with some pieces of iron and other various …sharp things.
Two guys walk in and sit next to Sandra on stools.
“Alright, Jedi, here’s what we’re gonna do. You tell us where to find more Jedi friends and we’ll make sure to sell you to a decent slavery ring, got it?”
“Carter set me up, eh?”
“Tough Beans. Everyone’s out for their own.”
“…Half-assed Jedi.”
The guy slaps her across the face.
“Jedi, where.”
Every interrogation is a struggle between two parties for control, but when forward progress depends on you giving up this control, you have to be careful. An overt show of weakness is transparent. Bluffing strength and allowing that bluff to get called creates a believable fiction that lets the person across the table think they actually have something on you.
“There’s a lot of Jedi on Coruscant.”
“No shit. We’re not about to walk over to their bloody base and shake em, stupid. Jedi, where.”
“Jedi are on Dantooine.”
“Yeah yeah, we know. Where are INDIVIDUAL ones, dumbass. Easy targets!”
“Republic Base on Mon Cal.”
“You’re messing with us. Get the iron.”
The partner gets up and begins to heat up the metal rod.
“Jedi, where.”
“Your mom’s house.”
This get’s Sandra a large fisted punch to the face.
“Right, we’re doing this the fun way then. Bert, bring the rod.”
The metal rod is brought over and Sandra gets about 30 mins of pokes to her skin, waps, and kicking until the host is satisfied. He kneels down to Sandra’s face and whispers gently.
“I don’t like hitting a pretty lady, but you just have to give me one Jedi. Just one, alright? Then I won’t do it again, alright?”
A fake crying Sandra nods slowly and shakily gives a reply.
“T-There’s a Jedi on T-Tatooine. A girl. She’s 5’4” or so, and fairly tough. Cassidy Jane. She’s in the northern part of Anchorhead. Alright? Is that what you want?!"
“Good girl. BERT, go investigate her claim. I’ll stay with the prisoner. Don’t forget to call on the good pad, alright? I hate when the datapad gets all the damn static stuff.”
“Yes, Rick! I’ll be back soon!” Burn runs out.
The real experts in resisting interrogation aren’t the ones who stonewall in silence. They’re the ones who have mastered the art of talking about nothing, pretending to cooperate, throwing out endless leads. They use your need for information against you, giving you things you want to believe.
“Hey, Rick, I know where there are more Jedi.”
“What chu got, girl?”
“There’s a Jedi in your mom’s house. She calls him daddy sometimes.”
This gets the guy fumed and gets him to work on Sandra for a good 20 mins in great rage. The bloodied woman lays on the ground panting and groaning in agony after Rick lets loose a rage filled barrage. Rick paces back and forward a moment in a great deal of sweat and goes to exit the room.
“I’ll be back with better toys, red.”
==========================================
In this time Sandra coughs out some blood and takes a moment to recover some before taking in a deep breath and bending the soft metal of her cuffs. She shakes them loose and groans some more before sitting up to meditate.
It’s about 30 minutes more before the sound of a cart moving begins to ring in the metal halls to Sandra. She opens her eyes and takes one last deep breath before resuming her position and readying.
The fellow opens the door and slides in a cart. He laughs and looks on Sandra with a disturbing grin. Reaches forward to slam the fellow into the ceiling, the ground, and two side walls before letting him drop unconscious.
“Thanks for opening the door…”
Sandra picks up the guy’s blaster and shrugs.
Limping through the base was not really an issue. The people she did encounter were met with a violent throw into metal walls or a blaster to the leg and arms.
It wasn’t difficult for Sandra to pinpoint the only Jedi in this area also. She walked along, sneaking around various points, occasionally slamming a fellow or two into a metal crate, sometimes the other way around. A stunned mind on occasion did wonders for her and the situation. Sandra was tired and in pain, and she was ready to go. The walk there was fairly exhausting, and it’s hard for people to report what’s going on if they are all unconscious. It was only a matter of time though before people would come looking for non responsive people or encounter an unconscious person.
Sandra gets to the room where she feels the Jedi and opens the door with a Force Breach. Crumpling the door’s frame and pushing it open. She looks around to see several people tied to chairs, skinny and barely fed, and even so, the Jedi Padawan who looks to Sandra with fear in his eyes.
“…I’m getting you out of here.”
That was all she had to say before people looked around and chattered. The Padawan looks to Sandra.
“Please, I can help! Padawan Lux.”
Sandra smiles a little to the Padawan Lux and nods. She limps over and crumples his cuffs and releases him. He goes to nod and with a shaky voice he speaks.
“There is a room where they are keeping a speeder that can get everyone out of here. It can hold everyone in here. And, who are you?”
