Chapter Seventy-Eight: A Way Out

It was hard to tell how long we were in the facility. We couldn't see the light outside unless we were sent outside. And those who were sent to the standing platforms outside...usually didn't come back.

We were kept on an irregular sleeping schedule on purpose. Everything would change in a day. Our duty was to obey.

That morning-or what I had begun to call morning because it was after we were woken from sleep-we were working in the engine rooms. The warden had allowed me to stay with Obi-wan and Rex now; it seemed he had become bored with my placid compliance. Good.

I kept up the facade as we forced our shovels into the mounds of coal, keeping my gaze down. Despite my displayed focus on my work, my mind was gently wrapping around Rex's in search of comfort. Obi-wan could sense it, I'm sure, but he made no comment. His mind was in disarray anyways, as he battled the fact that he couldn't help these people in chains of his own. I doubted he cared. I knew all about him and Satine.

He owed me for that secret.

A familiar presence disrupted the carefully constructed serenity I'd built for myself to survive this place. My eyes flickered up only briefly to see the floating chair of the warden approaching.

"Obi-wan Kenobi," Keeper Arguss greeted with a victorious grin. "Once a Jedi Master, now a Jedi slave."

Obi-wan lifted himself from his work, staring down the warden. Rex and I shared a glance, but dared not stop in our task.

"And the infamous bounty hunter-the freed slave." Arguss was talking about me now, but I didn't give him the courtesy of looking at him. He let out a long chuckle. "Now look at you. Pitiful."

His chair floated away, his attention turning elsewhere. My ears were filled with the regular groans and screams from the slaves. The crack of whips in the air and across backs. The grinding of the gears as they turned. The roar of the furnaces that lined the room.

Those were sounds I preferred over his voice any day.

"Everything about this place is designed to shatter the will," Obi-wan observed quietly. I could have told him that. He had stopped working, watching a Togruta being whipped at the next pile of coal. Rex slowed beside me to look at his general, but I only listened, my shovel working tirelessly. "It has already begun to affect these poor people."

"Don't stop," I whispered hoarsely, but it was too late.

A whip cracked against Obi-wan's collar, both he and Rex lifting their arms in defense. Some owners considered raising your hand against a whip means to cut off a finger. Or worse. I didn't flinch, forcing my shovel into the mound of coal again.

"Speech is forbidden," the Zygerrian guard warned, his companion over his shoulder offering us a snarl. Rex resumed his work beside me, taking my hint.

"I'm sorry," Obi-wan responded, making me wince silently. "It won't happen again."

The guard growled. "There will be punishment," he promised, lifting his arm again. This time, he didn't strike the Jedi. Instead, he turned to Governor Roshti, laying the lash across the elder's back. The Togruta screamed, falling into the pile of coal.

"No," Obi-wan cried, "Stop. It's my mistake, leave him alone!" His shovel dropped as his hands lifted to help the fallen slave. Rex stilled beside me again, my own shovel even faltering slightly at their gall.

The second guard didn't give him the chance, shoving his electro-staff into the Jedi's collar. Kenobi cried out in agony, mixing with the crackling of the staff, but the guards only growled.

Another stepped in, thrusting his electro-staff into Rex's neck. The captain had jumped forward on instinct when the Jedi was attacked. It was his nature to defend….even if it was at his own risk.

The guard threw Kenobi backwards, the first stepping forward again. "Now a slave gives me commands?" His whip fell across the governor's shoulders again. "Beg!" the guard snarled, the whip falling again. "Beg before this one dies because of you!" Again the Togruta was struck, his cries weakening.

My heart ached, but I knew I could do nothing at that moment. I was a slave, like the rest of them. And while I was living off of the confidence Rex had in his general, I also felt that I would escape this place. I would help these people….but I didn't have the means yet.

I knelt beside Rex, the other slaves cowered under the torture of the Zygerrian. He was clutching his side in pain, his breath as hot as the air around us. Still, my touch against his shoulder felt right. It was reassuring. And the first contact we'd had other than a bumped shoulder or our fingers brushing the night before.

I didn't count the contact within our minds. It wasn't….real.

"Please," Obi-wan groaned out, his hand lifted in defeat as the guard brought the whip down on the poor Togruta again. "Forgive me," he seemed to struggle to complete the phrase, staring at the ground, "Master."

