Turnabout

For the last two weeks, Emily's life had not been going according to plan. She was inescapably trapped here. Everything she ever got to see was the engine room of the ship, a tiny chamber, and the corridor between them. Despite being scared, she had thought a lot about what she could do to facilitate an escape, but the result had been: nothing. The ship didn't even have a computer that could be meaningfully hacked and used in any way to help her. Its systems were separated and she never got access to the communications computer, from which she could possibly have sent a signal for help. Anything she could have done from the engine room would just get her killed by her captors. She had thought about the possibility doing damage in a way that would make her indispensable, but this couldn't be accomplished in such a manner as to give her what she wanted: her freedom. All that could have resulted was that the ship would be stuck in space, and that was of no use unless they were found. And if they were found, then she would no longer be indispensable and get shot. If she did it on a planet, she also wouldn't be indispensable - and get shot.

Her captors had turned out not to be monsters but real people - but still people who didn't hesitate too much to shoot others. Of the Andaria's crew, there were only herself and Anjira left, who she shared her chamber with. The two of them had been the only ones to have the sense to surrender and the luck to have their surrender noticed before someone pulled the trigger.

The fact that, being under almost constant supervision in the engine room and having to share her room, which was more of a prison cell, with another, she had essentially no private time added further to the stress she was experiencing, and Emily took care to regularly remind herself not to do something desperate and stupid. Though if this continued much longer, she had a feeling she would go crazy however much she tried to avoid it. She had a suspicion that at some point, she would start hoping that someone blew these pirates were shot out of the air by someone, even though that wouldn't be any good at all. Even if the ship was not seized by anyone, there were only so many years that this could continue. People weren't pirates for their whole lives; and it actually seemed quite unlikely that when they wanted to stop some time, they would bother to shoot her. Now if only she were good at manipulating other people, she could maybe bring about such an end much earlier. But alas, she was not, and although she didn't know what she did wrong, she was at least aware of this.

So, waiting and not going crazy. And hoping that the ship would be repairable in the future and not be shot out of the sky. Sometimes she wondered if entering into the services of the Andzaam Trading Tompany to see a bit more of the galaxy had really been a good idea; if maybe she had grossly underestimated the risks. But it wouldn't seem like that; it was one of the large, powerful companies that few pirates dared to attack. It had just been plain incredibly bad luck that just when she was supposed to be transferred to an outpost in the Outer Rim, an exception had happened.

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much reason to get her hopes up. The ship was armed to the teeth, and in the time she had spent here, it had never even remotely gotten into trouble. Half an hour ago, there had been an alarm and she had, filled with hope and anxiety, awaited the outcome of the encounter that must have been happening; but there hadn't even been a fight worth mentioning. It just ment more dead or captured people, and had rather dampened Emily's spirits even further.

"Now get to work and calibrate the fuel supply control", she heard a gruff voice, and a moment later felt a slap on her behind - not a rare occurrence lately, and not exactly to her taste, but then it could have been much worse. "Yes..." she said tonelessly and without even looked at who had spoken to her, much too afraid to answer in any other way. Even if they weren't monsters, they had shot a number of people right in front of her eyes.

Least of all was she going to say that she had already done what she was being told to do and that the ship was already using its fuel in the most optimal possible way. She wouldn't pass up a chance to let her mind be occupied by work, even if most of it was too menial to serve that purpose adequately, and it was depressing that there wasn't even any repairing to do at this point.

Unusually, she was left alone in the engine room this time, the pirates probably going off to deal with their new prisoners, or to celebrate their victory, and so she busied herself at a console. Suddenly, she felt something pressing against the back of her head and tensed up, adrenalin shooting into her bloodstream as she was again caught in that mixture of fear and hope; a bit more hope than fear in this case, maybe because the female voice behind her sounded very pleasant for a change.

"So I'm not dead if I help you to the reactor? No blowing up the ship and leaving everyone on board?" she asked carefully. "In that case, have you disabled the security cameras?"

Bang!

