Star Wars: Rebel Rising(80)
The admiral cleared her throat.
“That we will crush,” Commander Solange amended. “A partisan group that is particularly vicious. They’ve been using the criminal Risi Amps as a source for clearance codes that have enabled them to bypass the security measures we’ve implemented in this system.” She raised her eyebrows, and Jyn knew that everyone in the room was well aware that the codes had actually come from her.
“Risi Amps is, sadly, ill-informed of where this partisan group is actually located,” the admiral commented, speaking in an impatient voice.
“Admiral Rocwyn has implemented a plan that should help us locate the main base of the partisan group,” Commander Solange continued. “With Risi Amps arrested, they will need a new way to bypass our checkpoints, and we want you to give it to them…but we have a bit of additional code for you to add that will enable us to better keep tabs on this group. This ship is the little bee that will lead us to the hive.”
Jyn thought about trying to protest that she knew nothing about forgery, but she sensed it would be futile and only anger the admiral. “I don’t have a code replicator with me,” she said instead.
Commander Solange reached into her desk and withdrew a new code replicator. Jyn opened it and scanned the contents, noting the tracker program already installed on the device.
“What will my payment be?” Jyn asked.
The admiral stared at Jyn just long enough for Jyn to be uncomfortable, not long enough to reasonably break her gaze. “This way,” Admiral Rocwyn said finally, striding toward the door. She didn’t turn around; she expected Jyn and Commander Solange to follow her and knew they would.
Jyn followed the admiral down the white-tiled hallway and through a door with a high-security lock, guarded by a pair of Imperial privates. The room past the door was dimly lit and smelled odd, like a combination of burning and something else, something metallic.
“Hello, Bardbee,” the admiral said in a pleasant voice.
For the first time, Jyn noticed a pale white creature strung up in the center of the room. The creature was diamond-shaped, the torso about as tall as Jyn but with almost translucent membranes connecting the top of the head to the tips of the fingers, and then another membrane connecting the fingers all the way to the ankles.
“The Rayeth people are very strange,” the admiral said to Jyn, as if this were a casual observation. “They’re amphibious, did you know?”
“Yes,” Jyn whispered. She remembered the first time she’d seen a Rayeth, on Inusagi, where they’d been pleading with stormtroopers to allow them entrance to the palace. They had been so elegant and beautiful, soaring through the waters of the azure pools. When they had wrapped their thin membranes around themselves like robes, they had seemed noble and tall.
So it was especially strange and cruel to see this Rayeth exposed the way he was. His arms were stretched out to their maximum length, held painfully in place by a pair of magnetic cuffs built into the wall. The Rayeth kept straining against the cuffs, his instinct to cover his body overriding the pain of the restraints on his bruised and bloody wrists. His face was mostly flat, with a little bump and two slits for a nose and a flat, long horizontal slit for a mouth. The Rayeth’s eyes were milky white, and a glue-like mucus dripped from his eyes and down his face.
He was crying.
“This particular Rayeth is proving rather difficult,” the admiral continued, her voice light. “He has worked with the partisan group we’ve been targeting for years, and we’re certain he knows the location of the group’s headquarters and main operation paths. But he just. Won’t. Talk.” With each of these last words, the admiral gently slapped the side of the Rayeth’s face, then pulled her hand back in disgust and wiped the mucus off with a handkerchief.
“That’s why we are hiring you,” the admiral continued.
The Rayeth jerked in his restraints, a low growl emanating from its throat. His white eyes flashed at Jyn, and she saw accusation and rage there. He was being tortured for the information that Jyn was going to give the Empire.
“Now, now,” the admiral admonished, and an interrogation droid zoomed into view. The Rayeth whimpered, but his hate-filled eyes bored into Jyn.
Admiral Rocwyn turned to Jyn. “You asked about payment,” she said in a cool voice. “I think we’ve come to an understanding.”
“Yes,” Jyn whispered. Her payment was her freedom. Her payment was to escape the fate of this Rayeth.
The Imperial presence on Five Points station had been something of a joke, if Jyn was honest. Commander Solange had sullied herself, her rank, and her authority by entering the gambling halls. This new admiral, however, had reinstated the terror and subservience the Empire demanded, merely by her presence.
How does the Empire keep finding such horrible people? Jyn wondered, looking at the emaciated body of the Rayeth.
“This particular partisan group is rather obtusely antihuman,” the admiral continued, her gaze sliding over to Jyn. “We have paid a contact to recommend you highly, and they have made an exception for you.”
“I have worked with groups like that before,” Jyn said. She tried hard to focus on the admiral’s impartial gaze, not on the Rayeth watching, listening.
The admiral raised a brow. “No doubt.” The words were delivered as an insult, and inexplicably, Jyn felt her cheeks reddening.