Private Neon Streets

[Sophelia Ardemark]

The first thing that came back was the vibration.

A deep mechanical hum ran through the deck beneath them, broken every so often by the shudder of the transport as it pushed through whatever terrain they were rolling on. Then came the stiffness in her muscles, the dull ache in her wrists, and the uncomfortable pressure of metal against skin.

Cuffs.

Soph's blue eyes fluttered open. Her head resting against one familiar zeltron's shoulder.

The transport was little more than a long, narrow compartment lined with metal benches. Prisoners filled nearly every available space—some awake and watching silently, others still slumped against the walls. A Wookiee occupied one corner, his massive wrists locked in heavy restraints. Across from him, a battered-looking human stared at the floor. Further down the compartment, two Rodians whispered quietly to one another while a Twi'lek woman watched the armed guards posted near the door.

And then there was Isar.

Soph glanced down and frowned, seeing their wrists cuffed together. And slowly, oh-so-slowly, things were coming back to her. She'd been with him in the public hangar. He'd had a job to finish he told her. Only, he didn't tell her what it had been. OR that the authorities were going to come.

Of course he hadn't known they were going to come. Nor had she. She just remembered the swarm of authority streaming in. Pointing their blasters at them. Talks of arrest. Soph trying to explain she wasn't a part of THAT. Then...

She still could not believe they'd actually shot HER. She had no idea how long she'd been out. Or where they were. Just that it wasn't good. If this made it out there she'd be in so, SO much trouble. At least they still didn't know who she was. So she hoped.

She gave the restraints an experimental tug, trying to shake the rest of the grogginess from her head. "This is all YOUR fault." She muttered as the transport lurched again. She knocked into Isar's side.

"Oof," she grumbled.

"QUIET!" The single droid guard called back to them.

Soph bristled.

Isar du Vain

 

[Isar du Vain]

"First time?"

Isar glanced sidelong at Sophelia, then down to their wrists linked together by the set of stun cuffs. Well. More than stun cuffs. If that's all they'd been Isar would have used the Force to get rid of them ages ago.

"Hey, ouch," Isar grimaced as she shook the restraints, jerking on his wrist "stop that."

The droid looked threateningly back at them, photoreceptors devoid of emotion. Also devoid of anything Isar could manipulate with pheromones or empathic projection without the Force. Mauve had always been better at that anyway.

"Hmm," Isar looked around, trying to figure out just who they'd been captured by. Not the Republic. And the Hutts wouldn't care about selling drugs in a spaceport. They didn't really bother about arrests. Could it be... "Corporate sector."

"Silence, organics. Verbal communication is not authorized," repeated the droid.

The Zeltron looked over at Sopehlia and smiled sheepishly.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

"You've been arrested multiple times?" A harsh whisper. Golden brows lifted so high. Then she shook her head. Those bright blue eyes of hers rolled as she muttered.

"Nevermind."

She shouldn't be surprised. She was just surprised she'd been dragged into this. And been shot! And it hadn't even been swoop racing. Probably a good thing it wasn't the Black Seraphs.

Her mind automatically went to that connection they shared. Only to hit a wall. With a growing panic, she realized the thing she'd always sensed there. Since she'd been a little girl. Was promptly cut off. Eyes drifted back down to the cuff shared between them. Alarm trickled through her.

She didn't have the force. Couldn't use it. Frown tugged on her lips.

Arms crossed stiffly beneath her chest, not caring if she yanked his with it. Back ramrod straight. Gaze cooly looked forward. Ignoring him. The worst of all this? She couldn't tell Isar exactly how she felt.

'You are so going to get it later."

The droid guard took a step toward them. "You have been warned. One more time will result in punishment."

Isar du Vain

 

[Isar du Vain]

"Promises, promises," he mouthed back to her, winking.

Louder, he said, "Careful, clanker, she's into that."

One of the other prisoners, a Weequay, looked at the pair of them with disgust.

"Warning threshold exceeded. Dispensing punishment."

The droid clambered back toward them, wielding an electrical prod and jamming it into Isar's ribs. He let out a yelp as volts poured through his body, causing his nerves to misfire and his fingers to twitch uncontrollably. But he'd had worse from Grimwall.

"What are you doing? Jump him!" Isar gasped, urging Sophelia and the other prisoners to do anything but just sit there and resign themselves to their fate.

If Isar could get these cuffs off he would have a fighting chance but - the shock prod stabbed him again and he jumped, screaming.

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

"Careful, clanker, she's into that."

Eyes widened and her sharp, little elbow went straight into Isar's side as she shushed him. Then alarm smoothed over her ire as the droid approached with that shocker. Soph's jaw unhinged as Isar got it. She wasn't the first to move.

It was the wookie by the doors. He roared and lunged forward. Massive arm locking around the droid's 'throat.' And yanking it backward. Soph was a quick second. Even as concern echoed in her depths as Isar screamed and twitched. That smell of ion and electricity in the air. It made her skin crawl and shiver. It was too close. Too similar to what they'd been through.

She lunged and swiped at that electroshock prod.

