Guys guess what? MY COMPUTER GOT FIXED AYYYYYYY
I'll probably still do weekly updates tho bc school starts next week so idk what that's gonna look like. Also, I finished this chapter yesterday so it isn't like I have any in reserve just waiting to be published like last time
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, if I did we would have a frickin TRAILER FRO THE MADALORIAN SEASON TWO
Chapter Three: Slaves of the Republic
The wind whipped through Anakin's hair, the dark strands flowing aggressively in the breeze. He pretended not to feel the Queen's hands on his waist, his hips, on his chest. He pretended not to smell the overpowering scent of her perfume, likely one that she had donned for him. He pretended not to notice the way her breath caressed his ear as she rested her head in the crook of his neck. He was happiest if these things were mere imaginations, if he wasn't flying some airborne reptile with a slaver holding him like a lover.
There were, of course, guards trailing them, but the feline acted as though she and her prisoner were alone. She was still treating him like a willing consort, something he would never be. The General knew his friends would be more than happy to suffer to keep the wretched cat from putting her paws all over his private areas, and she luckily hadn't tried that again.
The Knight had been "invited" as her bodyguard on this little excursion, but they both knew he had no choice. The first portion had passed in near-silence, but the Zygerrian woman's next comment made him pause.
"You Jedi are all just slaves of the Republic. It's hidden under tales of grandeur and a superiority complex, but you all have forsaken your ideals to serve a corrupt Republic."
Anakin clenched the reins of their mount tighter, mouth hardening in anger. Sure, he had his problems with the Order, but they were not slaves! He retorted, "We have dedicated ourselves to this war because we understand that the Galaxy needs to be ridden of pathetic scum like you! Just because the Republic Senate takes time to make decisions doesn't mean it is unjust. You are the one with a superiority complex. It blinds you to the hypocrisy of calling us corrupt when your own senate is run by Count Dooku."
She purred, "I never said anything about the Senate's time to make decisions. It seems as though your own faith has been shaken in them. Tell me, Anakin, What did the Republic do to make you distrustful of them?"
He stayed silent. The Queen's use of his first name was not unnoticed, and it spoke of an intimacy he rejected. Her question was one with many answers, none he was willing to give her. The slaver didn't deserve to hear about his fears, his grief, his regrets. She didn't deserve to hear about how a trade she orchestrated had scarred him for life, how everything she stood for may have created her wealth, but it created even more pain and suffering.
One thing he did know was that he could trust his Senate's leader, Chancellor Palpatine was a good man and had always been Anakin's friend. The Separatist Senate was under the control of Count Dooku, the Sith Lord who had taken the Knight's right arm. Yeah, the Republic was better.
His silence went fairly undisturbed for the rest of the ride, as the Queen had decided she would get nothing out of him for the time being. The General didn't know how much more time he could spend with her.
The togruta man was so, so, hot. The heat of the forge was overwhelming, the tough labour not helping. He grunted as he pushed down upon the lever, turning a heavy wheel. His counterpart did the same, straining to muster the strength required. They dared not falter for fear of the Zygerrian overseers, their electrowhips a pain most of the kidnapped colonists had felt. They all ignored the screams of agony from those who had been misbehaving or deemed lazy, or those who the overseers decided they could have fun with.
At first, the togruta of Kiros had thought that the Jedi or someone from the Republic would save them, they all knew Governor Roshti had called for aid. As the days or weeks or months wore on, they had lost hope. The ability to tell how much time had passed was a skill none of them possessed, being kept completely indoors. Malnutrition and dehydration were getting more and more common with the meager rations being insufficient. Anyone who fell sick was still expected to work even though the smoke was causing weakness and shortness of breath in all of the slaves, and the sickness created many victims for a Zygerrian's whip.
A togrutan woman shoveled coal, longing for her child. She did not know where the slavers had taken the children, did not know what terrible things they were enduring. She just prayed that none of them had to suffer through heated stares from overseers, hands that liked exploring a bit too much, the crack of an electrowhip. She did not know what her child would do if faced with a challenge too difficult to complete, would they endure the whip? Would they fight back, making it so much worse? Would they ever see their mother again?
The sound of electricity entered the air, and a togruta flinched as a guard growled at them. It was difficult to ignore the hiss and slap of the electrowhip found flesh, the scream of pain that accompanied it. The colonists just kept their heads down and continued working.
Ahsoka rolled over on the cold, hard floor, giving up on rest. She looked at Rex's sleeping form, a smile creeping over her face despite the circumstances. Reaching out with her finger, the Commander poked the Zygerrian armour covering his back. He didn't stir, continuing to sleep peacefully. She almost envied him, but this was starting to be fun. The togruta extended her orange arm again, jabbing the Captain's back with the fingertips of her whole hand this time. He stirred a bit, grumbling lightly as he shifted and fell silent again. She smiled deviously as she sat up, ready to try a new tactic.
