Slaves! You own slaves? The only reaction I've ever had to that kind of fact is anger. Now that I was a Sith, it was fury. Before I knew what I was doing, the man was dead, and the building was as good as gone.

Master is not going to be happy about this. That was an important piece in this game he plays. The game was, of course, the war. He treats his soldiers with no more respect than a player does his pieces.

I stormed out of the remains of the building, sure that I was casting a terrifying aura with every step. That place would give Force sensitives shivers for millennia.

Children. Innocent children are forced to do your biding. It's wrong. I hope I have effectively told you that.

One of the tiny children limped up to me and took my cape in one hand.

"Mister? What's gonna happen to us?"

I had forgotten that, by killing their master, I had destroyed the only life the little slaves had ever known.

Looking down into the child's eyes, I felt my heart melt. She was such a beautiful child, as were the rest of the frightened girls and boys. I wanted terribly to take them home with me and keep them safe. However, I knew that taking them home would only put them in more danger.

I knelt down before her. "You're free now. Do you understand that? There are no trackers in your body; you have a brand new start." I couldn't sense any trackers, or detonators. "Nor do any of the others. Take these credits and get as far away from me as you can." I pressed a credit chip into her hand.

Then I stood, as quickly as possible. I wasn't ashamed to be consorting with slaves, quite the reverse. I would have been happy for the whole galaxy to know I was against slaving. It was just the small matter that my master might rightly guess that I cared more for the children than I did for myself and kill them instead of torturing me, his normal form of punishment.

The little girl followed me a couple of steps, but when she realized that I wasn't going to respond to her again, she headed back to the cluster of now-free children. I sent a silent plea to the Force that they might live long, happy lives.

8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

"Lord Vader. Your performance was quite disappointing, I have come to expect better. Killing him like that was… wasteful."

"No more wasteful than forcing children into slavery." I snapped back.

The Emperor scowled. For someone who kept encouraging me to show anger, he could be quite moody when I directed it at him, I thought, closer to Anakin than I had been in years. Granted, it was an Anakin who would have happily killed the man who sat in front of him, but Anakin none the less.

"Your regular punishments have obviously not sufficed. This time I think you will spend a week in a slave market. If you try to 'save' even one of the prisoners, I will have them tortured and killed while you watch."

I simmered. He certainly had learned the art of cruel and unusual punishment well. "Yes, Master."

I turned and marched from the room.

Storming down the halls, I brooded. It wasn't my fault that I was sensitive about slavery. He certainly hadn't been the one who had saved me from it either. Already, I was starting to search for loopholes that would allow me to protect at least a few of the slaves.

Finally, I reached my quarters and dropped down at the desk. Pulling a huge sheaf of durasheet across to myself, I started work.

I dragged myself through one utterly unimportant piece of paperwork before throwing it down, thoroughly disheartened.

Sometimes I wasn't sure that I had escaped slavery at all. I had gone from Watto's possession to being a Jedi, right into being a Sith. None of those positions gave me true freedom. I thought of the children with something akin to jealousy. They had been enslaved, abused, but now they were free. They had their lives, to use as they wished.

I had nothing. My body was a lost cause, my family was dead, and I didn't care about the Empire.

I thought of my angel. I missed her so badly… Closing my eyes, I saw her again in my mind. Her body may have been rotted away since she'd died, but she would remain perfectly preserved in my memories for as long as I lived.

Mentally, I drew back every memory of her I had. I remembered her small hands, her smile, that way she would look at me, like I was a disobedient child. Loving, but slightly exasperated. I could feel myself blushing again just thinking of it.

Oh, Angel, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I wanted her back. I needed her desperately.

There was the sound of something arriving in my computer. Presumably the place I was supposed to go for this punishment. I opened the file and read Zygerria. How kind of my master to send me somewhere I was familiar with. Lots of wonderful memories coupled with that place.

I decided there was no point delaying the inevitable and stood up. Zygerria it was, then. It would be a long week.