Off the Grid

[Sage Bane]

​

Location: Detention Cell on Sage Bane’s Subjugator-Class Assault Corvette, Arcanus Obscurus​

Spark Finn. The little live wire had been a thorn in Sage’s side since Khomm, where she and her prettyboy partner, Coren Starchaser helped One Sith traitors escape. Fortunately, the hipster technopath was now flopped on a bench in the detention cell of the Arcanus Obscurus sans her trusty Datadpad, aka her snake deflector. Not only was Finn, with her unique abilities to manipulate machines with the Force, a potentially valuable asset to the Sith, but she was also excellent bait for the Starchaser. If Starchaser and Finn could both be transformed into loyal thralls for the One Sith, that would be a better outcome than killing them both. This predicament wasn’t Spark’s first time at the Rodeo, as she had been forced to do Darth Carach’s bidding during the Battle of Kashyyyk. So his reluctant prize would find her situation somewhat familiar.

Spark would awaken to find herself on the floor of a small but clean detention cell with a force containment collar fitted tightly around her neck. The device would prohibit her from using her strange technomancy powers on the cell locks. Sage knew that Finn could short out small electronic devices, like lightsabers and commlinks, but other than that, he wasn’t familiar with the extent of her skills, and he wasn’t about to find out the hard way. The detention cell contained a small bench and a toilet and not much else. It didn’t matter, the journey back to Coruscant would be a quick one.

Once, Sage made sure that the Obscurus’ course was plotted and the mission was successful enough for him to punch it out of Chiss hyperspace, he spent a few hours in his private quarters getting his amphistaff arm back in its banelith masquer, a painful but necessary process. He detested the ritual with every fiber of his being. The creatures never wanted to settle down, especially after battle, but with enough mental scolding, he finally got them to cower to him and lay coiled on top of each other so that his masquer could knit the appearance of skin overtop of them. Once finished, Sage’s two arms were indistinguishable from one another. Next, the Sith Knight changed out of his blood-spattered and torn cold weather gear, and after a refresher, he donned his Sith robes over a more breathable armorweave.

Bringing along a small pack of bland space rations, Sage decided it was time to pay the little waif a visit. His footfalls ominously clicking on the floor, he strode down the corridor and stood in front of her cell. With a hiss the door opened. The young Knight took few steps inside, letting the door close behind him. Tossing the diminutive girl the pack of rations, Sage studied the bespectacled technopath with a devilish smirk and greeted her with a touch of scorn in his soft tenor.

“Spark. Since we keep running into each other like this, perhaps it’s time for an official introduction. I am Sage Bane, Hand of the Dark Lord. Shall we have a little chat about your fate?”

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

Speckled-face stared silently at Sage for a few moments, trying not to give him the benefit of a flinch. Fingers that were fidgeting with the foreign object around her neck slowly slid away. "You have me at a disadvantage. You already know my name."

That same voice inside her mind on Csilla wasn't easily forgotten.

Face scrunched up into a momentary wince as she felt something like an injection prick into her neck. It made her feel fuzzier than the nuna-egg sized bump on her forehead and more disoriented than waking up....here. Wherever here was. She felt vibrations through the bottoms of her boots and she took a not-so-wild guess that she was on this chump's ship.

Worse than the dark smirk on Sage's face, her position in the cell, being separated from Coren and Rekha, or the collar was the fact that she was totally unplugged!!!!!! LIKE OMGEEE. No more Spacebook statuses. #nomorehashtags #nomorestatusupdates #nomoreelectronics #nomorefriendrequests!!!!

Cautious blue-eyes wandered back to her captor's face after taking a glance around the cell. She was sitting up straight. Stiff.

"Regardless of my fate, Sage Bane, you're about to be in a feth ton of trouble."

The brash words made her feel a twinge braver.

