The Life of a Slave

Chapter 5: Plans of Revolution

Author's Note: Well, it seems as though you guys have no idea what the term "I want five reviews" means, but I've developed a soft spot for you guys and I finished this chapter earlier than expected so... here ya go.

"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"So, how was your first day in 1313, Barriss?" Jadella asked, as the adults lounged around the living room after dinner.

"Interesting, to say the least," she replied, glancing over at me. I could tell that the fight between Abaddon and me earlier was still bothering her, especially with my nose. Of course, she had yet to see just how brutal other fights could be in 1313.

"Interesting, huh? That's all because I don't remember Ethan having a broken nose before he left this morning," Jadella replied, looking up from her old datapad that I had gotten for her a month ago. It had been her birthday. "So, which one of you wants to tell me how he got it? And I don't mean telling me something stupid like he tripped and fell on a piece of duracrete. I want the truth."

Barriss and I exchanged glances and we knew that we had to tell her. "We ran into Abaddon," I said quickly.

Jacinda's breath caught in her throat, while Jadella tried to keep a neutral look on her face. Even Luminara knew something was wrong and she looked to me and Barriss. "Abaddon?" she asked.

"My rival."

"When did this happen?" Jadella asked, her voice full of suppressed anger. I couldn't tell if it was at Abaddon or Barriss or me. Probably all three of us, now that I think about it.

Barriss spoke up, "At the arena, earlier this morning. We had just arrived there when he confronted us."

Jadella's face remained blank as she asked, "Why did he break Ethan's nose?"

Barriss raised her eyebrows, not yet realizing how well Jadella could pick up on things. "It was completely and totally my fault," she replied, looking down at the ground afterwards.

I rolled my eyes and said, "It wasn't your fault, Barriss. I shouldn't have initiated anything!"

"I shouldn't have said the things I said!" she shot back, not wanting Jadella to get mad at me.

Jacinda piped up with, "I don't think that the three of us," she gestured to herself, Jadella and Luminara, "really give a kriff about who started it. We just want to know why he broke Ethan's nose."

"Well, he walked up to Barriss and tried to bed her," I started, balling up my fists when the thought of him flirting with Barriss came to mind. "Then Barriss said some things to him that didn't make him very happy. And he raised his hand to hit her."

"But Ethan tackled him to the ground and started punching him," Barriss interjected. "Abaddon gained the upper hand, however, and proceeded to break Ethan's nose."

"Then Kade showed up and said for Abaddon to get lost," I ended, not including the part about Kade calling Barriss my "woman" and giving her the death glare.

Jadella nodded and said in a kind of pissed off voice, "Well, that sounds exactly like something you would do, Ethan. And don't do it again, you two. I don't need either one of you injured for me to take care of."

"Padawan, what did you say to Abaddon when you were confronted by him?" Luminara asked.

Barriss looked down at the ground, as she did whenever she was embarrassed or sad about something. "I called him a wipe-ass." Jadella and Jacinda raised an eyebrow, while Luminara remained placid.

Jadella was the first to speak, but she had to go and say, "Great job, Padawan! I didn't think that a Jedi had the guts to swear like that! I guess that Jacinda and I underestimated you!" Jacinda remained silent, but a smile was plastered onto her face. Luminara on the other hand looked at them as if they had just insulted her mother.

Barriss sat there, mouth slightly open, with confusion clearly written across her face. "What do you mean by 'you underestimated me'?"

"We were at our smuggler friend Madeira's house when we got onto the subject of the whole 'Jedi intervention' thing, and we placed bets on how long it would take to prove that Jedi weren't goody-two-shoes like everyone says you are. And I hope that you didn't mind us telling her that you were Jedi." Jadella gave them a sheepish smile.

"Wait a moment," Luminara said, holding up a hand and rubbing her eyes. She let her hand down and asked, "Who says that we're goody-two-shoes?"

