Jailbreak ((Completed RP with ![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-userinfo.gif)
emperors_hand))
Jan. 16th, 2010 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_starkillerJailbreak - Galen/Mara
Starkiller-- Galen-- (he was still having trouble with the whole name thing) had learned lot of things in the months since he and Mara had first been put together by the Emperor. He was pretty sure that 90% of the things she had taught him were not on Palpatine's list of things that Darth Vader's former apprentice was supposed to have picked up from the Emperor's Hand, unless the old Sith had been counting on an attraction forming between the two of them. It wasn't a thought Galen entertained willingly, but it wasn't a plot he would have put past the twisted old man. In any case, something Mara Jade had taught him that would have met with Imperial approval was the idea that maximum collateral property damage was not always the best plan in every circumstance.
It was that conviction that eventually resulted in their current predicament. What should have been routine maintenance on Mara's ship had become a dangerous proposition, as the necessary parts were only to be found on planets along major trade routes, destinations that the two fugitives had been avoiding as much as possible. But since the ship was their means of staying away from the Imperial agents who were almost certainly out to kill them, there really wasn't a choice. Malastare, despite its location, was not a particularly impressive or important planet, making it the best choice. Unfortunately, it only took one too-diligent dock officer to call for backup before either Galen or Mara could mind trick him and the presence of too many civilians to make a violent escape viable to ruin a day.
And so it was that the overweight and underpaid commanding officer of the local Imperial garrison casually threw them into what the man was sure were inescapable holding cells. Together.
Galen dropped onto a hard metal bench. "This is almost embarrassing."
"I'll agree with you there," she groused back at him, looking around to see how they would be able to escape. That was really the only thing on her mind -- escape -- she told herself. That and not Galen's idea to stop at Malastare, which had caused the whole mess and was currently fueling her anger at him. Then again, when wasn't she angry at Galen in some way? It seemed to be the one thing that fed their relationship, if you could call it that. Anger leads to... well, certainly not suffering in Mara's mind. No, suffering at the hands of the Emperor's Blade was not what she had been receiving for months.
She narrowed her eyes at Galen as the guard seemed to settle in for a bit and lowered her voice. "Rookie," she hissed at him as she closed the gap between them and kissed
Galen quickly. "Now what? We're trapped. Ideas, lover?"
He didn't know whether Mara was just that easy to read in the Force or if it was something left over from the strange and intense connection they could establish between them, but Galen thought he might have gotten whiplash from the way the woman's emotions had just swung from irritation and anger to an odd kind of playful flirtation. Then again, he had a tendency to be a quiet, withdrawn victim some of the times and on a raging Dark Side-fueled power trip other times. How two such unstable points had kept in close proximity for this long was a mystery.
"You know it wouldn't take much for me to smash our way out of here," Galen grumbled. "But there's no telling who else is in here besides us and the Imperials. Besides," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "why don't you show me what you've been getting out of these last few months. Surely you've gotten something from me besides the obvious."
Her eyebrow slid up and she crossed her own arms over her chest, then realized she was mirroring Galen and stopped. "If you're implying that I'm incapable, or that the only reason that I would be with you is because..." Mara blew out a deep breath and calmed herself. Acting the jealous lover was no way to act with a blasted guard in the room, no matter how fat and horrible he looked. "Reminds me of Jabba," she muttered to herself more than anything until she shut her eyes and reached out with the Force and imagined a hand around the guard's neck, slowly squeezing until there was a soft and quiet "pop" sound of it breaking. She opened her eyes, pleased with her quiet and effective new means of assassination, then looked at Galen, almost waiting for approval.
That wasn't even remotely the reason he'd said what he had, and Galen opened his mouth to disagree before thinking better of it. If his lifetime of tutelage under the cruelest of Sith Masters had taught him anything, it was that nothing succeeded like an angry student. So he watched silently, almost seeing the tendrils of Force as Mara bent the power to her will, dispatching their jailer. Galen nodded appreciatively. "Good. Now we just have to get the door open." Closing his eyes, he reached out through the Force in a more subtle, quieter way, then looked back at Mara.
"The cells in this detention block have a few occupants, but there are no guards or troopers for a hundred meters." Galen tilted his head toward the metal door. "If you were feeling up to flexing your muscles a little more." Again, a few centimeters of alloy would take Galen just a few seconds to blast through, even in his weaker state, but he was looking to goad Mara into showing him what she could do.
