An Unexpected Plan

Green rushed back to his private office when the call came through about his visitor, quickly thinking through all of his recent business dealings to check there had been nothing to prompt any Imperial interest. His business might be considered morally questionable by many, but he was always careful to keep on the right side of the law, and he could not think of any reason why Lord Vader, second in command of the Empire, would turn up unannounced and demand to see him.

He slowed as he neared the door, making sure his clothes were neat and his face had a suitably trustworthy expression in place. That expression, plus a reputation for honesty as well as ruthlessness, had allowed his business to grow far beyond the usual limits. He just hoped it would work this time.

"Good afternoon, my lord. How may I be of service?" Honest and straightforward, nothing to hide. He still couldn't think of anything he should need to hide, so hopefully it was just a misunderstanding, whatever it was. Lord Vader loomed above him, but for once the trademark black hooded cloak was thrown back revealing the dark blond hair and youthful face more often seen in propaganda than in reality. The expression was bland; no sign there of what this was about.

"A number of your competitors have mentioned your name, in connection with locating and importing certain types of merchandise." Green nodded, that was an accurate, if rather incomplete, description of his business. "I have a set of requirements which your competitors consider difficult to fulfil, and they have recommended that I come to you."

Green blinked. That was unexpected. He quickly rearranged his thoughts and spoke smoothly.

"Well, my business has always focussed on individual clients and their specific requirements, rather than bulk imports of the more standard merchandise. Please let me know what it is you are looking for, and I can give you an idea of how difficult it might be to source such an item." As well as honesty, Green's business success had always been helped by his ability to talk to the client in whatever style of language would suit them best, and he fell quite easily into using the same terms as Lord Vader, encouraging him to feel that they understood one another.

"I am interested in an outright purchase. Human. Female. Minimum 16 standard years. Maximum ten years above that. In pristine condition. Not just in the strictest technical sense, but in a more general sense. Untouched."

Green automatically translated the requirements as they were given to him. A slave who was still a virgin at 16 would be a great rarity; they were available for sex from 13, male and female alike. No wonder his competitors had not wanted to take on the job - they were accustomed to providing young men and women for both brothels and individual customers, but the biggest markets were in fresh 13 year olds and in experienced workers.

"As my competitors have no doubt already told you, such items are rare. I very much doubt that we will able to provide one from stock, rather we would need to look out for one that is new to the market. Is there a time constraint?"

"Not specifically. I had assumed that such items were readily available, but the repetition from your competitors as to the difficulty of meeting my requirements has forced me to reconsider."

"Well, I have a great many contacts in many systems. Once I pass the word to them to keep an eye out for such an item then as soon as one becomes available, I will know about it and be able to arrange the purchase on your behalf. No other business would be able to acquire one more quickly; you have my word on that." It was true enough, if he heard of another getting their hands on what Lord Vader wanted, he would make sure he got it off them one way or another. This client was far too important to lose.

"Very well" Vader stood and held out his hand to shake Green's firmly. "Let me know when you have made progress."

And with that he was gone, and Green sank thankfully down into his chair to contemplate which of his suppliers would be most likely to acquire a newly-enslaved 16 year old girl in the near future.

Padme Naberrie was trying very hard not to think about it, but every time she stopped focussing utterly on something else - such as counting the bricks in the wall opposite her, or tracing the route of the wires and conduits along the ceiling - her mind returned to wondering what was going to happen to her next. The three days since the debt collectors had arrived had been spent mostly in this cell, apart from occasional questioning from those who had put her here and an uncomfortable and humiliating visit to a doctor. The hard-faced woman who seemed to be in charge here had seemed worryingly happy about the doctor's pronouncement that she was a virgin, though it had only confirmed what she had already, blushingly, told her captors when they questioned her. They had wanted to know everything about that side of her life, going over the questions in different ways while she repeatedly assured them that there had been nothing of that sort in her life so far. The doctor's announcement had ended the questioning, but then strangely led to a long conversation between the woman and another of the 'debt collectors' about her date of birth. What the significance of that might be she wasn't sure, though she had replayed the heated conversation over in her head many times.

Her virginity, on the other hand, she could understand the importance of, though whether it was a good thing or a bad thing she was still undecided on. Probably good, at least no-one would expect her to be an expert. But, if her value depended on it, then it underlined what she would be bought for, and that was a far cry from how she had seen her life developing in her imagination. If things had gone differently two years ago, if her father had agreed to let her put her name forward for election to queen... But there was no point thinking about that now, her father had vetoed the idea, though she had tried to argue that it was the perfect way for her to get into politics. He had been adamant that she needed to finish her schooling before she decided what to do with her life, and that had been that.

Not that she would ever finish school now. While her father's creditors had limited themselves to 'final demand' notices she had still expected to complete this year at least, get her basic qualification, and then probably have to leave and work fulltime rather than just in the evenings and weekends. But the demands had switched to legal notices with a terrifying amount of small print, then to the arrival of the debt collectors to lay claim to everything of value, which included her and father himself. They had been separated almost at once, and she had only seen other women and children here. Presumably adult men were kept in a different place.

She might never see him again.

Actually, she found that she struggled to be as upset by that thought as she felt a dutiful daughter ought to be. The reality was that he had not been much of a father for the past few years, and she had often felt pushed into the role of parent rather than child, as he failed to sort out his business or the encroaching loans which took more and more of his limited income, and seemed unwilling or unable to make any attempt to get help for them. She pushed the thought away as unkind and unfair, but in some ways it was easier to have only her own fate to consider now.

