Star Wars: Eclipse (TheCorsair and Xana)

[Xanaphia]

Kaydia wasn’t conscious long before she was visited. An ostentatious man, no doubt the “captain” of this vessel. Cruel lust dripping from his skin, as he leered at her with intense blue eyes. It didn’t take a mind reader to know what he intended to do. He mocked her with pleasantries as he described her fate. Sold back to the Black Sun, this time as a whore. She could almost laugh from the fruitlessness of it all.

Her clothing was ripped from her body with relative ease, and his calloused hand found her breast. She held the disgust at bay for the moment, focusing on a plan, and not how much she would enjoy killing this man. As much as she might have wanted to show him a slow, painful death, it might not be an option, if she hoped to escape with her life. Hers and Quentin’s, as she realized a universe without him wasn’t a universe she wanted to live in.

She had to determine how many men were on board. She counted a dozen raiders on the ship and she killed one or two, she couldn’t be quite sure. How many did Quentin kill before he passed out? How many more were waiting behind on the ship? Too many uncertainties. She looked around the cells. Two, so not a terribly large ship. Still, there could be a dozen or twenty. More than enough a gunfight would end poorly for her. If Quentin were conscious, the odds would feel better, but he was still out cold. She didn’t have nearly enough information yet, but perhaps she could get it right form the captain’s mouth.

“Hey now, no need to be rough with me,” She purred out, slipping into Shadi’s skin. It wasn’t the first time she used sex to save her skin against a man that would do her harm. It might have been the first time she felt conflicted about doing it, after confessing love for Quentin, but he would understand, wouldn’t he? “You got me tied up, not much I can do to stop you. So why should I bother? I could show you a real nice time. Don’t you want to know what’s it’s like to be with a woman who can make a Jedi forget his oaths? I might not need as much training as you think.” She licked her lips as he grinned up at her. He switched breasts, pinching and twisting her nipple until it was as erect as its twin. Years of experience dealing with unwanted touches prepared her for this moment, as her lips curled into a longing smile. “So, how many of your men want a turn with me, hmm? Are they going to take me all at once, or is there a line?” She cooed, as he moved closer to her.

He stopped groping her for a moment, as a wicked smirk grew on his face. Just as quickly the back of his hand struck her jaw, busting open her lip. The blow made her dizzy, confused by the warm coppery taste on her tongue. “You must think I am a fucking idiot. I know you killed two of my men. You think I am not going to take their revenge out on your sweet body? Or take vengeance for the couple your man killed? I figure by time he wakes up half my men will be balls deep in you. But hell, you might like getting fucked by some real men for once, huh slut?”

By now the rage and desire to kill him were too strong to deny. She tried to kick him, lifting her leg up half way before a shock passed through her body, causing her to writhe against her chains. The worst part of it was that it was difficult to tell if the shock hurt, or felt good. Somehow both, as she felt her stomach flutter at the sensation. The captained laughed at her bewilderment, pulling a remote from his coat pocket. “Subdermal induction nodes, or as I like to call them, SIN. Feels good, doesn’t it?” he mocked, as she shuddered in the aftermath. “How is your boyfriend going to feel when he wakes up to you moaning like a whore for me?”

 

[TheCorsair]

"For us, don't you mean?"

The speaker was a woman, leaning against the door of the cell. She had short hair, so blonde as to be nearly white, and ice blue eyes, and features that resembled the captain's. She wore a white leather corset over a tight white shirt, and tight white leather pants that clung to her like a second skin, and dove grey boots. Two heavy blasters were strapped to her thighs, and a bag hung from one shoulder.

"Oh, by all means." The captain licked his lips slowly. "I was just getting her warmed up for us, sister." He held up an arm, letting the light catch a wrist band he wore, and another wave of pleasurable pain (painful pleasure?) danced along Kaydia's nerves.

The woman laughed. "Good," she purred, stalking forward. "I've got the cameras set up. Her nails trailed down Kaydia's body. They were sharpened, leaving scratches and beads of blood from her shoulder and over left breast and down her abdomen. "You're going to be famous, whore." She undid Kaydia's belt. "This is going live to the crew, and we'll release it on the Holonet as well." The chains jerked, lifting the assassin's feet from the ground as the pirate stripped her pants away. "The whole galaxy is going to watch us rape you, at a credit a minute."

Laughing again, she grabbed Kaydia's ass and spun her, raking furrows into her skin as she did. The man caught her by one leg, spreading her for him. "Slut's already wet," he laughed, his fingers slipping into her slit. He lapped beads of blood from her breast as he fingered her, nails scraping lightly over her clit in time with her pulse. He sent another wave of unbearable sensation through the SIN, sensations that ended with a sudden stabbing pain in her clit, and he laughed at her involuntary cry. "A little souvenier," he taunted. "A little ring in your cunt, that'll be embedded with the show." He tugged in it, then licked her blood-stained juices from his finger. "Think of it as a resume."

The woman's hands slid over her ass, then scratched trails down her back. "Which do you want first?"

The man shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'm going to use them all, anyway."

"Spin her, then," the woman said, unhooking her belt and laying it aside.

He did, and the room whirled around. Quick flashes of walls, of the man kicking his pants aside and revealing a large, hard cock, of the woman removing a white double-ended dildo from her bag. Finally the spinning slowed, and Kaydia was staring at the woman. She smiled nastily, then closed her eyes and groaned appreciatively as she slipped the artificial cock deep into her snatch. It jutted out from her white-blond curls, bobbing obscenely with her pulse. "Heads," she laughed.

Without further preamble she stepped forward and grabbed Kaydia's thighs, driving the fake cock hard into her. "Fuck, yeah!" she laughed, watching the assassin's expression as the thick rod stretched her unprepared walls. What are you waiting for, brother?"

His hand twisted in her hair and grabbed her hip, and then thick hard meat was forced through the tight pucker of her ass. "Just enjoying the show, sister," he laughed.

 

[Xanaphia]

Kaydia began to focus her power around the captain’s throat, visualizing the crushed windpipe and gasping wheezes escaping his bluish lips. Before she could actually reach him, another voice distracted her, a female version of the captain. Shit, she couldn’t kill both at once. She’d be dead before she finished off one. If Quentin were awake he could help, kill one while she killed the other, but he was still out. Fuck, shouldn’t he have woken up already?

She would wait. She could hold out. It was just sex, nothing she hadn’t done before. She was only going to get one shot at this, so she just had to bide her time. Hold out. Quentin would come to her rescue, this time.