"Guess I have to do every blasted thing around here, since you got us into this mess to begin with." Mara was growing increasingly furious with Galen and his calm attitude, which did nothing to calm her. Still, she reached out again with the Force and felt the tiny mechanisms in the lock as if they were in her hands. A few hundred, a thousand, it didn't matter. Mara always preferred the quiet method of sneaking around; it was simply the way she'd been taught. Each tiny click in the lock falling away made her smile until finally, triumphantly, it opened before them. Mara peeked open an eye and smirked proudly, not waiting for Galen this time, as she stepped out and immediately fell into a crouch after stealing the dead guard's blaster. "This way," she whispered as she moved as silently as possible to the area where she was hoping her ship would be.
Shaking his head, Galen pushed himself to his feet and followed Mara out of the cell. Although he was treading carefully and keeping his head down, no one who saw the pair of them would have taken him for the trained assassin. And in this particular case, Galen was convinced that it didn't matter. "You're going to have to try out your Force Push outside of the training ring sometime, girl. You'll never build that muscle unless you work it."
They made their way down the corridor until reaching the armory. As much as Galen wanted to tear the door off its hinges to prove his point, there were Imperials too close. Soundless ribbons of Force slid into the room, strangling the two Stormtroopers inside and unlocking the door. Galen paused to look at a small holo on the wall while he retrieved his lightsaber. Recognizing the face, he chuckled. "No wonder this place is such a mess. Their commanding officer was transferred a few months ago to Kashyyyk and they've been waiting for him to come back from the assignment. Too bad I killed him."
She grumbled in reply as she took her lightsaber and held it in her other hand. Two weapons at once, just how she liked it. "I'll use Force Push when I feel there's a need for it," she retorted. "Unlike some people who think that's the only way to go about things, I happen to---" Her eyes lit up as she realized what Galen said. "There's no C.O. around here? Excellent..." It would make their escape easy. If Galen could pose at the officer, perhaps give a few orders to the men, then...
Mara looked back at Galen and frowned. "You just want to blast our way out of here right now, don't you?"
He was stuck in the memory for a moment, recalling the arrogant voice of Ozzik Sturn as the Imperial had taunted Galen from the command pod of an AT-ST walker. Having seen the cells full of beaten and abused Wookiee slaves that were Sturn's responsibility, Galen had felt no remorse at all (not that he typically did) at crumpling that machine into a twisted ball of metal around Sturn, silencing the smug voice forever. Mara's disapproving tones snapped him back to the present. It took a moment for the words to sink in but when they did, Galen smiled.
"No," he answered simply. "I want you to blast us out." Galen chuckled. "Come on, girl, show me what you've got. Cut loose."
She frowned at him, then sighed. It was part of the training that she'd asked of him, after all. Mara had always felt that her abilities with the Force were not as strong as they could have been because she had been held back by the Emperor somehow. Galen had helped a great deal... still...
"Fine," she snapped back at him, but realized what it was that brought her powers into play. Galen and his own darkness that she could somehow tap into. Without another thought, she slipped her stolen blaster into her belt, then reached for Galen's hand. Eyes shut, Mara pushed all of her own dark thoughts toward him, pulling and reaching for his own to use to guide her in blasting away at the door.
"That's it," Galen answered, feeling as the familiar warmth of the Force as summoned by will and anger began to flow through him. Mara's pique was a good starting point, and the simmering frustration beneath his own exterior answered in kind, magnifying the effect. He knew Mara had never been trained to channel the Force like this, which was the whole reason he was making her. But it wasn't enough, not yet. "More, Mara!" he snapped. "I've felt you take in enough power to level this place, now reach for it! Or can't you do it without me inside of you, too?" Inwardly, Galen smirked. If that didn't fire up Mara's temper, nothing would.
"SHUT UP!" Mara was angry at his tone, which sounded both smug and insubordinate to her. She conveniently forgot in the moment that she had been the one to ask for them to be treated as equals, so she broke free of Galen's grasp and lashed out with every dark feeling -- anger, frustration, fear, aggression -- that she had built up until the Dark Side of the Force was channeled through her free hand and towards a nearby wall. It promptly crumbled underneath her assault, leaving the docking bay open for them to see where Mara's ship was waiting for them. She would have run to it for a quick escape if she hadn't been so taken aback from the entire thing.
A dark, almost predatory smile spread across Galen's face as the flow of the Dark Side in the room turned into a raging flood, all of it running straight through Mara instead of him or them both. She punched an impressive hole through the wall, slamming through it with the Force as easily as if it were made of paper. "Now we're getting somewhere," he said, almost crowing in congratulations. "Hold that feeling, Mara. Hold that burning sharp thing inside of you and lash out."
