-/Dark Times: Target 9\-

Quay didn't think that mere days after he ¨successfully¨ completed his latest job, reconnected with an old friend from his past, and even got a Lightsaber from a Jedi he met, he would be running through the depths of Coruscant being chased by the Empire. As a child, the parents of Quay used to tell him stories about what lies in the depths of the planet. Back then, he didn't believe them, but now he is starting to think that there was some truth in their stories. While the top of the planet was filled with skyscrapers, the lower you would go inside the planet the more dirty and crime-invested it would become. Even right after the death of his parents, when he had to find a new home in the lower levels of the planet, he never went much further down than level 1500. He didn't know at what exact level he was at that moment; During his chase by the Empire he didn't feel the need to pay attention to where he was at that moment. He could say for certain that he was already below level 1313; He had paid a short visit to that exact level once in his life, and not for good reasons. A quick look around already gave away that it was much more polluted and crime-invested than the already poor living conditions of that level.

 

The chase started about an hour ago. Quay had packed his stuff so he would be able to leave right when he got his credits, and while waiting for that to happen he was talking with Terras Gratt, the friendly owner of the cantina that was located right below the apartment Quay stayed at for a few days. Suddenly, a few Stormtroopers made their way through the lots of people who were trying to enjoy a drink there. Since at this exact place a few days ago dozens of troopers died, they were investigating this place to see if there was anything of interest here. They explained to him, not knowing that he was there that night, that apparently a couple of people wielding Lightsabers and using the Force caused chaos at this location. The troopers showed Gratt a recording of the night it happened, and Quay was noticeably present in these recordings. Luckily, the footage of when Quay used a Lightsaber was apparently lost, which could have gotten him in way more trouble than he already had. Although Gratt denied knowing anything about who was behind the attack for the sake of keeping Quay out of the trouble, the troopers quickly noticed the similarities between the person on the recording and the person enjoying a drink right next to them. They pointed their weapons at Quay and demanded that he would surrender himself, but miraculously a customer bumped into the two, creating some minor mayhem. Quay took advantage of the confusion by quickly sprinting out of the cantina, and making sure he would be well ahead of the troopers by the time they would come out of there.

 

Out of options, Quay grabbed the old and rusty speeder that had been standing outside the cantina, and tried to use that to escape. At first, it seemed like the speeder did not work anymore, but after a few tries he miraculously made it work again. Just as the Stormtroopers made it out of the cantina, Quay raced away on the speeder. His luck didn't last long; Shortly after he made it away from the cantina, a Republic Police Gunship, that were now being used by the Empire, started to give chase. Quay managed to dodge most of the blaster fire from the ship, but one of the blaster bolts hit the speeder pretty badly. Although it wouldn't be a direct problem, he could not keep on driving with this thing if he wanted to stay alive. He did see a possible way to make it out in one piece right in front of him; a big Underworld Portal, leading right into the core of the planet. He made the speeder go as fast as possible, and he raced into the gateway. Despite this manoeuvre, the Gunship did not give up its chase. Since the engine of the speeder kept having more trouble keeping it up and running with each second, Quay tried to turn the engine off for a short period of time, which meant he would be making a freefall during his descent into the planet. Although he hated the feeling of falling for a long period of time, he had no other considerable choice. But if he was right, if he would turn the engine on again when he neared an approachable landing spot, he would be able to land without dying due to the big fall. After falling for a short while and having dropped thousands of levels below the surface of the planet, Quay finally saw an approachable landing spot; An landing pad, on which an Republic Gunship could easily fit, was located right below him. Only having a short time to turn the engine back on, he immediately tried to do that, but the engine did not get running again. Quay had to think of something fast; dying due to the impact of a big fall was not the way he would like to pass away. He desperately tried to get the engine up and running again, and at the last moment the engine started again, slowing the speeder down just enough to survive the landing. Unfortunately, this didn't mean that Quay would survive the crash without any injuries; The speeder crashed down on the landing pad with still quite some speed, and Quay got launched off the vehicle when it landed and hit the ground of the landing pad with full force. While the completely wrecked speeder rolled over the edge, Quay managed to hit a wall, preventing a similar fate. He felt blood flowing out of his nose and noticed that some of his bones had definitely broken, but it was not anything that would require immediate medical attention. For now, he had survived it, but the Empire did not give up its chase. The police ship stopped at the edge of the landing pad, and at least half a dozen Stormtroopers jumped out of the ship. Quay forced himself to stand up although he felt pain in his body everywhere, and made a run for it once again.

