Karma: Part 2

"Myriam!" Evelyn raced across the courtyard to her best friend.

It had been a little over two years since Neco made Myriam his "favorite." Although there came a certain amount of benefits with that status, Myriam felt as though part of her soul died every night. Her only solace was coming to the fountain. She still could not bring herself to pray, but somehow coming here brought her comfort. It was not really her only solace. There was also Evelyn, her sister. "What is it?" Myriam had not seen Evelyn this excited, ever.

"You won't believe it!" Evelyn grabbed Myriam by the arm and almost dragged her across the courtyard.

"What's going on?" Myriam asked.

Evelyn stopped dragging when she reached the tree on the other end of the courtyard. There was a little girl seated in the shade. "Myriam," Evelyn smiled widely, "This is Marta, my sister."

Suddenly, Myriam understood. Evelyn had a small piece of her family back. She smiled at Evelyn and Marta, but a horror soon set in. "You're happy that she's….. here?"

For the first time, Evelyn's joy dissolved. The full weight of Myriam's words sank in. "She's only eight. Promise me you'll look out for her."

"Of course I will," Myriam reassured her best, her only friend, her sister.

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When Myriam awoke, her world was upside down. She looked up to see her feet encased in a metal trap. She was hanging in the middle of a metal semi-circle, connected to the floor. In all her years in the Network, she had never been strapped into the arc. The arc was a device used to punish disobedience, to break stubborn new arrivals… and runaways. Myriam had not thought of herself as a runaway slave in years, but apparently that was how Evelyn was playing it. She looked again at her feet. Myriam took a deep breath. She knew what was about to happen, but she had to determine exactly what she was up against. She yanked hard with her right leg and promptly howled in agony as the electric current coursed through her body.

"The more you resist, the worse it gets," Myriam noticed the guard beside her for the first time. She also noticed that she had been stripped completely naked. Her concern about the arc broke for just a second and she thanked the Maker that Hannibal was not part of this mission. However, Numa and Iesha were part of this mission. Myriam had no idea how long she had been hanging there, but figured that her teammates would soon be, if not already, on their way. If she could somehow signal them, it would save them (and herself) a lot of unnecessary time. Myriam cleared her mind. If Master Yoda could reach out to the Outer Rim from Coruscant, she could reach across a small moon. Numa….. Iesha….. Maybe they would sense her pain. She took another breath and jerked her feet again. The electricity coursed through her again, but this time she continued to struggle. Iesha…hear me…Numa….." Myriam blacked out after the brief struggle and the current ceased. The guard checked her vitals. "Some just don't get the message."

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Iesha sat in the floor with her legs crossed. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, just as Master Granger taught. Iesha….. she heard Myriam's call. "Myriam!" Iesha jumped up and ran to the cockpit of the ship where Numa was going over scans of the moon's surface."Myriam's in trouble!"

"Yes," Numa answered. "I sense it too. And she never came back last night. Do you think you can identify her location?"

Iesha paused for a second, "Yes, I think I'll know it when I see it."

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"Confer upon you the rank of Jedi Knight the Council does," Master Yoda's words still echoed through Myriam's mind. She had been a full-fledged Jedi for three days. She was given the standard week off like all new Knights. As soon as the ceremony ended, Myriam chartered a flight to the Zygerrian system. It took longer than she thought to get here. She was not sure if a week was long enough to take down the Network and get back for her first assignment. Deep down she knew there was no way she could defeat the Network and its forces. She would not live to see her new assignment. She only hoped to find Evelyn and free her. Myriam did not care what happened to her. All of her training had been about this moment as far as she was concerned. She only hoped that Master Yoda would understand.

The ship landed and Myriam found a smaller transport to the Network's headquarters. It appeared to be in ruins. Myriam stared at the building for quite a while. She felt both relieved and disappointed. She was disappointed that she would not get to see Evelyn, but relieved also that she was not still here. Chances were that Evelyn had been sold years ago. Myriam searched the complex. There was no sign of anyone. No functioning computers. No way to find any records. Myriam hoped that maybe the slaves had finally revolted. Maybe they had overthrown their oppressors and taken back their freedom. Maybe Evelyn had been one of them.