The guards left, chuckling darkly. I watched them go, my hands still resting over Rex's arm. Obi-wan crawled to his feet, approaching the poor governor.

"Keep away from me," Roshti whispered, terrified. He threw Kenobi's hand from his shoulder, panting heavily. Rex's eyes cut to his general's face with a sad expression of understanding. "Jedi only make things worse."

Obi-wan looked to us immediately, clearly taken back by the statement. Rex looked at him sympathetically, but I could only glance away. I understood his turmoil, but I had also been in the governor's shoes. I knew what it was like to doubt the Jedi and the Republic. Stars, I still did on some fronts.

I was in a position now that I could see that all sides and all parties within this universe had faults. And they all had benefits. There were good people in all of them. Well….most of them, at least.

There were people I could put my faith in within the Republic. And the Jedi, as much as I hated to admit it. I had met people within the Separatist government who I would put my trust in, but I knew their leader to be of evil mind. And while the leader of the Republic certainly creeped me out, he hadn't come at me with a laser sword and lightning shooting from his fingertips.

"We need to get back to work," I whispered to the group, angry Torgutas included. I squeezed Rex's shoulder gently before standing and taking up my shovel once more. They slowly returned to their tasks, Obi-wan attempting to catch my gaze.

I avoided it on purpose. I knew he was questioning why I'd looked away. And between the pain in my arm and the constant trauma attempting to drum its way out of my memories, I had no confidence in my ability to keep the Jedi from reading my thoughts. Not looking at him was the one thing keeping me from cracking.

Or at least I thought.

"Do you agree with the governor?" My shovel connected with the metal base of the cart, letting out a loud ring. I blinked, stunned by the Jedi's voice in my mind. Osik. He'd gotten in anyways. My own rollercoaster of emotions that I was riding was making my mental wall have rather large, obvious cracks. Apparently.

I cleared my throat, ducking under the scowls of the guards to dump the remainder of coal on my shovel into the bin. I returned to digging. "I think on some occasions, it can happen," I responded mentally, hoping I was projecting it right. "But this is true for all creatures."

"Kida," Rex grunted beside me as he continued to work. "Your arm!" I'd done my best to obscure the wound from them, as they had enough to worry about. It's not like them knowing would help anyways. I'd done my best to use the Force to heal it, but my abilities were all out of whack in this place.

I glanced down, seeing blood slipping in tiny streams from the wound. The shoveling and soot had irritated it. Lovely. "I feel your conflict. You feel as if we've lost our path," Obi-wan was either focusing too hard on his own issue to notice Rex and my hushed conversation, or he didn't care. I hoped it was the first option.

"I'm okay," I assured Rex, ignoring the Jedi for now. I did my best to find a clean part of my outfit and wiped the blood away quickly. I tore a new piece of fabric, wrapping it as best I could. "The Jedi call themselves peacekeepers, do they not?" I responded to Obi-wan in my mind.

"We do. That's what we are."

"You're generals in a war. That is not a peacekeeper, jetii." The Mando'a term didn't go unnoticed. He may have learned the new, peace-loving version of Mando'a that the duchess used, but he could understand the rougher language of the clones well enough.

Rex's brows were furrowed as he watched me, careful to make sure no guards had their eyes on us. "Did Arguss do that to you?"

"Both times," I returned with a dark grin. It was an attempt to make light of the situation, but it didn't really work for either of us.

I felt Obi-wan's melancholy from across the coal pile. "War brings about drastic needs, and the Jedi Order is happy to defend the Republic it is sworn to protect."

"You send children into battle." I finally cast him a pointed look. "Ahsoka was fourteen when she first joined the war, right?"

"You were around the same age."

I turned to the Jedi fully now, Rex giving me a confused look as I stopped working to lean over him and hiss, "I should not be the model for how you Order raises children!" My collar lit up with the lash of a whip. I lunged backwards, moving to return to my work.

"Useless skug," the guard sneered, walking behind me as I struggled to move the shovel as my muscles spasmed. I felt his eyes crawl over my form, settling on the cloth wrapped around my forearm, now beginning to soak with blood. His clawed hand snatched it away in seconds, scratching at the sensitive flesh. "The warden told us about you," he mused, chuckling darkly.