 

After finally finding a safe spot to rest out for a short while, Quay sitted down and stopped to take a look at how badly he got hurt from the crash. He found a shard of reflective glass he could use to take a look at his face. He immediately noticed the black eye he got, and a flow of dried blood below his nose. He rolled up the sleeves of his jacket, and saw that at least some of the bones had visibly broken. He could say with certainty that he would not die from these injuries, at least not before the Empire would get their hands on him. He took a small Stimpak out of his pockets, and injected himself with some painkillers. Those would keep Quay fit enough to hopefully escape this planet and find some medical help. He stood up again, and took a look out of the window to see if there was any immediate danger in his surroundings. The area he was in was abandoned with the exception of a homeless person sitting by a fireplace made out of an astromech droid on the street. He didn't hear any Stormtroopers or Imperials screaming orders at each other either, so he assumed he would be safe for another while. He turned around, and took his Lightsaber out of his pocket to take a quick look at it. Quay ignited the saber, and took a moment to admire the beauty of the purple saber. The hilt of the Lightsaber was carefully designed by Quay, and it featured removable plating made from Neuranium metals. The saber featured parts of the Lightsaber Shaella Xalrich, a Jedi he met days ago used to own, as well as parts of the Lightsaber her master owned. He brought some metals from a local scrap dealer, and also found some other materials he could use on a scrapyard not far from the place Quay stayed at for a while. Just like any other Lightsaber, Quay had spent hours customizing it to his liking. Since him carrying around an object that was obviously a Lightsaber could get him arrested, he made sure that he could make it look like a normal mechanical object instead of a Lightsaber within seconds, and vice versa.

 

Quay was quickly reminded of the situation he was in when some people on the street screamed out loud and begged for mercy. He took a look out of the window, and saw an Imperial officer together with an Stormtrooper and another Imperialist assaulting the homeless person on the street below him. The officer kicked the homeless person on the ground, and pointed his blaster at his face. Quay tried to hear what the officer was saying, but the officer pulled a small speaker out of his uniform before he said anything.

 

"Quay Sta'nn.'' The officer said, with a voice Quay vaguely recognized. ''You are currently wanted for aiding Red Hand criminals in their raid on the Data Vault on this planet, and with that also assisted an Force User in her escape off this planet. We know you are near this location, so if you don't give yourself up within 5 minutes, I will execute this person and maybe even some more. Trying to escape will be useless; I have brought an Inquisitor with me, who is ready to catch you within minutes if you try to escape.''

 

Quay quickly put his Lightsaber in his jacket, and went over all of the options he had. Quay had heard rumors of the Inquisitors, Dark-Side users made specifically to hunt down Jedi, but he never thought those were real. Quay could try to make it a shootout, but he assumed that as soon as he did that reinforcements would arrive. Despite that. he was not willing to give himself up without a fight, so he estimated that trying to run away would be his best option. Even though the officer said trying to escape was useless, all of the other options he had were cowardly or downright stupid to attempt. Quay stood up, and prepared himself for a long run from the Empire once more. He walked towards the ladder he used to enter the place he had rested at for a short while, and as soon as he stood on the roof he started to run. As he passed a G0NK droid and a homeless person on the roof, he saw a thin, metal bridge he could use for his escape. Although it did not look sturdy at all, and it was located right above the street the officer was at, he did not see any other option to run to. He jumped on the bridge, but just as he was halfway across and got spotted by one of the Imperials, the walkway collapsed. Quay tried to make it to the other side, but he made a great fall to the ground before he could do so. He landed on the hard ground of the street, and an unnerving sound implied that his leg had broken due to the fall. Despite this, Quay still managed to take a run away from the Imperials, and even managed to hit the Stormtrooper with his blaster. He felt that the odds of survival were very low for him, especially now that his broken leg made it impossible to properly run anymore. He still tried to stay ahead of the Imperials. After another short while, Quay got the impression that despite his broken leg he managed to outrun the Imperials once more. He limped into a dark alleyway, and tried to catch his breath. He thought he was safe for a second, but the sudden sound of metal boots walking towards him and the dark alleyway abruptly being lightened up by a red light said otherwise.