Myriam found the courtyard and approached the fountain. The water no longer ran, but somehow she felt the same peace that she could only find here so many years ago. And for the first time in her life, Myriam prayed.

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Numa and Iesha spied the complex from a nearby hill. "She's in there," the padawan reassured the senior Jedi.

"Well," Numa replied, "Let's figure out how to get in there." As they made their way down the hill, Numa shut her eyes, we're coming.

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We're coming.

Myriam's eyes slowly twitched open. She needed to create as big of a distraction as possible. Her eyes were blurry so she reached out with her mind. The locking mechanisms holding her feet could easily be opened through the Force. The question was, what to do after that? Her eyes finally came into focus upon hearing Evelyn's voice. "Are you still with us?"

"You can't get rid of me that easily," Myriam quirked.

"You keep fighting the arc like that and you will get rid of yourself. I always figured you Jedi to be smarter than that," Evelyn mused.

Myriam thought of Hannibal again, "Oh, you'd be surprised at some of the idiots that get in."

Evelyn chuckled, but her demeanor quickly changed. "Do you remember Rita?"

Myriam thought of the little four-year-old girl who used to do such a terrible job of sweeping out their rooms. Rita was much too young to do any real work and was just a little older than Myriam was, when she first arrived. Rita was mostly oblivious to the horrors of the Network. All the girls loved her, she was one of the few bright spots in their lives. "Of course," Myriam almost smiled.

Evelyn turned extra grim. "The night that you…disappeared….. Aton and the overseers, they brought all of us down to their arc room. Instead of hooking us in, they took Rita." Evelyn paused to clear her throat. "Aton said that they didn't need the arc. They…took turns with her…sometimes three at a time…."

"The Maker….." tears began to drip from Myriam's eyes.

"She died that night. They didn't choke her. They didn't cut her throat," Evelyn closed her eyes. "They raped her to death, right in front of all of us."

Myriam's tears flowed uncontrollably. She could offer no comment.

"They said they would do the same to one of us every night until someone told them where you were. Of course we didn't know… You abandoned us to Hell!" There was a hatred in Evelyn's eyes unlike any Myriam had seen before.

"I had no idea," Myriam pleaded. "I had no choice."

The former sisters stared at each other in silence. Finally, two new guards entered and locked the door. "Mistress, we are under attack."

Evelyn and the new guards pulled their blasters, "Cut down whoever comes through that door." To the guard behind the arc, Evelyn ordered, "If she tries anything, kill her."

"Evelyn!" Myriam pleaded. "You can't win this! Please just come with me. We can help you." Myriam looked at the guards, "all of you."

"Help them?" Evelyn turned back. "Do you have any idea who will move into this territory if we leave or are taken?"

"Zorbra that Hutt," Myriam mumbled.

Evelyn stared at her old friend for a few seconds, "So that's it. I didn't realize the Hutts had Jedi in their pockets."

"That's not how it is," Myriam struggled to justify their actions. "You're a slaver, plain and simple. We have an obligation to rid the galaxy of people like you."

"People like me? There will always be slavers and there will always be slaves. We protect our girls from the likes of Neco and Aton. How do you think Zorbra is going to treat his girls when his people move in?"

"Will you listen to yourself, Evelyn?" Myriam pleaded. "Your just compared yourself to Zorbra the froshin' Hutt! That is what you have stooped to!"

"You forfeited your rights to judge us a long time ago," Evelyn responded with a finality that told Myriam there was no convincing her otherwise.

"Let me ask you one more question. Do you sell to private owners?" Myriam posed.

Evelyn dropped her eyes just slightly, "Of course."

"And you know what that usually means."

"That's not my concern….."

"Oh Evelyn….." Myriam made one last plea. For a moment, a sadness overtook Evelyn's face, then she turn to face the door with her blaster.

Myriam knew that conversation was over. Master Yoda's instructions from long ago echoed through her mind. Train yourself, you must, to let go of everything that you fear to lose. She closed her eyes. Each Jedi had a special bond with their lightsaber. Myriam always considered hers to be particularly strong. She reached out through the Force and felt it just a couple of rooms down the hall.

