Lady of Patience
IV - Lowe and Behold
A prison cell,
Somewhere in New Imperial Order space.
In, and out. In, and out. Repeat it. Do it again.
Madelyn lay on her back, eyes unfocused, staring at the gunmetal grey blob of the ceiling. She was breathing deeply, halfheartedly practising the meditation practices she'd been taught years ago when she was only young. Breathe in, hold it, breathe out. It wasn't doing her much good, and with a resigned sigh, she sat up and rubbed her eyes, swinging aching legs out over the side of the hard cot.
Gazing around the room, she took stock of her surroundings for the umpteenth time. The room was simple, functional and altogether inelegant. It was not unlike the accommodation provided by the First Order of old, back when she had first graduated out of the Imperial Youth, and they shipped her out to Bespin for naval training. That particular stage had not lasted long, just a year or two, but it was enough to get her well acquainted with the quarters.
Of course, those quarters had a door she could open from the inside.
But, all things considered, it wasn't so terrible. There were facilities in the corner, a bed and blankets, and a holoscreen that would occasionally announce meals and tell her when to sleep. Madelyn had tried to unplug it because it had a habit of waking her before she was ready, but it was mounted to the wall, and she'd stopped short of destroying the thing.
Stretching her aching legs, she examined her dim reflection in the dark screen. The figure that stared back at her was hollow and diminished. Too thin. Deep, dark eyes. Wan, as if she were simply fading away.
News had trickled back to her, in bits and pieces from the front lines of the Sith and New Imperial borders all the way back to… Wherever it was she was now. Most of the information was doubtful, nebulous, but she knew a few things for sure: the New Imperials had taken Bastion;
Aerarii Tithe
had betrayed her; the war was stalled and tense, with both sides bristling against each other. Other rumours, that the Sith were once again shifting their internal structure, that things were changing on Dromund Kaas, well, Madelyn didn’t know what to think there.A sound broke her reverie, and she jerked her head away from the dead screen, looking quickly around the empty room. She heard it again: a faint scraping, not coming from the cell door, but from somewhere above her.
She froze. There was quiet, the lights buzzed and the vents hummed. Then again, a scraping sound, louder this time. The sound changed character, as if something was bumping against the ceiling, and a small puff of dust drifted down towards the floor. Madelyn stepped back, and a moment later, a circular section of the ceiling detached and fell to the floor with a discordant clang, causing Madelyn to yelp in surprise.
A gloved hand reached out, through the hole, and Madelyn, after a moments’ hesitation, stepped forward and gripped it, allowing herself to be hauled into the maw, her belly scraping painfully against the newly-formed hole in the ceiling as she was pulled into the dim. She felt the jagged metal edges rending her flesh and briefly had time to wonder how deep the scratches had dug before she hoisted up and over the edge, and clambering onto her knees, her back pressed against a low ceiling.
Her rescuer, a shadowed figure ahead of her, was already moving, crawling through what, as her eyes adjusted to the half-light, appeared to be a maintainence shaft or vent of some kind. It was choked with dust, cramped and claustrophobic. Her chest tightened as she looked around, but she forced herself forward, awkwardly crawling after the figure on her hands and knees, squeezing between dangling wires and jutting devices of unknown purpose. As she rounded a corner, forcing her way through the narrow turn, her leg pressed against a hot pipe, and she hissed with pain, tears streaming down her face. Madelyn clenched her jaw, she'd have to stay quiet.
They reached a slope, Madelyn having caught up enough to see her rescuer's boot disappear around the corner. She shuffled downwards, struggling to keep her balance as she half-slid downwards, descending the smooth metal tunnel, which grew thinner as she went, Madelyn having to suck in her breath and wriggle desperately to pass under an angrily humming generator. Finally, they reached their apparent desperation, and she crouched watching silently as the figure, who she now saw was clad in black camouflage gear and plasteel armour pieces, fiddles with a grate, eventually releasing it with a soft 'pop' and dropping down into a corridor below. A moment later, Madelyn followed suit, dropping to the floor and landing with a grunt as she jarred her knee.
Wincing, Madelyn looked around quickly, limping forward and hurrying after the black-clad figure, who was getting to their feet, a prostrated guard sprawled out beneath. They gestured forward, swiping a keycard against a rather nondescript door, which opened with a swish and revealed a star-studded night sky.
She couldn't suppress her grin as she followed the figure out, relishing the feeling of fresh air on her face. Her leg hurt terribly, and red was seeping from furrows in her stomach, but Madelyn had never been happier. A short distance away, the dark silhouette of a ship stood out against a rugged, rocky landscape, barely visible. The figure, silent as ever, gestured for her to follow. Madelyn obliged, slipping into the night.
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