She clenched her fists as the woman scratched her, hard enough to draw blood. It wasn’t terribly painful, not after she remembered being beaten by the Black Sun as they tried to entice her further into her addiction, reminding her that Inertia was a painkiller. Just humiliating, as they described how her violation would be preserved on video. The crew was watching. The Holonet was watching. Fuck, if she killed them, everyone would see. The crew would know, and she swarmed by them. She needed Quentin, please, just wake up. The two of them could make it back to his ship, fly far away, forget all this happened.

The sharp piercing through her clit awoke her from her plotting. She couldn’t help the pained scream now, the sensitive nerve throbbing in maddening pain. Fury course through her veins at his words, that her rape would be stored on the clit ring, for posterity. Fuck, she needed to kill this man. Needed to feel his struggle for air as she looking upon him with all the loathing she possessed. Cut off all his limbs with Quentin’s Lightsaber and force his severed penis into his mouth before ending his miserable existence.

Spinning made her dizzy, as the fury made her lightheaded, and the shocks made her confused. Hatred formed as sweat upon her skin, dripping form her pores as she came face to face with the woman, and her artificial cock jutting out from between her legs. She pushed into Kaydia’s cunt, driving past her tightness with pure malice. Kaydia tried not to give her the satisfaction of a pained gasp or expression, but her eyes bulged as her slit stretching around the invading member. She shuddered in barely restrained ire as the woman fucked her, fantasizing about smashing the bitch’s head into the wall until her pleasing qualities weren’t so pleasing or even recognizable anymore.

As much as she tried, she couldn’t hold back the shriek as the Captain impaled her ass. The two moved into her, ripping her body apart on their lengths, laughing as she howled in agony.

She remembered Master Ki Adi words, when they were tortured the first time. She needed a focus. Something far away from where she was, in this moment. Imagine something else, something peaceful, and block out the pain. This was but a moment in time; she just had to let it pass through her.

"I love you, Kaydia."

She closed her eyes. She was back on the Scrapper, with Quentin. She was in his arms, after they fucked passionately on the table. After they felt every pleasure between them. Basking in the afterglow of glorious dual orgasms. Kissing, gently, just seeking to feel their bodies against each other.

"I love you, Kaydia."

“Don’t close your eyes slut!” She was slapped again, the woman this time. “They want to see the pain in your eyes, as we split you open.” Kaydia’s breast rubbed hers, as she writhed under another round of electric torment.

“Fuck! She clenches so tight when that happens!” the captained exulted, triggering it again. Kaydia was crying out, as she began to feel everything. The hatred of her rapists, and their pleasure as they ravaged her body. She knew she wasn’t in control of her powers anymore. The pain and revulsion had overwhelmed her senses, until the deepest reaches of her subconscious unlocked her abilities.

“Fuck I’m close. Going to pump this delicious whore full of cum,” The captain declared, his strokes into her ass becoming punishing. The woman brought one finger down to her clit, teasing herself, and even brushing against Kaydia’s swollen clit as she fucked her.

“I think I could cum. Especially if this bitch keeps screaming. Hit the nodes again, brother.” Kaydia could feel their impending orgasm running from her mind down her body into the pit of her stomach. She felt the build of pleasure as the nodes were activated once more, the surging of sensations lasting forever this time. The incessant throbbing of the SIN, the euphoria pumping through her attackers as the Captain released into her, jet after jet of spunk coating her colon, and his sister shuddered around her dildo. The empathic response washed over Kaydia, back arching into an involuntary orgasm. Tears rolled down her cheek as agonizing ecstasy shook her body, tearing through her with a vengeance.

“This slut came off being raped,” the woman before her laughed, as she caught her breath. “And everyone saw how much you loved your violation.” As the shudders of climax passed through her, Kaydia could only feel abhorrence for the people in the room. In the moment, she knew none of them would walk away from this alive, and she would embrace her bloody death with open arms. Hopefully open arms that were covered in their blood.

Profound wrath exuded from her being, manifesting as powerful force push that centered on her position and moved outward. Both siblings slammed into the walls, confused for a moment what exactly happened. Enough time for Kaydia to Summon Quentin’s lightsaber to her hands. Igniting it and spinning it in a single motion, she freed herself from the chains that bound her. Still facing the woman, Kaydia thrust the blade into her gut, ripping up and out through her shoulder. Her death was brief, and bloodless, and unsatisfying.

Kaydia dropped the saber on the floor, and summoned the Captain’s ornate vibroblade to her hands. There was a delicious look of utter terror in his eyes as she walked over to him, and a nasty smile on Kaydia’s face as she thrust it into him. Her cackling echoed through her cell and head, louder than the dying screams of the captain as she drove the blade into him again and again and again. Dripping with blood and cum, she retrieved the woman’s twin blasters, and waiting for the rest of the crew to come and join her.

 

[TheCorsair]

Terror.

Rage.

Despair.

Shame.

Pain.

Quentin could feel all of those sensations as consciousness slowly returned. He fought for calm as he recognized them for Kaydia's feelings. He called on the Force, pushing his heart to beat faster and his kidneys and liver to work faster, cleaning the last of the gas from his blood. Finally, he could open his eyes.

No sign of Kaydia. Just corpses. Corpses, and the taste of hate.

He struggled for calm, turning his attention to the fetters that bound his wrists. Simple things of steel, with no elaborate locks. He focused on them for a moment and they snapped. Chafing circulation back into his hands, he stepped cautiously into the hall. One of the many dead pirates yielded up a weapon - a stubby, large-bore blaster - and he began to search.

Finding Kaydia wasn't hard. Even if he hadn't been able to sense the hell-broth of emotions she was broadcasting, he could have followed her trail. A blind man could have followed the path of scorched bulkheads and blood and bodies. And the closer he got, the harder it was to remain dispassiinate. He knew what the pirates had done to her - perhaps not the full details, but her discordant thoughts told hin enough. More than enough.

But the sight of her, when he finally found her, was still a physical blow. Naked, body marked with bruises and dried blood and cum, with the barrel of a blaster forced into the mouth of a whimpering, wide-eyed man. He wanted to run to her, hold her and try to make things better. Make things right. Her sadistic glee at the man's suffering ad fear mingled with the taste of her own rage and shamecand fear and self-hatred of that fear and shame, and he shook with adrenaline.

"Kaydia," he said, walking into the room. "Please, put the gun down." He moved forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. He wanted to embrace her. He wanted to take the gun from her. Wanted to use it himself. Wanted to slowly burn the flesh from the man's bones. Wanted to inflict a measure of the hell she'd been through on him.