In the room, the lightsaber lay on a table next to Myriam's robes. It began to roll slightly on the table. One of the guards picked it up. "Do you know how one of these works?" she asked another. The other guard shrugged. The first guard looked down the saber's central tube. The blue blade sprung to life and went through the guard's eye. Her body fell and the saber began to spin, cutting down the second guard. Then it spun out of the room and down the hall.

The spinning saber cut down most of Evelyn's enforcers in the hall. It floated for just a second outside of the arc room, then plunged blade first into the door.

From inside the arc room, one of the guard's screamed, "They're here!" The lightsaber melted its way through the door and began to spin towards Evelyn and the two guards. They fired at it as it approached, but each shot was deflected. The spinning saber cut down the first guard, but the second was able to engage it with her energy staff. She fought for a moment as though fighting an invisible dueler.

Evelyn turned to the guard behind the arc, "She's doing this, zap her!"

The guard jabbed Myriam with the energy rod. The lightsaber shutdown and dropped to the floor. Myriam tried to focus on her breathing. She did not want to blackout again nor did she want her twitching body to reactivate the arc. Finally, the guard disengaged the staff.

Myriam and Evelyn eyed each other coldly, "Enough of your Jedi tricks."

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet," With a Force Push, Myriam propelled herself into a backwards swing. She carefully kept her legs limp. Just before the thrust of the swing hit her ankles and engaged the arc, she shut her eyes again. The foot restraints disengaged and her swing became a backflip to the topside of the arc. She stretched out her hand. Her lightsaber flew to her and activated immediately. She jabbed it into the top of the arc, disabling it permanently. Myriam stared down Evelyn and the remaining guards. "Ok, who's first?"

Evelyn began to fire at her one-time sister. Myriam deflected one blast into the front guard and flipped off of the arc, easily impaling the last guard. Evelyn grabbed the first guard's energy rod and charged at Myriam. With a light Force Push, Myriam bumped Evelyn back, but she continued to charge. Myriam opened and closed her hand with a quick succession of light pushes. The Aton boss struggled, but was determined. "Evelyn, you can't win this, please surrender."

Evelyn paused. She reached into her pocket and removed Myriam's medallion. Evelyn threw the sign of their sisterhood at Myriam's feet. "I lied to you. I didn't lose mine. I threw it away… I threw it away the day I realized you were never coming back. The next day we staged our revolt. This is the closest thing to freedom any of us ever had."

Numa and Iesha entered the room as tears again streamed from Myriam's eyes, "I did come back! The day I was knighted I left for the old headquarters. There was nothing left…..all I ever dreamed about was coming back to get you."

"Liar!" Evelyn charged Myriam again. Myriam easily deflected each blow with her saber. This time she used a full Force Push to knock Evelyn to the ground. The energy rod rolled a few feet away.

When Evelyn was able to refocus she saw Myriam standing over her and the blue blade pointed down at her. They locked eyes. "Do it," Evelyn pleaded.

The words crushed Myriam, "I can't….." Numa reached Myriam just as her weakened legs finally gave out and she dropped her lightsaber. "I can't do it, Numa. I just can't…."

"It's ok," Numa soothed her friend. "We will take her back to Coruscant with us."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Evelyn screamed, pulling her blaster.

Myriam saw the anger in Evelyn's eyes. She saw Numa block the blast. Then she saw a green blade impale Evelyn from behind.

"No!" Myriam screamed as Iesha closed her blade and Evelyn's body collapsed to the floor. "No!" Myriam dove to Evelyn's body and clutched it in her arms, but Evelyn was gone. No last words. No reconciliation. No forgiveness. "No! No! No!"

"I had no choice," Iesha struggled to explain.

Numa rushed to Myriam's side. "Oh, Numa," Myriam wept. "She didn't deserve this. You have no idea what it was like. The horrors we suffered."

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Myriam cautiously entered the chamber. Master Yoda was seated in the middle in his usual position. "You summoned me Master?"

"Yes," Yoda began. "Sit child." The padawan crossed her legs and sat facing her Master. "Strong with the Force are you. And a powerful Jedi Knight you will soon be."

