The Knights Of Ren
Terra Helene - Saru Ren
The Dark Lord of Ren stood about the sandy clearing of a desert, his ship stood tall in the background and across from him the night palace of the Hutt family; it was now used as a place for slave owners to sell their product and parties to be hosted without a host. His visor reflected off the sun as he looked over his shoulder to face General Hux.
"I will go in alone. You will wait here until I return."
"Yes, Sir." General Hux replied, but as usual his responses lacked respect whenever they were directed towards Ren. Kylo ignored it for now and ventured forward towards the sandy castle of death. The wind flew past him, his black clothing drifting around with it, clenched fists at either side of him.
His mission of a personal value, but also on accord of Snoke's wishes. The resistance was growing in numbers and Ren was assigned a mission to draw in apprentices for the new order, but he would not trust someone new amongst his ranks. Instead he was determined to find an old friend, now merely an acquaintance in the eyes of his new persona. Terra Helene. A fellow force user who was sent away as soon as he had went against Luke SkyWalker.
He was closest with her unlike the others and decided she would be a perfect candidate to finish her training under him. However, he was not sure what he would find as he sauntered through the palace's dark hallways towards the music and laughter floating from its center. He hadn't seen her in years, yet the feelings he had were so strong and he could sense her presence very close.
He entered the main lobby; dancers stood on tables, music played in the corner, guests danced here and there, drinking to their hearts content. The area was dingy and dark, but slightly lit by old lights hanging from the ceiling. Jabba's palace was nowhere near its former self, years of no ownership had obviously taken a toll on its walls and sand encrusted floors. He scanned over the crowd, sweaty bodies moving as one, woman screaming out protests, but nobody caring. One particular voice had shot his gaze directly to the center of the lobby.
There the crowd had formed a circle and at the center danced a woman of extreme beauty. One he could no longer identify as a child, but a fully mature woman; voluptuous hips, curvy figure, plump breasts and a firm behind. She wore a red bra, at its sides hung maroon silk cloths which hung down over her black lingerie underwear. Her silver hair was longer than the last time he had seen her, it fell over her shoulder in slick waves and blue eyes accented the pale skin and flushed cheeks. She wasn't a girl anymore, she was a woman.
He felt as if he was being lured towards her, but he quickly reverted back to his mission. He watched her from afar, waiting for her to notice him, but after years of not feeling his aura he did not expect her to. He stepped forward, but a blue twilek dancer came up to his side. She smiled at him seductively and wrapped both her arms around his bicep.
"Can I get you anything big boy?" She bit her bottom lip, giving a sultry look, he violently shook her off his arm. His focus going back to Terra in which he paid closer attention to the metal collar wrapped around her neck.
"Hey you!" A voice hollered over the music, he peered over his shoulder. One of the pimps was standing there, standing beside him was the blue twilek girl with her arms crossed. He grabbed the lapels of his brown tank top, just brushing the bottom of his double chin. His belly extended out with grease stains and the button of his cargo pants protruding out. "You can't touch the merchandise unless you pay." He ground out, Kylo Ren remained impassive. He turned completely to the pimp and took one intimidating step forward.
"You." He spat, the ventilator of his mask enhancing his inhale. "Take me to Janshu Ketan." The man snarled, his pig like nose twitching in aggravation.
"If you aren't paying then split." Kylo Ren tilted his head in the direction of the twilek girl, then back to the man. He rose his hand up in front of his faces
"You will take me to your superior." The man straightened immediately, he snorted.
"I will take you to my superior." His grungy voice dropped into a haze, the twilek girl backed away in fear as her pimp led Kylo Ren through the crowd. He glanced back at the spot where Terra was, only to find an alien Zabrak holding her firmly against his body. Ren felt a primal instinct to kill him as he watched the alien's hands run down her curves. Intricate blue lined tattoos filling in the spaces of her bare skin and disappearing into the back of her bottom lingerie. He could feel her cringe, he could feel her fear and it made him sick.
