Author's Note: The following contains manipulation, physical abuse and mental abuse

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Vissna, Paz and Din stood in front of the dilapidated mines. Paz and Din were fully equipped and ready for battle. Vissna had a backpack filled with supplies that she kept under her black hooded cloak. "I've read a lot of Mandalorian texts-"

"We know," Din interrupted.

"You're a very important person Vissna." Paz teased, elbowing his friend in the side.

Vissna glared at them, "I've read a lot of Mandalorian texts," Vissna continued, "Concordia was also a source of beskar and quite possibly other neighboring planets as well… All we have to do is prove this mine is still usable. Bo Katan will do the rest."

"I thought we weren't working with her," Paz said with disdain.

"We aren't," Vissna agreed, "but Bo Katan has the numbers and determination to see this project through. So I need to borrow that." The three paused as Vissna cleared away more decay, furthering their path inside.

"We should have kept and sold that spice instead of chucking it," Paz told her. "War is expensive."

Vissna smiled, "I have credits. What I need is loyalty." She said glaring at Din. "I need the kind of devotion you just can't buy."

"The kind of devotion that only comes from lies and manipulation?" Din scoffed.

Vissna stopped reconstructing the cave. Din hit a low point in her book. "On. your. knees." She demanded, not even turning to look at him. Vissna didn't need to turn around to know he hadn't obeyed. "On. Your. KNEES!" She screamed. Her hands outstretched, her fingers twitching, the two men behind her fell to the ground as if being pulled in by gravity. She turned around and crumbled the outside of the cave so they were locked in with no way out, shrouded in darkness.

Paz and Din's helmets adjusted to the darkness for them, seeing Vissna through their heat sensors in reds and yellows. But something was wrong. Their suits, they wouldn't seal. The air would start to become thin. If their suits didn't seal properly, they would all die together from suffocation. Vissna continued to hold them to the ground in a kneeling position, holding their limbs completely still, they were unable to reach for their weapons.

"You want the truth Din?" Vissna began, "Here it is." Din could hear her voice clearly but it sounded distorted, she must have had an oxygen mask on. Had she planned this too? "I've given you no reason not to trust me. I promise you both protection and power. All I ask in return is your undying loyalty to me. Yet here you both are contemplating how to kill me. Your thoughts betray you. Why should I further invest in a relationship with you? Why should I not just kill you both now? It's time to prove your loyalty. Here's the test, I will release you from my power. You will have your chance to kill me… but… if you are loyal to me you will stay here and die for me as the air grows ever thinner and your suits continue to malfunction."

As promised, Din felt Vissna's hold on him release. He could move freely again. He saw the familiar red glow of her lightsaber in the darkness. As he had suspected, she had on an oxygen mask under her cloak. He looked over at Paz, who remained on his knees.

"Vissna," Paz said, "I vow my loyalty and my life to you."

"Good," Vissna smiled, she walked over to him and pulled his head against her stomach, then she stroked his neck seductively with her finger.

At this point it would be difficult for Din to get off his knees. The darkness was starting to consume his vision again, this time, there would be nothing his helmet could do to fix that. His lungs started to hurt and he felt dizzy. Vissna had given him an opportunity to kill her, but he wouldn't be getting out of this one. He heard a thud, Paz had just collapsed.

"One down," Vissna said. "I'm waiting Din. So is your friend. Not sure he'll last much longer without air."

Kark it, Din thought. "Vissna, I-I," he coughed and fell to his hands.

"Might want to hurry," Vissna teased.

"I vow my life to you Vissna," Din said. And she released her hold on their suits. Din could breathe again, he inhaled deeply into his sore lungs. Then he crawled over to Paz and pat him on the shoulder. "Paz!" Then he punched him square in the chest. Paz started to cough and breathe again.

Vissna pushed the cave back out and removed her mask. "I reserve my right to test your loyalty to me at my discretion."

"Yes Vissna," Paz coughed.

Vissna turned to Din expecting an answer as well. "Yes Vissna," he replied. But she didn't look impressed.

"Very well, with loyalty comes reward," she said as she continued working on the task at hand, she was very nearly done clearing out the mine, despite the earlier tunnel collapse, "you two are now privy to my plan and therefore responsible for its impeccable execution."

"Yes Vissna," they both replied fairly simultaneously which enthralled Vissna to no end. She couldn't wait to have an army of Mandalorians chant her name. That kind of power over another is intoxicating.

"We'll clean this place up, make it look like some pirates or junkers started messing around up here. Granted we have to find something usable here and I have a good feeling we will. We bring in some droids. Start fixing up the place, get it half ready to run and we'll leave a crate of credits. Bo Katan will get wind of the noise we're making up here, and reclaim the mines as her own. She'll start mass-producing armor. She may even gain more followers. This is a good thing. She'll be doing the hard work for us. When it's time to reclaim the mine, Bo Katan will take a devastating blow." Vissna smirked.

"How long has this been your plan?" Din asked.

"I had a lot of time to think in the Senex sector Din, thanks to you," She jabbed.

"When I took your bounty from Bo Katan… you had this all planned out," he asked.

Vissna took a deep breath and exhaled before turning to him with her arms crossed, "The bounty activated a chain of events that I wasn't anticipating happening so quickly. I had hoped to have set up more fighting dens across the galaxy before Bo became desperate enough to hire you. It's a good place to harvest recruits. Of course my Master has slowed me down. I had to do all my work in the shadows, very carefully so as to not alarm him about my plans or whereabouts." Vissna explained.

"I've always been a pawn," Din muttered.

"No," Vissna said, "you've always been my champion, I told you I'd been waiting for someone like you," she smiled at him and turned back around to admire her work. "Of course, I'd thought we would have had sex by now... That's on you."

Paz looked at Din, cocked his head and pointed at Vissna's ass, as if to say, really? Din sighed and brushed him off.

"This is better than I could have hoped," she said as she entered the main shaft of the mine. The main assembly-line style machines were trashed. Nothing mechanical was operational. But the main structure and supports were intact. "If you find any pieces of beskar we take it to The Armorer."

"Like this?" Paz mused. He stood in front of a pile of helmets.

"Wow," Vissna mumbled.

"It's almost like this was all done before and this is how it will end," Din told her.

"Din, you will further investigate the beskar mines for usage and report back to me. After that pull the crate of credits from the hanger and leave it here. Lastly, store the helmets in the hanger for The Armorer," she ordered, "General Paz, come with me."

"And while I do all that, what are you two going?" Din asked.

"Loyalty earns rewards," she smiled and linked her arm around Paz's bicep.

/

Din kicked around the wreckage of the mine, not wanting to go back to the ship where Vissna and Paz were.. together. He had never felt so lost and stuck in his life. Maybe there was a way to get Vissna's Master to come find her and kill her. Then this crap would end and he could go back to his life. He tried to imagine his life Vissna-free again. It wasn't easy to do. It was almost like she had carved out a space for herself inside him.

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