The slave masters put some sort of chip inside of the slaves. If the slaves attempted to escape, they could locate them in a heartbeat. The chip was transfered through a needle injection. Shaak Ti was one of the last to get the shot. She went through a scanner to check her health condition and other things, then she went into a booth.

A Morgukai held the needle and flicked. He sterilized the spot where he would inject the chip into her arm. She traced the chip through the Force as it swept into her blood stream, and felt sure that she could locate and destroy it if she needed to. After all the new arrivals had gotten their shots, they were rounded up to stand in an area. The prisoners were whispering amongst themselves. "General Ti!" A voice whispered from behind. Shaak Ti turned around, a clone trooper was standing directly behind her. She narrowed her eyes.

"Forgive me," she said. "I cannot tell which troop you are." The clone glanced around cautiously. "It's me, Alpha." Shaak Ti made a mental note to remember each trooper's face and name. "Alpha. It is good to see you." The ARC nodded, "and you, general." The crowd fell silent as the biggest Morgukai she'd ever seen stepped up to a platform. He cleared his throat. "Hello, prisoners. I hope you will enjoy the hospitality the Confederacy is showing you, because if you were my prisoners, you'd all be working until your arms fell off."

He began to pace. "You are prisoners of war, if you hadn't noticed. Ah, I see we have a few extra, as well," he said, locking eyes with Shaak Ti, the Devaronian, and the two Gotals. "Your sole purpose here will be to help raise new starships for the Confederation. As you can see, others have already started. You will begin working immediately. Any slacking off will not be tolerated. Now, you will begin as soon as my master has a word with you."

He stepped down from the platform. People began to part, letting a fairly tell, blond haired man through. He wore a long black tunic, with brown trousers and knee-high black boots. Very near to standard Jedi clothing. As her passed, he locked eyes with Shaak Ti. Ice crept up her spine as she recognized the aura surrounding this man. When he stepped up to the podium, Shaak Ti whispered to Alpha, "he is a dark sider." Alpha nodded. " My name is Artel Darc. As Zinder already told you, you are prisoners." His voice was deep and echoed.

It sent shivers down Shaak Ti's spine again. "If you fail to do your duties, you will be executed on the spot. My lord, Count Dooku, doesn't want any slackys. Now, I think you have the basic jest of what we want here. My men will give you a quick tutorial on how to weld the pieces to the starships." Count Dooku! Shaak Ti hissed between her teeth. They were led away, Darc's icy blue eyes following them every step of the way. They stepped into the knee-high swamp water. A Morgukai handed her a welding hammer and they got to work.

While she was ascending a lift to get to the upper level work area, she suddenly remembered-or perhaps it was a whisper in the Force- something that had been lost to her since the battle on Dantooine. A courier had been placed in her care, she was to escort him the very next day to Coruscant. But then, the Separatists had attacked. She knew the kind of information that courier was holding, and it proved vital to the Republic's survival. If the Confederacy found out about the courier...maybe they didn't know at all. She searched her memory. What had the courier looked like?

She hadn't seen him when he landed on the planet, she was too wrapped in the battle. She would have seen him the following day on the escort ride. She would need to find this courier, if he was even with them. There was a good chance he had escaped on Dantooine. This was not good. Not good at all.

Artel Darc stepped from the platform and walked in a big circle, watching the new arrivals. He had a sense through the Force that something was just not quite right with one of them, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Commander," a droid shuffled over to him. He stood up straight. "Count Dooku wishes to speak to you, sir." Artel as momentarily taken aback. "Yes," he sputtered, then cleared his throat. "I mean, take me to the transmission center."

The droid turned on its heel and led him away. They came into a fairly large room, and Count Dooku's simmering form stood in the middle. Artel bowed. "Darth Tyranus." Dooku inclined his head a bit, "Commander Darc. I see you have the newly arrived prisoners." Darc nodded. "Yes, my lord." Dooku smiled slightly and continued, "Good. Very good. No, I need you to retrieve something for me, Artel." Artel bowed lower. "Anything, my liege."

"There is possibly a Republic courier among the new arrivals, holding information that could bring about the destruction of the Republic. The information holds different hyperspace lanes and routes Republic fleets would be taking. If we get this information, we could set dozens of traps for the fleets." Artel was speechless. He caught himself and cleared his throat. "This... this is wonderful news!" Dooku held up a hand.

"Wait, you must handle this delicately. The courier would kill himself rather then give you the information. You must observe for a while, stretch out with your feelings. Then, when the time is right, spring in and take the information from the pathetic fool." Artel nodded. Made sense. "Although," Dooku went on, "don't take too long. The sooner we get the information, the better." Then, the hologram ended. Artel stood. This was very important. He would need to meditate on this. But first, we would do a bit of observation himself. He would not fail his master.