"Not like this, Kaydia," he whispered, voice gentle. "Not for..."

"Pwease..." the pirate whimpered around the barrel.

"Shut. Up," Quentin snapped, slamming his head against the wall with the Force. He drew a deep breath, fighting back the hate that swirled and snarled in his mind as he turned his attention back to his lover. "For yourself, not for him. Don't do this. Not like this."

 

[Xanaphia]

Quentins’s anger as he pushed the man appealed to her much more in the moment than his love or sympathy. His rage complimented her own, and made her feel as if they were in sync once more. His love felt dissonant, at odd with the overwhelming self-loathing that seeped from her body like the seed of her rapist.

“I need clothes. Where is the Captain’s sister’s cabin?” She demanded, pushing the nozzle of the blaster into his temple. From what she could tell, she and the woman were close enough in body type that her clothes should fit Kaydia.

“Last door on the right side, in the crew quarters,” the man answered, shaking as tears filled his eyes.

“Lucky for you, my man here thinks you should live, to save my soul or whatever. So make yourself useful and delete all copies of that video,” Kaydia instructed, sure that he knew what she was talking about.

“I…I can but, It was already uploaded to the Holonet,” He explained, voice breaking. Kaydia seized at the words, rage boiling over once more as she squeezed the trigger of blaster between his eyes. He slumped over, his death doing little to quell the torrent of emotions whipping through her. Killing every person on this ship had done little to make her feel whole again. It didn’t take away the pain of her assault, or the humiliation of its broadcast. Much like Killing Tuzza, she was left feeling empty, but this time Quentin couldn’t fill that void.

Pushing his hand away, she trudged over towards the crew quarters singular in her purpose. Her rapist quarters were far nicer than communal quarters the rest of the crew shared. She picked an off-white dress, long and loose. Mostly likely paired with a corset to attain the aesthetic desired by the woman, but it would do for now. Kaydia just needed something to cover her shame.

Idly poking through the drawers for some undergarments, Kaydia came across a small bag that called to her. Opening it she found something rather familiar to her, something she had hoped she might find on board the ship. Inertia, and needle and tourniquet. It was exactly what she needed in the moment, to numb the pain of her assault, to quiet the storm of emotions raging through her. Desperate need got in the way of her better sense, fingers already moving in muscle memory: measuring out the dose, tying off her arm, finding a vein. The familiar bite of the needle was followed by the serenity of drugs flooding her system, that comfortable place of lethargic complacency. Settling down on the bed, she let the deadening wash over her.

 

[TheCorsair]

She pulled the trigger, and the small room filled with the stench of ozone and cooked blood. He could have stopped her, of course. He probably should have stopped her. He was a Jedi after all - his job was justice, not revenge. But fuck it. And fuck this piece of filth, who hadn't raped his Kaydia only because he hadn't been given the chance.

As Kaydia limped from the room, Quentin checked the controls. The recording was still live. So he flipped a switch, ending it. For an instant he considered watching the recording, seeing exactly what they had done to her. Then he tapped in a command and purged the data. He couldn't stop the live transmission, or erase any recordings, but he could do this much for her.

Then, with a howl of frustrated fury, he tore the console loose and smashed it against the far wall. And then crushed it. And then smashed it against another wall. Finally, standing in the wrecked aftermath, he breathed hard and struggled for control. No wonder the Council tries to forbid love, he thought, distantly. I'd have killed them all, if she hadn't beaten me to it.

Suddenly, his gut clenched in terror as he realized something. Kaydia's emotions, something which he'd sensed distantly since their first meeting and which had become a constant presence in his mind, were... gone. Nothing remained but a numb emptiness. "Kaydia!" he shouted, bursting from the room. "Kaydia! Where are..."

He froze. She was slumped across a bed, a needle in her hand. Then he practically flew to her side, frantically checking her pulse. It was slow. Slow, but strong. And she still breathed. He tore the syringe from her hand, cracking it open and tasting the last tiny drops of the milky fluid within.

Inertia.

"Oh, love," he murmured, sitting next to her and cradling her unresponsive body in his arms. "I'm sorry, Kaydia. I'm sorry."

 

[Xanaphia]

Kaydia was distantly aware of Quentin’s body against her. His warmth felt vaguely nice, but most things felt vaguely nice under the haze of Inertia. She was limp and pliable as he moved her about, cleaning her off, treating her wounds, which were mostly minor. Before long she was cleaned and dressed and resting in his arms.

---

Linora reviewed her messages over the datapad, lazily scrolling through her inbox. Taking over Tuzza’s position had come with its fair share paperwork, things she couldn’t necessarily delegate. On top of that, she had tapped into the vast information network afforded to her by the Black Sun, for any information about Kaydia, or Quentin.

Kaydia might prove to be one hell of a distraction to her once lover, but Quentin wasn’t ever going to give up hunting her. Her options for dealing with him were growing smaller as time passed. Sending hit squads after them wasn’t going to work, after they decimated the first group alongside Tuzza. As long as they were allied, striking either one was going to be beyond difficult. Besides, Linora wasn’t ready to give up on Kaydia.

If she could pull Kaydia away from Quentin, she could turn her against him. Having Kaydia firmly on her side would give her a nice advantage, and leverage over Quentin. Linora knew he still had feelings for her –it was certainly the reason he had spared her life the last time they fought- perhaps he could be lured to her side. Maybe the temptation of Linora and Kaydia together would be enough to win his affection. If not, well, he could be brainwashed with forced Inertia doses until his mind was gripped with addiction. It worked well enough on Kaydia.

While she pondered the idea of taking both Kaydia and Quentin as her lovers, a new message popped up. Got a new girl for you to check out. A pirate crew who used to sell slaves to Tuzza. Linora frowned. Slavery didn’t sit well with her, especially since there were plenty of attractive men and women wracked with either addiction to drugs or gambling, or crippling debt (usually due to addiction to drugs or gambling) who would willing sell themselves into prostitution to overcome that burden. She opened the message, mostly to tell him to take his product elsewhere, when the freeze frame image caught her eye. A pretty, and quite familiar redhead, chained up and stripped between a pair of mixed gender siblings.

“Kaydia…” Linora whispered, excited and concerned by the prospect. She hit play on the holovid. Rage and shameful lust flooded her as she watch the two violate and berate the assassin. Dammit! How could Quentin let this happen to her? If only Kaydia had stayed on Mustafar, Linora could have kept her safe! She sent the message over to her tech sector, “Find out where this message came from.”

