Escape to Sunrise

[Daiya]

Stars. The galaxy was full of stars. Stars on the holovision, acting in the week's latest dramas. Stars on the holotunes, singing the new greatest hit. Stars in symbols and sculptures and paintings, metaphors for the artist's inner passions. Stars in the sky, with one burning fiercely in the day and many twinkling and winking in the darkness of night.

She watched the only star she knew with any certainty stretch and vanish as the deckplates beneath her shuddered, signalling the ship's jump into hyperspace. Bringing her knees to her chest, the young Human girl named Daiya wrapped her arms around them, indulging in the closeness they provided her, a last grasp for familiarity as everything else she knew was ripped away.

The only other familiar presence in her life was seated in the chair opposite the door, an OS-109 rifle slung across his hairy lap, guarding the entrance into the bunk room they had rented. The transliterator was still slung across his chest, its blackened and broken from a souvenir from their escape. The Wookiee's eyes watched the door, almost without blinking, as if it would burst open at any moment. As if somehow, her enemies were aboard and just waiting until they were trapped in hyperspace to make their move. As if Phelaan were still alive.

Memories flooded back to her in waves. Their capture by his goons. The order to kill them coming across their comlinks. The goon raising his gun at her. Hearing the shot, and seeing the smoking gun hanging in midair. Weeks of hiding. Spending time on the HoloNets. Arranging the meeting. Being welcomed into his house, offered refreshments. Pointing the blaster at him. Smiling as she watched Phelaan slump down in his chair, a single hole through his forehead.

No, Daiya was certain, there was no way he was still alive. Phelaan was dead, every fiber of her being told her so. And still, he sat before her, his great hands clutched around the rifle, his back straight and poised to leap up at any moment. Tawrrowaldr was her ever-vigilant protector, brother, friend. If she wasn't so anxious herself, she might have smiled at the thought, but instead she gripped her legs more tightly. Staring straight ahead, the girl took a slow breath in and then let it out, the exercise she used to focus when she was trying to focus enough to draw her visions.

"Tawrro," she called to him gently, her voice sounding much calmer than she still felt. He didn't look at her, but she knew he was listening. His body hadn't changed, he hadn't even moved a muscle, but it was as if his whole demeanor changed. As if her voice was a reminder to him, a reinforcement of his purpose or perhaps simply to let him know that she was still there. Daiya told him the only thing she could think of to reassure him. "He's dead. They're not coming."

The Wookiee growled at her, a rolling warble sounded from deep in his throat, but he still stared at the door. She sighed in response. Even without the transliterator, the girl had picked up enough Shyriiwook to comprehend basic conversation with Tawrro. "I know they could have. But I don't think so. I don't feel anything. I don't see anything."

It was true, Daiya hadn't gotten a vision since before she went to meet with Phelaan. The last one she had was what made her go in the first place. Even with the help of a contracted hacker, the times of his schedule known, the whereabouts of his lieutenants established, and everything else seeming to line up, the girl had not been sure about following through. There were so many variables, so many possibilities that it would go wrong. But when the vision came on, like so many of them did, with a sharp pressure just behind her forehead, she knew that she would be all right.

Tawrro replied, a few sharp barks interspersed with a growl. He did have a point. She didn't see the butler who welcomed her in, she didn't see Phelaan coming, or him dead, or her leaving the house alive. There were things that could have gone wrong. But he didn't know her visions like she did. Sure, he saw what she drew sometimes, and what she told him, but he never truly saw. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. I don't have a time machine, I just get glimpses."

Another growl. Now he turned to look at her, his face drawn both stern and concerned at the same time. That was the same face every parent had somewhere in their repertoire, dug out at times when a child did something truly dangerous and stupid.

"Because it hasn't happened yet, that's why!" Daiya insisted. She turned to look back out the viewport, even though there was nothing there to look at. The vortex of hyperspace churned by, small fluctuations and random patterns visible in the streaming show of lights, but nothing to hold her interest. Still she stared at it, refusing to meet his eyes. The girl felt the bed sag as his weight added to its burden, the rifle propped against the wall now. He growled softly.

"They usually do, though." No, she lied. They always came true, one way or another. That's what really scared her the most, even as she had come to rely on the mysterious visions. They had been harmless at first, or helpful at best. But more and more, the things she saw terrified her. Some people had nightmares while they slept, she had nightmares during her waking hours.

