(no subject)

Atton really disliked Hutts.

It wasn’t that they organised illegal swoop races or that they smuggled dangerous substances and weapons to less than moral people. Atton liked illegal swoop races, and got a good bit of money from smuggling said dangerous substances and weapons to less than moral people.

It was more because they gurgled a lot. And they could gurgle about bargains on fuel for hours. Atton was secretly starting to wonder if the Disciple knew this Hutt was so long winded when Atton had been sent.

“Long time no see, Atton.”

Atton froze, turning around slowly and raising an eyebrow at the figure perched on a stack of boxes. Even without his mask, he recognised the person.

“’Lo, Thus-Far-Nameless-Dark-Jedi. Think this might be the first time I’ve seen you without that mask of yours.”

The Dark Jedi smiled faintly, brushing a strand of blond hair away from his eyes.
“If it makes you more comfortable, I could put it back on.”

“Or we could just get this over with. We both know how this works.” Atton sighed, sitting down on the edge of a box. The Dark Jedi cocked his head at Atton, tapping his chin with one fignger.

“Not that I don’t enjoy our usual meetings, but this is going to be slightly different.”

“Oh?” Atton asked absently, waving his fingers slightly to shake off a slight numbness in them, banging his foot against the box for the same reason.

“This meeting is not so much for me to try and capture and/or kill you, but more for me to tell you that I will not be hunting you any more. Consider all animosity between us forgiven.” The Dark Jedi smiled faintly. He sounded oddly nasal.

“Seems awfully generous of you.” Atton reached over, pinching his hand and digging his fingers in. It hurt remarkably little.

“Not really. I’m getting something out of it. It’s an exchange, you see.”

“Go on.”

“When I was hunting you on Coruscant, you went somewhere else. Somewhere that doesn’t abide by the same laws of time as this place does.”

“That,” Atton replied, prodding his arm and frowning slightly. “Is ridiculous.”

“Really? I had broken several of your ribs, destroyed your lightsaber, bruised and battered you in about forty different places, and you had dropped down from a great height and undoubtedly suffered injuries from that,” The Dark Jedi frowned. “And then, for just a minute, you’re gone. I go down to find you and as I make my way down, you come back. I get down and you’re in perfect physical health with a new lightsaber.”

He paused for a moment, watching Atton intently.

“That isn’t possible,” He finished, folding his arms. “I have been thinking about that a lot. I can only come to the conclusion that either you’re extremely fast, or that you somehow managed to evade time’s march and acquired the resources to get proper medical treatment and a new lightsaber. Since I know you neither have that ability nor those resources, I have concluded that you went to a place outside of time.”

Atton arched one eyebrow, sitting back.
“Uh-huh. Right. So, you’re insane. And you really should’ve died in that explosion,” He paused for a moment. “Just plain rude not to.”

“You’re not the only one with the presence of mind to steal a speeder in an exploding speeder garage. It’s really a given that anybody with half a brain would do that. Stop changing the subject. Information, please. How do I get to this place you go to?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Atton shrugged, biting his lip slightly. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have “And even if I did, I wouldn’t say anything.”

“That is of no consequence,” The Dark Jedi shrugged, pulling on a breathing mask. “For a start, the gas being pumped into the area will make you faint in about six seconds anyway, so we have plenty of time.”

Atton would’ve replied, except everything went very abruptly black.

“Hm,” He heard faintly through the darkness. “Seven seconds, then. Near enough.”

(no subject)

Everything was very dark.

As Atton opened his eyes, he could just make out a bunk and a small table. There was remarkably little else in the room, save the chains on the wall. Atton was thankful that he wasn’t chained up.

He did, he noted as he touched his wrists slightly, have disrupter cuffs. They were on their lowest setting - just high enough to disrupt his ability to use the Force without having many other negative effects. They tingled slightly, and when he moved his arms too quickly he got a nasty shock.

He’d bet both his pazaak decks - which, he noticed, were gone from his pockets - that those cuffs could send an even nastier shock through him if whoever had the remote for them wanted to.

“Atton. You’ve woken up.” The Dark Jedi murmured softly, perched on the table.

“Well, aren’t you an observant one. Mind telling me what you think you’re doing?”

“It’s rude for a guest not to thank their host. And I did expect a small gift from you.”

Atton just stared.
“You locked me up because I didn’t thank you or give you a small gift?”

“No, I was just commenting on your lack of manners. I locked you up so that I’d have time to get the information I need from you. About the place outside of time.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m not going to tell you anything about anything and I’m going to end up saying this a lot, aren’t I?” Atton asked. The Dark Jedi shook his head.

“No. You are perfectly correct. You aren’t going to tell me anything.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

The Dark Jedi shrugged vaguely, raising two fingers.

A sharp pain flared in front of his eyes as he counted Pazaak cards under his breath, raising his mental shields higher. The Dark Jedi didn’t stop. His mind twisted round, flowing across Atton’s shields, seeping in a little bit at a time whenever Atton’s card-counting paused.

You see, Atton? He hissed in Atton’s mind as he established a foothold there, prising apart his defenses and starting to sift through his memories, carelessly ripping through them and throwing them aside when he was done. You don’t need to tell me anything.

Hours (or, perhaps, minutes or seconds or days or weeks, Atton couldn’t tell at all) later, the Dark Jedi left, and when Atton couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore, he tried the door.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn’t open.