Suddenly I was shoved forward, my head ringing against the metal canister before me. My vision was blurry as I was turned around, the guards fingers wrapping around my neck. The pressure increased as he lifted me to pin me against the metal, cutting off my air.

I heard Obi-wan and Rex cry out in pain as they felt their own lashes, followed closely by the screams of the Togrutas. My vision narrowed immediately, despite my lack of oxygen, my mind snapping into focus.

"Stop!" I yelled in my mind, forcing the word into Rex and Obi-wan's heads. They both stilled in their fight to defend me, clearly having heard my voice. Somehow. I didn't have the energy to do more, my vision fading as my desperation for air increased.

"I remember you, skug," the guard hissed in my face. "You and your little band of tail-heads."

My chest tightened at the mention of the siblings. I let my eyes cast over his face, despite not being able to see a whole lot at that moment. "Weird," I coughed through his tight grip. "I don't remember you."

It was dumb, sure, but I couldn't resist it. Especially when he had just revealed himself to be someone who victimized me and my friends all those years ago. Maybe he'd even killed one of them.

The guard snarled, throwing me sideways. I let myself go limp, flopping in a way I hoped was satisfying for him to watch. The faster he had his fill with my misery, the faster he'd leave me alone. "Filthy skug!" he screamed, bringing the whip down over my shoulders. I curled in on myself against the onslaught, but I didn't scream.

If I could make it through getting rebranded without screaming, I could do this, haar'chak. My teeth ground, my jaw tight. Finally, he let up, my blood pounding in my ears. There was the distant sound of a guard yelling, but I couldn't tell what he was saying.

I suddenly felt a flood of concern from Rex and Obi-wan, but only within my mind. They knew better than to rush to my aid now. I forced my eyes open, wrenching my aching body into a sitting position.

"Idiot," was the first word I could make out between the fuzz in my brain. It was said by a new guard, taller than the others and a new presence in the room. He shoved the one who had been whipping me. "The Warden wants this skug in the control room. And he doesn't want it dead."

I was an 'it' now. Again, I guess. They would refer to slaves that way to diminish them. Us. I tried not to let it bother me.

I blinked a few times, staring dumbly at the new guard, who stood above me with his arms crossed. "Well?" he questioned, raising his bushy brow at me. "Did you hear me or not, slave?" I only blinked at him again as I tried to make sense of what he'd said. "Keeper Arguss summoned you to the control room."

That was processed in my head rather quickly..

Oh, wonderful. What did he want from me now? Did he want to torture me more? Have me hold in my screams to save the lives of dozens of slaves?

There was a whisper. The soft giggle of children, echoing lightly from within the machines. My head turned automatically, seeing two sets of lekku, one yellow and one orange. They ducked back into the machinery from where they hid. They'd likely snuck slipped in while working to catch a quick break. It was easy to misplace a slave or two amidst a sea of them.

"Skug!" An electro-whip cracked against my collar, the infernal thing engulfing me in pain and memories. "Are you deaf? Arguss has summoned you." I gasped where I knelt, forcing myself to refocus. "I won't repeat myself again, skug," the guard warned in a growl.

I nodded quickly, letting myself go on autopilot. It was difficult with the aftershocks of the whip making my muscles jolt and flex, but I managed to climb to my feet. I feigned a respectful bow of my head to the guard, leaving my shovel on the ground behind me to follow him.

It was easy to sense the worry of my friends, as well as the curiosity of the Togruta slaves. I dared a glance back at Obi-wan and Rex, seeing their brows knit. I shoved as much reassurance I could fake towards them, hoping it would work.

I seriously doubt that it did.

The pirimpir warm halls of the facility were familiar to me, though I'd hoped to never reopen this part of my life. I glanced around suddenly, my brow quirking. No other guards had followed me out.

In other words….it was just me and the one pompous osi'yaim who whipped me. This could be the way out. I couldn't fight the smirk that graced my lips as I followed him down the halls, my head bowed and hands clasped before me. He was leading, so he didn't see. Not that it would have mattered.

There were a lot of memories coursing through my mind, clogging my brain with pain and sadness. And anger.