"You are unauthorized. All are to be punished. All will be-," that wookie roared and now had help from a few others, twisting the droid's circuits in the neck so the voicebox started to short out. Getting the shockprod, Soph aimed at the droid's central processing unit near the back. She missed and it got a Rhodian.

"Sorry," she winced. Another prisoner grabbed it from her hand and ran toward the door to use it on the lock. "Hey!" Soph protested, getting knocked around as everyone began moving and jostling for position in the small space of the transport.

Isar du Vain

 

[Isar du Vain]

"Hey!"

Soph's forward lunge jerked sharply on the stuncuffs chaining the pair of them together. Metal pinched on Isar's wrist and he felt the stretch in his shoulder socket as he almost got drug off the bench and onto the floor in the scuffle.

"Nice going, genius," Isar muttered as Sophelia shocked the daylights out of a Rodian.

Then it was a mad dash as everyone tried to get off the prison shuttle.

"I really didn't believe what they said about blondes," Isar grunted as he got to his feet and pushed the pair of them toward the exit too before they could get left behind, "but damn if you aren't trying to fit the mold, Stardust."

Not fair, but getting electrocuted and stampeded soured his good cheer and left him all acid and barb.

So sue me.

"Let's go."

Wrapping his arms around her to shield her from the ground, Isar jumped out of the still moving shuttle. He hit snow and permafrost with an oof, rolling several times, before coming to lay on his back staring up into the blinding light of a noonday system's star. Desolate snowdrifts stretched out in a blanket of whiteness all around. Outside of the shuttle, the planet's chill started to immediately seep into his skin.

"Nnnnnngh."

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

Soph bristled.

"That rhodian got in the way. H-HEY!" She yelped as he dragged them both toward the front. Her wrist and arm taking the brunt of the pull. Voice lowered harshly. "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't even be here in the first place."

Then a blast of cold air hit them as the first prisoners escaped out that transport. The wookie tumbling back with the remains of the enforcer droid.

"There is no way in the NINE CORE WORLDS that I am going to jump-," then he was jumping. Dragging her with him. Cold air hit her skin. Her arms and face. But Isar drew her close. She winced as she bounced against him. His back taking the brunt of the fall into the cold snow. There was a woosh behind them as that prisoner speeder kept on its merry way.

Soph's palms pushed up against Isar's chest. Her knees bent to straddle him, pressing into the snow on either side of his hips, as she sat up, neck craning as she caught the others who had jumped quickly dispersing in different directions.

"Great job, Isar." Blues panned down to his face. "You've freed us so now we can freeze to death." She began climbing off him, dragging at their cuffed arms. "Get up! Maybe we can follow the wookie and see if it left part of that droid around." That black tank she wore was quickly becoming not enough.

Isar du Vain

 

[Isar du Vain]

"What's the whole galaxy got against a little bit of spice trafficking?"

The Zeltron blinked owlishly up at her and swallowed, shifting his hips. When she climbed off him, Isar quickly pushed himself back to his feet so she did not try to drag him again by their cuffed together wrists.

"Sure, sure. Wookiee."

Finding out where the wookiee went proved way easier than Isar thought. The rest of the prisoners left foot prints in the snow. The wookiee, however, left a huge trail as it simply pushed through the snowdrifts with its weight and size. Isar pointed with the hand that wasn't locked to hers.

"There's his trail."

Isar glanced over at her, eyes doing a double-take. "Let's go, high beams."

Trudging forward, snow crunching under his shoes, Isar supposed he could be happy that this was just a corporate labor camp they had been headed to and not some Sith prison colony or a Mandalorian crucifixion, or whatever it was those beskar heads did these days.

The planet they were on, Mygeeto, had several huge cities, but was also mostly a ball of ice. Isar supposed he would take the ice over the snow right now. If they could move out of this valley and into those jutting crystal mountains he saw ahead maybe they would have some sort of shelter. A blast of frigid wind made him hunch his shoulders.

It looked like the wookiee had the same idea, its trail leading off in the direction of the nearby crystal spires. Isar looked around for bits of droid.

"You know, most people would just try to baby trap or love bomb. But this?" He held up their cuffed wrists, "This seems a little excessive, love."

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

"Let's go, high beams."

"That's not funny," she huffed without looking down. Head snapping to the side to look at Isar. The shared cuffed arm lifting suddenly to smack him in the chest, perhaps using his own hand against him. Boots crunched against that icy layer. Free arm lifted and rubbed against the outside of her other arm. It was useless.

That cold was starting to seep in.

And she knew it was dangerous. Quickly becoming dangerous. Hypothermia came on slow. Once it was too late, it was too late.

"Where are we?" She asked to try to keep her teeth from chattering. "Too bad we weren't sent to a nice, warm planet. And now because of you I'm cut off from the force for the first time." This time her voice was quiet. She didn't raise it in a yell. It sounded small. "And I don't like it. It feels wrong."

Up ahead, a glint of metal on the icy surface caught her attention and her bootsteps quickened. Droid parts littered across the snow and ice. Clearly ripped and scattered by the wookie. Blue eyes that seemed sharper and paler here searched. Looking for that shock-prod. It might be useful to get these cuffs off. Maybe start a fire....with what materials she didn't know.