Daiya felt a weight on her shoe, and looked down to see Tawrro's hand there. His shaggy coat gently tickled her bare ankles. A younger version of her would have laughed at the sensation, and Tawrro would have used it to further tease her. When she realized that, the frustration burned in her heart. It felt like all of her happiness resided only in her memory. She kept her eyes down, unwilling to meet his.

His finger reached below her chin and lifted it up to his eye level. She looked at him reluctantly, waiting for whatever would come next.

 

[Daiya]

OOC: Only now realizing I had these written and never posted...

"So," the large man said as he took a seat in the chair across from her, "this is Tawrrowaldr's runt."

She had seen his picture. Watched holos of him, particularly the ones not made for propaganda. Studied his person, studied his moves. Yet none of that had prepared her to be in his presence. The man was bald, by genetics or by choice she didn't know. He was as wide as he was tall, as if he'd never met a meal he didn't like. Yet the mob boss oozed confidence and authority, and even being in his mere presence made her feel like she needed a bath.

Daiya tried hard not to let it show but her fiery eyes, fueled by her anger, quickly sought to find something else to look at. A moment later, she had control over them, but it was a moment too late. Phelaan's great belly shook as he laughed, and from anyone else the reaction would be genial. She could easily imagine him with his grandchildren, doting upon them with laughter and gaity as if his day job didn't include ordering the deaths of living beings.

Like herself.

"This runt was smart enough to get to you," she shot back, relieved that her voice had not betrayed her as her eyes had already. She took measured breaths, but her heart still pounded loud enough in her ears that she swore it was audible to the entire house.

"Indeed," Phelaan conceded, but leaned back in his chair with a comfortable air, as if he was merely conducting a negotiation.

Perhaps, she considered, he was. Only in this case, the terms were simple. This deal would end with his death or, as Daiya knew before she walked into his house, her death. She had no army, no backup, no Tawrro waiting to burst in if things went awry. It was just Phelaan and her alone. Any illusions at the confidence of success had gone out the window the moment she stepped through his front door.

Well, she thought, not quite. The girl held on to the smallest sliver of hope that she held in her mind, the image still as clear as when she first saw it. She had not needed to draw it this time, for she saw it every time she closed her eyes. Daiya blinked, savoring the moment longer than necessary to reassure herself, and then looked at her adversary.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Daiya asked, so sure that Phelaan would try to weasel out of this or cajole her. Even try to turn her to his side. She had gone over it all in her head, imagining every scenario and how she would react. A thousand lines and comebacks danced in her head, all of them useless in this moment. Never had she imagined he would be silent.

"Not really," the big man admitted, then he tilted his head to the side, studying her for a moment. Then he let out a guffaw, "Did you believe that I would have something grand to say to you? To congratulate you for your achievement? To boast of my infallibility? To beg for my life?" He laughed again. "I'm so sorry to disappoint you."

Now it was her turn to be silent. If she was being honest with herself, Daiya had wished he would say something grand. Congratulations or begging might be too much to ask for, but she was surprised Phelaan was so accepting of his fate. To have gone through so much to find him, corner him, to catch him unawares and not find one last hiccup or challenge to overcome...she found it underwhelming.

Daiya shrugged, both to Phelaan and to herself. She raised her hand, a blasted clutched in its grip, and pointed it at the mob boss. Whether he had seen many such sights before, or was simply too afraid to recognize the finality of the moment in front of him, Phelaan didn't move a muscle in response.

She drew in a breath, and was surprised to hear a sound from him after all.

"Is that yours?"

Startled, she asked, "What?"

"I said, is that yours?"

Daiya blinked, and Phelaan and his living room was gone. In his place stood a Bothan girl, pointing at the food item in front of them. It was alone in its pan, the last of its type, and though Daiya stood immediately in front of it she had made no move to take it. Turning to look at the Bothan, she smiled slightly and shook her head, "No, you can take it, of course."

The girl turned her head away and rolled her eyes as she gave her head another shake, moving her tray further along the line as she finished taking food from the ship's meager offerings. The memory had been so strong, so vivid, but it was just a memory. She took in a shaky breath as the girl reminded herself that it was over now. Daiya was far away and out of danger, two things she should be grateful for. So why did she keep returning to the events of that night in her head?

Again, Daiya realized the Bothan girl had spoken to her without her taking notice. The girl stopped and looked at the other, who asked without prompting this time, "Do you want to sit with us?"

Daiya didn't glance forward to Tawrro. She knew what he would say, and the girl knew she would disagree with it. It had been all she could do to convince him to let her come out to the food hall to begin with, for three days the Wookiee had ventured out on his own to fetch food and other necessities, until Daiya had finally revolted and demanded she be let out. The big creature was still noticeably unhappy about that fact. Keeping her attention on the other girl, she nodded agreeably this time and said, "Yeah, sure."