The Zabrak hit the cold metal floor with a loud thud. She lay there for a few seconds – or minutes, only Force knew – choosing to remain motionless and staid in order to fool whoever had dragged her over there – quite unceremoniously, might I add – into thinking she was still unconscious. When the lingering feet finally left, a heavy, determined gait lacing every step, the Sith dared pry one eyelid open. Wherever they'd thrown her, it was dark and musky, and the air around her was permeated with a stench she couldn't place. After her eyes had finally adjusted to the lightless atmosphere around her, a soft, buzzing sound entered her consciousness. Instinctively, Vrag turned herself towards the source of the hiss, only realizing that she wasn't bound after her eyes fell on a containment field. The flowing energy winked back at her, as if it were just another witness to her incompetence and lack of skill. She ground her teeth in an exasperated attempt to staunch the impending hurt and shame tearing at her heart, but to no avail.

"Aaaargh!" the red-skinned woman let out a deafening scream, finally admitting defeat to herself. The gnawing guilt and the feeling of utter, complete failure sank its teeth into the remains of her rotten soul, chewing for a bit and spitting out whatever was left. "Father, forgive me…" she whispered brokenly, the sharp contrast of her previous exclamation all the needed testament to her crumbling self-esteem. Force knew how long she would've stayed like that, curled up in a fetal position on the floor, had it not been for the sudden commotion behind her back.

Vrag whirled around in an instant, falling back to her training and momentarily pushing away the anguish that was eating away at her. With a flex of her mighty muscles, the Sith was crouched in a low guard, ready for any- and everything that may come at her from the shadows. Instead of the conceived monsters or half-sentient species, however, there were two people there; a Twi'Lekk and the Jensaarai that had her succumb to horror of oblivion the moment their ship was attacked. It brought her little satisfaction, though, to see him as a captive. Indeed, she wasn't bound here, and it seemed she would get a chance for retribution; sadly, she was far more tired than her wary position was letting on and fighting with someone she'd probably be forced to work with in order to escape…not the brightest of ideas at the moment. Her nostrils flared and moments passed in silence, neither making their move. Finally, the Sith spoke into the unsettling quietude.

"If you leave me be, I shan't fight you," she stated, her voice carried with a cold, matter-of-fact undertone. Her words were directed at her previous captor, of course; the Twi'Lekk presented little threat, unless she was somehow connected to the Jensaarai. Even then, what was the likelihood of two Force-trained individuals being on the same ship? The intel she'd been given before her mission spoke only of one such member of their organization being present, and it was the rugged man in question, not some slutty alien from Force knew where. She was probably caught somewhere along the way and kept as an amusement. Vrag snorted derisively and turned her gaze back to the Force-sensitive. "Who caught your ship?" she asked, every word laced with demand and, more importantly, entitlement. Now that she was once again unchained and free of her drug-induced haze, she could and would allow to herself to act as a Sith should. Even if her mission had obviously gone awry, she would not shame her father any further by being all nice and gooey with these people. Especially the blue-skinned Twi'Lekk, who had yet to earn the Zabrak's grudging respect with her prowess as a warrior, which she indubitably lacked.
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"Some folks what ain't gonna get 'way now," Char remarked in answer to her question, sounding almost bored as he leaned back and closed his eyes, arms folded across his chest and one boot propped up on the other. He looked about as interested in the Zabrak as a housefly, and not even remotely concerned with their mutual plight. "Pirates, I'm fair to sure." He'd already figured out a lot more than that, but he wasn't about to share that information with the Zabrak - or the walls.

They had ears, after all.

"Feegure szat out yourself, deed you?" Zei'ira asked dryly. The Twi'lek girl was covering her nerves with bluster; the Human male seemed alright enough, maybe a little slow, but the red-skinned Zabrak was unmistakably a Sith. She would have preferred a whole armada of pirates to a Sith.

"Well, had me a li'l help." Char waved her off. He was remotely operating his Dark Eye probe droid, a taxing enough task without those two gals chattering away at him or operating through the relay of a secret link using the Ravager's semi-suborned systems. "'Ey, Red, y'figure you're any better with a lightsaber 'gainst pirates than y'are against me?::

Char cracked an eye to get a better look at his former captive. She looked like hell - there was no way she'd be able to hold her own unarmed when they made their breakout, and he couldn't count on Nasiri remembering to grab lightsabers for everybody. Bless her heart, but the redhead forgot an awful lot of things for someone with a photographic memory. Ordinarily, Char wouldn't have had any problems with leaving a Sith - even a Disciple - to die, but he was kind of responsible for putting her in this position. He had to give her credit for putting on a brave front, though.

"You're going to geeve a lightsaber to a Seesz?" Zei'ira exclaimed, aghast.