I waited until we were in a long, empty hall. Mist was swirling out from the hot pipes that lined the walls, making it hard to breathe. I stopped in my tracks, mustering all the pent up power that's been begging to get out since getting here. "Hey, skug!" I called after the Zygerrian that was still striding down through the mist, expecting me to be following him.

He stopped immediately, his shoulders stiffening even further. Somehow. He turned, a sneer on his lips, ready to scream at me. He didn't get the chance.

The Force closed around his throat, lifting him into the air. My jaw was tight as my fist clenched further, the guard struggling until he stopped suddenly. I released him, stumbling sideways at the effort. Dark? Sure. But it was the quietest way to kill him.

Aside from my yell. But we were alone and I couldn't pass up on that opportunity.

After a few steadying breaths, I hurried down the hall to grab the guard and dragged him into a side room. I knew it well, tucking his body behind the pipes Tal and I used to hide in. The guard's image suddenly shifted, morphing into a tiny frame. I reeled backwards, tripping over the hot pipes and falling to my ass. When I looked back, the battered orange Twi'lek body was gone again.

I shook my head, using the Force to tear the collar from around my neck. It was time to focus. If I could escape, Arguss would have no reason to murder the slaves on my behalf, since that would just be losing more merchandise for no reason. And then I could find a way back to Ahsoka and Anakin, help get them out of whatever trouble they are probably in, and then we could all come back with reinforcements.

Yeah. That's a good plan.

I snatched the electro-whip from the guard before ducking back into the hallway, senses on high alert. The warden was expecting my arrival, so I only had a few minutes to make my way to an escape before they knew something was up. From what I remembered, I'd be able to still squeeze through some of the hiding places I used to go to with my friends. Some of those even connected, so I could pass completely unnoticed.

Others….I recalled being tight when I was a scrawny, starved ten-year-old. I would never manage it now.

My memory was clearer than I would've liked it to be, comfort-wise. Tactically, it was amazing. Navigating the corridors was easy, between the obscuring mist and various hiding places. The facility was working at full-blast, so most of the slaves were either hard at work or on their sleeping rotation. No one was traveling between places, aside for a few guards changing shifts.

And they would have been easy to notice, even without the Force guiding me. The Zygerrian slavers were a pompous bunch, and not afraid to convey that to the world around them. That behavior only worsened in reconditioning.

I ducked into another side corridor, pressing my back to the wall as two guards passed, laughing boisterously. I was tempted to kill them, but I held back. There was no use risking my escape just for some revenge.

I'd get that when I came back with a battalion of soldiers behind me.

After they passed, I slid back into the hallway, keeping low to help stay hidden in the hot mist. I heard a child whisper my name from the grating, but I didn't dare look. I recognized the sweet, innocent tones of Seku's voice. And the raspiness that was common in the days before she collapsed in the mines….and never got back up.

I knew it was my connection to the Force and the strength of my memories causing these visions, but I still wouldn't look. Seeing the images was harder than hearing them.

Not that hearing them was easy either.

I swallowed thickly, ducking around the next corner, only to run into the thin chest of a guard. He stumbled back into his companion, both utterly startled by my appearance. Osik. Damned memories were clouding my senses.

I punched the first in the throat immediately, the guard letting out a strangled yell. I'd hit harder than I'd intended, a crunch sounding beneath my knuckles. He fell to his knees, clutching his neck as he gargled. I blinked, shocked, but snapped myself out of it as I sensed the second guard finding his bearings again.

The electro-whip engaged in my hand, snapping out to wrap around the guard's neck. He began to yell as it enveloped him in electricity, but I dragged him forward with a sharp tug. I cut off his scream with a hard punch to the nose. My knuckled split as they connected with his helmet, the metal clanging as it flew off his head.

Ignoring the pain, I grabbed him by the front of his armor, swinging him around and slamming him into the wall. He crumpled to the ground beside his friend, who had already collapsed.

Well, that hadn't been the plan. And I was running out of time. I neglected to hide their bodies, knowing that the warden likely suspected something already.

He should have, considering the idiot let a guard be alone with me. There was a terrible thought that maybe this was all a trap, but I shook it off. It was far more likely that the guard he'd sent underestimated my gall, considering I was just a slave.

He must have been new here.