The other girl pointed out into the sea of tables, to one occupied by a lone Bothan. Despite having several other seats at the table, none had been taken, and the occupants of those around seemed to press close to their tables as possible as if to put even more distance between them and the Bothan's table. Daiya took a moment's notice of it before she motioned to Tawrro and began to follow the other girl to her table.

Daiya could tell Tawrro wasn't happy. The looks he gave others around their table made them press even closer to their own, and the crowd around them thinned out appreciably after a while, not that it seemed to alleviate his tension. Daiya tried her best to ignore it, and chatted with the girl and what turned out to be her mother as they ate. The girl's name was Lyr'ah and her mother was Saaki, and both were traveling to join Saaki's husband on a planet in the Outer Rim, away from the strict worlds of the Imperials.

Daiya and Lyr'ah chatted conspiratorially throughout their lunch, and as it ended, she took Tawrro aside. "I'm going to go with Lyr'ah, she's going to show me the lounge where the other kids hang out. It's supposed to have good views when we're in realspace!"

The Wookiee growled and shook his head. She should have known it would happen, but the girl was still upset with him. "Why not? You can even come with if you want, and sit in the corner like you do in our room. Nobody attacked me there, why would they attack me here?"

Another growl and a set of chirps issued from the Wookiee's snout. Daiya folded her arms across her chest, and her brow tightened. She resisted the urge to stamp her feet and cry, but instead looked crossly at her giant hairy guardian. "Fine," she spat, "Let's go back to my cell where you can lock me up again. I wish had died now, it'd be better than being a prisoner!"

With that, the girl turned and marched back to their room. Tawrro let her spend the trip in silence, and when they arrived, she flopped down on the bed turned away from him. She brought her knees to her chest again, wrapping her arms tightly around them, and nestled her head into their comforting crook, unable to keep soft whimpers from escaping her mouth until she fell asleep.

 

[Daiya]

Daiya did not eat the breakfast Tawrro brought for her the next morning. It sat near the bed, wafting delicious smells over to her nose and torturing her stomach. Yet the girl refused to succumb, fixing her gaze on a chink in the bulkhead plating that exposed a cable running behind it to power or inform some device further on in the ship. She spent her morning staring it down, pondering on its purpose and trying to divert her focus from her protesting stomach.

As she brooded, the thoughts in her head traced out the life of danger and risk she'd led. While the girl was grateful for Tawrro's protection in times past, now he was treating her like a child. Sure, she rationalized, she had come close to death but had come out okay in the end, that's all that really mattered. Whatever grace afforded her the foresight of prediction, it allowed Daiya to be more certain about her actions. In that respect, her mind argued, she didn't really take risks. She just took the path that led to the outcome her visions help guide her to.

She barely noticed that Tawrro had left the room again sometime in the afternoon. Without him present, Daiya spread across the bed, shifting her gaze to the ceiling, or the chair that now had a permanent carpet of Wookiee hair covering its seat, or the inert door to their rented room. It taunted her as the food had taunted her that morning. The girl ignored it with the same aplomb, Tawrro had to see how badly he was treating her.

Daiya spent her time gazing idly for a little while until she grew bored of that, especially alone in the their tiny cabin. Pulling out her holopad where she kept her poorly-drawn depictions of visions and other doodles, Daiya paged through it, each scene reminding her of the events surrounding it. She reached the last and lingered on it, letting the scene come alive in her head. The girl breathed it in as much as she did the air around her, the scene invading her senses until it nearly overwhelmed them. The feeling was intoxicating, and her heart swelled as she reveled in it, letting the cares of her petty dispute with Tawrro fade away.

When the euphoria of the moment washed away, and the girl was left alone again in the mundane cabin of the passenger starship, she deflated back onto the bed. The holopad felt heavy in her hands again, but her mind was surprisingly clear for the first time in weeks. The girl floated as if on air instead of a hard mattress, and the room seemed to take on a strange glow. With a gaze upon each object, it felt as if Daiya was connected in some way to it, but that was silly. Yet the more her mind seemed to resist the notion, the more she felt it was true. Her gaze drifted over the holopad in her hands, and experimentally she focused on it. Before her eyes, the object rose from her hands, and with a mere thought it spun before her in the air. Entranced by her apparent control, the holopad moved about the room and danced in the air under the watchful auspices of its conductor, lying on the bed.