It didn’t take long to get her ship ready and a crew together, and Linora was ready to leave once she had coordinates. By watching the entire holovid, Linora knew few, if any of the crew had survived the encounter. Still, if Quentin was alive, he might not want to part with Kaydia so easily. It didn’t matter. If he couldn’t protect her from this, he couldn’t have her.

 

[TheCorsair]

One day later...

Light streamed in through the walls of the rooms he'd rented them in the Glass Palace, a club and resort overlooking the Alaphoe Gardens on Procopia. It was a faint blue, that light, making the skies a deep indigo and the clouds a pale eggshell blue and tinting everything it touched. The exotic plants and flours of the sector-famous gardens stretched out beneath them, gently falling in terraced rows until they reached the distant cerulean ocean.

Quentin looked in on Kaydia. She still lay on the bed, huddled up and lost in her thoughts, still unwilling to respond. He couldn't tell if it was the drugs, or the trauma, or what. But she hadn't spoken since he'd found her in that cabin. All she'd done is lay around, eating when he put food in her mouth and waiting to be moved. Whatever she'd taken had dulled her thoughts as well - he could sense her, but her emotions and feelings were packed away behind thick, dense walls.

Softly, he entered the room and sat next to her. "I wish I knew how to help you," he whispered, stroking her hair. "All I can do is be here for you, though." He shifted her, sitting her up and leaning her against him. His arms went around her, and he held her so she could see the view. "So I'll be here, Kaydia. As long as it takes."

 

[Xanaphia]

What are you doing, Kaydia?

Kaydia stood in the bathroom of their rented room, splashing water on her face. She knew she was coming down from her high, and familiar anxieties were filling her brain. How can I get more Inertia? She resented that it was the first thought that passed through her mind as lucidity returned, but the craving was strong, and the fear of withdrawal was stronger. From what she could tell, it had already started, as Master Ki Adi stood behind her.

Did you really think you could leave Mustafar and nothing would happen to you? After everything you’ve done?

A hallucination. Despite how painful and uncomfortable the rest of the withdrawal symptoms were, the hallucinations were always the worst of it. The stern eyes of her former master, following her along, judging her silently. Patronizing her with that Cerean serenity, which she could never reach.

Kaydia tried ignoring the voice. It would work for a time, she knew. She focused on what was real. The room Quentin rented was nice. Exactly what she had hoped for when they left Mustafar. Exactly the kind of place she wanted to end up, so they could fuck each other’s brains out. So they could make love for hours, and sleep in each other’s arms. So she could make him forget his duty, and his ex. But her body was still tender in the memory of what happened to her. The proof of her violation was still attached to her body, stabbed through he clit. The nodes they injected her with were somewhere on her body, threatening to have her relive her rape. Pain and rage crept up again feeding into the self-loathing that pooled in the back of her head.

This is your punishment. For all the people you killed for the Black Sun. How many innocent people did you assassinate on their word? Cops who couldn’t be bought, honest politicians, activists with integrity? You think you get to live a peace life with the man you love after that?

Kaydia gripped the sink with both hands, trying to push back against her own mind breaking her down. She went to Quentin, forcing a weak smile. “It’s nice, exactly what I had in mind. But that’s probably where you got the idea, huh?” She teased, trying to put up a brave face. It wouldn’t work of course, as the drugs wore off her mind and emotions would be open to him once more. Still, she didn’t breech the subject in the forefront of their minds. She wasn’t sure how much he knew about what happened to her. She was jealous of that choice to be ignorant. She wished she didn’t have to remember all the details of what happened.

You’re going to drag him down Kaydia. The longer you stay on that stuff, the more you are going to hurt him.

“Hey, I could really use some new clothes,” She suggested, playfully. As if her only possessions weren’t a discards bra left on his ship and a pair of pants. As if she weren’t wearing the dress of a woman who assaulted her. “Want to come out with me, get some shopping in? “ She asked grabbing his hand.

 

[TheCorsair]

"Shopping, huh?" Quentin said, playing along with her facade. "Yeah, I guess we can do that. You need some new clothes anyway." Not that she didn't look good in that dress, mind. But he doubted she appreciated the memories it brought back. "Which reminds me... I grabbed a few things for you. From the ship."

He reached down and lifted a duffel bag. Setting it on the bed, he started pulling a things out. "Your pants and bra, and one of my shirts." The last item was a white shirt-sleeved pullover. "It'll fit you like a sack," he continued, holding it up, "but maybe you can wear it like a tunic until you get some new clothes."

A broad black belt came out next, with several pouches attached to it. "Procopia's a civilized world - not like Mustafar - so weapon laws are pretty strict. No open carry of firearms, blaster licenses required, and so on. But..." he grinned, and produced the final item - a wooden box about a foot long and broad as his hand. "Saber duelling has recently become a fad in the sector, so there is a weapin you can carry openly. As long as you don't mind looking like a hot-headed young turk."

The box opened with a click. Nestled inside was the gleaming hilt of a lightsaber.

 

[Xanaphia]

Her eyes widen as he offered the lightsaber, running reverent fingers down the silver hilt. “It’s been years..” She murmured, to her herself as much as him. She pulled it out and flicked it on, trying to remember how to use it. Muscle memory kicked in, and suddenly she was happy for the endless hours of training she spent as a padawan. She turned it off, and hooked it onto her belt. A small gesture, that spoke volumes of Quentin’s love and consideration for her.

Will he still love you when he finds out you killed me over Inertia? Will he still love you when you betray him over Inertia? Because you will.

“Thank you, I…really appreciate this,” She answered, voice cracking as she tried to hold back the tears. Perhaps she could kick her addiction once more. It was a single relapse; it didn’t mean she was back to that life. She threw herself into his arms, squeezing him tightly, in the hopes she could use his strength as her own.

Kaydia held Quentin’s hand as the browsed the shopping district, just a short distance from their hotel. Sometimes she would cling even tighter to him, both of her arms wrapped around his, or wrapped around his neck. To onlookers, she was sure she just looked like a rather affection woman, on vacation with her lover. She hoped so, at least. Was she afraid that easing up her grip would result in being torn form his arms, and violated once more? Or was she afraid that if she stopped clinging to him, she would wander off, and try to purchase more Inertia? More than anything, she wanted to return to normalcy, resume that casual flirtation that had caused her to fall for him in the first place.

After shopping to her content, they stopped to eat some lunch. Already nausea was gripping her stomach, despite the fact it had been days since she last remembered eating. Quentin must have fed her while she was gone off the inertia she reasoned. Still, she would have to force herself to eat something, because she knew once the withdrawal hit, she wouldn’t be able to keep anything down. So a bowl of soup and a bit of bread made up her meal. They spoke casually and Kaydia lamented the loss of the authentic conversation they had before. Before this thing came between them.

