Nathrrya and Qui-Gon walked through Mos Espa towards where the pods were being prepared for the big race. As they walked, the Sith felt no need to hide her displeasure or disgust at the blatant use of slavery on this pit of a world. She could feel the Dark Side pulse around her in anticipation of the destruction she might bring if provoked at the right moment.
The Jedi Master eyed the woman at his side. He was surprised at the expression that had settled on her features once they had entered the slave quarter of the spaceport. She went from grinding to flat out anger as she glanced around them. He could feel her agitation and it was not pleasant.
"I thought the Sith practiced slavery," he queried.
"They did," she said, coming to a slow stop and turning to face the man. She was sure he was paying her back for yesterday. "However, I always found the practice barbaric and abhorrent. I had to keep that idea to myself, especially when I was given a slave of my own."
She found herself smiling as she remembered the blue-skinned twi'lek. "Her spirit hadn't been broken and she remained optimistic about everything. There's nothing more heartbreaking than to see someone without a spirit. You look around this dump and you can see it manifest everywhere if you look hard enough."
"You speak fondly of this presumed slave you acquired," the Jedi noted. Nathrrya only nodded.
"Her name was Vette… at least that's what she told me her name was. She has a Twi'lek name that I could never remember. When we were at the Imperial Spaceport on our way to Dromund Kaas, she very boldly asked me to take the shock collar off her. I had no trouble with the request. Her help during my trials on Korriban were proof enough of her loyalty and I think she was surprised that I took her collar and the remote and turned them into scrap. One of my main goals was to have her willingly give me her loyalty rather than forcing her into it."
"We became like sisters over time and that got us into several misadventures together, though most of it was me aiding and abetting in her crazy schemes." She narrowed her eyes, hardening her look at Qui-Gon. "But you attempting to free Anakin is laser-brained and a disaster waiting to happen. Even Vette would be skeptical."
Qui-Gon frowned as he thought it was a sound plan given the circumstances. "I don't see you offering up an alternative," he told her, crossing his arms over his chest.
Nathrrya could have sworn he was pouting. She snorted in response. "Oh, believe me, I have a plan," she affirmed. "However, not many people would survive its implementation. It also requires liberal use of the Dark Side and there would be very little left of this hive of scum and villainy other than a smoking ruin." Nathrrya eyed the Jedi Master as he narrowed his own, scrutinizing her. "Remember what Anakin said about freeing the slaves? That's pretty much my plan, except I'd see to it that no one involved with the slave trade survived. I'd take great delight in clearing Jabba the Hutt's palace and cutting that oversized slug open. Believe me, Master Jedi, I am more than capable of levelling this cesspit if someone were foolish enough to provoke me into doing so." The Sith woman held Qui-Gon's gaze - he was struggling to keep from reacting badly. Nathrrya shrugged and smiled a very evil smile. "So, let's hope no one does."
She turned and stalked down the road and it took the Jedi Master several moments to regain his composure. It unnerved Qui-Gon how easily Nathrrya had talked about razing an entire settlement. Admittedly she had some deeply held beliefs as to why she would do such a thing and it was clear that passion drove the Sith in her ways. If anything, the Jedi Master had just been granted a rare insight into those very passions that drove the woman.
It was not what he was expecting at all.
Nathrrya hadn't even walked ten meters before she stopped suddenly in the middle of her stride, the colour draining from her face. Qui-Gon almost walked into her but stopped with a puzzled look in his eyes. The Dark Side flared around the woman and her eyes quickly followed the pattern of blue all the way to red in quick succession. Qui-Gon shivered from a severe temperature drop despite the hot Tattooine afternoon. Following the woman's gaze, he found what it was that had so thoroughly captured Nathrrya's attention, and in such a violent manner. Off down the road and to the side he spotted a blue skinned Twi'lek girl, rather young and very clearly a slave.
The Jedi master's brows converged in quick understanding. The slave girl must have looked too much like the woman's former Twi'lek companion. If that had been the reason for the sudden reaction from the woman, then it made sense she would feel such a strong emotion. It could be the only plausible explanation.
As for the Sith woman, she was at the point of literally seeing red. Nathrrya rarely drew upon the Dark Side so deeply for anything, keeping mostly to her own code about the use of such power. But seeing how close that girl looked like Vette was just too damn much for her. The girl had the same skin hue, the same circular markings on her lekku and very similar features to Vette; perhaps the only things that were different were her eyes - Vette's had been brown and this one's were green - and the fact that the poor slave was slumped whereas Vette stood tall and proud.
It took everything Nathrrya had to maintain her self control. She very badly wanted to snap necks and limbs now. She vowed that once she had the time she was going to set that girl free even if it meant purchasing her. Nathrrya would do it.