So it was that Daiya barely noticed Tawrro's return until the soft, melodic voice of Lyr'ah floated across the room. She bolted upright, the holopad clattering to the floor in front of it, and her blonde curls, matted and in disarray from days of not being washed, flew into her face. Pulling them aside, the girl peered through her personal set of curtains at the thin Bothan girl, who hovered nervously in the doorway, Tawrro's hulking figure just inside the door leaving her in shadows. "Lyr'ah, hey," Daiya said sheepishly, her eyes darting to the dropped holopad before returning to her new friend standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here?"

If Lyr'ah took notice of the holopad or Daiya's nervous glance at it, the Bothan girl didn't show it. "Well, Tawrro and my mother—I mean, I thought maybe you'd be hungry. Want to come to the food hall with me?"

Daiya did not need to look at Tawrro to know that the Wookiee's gaze was upon her. She could feel it, and no supernatural powers were needed to know what this was. But she didn't care, even if Tawrro thought he was masterminding this, the girl knew the truth, and she savored the taste of victory in her mouth. "Absolutely!" She sprang from the bed, picking up the holopad and setting it back in her bag, before spinning to face Lyr'ah, her spirits restored again. The Bothan girl's face lit up, and the timidness seemed to fade away. Hooking her arm inside Lyr'ah's, Daiya pulled her out of the doorway and into the hall. "Let's go!"

She didn't even mind that Tawrro took up position as a distant, albeit still imposing, shadow.

The girls chattered as they walked to the food hall, retrieved the components of a meal and sat down to eat. Daiya learned that Lyr'ah had grown up on a farming commune, replete with animals and large acres of land to wander. She was fascinated with the Bothan girl's stories, and could hardly imagine such things existing for real. She had known they did, of course, but meeting someone who had experienced them was something quite different. Tawrro and Saaki let the girls speak; Lyr'ah's mother didn't seem to understand Shyriiwook, and Tawrro didn't bother Daiya's conversation to make her translate.

During some point in their lunch, Daiya needed to go to the nearby waste facilities and pulled Lyr'ah with her. Tawrro and Saaki blissfully let them go alone, and Daiya took the opportunity to chat idly with her new friend around the sinks well past when they should have returned. A few times, they both signaled the time to go back to their guardians, but neither found the strength to pull away. It was after about three attempts that Daiya felt a familiar tingling behind her eyes, and in a moment when Lyr'ah was distracted, braced herself against the wall with her free hand pressed against her forehead.

Lyr'ah moved closer to her friend, and Daiya felt a hand on her arm. "Are you okay?"

The voice seemed to come from a long distance, and Daiya could almost barely perceive it. Still, she managed to take her hand away from her head and place it on her friend's. "Yeah," she said breathlessly, "I'm fine. Go ahead, I'll join you."

Before Lyr'ah could reach the door, though, Daiya let out a gasp and ran towards it, putting herself between the Bothan girl and the exit. Her chest heaved as she took in heavy gulps of air, both from the exertion and the impact of what she had just seen. The girl shook her head, and in between breaths, warned her friend, "Don't go out there."

Daiya had seen all kinds of responses to her warnings before, and she was afraid Lyr'ah would try to rush past her or pry her off the door, there was no telling how strong Bothans were compared to Humans. But the Bothan girl just stood there, and nodded once before settling back on her haunches and asking, "What's out there?"

Looking straight into her friend's eyes, the girl lowered her voice to a whisper. "Nothing good."

All at once, the girls heard a commotion coming from the other side of the door, with shouts in a few languages, each spouting anger and demands. A few screams resounded, as well as the meaty sound of flesh impacting with flesh, and the sharp hiss of several blasters being fired. Thuds and scrapes were heard, all the while accompanied by the impatient barking of commands by the same voices as before. Daiya could make them out through the door, shouting things like "Get back against the wall," "Nobody try anything," and "Be quiet if you want to live!"

The blonde-haired girl could feel the furred arms of Lyr'ah against her body, and returning the embrace, the two huddled close in the relative safety afforded by the closed door. That shattered in an instant as the door opened quickly, revealing a burly Devaronian with a blaster pointed their way. Too smart to scream, Daiya and Lyr'ah followed his silent motions with his blaster, letting themselves be herded toward the small crowd gathered at the back of the food hall where tables had been pushed back to clear the space and keep any makeshift weapons out of reach. The girls gingerly stepped over the body of one of the passengers lying dead in the middle of their path, perhaps someone who had stood up to the quartet of blaster-wielding thugs standing spaced out about the room, or was simply an innocent victim intended to dissuade any further resistence.

