Scientel was true to her word. Although she left, one of her Royal Guard stayed behind for an escort. The private sale saved Serra the trouble of the auction, but she still wasn't sure why Scientel was doing this. Lyrii's arguing with the queen should have made her less tractable, not more. Right now, Serra wanted to give Lyrii a piece of her mind over her outburst but didn't, not with the Royal Guard escorting them.
They reached the holding cells at last. The guard escorting them spoke to another and he opened the door to allow them in. "You my look around. If you see one you like, we shall separate them for you so you may inspect their quality." He bowed slightly, and Serra nodded in understanding.
Serra walked through the doorway and into dimmer settings. It took but a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Behind her, she heard a sharp intake of breath from Lyrii. The meaning behind Scientel's offer was becoming clearer.
Beyond them was a stairwell that led into a pit. Giant metal cages lined the pit in neat rows with aisles to walk between. Stuffed into those cages, moaning, weeping, and whispering were slaves. They were huddled in the cages, some in groups and others clinging alone to the walls of the cages. Other guards walked along the aisles occasionally jeering at the slaves and enjoying their fear. They looked hungry and broken as well as afraid.
Serra wasn't much bothered by the scene before her but she knew that Lyrii was. She walked down the stone steps to the pit. After a moment, Lyrii followed.
Serra would admit that this was very clever of Scientel. Lyrii could barely hold her temper when they talked of how righteous slavery was, how would she react to this? More likely than not she would react and then, in order to preserve the claim that the Confederacy meant no harm, Serra would have to discipline Lyrii.
As far as the Zygerrians could tell, Lyrii was her handmaiden – a servant whom she was the master was. She would need to do it by Zygerrian means and the punishment for such treason as disobeying the master was harsh indeed. Serra could not dismiss Lyrii to Dark Starr either, not without appearing as if she were giving into the Zygerrians. She had to appear strong. Well Lyrii, you better hold your temper this time.
Lyrii wasn't even looking in Serra's direction and missed the warning look her friend gave her. She was looking at the cages and remembering when she had been in a cage like this. Then, Lyrii had been a child only six years old.
The Zygerrians had been separated her from her family and she had been huddled in a corner, crying quietly. Eventually, she had run out of tears. She had used the Force unintentionally so everyone left her alone. She had sat there in the rags of the clothes she had been wearing when the Zygeriran slavers had attacked her village and kept quiet. That and her young age had helped her get through processing quickly and she had been in a cage like this for sale before long.
There were no children in these cages. These were trained to be handmaidens. Most were Twi'Lek's dressed in a few scraps of clothing or females of other races. Serra began to walk calmly down the aisles. Those within the cages flinched away from her, scared without quite knowing why. A Sith lord in training had that effect on civilians.
Lyrii followed on instinct, not watching what Serra was doing as she remembered the day she had left this horrid place. She had been in the corner of the cage when the door had opened. It was too early for feeding and Lyrii instantly thought about the guards who would come from time to time and take one of the slaves or put one in. There had been a quiet set of footsteps with the heavy thud of the guard's boots so Lyrii had assumed that a new slave was being added.
Then, a hand had touched her arm. Lyrii had raised her head slightly. It was a woman's hand, clean with neatly trimmed fingernails. "Well," a voice had said, "I do believe you're what I'm looking for, little one. I can feel you're power. You have the Force at your fingertips, just as Serra does."
Lyrii had raised her head further to see a beautiful woman with long golden-blonde hair tied back in a loose braid and eyes as soft as a blue lily. "Who-who are you?" She had asked, "You're not a slave."
"No," the woman had agreed, "I am Heather Winters and your new master."
"What is your name?" Serra asked, jolting Lyrii from the memory.
Lyrii looked up. Serra was speaking to a Twi'Lek woman with very dark blue skin. The woman didn't respond.
"Come now," Serra coaxed. "You must have a name."
"Slaves are supposed to forget their name," the Twi'Lek whispered, not daring to raise her eyes from the floor.
"What am I supposed to call you then?" Serra crossed her arms, "slave? That seems a little generic to me."
One of the Zygerrian guards growled when the slave didn't respond. He slammed the butt of his deactivated shock whip against the cage bars. "Answer her slave!"
Serra glared at the guard without turning her head. She flicked the fingers of a hand and the guard was thrown back a step, dropping the shock whip. He gasped in shock of the sudden jolt and looked up at Serra.
