Experiment: The Ravager Code

Creation and Destruction

She flinched, instantly making to scramble back to the corner, not caring if he had seemed worried for her. He was a stranger, and no one touched her unless to harm her in some way.

"Hey..." he said so softly, a tone that stroked her ears like a gentle breeze, so foreign, but so... comforting. He crouched down a few feet from her. "I ain't gonna hurt you." He held his blaster in his hands, and she made a little hiss of a gasp between her teeth before he gingerly set in on the ground away from him. He raised his hands a little at his sides. "See? It's alright... you're safe."

He reached a hand out to her, and she stared at his hand, at the promise of safety he tried to make her believe.

She stared at his eyes—soft blue and so hauntingly familiar—and wanted to believe, so, so badly...

But she had stopped shivering... stopped when he said she was safe.

"What is it, Kraglin?"

The both of them turned at the male voice that was suddenly there, and she turned to see a man maybe a little shorter than the first—Kraglin, apparently, as the new one called him—his skin was a rich blue, his leathers darker than the others she had seen, and fairly different as he wore a long-coat instead of a jumpsuit. His face was worn and scarred badly, and his eyes...

A crimson that felt so familiar. Maybe dangerous, but she couldn't help but stare.

And he stared at her, his jaw loose as he took her in, froze and flicked his gaze over her face, her chains, the blood on her, then back to her face.

He switched to looking utterly disgusted, angry, as he stepped closer to Kraglin. And maybe she imagined it, but she swore the red-eyed man swallowed hard before he spoke. "You found her like this?"

Kraglin nodded, that haunted expression still on his stubble-covered face. "Yeah, she... I think she's it. What do we do, Cap? This ain't... this ain't what we thought. She's just a kid."

The apparent-captain clenched his fists. "Can't leave her here." He flicked his gaze back to her, she stopped breathing. "She don't deserve it."

"So what do we do?"

The captain thought for a moment, pacing a step. "Get those damn chains off her." he growled, tossing a piercing look at where they were secured into the wall, the device on his head pulsing red. He lifted the shoulder of his coat to his mouth. "I want every single cell in this place tore open, if ya find something, report. I want this place ready to blow to hell when we're done."

There was a chorus of yes sirs and got its, and he looked back to Kraglin. "She talk to you?"

Kraglin eased her with a hand slightly out as he twisted the mechanisms of the tactical device on his wrist. "No, I dunno if she can." When a small, thin metal device was pulled from his wrist she flinched, her chains jingling as she tried to move away, he calmed her again, whispering, "I'm gonna get these off,"

Tears were silently running down her cheeks, and Kraglin paused at the sight of them. Carefully, slowly, never breaking eye contact with her, he brought his hand down towards her bloody knee, her whole body going stiff as she shut her eyes. "Shhh..." he placed his hand down as if she were made of dust, and she eased slightly, opening her eyes in awe that he didn't strike her, didn't pierce her with anything.

The captain watched in ridged silence, his chest rising and falling as if he were barely contained within himself, his implant still flashing ruby light.

Kraglin moved his eyes towards her chains, and she followed his movement, watching as he gently picked the locks, pulling her cuffs off, removing the shackles on her ankles.