To her relief, Tawrro could be seen sitting against the wall, apparently unharmed. Her heart gave a jump when she realized he had been assigned his own guard, a Trandoshan who appeared to take far too much pleasure in the situation he'd been given control over, fondling the Wookiee's DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle with his own blaster carbine stuck in his rear waistband. Tawrro glanced quickly at Daiya as she passed, and in return she looked away, unwilling to give their captors any glimmer of a relationship between them that could be exploited.

Daiya was seated on the floor by the rough hand of the Devaronian, who quickly pulled Lyr'ah away as she tried to sit down next to the girl. The Bothan girl looked back with pleading eyes as she was led away, to sit among strangers, far away from Daiya or her own mother. Whoever these thugs were, they were good.

Behind a burning stare directed at each of the four captors in turn, Daiya took in the situation, looking in earnest for a way to exploit it and find a way out.

 

[Daiya]

Her heart clutched in her throat as she sat on her knees with the other hostages, struggling to maintain her composer. Others had failed a similar test, and around her the girl saw them crying, muttering, praying to some deity or to the captors themselves. Daiya turned away, her eyes fixating on a piece of the floor in front of her, staring at it until her eyes screamed at her, parched and exhausted. She shut them tight, but the sounds of her fellow passengers clawed at her ears. Their despair and grief vocalized invaded her skull, fueling the fear growing inside her. She bent over until her forehead touched the decking beneath her, and clamped her hands to her ears, silently begging them to stop.

Yet the more she tried to block them out, the louder they seemed to become.

The captors, too, shouted loud in her ears. Daiya paid them no mind, but they wormed their way in anyway, seeping between the cracks in her fingers like water through earth, always seeking out a path no matter how small.

"Whattt are we going to do with themmm now?"

"Boss said to sit tight. We sit tight."

"Yesss, but they'vvve seen our facesss."

As the weight of that comment sunk in, Daiya felt the fear hush within her, quelled by a more powerful instinct. She brought herself back up to a seated position, her eyes slowly moving over the four captors in the room. They seemed to be focused on other hostages, bearing her little mind. She made a show of adjusting herself on the floor, but the other thugs barely noticed, their eyes were drawn to the grown forms of the adult hostages, particularly Tawrrowaldr whom they eyed nervously even as they spoke with a confident swagger.

"Nobody cares about your ugly face, Grossko."

"Shut uppp, Krillic."

"Who's going to make me? Your scaly ass?"

"Now that's a fight I'd put money on. Slagchucker versus the void-brain. A hunderd creds says Grossko winds up prettier than you, Krillic."

"Druk off, Zerrid!"

As three of her captors unwittedly rattled off their names, Daiya added that knowledge to their already-given faces, linking the two irrevocably in her mind. Grossko, the Trandoshan; Krillic, the Devaronian; Zerrid, the Human. In a moment when retention was so desperately needed, the girl found herself missing her holopad, wishing she could sketch out the scene before her. She grimaced briefly in consternation over how much of a crutch the pad had become for her.

"Quiet, all of you! Boss ain't gonna be happy if he catch you flapping your jaws instead of watching the scum."

"Aw, they're all pissing their pants, none of them are gonna be a problem."

"If you don't shut up, Zerrid, you'll be the one pissing your pants."

Daiya found her fingers curling reflexively, and willed them to stop. She played demure, peeking glimpses at other hostages and modeling her behavior accordingly, letting the fear she had pushed down rise up again, pulling on her face and limbs like a puppet to sell her disguise. It quickly rose up like bile, and Daiya frowned at the bitter taste, her suave attempt at control souring quickly as she felt the knot in her stomach growing, twisting her insides and stealing her voice to leave the girl to her self-induced torture.

After a long silence that seemed to stretch on for hours in twisted agony —whether that was the case or not Daiya didn't know— the four captors were joined by another. A Weequay, who quickly approached and spoke in low tones to the Human whose name she hadn't yet heard spoken. From the Human's behavior, the girl assumed this was the boss that the thugs had spoken about so affectionately. The Human nodded, and as he barked out commands, the girl slotted his place in the hierarchy of whatever organization had captured their transport ship. Krillic and Zerrid moved towards their hostages again, handling their weapons in a suggestive manner that, paired with their expressions, gave Daiya a sinking feeling in her gut.