He stepped through the ragged opening and into the docking bay. They were only a few meters from the ship, but between stood a dozen Stormtroopers, all recovering from the blast of Dark Side power and readying their weapons. And between the ship and freedom stood the massive durasteel door. Galen cocked an eyebrow. "Who gets to feel it next, girl? The troopers or the docking bay door? Or don't you have it in you after that?" Galen knew he was probably going to pay for goading her like this, but to see Mara beginning to fully embrace the Dark Side's strength, it would be worth it.
"Stop... calling... me... girl." The Dark Side power wasn't as strong as when she'd first blasted through the wall, but it was still there; enough that Mara used the last bits of anger to direct her power toward the Stormtroopers there. She managed to take down about five or six of them easily, she couldn't tell. With a snap-hiss, her lightsaber came to life in one hand as she pulled the blaster from its holster and started shooting with the other. Sure, using the Force was fine with her and what she wanted, but Mara always wanted a back-up plan, too. Weapons typically did the trick.
A noncommittal grunt was all the response Galen had. He watched as the first wave of telekinetic force pulsed out of Mara and collided with half of the troopers, taking them out of commission. To his Force senses, she was still glowing as brightly with the blood-red feeling of the Dark Side as if she were on fire. Knowing full well what Mara's combat skills were, Galen didn't watch the rest of the fight, instead turning his attention to the docking bay door. Planting his feet, Galen reached inside of himself, to the hard and knotted feelings of rage and resentment that he carried with him always. Into that center, he poured his will and all the dark, seething feelings that Mara was radiating and woke his own power. Galen reached out his hands, spreading them apart. The giant doors responded, screeching and groaning as they crumpled, pushed apart by the Force. With a last push, Galen sent the twisted remains flying outward, colliding with a parked shuttlecraft, turning it into a fireball.
Once she heard the crash, Mara blasted the Stormtrooper in front of her and began running. "Let's go, now now now!" She ran toward the ship, fighting off a few Stormtroopers here and there but purposely not tapping into the Force in case it was needed for later. Once Mara was safely in the pilot's seat, she set a course for anywhere she knew the Imperials wouldn't be around, and was ready to take off. She silently sent a message to the Emperor that all was well, and if he heard news of their capture it was only because it was part of her plan for his latest mission for the pair of them. It would, hopefully, buy them enough time to escape, but soon enough Mara knew that the Emperor would know full well that both of his students were no longer working for him.
Starkiller-- Galen-- (he was still having trouble with the whole name thing) had learned lot of things in the months since he and Mara had first been put together by the Emperor. He was pretty sure that 90% of the things she had taught him were not on Palpatine's list of things that Darth Vader's former apprentice was supposed to have picked up from the Emperor's Hand, unless the old Sith had been counting on an attraction forming between the two of them. It wasn't a thought Galen entertained willingly, but it wasn't a plot he would have put past the twisted old man. In any case, something Mara Jade had taught him that would have met with Imperial approval was the idea that maximum collateral property damage was not always the best plan in every circumstance.
It was that conviction that eventually resulted in their current predicament. What should have been routine maintenance on Mara's ship had become a dangerous proposition, as the necessary parts were only to be found on planets along major trade routes, destinations that the two fugitives had been avoiding as much as possible. But since the ship was their means of staying away from the Imperial agents who were almost certainly out to kill them, there really wasn't a choice. Malastare, despite its location, was not a particularly impressive or important planet, making it the best choice. Unfortunately, it only took one too-diligent dock officer to call for backup before either Galen or Mara could mind trick him and the presence of too many civilians to make a violent escape viable to ruin a day.
And so it was that the overweight and underpaid commanding officer of the local Imperial garrison casually threw them into what the man was sure were inescapable holding cells. Together.
Galen dropped onto a hard metal bench. "This is almost embarrassing."
"I'll agree with you there," she groused back at him, looking around to see how they would be able to escape. That was really the only thing on her mind -- escape -- she told herself. That and not Galen's idea to stop at Malastare, which had caused the whole mess and was currently fueling her anger at him. Then again, when wasn't she angry at Galen in some way? It seemed to be the one thing that fed their relationship, if you could call it that. Anger leads to... well, certainly not suffering in Mara's mind. No, suffering at the hands of the Emperor's Blade was not what she had been receiving for months.
She narrowed her eyes at Galen as the guard seemed to settle in for a bit and lowered her voice. "Rookie," she hissed at him as she closed the gap between them and kissed
Galen quickly. "Now what? We're trapped. Ideas, lover?"