“Sandra Mana, and I used to be a Jedi. Carter, do you know him?”
“Yes! He’s my master’s friend! They grew up together, I think. Why?”
“He sold us out. I’m sorry…”
The lad’s face goes pale and he frowns, looking down in deep sadness. Sandra looks up and puts a hand on the lad’s face.
“…We will make this right, and you’ll be with your Master again. He’s alive, and he’s waiting for you. So we’ll do this together, ya?”
The gentleness Sandra portrays offers him a light of hope and with a deep breath, he nods in confidence. They go through the remainder of the small base, both throwing bodies around and silencing people along their path in a hurry. The other released prisoners follow and look in amazement on the magic that is displayed through the small base.
They get to the armory where Sandra gets her goods back and she arms some of the prisoners that know how to fight.
When they reach the hanger, Sandra fires rapidly on several guards and a shootout ensues. The Padawan Lux defects several shots and pulls a fellow from the rafters, and he falls with a scream. He hops into a speeder and presses the power switch and it comes to life. Sandra zaps takes a grenade off a fellow and throws it at the gate to blow a way outside. This causes several of the guards to either disperse or go for back up. The prisoners run into the speeder Lux has ready and Sandra hops into the passenger seat, throwing one more grenade near a series of power cells.
Once they are a few seconds away, part of the base explodes.
Some hours later, Padawan Lux returns the people to the authorities and gets the credit for saving them, though he mentions Sandra later on. Lux was rather appreciative of Sandra help and they talked about life and Jedi studies a bit before they parted ways. It was nice to meet a Padawan with such a bright heart, but there was still time for one more thing. There was one last thing Sandra needed to do…
=============================================
“Hey, Carter, we busted the group like you planned. It went well. Let’s meet up for a minute, ya? Some people looking to give you credit for the bust.”
“Is that right, Diana? Can’t say that was expected, but you must have done a hell of a job. Alright, where?”
“The abandoned cantina in the middle of town.”
“Right, see you in a moment.”
==============================================
Carter walks into the grey and dusty cantina. He looks around and sees Sandra at the bar with a glass of golden whiskey from the abandoned shelves. She takes a sip and asks…
“Poison?”
“Corellian. The hard stuff.”
Sandra pours a high liquor Corellian Brandy for Carter and slides him the glass to where he takes a seat.
“So where’s the welcoming party, Diana?” He takes a sip.
“Just me. Why’d you do it?” Sandra makes her way around the bar to a seat at the other end of the bar.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You set up Lux and his Master. And you set ME up.”
He chuckles and rolls the brandy in the glass, the silvery drink catching the light of the early evening into the glass. It was rather beautiful.
“How much did they offer you, Carter?”
“16 Million.”
“Not bad.”
“Yeah.”
Sandra and Carter take a sip of their respective drinks and set the glasses down at the same time. Carter sighs and stands with a chuckle.
“Taking me in then?”
“No.”
This causes Carter to frown and he reaches to take out his lightsaber. He sighs and kicks aside a few chairs. Sandra gets up and wipes some dried blood from her face. With a wave, the chairs and debris in her path are all moved aside gently. Sandra groans and reaches for her own Lightsaber and turns on one side. She stretches a bit and some creeks are heard from the worn woman.
“Any last words, Diana? You were a talented one, that’s for sure. But too bad you couldn’t just live the rest of your life in slavery. It’s really what you deserved in the end.”
“Maybe, but I have something new in my life. I have …friends, allies, people that oddly still look up to me, and someone that loves me. I can’t die today. Unlike you, failed spy, there is only The Force…”
He turns on his Blue Lightsaber and Sandra turns on her Cyan one. He takes an Ataru stance and she leans real low, a hand on the floor, saber behind her so he cant see the length, and her ponytail dangling to one side of her face.
Carter raises a brow at this odd positioning and he charges forward, but all he ends up seeing is unsettled dust and Sandra is gone. His vision falls sideways to the ground and he can see the bottom half of his torso fall infront of him. His eyes look to the silvery Brandy on the bar’s table…
“…So …Beautiful…”
His eyes close as his major organ failures causes him to groan and then …he is free. Sandra, who appeared on the other side of him in the blink of an eye, turns off her lightsaber and re-attaches it back to her belt. She walks over to her whiskey and finishes the glass before leaving the building. The cantina doors creaking as they swing…
In the spy game, you spend a lot of time getting people to betray their own. Most do it for credits. Some do it for spite. But the greatest achievement is to get a guy to turn on his own people because he thinks he’s being loyal. The worst feeling you can have is knowing that someone you thought you could trust ends up betraying you. A few betrayals is not really an issue for a spy, but the psychological build up over time is draining. All you can do is trust in the training.