Jadella looked off, deep in thought, and placed her hand under her chin. "Well, the slavers, servants, smugglers, crime lords, civilians, prostitutes, and um... everyone else, pretty much."

Jacinda and I were practically choking on our laughter as the Jedi started blushing and spluttering. Luminara replied, "Well, we have to follow the law or else, we wouldn't set a good example for the citizens of the Republic."

"Yeah, but you could still go for a drink with your friends or something to prove to everyone that you're not stiff as a board," I said, smirking a little. "I mean, I don't think that you're all rule-followers. Anakin Skywalker has proved that to be a fact. But for the most part, you don't see many Knights partying it up after a victory on Geonosis or Christophsis or somewhere. And saying that you have to follow the Code has nothing to do with this because last time I checked, it said nothing about not being able to go out to a bar or a club or something."

Luminara and Barriss exchanged looks and to be honest, looked speechless. Barriss finally said, "I'm not sure why we don't do things such as that."

"I suppose that it's because of our predecessors," Luminara added. "They didn't go um... clubbing or drinking and we like to follow tradition so no behavior such as that."

I smiled softly and said, "Well, I think that it's time for some change in the Jedi Order." I chuckled lightly and said, "But who am I to say something such as that? After all, I'm only a servant in 1313, the center of all crime in the galaxy."

"Well, we're taught from an early age that no matter the occupation or race or age that a being's opinion does matter," Barriss said, smiling at me. I smiled back.

Luminara said, "That gives me an idea." All eyes turned to her. "The servants of 1313 are all beings, are they not? Their opinions matter, as my padawan has said. So, when we invade 1313, we could use them to our advantage. You know, give them weapons and let them help us in the fight. A revolution."

The room became deadly silent when she said "revolution." Jacinda and I exchanged a glance when Jadella said, "Excuse me. I need some air." I saw a flash of pain in her eyes when she walked out of the room.

Barriss innocently asked, "Did any of us say something wrong?"

Jacinda looked to me and nodded toward the door that Jadella had walked out of me. I nodded too and she walked out there to comfort the older girl. I looked at the Jedi and said, "Sorry about Jadella's reaction to that. She has a difficult time with the term 'revolution'."

"Why?" Barriss questioned, leaning forward in her chair.

I scratched the top of my head and closed my eyes in sorrow. Long story short, things hadn't always been depressing in 1313. In fact, things were actually kind of happy and peppy a few years back. But that was before the first revolution, before a fifth of the servant population was wiped out, before Jadella loved and lost. "We had a revolution five years ago, when I was fourteen. Basically, Kade and a few other slavers did some things to tick us off and that was enough to ignite the fire in us. We might have actually succeeded in the revolution had it not been for the sleepers."

"Sleepers?" Luminara asked. I could feel her interest rise a little.

"Kind of like spies, except that they find jobs and finance themselves so that their sponsors don't have to pay them."

"Isn't that the point of being a spy?" Barriss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They get paid at the end of the job. Besides, they need jobs so that the money can't be traced back to the sponsors."

"Clever," she responded.

I nodded and resumed my explanation. "Anyway, the sleepers were posing as servants and knew almost everything about the revolt. The leaders, abandoned buildings where we kept weapons, allies outside of 1313, everything. "

"What happened?" Luminara questioned.

I looked down at the ground. "Jaden and Jacinda were going around from house-to-house, telling the slaves of the latest updates on the revolution. We had been planning to strike at the crime families that night. But out of nowhere, hired mercenaries and bounty hunters started coming out and shooting all the slaves in sight. They kept pouring in from the shadows and there was too much chaos to do anything about it. They assassinated our leaders, murdered innocent children and burned a third of the servant quarters. A fifth of the servant population was wiped out and ever since then, it's been nothing but rape, drug dealings and death. No more happiness, or what was classified as happiness in 1313."

They said nothing for a moment. Then Barriss asked, "What does this have to do with Jadella?"