He didn't know whether Mara was just that easy to read in the Force or if it was something left over from the strange and intense connection they could establish between them, but Galen thought he might have gotten whiplash from the way the woman's emotions had just swung from irritation and anger to an odd kind of playful flirtation. Then again, he had a tendency to be a quiet, withdrawn victim some of the times and on a raging Dark Side-fueled power trip other times. How two such unstable points had kept in close proximity for this long was a mystery.
"You know it wouldn't take much for me to smash our way out of here," Galen grumbled. "But there's no telling who else is in here besides us and the Imperials. Besides," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, "why don't you show me what you've been getting out of these last few months. Surely you've gotten something from me besides the obvious."
Her eyebrow slid up and she crossed her own arms over her chest, then realized she was mirroring Galen and stopped. "If you're implying that I'm incapable, or that the only reason that I would be with you is because..." Mara blew out a deep breath and calmed herself. Acting the jealous lover was no way to act with a blasted guard in the room, no matter how fat and horrible he looked. "Reminds me of Jabba," she muttered to herself more than anything until she shut her eyes and reached out with the Force and imagined a hand around the guard's neck, slowly squeezing until there was a soft and quiet "pop" sound of it breaking. She opened her eyes, pleased with her quiet and effective new means of assassination, then looked at Galen, almost waiting for approval.
That wasn't even remotely the reason he'd said what he had, and Galen opened his mouth to disagree before thinking better of it. If his lifetime of tutelage under the cruelest of Sith Masters had taught him anything, it was that nothing succeeded like an angry student. So he watched silently, almost seeing the tendrils of Force as Mara bent the power to her will, dispatching their jailer. Galen nodded appreciatively. "Good. Now we just have to get the door open." Closing his eyes, he reached out through the Force in a more subtle, quieter way, then looked back at Mara.
"The cells in this detention block have a few occupants, but there are no guards or troopers for a hundred meters." Galen tilted his head toward the metal door. "If you were feeling up to flexing your muscles a little more." Again, a few centimeters of alloy would take Galen just a few seconds to blast through, even in his weaker state, but he was looking to goad Mara into showing him what she could do.
"Guess I have to do every blasted thing around here, since you got us into this mess to begin with." Mara was growing increasingly furious with Galen and his calm attitude, which did nothing to calm her. Still, she reached out again with the Force and felt the tiny mechanisms in the lock as if they were in her hands. A few hundred, a thousand, it didn't matter. Mara always preferred the quiet method of sneaking around; it was simply the way she'd been taught. Each tiny click in the lock falling away made her smile until finally, triumphantly, it opened before them. Mara peeked open an eye and smirked proudly, not waiting for Galen this time, as she stepped out and immediately fell into a crouch after stealing the dead guard's blaster. "This way," she whispered as she moved as silently as possible to the area where she was hoping her ship would be.
Shaking his head, Galen pushed himself to his feet and followed Mara out of the cell. Although he was treading carefully and keeping his head down, no one who saw the pair of them would have taken him for the trained assassin. And in this particular case, Galen was convinced that it didn't matter. "You're going to have to try out your Force Push outside of the training ring sometime, girl. You'll never build that muscle unless you work it."
They made their way down the corridor until reaching the armory. As much as Galen wanted to tear the door off its hinges to prove his point, there were Imperials too close. Soundless ribbons of Force slid into the room, strangling the two Stormtroopers inside and unlocking the door. Galen paused to look at a small holo on the wall while he retrieved his lightsaber. Recognizing the face, he chuckled. "No wonder this place is such a mess. Their commanding officer was transferred a few months ago to Kashyyyk and they've been waiting for him to come back from the assignment. Too bad I killed him."
She grumbled in reply as she took her lightsaber and held it in her other hand. Two weapons at once, just how she liked it. "I'll use Force Push when I feel there's a need for it," she retorted. "Unlike some people who think that's the only way to go about things, I happen to---" Her eyes lit up as she realized what Galen said. "There's no C.O. around here? Excellent..." It would make their escape easy. If Galen could pose at the officer, perhaps give a few orders to the men, then...
Mara looked back at Galen and frowned. "You just want to blast our way out of here right now, don't you?"
He was stuck in the memory for a moment, recalling the arrogant voice of Ozzik Sturn as the Imperial had taunted Galen from the command pod of an AT-ST walker. Having seen the cells full of beaten and abused Wookiee slaves that were Sturn's responsibility, Galen had felt no remorse at all (not that he typically did) at crumpling that machine into a twisted ball of metal around Sturn, silencing the smug voice forever. Mara's disapproving tones snapped him back to the present. It took a moment for the words to sink in but when they did, Galen smiled.
