CHAPTER NINE – SIERRA RIDES THE BACK OF THE TIGER

KIRA

"I mean that her name isn't Rhea Knight. It's Kira Narro." Sierra says. "And she's an escaped slave."

A slow smile spreads across Atai's face as he scrutinizes mine, taking in every minute detail.

"I have all the paperwork to back it up." Sierra says. "But I think you recognize her. She worked for you, after all."

"I do," Atai says, his smile turning into a scowl. "I never forget a Jedi. This is the same slave who -."

"Beat you with your own whip?"

I turn to her, a horrified expression on my face. "Sierra, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asks.

I backpedal away from her and Atai. "Why would you do this?"

"Why?" I repeat. "What do you mean, why? You know better than anyone else. I'm sick of grifitng! I'm sick of being Sierra, Emily, Natalie, Juliet, Rachel, Katherine, and all the others. I have no skills, I've no nobility left, no one will want to marry me, but what I do have is a ship full of assets which I can easily liquidate into cold hard credits. All of them are in high demand from Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, and goodness knows how many other angry Imperials."

A sick feeling fills my stomach. "You would sell your friends to the Empire? You were sold to Warden Torrance, Sierra. You're aware of what the Empire does to rebels. How could you bring the same fate upon the others? They're your family!"

"How much are you asking?" Atai interrupts.

"Five thousand and she's all yours." Sierra says, and then turns back to me. "You know as well as I do that everyone is bought and sold, Kira. And I'm sorry, but today it's going to be you."

No, it will not.

"Five thousand?" Atai cries. "For one slave? That's highway robbery."

"I'm a thief, that's what I do. At any rate, that's the amount Torrance spent on me."

"He's a fool." Atai snarls. "He always was. He neglected perfectly good business opportunities to pursue his own sadistic vendetta. I would be surprised if he had a brain in his head."

While his back is turned, I spy a serving tray complete with utensils. Using the Force, I call the fork to my hand and curl my fingers around the handle.

Atai snaps around like the end of a whip and advances on me. "You've turned out to be a good investment, Jedi. You've turned out just as beautiful as your mother, whatever her name was."

I backpedal as far as I can, but a pillar behind me stops me in my tracks. Atai closes the distance, our bodies so close I can feel his hot, foul breath on my face.

He roughly grabs my chin to turn my head to either side. "Beautiful, young, and a Jedi. You'll fetch a fair price someday … after I'm done showing you your proper place."

My face flushes and my grip tightens around the fork. Once I have it in an opportune position, I launch forward and bury the tines in Atai's shoulder.

"Augh!" he crumples, instinctively reaching to grab the fork.

Sierra jumps out of the way, but it's no matter. I've left the fork in Atai's flesh, forcing him to tear it out himself – not a wise action, for the wound begins to bleed profusely. His guards rush forth from their positions against the wall, boxing me in with their blasters and whips.

"Three thousand, for that!" Atai growls, tossing the fork against the wall.

Sierra seems completely unfazed by the blood. "My original price still stands. Don't tell me you won't get some satisfaction out of showing her the consequences for that." She jerks her head in the general direction of the fork.

Spitting with pain, Atai offers his hand for her to shake, signaling a servant girl to bring him bacta for his shoulder.

"Sir, would you like me to run the background check?" A guard sputters.

"Silence!" Atai roars, then extends his hand to Sierra. "Four thousand. Final offer."

"Deal," Sierra shakes his hand. "One thing I can say about Zygerria, you never fail to deliver when it comes to business. Just out of curiosity, what will you be doing with her?"

Atai ignores the question and business himself with stopping up the blood flow.

"I think your personal service will be a good fit. Have her serve you on bended knee just like you did when she was a child."

One month ago, Warden Torrance lectured the student body of the Academy, his voice light and casual as he spoke of atrocities. All one would have to do is lower the pitch of Sierra's voice, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"Payment. Now." Sierra snaps "I understand Zygerria has traditions with its buyers, but I'm a busy girl. If I don't get back to the ship before my crew notices I'm gone, you can kiss goodbye any future valuable assets. Including Ahsoka Tano – you remember her, right?"

