Chapter 3

It was a long hot walk through the desert my hands bound in front of me and tied to the back of my master's speeder. My Master M'Beg stripped me bare in order to show the world how unless of property I am, while he sat comfortably on top of the speeder slowly making our way to Jabbas Palace. My feet were killing me all I could think about is what Cad had said stirring in her mind "don't be weak, don't be weak" Nova whispered and repeated to herself.

But damn everything hurt, she could still feel her face swelling from when her Master hit her with the pipe just a few hours ago, she was quite sure her left arm was broken and now the fresh burning blisters on her feet due to this little trip through the desert and it hurt like hell. "don't be weak, don't show them I'm weak" she whispered again tear threatening to leak over her eyes.

Her master looked over his shoulder toward his slave to see her staring at her hands as they traveled through the sand dunes. She hasn't made a sound since leaving that ship no matter what he did to her after Bane left prior to this little meeting. "This is just a taste of what you will receive once this little meeting is over. You WILL suffer. And you will continue to suffer until I have had my fill. I am a very patient man" he said with that nasty smile.

All of a sudden, she felt shade hit her face, Nova finally looked up to see a single, winding dirt-swept road that curves up into the crook of a rocky canyon, leading to a lone structure in the desert wastes beyond the Dune Sea of Tatooine. Here stood the palace of Jabba the Hutt, an immense curving building of sandblasted metal and pitted stone. Nova sighed in relief that her long dragging walk will soon be over, but a new nervousness washed over her. She has never met or seen this crime lord but has heard some terrible stories, slaves talk, and his stories were the worst of the worst when it came to how he treats women or anyone for that matter.

The speeder stops, she lowers her head trying not to upset her Master any more than she already has. She was caught off guard when she was yanked from the spot where she was standing by her bound wrist which forced her to follow her Master in the palace almost falling to the ground while doing so.

It was much cooler in the palace than outside. Nova had noticed a few things when they entered the hallway that was the smells. She smelt smoke, sweat, and something else she recognized right away the blood. She was dragged along a hallway into the main room, in this room there were tables with all sorts of aliens seated around them gambling, talking, and smoking. These tables were placed around the perimeter of the walls, but the middle of the room remained cleared with what looked like a gate on the floor.

But the very first thing you see when you entered the room is where the mighty Jabba sat on his throne. All while female slaves were feeding him what looked like frogs? Jabba was hard to miss he was a large slug-like race with thick leathery skin, human-like arms, large black cat-like eyes, a wide mouth and looked to weigh several tons.

"Stand here and shut your fucking mouth" M'Beg hissed to Nova. Nova just kept her head down and waited.

"About time you showed up". That voice she knew, it was Cad. She did not have to look up to know who was speaking to her Master.

"I had some business to take care of," he said with a sly smile glancing at Nova who Bane now noticed looked even worse than before physically and was stripped naked. Still, she was not showing any signs of discomfort.

They were all standing over this gate, since Nova was looking down, she could kind of see what looked like a cave beneath their feet. Then she heard a screech come from below, she jerks her head up she could not help it the sounds were deafening that is when she noticed all eyes in the throne room were on them.

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There was an alien standing next to Jabba, he appeared to be a pale timid Twi'lek species with sharp teeth. Jabba began to speak, and the room was totally silent. That is when the pale Twi'lek named Bib Fortuna started to translate what the big slug was saying.

"choy? Can be so important da u interrupt myo evening gee do presence?" Jabba spoke

"what can be so important that you interrupt my evening with your presence?" Translated Fortuna for Jabba.

M'Beg was first to speak "Great Jabba the Hutt, I am here today because Cad Bane demanded an audience with you. I tried to solve our issues man to man but he wanted no part of it, Bane had been using our hanger without pay and even went as far as attacking me at my place of business as you can see the damage he inflicted on me as well as my slave" walking full circle to allow everyone in the room the see the injuries. "because of him stealing my resources for his ship repairs and me getting nothing in return I'm afraid I will not be able to pay my monthly fee to you my lord due to his actions. I am asking for justice". M'Beg dramatically bowed to Jabba while looking back at Bane with a smug look. M'Beg stood up and walked back to the middle of the room.

During this little, long-winded speech Jabba had started to doze off a bit but Fortuna nudged him awake.

"Is this true?" Fortuna translated

"No" Stated Bane, cool and collected like none of this was anything but a nuisance.

"Did you pay him for ship repairs?" Fortuna translated

"No, because my ship has yet to be repaired" Bane stated matter o factly

"Did you hit him and his slave?" Fortuna translated

"Yes, I hit M'Beg".

"So why did you want to speak to Jabba if you do not deny your actions and can possibly face the wrath of the great Jabba just for you interrupting his evening with your petty issues?" This question was from Fortuna's curiosity not a question from Jabba.

Bane was quiet for a minute before speaking "I want to purchase his slave's freedom and that is something I need Jabba's permission for to do that".

The room was extremely still except for Nova whose head shot straight up and looked right at Bane who did not even acknowledge her and keep his eyes on Jabba, that is until M'Beg began shouting. Bane just watched the green man turn red, it was a rule that no business or violence unless approved by Jabba was allowed on the premises the punishment being death. Jabba started to chuckle

"What makes you think I would allow you to free another man's slave?" Asked Jabba, Bane did not need a translator to understand the crime lord, he has worked for the Hutts enough to learn Huttese as he and Jabba continued their conversation, man to slug.

"Because you owe me a favor" was all Bane said in Huttese. Jabba stopped laughing

"This is what you want to use your one favor on, a slave?"

"mmhmm" Bane hummed followed by a head nod Jabba laughed again this time only harder.