 

[Sage Bane]

Sage felt mixed emotions in the aura that surrounded the gangly blonde. Fear was the dominant emotion, followed by a strange obsessive frustration that he didn’t quite understand. It the itchiness of an addict, cut off from some unknown drug. No matter. It was still a heady mix that he enjoyed like a delicacy. After shamelessly staring at Spark while he drank in her fear, the Sith Knight’s light brown eyes turned more gentle, almost compassionate.

“If I were you, I would try not to use the Force.” His thin fingers gestured to her collar. “You’ll just make yourself sick. Every time you try and use it, you’ll get pricked with chemicals. So don't."

He took a few steps forward and sat down next to her on the bench. A pale hand rose to his chest.

“I’m in trouble?” he said, his body shaking with careless laughter. “You and that Starchaser stoopa were interrupting a joint military effort by the One Sith and the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force to take care of the ruling families’ little dissident problem. Our efforts were unanimously supported by the Chiss Ascendancy."

It was spin, and everyone knew it. There were many Chiss in the ruling families opposed to the operation. The ones who did not outwardly oppose it were strong armed into supporting it. None of that really mattered now. One Sith sovereignty over Csilla was as inevitable as day turning into night.

Sage cocked his head and studied Spark, as if she were a cornered nuna and he, a fox.

“So want to tell me again, just why I’m in the one who’s in trouble, pateesa?”

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

Sage had a knack for making the slicer feel like a piece of meat with that fox-like gleam in his honey-brown eyes; a sensation she never wanted to feel again. But she had a feeling this was how it would always be in the knight's presence. As he sat down, she couldn't help but shy away to the opposite side of the not-big-enough prison bench until her bony-butt was practically falling off.

Thin-limbs tensed, very visibly, wound like a spring.

Ficken' data widgets and gizmos and this gorram collar. Pale-fingers curved tightly around the edge of the bench as she stared straight ahead, refusing to look Bane in the eyes. "Yeah, well, you and I both know social media doesn't buy into that hokey-baloney spin you just pitched me."

Pale-cheeks flushed at her own outburst.

Blue-eyes flicked in his direction before returning to stare straight ahead, at the door. Fingers twitched on the bench and by sheer will, she kept them from moving up to fidget with the mechanical device around the smooth-skin of her neck. "You're in trouble because I don't think you realize how connected I am." He knew she had Coren. But did he also know about Khaleel? About Jorus Merrill? About Rekha? And did he know how far Coren would go and his own connections?

With a huff of her shoulders, she finally faced him, out of a fearful defiance. "But it's not about me. One day all the stuff you're doing is going to catch up with you. All it takes is one mistake. One escaped refugee. I'm sure you have a huge list of allies but your list of enemies is growing with all you're doing in the name of the sith. Which surprises me a little considering those marks on your neck."

Time to nerd-out a little from so much holonet research and datamining. Tone shifted slightly from accusatory to something almost softer. Cautious. Hesitant.

"Pateesa. Those marks. You were a slave to the Hutts, weren't you?"

Meanwhile, she reached for the force again, getting another prick in her neck. This time the wince remained off her face even though her stomach did some serious rolls. There were two things she knew about the collar: it could carry only so much serum and there might be a way to short circuit it off....if she had the right equipment.

 

[Sage Bane]

Without her technology, gadgets and Force powers, Spark was just a lost little girl who had gotten in over her head. On the one hand, Sage enjoyed watching the captive technopath squirm. On the other hand, he felt a touch of sympathy for the poor, flustered creature. She was physically frail and as helpless as a lamb. He could easily snap one of her twig-like arms or a spindly leg with his own bare hands. Black, leathery amphistaves stirred beneath their masquer, roused by their master’s contemplation of violence. He gave them a mental scolding.

A laugh escaped Bane's lips as Spark told him that she was “connected.” His shoulder lifted in a shrug, and the corner of his lips quirked up into a nasty smirk.

“You’re doing a piss-poor job of being threatening, Spark,” he tutted, then spread his hands. “All of your comrades are welcome to come after me, especially that Starkarker fellow. It saves me the trouble of hunting him down.”