"No," he answered simply. "I want you to blast us out." Galen chuckled. "Come on, girl, show me what you've got. Cut loose."
She frowned at him, then sighed. It was part of the training that she'd asked of him, after all. Mara had always felt that her abilities with the Force were not as strong as they could have been because she had been held back by the Emperor somehow. Galen had helped a great deal... still...
"Fine," she snapped back at him, but realized what it was that brought her powers into play. Galen and his own darkness that she could somehow tap into. Without another thought, she slipped her stolen blaster into her belt, then reached for Galen's hand. Eyes shut, Mara pushed all of her own dark thoughts toward him, pulling and reaching for his own to use to guide her in blasting away at the door.
"That's it," Galen answered, feeling as the familiar warmth of the Force as summoned by will and anger began to flow through him. Mara's pique was a good starting point, and the simmering frustration beneath his own exterior answered in kind, magnifying the effect. He knew Mara had never been trained to channel the Force like this, which was the whole reason he was making her. But it wasn't enough, not yet. "More, Mara!" he snapped. "I've felt you take in enough power to level this place, now reach for it! Or can't you do it without me inside of you, too?" Inwardly, Galen smirked. If that didn't fire up Mara's temper, nothing would.
"SHUT UP!" Mara was angry at his tone, which sounded both smug and insubordinate to her. She conveniently forgot in the moment that she had been the one to ask for them to be treated as equals, so she broke free of Galen's grasp and lashed out with every dark feeling -- anger, frustration, fear, aggression -- that she had built up until the Dark Side of the Force was channeled through her free hand and towards a nearby wall. It promptly crumbled underneath her assault, leaving the docking bay open for them to see where Mara's ship was waiting for them. She would have run to it for a quick escape if she hadn't been so taken aback from the entire thing.
A dark, almost predatory smile spread across Galen's face as the flow of the Dark Side in the room turned into a raging flood, all of it running straight through Mara instead of him or them both. She punched an impressive hole through the wall, slamming through it with the Force as easily as if it were made of paper. "Now we're getting somewhere," he said, almost crowing in congratulations. "Hold that feeling, Mara. Hold that burning sharp thing inside of you and lash out."
He stepped through the ragged opening and into the docking bay. They were only a few meters from the ship, but between stood a dozen Stormtroopers, all recovering from the blast of Dark Side power and readying their weapons. And between the ship and freedom stood the massive durasteel door. Galen cocked an eyebrow. "Who gets to feel it next, girl? The troopers or the docking bay door? Or don't you have it in you after that?" Galen knew he was probably going to pay for goading her like this, but to see Mara beginning to fully embrace the Dark Side's strength, it would be worth it.
"Stop... calling... me... girl." The Dark Side power wasn't as strong as when she'd first blasted through the wall, but it was still there; enough that Mara used the last bits of anger to direct her power toward the Stormtroopers there. She managed to take down about five or six of them easily, she couldn't tell. With a snap-hiss, her lightsaber came to life in one hand as she pulled the blaster from its holster and started shooting with the other. Sure, using the Force was fine with her and what she wanted, but Mara always wanted a back-up plan, too. Weapons typically did the trick.
A noncommittal grunt was all the response Galen had. He watched as the first wave of telekinetic force pulsed out of Mara and collided with half of the troopers, taking them out of commission. To his Force senses, she was still glowing as brightly with the blood-red feeling of the Dark Side as if she were on fire. Knowing full well what Mara's combat skills were, Galen didn't watch the rest of the fight, instead turning his attention to the docking bay door. Planting his feet, Galen reached inside of himself, to the hard and knotted feelings of rage and resentment that he carried with him always. Into that center, he poured his will and all the dark, seething feelings that Mara was radiating and woke his own power. Galen reached out his hands, spreading them apart. The giant doors responded, screeching and groaning as they crumpled, pushed apart by the Force. With a last push, Galen sent the twisted remains flying outward, colliding with a parked shuttlecraft, turning it into a fireball.
Once she heard the crash, Mara blasted the Stormtrooper in front of her and began running. "Let's go, now now now!" She ran toward the ship, fighting off a few Stormtroopers here and there but purposely not tapping into the Force in case it was needed for later. Once Mara was safely in the pilot's seat, she set a course for anywhere she knew the Imperials wouldn't be around, and was ready to take off. She silently sent a message to the Emperor that all was well, and if he heard news of their capture it was only because it was part of her plan for his latest mission for the pair of them. It would, hopefully, buy them enough time to escape, but soon enough Mara knew that the Emperor would know full well that both of his students were no longer working for him.