Without looking worried, Serra levitated his shock whip up off of the ground so it was in front of him. "I think I can handle one slave," she told the guard.
After a moment, the guard took it, thumb on the activator switch. Serra rested a hand on her lightfoil and the guard backed down. Lyrii smiled. Her friend was appearing strong without looking childish, perfect to gain respect from the Zygerrians.
The Twi'Lek whispered something, too quiet to be properly heard.
She glanced at the cage. "Say again," Serra offered.
"Arali'Vi," the Twi'Lek repeated.
Serra raised a hand and used the Force to nudge the Arali'Vi's head up to eye level. Had Arali'Vi been able to use the Force then Serra would have sensed it, but the slave could not. That was good. There was fear in the Twi'Lek's eyes. That was better. "She'll do."
She stepped back so the guard she had just Force-pushed could unlock the cage door. Lyrii winced at the too familiar noise. The last time she had heard that was when Heather Winters had taken her away from this place. Now, Serra was granting the same mercy to another and putting the guards in their place.
The guard dragged Arali'Vi out of the cage. His shock whip was active just in case any of the other slaves tried anything. They had backed up however and did not move towards the door. Serra walked around the Twi'Lek girl, examining her. She did not care about how fine of stock she came from, she was merely putting on a show as the Zygerrians expected.
"She will do indeed," Serra nodded.
A guard grabbed the slave to be escorted away. Lyrii knew what would happen next. Arali'Vi would be placed in a holding facility similar to the one she was now in. Like the other slaves in there she would get her own small cage and await final payment before being escorted to her new master's ship.
The guard Serra had attacked was in no fit mood. He looked over at Lyrii. He had heard Scientel say that this one was one of their former slaves. "Stop staring slave," he snapped at her.
Lyrii slowly raised her eyes form the slaves in the cage. He did not just call her what she thought he did. "Or what fool?" Lyrii asked. "I'm not a slave."
Serra hadn't noticed the standoff. She was speaking to another guard as Arali'Vi was being taken away, inquiring about what steps to take to finalize the purchase. The guard was telling her to head to the guild and they would get the paperwork to sign to give her ownership.
The guard placed his hand on the shockwhip and Lyrii unclipped her left lightsaber and held it in her hand in plain view. It was a clear challenge. "I think you'll find that I'm not qualified to be a slave anymore."
Serra was drawn from her conversation with the guard at the hiss of a shock whip uncoiling and activating. Lyrii didn't bother to ignite her lightsaber. She just snapped out a hand and slammed the guard against the cage door, lifting him off the floor. The hit was hard enough that his helmet was knocked off.
"Lyrii," Serra snapped over the noise of the guard gasping for breath as he tried to breathe through her Force Choke. "Drop him."
Lyrii drew her lips from her teeth, revealing canines that had been sharpened through exposure to the Dark Side. The other guards were staring in shock. Zygerrians did not use the Force and they didn't know what to make of Lyrii's attack.
"Now," Serra growled.
Lyrii relaxed her hand and the guard dropped to the ground to land in a heap, coughing. One of his fellow guard knelt to help him up.
Serra flicked her fingers and suddenly Lyrii was suddenly thrown backwards down the hallway. She crashed to the ground on her back, head ringing. Stunned, Lyrii braced herself up on one arm and looked at Serra in shock. She just… attacked me.
"I said to drop him, you do not disobey me," Serra growled.
Lryii pushed herself into a crouch and held out a hand. Her lightsaber flew back to her hand and she clipped it onto her belt as she stood. She watched Serra warily in case she attacked again.
"You will attend me to finishing up the slave's paperwork and then you will escort her to the ship and stay there," Serra growled. "I will return to speak to the queen by myself."
Lyrii bowed out of the instinct, defaulting to the processing that she had been through.
Serra whipped around, her cloak ruffling from the movement and stalked out of the holding pit. Lyrii mutely followed.
Once they were out of earshot of the guards and walking along the streets, Serra tugged Lyrii into a side street and confronted her. "What is wrong with you?"
"Me?" Lyrii demanded, "You threw me across the room!"
"I had to," Serra snapped. "Don't you understand that we're not just customers Lyrii? Dooku wants Zygerria to join the Confederacy and since I'm his apprentice I represent him and the entire Confederacy while I'm here. You're my friend Lyrii and under my command. Everything you do reflects on me and those we both serve."