Suddenly, Spark turned to him with a feisty glare. Tearfully she began to chastise him, and if he had to be honest, he was only half listening to most of it. Until she got to the part about his “marks,” that is. A small knot formed in the Sith Knight’s brow, the first sign of a break in the cocky mask he wore. His pale hand flew up to his neck. The young woman was perceptive. Analytical. Alot like a certain blue relative of his. Minus the ubiquitous hashtags.

“I was a Hutt slave, yes,” he admitted plainly, his brown eyes brimming with a dull pain. Some wounds would be fresh no matter how much generous amounts of power soothed them. “I was chained to various Hutts until the age of twenty when I was finally freed,” Sage did not elaborate on how he was freed, nor did he mention how he was introduced to the Sith as a slave purchased by Matsu Xiangu. Matsu had reached into hell and pulled him out. She was his angel with charred wings, and did not deserve to be lumped in with the slugs.

“Getting awfully personal, aren’t we, pateesa?” The young Hand let out a short, sharp laugh. “What would you like to know next? Let’s see, my favorite color is red. My favorite genre of Holo film is action, and my favorite position is missionary.”

Yeah, he just wanted to see her blush again.

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

A puzzle-piece clicked into place. She was the bait. It made sense. She knew Coren could handle himself, she wasn't worried about him. But she was worried about what state of mind he was in now.

"You're deflecting," she said bluntly even as her cheeks betrayed her. HoloMD was her jam! She wasn't very good at picking up on emotions, usually, just ask that Coren Starkarker, but in this case, Mister Pateesa was following the casebook reactions described on the holosite that explained symptoms anywhere from a broken toe to psychoanalysis on emotional trauma.

She stood abruptly, moving a bit stiffly. Waking up on some foreign, cold hard bench. Still sore from electrocution. Half woozy from drugs. Yeah.

Shoulder-blades pressed into the door of her cell as she leaned against it, with arms crossed stiffly, as she studied Sage silently for a few beats. "What you went through, being a slave, was a whole lot of bantha poodoo," she wasn't claiming to understand, she was stating perceived facts. "But what I can't understand is, why are you okay with so passively letting...even putting, others in that exact same spot, now?"

Sage Bane was quickly turning into the rubik's cube she wanted to crack. But the thing was his favorite color was red and that probably meant all his sides were red, at least on the surface. Like chugging rotten blue milk, she reached for the force again, feeling another dosage bite into her neck.

 

[Sage Bane]

With another tilt of his head and a flicker of red in his golden brown eyes, the Sith Knight’s tone dripped with an oozing condescension.

“Aw, Look. Someone’s been keeping up with their issues of Xenopsychology Today. Want to hear all about how my mother was a whore and my father turned a blind eye when I was sold into slavery? Oh wait, maybe you can interpret my dreams while you’re at it.”

He knew what she was doing, and yet, like a dog with a bone, he couldn’t let Spark’s allegations go unanswered. Somehow it seemed that Sage couldn’t help himself. The obsessive, almost adolescent yearning to be understood took over. He thought briefly of his Acolyte who, like so many of the other young students, had also spent time as slaves.

“Spark, what I do is offer people that come from nothing a way out, and then a way up. A stairway to the galaxy’s highest stars. They pay in blood, but if they’re strong enough to make it, the rewards are the sweetest imaginable.”

He let out a short, sharp laugh. “Don’t ever let the Jedi tell you that all this power makes you unhappy. It’s the biggest lie you’ll ever hear.”

Sage rose and made his way to the door of her cell and turned to face Spark with a boyish grin.

“I was going to take you straight to Coruscant,” he announced. “But I think we’re going to take a little detour instead. I’ll see you when we land.”

There was a hiss. Then he was gone.

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

"Whoever said I listen to the jedi?!" She yelled and pounded her fist against the closed cell-door once. The jedi had been the reason she ended up as a tool of Darth Carach in the first place. The tips of her thin-fingers still tingled where she had brushed the cool-metallic cylinder of Sage's lightsaber as he passed. CLOSE. She had been so close to swiping it.