"Are you alright?" Qui-Gon asked carefully. He already knew.
"No." Came the short answer. He waited for her to say more but she didn't. There was a lot she wanted to say but she wasn't in the mood. She was ready to kill things and when she did she wanted it to be as slow and painful as possible. While it wouldn't do a damn bit of good, it would make her feel better.
She sighed and called on her own inner will to release the built up Dark Side energy within her into the Force. Had it not been for the skill her cousin taught her all those years ago, the street would have resembled a killing ground. She'd never let herself be controlled by the Dark Side or the Light and she was not about to start now. The Force was her ally, not her master. It gave her guidance and had served her well.
Qui-Gon looked at her with a bewildered expression, as her eyes returned to their normal pale blue. "Did you just...?"
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, her face expressionless. "Yes. Watto's expecting us. We best not keep the bug-man waiting."
"I want to see your spaceship the moment the race is over." Watto said almost as soon as Qui-Gon and Nathrrya had entered the large Pod hanger.
The Sith was still in an utterly foul mood and didn't want to deal with the Toydarian's cockiness due to her conversation with Qui-Gon and her run in with the Vette look-a-alike. Her blaster was drawn and levelled before Watto had even finished speaking. "Pick your words with care, Toydarian. I've seen people with your cockiness crash and burn. You are heading for a fall and when you do, it will hurt." Nathrrya's voice was colder than an ice storm on Hoth.
Watto filched slightly on seeing the barrel of the woman's blaster pressed lightly against his nose. He's seen people quick on the draw before but he'd swear he never saw the woman move her arm.
"Patience, my blue friend," Qui-Gon said, interceding. "You'll have your winnings before the suns set and we'll be far away from here." He tried to keep Watto calm but even he was perturbed by the speed in which Nathrrya had drawn her blaster.
"Not if your ship belongs to me, I think... I warn you, no funny business." Watto had gone to smile but instantly regretted it when he felt the press of durasteel against his nose.
"What did I just say Watto?" the Sith said, a hint of anger creeping into her voice. "You will not have our ship - I can promise you that Toydarian. And if I were you, I would make certain you don't try anything funny. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry, Watto. No one likes me when I'm angry." To prove her point Nathrrya flared the Dark Side just enough to make the Toydarian uneasy.
It worked perfectly as Watto flew off a short distance. He cast a glance at the pair of off-worlders. But his glance lingered a fraction of a millisecond more on the woman. He now understood her role in whatever they were up to. She was the muscle and if the Toydarian were honest with himself he was terrified of her. Watto had heard about what had happened in the streets of Mos Espa to the unlucky thug who had tried to frisk her. Whoever she was she had incredibly quick reflexes. Watto might even think she were a Jedi if he believed in such things.
Qui-Gon and Nathrrya followed the Toydarian. "You don't think Anakin will win?" The Sith had now returned her blaster to her utility belt feeling that, for now, her point had been made.
Watto had stopped before an orange pod racer and had turned back towards them. "Don't getta me wrongo. I have greata faith ina da boy. He's a credit to your race, but Sebulba there is gonna to win, I think." The Toydarian nodded towards the pod's pilot.
"Why?" Nathrrya asked suspiciously as she studied the Dug. Her Sith mind began to think of all sorts of creative and devious ways to remove Sebulba from the field and ensure an easy victory or Anakin.
"He always wins." Watto replied with a laugh his tone making it clear why he thought the Dug always won. "I'm betting heavily on Sebulba."
Does he now? Nathrrya thought, scowling. So, you're telling me Sebulba is nothing more than a thug and a cheat? You will regret your choice before the day is out, Toydarian. I promise you that.
It would be all too easy for the Sith to eliminate Sebulba as a competitor - the easiest and most direct way would be to simply kill him but that would cause far too many problems even on this pit of a world. No... Nathrrya would have to be far subtler and not here out in the open with so many people watching.
Qui-Gon had been watching the Sith carefully and he had no doubt that she was busy thinking up all manner of nefarious schemes to deal with Sebulba and thus ensure Anakin's victory in the race. If the Jedi were honest with himself, he didn't mind that the Sith was doing what came naturally to her; manipulating events to ensure that Anakin would win. It gave him a measure of confidence for what he was about to do. "I'll take that bet."
Watto suddenly stopped, laughing as he faced the two outlanders "What?! What do you mean?" he asked incredulous.
"I'll wager my new racing pod against... say... the boy and his mother." The Jedi said his smile as reassuring as possible.
