Fragments of the Dark

Chapter Fourteen

Din's new armor glimmered in the light.

The feel of it was different, heavier but also... more comfortable. Like it was meant to be. He trudged back to the ship, pack full of rations and water in one hand. The Falcon sat before him, silent and empty.

His.

And yet it wasn't.

With every heavy beat of the anvil the Armorer had made to form his Beskar, Din had grown more and more uneasy. What the hell did they want with her? How did the Imperial know her? Even though she had never answered his question, he was sure they were the ones who had experimented on her. Had done that to her.

But why? And was this Imperial the one?

He'd seen her reaction. The desperation and then the defeat. The silent acceptance. He couldn't keep at bay the images of Celene that appeared in his mind. Her sitting in the cockpit staring at the stars. Her in a cantina, leaning against the bar. Her on the rooftop, rifle pressed to her cheek.

You are nothing to me.

He shook his head as the ramp lowered. The entrance stared down at him, a gaping hole. He took one step onto the ramp and then another, forcing his feet to take him upwards. But when he got to the cockpit he stopped.

He stared at the pilot's chair. At Celene's chair.

You are nothing to me. Get the hell out of my cockpit.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't make himself sit down. And he couldn't abandon her. Maybe she didn't give a damn about him and maybe he was a fool but that didn't change what he felt.

How he felt about her.

Din dropped the bag to the floor and slung his rifle back over his shoulder. He left the Falcon, boots slamming into the dirt.

And then he started to run.

When he reached the alley way where the building was, Din perched on the roof top adjacent to the building and aimed his rifle at the stone walls. Two figures stood talking close together, he could faintly make out their conversation.

"I don't care. With her returned to us and the child in our custody, the opportunities we have are endless. Extract the necessary material and be done with it."

"He explicitly ordered us to bring it back alive. And we cannot harm her in any way... do you know what he would do to me?"

"Finish it now."

Din drew back, having heard enough. They would kill both Celene and the child for... whatever it was they were after. He swung the rifle over his shoulder, securing the strap and dropped lightly to the ground.

The door was locked he knew that. A forced entry would have to do. He slammed his fist against the metal, the dull thud reverberating in his bones.

This would seal his fate. He was breaking the Code of the Guild for Celene. For the child.

The eyeball droid shot out of the wall to his right, focusing on him. It squawked in an alien language. Din ripped it from the wall, the loose wires sparking. He moved out of view as the door opened and two storm troopers emerged.

"Check the perimeter," the first one said.

Din snuck around the back side of the building and stamped a small detonator to the outside wall. It exploded, blowing the section to dust. A small hole opened up sending an alarm blaring. The lights shattered and went out, dust rising in the space.

Din crept inside, waiting as two more storm troopers came to investigate. With their backs turned, he emerged, shooting each one twice. They cried out and fell to the ground. The door opened and a third trooper stepped through, blaster aimed.

Din tucked himself into a pocket of shadows, waiting until the trooper was within range. He slammed his knee into the trooper's chest and yanked the blaster from his grip. He brought the blaster down once, twice and third time on the trooper's head as he fell to the floor stunned. Din shot him in the stomach, and moved on silently.

Here the interior of the building was dark and ghostly silent. He held his blaster out, stalking along on quiet feet. A shrill scream pierced the air and he froze. It echoed off the walls around him, falling and then rising back up in a crescendo. It set every hair in Din's body standing on end, the noise slicing through him. It wasn't a scream of terror or fear.

It was pain. Absolute agony.

Celene

A chill spider-walked down his spine. Hurry, he needed to hurry. His stomach felt like a lead weight. He tightened his fingers around his blaster as he followed the screams deeper into the heart of the lab.

One guard was posted outside the door. Din unsheathed his knife, the blade glinting in the dark. He ensnared the trooper with the retractable cable, dragging him backwards and burying the knife in the column of his spine. The trooper jerked once and then fell still. Din approached the door and shot the control panel. It hissed open.

Doctor Pershing spun to face him, an oddly shaped instrument in his hand. Blood ran from the blade, onto the doctor's gloved hand. It fell to the floor in large drops. On the table, Din could see Celene, her normally bronzed skin a harsh pale color. Her chest was rising and falling erratically but her eyes were closed.

Alive, she was alive.

Din started forward and the doctor raised his hands in defense. "No, no- please!"

He threw Doctor Pershing to the side, keeping the blaster aimed at him as he glanced down at Celene. So much blood covered the table. There were bandaged on her arms, her neck already staining through with crimson. "What the hell did you do to her?"

Doctor Pershing cowered on the floor, whimpering.

"What the hell did you do to her!" Din aimed the blaster.

"I protected her! I protected her and the child- if it wasn't for me they would already be dead. Please!" He crouched behind a barrel, hands raised in self-defense.

"Where is the child?"

"The n-next room over. Please don't hurt me!"

Din found the controls for the cuffs, opening them to free her arms and legs. He slid a hand beneath her legs and back, pulling her from the table. Her head fell against his chest. Her face was nearly void of all color, her lips blue. He left doctor Pershing cowering in the corner and slipped out. He shot the control panel on the room to the right and the door opened, revealing the child in the pod still sound asleep.

Now, cradling Celene to his chest and with the child in tow all he had to do was find a way out.