Hurrying down the corridors with far less caution than before, luck remained on my side. I made it to the outer halls, the doors hissing open to reveal to guards. My first clenched, seizing hold of one with the Force and throwing him into the other. They were both sent sprawling to the ground, but I didn't bother to finish them off.

I saw a ship and I was getting on it.

I sprinted full-tilt across the landing platform, making a beeline for the open boarding ramp of a small shuttle. It didn't have any weapons, but I didn't need that. I just needed the hyperdrive to work.

Lightspeed skipping wasn't very safe, and I would never do it in my own ship unless I had to, but I didn't really care about some Zygerrian shuttle. I was fine with burning out that hyperdrive.

I stumbled when I heard a child scream. There was something about it that made me understand that it wasn't a memory. I was an easy target, standing dumbly in the middle of the landing platform, but I couldn't draw my gaze away from the group of huddled Togruta children.

I'd wondered where they were. Children were less likely at the reconditioning facility, since raising a child to be a slave was easier. They didn't know what true freedom felt like.

I was a ragged orphan running around streets, so I knew what I'd lost. I guess that made me harder to train into slavery….

These children knew freedom, having grown up in a peaceful colony. They were trembling, their faces dirty with tear-tracks down their cheeks. One had been struck, falling backwards into the rest as three guards raised their arms, whips in hand.

There was a pressure in my skull, followed by the flickering images of Twi'lek children in their place. I stopped fully, staring across the open landing pad. My chest was aching, between the racing of my heart and the memories that constantly surged to the forefront of my mind.

I couldn't leave them. I wouldn't.

Despite it being an impractical move, since I was planning to come back with an army behind me….I raced across the landing pad, away from my getaway ship. If I left without them, they'd be suffering the entire time it took me to gather reinforcements. I knew I was leaving Rex and Obi-wan, and while it hurt me, I knew they were already laying in wait. They held hope and if I escaped, that would only grow.

These children had no hope at all.

I was silent in my approach, leaping straight into the first guard. My knee collided with his chest, throwing him backwards as my elbow struck across his exposed cheek. That's what he got for not wearing a helmet, I guess.

It occurred to me that I would not inherit Jango's helmet, since it would be passed to Boba. And I wouldn't want it any other way. But I'd used my extra beskar to make my lightsaber hilt instead….

I made a mental note to steal some beskar next time I saw Death Watch as I wrenched the guard's neck to the side. I drew his pistol, the alarms sounding behind me as the Warden realized I was missing. There was no sense in keeping this quiet then.

I squeezed the trigger, taking out the three other guards before they even had a chance to draw their weapons. The kids screamed, but I hushed them quickly.

"It's okay, I'm a prisoner here, like you. I'm getting you out of here," I explained hastily, doing my best to herd them towards the ship. Guards were beginning to pour out of the doors leading to the landing pad. "We gotta go, run!" I yelled at them, startling them into movement.

The group of sad looking kids sprinted across the landing pad, once again making for the unmanned shuttle. The guards were screaming along with the kids now, racing after us with their whips licking at our heels.

"Go! Go! Go! Go," I chanted between my huffing breaths. And then a whip coiled around my ankle, drawing tight. My leg was ripped behind me, my face meeting the metal sharply. I tasted iron. Most of the kids were still running, but some stopped to look back at me in horror. Electricity coursed through my muscles, but I twisted on the ground, kicking the whip loose with my other foot.

When I was freed, I leapt to my feet, firing at the guards. Two fell before another thought to draw his own blaster. Would they really gun down children?

Turns out, that was a bad business move, considering children were prime merchandise. Their blasters were on stun.

That didn't change the terrible truth as they fired at the children, downing one after the other in a terrified heap. I ducked the first few, but there were too many guards. I only shot a few before one of the stun rings caught my leg. I fell to my knee, struggling to remain conscious as I blindly squeezed the trigger knowing no kids were behind me. I was hit again. And again.

And then there was nothing but the reality that I had failed.

Again.

MANDO'A

Haar'chak- damn it

Pirimpir- piss

Osi'yaim- useless, despicable person

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long pause. I'm the worst. Hope you enjoy! Likes, shares, and comments are always welcome!

As always, much love ZabuzasGirl for the constant support, endless ideas, and always helping me get over writer's block (pun intended).

-Ryder