But that led back to considering it, which she really wanted to avoid.

She went back to counting bricks. It kept her mind busy enough.

On the fourth day she was removed from the cell, and transferred with several others to a ship, with a new set of guards. For the whole two days and nights of the journey, she was kept separate from the others and only spent time with the two female guards; while the other women were kept separate from the male slaves but not from the guards. She couldn't help thinking about the fact that her virginity was being protected very carefully at all times.

The female guards even stayed with her after they left the ship, taking her in binders into a vehicle and through the city to a small office, where a smartly-dressed man questioned her again. Once again, his interest seemed to focus on both her innocence, and her age. That was discussed between him and a colleague for quite some time, though she couldn't follow all of it. But it seemed that her being still two months short of her 16th birthday was causing some kind of complication. Finally a conclusion seemed to have been reached, and she was taken into another room along the corridor from the office and left there with just one guard, female of course, and there was nothing to do again but sit and wait. There were no exposed bricks here, so she spent her time estimating the sizes of several prints on the walls and calculating the total area of picture compared with the wall area.

Green rehearsed his arguments carefully before putting through the call. His client had been very clear about his requirements and he was not a man to accept sloppy work. But then again he had been prepared to be flexible about timescales and this was a problem that would be fixed soon enough with no further effort or expense, simply by the passage of time. And, most importantly, this was the first candidate his sources had found who met the criteria in other regards. Added to which she was pretty, with a good figure, and her obvious embarrassment at his questioning left no doubt that she had the innocence his client wanted. A two-month delay in delivery was a minor matter compared with that, surely.

He shook himself and determined to stop going round in this circle. He was as ready as he could be, and the matter could only be resolved by speaking to his client.

Unfortunately, his client could not take the call. Some rather careful wording, informing Lord Vader that an item he had ordered was now available for inspection, made an acceptable message to leave with someone who might or might not have any idea about his employer's personal arrangements.

In the meantime, Green would make sure the girl was looking her best.

After sitting waiting for an hour or more, the sudden increase in activity caught Padme by surprise. Her guards hustled her to yet another room, this one with a shower into which she was ordered. It was good to feel clean again, and she was happy to have fresh clothes after remaining in the same ones for days, though she would not have chosen a pink floral dress for herself, nor white ankle socks and sandals. Her hair was carefully brushed, and held back with pink hairclips, and her fingernails were neatly cut and filed. Then she was hurried back to the previous room again, for more waiting.

There was no clock in the room, so she wasn't sure, but it seemed to be late afternoon before anyone came again - this time the man who had questioned her earlier, leading a tall figure in a black cloak with the hood up and covering his face. She stood up immediately to be polite, though she wasn't sure whether to expect to be introduced or quite what was normal in the circumstances.

There was no introduction, the figure merely seemed to regard her for a few moments, then turned away and swept out of the room without having said a word.

Padme sat down, startled and even frightened. It had been bad enough waiting for someone to come and show an interest in her, far worse to be virtually ignored, presumably by the potential buyer. What would happen to her now?

Green was similarly worried. He had hoped, after his somewhat stammered explanation about her age when Lord Vader had arrived without any advance warning, that the sight of the girl and the fact that he had offered to 'arrange storage until an agreed delivery date' would be sufficient to conclude the deal. But his lordship had barely glanced at the girl, despite all the efforts he had gone to in order to find one that was so close to a match for his requirements.

Lord Vader now stopped in the middle of the corridor that led to the exit, turned to Green and said "I will arrange the transfer of funds. You may deliver the item this evening" and continued out of the building, leaving Green confused and wondering if he had heard right.

Padme sat, unregarded and frightened, until one of the guards returned with a tray of food. She barely picked at it. What next? She had been certain from the special treatment that there was a buyer lined up for her, that she wasn't simply going to be sent to a brothel to satisfy whatever men came in off the street. But if that had been the buyer, he had not seemed interested, not enough to ask her any questions or even to look at her clearly. How much effort would they put into finding another? Would they just cut their losses by getting rid of her cheaply to a brothel now?

The man in charge returned after she had long given up on the food, holding a set of binders in his hand.

"Please, what's going to happen to me now?" she asked timidly.

He looked startled at the question, as if noticing her as a person for the first time. "Oh, right, I don't suppose anyone has caught you up then?" he asked after a few moments. "The transfer has gone through, so you officially belong to Lord Vader now. You'll have to wear these until I deliver you to him - you're too valuable to risk losing you on the journey at this late stage."

"He...bought me then? That man who was here?" That was startling, he really hadn't looked interested.

"Yes. Unusual man, not exactly chatty. Prompt payer though." He was smiling and even rubbing his hands together at the thought. It had been a good price from his point of view, obviously.

It took only around 20 minutes in the vehicle until they arrived at their destination. During that time, and during the transfers at either end, Padme saw nothing of the city she had been brought to, as the parking areas were inside buildings and the screens were kept darkened throughout. She wasn't even sure if they had been travelling outside or through buildings and tunnels. If she had had any thoughts of escaping, they would quickly have been squashed by the guards and the binders, but in fact she had no plans of trying to get away from them. In a strange city with no friends she had little to look forward to apart from probable rape and murder. At best she would have to sell her body to buy food and shelter. Whatever fate awaited her as a slave it could not be worse than what freedom would give her here.

She was handed over to a liveried man of middle years, the binders removed and a document signed. As she was being led further into the building she was aware of the sound of the vehicle pulling away somewhere behind her, and was acutely aware that her new life, whatever it was to be, had begun.