Into the Grey

Chapter One: Stowaway Pt. One

Chapter One: Stowaway - Pt. One

A cacophony of strained conversation, and the sound of a triad of boots echoed hollowly down the corridor from outside the room Elara found herself in. Head swimming, left temple aching from a blow of a blaster butt used to render her unconscious. She groaned and swallowed thickly, taking a moment to fight back the dizziness that gripped at her head and knotted her stomach and shake out of the groggy haze that clouded her senses.

Letting her eyes fall open slowly, she strained to move her head to look about the room. For what it was worth, her ill-begotten plan had worked in the interim anyways. A small victory seeing as she could only really remember mere moments after boarding the ship during chaotic departure The First Order made from Jakku. Her main goal, of course, was to actually get on one of the transport ships Not actually realizing there was little in the way to keep her concealed for the flight, and the entire size of the hold itself, once she had managed to make her way aboard she discovered a slight hiccup in next course of action. Of course, for what Elara had planned, a covert journey to The Finalizer wasn't exactly of the utmost importance for the most part; not really anyway. All she really required was the ability to stay aboard, and alive for that matter, long enough to request some sort of parley. A chance to treat with someone of whom would see the value in the situation and what role she could play if given the opportunity. All she really needed was to stay alive long enough to lay her chips on the table and let the cards fall where they might. Whether she had been discovered five seconds later or otherwise was really quite irrelevant. That said, there was little more Elara had actually "planned" out other than that, little more she would have ever been able to plan out other than that, and if she was completely honest, not really much more she would have wanted to plan out. As opportunistic as she was, Elara was far from being altogether stupid enough to not know that the path ahead was fraught with risk and uncertainty. There would be no telling what would happen to her once in the hands of The First Order. She could lay her story out to bear for every last person on the ship to hear, but it was for nothing if it was not well received, and well received was more than likely going to be a tough sell to say the least.

She had managed to keep alive up until present, one giant step forward out of an unknown amount to follow. Granted, Elara assumed perhaps a little more hospitable welcome other than being strapped to an interrogation chair set in the middle of a holding cell; foolish as it was to think so. But for the moment, being strapped to an interrogation chair in the middle of any holding cell anywhere, cumbersome as it was, was the least of her worries. What was to come had never even entered the realm of remote possibility in her mind. What was to come next would throw her for a loop and put a wrench in any plan she could have formulated either a head of time or on the fly. One giant step forward indeed, and about a hundred steps back. She was good at bargaining, good at talking her way out of or into in present case, just about anything. But in some cases, it might not prove to be even close to being enough.

"Just up head, sir."

The hollow conversation from outside her room came clearer by the second as her would be interrogator approached just in good time for the fog in her head to lift all the more. Stormtroopers, obviously, by the sound of it. The annoying stomp of their armored feet beating out against the metal deck of the corridor ironically almost in time with the thrumming in Elara's head.

"We found her just after take off." A second chimed in. "She snuck past us on boarding sir. No one saw anything, no one knows ... We didn't know what to do with-"

"Enough." A third voice spat abruptly, clearly annoyed at the very least by the whole situation. "Useless."

"Apologies sir." The first foot soldier jumped to acquiesced and appease the command. "The matter will be looked in to and dealt with accordingly."