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Chapter 2: Crusaders of might and magic
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Part 5
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Slave Bazaar
Slave Quarter
Mos Eisley
Tatooine
The Dark Side's presence was strong in that place. Walking through crowds of people eager to see sentient beings be sold as cattle, some of them clamouring to buy slaves, it made Veil feel slimy and dirty. Every fibre in his body screamed for him to do something. His conscience demanded it. Even the Dark Side whispered enticing encouragements. He knew it would be so easy to unleash his power. He could alter how people perceived him to cause fear and chaos. Then strike terror in the hearts of any guards and cut down anyone strong willed enough to resist.
However, then what? Even if he could remove the chips of every single slave in the market and there were thousands of them on display with more waiting in either pens nearby for the menials or in warehouses for the pleasure slaves who shouldn't be damaged by rough handling or exposure.
"HK, how many do you think?" Veil asked in a futile attempt to distract himself.
"Observation: It's hard to make a clear count with my current sensors, Master. A hundred, a hundred and twenty thousand people on the plaza. Perhaps ten to fifteen thousand slaves in the open."
That was actually a bit higher than Delkatar's guess. He somehow doubted that this was some kind of special day around here. Considering the climate and logistical challenge of watering many slaves unless it was expected they would be here only for a short time. This place alone would account for a few million people being sold each year... and Tatooine had never been a particularly large hub for the slave trade.
"Query: Will we act now, Master?"
"The situation is less than ideal." Veil bit off. The words tasted vile in his mouth. "We have a mission to complete."
How many of these people would be broken or dead by the time he could do something to help them? For how many of them a clean dead would be better than the fate that awaited them when sold?
The Dark Side coiled around the Jedi, ready to be taken. It would be so simple. She was right here. All he had to do was act and her might would be his for the taking. With her at his disposal, he couldn't fail. He could make the slavers pay, he could free the slaves... and then most of them would die because he couldn't get more than a fraction away before the Hutts retaliated and burned the place from orbit.
Afterwards... Veil knew his fury would have no bounds and that was what the Dark Side wanted. He knew her promises for the lies they were. Yet it was so tempting, when his heart cried at the injustice surrounding him. Why did the other Jedi allowed such a place to exist? His anger spiked at the very thought. Soon he would face the Council and have their answers.
While walking through the Bazaar saturated with the Dark Side of the Force and struggling with his emotions, Veil didn't notice the arrival of a presence shrouded by the same Darkness surrounding him.
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Darth Maul merely noted the pleasant well of darkness centred upon the slave market. It never failed to give him a surge of power when he passed by.
The Sith Apprentice growled at the distraction. He had a mission and if he failed, his Master would punish him severely. Maul scoffed at the thought. How could a Jedi, even if they were ancient, be a match for the hatred and rage burning in his heart? He was a Sith! No Light abiding fool could ever stand up to him!
Maul channelled his displeasure and let his senses expand. This was Tatooine, a place steeped in the Dark Side ever since the so called Crusades when the Jedi demonstrated to the whole galaxy how spineless they were if the Sith weren't around to challenge them. In a place like this, it was actually quite easy to locate the Jedi. There was a brightly shining presence in the Force just a few hours away from Mos Eisley. The Sith grinned. If he hurried, he would be there by nightfall.
He got his speeder unloaded, secured his ship and headed into the desert, cursing his Master for not providing him with a proper combat vessel. Otherwise, he wouldn't need to sneak upon the Jedi and the Queen who was his real target.
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"Statement: I believe it's this way, Master." HK-47 pointed to a two story building to the left. "I just caught a broadcast about a clinic fixing up all problems your slaves might have as well as a beacon leading straight to it."
"Good work." Veil grunted. This place was getting up to him and with every passing moment simply walking away was getting harder and harder, and that was just what he got from the Force. The smell – when they entered Mos Eisley it was bad enough, but he was able to ignore it. Here? The sweat and stench of unwashed bodies was nasty, however it was the fear he could smell in the air that got to him.
He was a Jedi! It was his duty to prevent such crimes and yet, intervening here and now would only get the people he wanted to help killed. The Dark Side, as strong as it was at this place, whispered in a way that was trivially easy to comprehend: the slaves might be better off dead... And that wasn't necessary a lie. Many were headed for short hard lives of labour and some pleasure slaves weren't going to last long once sold. It was one of the reasons why they were popular – after all you usually couldn't torture or kill your partners in most whorehouses across the galaxy but no one gave a damn what you did with your slaves...