Atai snatches the bacta patch out of the serving girl's hands and applies it over the wound, hissing from pain.

"Bring her four thousand, skug." He growls, pointing to Sierra. "Guards, fit the Jedi with a shock collar and bring her to me."

Sierra speaks up. "She goes nowhere until I get my credits."

The slave scurries back toward the throne, scoops up the credits, and rushes them over to Sierra.

"Thank you," she says, more to Atai then to the girl. "Four thousand credits, all there. The slave is all yours." She waves. "Goodbye, Kira."

My entire body shakes with rage. "How can you live with yourself?"

"I'll manage."

At that moment, the throne room doors swish open and five ISB agents race through.

"Atai Molec!" one shouts. "You're under arrest for purchasing a member of the Imperial military through the slave trade!"

…

"There's one surefire way to keep out of the circle, and that's enrolling in the Academy." Kira explained to the group of con men as they sat around the table. "If someone tries to sell a member of the Imperial military and gets caught, they've sunk in the quicksand big time."

…

"You're making a mistake! This is no solider; she's an escaped slave!" Atai shouts as the ISB agents put him in binders.

Sierra wipes her palms on her skirt and turns in my direction. "Are you all right, Eva?" she asks, all traces of her evil demeanor gone.

One of the ISB agents walks over to me. "Are you Cadet Eva Isis, enrolled in the naval program at the Academy on Alderaan?"

"Correct, sir." I state, snapping to attention.

A second agent with a dark ponytail and wide nose strolls up to the first and nods at Sierra. "At ease, cadet. Agent Reynolds, meet naval cadet Eva Isis and our informant Juliet Backhaus. They're responsible for this sting operation. We suspected Molec has been breaking the fine print of the slavery laws since they went into effect, but we've never been able to gather enough evidence until now. Backhaus' physical resemblance to an Inner Rim crime lady is just a plus."

"Permission to speak, agent?"

"Permission granted."

"I believe with the current charges levied against Molec, he will no longer be a threat to order in the Outer Rim."

"He'll no longer be a threat anywhere." Another officer says. "Agent Reynolds, you take Molec into custody. We'll finish the cleanup here."

Captain Rex gives me a barely detectable wink.

Reynolds snaps to attention, nods, and roughly grabs Atai by the elbows. "Come along, Molec."

"This is a mistake!" Molec shouts. "The slave is a former Jedi -."

"It's amazing what can be done with makeup and the power of suggestion," Hero, the "agent" with the ponytail, pipes up.

As the agent wrestles Atai toward the door, a sixth agent steps into the frame.

Steela Gerrera.

Winking, she looks at Atai, holds up her hand, taps her ring finger, and jerks her thumb to Captain Rex.

Atai's eyes widen and he struggles against the one legitimate ISB agent's grip. "You have this all wrong! I'm an innocent pawn in all this – they're con men! Every last one of them are con men!"

"That's what they all say." Steela says, and strides over to our position.

…

"I understand that I'm the 'Fiddle', but what's my role in the con?" I asked Ahsoka.

"We're crossing the first con, the Morning After, with a second, the fiddle game," she explained. "The first part of the con involves robberies and Steela's move. The fiddle game involves you and Sierra only. You're the Fiddle, which is code for a supposedly valuable piece of merchandise. Basically, it's a nice way of saying 'bait'."

Ignoring my perturbed expression, she continued. "Sierra, your confederate, is going to pretend to switch sides and offer you to Atai. He's so greedy and he wants you so badly, he'll pay whatever she asks. When the transaction goes through, the rest of us plus one legitimate ISB agent will be outside waiting to arrest him for breaking the slavery codes."

I nodded. "That's well thought out. But what's Steela's role in this? Won't she be with Atai?"

Ahsoka couldn't stop a minute giggle. "You'll like this. Steela is 'The Dead Girl In the Bed.'"

…

Hero starts walking toward the door. "Let's go, everyone. We still have to do the cleanup for this sting operation."

LUX

Once we're back on the ship, Ahsoka grabs Kira and one arm and Sierra in the other, pulls them to her chest and shouts "That was stupendous!"