Watto shook his head, infuriated. "No pod isa wortha two slaves! Perhaps one of dem… the mother, maybe...the boy isn't for sale."
Nathrrya's right hand slowly began to drift towards her blaster. She just knew she was going to need it to put the fear of the Sith in Watto.
"The boy is small, he can't be worth much." Qui-Gon countered. The Toydarian just shook his head. "What? Not even or the fastest Pod ever built?"
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Watto countered.
"Both, or no bet." Qui-Gon said with finality.
"No pod isa worth two slaves…" he repeated, annoyed. "Not by a long shot... one slave or nothing." The Toydarian was getting angry and activity in the pits had come to a halt at the scene that was being created.
"Very well. The boy, then." Qui-Gon said simply.
Watto smiled as he pulled out a small cube from his pocket. "We'll letta fate decide. Blue it's the boy... red his mother." Watto tossed the cube into the air but as it arced a single blaster bolt turned it into dust.
"No fate cube Toydarian, no tricks. We want both the mother and the boy. No excuses."
Watto now knew true fear for he was looking down the barrel of the woman's still smoking blaster and it was aimed directly between his eyes. The Toydarian would later swear he saw the woman's eyes change colour briefly from blue to yellow and back.
The woman's voice was as about as comforting as hard vacuum. "Before you protest, consider your words carefully for they might be your last. I have no qualms about ending the likes of you." The threat was clear.
Watto wisely backed off and flew away muttering in Huttesee the entire time.
Anakin had been quietly working on his pod while Qui-Gon and Nathrrya had been talking to Watto. And despite the redhead's aggressiveness towards the Toydarian, Anakin's mysterious inner voice told him he was completely safe with her for her aggression was directed towards Watto and people like him; slave owners and traders.
Anakin suddenly felt dizzy for a moment and in his mind's eye he could see what might happen if someone upset Nathrrya enough. The hanger they were in was ablaze, smoke and screams everywhere. There were also plenty of bodies but none were slaves as far as Anakin could tell but it was what he saw in the middle of the hanger that startled the boy.
Nathrrya… with blaster in one hand and a violet coloured laser sword in the other. But her eyes unsettled Anakin the most for they were a bright, unnatural yellow. Anakin shook himself and the vision or whatever it was passed. He'd puzzle over it later but for now he had to finish prepping his pod and had a race to win.
"I am forever glad to be out of there!" Nathrrya said as she and the Jedi Master left the hangar where the pods were being prepared for the race.
"You were close, weren't you?" Qui-Gon asked concern evident in his voice.
The woman was silent for a long moment, her facial features almost painfully stoic. "Nothing says angry Sith like a burned-out shell of a building with a body count to match." She shook her head.
"I see. I hope you're not planning anything too... drastic."
"Don't worry, no one's going to suddenly drop dead. Even on this backwards dust ball, that would draw too much attention." The Sith and Jedi Master walked beside one another towards the stands where the race would be viewed. "What I have in mind is turning Anakin's probability of winning to a certainty." Her eyes sparkled as she glanced at Qui-Gon. "I'm going to play the locals at their own game... but I have something they do not: The Force as my ally."
Qui-Gon nodded in understanding. "The Force can indeed be a powerful ally."
Nathrrya had found a suitable spot in the stands as the pods and their pilots were brought out on the starting grid. She scanned all the contestants and while many were competent the only real threat to Anakin was the Dug, Sebulba, and that had to do with the fact he cheated, than because of any real ability he had.
She sat herself in the stands and locked her attention on the Dug and concentrated her mind on the Force. She carefully traced it to the alien and searched for any kind of weakness that she could use against him. Luckily for her it was like child's play since the disgusting creature was practically a ticking time bomb. There was a lot in Sebulba's lifestyle that was neither clean nor healthy. With just the right amount of suggestion….
Nathrrya smiled evilly.
Anakin had jumped into his speeder and was a little disgruntled after a verbal confrontation with the Dug. Because Sebulba was worked up and excited about his future victory he wasn't aware that the years of built up and collected toxins in his body were flowing through his veins. Should something happen to cause the sudden release of the toxins into his blood could render the alien unfit to race. Nathrrya knew this was going to be too easy. She sat back, wrapped her mind around Sebulba's body and squeezed through the Force. She felt a small pop, like an electrical pulse zapping in the air. It was subtle enough that she sensed it and no one was the wiser.
The effect hadn't taken long. Sebulba went down screaming in agony and it soon became apparent that the Dug would not be taking part in the race. The announcers were making comments about the scene down below as the Dug was being carted off to what apparently passed as the medical bay on the dustbowl. With a satisfied look on her face, Nathrrya turned her head enough to look towards Watto's private viewing booth to see the Toydarian in a physical state of malcontent and utter mental agony. He had just lost a lot of money and the race hadn't even started yet.