"Thank you Master. It is all due to your training."

Yoda grunted, "One thing you lack. There is much pain in you. Long for you the Darkside does. Fight it off you do, but to truly defeat the Darkside, let go of your pain you must."

"I'm….. I'm not sure I know how," Myriam confessed.

"Time it will take," Yoda instructed. "Train yourself, you must, to let go of everything you fear to lose."

"Why would I be afraid to let go of pain?"

"Define you your pain does. If lose it you do, what is left?"

Myriam pondered the question. She had no answer.

"When defined by the Force you are, only then a Jedi will you be."

"How do I even do that?" Myriam began to shake.

"Time it will take. Journey inward. Identify the source of your pain. Recognize it for what it is, but do not hold on to it."

"Yes, Master," Myriam shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

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Myriam was polishing the staircase that led to the balcony. It was an intricate task, but her only one for the week. One of the benefits of being Neco's favorite was the lighter work load. It came with a heavy price, but all things considered, it was better to have less work and to be under Neco's protection than to work hard all day and be left to the wolves at night. The burden was a heavy one for every girl in the Network, but Myriam had almost resigned herself to her fate.

"Hey girlie," Myriam jumped at the sound of Neco's voice, but saw no one. His voice was soon joined by others and laughter coming from the balcony.

It was getting dark, but the lights in the stairwell had not switched on yet. Myriam crept to the top of the stairs. She was horrified by what she saw.

Marta had been sweeping the balcony. When Myriam looked out from the stairwell, Neco and an overseer were standing on either side of her grabbing and tugging at her clothes. Three other overseers were standing around, watching, laughing, waiting their turn. They were all obviously drunk.

Myriam was horrified by what she saw, horrified by the men's condition, horrified by the entire situation that she and the others were in. She felt hatred. She hated Neco, she hated the overseers. She hated Marta. Jealousy raised itself within her. If Neco took Marta tonight, then any man in the Network could have his way with Myriam tomorrow. She thought of Evelyn and hated herself for being so selfish. Myriam felt something stirring within her, a power she could not explain. She sprang from the stairwell screaming, "Stop it! Just stop it! Enough!"

Then things got weird. The entire party, Neco, the overseers, Marta, all of them went flying into the rail along the edge of the balcony. The rail gave way. It and the crowd went crashing into the courtyard, five stories below.

Myriam darted to the edge to see the bloodied mass below. She had no idea what happened, but somehow she knew she was responsible. As a confused screaming group began to form around the carnage, Myriam heard…..no felt a voice from within her telling her exactly what to do, "Run."

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When Myriam opened her eyes, her head was lying in Master Yoda's lap. Her tears had soaked through his robes and he was gently stroking her hair. "There, there child. Great your pain is."

She sat up. "I thought I had put it behind me."

"Hidden yourself from it you have, but a part of you it will always be. Learn to let go of it you will. Time it will take."

Myriam wiped her tears, "Yes, Master."

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Myriam stared out of the window into Hyperspace. Numa sat in the corner, eating a snack, not really sure how to break the silence. Iesha entered. She paused a few feet from her hurting teammate, "Myriam?"

"Yes, padawan?" Myriam answered sounding as distant as the stars shooting by the window.

"I found this," Iesha held out the medallion. "I thought you may want it back."

Myriam eyed the metallic chain for a moment. Reluctantly she nodded and took it. Instead of returning the medallion to her neck, she simply stared at it dangling between her fingers.

After a few seconds of silence, Iesha turned and walked swiftly to the door. "Pada… Iesha….." Myriam called behind her.

Iesha turned without answering.

"Thank you," Myriam started. "You saved my life."

"Your welcome, of course," Iesha gave a light smile and exited the room.

When Iesha left, Numa approached the window for the first time. "That was good of you. She really admires you, almost as much as Granger…..we all do." She placed her hand on Myriam's shoulder. "Master Granger has summoned us to join him and the others in the Alluvian system. You should escort the captives back to Coruscant, then take a few days. Join us when you are ready."

Myriam took Numa's hand. She placed the medallion in it and closed Numa's fingers around it. "You are my sister," were the only words she offered.

The End