I sighed and responded, "She was a leader in the revolt and was responsible for most of the planned strikes against the crime lords. After the Days of Ash concluded, she kind of..." I trailed off, searching for the correct words. "She zoned out for a while. Didn't really respond to a lot." I took a deep breath. "She's better now, as you can see. But sometimes, she gets that distant look in her eyes and you can tell that she's thinking about the murdered children and burn victims of the conflict."

Luminara simply said, "That must have been taxing on her." I nodded. She also asked, "Why was she not assassinated?"

"The other leaders were just figureheads that could rally the servants. The sleepers weren't exactly smart enough to tell that Jade was practically the brains of the operation."

"What are the Days of Ash?" Barriss inquired.

"When the bounty hunters scorched the houses, it lasted for two weeks. Children and their parents were found in their homes, dead from smoke inhalation and third degree burns. Servants, and those actually willing to help, aided us in transporting the bodies to where they could lie in peace. We had to sweep ash from the sidewalks and rooftops for months. After a while, we just started calling the Days of Ash."

She frowned and her eyebrows furrowed together in a sad expression. "It's a sad name."

"It was a sad week," I responded.

Jadella and Jacinda walked back in as if on cue and Jadella started collecting the glasses that she had put out. "I think that it would be a good time to get some rest," she mumbled, though it was loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Okay," I said and I took the tray from her. "You should get ready, Jade."

She nodded, but I don't think that she was going to do so. Her eyes were glazed over and I knew instantly that she was thinking about the revolution. Most of you are probably thinking that it was a big deal, yes, but that she doesn't have to be so moody and distant about it. But there was so much more to the story that I hadn't told the Jedi, so much more heartbreak and pain...

I nodded toward Jacinda and Jadella, said, "Goodnight," to the Jedi, and placed the glasses in the kitchen. I nodded to the Jedi as I made my to the bedroom and collapsed onto my bed.

But sleep eluded my grasp.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" a Coruscanti voice asked me.

I had gotten up out of bed due to my inability to sleep, so I decided to grab a roll from the fridge. Besides, I had been hungry. I turned around to see a bedraggled Luminara. She had removed her headdress so that wavy, black hair cascaded down her robe-clad back. Her eye were bloodshot and her once orderly robes were now wrinkled.

I smiled and responded, "I couldn't sleep. You?"

"I was unable to fall asleep, as well," she said, and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet. "I decided to grab a glass of water, as I usually do at the Temple." She placed the glass under the faucet and turned off the water.

I grabbed my roll and took a bite. "Aren't Mirialan girls supposed to wear hoods or headdresses at all times?"

"Some Mirialan women don't practice it, but Barriss and I like to keep up tradition. Besides," she said with a tired smile and a swig of water, "I was too tired to get the wretched thing on my head."

"I thought you said that you liked tradition."

"Yes, but it can be a pain in the arse at times." She smirked and took another sip of her water. But after that, an awkward silence settled over us and we stood in the kitchen uncomfortably until Luminara asked, "What didn't you tell us?"

I looked to the Jedi and raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"When you told us of the revolution, you seemed to holding information back. What was it?"

Sighing, I placed my roll onto the counter and leaned against the fridge. "It's just some old love story that you wouldn't want to hear." Luminara scowled at me and I knew that she wouldn't take no for an answer. "Okay, I'll tell you! Anyway, there was this guy that Jadella and I had been friends with for years. His name was Gabir and we had all been best friends. But when the revolution started, Jadella and him started to..."

"Become romantically involved?" Luminara helped, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly. Anyway, I mentioned earlier that Jaden and Jacinda had been relaying messages throughout the servants' quarters, right?" She nodded. "Well, when the bounty hunters starting burning down houses, Gabir had been tending to a small garden that he had. He noticed that Jaden and Jacinda were right in the way of the flames. So, he scooped them up and ran throughout the streets, looking for a safe place to put them. But in the end, he knew that it would either be him or them that survived. Long story short, he threw them inside a random home and ended up dying in the fires. His body was later found in a dumpster near the arena."