 

''Going somewhere, Quay?'' The Inquisitor said. She wielded a red Lightsaber, wore an all-black outfit with red accents, and her voice was distorted by a voice scrambler, presumably built into her helmet. Quay gathered the last of his remaining energy to escape, but it was of no use. As soon as he turned around and ran a couple of meters away, Quay was suddenly unable to move any further. As the Inquisitor slowly walked towards him while saying something into her comm system, Quay remembered something the Jedi he met a couple of days told him about. While she was telling him about Force abilities, she mentioned an ability certain Jedi could use that could temporarily leave their opponents immobile for seconds, and sometimes even minutes. By the time he was able to move again, he was surrounded by Stormtroopers and the one officer who was threatening to execute an homeless person minutes before. Although he wanted to resist his arrest, he simply did not have any energy left to really do anything. Quay was given an electric shock, handcuffed, and dragged into an Imperial prison ship since he could barely stand on his own legs anymore. He was thrown into a holding cell on the ship, and passed out as soon as he hit the hard, metal floor.

 

Quite some time later, Quay was woken up by the ship heavily shaking. As he slowly regained consciousness, his hands went over his jacket to feel if he still had his Lightsaber. He sighed with relief when he felt the metal object sitting safely in his pocket, and was surprised that the Empire did not search him in any way yet. Quay tried to stand up, but quickly realised that the chase through the depths of Coruscant took a heavy toll on him. His whole body hurted like hell, he had a massive headache, and he was barely able to properly move. Quay took a look around his cell and outside of the cell, and the first thing he noticed were the excessive amount of Stormtroopers walking around the fairly small ship. He estimated that there were about 60 cells on the ship, all holding one or two prisoners. Every prisoner who tried to scream for help was quickly electrocuted to make them shut up. Seeing Quay's bad shape, he decided that doing that would most likely kill him. As he did his best to sit up, he suddenly noticed someone familiar walking by his cell. Although he almost didn't recognize him due to him wearing an Imperial uniform, Tyree Somer, an old friend who he last saw after they completed a job on Vandor together, was walking through the halls of the prison. Quay tapped on the metal floor to get his attention, and Tyree soon noticed his old friend laying on the floor of the prison cell. Like Quay, he was surprised to find an old friend in a place like this.

 

''Quay? What are you doing here?'' Tyree asked him.

 

''I could ask the same to you. Why are you wearing that Imperial uniform?'' Quay said.

 

''Kind of a long story. After that job on Vandor, I crashed on a nearby planet after we found ourselves a couple of working starfighters. Without credits or food, I did not have any other option except to join the Empire. I've been here for some time now. And how did you get here?''

 

''Not too difficult to explain. The empire wasn't too happy that I aided in the vault raid on Coruscant a couple of days ago. Long story short; They chased me through the depths of the planet for about an hour, leading in me breaking a lot of bones in my body, being unable to stand on my own, and ending up here.''

 

While the two were having a chat, two Stormtroopers walked towards them.

 

''Out of the way. The Admiral wants to see Prisoner 0701.'' one of them said.

 

''What a coincidence; i was just about to transport him to the Admiral!'' Tyree said nervously. ''I got a message on the comm system they wanted him to room 2006, right? I'm able to take him there on my own.''

 

''No, no, we got orders from the Admiral himself to take him there. Out of the way, now.''

 

''Quay, I am so very sorry for this. I'll make sure to be there when you reach room 2006, since it always takes a while before someone can enter there.'' Tyree whispered.

 

Quay nodded, while the two Stormtroopers unlocked the prison door and dragged him to stand up. After a short walk, they made it to room 2006. As promised, Tyree was there waiting for him. The Strormtroopers put Quay on a seat, and after that they walked away.

 

''Hey, what is this room made for, if i may ask?'' Quay said.

 

''Its...its a torture chamber.'' Tyree stuttered. ''Made specifically to question people. I've never been inside that room myself, but people have told me that they use Inquisitors to extract information, in combination with torture droids and other devices that can give somebody a lot of pain.''

 

Quay suddenly remembered that he was still holding his Lightsaber in his pocket. Since Lightsabers were now outlawed by the Empire, chances are high he would be executed on the spot if they would find it. One of the only persons he trusted enough to keep it safe for him for a while, was Tyree. He did decide to not tell him what it actually was, to prevent him from accidentally telling others about it.