Delkatar's fingers closed into fist and he clutched them with enough power to make the flexible metal of his gloves protest. The Force trembled around him ready to obey his commands.
Letting go and not unleashing his power then and there was among the hardest things he ever did. He was going to return, Veil vowed. And this time he was going to finish the job, no matter who or what stood in his way. Neither his morals, nor his conscience would let him do anything less.
"Let's go, HK." He looked at the droid and spoke in a dull, angry voice.
"Statement: As you command, Master." The assassin droid didn't fail to notice the yellow sheen around his Master's irises. It seemed that his Master would truly be back sooner rather than later. HK-47 was sure that when they returned to this place there would be a glorious slaughter of meatbags!
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A pair of Gamorean guards stood in front of the clinic. They took one look at the approaching cloaked human and ancient instincts screamed inside their small brains. The guards glanced at each other and in silent agreement took a pointed step away from the door.
The scary human paid them no attention, however, the droid accompanying did speak. "Sad Statement: Bad meatbags!"
Crazy mercenaries, the guards concluded.
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Inside the clinic they found a long waiting line. Some were regular people seeking treatments, others probably more or less well off slaves. The third group was made of chained people or those with shock-collars meant to keep them in line until their chip could be implanted. Those were the people who had armed guards keeping a watch over them. Some of them were young – boys and girls Anakin's age or even younger.
At the sight, Delkatar's hand went under his cloak and gripped his lightsaber.
"Eager Statement: Will we go wild, Master?" HK-47's voice echoed across the corridor.
"Not the time, not the place." Veil stated flatly, yet as he spoke all he wanted was to lash at the slavers and free their victims.
No matter what he did, the Dark Side would have her due. Failure tasted like ash in his mouth. This was all on him. He couldn't afford to fail ever again; too many innocent lives were at stake. This time he had to do things right so even if he and Kira vanished again, their cause would not fall apart, otherwise this horror would continue to repeat itself again and again for another four thousand years.
He slowly unclenched his fingers and released the hilt of the lightsaber. Interrogate the doctor and get out while there was a chance he could keep himself in check, that was all he could do. Yet, he couldn't.
Delkatar paused and looked at each of the people he couldn't save. He engraved their faces in his brain and vowed that he would bring them justice, no matter the cost.
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Part 6
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Clinic
Slave Quarter
Mos Eisley
Tatooine
Low off key humming sounded across the room. It was just loud enough to hear above the noise of an air scrubber and the quiet whine of a mobile sterilization unit that rig-zagged across the cabinet.
"That's all better, right?" Doctor Arin Ren beamed at his patient – a gorgeous blonde slave from one of his favourite brothels. The poor girl had the worse luck! This was her third visit this week alone and each time he came with a different sex-transmitted disease!
Her full lips pouted before she gave him a pained smile. "A bit. Thank you, Arin, dearest."
"Now, you need to take these three times a day for the next couple of days." Ren went to the red cupboard and retrieved a small case with strong antibiotics.
"I will. Do they have to be injections?" She pouted. "I hate needless."
"Sorry, we're out of the pills. I'm waiting a delivery, but it's late." Ren shrugged. "Now go rest. NEXT!" He shouted when Kelly got up with the help of her minder slash bodyguard and they left for the brothel.
"Doctor." An unfamiliar voice growled.
Ren sighed. It was one of those cases... He wondered if he would have to make another example...Hurkh... Something grasped his throat and slammed him into the wall.
"As you can see, I'm fresh out of patience today. Mercy too." A pair of dark eyes complete with yellowish tint glared at him. A cowled man stood in front of the closed door and had his empty hand extended in his direction. "So I'll ask nicely. Once."
"Whaht!?" Ren spluttered. A Jedi, here!? How!? Why!? This wasn't how Jedi were meant to act!
"Tell me all you know about the slave chips." The stranger spoke in a voice on edge.
Hells! It was actually worse! It was a Jedi who was a Crusader fanboy! Where were the Hutts when you needed them!?
"I doht..." Ren began.
"That was your one chance. I did mention we were out of patience and mercy today, didn't I?"
A vise gripped Ren's insides and he couldn't breath. His vision darkened and then he gasped in sweet air when the terrible sensation subdued.
"Talk!" The crazy Jedi ordered.
Ren talked. He would get to make an example of the bastard later...
Or perhaps not...
"What are you doing!?" Ren exclaimed.