Maybe it had a spare comm they could use without alerting the corpos to where they were.

Isar du Vain

 

[Isar du Vain]

"Buck up, buttercup."

For the first time in a long time, Isar felt the absence of the intoxicating power of the Dark Side. Without its corruptive presence inside him, he felt like maybe his touch would not be as corrosive. Like maybe he would not ruin Sophelia's life just by being around her.

But that's all kinds of nonsense, isn't it?

"You'll be fine."

Well, as long as she wasn't about to drop dead without the Force. More common problem than Isar knew these days.

Sophelia started picking through the droid scraps. Isar pointed toward the shock-prod, then regretted it instantly. She would probably use it on him first chance she got.

"A set of keys to these binders would be nice," he muttered, but settled for picking up the droid's cranium. He pulled it apart and fished out the antenna, transponder, and vocoder. "We can use these to communicate once I piece them together. Mygeeto isn't that barren. There's probably a city a few klicks away."

Isar pointed up at the sky, which was growing dark and ominous with an impending storm front. A few snowflakes drifted down gently around them.

"That's going to be a problem. Gotta be an ice cave or something in those crystal formations."

Sophelia Ardemark

 

[Sophelia Ardemark]

"Yes, well, maybe you can snuggle up real close to that wookie," voice was drier than the ice they were standing upon. She waited patiently as he used both his hands to pick apart that droid's head. Standing close. Or as close as she needed to be with that cuff they shared on their wrists. She found her body leaning against his for a moment as the wind kicked up again around them.

A shivering had started in her that she couldn't quite stop.

Not good.

She knew Isar didn't fare much better. Free hand scooped up the shock-prod. She could barely grip it. Her fingers were having a hard time moving. It was hard to tell which way the wookie had moved with the wind picking up. And the droid left behind. Probably toward where they were headed. Soph glanced around, not seeing the other prisoners either.

"And Mygeeto?" Golden brows lofted as she began to walk with Isar toward those ice caves. Trying not to drop the shockprod. "A long way from home." It was hard to tell whether she was referring to Naboo or Nar Shadda as home. At least being drugged meant she hadn't suffered any of that airsickness.

Thank the stars for small things.

Footsteps made a transition to something else. A thing she didn't easily recognize until a loud CRAAAAAAAACK rang through the air around them. Cutting even through the howling winds of the growing snowstorm overhead. Head whipped back as Isar suddenly disappeared and she felt herself dragged down. Her own arm linked to his suddenly plunged into something that offered a thousand tiny-prickling-frigid needles. Her face almost followed but her free hand reached out and, palm flattening against the ground, nails digging in, stopping.

"ISAR!" she screamed. Laying on her belly, that hand cuffed to his underwater wrapped around his body and sharply tugged upward. Trying to hug and tug him up and close. The pain of the cold forgotten as panic won out. The palm that had slowed her momentum snapped forward and reached for his other side. Back arched as she tried tugging and lifting him forward.


Out-out-out. Had to get him out of there!

"Please," she begged. "Pull yourself up. You've been wanting an excuse to put your arms around me so now is your chance." A plea. No humor in her eyes even as she fell to humor for his sake.

Isar du Vain

 

[Isar du Vain]

One minute Isar was trudging along with Sophelia, the next the ice splintered beneath his feet and he plunged down into subsurface water. The sheer chill and shock ripped the breath right out of his lungs - a cold so deep and bone gnawing that he almost blacked out.

Then Sophelia was there, with a joke. But he could not even laugh at it because he was shaking uncontrollably. He wrapped his arms around her waist and squirmed and somehow they got him out of the hole.

Isar flopped onto the snow on his back like a landed fish, gasping. It was so cold that it felt like little daggers stabbing into his legs, which were soaked and would freeze solid soon if they didn’t start moving and get to somewhere out of the coming storm.

“N-n-n-not. F-f-f-funny.”

The Zeltron’s teeth clattered together loud enough to be heard. Slipping twice before he got to his feet, Isar started limping toward the crystal hills. The Wookiee’s path branched off from theirs and Isar didn’t feel like running into a Wookiee in a state like this anyway. Cradling the droid head to his chest, Isar tried to focus on breathing and putting one step in front of another.

Eventually, they reached the crystal formation, which had not one but several cave openings. Isar wasn’t picky and shambled toward the nearest one. Behind them, snowflakes were coming down in giant flurries now. Isar knew he wouldn’t make it if they stayed out there.

“H-h-h-hate M-m-mygeet-t-to.”

He stammered as they moved deeper into the cave. The walls and ceiling and floor were all reflective and shimmering. They weren’t ice exactly, but something different. Isar forgot the mineral name. He just knew they weren’t soaking wet, unlike his pants and shoes.

The Zeltron collapsed onto the floor in the center of the cave, by necessity dragging Sophelia with him. The floor was smooth and cold. Everywhere was cold.

Isar started to take off his shoes with one hand but his fingers were shaking so badly he could barely manage the straps.

Embarrassed, he looked to Sophelia, the pale depths of his violet eyes almost fearful.

Sophelia Ardemark