Retiring to their room with their purchases Kaydia opened up for the first time since any of it had happened. “The withdrawal from Inertia is pretty intense. I will probably be pretty difficult over the next couple days,” She warned, curled into herself on the bed.

 

[TheCorsair]

Going shopping was easily the most "normal" thing he'd done in... decades? When he'd still lived within the Order, shopping wasn't a thing that he'd needed to do. The Order had provided him with necessities, and he could generally requisition whatever he needed that he hadn't been given already. Oh, sure, he'd carried currency. But, even when he'd had to purchase something, it wasn't shopping. And the habit had continued on even when he'd become a Shadow. He simply made lists of what he needed and then acquired them in the simplest and fastest fashion possible.

Kaydia, on the other hand, threw herself into shopping. They visited store after store, examining clothing and trying on new outfits, for all the world like a couple of tourists out for the day. Newlyweds, perhaps, from the way she clung to him as they walked. But it wasn't simple affection that prompted the closeness - he could sense the fear in her, see it in her stance and the way her eyes darted around. And every glance tightened a fist around his heart. If only he'd been stronger, or better prepared, or had recovered faster. Maybe she wouldn't have been...

He didn't even want to finish the thought, even though he knew what had happened. Generally, if not the details. And try as he might, even though he knew there was nothing he could have done, he couldn't shake the feeling of helpless rage. It was almost a relief when they finally returned to their rooms, so that he didn't have to keep watching her watch the alleys and doorways with dread in her features and terror and shame in her heart.

He set the packages down on the dresser as Kaydia sat on the bed. “The withdrawal from Inertia is pretty intense," she said, huddling into herself and wrapping her arms around her legs. "I will probably be pretty difficult over the next couple days."

Quentin sat down next to her. "Perhaps," he said, slipping an arm around her shoulder and hugging her close. He held her close, feeling her roiling emotions and trying not to pry. "Inertia?" he finally said. "I've never indulged, but I've heard it's bad stuff. But..." He leaned his head against hers. "There are a few techniques I could teach you, that can speed the recovery process. You have to be awake to use them," the words were bitter as he remembered his own climb from unconsciousness to find that she'd been hurt badly, "and you feel like hell when you do it, but it speeds things up."

He fell silent for a moment. "At least, I assume you would. It was a little rough, the first time I used them to shrug off merakuya. And that stuff is nowhere near as bad as Inertia."

 

[Xanaphia]

“I doubt it could be much worse than the withdrawals. It was hell. Took me three tries to fully kick it last time,” She explained, resting her head on his chest. The headaches were getting worse, but still not as bad as they could have been. She wondered if he picked a planet with a blue sun on purpose, or if it were just a coincidence. The softer light helped, but by tomorrow it would make no difference. “The scientist who created it bragged about how he tweaked the formula, to make it worse. To make it damn difficult to quit it. At this point I’ll try anything, if it goes by faster.”

"At least, I assume you would. It was a little rough, the first time I used them to shrug off merakuya. And that stuff is nowhere near as bad as Inertia."

“Merakuya?” she repeated, honest surprise in her voice. “Would not have expected that. “ She relaxed against him, letting the arms he wrapped around her protect her from the ever encroaching darkness. “I’ve indulged in that a bit. It feels…incredible. Like you are really just… in touch with everything.” She reminisced about that, since it was far more pleasant than other memories flooding her mind. Of her rape at the hands of pirates. Of her torture at the hands of the Black Sun, of her desperation for just one more hit of Inertia. Of Master Ki Adi , and the defeated looked in her eyes as Kaydia ended it.

“Think it was the best sex I ever had, before I met you, at least. On Merakuya, that is,” She sighed softly, breathing in his scent, “Damn, can you imagine, if we had some before we…?” She trembled, wondering if it were possible to feel more than they had the last time. Wondering if it wouldn’t drive her utterly mad. She remembered his promise from a few weeks ago. I'm going to try to leave you unable to speak...

Her body was moving now, bringing her face up to his, pulling his mouth to hers. The kiss was needy and deep, longing to feel his love wash over her and fill her. Let him sweep away the horror and pain, replace it with tender affection and resonate passion. Her hand went under his shirt, to feel his skin and muscles. Make love to me, her mind begged, pleaded, implored, as she pulled him over her.

 

[TheCorsair]

Quentin let himself be pulled into the kiss, let himself be pulled down and over her. There was a desperate edge in her hunger. He could feel it in her muscles and motions, taste it on her lips and in her mind. She wanted him, yes. But she also wanted to feel... clean. Safe. Loved, and cherished. And that bothered him. Not that she wanted it from him, but that she needed it at all.

His hands cupped her face, caressing her cheeks as he kissed her. They slid lower and he pushed himself up on his elbows to make space. Soon, his fingers were working at the buttons of his shirt, the one she still wore. Hands caressed bared skin, exploring the softness of her skin and leaving tingling trails of fire in their wake.

"I can't... can't erase what happened," he whispered sadly, fingers tracing lines of fire on her body. "But I can help with your wounds." He smiled a little as he felt her pulse quicken, sensed the blood surging through her veins and arteries. Her skin flushed as capillaries dilated and cells quickened. "I want you to enjoy this, Kaydia."

He kissed her again, heat and electricity seeming to flow from his lios to hers. His hands skimmed the sides if her breasts and over her shoulders, easing his shirt from her slender frame, and the sensations of tingling flame followed them. "I love you, Kaydia," he murmured, nipping her throat. "So tell me, if you need to stop."

 

[Xanaphia]

Kaydia looked up at him, her Quentin, as he undressed her delicately. Treating her as if she were made of glass, as if she would fall apart then and there. Wasn’t she falling apart? Trading three years sobriety for a quick hit of numbness. Was she a coward, unable to face up to what had happened to her? Unable to deal with it? Retreating to a comforting familiarity to avoid having to process it?

Simultaneously, Quentin’s gentleness made her feel safe, and shamed. She needed and craved this comfort, because she was too pathetic to deal with it herself. Conflicting emotions wretched at her heart as she felt his love and compassion with each kiss and touch, and her own self-loathing over her rape, her addiction, her crimes. He loved her, and she hated herself and it felt impossible to reconcile now, as he tried to heal her.

