[justprompts] Trap
ooc: set after this prompt by
its_notluck. Juno is brandedatraitor and used with permission, as is Claire. ;)
He was a creature of instinct. He obeyed his Master’s orders, but during the execution of them, he stayed deeply in touch with the deepest and most primal part of him.
He interrogated a few leads. He got a few snippets of information for his trouble. His fingers brushed over the edges of the small holocron cube that seemed to be weighing him down as he reached into his armor for the communicator tucked beside it.
“Juno. You there?”
“Of course.” Juno’s voice was cool and even, as always.
“You’re from Corulag…what do you know about Senator Petrelli?”
“Senator Nathan Petrelli?” She sounded slightly surprised. “Why do you ask?”
“Juno. Just tell me.”
There was a pause, and he almost sighed in irritation before Juno answered. “His family have been members of the House of Citizens for generations. His father, Arthur Petrelli, also served as a Senator in the Republic for a term.”
"He supports the Empire."
"Everyone on Corulag supports the Empire."
There was bitterness in her voice that he hadn't the time to address and soothe right now. His steps were careful and measured as he wound his way through the landing docks, scanning the ships visually but more importantly looking for the blank spot that would let him know which was the Ambassador’s. “And the daughter?”
“A Senatorial Ambassador, I believe. Claire, is her name. Why are you asking me this?”
“I’ll tell you later. Sit tight until I get back.”
“Is that what you told your last pilot?”
Her sarcasm was obvious, and he started to ignore her until he actually took a moment to think about the question. “…Yes.”
“…I’m going to have to demand a pay raise soon, you know.”
He scoffed softly as he ducked behind a stack of crates and watched the Ambassador’s guards march dutifully back into the ship, likely preparing for take off. He fought a brief but intense war with himself, staring at the closing hanger door of the vessel with intense deliberation before finally taking off, using the Force to fuel his steps and allow him to make a graceful leap through the diminishing gap.
“I’ll get back to you on that,” he murmured, and cut off the communication before Juno could respond.
* * * * *
He didn’t really want to kill the guards.
Truthfully, he hadn’t wanted to kill any of the Imperials that he’d slain thus far. But that was before his Master betrayed him. That was before this arrogant little princess had revealed entirely too much knowledge about him, his Master, his plans. She was going to tell him her game--and he had to admit that she was playing it very well--or she was going to be eliminated.
Still. He wanted this done quickly and quietly. He killed the guards with two quick, clean swipes of his lightsaber and moved as silently and carefully as he knew how through the ship, avoiding the densest part of the nulling void, where the Haitian would be located. There was no sign of the eager puppy, either, until he reached the door to the Ambassador’s quarters.
He couldn’t let the boy call out, so he summoned what little access to the Force he still had to wrap an invisible ligature around his throat and cut off his air, closing his fingers and putting pressure down on his neck until he felt him slide into the murky waters of unconsciousness. Likely he should’ve killed him--and, of course, if he didn’t like what the Ambassador had to say, he would, but until then, it was probably best to limit the bloodshed.
The lock was easy enough to disable, even with his tie to the Force being so limited…and the little Ambassador was waiting for him, smirking.
“Hello Starkiller.”
“Ambassador.” He let the door close behind him and triggered the blade of his lightsaber.
She didn’t flick so much as an eyelash, canted her head as though it were a social visit. “To what do I owe the honor?”
“I want to know what your game is.” He tucked his lightsaber back into the Shien style reverse grip as he advance. “Why you’re trying to convince me to betray the Empire when your planet is a model of proper Imperial loyalty. Why you're trying to convince me to betray my Master.”
She pursed her lips and sat down smoothly on the edge of her bed, began unlacing her boots casually. “Don’t you think you owe him one?” she remarked thoughtfully. “I mean, he did kill you.”
“And then brought me back to finish what we started.”
“You keep telling yourself that, but I don’t think you really believe it.” She kept undressing. He kept his focus on her face, defiantly, as though nothing underneath that armor held the slightest interest for him. “Isn’t that what the Master Shaak Ti said? The Sith always betray one another.”
Something in him snapped. He’d had enough. Enough of her mind games. Enough of her knowing far too much about it. Enough of her refusal to explain anything, enough of her circular conversation.
He closed the space between them in a quick stride, fingers wrapping around her throat and tightening. “You’re going to tell me exactly how you know that,” he snarled, glaring down at her, shaking her a bit for emphasis. “Enough games. Tell me.”
Her eyes were half-closed, lips parted as she fought to keep breathing around his grip. “Oh, please,” she rasped. “Do it harder.”
He felt a surge of disgust, though on the heels of it was something else, something he couldn’t identify, and he did exactly as she asked, closing his hand tighter and watching light and life fade from her eyes. So be it. He’d kill her, the rest of the crew on board, and leave without a trace. He and Juno were good at disappearing. No one would suspect a Sith assassin of choking someone to death with their bare hands.
When she went limp and lifeless, he let her body fall onto the bed and deactivated his lightsaber, turning around impassively to leave. He closed his eyes for a moment, pulling at the few threads of the Force he could still access and sensing where everyone was in the ship, planning the best way to attack and eliminate them all, quickly and quietly.
He sensed, more than heard the movement behind him. His lightsaber lit with a snap-hiss, and he swung around, ready to strike out.
The Ambassador was on her feet, glaring at him and smirking darkly. “You could’ve at least staged the scene better, you know, instead of throwing me down like a sack of Wookiee fur.”
He was so stunned, that he didn’t even sense the thick null void moving closer, closing around him, suffocating him. “What…what are you--”
The door behind him was blasted open; before he could swing around to face it, electricity surged through his body, mercilessly assaulting his senses. He couldn’t hear, see, think, or defend himself with a violent Force push, could only yell in pain and slide down to the floor. Even after the onslaught stopped, his body twitched and spasmed and jerked. The Ambassador stepped over him calmly and spoke to someone out of his line of vision. “Pose as him and get to his ship. We can’t have his pilot suspecting anything. This moves us ahead of schedule, but we’ll have to deal with it. Give Captain Eclipse the coordinates on the cube--we‘ll meet them there--and put a tracer on that droid. Anything Lord Vader has to say to him, father will want to know about.”
Even as he fought to stay awake, he managed to growl angrily at her, thinking of Juno, PROXY, what they could do to them, what would happen to them because he’d been careless.
Claire Petrelli’s dark smile followed him down into the darkness.