Let's Talk (Closed)

[Neutrino]

Leiris Synthes sat in a small, dark cell that was composed of a cold floor, a high ceiling, and four sturdy walls. She could only see the door she had been shoved through because of the light from the hallway behind it. The light was faint but managed to cast itself around the outline of the door and to barely illuminate Lei's cell.

Lei was huddled in the corner, away from the door, wondering how it had come to this. She held onto her bleeding arm tightly, hoping it would stop soon. After being punched, it still hurt to breathe and her head was feeling very light and very heavy at the same time. Not wanting medical attention from her captors, yet fearing she would need it, Lei chose to ignore her physical condition and the pain it wrought. She focused on not panicking, which was hard, considering she had been kidnapped by terrorists and was being held on there ship bound for who knows where.

And it smells bad in here, she noticed and disapproved.

 

[Storm]

The ship belonged to the Zialan Sodality. It had been some days since the incident on Anchorhead during which Kalar Enterprises had been all but destroyed, with their security officer being killed and their leader captured. Their leader remained on the ship at this moment. Vazo Ausec-Kisir stood, in bulky body armour that meant he took up the whole area of the bridge, watching the stars shoot past. His fellow comrades in the Sodality were returning to Abyssissa in their own ships; as the most senior member from the Anchorhead incident, he had taken the Kalar leader with him. The Sodality had done their work on Kalar beforehand, and so had a "plan" set out for their captive. This was most unusual for the Sodality; they didn't work with "plans". This, however, was a plan for a non-plan - an odd paradox. This was a plan for death and destruction, for genocide and mass killings, and Vazo was itching to begin it. That was where the importance of their captive came into things. From his chair, Vazo rose.

The chair bounced up behind him.

Making his way aft, Vazo reached the door to the cell and opened it with a clang. His frame occupied the doorway, providing no opening for the prisoner to escape and run - after all, there was nowhere to go on an enclosed ship. The sound of his boots made the metal floor shake, and as Vazo gazed on the pitiful creature before him he felt no pity; did he ever feel pity? He had been raised so as not to feel pity. She was cut and bruised before him, and probably would require medical attention upon their return to the enclave. But that was the least of Vazo's worries right now. As he stepped into the cell, he slowly paced his way over towards her, and looked down upon her from above. She truly was hurt, yet she would receive no respite until she gave the Sodality what they wanted, and acceded to their demands. She'd still have to wait until they reached the enclave in six hours time, in any case. But Vazo could, if she wasn't compliant, make her need far, far more medical attention than she already did.

And he would easily do so.

Nudging her with the toe of his boot, none too gently, he looked down upon her. "Get up." He commanded, making his command redundant by grabbing her shirt in one armoured hand and wrenching her upwards; the fabric was strong, and so did not tear beneath his fingers. "You obviously need medical help. Soon we will reach our Enclave where, providing you are compliant, you will receive help. If you are not compliant, you will not receive aid, but will be requiring it far more than you do now. I trust that you understand this."
Vazo did not need to make it any more clear. "If you give us what we want, this hardship will make you a strong member of the Zialan Sodality, where you will atone for your heinous crimes of working with filth." Vazo spat at her feet. "And you can atone some way for that now. Kalar Enterprises has more employees. You also have contact with Trandoshans. You will call them. You will meet with them in a location of our choosing. And then..."

"Then you will help us kill them."

 

[Neutrino]

Lei tried to ignore the pain and dizziness that being wrenched upward caused. Struggling to focus on his words, her eyes locked onto his. Lei was already thinking of how she could accomplish what he wanted. It was the way her mind worked. But that didn't mean she liked it, or wanted to do what this Vazo said. But again, she didn't have many options and she would seem as compliant as possible for as long as possible.

"I understand you." And then she hoped he would understand her next few words. "But what you ask for is not as easy as you make it sound. It will be... difficult." Lei thought she had better get that bit of information out of the way first. While it probably wasn't what he wanted to hear, it was honest. And she only hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way. But what were the chances of that?