A shiver ran through her spine with the way Bane casually dropped the word detour.

She kicked the door for good measure and to warm away some of that chill. Reaching for the force, another needle pricked into her neck. She felt on the worse side of drinking too many of Qun's spiked 'juice-boxes.' Stumbling to the toilet, she promptly threw-up.

 

[Sage Bane]

Location: Naboo, Apinea Farms, Guarlara stables

The brightness of the clear blue Naboo sky was a far cry from the dim, claustrophobic cell where Spark had been held on the Obscura. This sky in particular overlooked a picturesque farm, replete with stables and vast fields for its animals and crops. A surreal sight for a woman who had just been caged by a Sith Lord. A few birds warbled in the nearby trees, their music fitting accompaniment for the idyllic setting.

Although her surroundings were vastly different, Spark would still find herself half-choked by the same tight Force suppression collar, but this time, stun cuffs restrained her wrists behind her back. She was ushered off the dropship by Sage’s vacant faced soldiers, and made to trail behind him as he walked across the dewy grass.

They were headed towards a stable with an expansive fenced-in field where black-furred Guarlara, steeds native to the planet, roamed. Sage met the stablehand with a nod and conversed with the man out of earshot of his captive. Finally after a few moments of what seemed like negotiating, Sage turned and walked back towards Spark.

“I thought it might be nice for you to feel what it’s like to be completely unplugged for a while,” he told her, gesturing to the farm with a black-gloved hand. “I imagine it’s been quite a while since you experienced that.”

With a nod of his head, the soldiers uncuffed her.

“Now don’t try anything funny pateesa,” Sage warned with a raised brow. “My men have their orders.” His brown eyes flashing to the soldiers, he repeated his ominous commands, mostly for her benefit.

“If she runs, shoot her in the back.”

The stable master merely turned a blind eye. The Hand was a high-enough paying customer that interference would be bad for business.

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

Days...a week?

Time was something the slicer never lost track of. How long had she been in that ship? How long since Csilla and last seeing Coren's face? Rekha? Stomach twisted and eyes closed tightly as she shuffled off the ship - what was becoming her familiar.

Any normal person would take the sudden exposure to a landscape like this as refreshing. The gangly-blonde felt raw, exposed, and slightly unhinged. Withdraw for the techno-nerd in addition to overdosing on the collar force-suppressor drug was totes killer.

Booted-feet stumbled on the uneven ground as her speckled-eyes adjusted to the natural, bright light. Instead of righting herself, she fell toward one of the guards on her side, all angles and limbs into him. It looked anything but unnatural. Almost with the grace of [member="Khaleel Malvern"] himself, her cuffed hands lightly brushed against the guard as her hip rammed into his side.

If he had a comm, it would find its way slid into the inside of her boot, pressed against the back of her ankle.

Head spinning slightly, she was shoved back to her feet and stood before Sage, only half listening to what he said. Uncuffed. Bewildered-eyes finally saw the horses.

Don't do anything funny?

Had he seen her??????? Had the guard noticed yet?? She swallowed as her fingers twitched at her sides. What would she tell Coren about this? So, Sage took me to a farm with some quadrupeds. Would she see Coren again?

Don't think like that.

A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled from her throat. Yup, her nerves were becoming more frayed than a fried circuit board. She choked the laugh off. "How very thoughtful of you," voice was back in control as the dry-quip left slightly chapped lips.

"I didn't know you had a thing for farm animals."

 

[Sage Bane]

At Spark's little wisecrack, Sage smirked. A small thread of lightning crackled through his hand. With a mischievous glint in his eye, he touched his fingertip to her arm, giving her a playful zap.

"We need to keep you off the darker parts of the Holonet, my dear. Those sites are a bad influence."

His hand curled around her bony arm and the Sith Lord began to usher her into the field, where the Guarlara stood grazing, their black maned tails swishing away the flies. He talked to her as he dragged her along like a stubborn mule.