Everything he did felt good, and it terrified her. Was she really enjoying herself, or had she lost the ability to tell the difference between pain and pleasure? Was it just Quentin, and anything felt good so long as it was him? She needed to stop, to breath, to think. And she needed him to keep going, needed to know that she wasn’t broken wasn’t ruined by what they did to her. Needed to know that Quentin didn’t hold it against her. Needed to love him, so she could forget what it felt like to hate herself, for a time.

Pulling him back up to kiss her, she pulled his shirt up and off, to feel his bared chest against her own. Her legs rubbed against his thighs, holding him close to her. She bit into his neck possessively, marking him. Hers, he was hers, and he wouldn’t let anything hurt her again.

 

[TheCorsair]

Quentin made a low, rumbling sound of approval as her hands roamed his bare back. Even the quick pain of her teeth on his throat, which prompted an indrawn hiss of breath, felt good. Not as good as her thighs gripping his, or her soft breasts and firm belly pressed into his chest as he kissed her, mind. Or the growing desire and excitement coursing through her, feeding his own But good. Everything about her felt good. Felt right.

Well, not everything. He could still feel the hesitancy in her mind as well. The anxiety and feelings of helpless panic that threaded her emotions like a vein of poison. As he identified those emotions he forced himself to slow down. To stop grinding against her, stop from marking her as she'd marked him. Instead, he pushed himself up so he could see her eyes, and he looked deep into them.

"I love you, Kaydia," he breathed, letting himself drown in the emerald pools of her eyes. "I love you, and I want to make love to you. I want to spend hours worshipping you, and adoring you, and exploring you." He grinned. "And yes, I want to fuck you until you can't even remember your own name."

His expression softened, love and concern in his eyes as he stroked her cheek. "I love you," he repeated. "And I can sense your fear - one of the curses of loving a Jedi, I suppose." He kissed her, gently. "I love you. And I will never hurt you. And, if you're not ready...?"

Another gentle kiss. "Then I can hold you, and I can love you, and I can wait until you are." His thumb caressed her cheekbone. "You don't have to do anything, Kaydia. Not if you don't want to."

 

[Xanaphia]

Quentin slowed down, looking down at her with love and affection, letting those feelings flow from him to her. His consideration, his patience, his tenderness , his many declarations and reassurances wore her down. The more he insisted that he loved her, the harder it was to hold back the tears. She sobbed into his chest for a time, letting her pain out, finally.

“I am scared, Quentin. I’m scared and I’m pathetic. I gave in to the temptation of Inertia, didn’t try to fight it. Hell, I was looking for it, hoping I would find some. If I am offered more, I don’t know that I have the force of will to turn it down.” She admitted, as she clung to him. Kissing him this time, seeking his strength, to shore up her own.

“I don’t want them to take this from me,” She reasoned, holding him against her again. His heart thumping with love and concern and desire. His warm skin, his hard muscles, his undying love. “I need to be out of my own head, for a little while,” she explained, as the weeping subsided. Another kiss, opening her mouth to his tongue, opening herself to him, completely vulnerable. She moved beneath him, pulling him to her, not wanting any separation between them. One arm held him close, the other worked clumsily at his pants, tugging them off, tugging her own off. Bare legs wrapping around his, pulling his hips against her, until she felt his growing arousal grinding into her heat.

“Love me,” She begged between ragged breaths, whispered from her mouth to his.

 

[TheCorsair]

Quentin said nothing as she wept and explained her fears. He merely held her close, wiping her tears away and letting her talk. "You're stronger than you realize," he told her when she finished. "Stronger than you give yourself credit for. But..."

She kissed him, then, and he could taste her need for love and support in the act. He moved against her as he returned the kiss, letting her feel his warmth and love and strength against her. She murmured her need for him then, taking his tongue in her mouth and relaxing the shields she'd built up as she worked at his pants and hers. Her emotions hit him like a hammer - a heady mixture of fear and love and self-loathing and desire, all overshadowed by a desperate need. A need to be reassured and cherished and shown physically just how much he loved her still.

Quentin relaxed his own mental barriers as he shifted, working to strip away the last few clothes that seperated her from him. Let her feel his own self-hatred at not having recovered faster, fast enough to help her. His own fears and helplessness as she'd suffered. His fury, and his frustrated desire to destroy everyone and everything that had hurt her. And flavoring and defining it all, his aching, burning love for her.

He unclasped her bra as she arched beneath him, shoving and kicking her pants off. It was tossed aside, leaving nithing between them save heat and desire. Her arms and legs wrapped around him, and she drank deep from his lips. "Love me," she whispered, her thoughts wrapping around his own.

He pushed her into the mattress, his tongue filling her mouth as he thust slowly, deliberately into her slick heat. "Always," he moaned, filling her with slow, deliberate strokes. "Always, Kaydia. Always."

 

[Xanaphia]

He melted into her body, slipping slowly into her softness. A drawn out sigh of reprieve left her lips as she received every inch of him. Their eyes met when their lips didn’t, her green eyes wide as she felt the emotions that passed between them, until it was easily to confuse his love for her for self-love. Each gentle stroke diminishing the shame and fear, replacing it with completion and acceptance.

“Quentin,” His name was a shuddered cry as he sank completely into her core. Once more, she felt him, through her skin and his, felt her body enveloping him flawlessly perfectly. Love making might have taken a calmer tone this evening, but the slower pace meant that every sensation they felt was amplified all the more. Molten silk clenching him, caressing his manhood as he drove it into her. Supple and firm and fitting effortlessly together. He was a sanctuary for her, against everything that had happened, and everything that might happen.

No one could take this from her. From them. They could move past what happened, begin a new life together. A life where she wasn’t bound to her addiction or the Black Sun. A life where he wasn’t bound to Jedi code, or to hunting his ex. Nothing was impossible, or closed to them as their mind and bodies opened to one another.

“Quentin!” she cried once more, his name a praise of healing and hope. Healing that reclaimed her body from pain and fear and shame, leaving only bliss and elation in its wake. “Quentin,” She repeated, as her euphoria moved from her body to his, as he felt her rapture against his body and inside his mind.

 

[TheCorsair]

"Kaydia!" he called out, her name joining his as he moved within her. She moved against him, moved with him, surrounding and embracing him with arms and body and mind. Their pleasure and desire and need flowed tigether, mingling like the tides until he no longer knew or cared where hers ended and his began.

She was Black Sun. He was Jedi. She was darkness, with an inner core of light that had never been destroyed desoite her fears. He was light, with an inner core of darkness that troubbked him no matter how much he fought it. But together, they were more, much more, then they were apart.

