Chapter 7: Where the bantha am I?

If I had to say something about my current situation, I would have to say it's more surprising than not that I have never woken up in a Bacta tank before.

Though to be fair, hiring a bacta tank when taking injuries would have been way out of our monetary ball park so to say, even for a smuggler as good as myself.

That being said, waking up to the see of blue and the feeling of my body underwater may have freaked me out a little. The breathing tube stuck over my face didn't help as it seemed to constrict my mind, I was never one to have claustrophobia, but by damn I started to scream as I woke.

Small pangs of pain passed through my arms and legs as I thrashed, the warning beep from the outside the only indication I had that something was going on before the tube started to flush.

Well, it didn't so flush rather the cylindrical tube that kept me inside started to rise from the bottom. With that coming undone, the bacta had nowhere to go but out as the cold air of the room I was in started to assault my body.

With the water also went what was keeping me afloat and with that my feet touched the ground.... I wish I could feel them right now.

My body was numb, and these two facts caused me to tilt and smash into the still rising cylinder. Thankfully I didn't feel it. As the cylinder finally disappeared, to god knows where, the meaty fwap of my face seemed especially loud.

Well to me at least.

The cold of the room quickly invaded my body, before the room started to heat. I could feel the warm air of whatever was above me kick in as I groaned on the floor. My body was somehow weak, but at the same time strong, as I felt the ringing of the spark in my ear.

It wasn't screaming danger, but it was a bit....off

I couldn't tell what it was, I was just uneasy.

With or without that unease I quickly scrambled to rip the tube out of my throat and take deep gulps of air.

It burnt for a second and as I took in excessive amounts of air, I had to wonder just how long exactly I had been in that tank.

For a better question.....

"Where the bantha am I?"

The words slipped out as I finally started to look around the room.

Dark black and grey metal, bright yellow, almost green lights littered about illuminating the small room that housed me...

Yeap...

Not creepy at all.

Bad situations one after the other started to filter through my mind.

"Where we captured?"

"Where was Dae?"

"How long had I been out?"

The questions came fast, the answers not so much.

I spent the next few minutes trying to work out what was going on as I searched for some clothes.

Yes, I was in the buff.

I spent a good 10 minutes sending a small prayer for my jacket that was likely ruined after I took that hit for Dae. After that I started to look around for any weapon that I could find, I needed one.

The door to the room was easy to identify, the button to open it also easy to spot.

The likelihood of some alien monster outside....

Higher than I would generally like.

Yeah, I didn't want to go out there until I had some weapon in hand. Hell, even a blunt force one could do.

Sadly, other than a now empty tube, a consol that was used to monitor my status and a small closet that was full of robes. There was nothing else.

The robes were at least a good find.

The room may be hot, but I didn't make it a habit of flashing the party pleaser around, especially not in dangerous situations.

The consol was a good sign and something I wanted to exploit. It would have been good, if I could read the language.

The spark sometimes helped with that type of thing, nothing on the same level as Dae, but I could get by given a bit of time.

Time, I didn't have.

In the end I wasn't able to find a weapon. Hell, I wasn't able to find anything in the room.

It was unnerving how desolate it was. It was giving me the creeps, along with the aesthetic.

Firming my resolve after about 30 minutes and being sure that no one was going to come check on me, which would have been nice, I could have jumped them or something, I walked over slowly to the door and hit the button.

With a woosh, it opened and I peeked my head out.

The sight was awe inspiring as well as terrifying.

I was certainly not on Coruscant anymore.

The roof didn't seem to exist as I watched the walls climb into infinity. The grey and black continued along the whole architected, yellow and green lights denoting the walk ways that were used to get about. As I looked on a sprawling number of doors seemed to continue forever into the distance. It was majestic in a sense, awe inspiring in another.

And I was now somehow smack bang in the middle of whatever it was.

Taking small steps out, I was once more dumbfounded as I looked over the edge of the railing that I found myself on. The drop went forever, a few more walkways dotted below that I could just see.

The spark surprisingly didn't give off any warning bells, it was once again just quiet.

Usually at this point in the horror genera I would have at least been given a warning, but no such helpful hit was on it's way.

Actually....

I stopped for a second as I felt the spark move slightly. It was going in a certain direction.

I was hesitant for a second, before I felt the familiar brush of Dae through it.

*Sigh*

I couldn't leave her behind.

She also might know what the Sith spit was going on.

Looking around to see if there was anywhere to hide as I made my way, I quickly found that there were none.

The place seemed dead, not a sound was made as I slowly pattered out on my bare feet.

With nowhere to hide and no other option, I shrugged my shoulders and walked out.

It was a long walk to get to my destination. About an hour I would say. It might have been faster if I sped up, but I was trying not to make noise. I had discovered a weird looking droid on the pathway here. Thankfully it was on one of the walkways below, but I wasn't chancing anything.

With the sighting of that thing, I had been uber sensitive about any of the doors I passed, but it seems I was lucky. No other droid had appeared for the full trip and I could fell Dae on the other side of the door.

I prepared myself for any type of horror I could imagine before opening the door. Who knows what could have happened since I was gone.

Though I hoped nothing bad had happened, the galaxy wasn't that kind.

Taking a small breath and preparing myself to rush forward or retreat, if necessary, I opened the door.

This time there was no noise as the door opened, which only made it creepier, but worked in my favour. Walking in slowly, the room was pitch black. I could barely see 10 meters ahead of me, it was like there was a mist around my vision.

A weird feeling crawled down my spine as I waled a few uncertain steps forward.

Finally, something new appeared. Through the mist it appeared red and blurry, but another step forward made it clearer.

It was a hooded figure.

The figure was huge, but I could tell that was more caused by whatever holo-projector was playing it. A robe covered their body, predominantly black, with a few bits of gold around the waist and hands. Their face was covered in a mask, one I hadn't seen before, but it was definitely striking.

The figure had just finished saying something, my eyes drawn to the commanding presence it had, when I heard a gasp of surprise.

"Jack!

My focus was taken quickly by Dae as she sprung to her feet. There was a small pyramid type device in front of her, glowing red, from which the figure was projected. As she jumped to her feet that projection turned off as she rushed towards me.

With the figure completely gone I quickly did a once of Dae. She was as I last saw her good, maybe even better than usual. She looked relaxed, not tense really, and extremely excited to see me. Wearing a dark robe like myself, I distinctly heard the metal clink of something hanging on her waist as she bounded forward.

She must have tapped into the spark though, because she was almost a blur as she moved closer.

As she stopped in front of me and grabbed me into a hug, the only note for concern I had was the fact her eyes were glowing a blazing red.

Those two orbs disappeared as she leaned in and clutched on tight. I felt her body slightly shake as she held back a sob.

Damn I must have been asleep a lot longer than I thought.

Wrapping my arms around her to calm her down, I gently patted her back.

What have you gotten yourself into this time Jack?