"Case in point, Spark. You spend way too much with your nose in a device. Look at what you're missing out on. The great outdoors. Fresh air."

Sage stopped in front of a stallion, outfitted with a saddle and a bridle. The Sith Lord turned to flash the stablehand a questioning look, and the man answered with a nod. He gave the Guarlara a pat on the nose and let the creature sniff his hand.

"These beautiful beasts are not mere farm animals, pateesa. The Gualara here were bred to be powerful battle mounts. These fellas carry soldiers and royalty alike."

Spark would feel hands tighten around her waist as he lifted her up, effortlessly placing her on the stallion's back. Once she was settled, Sage joined her atop the beast. He placed her hands around his midsection and turned back to her with a wink and a warning.

"Hang on."

With a cry, he dug his heels into the creature, and set it off galloping through the field like lightning.

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

She batted his hand away at the playful zap, face souring. She flinched as he dragged her along, trying to keep her facial expression from freezing in a permanent eye-roll. They stopped at the Guarlara.

"Well, it's a good think I'm not a soldier or royaltyeeEEEEEp," she squealed as the Sith Lord's hands enclosed around her waist and she found herself seated high off the ground on the LIVING BLACK-HAIRED BEAST.

Ohfethohfethohfethohfethohfeth.

"No, no, no noNOnonoNO," weight tipped to the side in an effort to fall off before they could start. But Mister Handsy was too fast. In a nano-second Sage was up and...did he just-he just winked at her?! Hands were involuntarily placed around his waist and with a cracking whoop they were off.

The fear was VERY real. #I'mgoingtodie

She almost fell, twice. Glasses were already askew on her face as she fought between the desire of not wanting to touch the sith lord and very much wanting to stay alive. She thought about falling on purpose but at this speed...it wouldn't be pretty. Especially without the force. She could easily break her neck.

It didn't take long for survival to win out against reason.

Limbs of sharp angles and bones clung to Sage's chest in a death grip as she pressed tightly against his back. Inner-thighs squeezed against his outer-legs. Face bounced and bobbed against the middle of his back, pressing in tightly. Blond-hair ran wild behind her, all frizz.

Eyes remained sealed shut.

So much like the Thranta ride with Rekha on Bespin but so different. One was among the company of friends. The other was among the company of a wolfish sith lord.

"How can you like this?!" Muffled-yell moaned against his muscled-back, fear and adrenaline pounding in her ears. "I think....I'm going to be sick."

 

[Sage Bane]

He could feel Spark flopping around behind him, like a puppet who had lost her strings. A dark smile lingered on his face as he dug his boot heels into the creature's flanks, urging the Guarlara to pick up its pace. There was a sharp whinny from underneath the mount's bearded face as it galloped faster through the field. As Spark's arms seized his tight abdominal muscles, she began to shriek at him. Oh, was the poor little moppet afraid? What a pity.

He didn't answer her at first, but when she threatened to be sick, he cruelly sped up the Guarlara for a minute, and then begrudgingly pulled on its reigns. The creature slowed its gait to a trot. It was still a bouncy ride, but hopefully it would save him from a pair of boots being ruined. With a half turn of his head, the young Hand regarded her with his ever-present smirk.

"If you didn't spend all your time staring at screens, maybe you'd understand the appeal," he snorted, not unlike the equine Guarlara. Sage began to steer his mount back in the direction of the stable. He raised an eyebrow at at Spark, still clinging to dear life behind him.

"Perhaps I should take you back to your cell if this excursion doesn't please you?"

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

"Perhaps if you weren't such an ass I would likehnrrrrrgggg," head lurched along with her stomach. Her tight grip around the sith lord suddenly loosened as her limbs became like wet linguine. Chin hit her chest as her entire body lurched to the side. With a tilt and a slide she fell off and hit the ground behind the steed.

That was gonna leave a mark.

Eyes flew open.