Anakin was watching as the medical droids pulled the ailing Dug off the track. Just like everyone else he had a very confused and puzzled look on his face. The Sith woman sat up and made a telepathic connection with Anakin.
"Anakin," she said. "Don't be startled. I'll explain this later - just listen. I am sure I saw Sebulba do something to your pod just before he confronted you. Check it before getting settled, there might be sabotage."
The boy nodded to himself and checked around the vehicle. Sure enough, there was a turned lever that would have broken off during the intense vibrations of the pod and the speed it would be going at. It took him just a few moments to repair the damage Sebulba did before the final call was made for the racers to take their marks. Anakin jumped into the cockpit of the pod and put on his helmet and powered up the vehicle.
Seeing that Anakin made the necessary repairs, Nathrrya sat back in the seat and took a breath. She did all she could and now it was up to the boy and the Force to make the final show a good one.
"You! The two of you swindled me!"
Nathrrya and Qui-Gon stopped and turned towards the very agitated Toydarian as he flew up to them, a nasty scowl on his face. He was practically screaming. "You knew the boy was going to win! Somehow you knew it! I lost everything."
The Jedi Master simply smiled knowingly while Nathrrya's smile could be called evil by comparison. She was enjoying the flyer's misery a little too much for the Jedi's taste.
"Whenever you gamble, my friend, eventually you'll lose." Qui-Gon said. He tried to sound apologetic but Nathrrya caught a hint of an 'I told you so' attitude which tickled her sadistic side. Qui-Gon wasn't sorry at all for the Toydarian's misfortune. "Bring the parts to the main hanger. We'll come by your shop later so you can release the boy and his mother."
"You can't have them! It wasn't a fair bet!" Watto yelled before he found himself having trouble breathing. He fell out of the air and wrapped his hands around his neck as he struggled to breathe.
"You've been getting on my nerves since we arrived on this dust ball," Nathrrya growled. She had her hand raised and pointed at him. She slowly closed her hand and the Toydarian gasped and began to struggle a little bit from the pressure closing around his windpipe. "I don't think I have to voice how tired I am of your games and yet, here we are, in this predicament, and I'm quite tempted to end you."
Watto tried to speak but he couldn't. His eyes were wide in fear as he looked up at the woman who, quite literally, had his life in her hand. His fear emanated from him and his thoughts rang clearly in Nathrrya's mind. It was certain that Qui-Gon could have sensed the fearful question he had.
"No, Watto," she said coldly. "I am something far, far worse than a Jedi. I am a nightmare made manifest - passion and power, rage, fear and hatred bundled cosily together…"
She took a step towards him and he tried to back away but he couldn't move. Nathrrya's eyes flashed yellow with the Dark Side and the sensation sent shivers up Qui-Gon's arms. He wasn't going to interfere until he absolutely had to, knowing and somewhat trusting the woman to know her own limits.
"I am Sith," Nathrrya hissed to the Toydarian. "You will release both Shmi and Anakin and put them in our custody if you want to keep breathing the putrid air on this planet. And they better be ready within the hour when I come by to collect their slave papers and deactivation codes for their implants. If they aren't, then I will squash you like the bug you are and I'll make sure you feel it."
She suddenly released him and Watto gasped for the air that was now able to flow freely into his lungs. He coughed and sputtered a few times as he struggled to get up. Nathrrya stomped her foot towards him and the action kick-started the Toydarian into the air in fear. "Get out of here, you pathetic excuse for a life form!"
The Toydarian didn't need to be told twice as he flew off as fast as he could.
Qui-Gon watched Watto leave, staying silent for a moment. He looked towards the woman standing beside him. Her chest was heaving and gently, little by little he could practically hear her heartbeat slowing down. "You showed great restraint." he commented.
The woman opened her eyes and they were back to normal, but her facial expression was hard, stoic and still not that of a happy person. Deep down she was still pissed off and seething with hatred at what was happening around her. She would have to meditate off the feeling to regain her control and composure. But she nodded at Qui-Gon's words. "I just put the fear of the Force in him, nothing more... But it wasn't idle. I will squash him if those papers aren't ready in time."
Qui-Gon had no doubt but kept the thought to himself. He'd been around the woman long enough to know when she was serious and when she was bluffing. The bluffs were few and far between. He only nodded and led her away - there was still much to do.
I've been meaning to say this the past few chapters and keep forgetting but a big thanks to my beta reader, belmakori who has been doing a wonderful job in between writing his own Star Wars fic called Children of the Cluster.
