Survivor: A Star Wars Story

Chapter IV

REINA TAUTASKI

The next morning, as she groggily came to, she was shaken out of her sleep by the banging of something metallic. It took her a second to identify the sound but when she did, she forgot how to breathe momentarily.

The door handle rattle impatiently.  She watched, sat perfectly still as the door handle continued to move and heard voices on the other side. Zygerrian voices.

"What's wrong with this door!?" A male cursed.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Another said.

"The handle is stuck! It's not my fault!" Reina silently got up, heart pounding as they bickered back and forth behind the door.

Remembering a vent up in the top corner of the room that she'd seen last night, she figured her chances of squeezing in were pretty good. As quietly as she could, Reina dragged a shelf underneath the vent and flinched as they started rattling the door violently. Quickly throwing her poncho back on, she started to climb the shelf, giving herself heart palpitations whenever it rocked sickeningly. Clambering onto the top, she slipped the grid off the vent and climbed into the cool metal vent, leaving the cover off the grid. It wouldn't be long before they realised she was missing anyway as she obviously wouldn't show up for morning duties, so it didn't really matter.

Quickly deciding not to stick around for when they got in, Reina crawled her way towards the queen's quarters. Although she wanted to escape, her curiosity had gotten the better of herself overnight and she wanted to know what had happened to Lars Quell and his friends. Kenobi would have probably been taken to processing, but the Queen was disgustingly smitten with Lars; he probably avoided such a fate.  In just a few days, he had gained access to the Queen that most were to granted for years.  As for the young girl with them, she could have gone with Kenobi, but she was likely an apprentice - it wouldn't be out of character for Miraj to use her as a hostage, being the weakest of the the three Jedi.  Slipping out of the vents just around the corner from the queen's quarters, Reina moved towards Queen Miraj's chambers when she stopped, hearing voices from a couple of doors down.

"-destroyed my auction and frightened my customers." The queen said to someone behind the door. "Count Dooku and half my kingdom are demanding your death." There was a moment of silence before a horrid retching sound began and Reina's heart leapt to her throat.  The cold blanket rolled through the air again, blacker than night.

"You should have listened to them. My friends! Where are they?" Lars's voice raised.

The queen choked out, "Continue to misbehave, and they die!" There was another moment of strained gasps from the queen before she began coughing, her voice now sounding clearer.  The dark receded, through reluctantly. Finally, she spoke again. "A most curious Jedi who cares more about his friends than his own mission. Hero. General. And now my servant." She said smugly, knowing that she had complete manipulation over the young Jedi.

"I will not serve you." He growled, but it was obvious in his voice that he knew he didn't have a choice.

"Your heart is not in your words. You will stand beside me; a testament to my power. Here. My bodyguard will need a weapon." Reina could only assume Miraj had given Lars whip, but she still though Miraj was being far too lax with the freedom she allowed the man - especially after he'd almost caused a slave riot yesterday. "And you need not worry about your friends. They will be quite safe."

The voices stopped and after a few minutes, Reina cracked open the door. The room was empty, so they must have walked out the balcony doors and started to walk around the palace walls. Walking over to the edge of the bed, she sat down on it heavily running a hand down her face.