"And to think I thought you as a smart man. So be it, you're out of favors Bane I suggest you watch yourself. Get them out of my site" Jabba roared, and the music started to resume playing.

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Nova just stood there looking at Cad Bane but still not understanding what was going on, she felt she was frozen in place unable to move. She looked down at the floor once more the world seemed to be spinning, voices muffled, "I'm … free?" she whispered to herself, it sounded so foreign. She had not moved from where she stood when she first arrived but all the sudden, she felt warmth on her sunburnt shoulders that seemed to slowly wrapped around her. Only then did Nova start to come out of her trance.

At some point Cad Bane had taken off his coat and draped it around her shoulders. Looking down Nova seemed to feel a bit more self-conscious about her nakedness and more aware of how many eyes in the great hall that fell on her body from where she stood, all eyes except for Banes. Soon after he set his coat around her, eyes never straying, he untied her binders and turned his attention back to M'Beg who was screaming at the top of his lungs the whole time.

"NO! This is unfair, how is this justice?" He continued to shout. M'Beg turned toward Jabba the Hutt and saw that Jabba was no longer interested in what was going on and had his attention elsewhere with an alien female. So, he turned back to Bane.

"You thief! …. Trickster! …Slim Ball! You screwed me!" M'Beg was coming short with the insults.

"Your data pad with the codes if you could be so kind" Cad stated hand resting on his blaster

"Fuck you!" M'Beg shouted

"So, you are telling Jabba to go fuck himself" Bane spoke raising an eyebrow as if he was clarifying the answer to M'Beg's question.

Though the rooms music continued to play the voices in the room came to complete silence. Nova felt the air become heavy and took a few steps back away from Bane and M'Beg.

"I didn't say that!" M'Beg started to panic as the palace guards with their axes came and stood behind him.

"You have already told me you work for Jabba and disobeying an order, well, you might as well be saying it" Bane paused and asked again "Codes, Now"

With the huge pig faced palace guards behind him he knew he didn't stand a chance and handed Bane his data pad.

"Now was that so hard" Bane stated heavy with sarcasm. He walked over to Nova who now seemed to be paying attention to what was going on around her as she stared up at Bane.

"Turn Around" Bane said flatly with no emotion on his face. Nova didn't say a word and did what was asked. "look down" was his next command. While standing their Nova looked down at the now familiar floor. She felt something cold touch the back of her neck and slight pressure. The data pad maybe?

"Done, your free to go now. The bomb in your neck has been permanently deactivated" Wait, bomb?!

When she turned around to ask Bane to repeat what he just said he was already engaged again with M'Beg. They seemed to have concluded there business there and when walking passed M'Beg again he whispered something to Bane that she was not able to hear. Bane just paused, never looked at him and kept walking. Nova found herself just standing there in the middle of the room unsure what to do or even what just happened. Her eyes never left Bane's back as he walked toward the exit. He turned back looking at her and motioned with his head to hurry up and follow him. Her lead feet then felt as light as a feather as she bolted to Bane and followed him out the door.

At this point Nova adjusted his coat so her arms now are in the sleeves so that it was around her properly and covered her body with very little now showing. Bane walked over to a speeder that he stole to get to Jabba's palace at a fast pace and started placing what looked like detonators inside his speeders bag that were in his pockets. Was he planning on blowing the place up if he didn't get his way?

Because he had loaned her his coat, he was only in a shorter sleeved black shirt with what looked as though there was Kevlar underneath. Due to the shorter sleeves of his shirt, she couldn't help but stare when she did, she saw lots of scars up and down his arms similar to hers.

Wonder how many he has if all that is just on his arms.

He caught her staring and adjusted his position so she could now only see his back but didn't say anything.

"We need to go back and finish the repairs on my ship so I can leave the fucking planet. I can take you to whatever planet you want drop you off there so long as it is on the way to my destination, I know this mother fucker is going to try something". Bane never looked up still messing with his bag adjusting it so there was a now room for a passenger. Nova didn't say anything, he freed her doesn't that mean they stick together?

"Get on" he moved forward to allow room for her to ride in the back seat. Nova approached the bike and straddled it, as soon as her arms wrapped around his waist, he floored it and they took off. This startled her and she tightened her grip around his waist, surely making it hard for him to breath she would think and shoved her head in his back squeezing her eyes shut. He did not seem to care, and they continued through the dunes to the hanger.

The speeder was jerked to a stop after what felt like forever. Nova finally looked up at where they were, and she saw they were now back in the hanger beside Bane's ship. Bane was looking over his shoulder at her and it took a minute to realize he was waiting for her to get off the bike so he could so he could. She felt embarrassed and jumped off the bike as fast as she could and just stood there.

Bane dismounted the speeder and power walked over to his ship; Nova followed. Bane started telling her what they needed to start fixing while grabbing random tools from around the hanger, he then looked at her and just stopped talking. Nova didn't move she didn't know how she should feel what she should do or where she would go. When Bane was giving instructions, it sounded as though she was underwater.

Bane's voice became softer, this caught Nova's attention. "come with me" She complied and followed Bane into the ship "wait here". Nova stood there waiting, when Bane came out of a room, he was holding a pair of black pants, belt, and faded grey t shirt. "This is all I have for now, put this on" Bane said holding out the clothing to her. "It will have to do until we can get you something more proper". Nova accepting the clothing and Bane stepped out of the room.

Nova looked back to ensure she was alone and took off the coat and replaced it with the clothing that was provided. The shirt fit every loosely and the black pants had to be rolled up, so she did not step on the bottoms of them, but the belt did its job on keeping them up. She threw up her hair in a messy bun placed his coat neatly on his bed and started to exit the ship.