The padawan knelt and placed her hands on her thighs, closing her eyes. She extended a line of thought to the clone sleeping innocently on the floor near her and gently lifted him in the air. It was clearly going unnoticed by the dozing man, but that changed when she dropped him a couple inches down, shielding his head.
He gave a little cry of surprise and sat up, rubbing his eyes groggily. Playing it like she hadn't done anything, the Commander said, "Hello, Rex. Bad dream?"
His dream had actually been fairly pleasant, the clone had dreamt he was flying, only for a fall to wake him. He shrugged and leaned back against the cell's wall, completely oblivious to the cause of his dream and awakening.
Realizing she had nothing to say now that her friend was awake, the teen searched for a conversational point. Finding one, she grinned. "Remember that time at the citadel when Anakin's hand got him attached to the ceiling? That was one of the first times I had ever seen his prosthetic hand as being mechanical. It was quite a shock for both of us."
The captain smirked at the bad joke. He remembered the first time he'd seen Skywalker's prosthetic. It was actually the exact same instance as Tano had, too. "The first time I realized he didn't have a right hand is a time I will never forget. The General was sitting in our camp on a mission and just took it off and started cleaning. He oiled it and stuff and we just stared, I had no idea what to say."
Ahsoka giggled at the memory. "And then he looked at us like we were the weird ones! I could not take my eyes off of the hand. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen my Master do by a long shot." She moved from meditation position to a spot next to Rex, resting her head on his shoulder. She was careful not to poke him with her montrals, and he slung an arm around her shoulder. This place may be hell, especially for the actual slaves, but the Zygerrians could never take moments like these away.
The togruta had an elbow resting on a knee she had propped up, her heel digging into the floor. The other leg was extended over the cool stone, the outfit doing nothing to keep her warm. Luckily, togruta were naturally cooler than many other humanoids, and it didn't bother her too much. She just wished the council had allowed her more conservative clothes, but nothing could be done about it now.
The Commander shifted closer to her ori'vod and closed her eyes, finally finding sleep.
—
Obi-Wan was bored. Meditation was nice, but he couldn't spend all his time on it. As he sat on the dirty floor of his cell, he heard a noise coming from down the hall. It could only be one thing: a guard.
The Jedi Master braced himself for whatever was in store for him as the door to the cell opened. A thin, reedy Zygerrian in full armour entered the room, plate and shock collar remote in hand. The message was clear: behave and you can eat.
The General sat obediently in his cell, watching as the ray shield was lowered. He had no intention of making trouble with the guards before he needed to, and understood that being anything but compliant would end badly.
The guard sneered at the prisoner, giving him a one-over. "Not so impressive now, Jedi."
Obi-Wan ignored him, knowing that he was being baited.
"Are you hungry?" The Zygerrian waved the plate of food around tauntingly, but there was still no reaction. He tilted it so that the meager rations on top slid off the clean surface and onto the floor. "Oops."
The famed Negotiator did not use his silver tongue, looking adamantly at the ground. The guard was starting to get annoyed and threw the plate to the floor where it bent a bit, not being made of some expensive material. He spat at the General, hatred filling his gaze. "You Jedi deserve to bow to us, your integrity destroyed by your pathetic Republic. You can rot in here."
Still no reaction. The Zygerrian snarled and left the cell, closing the door and putting the ray shield back up. The Jedi was glad that the shock collar remote had been forgotten as he ate his food off of the floor, feeling miserable.
—-
Anakin crept silently through the halls, bending down to get eye-level with his droid. Well, you can't really be eye-level with something that doesn't have eyes, but it was easiest to talk to Artoo at his own, low height. The little astromech beeped quietly, an inquiry.
Anakin responded, "I'm fine, buddy. The thing is, I don't know if everyone else is. I'm gonna need you to find Rex, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka."
He beeped, louder this time, and was shushed by the General.
"You need to be quiet, the Queen doesn't know I'm here. I don't want you to get hurt."
Artoo let loose a soft but aggressive torrent of binary naming all the times he'd been put in danger. The astromech didn't actually care and would do it again, it was just fun to antagonize Anakin every so often.
The Jedi sighed, a smile on his lips. He loved the droid's personality. "Can you find them?"
He beeped a yes and rolled away to complete his task. The droid wheeled himself down a few hallways until he saw the first access port. Plugging in, the astromech browsed through the information presented to him, delving deeper once he found the prisoner records. Artoo noticed that two cells were currently holding Jedi, and set off to survey them himself.
—-
Ahsoka and Rex were sitting together in the floor, leaning against each other's shoulders for comfort. Rex told himself that he was just doing it for the kid, but they both knew that the clone wanted some comfort from his vod'ika. Neither prisoner knew what had happened to Anakin and were slowly losing hope he would save them in time.