Lyrii hesitated and looked down.
"Dooku does not mind having me as an apprentice but you know that he wasn't eager for you to be here. There are only supposed to be two Sith, a master and an apprentice. You make three. He's only tolerating you as it is." Serra shook her head, "and your outburst with the queen makes things bad for you as well as me."
"You make it sound like you gave Dooku a choice," Lyrii muttered. She took a breath and slowed her heartbeat. That was exactly why Lyrii was usually why the calm one, her past as a slave made her quieter and less temperamental and her position was a precarious one.
"My sorcery bloodied Dooku's arm," Serra dismissed. "It would not have stopped him. He took you with me so he would not lose my loyalty."
"I should not have argued with the queen, you are right, but that guard had it coming," Lyrii swung a hand in the air in frustration, solidly connecting with one of the walls. There was a pause before she added so quietly that Serra barely heard her say, "He called me a slave."
Serra sighed. She set a hand on Lyrii's shoulder. "I don't think he'll be quick to repeat the mistake. You're no slave, not anymore."
"No," Lyrii agreed, "but as far as the Zygerrians are concerned I'm under your command. My actions made it look like you couldn't control me. That could be seen as a sign of weakness and appearing weak can lead to enslavement. You had to assert your authority to appear strong. That's why you threw me."
Serra smiled and nodded. If Lyrii was able to read her and see the reasoning behind her actions then she would be fine. "If you think you are up to it, then we should split up. The guild office is not that far away. I'll go there and finish up the paperwork for the Twi'Lek. You head to the holding area. By the time you get there, I should be done and you'll be clear to pick her up. Head back to Starr Hunter with her."
"Then you'll meet up so we can leave?" Lyrii muttered.
"You forgot, Scientel wants to see me before we leave," Serra shook her head. "That should be fun. While you're taking the Twi'Lek back to the ship, I'll say goodbye to Scientel myself. When I'm done I'll head to Dark Starr. It should only be an hour's worth of delay or so."
Lyrii saw four pluses to Serra's plan. First, the slaves in the holding cells would have already been bought so they would be fed and there would be no sick ones. It should be easier for Lyrii to stay calm. Two, with them split up Lyrii would not have to see Scientel again. Three, this would cut the amount of time they would have to stay on this place in half. Four, it showed that Serra was willing to trust her to behave herself around the guards. The only risk was that Lyrii couldn't.
"Fine," Lyrii muttered.
Serra gave her a measured look.
"I said fine, I'll behave myself," Lyrii repeated. "What?"
"Before we left the ship, you were worried about me getting into trouble," Serra was starting to smile.
Lyrii fixed her with a glare and Serra gave a small laugh. Normally, Serra was the one getting into trouble and Lyrii was the one who had to rescue her.
"Just go," Lyrii huffed.
"As you wish," Serra bowed with a flourishing sweep of a hand. Then she walked back out of the alleyway.
Lyrii shook her head and watched Serra walk off. It would be a few minutes before she followed as she leaned against a wall and took deep breathe. She used a Jedi trick Serra had taught her to balance herself and soothe her emotions. It was only when she was stable did she pull up the hood of her cloak and leave the shadows.
Cad Bane moved his binoculars as he looked for his target. There she was. Serra had just walked into view and Bane got a clear look at her before she pulled the hood up. He kept his sight on her. Her ship, Dark Starr, was in the space port and Serra was walking in the opposite direction.
Bane knew that she would have to return to her ship sooner or later, but he was also certain of where she was going and raised his binoculars to the Guild headquarters. It was too close to confront her but maybe when she went back to her ship afterwards. Hm…
Because of Serra's cloak, he couldn't see what sort of weapons she wore. Other than the lightsaber and the Force –both of which were givens – he didn't know what she had.
The best thing to do was an ambush. Bane lowered his binoculars and left his perch to head to a spot to trap her. He didn't notice Lyrii as she started walking in to the holding pens for the bought slaves.
Serra doesn't even realize Bane's tracking. You'd think that she would, but she doesn't think that there's anything that can pose a threat to her after defeating Kenobi she's sure of herself. Moron...
Lyrii isn't doing too well either. Her history is really coming back to bite her here, and Scientel is having too much fun with it. It's lucky for her that Serra's around to keep her in line.