She called his name again and again, and her love and pleasure burst in his mind as it coursed thriugh her body. He had wanted to last longer, make love to her for hours, but he couldn't hold back as he felt her body and mind tremble around his. He called her name as well, unsure if he gave voice or simply poured it out as the focus of his own love as his own orgasm flowed into and merged with hers.

Finally, trembling and spent, he found his lips with hers. Her lips with his? Lost in the sharing, he wasn't entireky certain where he ended and she began. So he kissed her, revelling in the feel of blood surging through winded bodies and skin slick with sweat and desire.

 

[Xanaphia]

Lying in Quentin’s arms, filled with his love and compassion, allowed Kaydia a moment of peace for the first time in many days. The emptiness within her didn’t feel as all-consuming as Quentin lent her his strength. Their bodies entangled, Kaydia couldn’t help the way she clung to him, and for his part, Quentin held her just as close. For a few hours, she felt safe in his arms.

It could never last though. A couple hours rest was all she got before her body began demanding more Inertia. Even in the dim morning light, the brightness was excruciating, sharp stabbing pain that entered through her eyes and rattled her brain. Blindly, she groped towards the bathroom, stumbling towards the toilet to let the nausea out. She was in a cold sweat as she vomited up whatever she had left in her stomach, and then gagged on the bile that was left. But none of that compared the hallucinations.

Killing us doesn’t change what we did to you. What we took from you. We’ve been inside you, whore. You can never wash off the taint we left within you.

Her sibling rapists stood behind her, mocking her relentlessly, those smug smiles mirrored on their lips. All Kaydia could do was cover her ears and eyes, rocking in a ball on the floor.

---

Once Linora reached Procopia, it wasn’t hard to find Quentin and Kaydia. Plenty of shopkeepers commented on the pretty redhead who clung to her man and lavished him with attention as she spent hundreds.

Once she narrowed down her search to the Glass Palace, Linora was practically hit over the head with Kaydia’s emotions.The terror, the hurt, the helpless fury. Was Quentin really so heartless that he wouldn’t give her anything for the pain? Couldn’t he see that sobriety took a backseat to the trauma she went through? She would have to make him understand. For Kaydia’s sake.

 

[TheCorsair]

Quentin vaulted out of bed at the first sounds of Kaydia's distress. "Are you all right?" he called, hammering at the door of the bathroom. "Kaydia? Are you all right?" It was an inane question. He knew it as soon as he asked it. But he also recognized it as a very human question. The sort of thing you said because it showed you were concerned. He gave her a moment, then pushed the door open.

The room reeked of bile and acid and suffering and fear. Kaydia was curled in a ball on the floor, hands over her ears and rocking and weeping. His thoughts caressed hers gently, confirming what he thought was going on. Carefully, he lifted her up and held her close. "You're safe, Kaydia," he murmured, carrying her back into the bedroom. "They're not here, and what they did to you doesn't matter."

He laid her back down on the bed and drew tye covers up over her. "It doesn't change who you are, Kaydia. Not to me." His fingers traced her cheek. "Not to me."

With a sigh he centered himself and opened his perceptions. In the Force he could see the imbalances in her body caused by the drug. Hormones and chemicals out of balance as her blmetabolism struggled with the loss of the drug, and the muscle twitches and nerve misfiring that came in their wake. "I'm sorry," he said as his fingers began to trace the energy fields of her body. "This will actually feel worse, for a time. But it will speed your recovery..."

---

Sanzor Maas sat in a pavillion some kilometer and a half from the Glass Palace, sipping a chilled fruit drink and intermittently watching through macrobinoculars. He was tall and lean, with mahigany skin and opalescent eyes and a bone structure that put him on the outside fringes of what could be considered "near-human". When asked abiut the macros, he told people he was a bird watcher. And that was true enough. It was a hobby he enjoyed, whenever he could indulge.

"Yeah, they're both still there," he subvocalized into a throat mike as he looked once more. "Looks like he's... giving her a massage?"

Silence for a minute as he listened.

"No, that's not a euphamism. You know me: if they were fucking, I'd have said so. No, she's covered up and he's sort of... well, touching her." He considered that. "Want me to find some way of getting rid of him?"

 

[Xanaphia]

Kaydia’s head hammered in time with the door, pounding against her skull as agony tried to escape.

He can’t protect you from us. Not then and not now.

He let the light in as he opened the door, and came to her side, and she squeezed her eyes shut to keep it at bay. Try as she might to block out the sounds, her rapists laughter rung in her ear. In her mind really. No way to block that out. Not even as Quentin held her close, and carried her back to bed. Still, she clung to him, sobbing, despite the way it make her headache worse. She was glad he was here, glad he was close. There was no way she would have held out this long without him. She was in bed once more, huddled in the fetal position as he covered her. Cuddling close to him as she shivered fiercely, she wept and whimpered.

Misery was her world now, as her entire body ached for drugs. Literally ached, sore like the worst flu she had ever experienced. Throbbing headache, exacerbated by Quentin’s speaking, even as quiet as he was. Nausea that thrashed about her empty stomach, causing her to gag every few moments. The faces of all those she killed, filling the room, until it was claustrophobic and hard to breathe.

"This will actually feel worse, for a time. But it will speed your recovery..." Quentin warned as he began to work on her. She hated that he was right, feeling the pounding blood working faster through her body.

It’s only going to get worse, until you give in. Then all the pain goes away. Tuzza reminded her, his neck still open and leaking green blood. All Kaydia could do was vocalize her distress, digging her fingers into Quentin arms. “I can’t. Please...I can’t…” She begged, between sobbing gasps.

---

It was now or never. While he was distracted by Kaydia. Linora could catch him off guard. If she waited, Kaydia would recover and then she would be outnumbered. So she signaled her people. 12 elite sabermen and women, the best the Black Sun could call upon.

It’s wasn’t hard to get the proprietor of the glass palace on board. After all, that massive bounty on Quentin’s head was active, and no honest businessman wanted to be charged with harboring a fugitive. Offering twenty percent of the bounty upfront didn’t hurt either. So she had a key to their room.

“Don’t hurt Scarlet,” she instructed her people as she readied herself for the attack. “And try to get Quentin alive.” With that she clicked open the door and flicked on her lightsaber. Black Sun flooded the room, taking up formation before Linora. Brown eyes bored into Quentin’s blue ones, before glancing over to the sweating, shivering Kaydia.

“No one has to get hurt, Quentin. Surrender peacefully, for her sake.”