Her grip on her wounded arm tightened.

 

[Storm]

Vazo bared his teeth behind his mask.

Slowly, he ground out the words. "It's difficult? Life is hard. Life is a struggle from the day we are born to the day we die, yet we struggle with it. You will struggle with it, and you will tell me why you feel this task is difficult. You will then think of how you are planning to deal with this and do the task regardless of the fact that it's difficult. After that you will never use a pathetic excuse to not do a task down to something being "difficult" again."

Once again, Vazo spat at her feet.

"I'm starting to feel that you're not particularly inclined to do this. Your life depends upon this. Will you do it, and will you do it despite you feel it is difficult, or am I going to have to provide you with further encouragement?"

Vazo menacingly indicated a fist.

 

[Neutrino]

Lei just stared at him blankly. "I wasn't giving you an excuse." Her eyes wandered to his fist. "I'm trying to talk business." She doubted he had much experience with it. His threats weren't necessary anymore, but she refrained from telling him this.

As simply as possible, Lei then went on to explain the difficulty as he had demanded, "As far as making meetings, to do one or the other would be easy. But to do both will be more complicated. To do anymore after this will only be more complicated." She tried to gauge his reaction but his mask made it difficult. "They trusted me, and so they would have come at my request. But by now, they must realize I have been compromised... in some way." It would have been noticed that the great Leiris Synthes had lost all contact with everyone. Lei thought of all the dinner dates she had missed and all the daily functions of Kalar that would be lost without her. Not wanting to sound completely useless to Vazo though, she continued, "I can make some excuse for my absence and they will probably believe it, or they will have no choice but to believe it. And I can arrange a meeting as you would like. But once word gets out that no one is returning from this meeting I arrange, then they will be wary of me and I may even be declared an enemy of the state."

Lei tried to find the eyes that must be somewhere behind his mask. "The repercussions of this may be more than your organization can... struggle through." His organization was small and this probably was the only reason for its survival thus far. Everyone was too busy to care or notice such an insane group. "If you are connected to me, then the debut of Zialan Sodality will be short lived." Lei seriously wondered at the foolishness of this terrorist organization. "While I will cooperate with whatever you demand, I suggest your current plan is not the wisest course of action." Lei didn't know if she was helping herself or helping them more. "I do not know the extent of your organization's power, but I am afraid that this is the issue. Humans are a minority among many within this galaxy. To be successful, either up recruitment and make slave soldiers or else stay small and stay secret." Since when was Lei their adviser. "Using me, one of the most famous celebrities in the galaxy, in the way you are asking, is not wise." She hoped she hadn't just signed her death warrant.

Feeling as she did though, Lei could not think of much else to say at the moment.

 

[Storm]

"So it can be done."

"I don't care if it's hard, I don't care about the repercussions; we are the Zialan Sodality, and the Republic nor the Hutts do not scare us. We can hide from the Republic in Hutt Space have we need, but we are the Zialan Sodality - we do not run! We do not hide! How dare you insinuate such a thing?" Vazo grabbed her by her shirt and threw her to the floor, the material tearing in his hands. Standing above her, he looked down upon her and nodded.

"You will do as I have said."

"You will come to the bridge and you will arrange the meeting. If you try to escape or overpower me, I will kill you. If this meeting goes off as we hope, you will be welcomed into the Sodality as our sister, and your days of hardship and abuse at our hands will be replaced by inclusion in our glorious crusade. This is our way."

 

[Neutrino]

As Lei hit the cold ground, she was fine with Vazo abandoning reason. It was better this way, she decided. But it had seemed he had lost his mind long ago. She had not meant to insinuate anything offensive and his excessive force at this point was just pointlessly cruel and confusing, not to mention painful.

Lei struggled to sit up and clutch at the front of her torn clothes. She smeared blood across herself while doing so. Looking up at him, she waited for his next move. The beaten young woman supposed he would lead her to this mysterious bridge.