The crowd came to a closing, half-naked woman moving back and forth between the space of sweaty bodies to the makeshift throne. There sat Janshu Ketan, more of a monster than a species. He was large, muscular, but fatty around his hips and tall, flaps of skin hanging down over his stomach. He wore a black robe of sorts, covered in dirty crumbs and other substances that couldn't be made out. His smell created an aroma that caused the crowd to keep there distance, not much justice for the human woman sitting on his lap.
His eyes came in contact with Ren and he broke out into bits of boisterous laughter. His lips parted into a tight lipped grin that revealed rotten teeth, the human woman held a hand over her nose.
"Well if it isn't Kylo Ren himself!" The music stopped and the entire population of the room paused in time. Their attention now turned to the man in shrouds of black, the Knight stepped closer to the center of the circle that had formed at the front of the throne.
"What brings me the horror of being in your presence?" Suddenly the pimp who had led him to Janshu had snapped from his trance. He awkwardly pulled himself back into the protection of the audience.
"I am looking for a girl." He rose his arms up and gestured around, the woman falling from his lap with a huff.
"You have surely come to the right place, great lord." He snapped his fingers and several woman drew out to present themselves to the Knight. They would have seen Ren's scowl of disgust if his mask wasn't covering his expression.
"No." Ren flicked his hand in their direction and they cowered away. "I am looking for Terra Helene." Janshu's amusement was no longer present, he leaned back in his chair and grimaced.
"Sadly enough, she is my personal slave." He looked into the center of the crowd and waved for her to be brought forward. "A special girl you see, my favorite." He spat, Kylo Ren did not watch Terra be pushed onto her knees before Janshu. She was trying desperately to hide her shaking, her eyes directed towards the dirt ground.
"Look at me, Princess." Kylo Ren's fists clenched at the name, since it was more true than anyone could know. Princess Terra Helene of Naboo, the now First Order owned planet. Terra rose her gaze hesitantly, tears brimming her eyes as she stared at Janshu.
"This man wants your attention..." He gestured to Kylo Ren, she did not look in his direction. "Tell him what I told you." She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes in shame.
"I am a whore reserved only for my master and his most humble servants-" She stuttered. "Nothing more and no one else." Her Echani accent coming out more prominently as she continued.
"See." Janshu chuckled whole heartedly. "Come to your master, Terra. Sit at his feet like a good little worm." Terra didn't move, her face clenched and she stumbled onto her feet. "I said come to me!" Janshu shouted, Terra was frozen with fear. Terra failed to do as he said in the required time and Ren watched Janshu press a button at the armrest of his throne. The collar around her neck buzzed and Terra fell to her knees with a shriek, her body jolting about and trembling with electricity. Janshu did not pick up his finger, Kylo Ren looked back and forth between the monster and his so called 'pet'. She laid into her back, her body arched up hands scratching at the collar as a loud scream of pain left her lips. Janshu finally removed his finger and Terra's jerking stopped, she helplessly rested on the floor. Red burns etching the edges of the collar around her neck, Ren did not pull away his gaze.
"It's something I found out a great deal ago..." Ren darted his head in Janshu's direction. "How electricity can mar one's ability to use the force." He cleared his throat sarcastically, Terra pushing herself up shakily. "I prove my point by using it on her, I did save her life after all. Moping around in her own filth on the streets of Couresaunt and by far the only slave that I have had the longest. Since she was just about a girl in the growing stages of life I would presume..." He shook his head at her. "Pity she hasn't learned her place yet."
If only Janshu wasn't important in the likes of Snoke's plans, Kylo Ren would have killed him on sight at the very utterance of those words. But Kylo Ren was told by Snoke and reprimanded by Hux to be entirely diplomatic. He hated politics and this in fact was a purely political situation. A transaction between the First Order and a senator of the old Empire and the new Order.
"I have brought something to compensate for a payment on her." Kylo said, his voice dripping with irritation, a bit rash considering that he thought nothing of her as property. She let out a groan and slopped her way over to Janshu's side, her face wrinkling when she leaned her head against his knee. He placed a hand over her head in which she contained a brief flinch.
"I don't want money."
"The Supreme Leader figured as much. He is offering land instead, a lot, over fifty acres on Mustafar for your mining company."
"Fifty acres?" Janshu snorted. "How stupid do you think I am? Tell your leader that if he wants this woman I want five-hundred acres, not a flimsy fifty."