 

''Hey Tyree, can i ask you a favor? I still have a piece of equipment in my pockets, would you mind keeping it safe for a while?''

 

''Sure, if that makes you happy then i'll do that.''

 

Quay struggled to get the Lightsaber out of his pockets due to him still wearing handcuffs, but he still managed to do it.

 

''Here. Please be careful with it, it's an explosive. So whatever you do, don't press the button. If the Imperials catch me with that in my pockets, i am dead for sure.''

 

Although Tyree was hesitant to keep the item for a while, he agreed to look after it for some time. Just as he put the item in his pocket, the door of room 2006 opened. A couple of Stormtroopers dragged an unconscious person out of the room, and Quay quickly noticed the red glove the person was wearing. There was no doubt about it; at least some Red Hand members, a crime syndicate located on Coruscant who had hired him for his most recent job, were kept at this prison. Two Stormtroopers stepped out of the door, and dragged him into the room. To his surprise, Quay did not see the Inquisitor in the room. Only an interrogation chair, some medical supplies, and the same officer that was hunting him on Coruscant was standing in the room as well. The Stormtroopers put Quay in the chair, tightened the restraints on the armrests, and hooked him up to some medical device. The officer walked towards Quay, and began to talk.

 

''Quay Sta'nn. Son of a few politicians, lost them both at the age of 19, forced to live as a smuggler after that... downright tragic. I can remember that it was briefly mentioned over the news on Coruscant back when they were assassinated. The brutal murder of some politicians, and their son going missing shortly after. But that is not important for today. As you may have heard, the Empire is currently busy with taking down the Confederate Remnant in the Raxus system. Now, we thought you might be interested to join us to take them down? You might not make it out alive, but that is a sacrifice we are willing to make.''

 

''Never.'' Quay said, his anger could be clearly heard in his voice.

 

''We were expecting this reaction.'' the officer said. He activated his comm system, and although Quay could not clearly hear what he was saying he could make out the words ''Bring in the droid.'' A couple of moments after the officer said this, the door of the interrogation room opened. A small, round droid hovered into the room, and Quay immediately knew what that was. An IT-O Interrogation droid, specifically designed to torture people to get information from them. Although Quay had heard many rumors about it, he had never seen one in real life. As the droid came closer and closer towards him, the officer spoke again.

 

''Last chance. Accept the deal, or I will use this droid against you.'' He said.

 

''My answer is still the same. No.'' Quay replied.

 

''Alright then. Let the droid do its job.'' The officer said.

 

Quay could barely remember the next dozen minutes clearly due to the pain the droid was causing. The pain was unbearable, and he was sure that it could even kill him if it continued for longer. After what seemed to be an eternity, the droid finally stopped.

 

''Well, Quay, i can imagine that was not a pleasant experience.'' the officer said. ''No worries, we are not planning to kill you, for now at least. I can closely monitor your body functions, and it seems that if i order this wonderful droid to repeat the process you experienced moments ago you won't make it out alive. Seems like the chase on Coruscant really broke you down. So, what will it be now? Accept the deal, or pass away right here in this room?''

 

Quay was barely able to talk anymore. Everything in his body hurted like he had been shot with tasers thousands of times, and he felt like he was about to pass out due to the pain. Although he was fully aware of the consequences he would suffer if he accepted the deal, he was not ready to die here, at the hands of a droid. With a lot of trouble, he spoke out the exact words the officer wanted to hear.

 

''Fine. I accept the damn deal.'' He said.

 

The officer turned his head towards Quay, with a big smile forming on his face.

 

''Excellent. The exact details of the attack will be revealed shortly before the assault will begin. In the meantime, you will have to stay in your cell.'' The officer replied, before ordering some Stormtroopers to take him away.

 

Quay was back in his cell, reliving the experience in his head over and over. He felt sick that he actually accepted a deal like this from the Empire, but what else was he supposed to do? He was at the brink of death, and there was no other option he had that would have led to him making it out alive. With all the injuries he had, Quay realised that he had little to no chance at surviving the assault as well. All he could do was hope for the best.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, this took way more time than i'd like to admit. I hope you all enjoy it!

 

 

Done