Luminara stood there, mouth slightly open with pity written on her face. "Oh, my. I can see why this has caused your sister pain. Maybe the idea of a revolution wasn't so good after all."

"Whose idea? The servants' or yours?"

She shrugged and smiled sadly. "Does it really matter? Your revolution ended with thousands dead and ours won't succeed without the Senate's approval, which is becoming harder to come by each session. All they do is bicker."

"I wouldn't blame everything on them, though they vex me at times," I said. "That chancellor of yours seems kind of suspicious."

"Palpatine?" Luminara questioned, voice full of disbelief. She scoffed and said, "He's an old man with only the power of words and money."

"And that's exactly what the galaxy today thrives on," I responded, standing up straight and glaring at her a little. "The world wants gossip and credits and he has the largest supply in the Republic, considering the fact that he's the Chancellor. But there's something about him that I don't like. I've seen him deliver speeches on the HoloNet and there's just something wrong about him. At least, that's what my instincts keep telling me. And I trust my instincts, Luminara."

Luminara furrowed her dark eyebrows. "The Council hasn't sensed anything."

"Then the Council needs to delve deeper into Palpatine's past," I responded, crossing my arms over my abdomen. "He just has that... look about him. I might not be a Jedi, but whenever I see him on the HoloNet... I get this bad feeling, like whenever you see something disgusting and you want to throw up, except this feels..."

I shook my head and laughed nervously. "I don't know. He doesn't appear like old man to me, or a normal man at least. I guess that I sound pretty ridiculous, huh?"

Luminara frowned and looked at a stain on the wall thoughtfully. "No, you don't." When I motioned for her to continue, she said, "The Council and Palpatine have been having... difficult relations lately. My friend, Shaak Ti, says that he often authorizes missions without their approval and just ignores their disconsent about it."

"But if it's the Jedi that the Republic sends, why doesn't the Council have any say in it?"

Luminara sighed and replied, "I'm not sure. Ever since the Jedi Order joined the Republic, we've had an agreement with the Senate. We would uphold their laws and protect its citizens. But we hold no rank in the Republic hierarchy and unless we are called upon, we will step aside in matters involving the Senate."

"But don't you think that it's a little unfair that the Senate called upon the Order to be Generals in the war?" I asked, taking her glass, refilling it with water, and handing it back to her. "I mean, the Jedi are supposed to be peacekeepers and war isn't exactly peace. In fact, I consider it to be chaos."

She sipped at her drink and said, "I'll admit, I don't agree with the war, but it's our duty to restore the peace."

I laughed without humor and said, "I hate to tell you this Luminara, but fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity. You can't achieve it using the methods you're using."

"Then how do you propose we end the war?" she asked, though her voice was full of bitterness.

I shrugged and stuffed the rest of the roll into my mouth. I swallowed and said, "I don't know. But shooting down droids and pursuing Count Dooku won't do anything. Maybe peace talks?"

"You think that we haven't tried that?" she asked, disbelief evident on her face. "We've set up at least three peace talks with all our leading Senators, but it doesn't solve one thing.We've tried everything to end this war and nothing succeeds! The only thing can do that actually works is win battles! And sometimes that doesn't even work!"

She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, then sighed and brushed the hair out of her face. I wiped the crumbs off of my mouth and said, "There is always an alternative to fighting. You know who told me that? You did, Luminara. And if you can't follow your own advice, then what gives me the initiative to follow it myself?"

And without another word, I exited the kitchen.

Author's Note: This part of the chapter was basically to expand on Ethan and Luminara communications because Ethan and Barriss are growing closer and what better way to gain some points with the parental figure than have a good long chat about Jadella's old boyfriend and politics. And I'm sorry that this chapter isn't as long as others. This was kind of a filler chapter for things to come. Also, the name of the next chapter will be called "New Leads."