It would be hard to tell that the faint was of her own machination. With her back to where she had just fallen, she curled her body into a mini-ball and took out the comm from her boot. She could still type the fastest on this side of the Maw...wherever here was...and she knew she had only seconds.

Encrypt msg sent:./open channel/
To: Coren Starchaser

It's a trap. Bane knows. Subjagator class assault corvette. Guarala farm?

-S

Encrypt msg sent:.\close channel\Sent.

With as little movement as possible, she shoved the comm back into the lip of the boot that would most likely be away from Sage's honey-brown eyes. But had he seen??? Slowly, she uncurled and sat up in the field, cautiously.

Spark wasn't a good actress but she was gorram good at playing up the assumptions that people already had about her physical weaknesses.

She moaned and rubbed at her head for good measure. "Wouldn't you rather be spending time with someone else right now?" Finally, she peeked back in the direction of Sage and that black steed, blue eyes looking for any signs of suspicion in his well-cut and wolffish visage.

Hopefully this farm had a decent signal and wasn't part of the Gunganizon Network.

 

[Sage Bane]

"What did you just call me!?!" came his angry response. Sage whipped his head around to face his mouthy captive, but she was no longer there. By the Maker, pathetic creature had fallen off the Guarlara!

The animal was stopped with a swift pull on the reigns. Sage doubled around and rode towards her limp body, which turned to the side in a fetal position. Was she dead? When he got closer he could see her moving. His nose twitched. Something told her that she was playing games with him. He stopped the Guarlara several feet away from her and reached out with the Force to forcibly weave through the membrane of her mind, touching her innermost thoughts. The environment inside Spark's brain felt odd, almost as if it had been taken apart and put back together wrong. After a few moments, he navigated through the labyrinthine layers of her mind and found what he was looking for Spark was using the commlink to send her boyfriend a message. A dark grin crossed his face.

Finally, she sat up, and asked him if he'd rather be spending time with someone else. His gaze remained passive. There was no sign up suspicion in his expression, just that same punch-able smirk. He placed his foot in one stirrup and hopped down off on the mount. Bending over, he scooped up Spark in his arms and placed her back on the Guarlara. As he fiddled with getting her feet in the stirrups, he used the Force to surreptitiously pluck the commink out of her boot and in place it in his pocket.

"And miss out on this wonderful date with such a charming lady?" he asked with a roll of his eyes and a monotone voice. "Clearly, I'd be mad." Back upon his steed he dug his heels into the mount's flanks, and rode it back to the stable.

Once his Guarlara were purchased, Sage re-cuffed Spark and their dropship shot back up to the Obscura. Spark would find herself thrown back in her cell sans stolen commlink. Sure, he wanted Coren to find him eventually, but that didn't mean he was going to make it easy on Starchaser.

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

Ewww, did he just say date?!

#Asif

The gangly-blonde tried to mask her disappointment as she was whisked back to the cell. She felt the ship's engines through the floor of what was becoming her home. She no longer felt the comm in her boot.

Sage either knew or it had fallen out.

Lips turned into a frown as she stretched out on the cold, hard bench of the cell. She knew instantly from that one little jaunt she was gonna be the sorest she had ever been. Fething quadrupeds. Since getting the collar, she continued as she usually did and pulled more of the drug into her system. Just as she drifted off, she began to feel a flicker of something.

The drug was waning.

 

[Sage Bane]

​

Location: Felucia​

Felucia, home to such harmless-sounding landmarks such as the Vanishing Place and the Rancor Graveyard, was a bit too close to Republic Space for Sage's liking, but if there was another planet who could claim the distinction of having the largest sarlaac pit in the galaxy, he wasn't aware of it. For that reason alone, the Felucia was the next stop in his game with Coren Starchaser. A highly-entertaining little game he liked to call "Where's Spark?"