A few at a time, the hostages were roused to their feet and prodded by Zerrid or Krillic out of the food hall, with the remaining Human left to watch them, and Grossko never waivering from his vigil over Tawrro. Daiya snuck a glance in his direction, and as their eyes caught, her visceral fear hardened to reflect the anger she saw in her guardian's pained eyes. Daiya had never learned much about the Wookiee's past, but she had heard off-hand remarks of his about slavers and a dislike for most reptillian species. Given the Trandoshan's apparent glee at the nature of his charge, she could put the two together easily.

She didn't stop herself from forming a fist this time.

The girl resolved to herself to get away, somehow. If she didn't, the pirates or slavers or whoever they were would kill Tawrro for sure. Perhaps they intended to kill all of them, including her. Instead of evoking fear, that realization settled into the growing iron stoking the flames of anger inside her, making her blood run hot and quick. Her eyes stared daggers at the thugs holding them captive, but regardless of how she appeared, they seemed to take no notice of it. Defeat, anger, fear, they had seen it all. If she was going to get away, she had to be different somehow.

When at last she was corralled with a small group of others to be led away, Daiya's heart lept at the sight of Lyr'ah being pulled up from the floor and shoved roughly into the amassed group before they were led away. Daiya slowly made her way towards the Bothan girl, putting her hand slowly into the Lyr'ah's and firmly pressing a finger to her mouth with another as the Bothan girl whipped her head with fear in her eyes, relaxing when she saw who it was.

"Are you okay?" Daiya whispered softly.

"Yeah. I don't know where they took my mom. I—"

"Quit your gabbing!" The command came loud and Daiya identified Zerrid's voice. She couldn't see anyone in front of them, so he must be the only one guarding them at the moment.

Lowering her voice even more, the girl spoke to her friend, "When it happens, be ready to run. Don't wait for me, just run."

"When what—"

"I told you to shut your mouths. If I hear anyone else talking, I'll space the lot of you!"

Now that Lyr'ah had said it, Daiya had no reason not to face the truth she had been hiding from. She had no plan to escape, no idea how to provoke a distraction, nor any idea where they were going. The only thing she was sure of now is that they weren't being led away to be killed, Zerrid's threat wouldn't be effective otherwise. The girl wracked her mind, trying to think of what to do. She wasn't strong enough to take down Zerrid herself, whose tight shirt showed off his rippling muscles as easily as if he was bare. Nor did she think she could get his gun away, physically or...otherwise. That trick had apparently only worked once.

As if the universe was answering her prayers, she heard someone shout out, "Son of a—!" and a loud thud as a body fell to the ground. From behind them, Zerrid cursed in some language Daiya didn't know, and picked his way forward with his gun drawn. Sensing her opportunity, the girl shoved hard into the person in front of her, sending him careening into Zerrid's backside and both of them to the ground. Not staying to watch the aftermath, she whirled and ran, her eyes catching a flash of brown fur wheeling off in another direction. The girl took a side corridor as quickly as it appeared and got herself as lost as possible.

When she finally had to take a moment to rest, the girl stopped, breathing hard, and listened for any signs that she was being pursued. She heard none. She felt none. Some of the tension in her forehead lessened, but she shook her head to stop herself from relaxing completely. She had only completed step one. The challenge before her would take much more effort and cunning for it to succeed.

 

[Daiya]

Getting back to the bunk room had been easy. Getting un-lost had been a bit harder. The transport ship was a maze, and she had wondered more than once if it had been converted from something else. It stunk of something, but if that was more than just unwashed bodies and the droppings of some bug or rodent that no doubt infested the ship, the girl couldn't tell what. As she made her way back to the corridor in which her room lay, having to double back a few times as she missed a turn, she only spotted a group of the ship's captors once, and easily avoided them by ducking into a shadowed alcove until they passed the crossing hallway at the next intersection.

Still, she felt much better once she had access to her own weapons. Daiya had left them in the room, more as a statement to Tawrro than as real proof of her own sense of security. One that no longer existed, if it ever had. Much to her own chagrin, the girl had to admit that the Wookiee had been right in at least one regard about this ship being unsafe for her. That realization was only reinforced by the knowledge that Tawrro himself was now the one in jeopardy. She couldn't simply hide out until the ship reached port, though, that was no guarantee she'd be any safer on whatever world it was inevitably heading to now. In order to get out of danger, she'd have to place herself back in it.

Grabbing her ELG-3A in lieu of the more reliable, but much heavier and more noticeable 434 blaster, Daiya set out to find the danger.

OOC: Never finished this, so I'll leave this as written. TBC someday...