Disclaimer: The universe belongs to George Lucas however the story and characters belong to me.
I watch the sun rise above the Coruscant skyline as I sit on my sleeping mat in one of the jedi temple dorm rooms, knees drawn up to my chest, chin resting on them. I smile as the bright rays hit my face warming my body. I yawn and stretch wincing as my joints crack. The other younglings sharing my room start to wake and the place momentarily fills with grunts and groans as they force themselves to get up.
"Another sleepless night Kat?" Vaas Trykoon, a purple skinned Twi'lek, my best and only friend here at the temple, asks as he walks over to me, the usual cocky grin plastered on his face.
"Not quite, I did manage to get a couple of hours in earlier" I smile wearily shaking my head.
He sighs softly and flops down next to me
"I worry about you, you know Kat," Vaas says looking at me with concern in his eyes "Have you considered talking with master Maar about your insomnia?"
"I'm sure she has more important things to deal with than me." I say with a shrug "Besides, after a while you get used to it."
"All right, I won't push you about it. Just, be careful, okay?"
I laugh and give him a reassuring smile
"I promise, just relax, I'll be fine. You worry too much"
Vaas nods and climbs to his feet, holding out his hand to me.
"Come on, we'd better get a move on. We don't want to be late for class, we have combat training this morning and I want to get the best training saber"
I take the outstretched hand, amused by the enthusiasm of my friend, and get to my feet. I pull on my brown leather boots, smooth out my tunic, I always like to look presentable, and follow after Vaas who's already some distance away yelling at me to hurry and catch up.
I'm sorry I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning and explain a little bit about myself. My name is Katja, Katja Dilana, I'm a 12 year old jedi initiate and someday I'm gonna be a great jedi master and protect those in need, or at least that's the plan. I was born on Corellia, though I remember very little about it, and not much more about my family.
When I was very young, 2 I think, I lost my family and everything I held dear to gangsters. My brother, Randyll had gambling issues, major gambling issues. He was a big player of Pazaak and could often be found in one of the many gambling dens in the area.
One day he ended up sat at a table across from a man called Mako Novar, one of the most infamous crime lords on Corellia.
Now Randyll was a good player, supposedly one of the best in the system, certainly one of the best in coronet but that night he made one damning mistake. He gambled against a crook. He should have just gotten up and left the instant that Mako sat down but if anything Randyll was stubborn, he never backed down from a challenge and so the game went forward. Mako cheated and my brother lost, he lost big. By the end of the night he owed an excess of 200,000 credits.
Needless to say Randyll didn't have enough when it came time to cough up. Mako was less than pleased. I never quite knew what happened to Randyll after that, no one ever saw or heard from him. It's likely that Mako killed him on the spot, or more probably sent him to work in the spice mines of Kessel to earn him back some of the money owed. He sent his thugs to our house to collect the rest. They came in the night we were caught unaware. My father refused to go quietly however and fought like a man possessed to protect his family.
He managed to defeat several of the men but the sheer numbers ultimately overwhelmed him, the relentless barrage of blaster fire cut him down. He was dead before he hit the floor. I may not remember much about that night but the one thing will be etched into my mind for as long as I live is the smell of scorched flesh as the bolts tore through his body.
My elder sister, when she tried to run, was beaten senseless and taken away, whilst my mother was dragged clutching a screaming baby - me – to her chest.
We were taken to Mako's luxury mansion on the outskirts of Coronet, as we were lead through the streets we passed friends and neighbours, people we'd known all our lives. They all ignored us, turned their backs on us, few offered us the dignity of looking us in the eye. It's amazing really just how fickle people can be.
As we were dragged before him, Mako glared haughtily down at us, bound and beaten. He stalked towards us, circling our pitiful trio like a hungry Gundark. His cold calculating eyes studied each one in turn, as quite an audience gathered round, faces eager to watch the impending violence.
When he came to my sister, Mako reached out and stroked her cheek softly. She flinched away from his touch and spat in his face.