"Not so loud," Char chided the Twi'lek girl. "Ain't like she c'n be head-butting 'em to death, now is it?"

---

"Thanks, hon." Nasiri glanced at Emily, sensing no deception in her - so it was probably safe to assume the reactor room lacked much in the way of security systems.

Assumptions are what got people caught.

Nasiri crouched down and dropped her sensor-specs down over her eyes, analyzing the room for a second before she stood up and walked in. There weren't any security systems - though to be fair, she expected that of pirates. She strode over to the reactor controls and deployed a security blade out her left vambrace. She glanced it over a second, mentally comparing it to the library of similar control panels she stored in her remarkable memory, then nodded. Nasiri jammed the spike into an access port, getting a little spark as she detached it and lifted her forearm up to pop open the computer built into the sleek armored gauntlet. A thin cable ran from the spike to the bracer, ensuring a secure data feed. Nasiri pursed her lips thoughtfully as she began uploading software into the reactor control program, 'patching' it to ensure it would begin to malfunction in the way she wanted. The whole process took about a minute and a half.

"The reactor is yours," Nasiri sent over her implanted comlink.

"I have it," Phoenix acknowledged. The AI was alert and attentive, but hardly over-taxed; she had been designed to handle much, much more than just the combined systems of the Phoenix and the Ravager while they were simply sitting in space, the Phoenix locked down in the pirate frigate's hold. Fortunately, they thought the little transport was worth more intact than chopped into her separate components.

Nasiri nodded, unplugging her computer and looking over her shoulder at Emily with a concerned frown. It wasn't an act; she really was worried about what might happen if the pirates caught them.

Not that she'd admit to being worried about someone she just met.

Nasiri walked up to the other girl and sized her up a moment, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Sweetie, we're probably going to get ourselves into a sticky situation if we don't move fast enough." Nasiri pulled her second pistol out of its holster on her left thigh and held it out to show it to Emily. "This is a BlasTech Dee-Ell Eighteen. It's a blaster pistol, holds a hundred shots to a charge and is effective out to about one hundred meters, accurate to maybe twenty." She pointed to the selector switch located above the trigger well with the barrel of her other pistol. "This is the safety. Disengage it, but don't point the weapon at me." Nasiri glanced at Emily with a smile in her eyes. "And that's the firing stud. Push that in when you want to shoot something." Nasiri flipped the weapon around and offered the grip to Emily. "Don't shoot me, and if you see a big handsome lug running around with a glowstick, he belongs to me and I'd really, really appreciate if you didn't shoot at my boyfriend."

This man is a pest! Vrag ground her teeth and screamed in silence as the Jensaarai leaned back, seemingly ignoring the gigantic effort she was making with not trying to butcher them both right then and there. Instead she dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, clenching her fists until the red skin on her knuckles was stretched so thin it was almost pink. Exhaling deeply a few times, the vein on her forehead sank back and she reopened her eyes, staring at her former captor again. With a strained voice, she answered "Pirates, you say?" Her eyes scanned the room, gaze guarded and wary. Force knew how many surveillance cameras were installed in those dark, invisible corners of their cramped little cell. Her thoughts were racing as she was contemplating her situation. If there's a way to reach the controls of that field, I can be out of here before they can say 'Sith', she mused, pacing around the small space she was sharing with the other two.

"What?!" she whipped around, staring at the Jensaarai incredulously. Did he really say 'lightsaber'? she wondered, now completely aware of the pair once more. Before she could answer the man, however, the noisy hoe chimed in, sounding as shocked as the Sith was feeling. The Zabrak in question reeled, pinning the Twi'Lekk on the spot with a smoldering red gaze. "Look, you little bitch. Unless you can fight your way out of here, you'll take all the help you can get. Or we can always use that pretty blue body of yours to distract them. So what do you say, you uppity brat?" she challenged the sassy alien, eying her with the hardest of stares that the girl had probably beheld in her life. "See? He has a point," she scoffed and stalked back to the containment field. "Now if you'll both shut up I might be able to do something about this annoyance," she dismissed the two, waving them away without so much as a glance over her shoulder. Crouching in the corner next to the edge of the containment field, she made sure that she was out of the guards' eyeshot before leaning in to the metallic structure of field projectors in hopes of spotting a point of weakness; one never knew, did one?
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