The stun-whip crackled on Shaak Ti's back. She cried out in pain. "Faster," a gruff voice said from behind her. She was tempted to send him flying with the Force, but held back. Shaak Ti pounded harder on the durasteel panel. Amazing. This planet was on the very edge of the Outer Rim, nearly in the Unknown Regions, and the Republic had no knowledge of this facility.

If, and when she escaped, she would have to report this to the Council. She heard some commotion down a hundred feet below. She looked over the edge of her lift to see three huge tentacles flipping slaves away. Screams filled the air. Three Morgukai ran up, stun-whips crackling. They sent the tentacles swimming away. The stun-whip snapped again on her back. She gritted her teeth and returned to work. Alpha subtly worked his way over to her. "This is sickening." He spit on the metal ground. Shaak Ti let out a breath.

"That is an understatement, my friend." The whip snapped close to Alpha's ear. "Less talking, more working!" Barked the slave master's voice. Shaak Ti whirled around. The Morgukai was leaning against the railing of the lift. One push, and he would go flying over the edge. But she was a Jedi. She wouldn't, couldn't, stoop to their level. "You want something?" the alien asked. Shaak Ti shook her head. "Just admiring the sunset," she hissed. She nearly got whipped. A Separatist shuttle flew low over head. Out of the corner of her eye, Shaak Ti could see the jungle landscape. The air was perhaps the most humid air she'd ever breathed. Farther away, mountains started at the end of the forest, perhaps a volcano or two.

Odd.

A swamp world with a volcano? This was indeed the strangest planet she'd ever been on. One of the reptilian aliens she'd seen before was sticking to the wall like a spider, a fusion cutter in its right hand. She reached out with the Force. She could feel the dark sider, Artel Darc, nearby. Had he sensed the Force in her? It was plausible. Darkness began to creep over the swamp.

The moon came out. Shaak Ti looked at her slave master. "Do we stop now?" The Morgukai looked at her as if she had said the funniest thing in the galaxy. Then he laughed a deep, throaty laugh, echoing trough the swamp. It made her cringe. "Stop?" He barked. "Oh, no. You're nowhere near from being done." As he said that, huge floodlights turned on, making an artificial day time. Alpha grunted. The Morgukai looked into her eyes.

"Now, get back to work before I fry you montrals." Shaak Ti scowled at him and went back to work. Five grueling hours later, they were allowed to go to their dugouts for a short while before dawn. Then, it would be back to work. She, Alpha, another clone, and the reptilian alien were all escorted to the second dugout, right bunks occupied the small cramped quarters. The battle droid turned to them. "Don't try anything funny. We have sentries throughout the entire complex." Shaak Ti took a seat on a bunk. The clone trooper and Alpha too the bunks on either side of her. As soon as the droid left, the reptilian alien turned to them.

"You from the wars, eh?" Shaak Ti did not want to be exposed as a Jedi just yet. She shook her head. "No, I was a local on Dantooine when the battle went down. I was captured while trying to give medical support to the brave troops. Who...er, what are you?" The alien went into a fit of sissing, which Shaak Ti took to be laughter. "I, am Nearohut. I am a Rybet. Me and my people were enslaved when the Confederacy took control of our planet." The Rybet spit. "We were defenseless. The republic doesn't know we exist. We have no defense fleet. They took hold of us in less than a week and make us build their star cruisers."

Shaak Ti was momentarily taken aback. "That's...that's awful." She gulped. The Rybet sissed again. "That's not the half of it. For those of us who were too young or old or weak, they killed them on the spot. And continue to do so today. We cannot breed, they only kill the babies." Shaak Ti felt rage boil inside of her. "The Confederacy will pay." The Rybet was silent, then said, "how? We have no communications out here. We're already dead. As soon as they get what they want, they'll kill us all." Shaak Ti didn't know what to say.

The Rybet eyed her. "What's your name, Togruta?" Shaak Ti exchanged a glance with Alpha. "My name is Shyla," she said quietly. "Hm," Nearohut said thoughtfully, "female. I'm surprised they didn't kill you." Now that Shaak Ti thought about it, she hadn't seen any women anywhere the whole day. "Well," Nearohut said lying down, "we should get some sleep. Tomorrow is bound to be worse." Shaak Ti rose her eyebrows and slowly lay down. The Rybet wasn't very optimistic. She wanted to purge the topic about Nearohut's people, but she decided to leave it for the following day. Shaak Ti let out a breath. She wasn't sure how she'd get out of this one.