 

[TheCorsair]

His perceptions still within the Force, Quentin looked at Linora and her saber fighters with eyes that seemed to see into their very souls. He could see the darkness in them, testament to a lifetime of deeds that nearly choked the light within them. Watch the waves of aggression anc fear that roiled off him, directed at himself and Kaydia and Linora. "For her sake?" he repeated, voice slightly distant.

He reached out in the Force, calling on a technique that he'd learned in an ancient tome penned by Masger Matthiau Har'Kovash, known to history as "the Heretic". Lines of aggression and hatred began to redirect under his will. "For her sake, or for yours?"

---

Linora eyed Quentin carefully. Not because he was naked, but because even naked he was still dangerous. And she didn't like the strange confidence in his eyes, or the way the Firce flowed through and around him to touch her soldiers. What was he..?

Then she noticed her soldiers shifting, felt the tension build in the room as they began to eye one anither warily. "Shit!" she snapped. "Get him!"

---

The room erupted into chaos at Linora's command. Three saber-wielding soldiers moved forward, then one screamed as a fourth slashed him in half with a lightsaber. The normally disciplined Black Sun killers - hand picked and trained by Linora - turned on one another in a chaotic whirling melee, some seeking to kill their newly realized enemies, others trying to defend themselves from friends and comrades.

Two of the soldiers - more disciplined or luckier than the others - made it to Quentin. His lightsaber lept to his hand, igniting in midair, and he parried their attacks with an economy of motion that contrasted with their whirling, athletic style. He drew one humming blade out of line and thrust, impaling an opponent on the shimmering white blade of his saber before slashing it out of his chest to parry the other blade once more.

---

Linora could feel a tension headache coming on. Quentin was one man, damnit. A Jedi yes, but still! How could he possibly wreak this much havok? Somehow he'd turned her force against itself, and now half the little elite force she'd put together was dead or critically wounded.

She massaged her brow with her living hand, idly noting the thrumming purr of her lightsaber through the steel one he'd given her. Clearly, he'd learned a few new tricks since they'd last met. Well, so had she. The headache rose, pounding in her temples, and her brown eyes becane livid crimson shot with orange fire. "Enough!"

---

Linora's roar of frustration and fury exploded outwards, carrying dark energies with it. Her men were scattered like bowling pins, slammed into walls and ceiling by the force of her hate. Quentin felt the surge with barely enough time to brace himself, leaning into it as if it were gale-force winds. Currents of rage and fury lashed at him, drawing blood from dozens of tiny wounds as capillaries burst beneath his skin.

He started to move, but something picked him up and slammed him hard into the cool glass wall. He concentrated, pushing back against the pressure, lightsaber dropping unheeded as all his attention poured into resisting the crushing power that held him pinned. "You... can't... win..." he gritted out, his words laced with an attack on her confidence and self-esteem. "I'm..."

Pain exploded in his skull as Linora struck back. "You?" she snarled. "You couldn't protect her, and you think you're stronger than me?"

Her rage battered him. Rage and... jealousy? That surprised him, but an analytical part of his mind realized that those emotiins were making the more subtle techniques less effective. And so he hit her with ine of her own men, sending a two hundred kilo Dovian slamming into her. He dropped to the ground, gaspung for breath, then caught up his lightsaber. "Come on, Linora," he invited, rising to his feet, "let's see what..."

His words were cut off by the impact of the same Dovian, slamming him back into the glass and bursting the air from his lungs. He gasped, then lost what little air he had when lightning tore into his body. He screamed silently, then screamed again as Linira roared and hurled more electricity into him. Finally, asphxyated and with muscles spasming uncontrollably as dark lightning ripped along his nerves, consciousness failed him.

---

Linora stood, gasping and soaked with sweat from her exertions. Carefully she wiped blood from her face. The effort of channeling the power of the Dark Side took a physical toll, and blood dripped from tear ducts and nostrils as a testament to that fact. But that self-righteous little prick was down! She wiped her nose again, smearing blood on the sleeve of her coat. Why coukdn't he have put up that much effort when the pirates had...

KAYDIA!

She lept to the bed, gladdened to see that it was largely unharmed by her rage. Hands shaking, she gathered the shuddering form beneath the blankets into her arms. "It's all right," she whispered. "I'm here. You're safe, now."

 

[Xanaphia]

Kaydia couldn’t help the way she clung to Quentin as Black Sun poured in the room. She couldn’t help that the sudden intrusion on their private time recalled the last time, as pirates tore her away from him. She cried out as he pulled away from her, whimpering from all the noise they were making, hammering her head, to the point she was surprised her eardrums hadn’t burst.

There were too many of them. She had to help Quentin. She had to do something. But she was weak. Pathetic. All she could do was lie in bed, trying not to puke her guts up. Trying not to scream from the resonate hatred and fury that coursed through the room, powering the attacks of both Quentin and Linora, as they fought over her. Why, why her? Why did they care so much for a useless junkie? Why would they risk themselves over her?

She tried to watch the fight play out before her, but the radiance of the lightsabers burned her retinas. Quentin did extremely well, considering how badly he was outnumbered. If only she could have fought at his side! They could have come out victorious, but he was overwhelmed by Linora’s attacks, until his conscious faded out under the strain of her dark lightning. The soft felsh and hard metal hands were holding her, speaking softly to her.

"It's all right," she whispered. "I'm here. You're safe, now."

“Quentin…” she cried trying to open her eyes to see him, to feel his presence in her mind. She could feel the jealousy in Linora mind as she called his name. “Please…don’t kill him. Please.” She begged Linora, clutching her tightly all the while.

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Linora murmured, stroking Kaydia’s silky hair, somewhat tangled from sleep and sex. Breathing deep, she could smell Quentin on her. In her. Linora pushed down the lust that came up now. It wasn’t time for that now. Soon, but not now. “I know what you need,” Linora whispered, pulling a case from a pouch on her belt. Needle, rubber tourniquet and vial. “Just a little, to dull the pain. Tell me you want that.”

Kaydia hated herself as she nodded, holding out her arm for Linora. “Yes,” she exhaled; breathing deep as her arm was tied off. She was vaguely aware of Quentin being bound and taken from the room, and she knew she should try to help him, try to stop them. But she was weak, and tired, and in so much pain.

Pathetic.

Master Ki Adi faded as the needle sunk into her vein. All her victims faded off, and her senses dulled, to the point that lights and sounds no longer hurt. Nothing hurt after a moment.

“Better?” Linora asked, running fingers through Kaydia’s hair. She could only nod, once more. “Okay, let’s get you dressed, and back to Mustafar.”