"Hands down, the scariest grift I've ever done." Sierra admits. "Kira was so convincing, I had to remind myself that it wasn't real."

"You were using real names." I point out. When I first proposed the plan for the girls to use their real names during the game, Kira and Sierra nearly choked on their tongues.

"Are you insane?" Sierra cried. "You want me to give Atai our real names? Why can't I just use an alias?"

"After you tell him he's being conned, he'll be looking for deception. The only thing that'll reach him is the truth. Think about it, Sierra. You have a lot of motives for selling us out."

Kira looked sick. "I'm not sure about this, Lux. Atai could and would tell the Academy who I am."

"It'll be fine, I swear." I said, even though I wasn't sure. "After we get done with him, they won't believe a word he says."

"Are you forgetting the part where I will be operating under my real name with a legitimate ISB agent present?" Sierra squawked. "Are you trying to get me killed?"

"You say it all the time. People don't recognize things out of context; if we tell him that you're an informant who just looks like Sierra Bonteri, he'll think you're an informant who looks like Sierra Bonteri."

Kira shivers and pulls back. "No matter how hard it was, at least we accomplished it. Atai's been taken away, and in his absence the auction will undoubtedly fall apart."

"Undoubtedly." Steela confirms. "The slave empire won't be able to recover from this quickly enough to make a profit; transitioning between kings is no easy task. Tandin knows that firsthand."

"Political upheaval always impacts the economy." Tandin says wisely. "Kira, I have to commend you on that stab. I'm no swordsman, but it looked impressive from Hutch's security feeds."

"Thank you, your Highness."

Tandin waves his hand. "None of that royalty nonsense. I'm simply Tandin here. Speaking of royalty and government, we've contacted the Zeltron Bureau of Investigation and they've matched these children to missing persons' reports. One of Senator Organa's associates will be by to pick them up within the hour."

"That's a relief." Ahsoka says.

Hutch rises from his computer and winks at Hero.

"Katooni, come with Mom and Dad. We need to have a talk," He says and beckons his daughter from her seat.

…

Assisted by a second tub of Hoth's ice cream, Bail Organa's associate led the Zeltrons away without any problems.

Ahsoka collapses on the couch next to me in the common room, followed by the rest of the team.

"It's so much quieter," Mom remarks. "I think we'll have a peaceful evening for once."

Thump.

Ahsoka sits up. "Did you hear that? I think it's coming from Hutch and Hero's room."

Thump. Thump.

Saw sighs. "I think Mina just jinxed us."

"It sounds like someone's jumping on the bed." I muse. "But they don't let Katooni jump on the -."

And then the door swishes open and Katooni shouts "I'm going to be a big sister!"

Realization dawns on Ahsoka's face. "Ah…"

Katooni races in and bounces up and down on the couch, energy coming off her in sheets. "Big sister big sister big sister!"

Hero, Hutch at her side, follows her daughter in. "It's official! I'm ten weeks."

"Congratulations!" Kira applauds politely.

Katooni gets down from the couch, nearly vibrating from excitement. "Dad, we should get the cake out of the freezer!"

Hutch shakes his head. "No honey, we're saving that for Mina, Ahsoka, and Mom on Mother's Day."

"We can get a new one. But right now we just finished the job, and Kira is going to say goodbye soon, and we have a new baby to celebrate."

"Kat, cake is nothing but junk food." Hutch argues.

Katooni closes her eyes and starts to sing. "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-nine bottles of beer -."

Hero scans the rest of us. "Whoever taught my child that song better confess. Now."

I glance over to Saw, who shakes his head. Luckily, Hero doesn't see it.

"You take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall! Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of beer."

Hutch's resolve snaps. "Okay, okay! I'm getting the cake out of the freezer. Are you happy now?"

For an answer, Katooni stops singing.

A/N: It The chapter title comes from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, which refers to those who "Foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger" and "ended up inside." Sierra may not have ended up inside, but Atai sure did!

Unlike what I erroneously told Starwarshobbitfics (sorry, friend) there is one more chapter to this story. A few more pieces still need to fall into place.

Thank you to Starwarshobbitfics, McAwesome, Johnt12345, and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

Lux's Sister