Suddenly, Ahsoka's montrals picked up some vibrations far down the hall. She pressed them harder against the stone and was able to gauge that a Zygerrian guard was coming, likely bringing food. The togruta's newfound alertness clued in the Captain that something was up, and he rose to his feet, standing in front of the still-listening Commander.
She stood as well, joining her friend in staring at the rayshield (much to his annoyance). The guard was right outside the metal door now, so there was no point in tracking his movements.
The door screeched open, the Zygerrian stepping inside. He held the expected food and a remote, most likely to control the shock collars. Powering down the barrier, the remote was brandished around by the furred man. Getting the message, both soldiers stepped back.
The guard sneered, saying, "Do you want your food?"
Rex spoke up before Ahsoka could even think of an answer, confused by the question. "Yes, please."
His odd politeness was due to the fact that he would rather vod'ika get food than he be defiant. He hated these scum and everything they stood for, but defiance was not worth a growing child's food.
"Beg."
The padawan was confused. "Wha-"
"Get on your knees and beg, Jedi scum." The slaver seemed quite pleased with how this was turning out, a cruel smile upon his lips.
The clone's face was stony as he dropped to his knees, mouth set in a hard line. He looked to his companion, urging her with his eyes to just do as was asked. With an angry scowl, the Commander knelt. The Captain said, "Please give us food."
The Zygerrian wasn't done. "The girl has to beg too."
The girl in question ground her teeth, looking away. The guard walked up to her and, using the hand holding the remote, backhanded her so hard her whole body rocked to the side, shattering Rex's last bit of control. Bellowing, the clone charged the guard, earning a powerful shock from his collar. He fell to the ground, yelling in pain and shock as he was electrocuted. The Captain spasmed until the pain ceased, panting on the floor. He looked up to see the Zygerrian holding the togruta's chin, tray of food in a corner by the door.
She stared at the stone wall, mouth stubbornly shut as he whispered in her ear, "Beg like the little slut you are."
On the inside, the Jedi's blood was boiling. She so badly wanted to show this furred fek how strong she was, make him beg instead, but withheld force because her ori'vod was still laying on the stone ground, and the slaver still had that remote.
She settled for saying one word, "No."
He tightened his grip on her jaw. "What was that?"
The girl grabbed his hand, pinching down on pressure points with her small fingers, and repeated, "I said no."
The slaver released her with an angry and pained cry, one that turned to a dangerous growl. He pressed a button on the remote with a savage pleasure, and a smile played upon his face when she screamed. This roused Rex, who looked up from his place on the cold, stone ground to see his Commander writhing on the floor as electricity spewed from the collar adorning her neck. The man grunted as he unevenly rose to his feet, the slaver still occupied with torturing a literal child, and set his eyes on the tray of food. He was not going to be a complete piece of bantha druk and eat while his vod'ika was being shocked intermittently, the clone was going to use the tray as a weapon, like any reasonable soldier.
Ahsoka spasmed in pain as the white-hot thrum of electricity flooded her body. She was short of breath, barely having any time to take in air between shocks. The Zygerrian had barely been shocking her for twenty seconds, but it felt like twenty minutes. She gripped the collar tightly and tugged as hard as possible in her weakened state, doing a double take when she looked up at her tormentor. He had paused the onslaught, and a hulking shape loomed behind him holding a large object.
The togruta stared as Rex brought the tray down upon the guard's head. He was wearing his helmet (sadly), so the blow didn't knock him out. It did, however, make a loud clanging noise and cause the man to stumble, dropping the remote. The clone stood his ground, drawing upon ten years of military training in his stance and fighting style. The Commander sat up and crawled away to the wall, too weak from the pain to help fight the guard. Just as she started to realize that the rayshield was literally still down and the door was open, the guard snatched the remote from the floor and ran, hurriedly putting the rayshield back up. he was not willing to lose a fight to a slave and become one of them. The Captain stood in the middle of the cell and stared as the furry shabuir turned tail and fled, cursing himself for not taking the chance and escaping.
The padawan shuddered, thinking about what had just happened. She rubbed absentmindedly at her neck, not even noticing when a certain clone sat next to her, worry in his eyes. She closed her eyes against the phantom sensation of that scum's hand on her face, the way it burned like a brand.
Rex put his arm around her in a silent show of support and she leaned into it, burying her face in the armour of her ori'vod. As she cried, both soldiers wondered the same thing: Where was Anakin?
End of chapter!
Notes:
-honestly FUCK Zygerria
- really wanted to call that guard a furry fuck but held back bc that is ILLEGAL fuck doesnt exist in star wars. I improvised with some mando'a
-Obi-Wan is just Tired. Give the man a break!
-Artoo is a boss bitch, that is all
-The togruta colonists do be suffering doe
-Anakin hates the Queen but he would put that aside for his friends
-these chapter notes are so hard to write bc this chapter took me literal weeks to write bc my computer was broken LMAO
N e ways tune in next week for chapter four