For the second time in a week, the bespectacled blonde technopath would find herself on Sage's dropship heading down the surface of an unknown planet. It would be a bit of deja vu for the slicer at first, but when she landed this time, she would not find lush, grassy plains peppered with grazing quadrupeds. As Sage's soldiers shoved her off the dropship, there before them was a huge fungal forest, its strange flora glassily iridescent in the sunlight. Her smirking captor's familiar tenor sounded out behind her.

"Walk," he instructed, poking the hilt of his lightsaber between her bony shoulder blades.

The Force suppression collar still firmly clasped around her neck, thin wrists bound in stun cuffs, Spark would be walked into the dense forest by two Sith soldiers. Sage followed behind her with six more of his men bringing up the rear as an added precaution. Not only was the Sith Lord expecting an imminent confrontation with Starchaser, but if his Corvette had been spotted this close to Jedi space, there was a fairly good chance that there were other enemies on their way.

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

Tired, sore, drugged the feth up, and grumpier than a fragged-file, she stumbled forward. Normally, she'd remain a quiet observer. However...

#grumpy #sametorn-upskinnyjeansfromCsilla #toomuchphysicalactivity #Sagesmelled #shesmelled???

"Overcompensating for something? Or maybe I should feel honored that you brought so many chaperones." Voice was drier than her prison rations.

Fingers twitched behind her back. She could almost feel the stun cuffs through the force. Almost. But so many guards. He was worried about something. A surge of hope began to bubble from her spine.

Head turned to the side as she squinted at the vegetation in interest, trying to figure out a clue as to where she was.

 

[Sage Bane]

​

"Now now, Spark," he laughed. "I think you should ask your lover, Starchaser. He knows all about overcompensating."

As they made their way across the planet, beads of sweat broke out along Sage's forehead, and he slicked his hair back with his hand. Felucia was muggy and the fields of thick purplish fungi through which they trekked were giving off an unpleasant reek. The oppressive humidity made Sage want to finish this little job quickly so that he could be back on the air-conditioned Obscura, comfortably preening in his private quarters.

In a while, the captive and her escorts stopped in front of an enormous cavern in the ground, a circular-shaped, undulating pit that spanned about two and a half miles around. It was lined with enormous waving tendrils as big as buildings, and sharp teeth the size of land speeders. The Ancient Abyss. The biggest Sarlacc pit in the galaxy, at least known to civilization. As they neared it, the maw seemed to sense that there was prey closeby. Its tendrils began to writhe in their direction, as if it could taste them.

"The Ancient Abyss," announced the Sith Lord, although he suspected Spark had actually heard of it. "Quite a sight isn't it?" Sage added, as if they were stopping to gawk at a picturesque vista and not a lake-sized mouth with tendrils and teeth.

Wiping his face with a handkerchief, the Sith nodded to one of his men, and gave what Spark might think was a strange command.

"Take off her boots and her glasses."

[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Sage Bane"]

"What?!" She blinked back the beads of sweat that continued to drip down her partially fogged-up glasses. With hands cuffed behind her back it was hard to wipe away that humidity. Warmed cheeks from the surrounding heat still managed to color further.

"Coren and I," she sputtered, eyes darting between the lake of tentacled death back to the smug-ass Sith Lord. "We're not...I mean," voice trailed off. They spent so much time together but they never talked about....that. He never brought anything up and the techno-nerd wasn't any good with feelings in general, so she just assumed...

He did build me that custom ship...

#eeeEEEEeekfeelings #IneedaDTRmomentwithCoren #getthatsmirkoffyourfaceSage

Something about glasses and boots snapped the blonde out of her internal monologue. HER glasses and boots. The boots, whatevs.

She missed her converse. #converse4life

But HER glasses were like her lifeline. She ducked the grab from the first guard, then rammed her bony-shoulder into his side, knocking him off balance. Spinning somewhat awkwardly (still cuffed here), she kicked out her foot at the second guard and dodged to the side, closer to the edge of the foliage. With the look of a wild animal about to be cornered eclipsing her blue eyes, she took off into the undergrowth just bordering the lake.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she wouldn't get far. But reason wasn't something she was listening to right now.