"Testing." The man chuckled darkly and slammed the implantation device into Ren's neck.
Shuck. The Doctor screamed when the chip got stuck into a vertebra.
"Don't! Please! I told you everything I know! The chips are Jedi proof, I swear!"
"Lets put it to the test..."
"N..." Splat.
"Bloody Sithspawned monstrosity..." Veil growled and stared at a wall of gore splattered around a semi-circular telekinetic field he had created in front of him. It was a very good thing he hadn't completely lost it yet, or he would have got a lot of slaves killed. He knew that given enough time and resources, he could figure a way to safely remove armed chips even without the help of the slaves' masters.
Unfortunatelly, time was one of the things he conspicuously lacked. It was going to be bloody, emphasis on bloody, trial and error. The alternative was to leave forty men, women and children to be tortured to death as an example.
He picked up the implantation device, a case of inert chips and left. Behind him, the suspended gore fell to the ground adding to the mess.
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The Zebulon
Outskirts
Mos Espa
Padme watched through haunted eyes how the freed slaves boarded her yacht. She didn't know if Veil really failed, turned out to be incompetent or simply lied. It didn't really matter any more, did it? Kira had to remove the active chips from the forty odd slaves whose masters weren't around the hard way. The fact that they all volunteered, because they were terrified of what would happen if they were left behind didn't make it any better.
Only five of them survived and Padme watched how Kira tried and failed to save the rest of them. It wasn't even that she figured out how to do it safely by the end. To Padme's eyes it looked like the success was random, something confirmed by the older woman's evident frustration.
At least they were about to leave Tatooine behind for good. The one good thing Veil did was arrange transport. Right now he was at Mos Eisley's spaceport waiting with the ships captains to ensure they wouldn't run or something.
Her mind was a mess. Frustration, fear and anger fought with each other. How, why did this happen? How people could do such things to each other? It was simply insane!
There had to be a way to stop such madness from happening ever again! People shouldn't risk all but certain death, because the alternative was being tortured to dead for wanting to be free!
What was wrong with this place!?
"Your Majesty, get on board. We're about to have company." Padme turned to snap at Kira and halted in her tracks when she saw the woman's expression.
It was as haunted as her own and held no small amount of anger. It was anything but the image of a serene Jedi the woman usually showed to the world.
"What kind?"
"Someone stepped in the Dark Side. Quite angry too and he isn't my husband." Kira explained.
That didn't make any sense!
Kira simply pointed behind her back. Padme heard a quiet whine and suddenly a speeder bike came just as the last sun set and plunged the desert into twilight. A figure cloaked in expensive looking black fabric rode upon it and it looked like they drove straight at her!
"Get on board, now, Padme." Kira frowned at her and the tone was like a mother scolding an unruly child. Padme decided that discretion was the better part of valour and rant towards the ramp.
The speeder and the apparition ridding it came closer and closer until they got about forty metres away. Suddenly the bike froze as if it hit a wall and its rider flew forward as if carried by a rocket-pack. The man, a Zabrak, demonstrated an impossible amount of agility and inhuman reaction speed by twisting in the air and gracefully landing on his feet.
The stranger glared at Kira and puled a long... hilt from under his robes. He pressed a button and a ruby coloured blade came from each side.
"Dark Jedi. They're always a bother to deal with." Kira sighed. "Didn't I tell you to get on board, child?" Padme bristled at how the woman spoke to her. She was too entranced by the sight of the Zabrak to comply. Jedi who acted as anything but. A supposed Dark Jedi with some kind of lightsaber staff... what was next? The Sith Empire coming back from the Unknown Regions!? Why didn't the world make any sense?!
"Hi there!" Kira waved cheerfully, a terrible and sudden change compared to her expression of moments before. "Name's Kira Veil, Jedi Master. Who are you, boy?"
The Zabrak sneered. "Maul. Sith." He snarled.
To Padme's utter astonishment, Kira doubled down in laugher. "A Sith. You?" She laughed harder. "Thank, you dear boy. I needed that."
Were those tears in the woman's eyes?
Maul scowled. He threw away his heavy cloak to reveal black form fitting robes made of the same material. The self-styled Sith charged Kira, who was still busy laughing. Padme couldn't help it and shouted a warning only to stare in shock when the Zabrak hit an invisible barrier and bounced off.
"A Sith indeed." The Jedi scoffed. "Introduce yourself properly, boy. I've known many Sith in my day. You lack the passion and control to claim such a lofty tittle."