"Very pretty." he leered wiping himself clean, before striking her across the face viciously. "Sell her to the slavers. I'm sure it'll fetch a very fine price" he commanded laughing as she was dragged away screaming and kicking. As another member of my family was taken away my mum started weeping and begging for mercy. She soon fell silent as the cruel crime lord advanced on his final victims.
My mother whimpered softly as he approached but held her head up high, keeping her composure as best she could. Though I'm sure she must have been terrified my mother remained both brave and defiant, most likely for my benefit I would imagine.
Mako stepped behind her, leaning down to her ear and whispers something softly. I've never found out what he whispered to her on that day, but whatever it was it caused a sudden change. Her eyes widened and she turned to try and escape, but Mako was too fast. Quicker than lightning he placed one side on either side of her head and twisted cruelly, snapping her neck like a twig.
Her lifeless body fell to the floor like a rag doll. Her eyes, no longer full of life stared blankly at the poor helpless, innocent, child that was me. Left alone to face the evil machinations of that cruel tyrant.
Glancing at my prone figure with disdain he upholstered his blaster and pointed it at me, preparing to fire and forever blast me off the face of the universe.
Now, as I am relating to you this story, my tale clearly did not end at that point. At the last second a deep booming voice rang out across the room.
"WAIT!" It bellowed, stopping Mako before he pulled the trigger. Mako lowered his gun and looked around impatiently.
"Who the frack is brave, or stupid enough to interrupt me, and why are you doing so. This had better be important. I don't like having my fun disturbed." He growled softly.
A large Whipid pushed his way to the front of the gathered crowd urgently. His large frame covered by little else but rags, his fur matted and filthy. He knelt before Mako his head bowed low to the ground.
"My lord, I am but one of your humble servants. My name is Taarbuck and I beg of you to spare this child's life. Please do not kill her."
Mako stared at the Whipid thoughtfully, tapping his blaster against his forehead as he considered the proposal.
"Now tell me," he asked in a slow drawl "my worthless piece of scum slave. Why should I listen to you? Why should I not just kill you now for insubordination?" his manner and voice were friendly, almost conversational but his eyes conveyed a slow burning anger.
"Master, forgive me I meant no offense but if you kill this child then you could potentially be losing out on a valuable slave. When she is old enough she can work for you."
"And till then, she'll just be another mouth to feed. She'll cost me money in supplies and food. I have plenty of slaves it would be simpler mjust to kill her." Mako replies cooly.
"She can have my food, and my living quarters. Until she's able to earn her living she wouldn't cost you a single credit. Please I beg of you, she is only an innocent, let her live"
Not a single being moved in the crowded audience chamber, as they watched with bated breath, waiting for Mako to make his decision.
"Very well" he said at last "you may keep it."
Taarbuck breathed out a sigh of relief and bent to pick me up, but was interrupted by Mako.
"But," he said with a sly grin "I'm afraid your insolence must be punished. I can't very well have people thinking I'm a pushover now can I?"
Taarbuck nodded in consent "What is required of me, my lord?"
"Hold out your hand" mako commanded
The large whipid stood to his full 2.5 meters, gathered his courage and held out a steady hand, waiting for whatever cost was deemed necessary. With lightning speed, Mako drew his vibroblade and with one swift cut, sliced off one of Taarbuck's fingers.
Taarbuck roared in pain and cradled his injured hand, as Mako cleaned his blade of blood.
"I grow weary of this whole ordeal" Mako sighed and nudged my mother's corpse with his foot "clean that up, feed it to the slice hounds if you must, then all of you get out of my sight. I wish to be alone"
Of course, as I was barely more than a baby at that time, in reality I remember very little of those events. I pieced together what happened from stories I was told by other slaves in the mansion. Though I often asked him, Taarbuck told me little of it himself. The one thing he did tell me however was that, when he picked me up instead of crying like any normal child should when presented with the looming, tusked face of a whipid, I just grasped his finger, and smiled at him. From there, he was hooked.
A/N: there you are the first chapter of my first fanfic, i hope you enjoyed. I have plans for this story to be long term but at the moment i'm taking it one chapter at a time. not sure when i'll have the next chapter released by but it will be asap.