This story sets up events that will continue in role play by members of the Star Wars twitterverse, starting on Nov. 5, 2010.
Part Two
(Continued from Part One )
~*~
Pain. It was the first semi-coherent thought to congeal out of the fog that was swirling around in my brain.
I opened my eyes slowly, choking on the smell of stale air and sewage. My head felt like it had been stuffed with rocks, or at least bludgeoned by them, and the last thing I remembered was...
Was...
"Lily!" I cried out, struggling sit up. It was dark and everything was blurry and I couldn't hear her crying. She'd been crying when -
I crawled forward, ramming straight into a wall.
- when whatever had happened to us. There had been men in helmets and they had guns. Guns pointed at me and Lily.
Ignoring the sickening pounding between my ears, I yelled louder, "LILY!" My voice echoed so I had to be in a room of some type. Frantically, I started feeling along the grimy walls. If I could just find a door or a light panel, maybe I could -
"Ow!" I jumped back, grabbing my shin, which had just struck something short, and hard that whimpered.
Whimpered?
"Lily?" I lurched forward, hitting my shin again on the edge of what turned out to be a crate, and reached inside. My fingers touched baby skin and if I hadn't been kneeling already, I might’ve passed out in relief.
"Oh, sweetie!" I scooped her up and sat back, laying her in my lap. "Are you okay, baby?"
She squirmed and I figured that was a good thing as I patted her down gently, feeling for injuries. She started crying then, but it wasn't a hurt cry, just a scared one and I lifted her to my chest, holding her close. "It's okay," I whispered, stroking her back. "It's okay. Auntie Blue's here. I've got you."
We sat there on the floor and the room slowly came into focus in the dim light as my eyes adjusted. It was a hold of some type. Probably a ship, from the feel of the vibration in the walls.
I rocked Lily until she fell asleep and then I kept rocking, more to comfort myself than anything else. How in the seven hells of Corellia had I let this happen? It was supposed to have been a simple trip to the store and now we were Force-knows-where, trapped in a cargo hold by Force-knows-who.
The pounding in my brain kicked it into some higher-functioning gear because I suddenly remembered the carry-all bag I'd packed. There was a comm in there!
I placed Lily carefully back into the crate - it looked and smelled pretty much clean on the inside - then I stood up and started picking my way around in the semi-darkness. The stench was coming from an exhaust port in the floor that smelled like it was venting from a refresher somewhere. Ugh.
There were a few more empty crates scattered around, but no bag with my comm or Lily's stuff. It must have gotten knocked to the sidewalk in the scuffle before we'd been taken.
Stang it! I kicked the wall in spite of my sore shin and that made me just plain mad. What kind of lame ass crime outfit kidnaps a woman and baby? Kriffin' sleemo sons of murglaks in their kriffin’ sleemo fake beskar'gam. They wouldn't get away with this. I'd get out of this room and hijack their ship, and then I'd call some real Mandos I know and get this strekking outfit busted right up. Not to mention what would happen when baby Lily’s Daddy got his hands on them --
Halfway through my mental tirade, the door opened and a dark-haired woman came in. She was shorter than me and wearing that same knock-off Fett armor that junk dealers sold to people who couldn't afford replicas of the real stuff. She tossed a few ration bars and a skin of water on the floor and started to leave without a word.
"Hey!" I called after her. "Look...lady," I was trying to sound nice. Didn't figure it would do me or Lily any good to mouth-off right away. "I don't know you and I got no bad business with you. And I certainly ain't got no money, so I think what we’ve got is some mistaken identity here." See? Nice.
She stood there looking uninterested, but Zeltrons are naturally empathic and I could feel her uncertainty beneath that cool gaze.
Holding up my hands in a non-threatening pose, I tried again. "Everybody makes mistakes. Just drop me and the baby off at the next spaceport and we'll forget this ever happened."
"Can't." She shook her head. "You've seen us."
Seen what? I wanted to demand. A failed amateur attempt at a robbery? I'd crewed with pirates and bounty hunters before. The real deals. She was putting up a good face, but there wasn't enough hardness in her to stomach half the things I'd seen and done to earn a credit in my life.
But she wanted to play it that way? Fine. I tried We’re Friends next, letting off a wave of pheromones that only a Force-user would have been able to resist.
"Okay. That’s true. I've seen you, but the baby hasn't. And even if she has, who's she gonna tell?" I smiled a winning between-us-girls smile. "Just let me get her safely back to her parents and then you can do…whatever you need to do with me."
The woman glanced down at Lily in the crate and then back up at me. "It's not yours?"
Oh, for the love of -
I dropped the nice act and scowled at her, motioning very pointedly to the very white-skinned baby and then to my own very-pink complexion. "This ain't body paint, lady. Does she look like she’s mine?"
The lady blinked like she'd suddenly figured something out and then she frowned at me. "So that means you can't feed it." She was actually frowning at my chest and it was my turn to have a sudden stupid moment before I realized that she thought I'd be able to breastfeed Lily.
I gritted my teeth. "No. I can't feed her."
The fact hit me like a punch to the gut. I had nothing, absolutely nothing, for Lily to eat. I wanted to scream and cry and lash out in anger, but I could tell anger wouldn’t touch this woman.
Taking several deep breaths, I spoke slowly and clearly. "I had a bag. When you found me." When you found me sounded better than when you screwed-up and nabbed the woman who is going to end your miserable life if anything happens to this baby.
More small words and so many pheromones that she'd had to have been on drugs not to be affected by them later, I pleaded calmly, "If you'll bring the bag to me, there's food and supplies for the baby in there."
Her expression went blank again before she shrugged and turned to leave. "Didn't bring your bag on the ship."
And then she was gone and I was left shouting threats and profanity at the closed door.
The noise woke Lily and she started fussing and kicking the inside of the crate. I picked her up and bounced her gently until she calmed down. Standing in the middle of the dark room, I kissed her soft head and murmured over and over again, "It'll be okay, sweetie. It'll be okay."
I hoped to all the stars in the sky that I was right.
(to be continued…)
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Author’s note: This is where the story will pick up in role play on Twitter. The objective is to get Lily home to her parents. If and how that happens will depend on the Gryphon family and their friends.
Please contact me or @discogryphon if you are interested in participating as your existing character or creating a new one for this SL. All un-named characters in this story are up for grabs so far, including all of the above-mentioned Bad Guys.
This SL will not require all players to be online at the same time (yet), as we anticipate that it will play out in various locations and various side stories. Once we get going, we’ll work out a method for keeping everyone updated.
And always remember to HAVE FUN! :D
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