"It is not entirely up to you. She is property of the First Order already considering that she was once a Padawan. You already know about the warrant that the First Order had put out for all former Jedi."
"Those stupid bounties have no jurisdiction on Tatooine." Kylo took another step forward.
"No. But they do on Couresaunt, which means that you had disobeyed a direct command of the First Order. We can consider such things as betrayal, especially in your case Senator." Janshu contemplated the threat behind Kylo Ren's words, there was no way this meeting was turning in the direction of peaceful negotiations. "You can either turn the woman over to me, or I can leave and return with a court order for your arrest." Janshu's expression softened from its concentration at that statement. His hand tightened around the white tresses of her hair and she whimpered. "And you will be publicly executed in front of the senate."
"To make a statement?!" The ground must have rumbling as the burly alien stood up from his throne. His fingers not relenting on their hold of Terra's hair, she was held up off of the graph forced to hold herself up by her grip on Janshu's wrist. "Snoke knows that I am far too valuable to be killed." Kylo Ren remained as calm and collected as he could. He had never been so affected by another's pain, it was simply the fact that he could feel every emotion she had.
"So he would merely punish you something not deadly, but almost."
"Threatening me will not get you anywhere..." He tossed Terra onto the floor, a few feet away. "She isn't leaving." One of his henchmen casually walked towards her to bring her to her cell at Janshu's command, but one step away from her and he was pushed into the nearest wall by an undetected force.
"I have been as reasonable as I can Senator Keetan. Either you accept the deal, or I will be forced to kill you."
"My mines are far too important, Ren. I doubt you have the guts to kill me yourself, without the fear of your master lurking over you."
"But I am not..." A froffy and collected voice arose from the silent crowd as they parted to allow a certain General to make his way to the center of attention. He stopped alongside Ren, his posture meaning business and authority. He made a quick glance in Terra's direction before looking back at Janshu. "Where Ren has no political reign I certainly have more freedom to choose what your fate shall be, Senator. The Supreme Leader wants this girl and if you fail to meet the quota, well then I already have a commission signed by the whole senate themselves that gives me utter permission to bomb this entire facility without a trace." Janshu physically clenched up at the General's admittance. "You won't be missed." Hux finished with a sneer, Janshu plopped back down in his throne with defeat.
"Take her then, she means nothing to me." It was obvious that Hux was trying to hide his victory grin. Ren hated that too.
"Collect her Commander, we are on a strict time limit." Hux ordered as he walked past Ren with a furious step, the clear enjoyment of giving such an edict was written in his words. Ren gazed in Terra's direction, she was finding herself back onto her feet. By then she was covered in dirt and grim from being tossed around and her silk hair, which had been so perfect before, was tangled and messy.
"The key senator?" Ren applied rather vehemently, Janshu hesitantly threw a thin card out onto the floor before him. Kylo caught it with the force as it barely touched the ground and drew it to his palm. He cautiously made his way over to Terra, the room was silent and distant, it was as if no one was there. He stopped beside her, she did not look up at him and he held the card out to her between his fingers. He observed her reaction from something akin to complete and utter terror to relief. She pulled the card from his hand and clicked it into the slot on her neck.
As the collar fell away an array of red burns and deep lashes were revealed. She mindlessly caressed her fingers over them with a short sob, dropping the key with its collar. She did not look up at Ren once, she kept her gaze averted to the ground.
"If she doesn't want to leave she can surely stay." Janshu jokingly pointed out, a quiet laughter fell over the crowd.
"That will not be necessary." Kylo replied, he rose a hand up to drift his fingers across a clot of her hair that came pouring down her neck. He lifted it to further investigate the wounds, cut deep into her chalk-like skin. She took a far stride away when the tip of his glove traced a laceration. "She is coming with me." He removed his outer cloak, with it the hood had disappeared. He held it out to her for her to take, she considered it before taking it as he silently insisted. She wrapped herself with the article of clothing and held it shut with one hand.
"Come on. We can't keep the General waiting." Kylo stated, starting his way towards the exit Terra followed without hesitation.
She didn't look back.