Chapter 2

Anakin pushed a lever forward, as his small unmarked ship came out of hyperspace. A tan and tawny planet loomed in front of him, causing his heart rate to quicken. There it was. The unnamed planet, the center of the slave trade market. The death place of about half a dozen Jedi and thousands of clones. It didn't look horrible from out here in space, but the sight of it still made his skin crawl. Pressing another button, his ship drew nearer, entering the atmosphere.

Once he made it through, Anakin took a look at the planet. He was in the Northern hemisphere, as this was the most populated part of the planet. It was also the part that had the Queen's palace, which Anakin could clearly see. It was an interesting shape, to say the least. It appeared to consist of a series of medieval style round towers, looking much like an two conjoined upside down pan flutes, with the tallest tower in the center and three shorter towers on either side. Surrounding the palace was a large city, with apartments and other such buildings packed fairly tightly together. Yet the streets were fairly wide. Surrounding the city was very tall gated wall, though it had been very artistically made and looked more like a series of arches than anything. These arches had metal grates in them, looking much like medieval gates. But the real gate was not like these. It sat between two watch towers, and was a ray shield. Nearly all the architecture was the same color as the rest of the planet. Dusty and tan.

There was a series of landing platforms, which sat atop tall rocky spires. These were located just outside the city, or at least the visitor platforms were. Anakin assumed that there were more landing bays somewhere inside the city as well, but he did not see where they were. So, he landed his small spacecraft on one of these towers. Shutting down the engines, he climbed out of the cockpit and jumped onto the rock with a soft thud. A native approached him, and after a minute or so of conversation he was instructed to fly down to one of the hangers. These looked much like large holes drilled through the rock pillars, but they served as a sort of parking garage. Anakin was amazed that these towers stayed standing, since they were so narrow that only one hanger could fit on a level. As instructed, he parked his ship, then climbed onto a transport. It traveled to the rest of the hangers, picking up any other passengers, before descending and traveling to the gate. As the transport headed for the gate, Anakin took a look at the other two passengers that had climbed on. There was a rather gruff looking man, and a young Twi'Lek boy who was obviously a slave. The boy had sad blue eyes, contrasting the green color of his skin. He wore a cloak, though an electric collar was partially visible. The kid couldn't have been more than 15 years old.

"He's for sale you know."

Anakin looked up, as the man now spoke to him. "Excuse me?"

The man nodded at the Twi'Lek. "He's for sale. I'm sellin' him at the auction tomorrow afternoon. He was my late uncle's slave, and I haven't much use for him. I saw the way you were lookin' at him, and I thought I'd tell you that you can buy him if you want."

Anakin stared at the man for a moment, then looked back at the boy. Obi-Wan hadn't been kidding when he said this was the slave trade capital. He'd barely landed on the planet and already someone had offered to sell him a slave. It was sickening, but the Jedi in disguise forced a smile. "Perhaps I will take a look. Of course, I want to get a look at the other slaves for auction before I make my decision." I can't believe those words came out of my mouth... I guess I have to get used to saying stuff like that. I'm posing as a slave trader, after all. He thought to himself.

The man nodded in understanding. "Yep, there's sure to be many fine specimen tomorrow."

Luckily, the transport landed, and the man and the slave got off before Anakin had a chance to reply. He too stepped off, walking up towards the gate. It was easy enough to get through, he was only asked a couple of simple questions. The ray shield gate was lifted, just long enough for Anakin to walk through. He found himself walking down a busy street, full of people and carts and slaves everywhere. There were all sorts of people, and he nearly got lost amongst the crowd. They all seemed to be doing something, and he could only assume that many of them were preparing for tomorrow's auction. From what little he knew about the planet, auctions were held every month.

He wandered the streets for a while, getting a feel for the place. He wanted to blend in as best as possible, and he could only do that if he understood what exactly he was trying to blend in with. Before he knew it, the planet's sun was beginning to lower towards the horizon, and Anakin decided he had better go to the palace. So, he set off towards the large building looming not too far off in the distance.

Riksha sat on the roof of the center tower of the Queen's palace, meditating.

It was the one place she could go where no one could see her; the palace towered over the rest of the city, so no one could possibly see her from the ground. From above, nobody would care to look. And the Queen? She thought that Riksha was in her small bedroom all this time. But no, rather Riksha spent nearly all her free time up here on the roof. It was round in shape, and it much resembled a medieval tower. There was a four foot high wall that encircled the top of the tower, creating a sort of roof-top patio that only Riksha had access to. There were no stairs up to the roof, the only way up being a force-jump. It was the perfect place for her to meditate, without the worry of being caught.

She was deep into the Force when she noticed a slight disturbance. Something new had come to this planet, though not quite unfamiliar. Riksha opened her eyes, coming out of her meditation, and upon looking up she spotted the faint outline of a ship. She would have liked to stay and get a better look as it descended, but at that moment she sensed that the Queen was nearing Riksha's room. Quickly, Riksha leapt off the roof, falling some four stories before landing expertly on the balcony that was attached to her room. She busied herself organizing things in her quarters, though everything was already organized. This way, when the Queen entered and told Riksha to go get dinner started Riksha was in her room right where the Queen thought she had been all along.

The young woman moved quickly, heading down to the kitchen and joining the other slaves who had been assigned the duty of preparing the night's meal. As usual, Riksha chose the most challenging dish for herself to prepare. She enjoyed the mental exercise it provided, plus it gave the other slaves a bit of a break. They did not share her enthusiasm for creating complex dishes, and they even seemed to dislike the fancy food. But having once been a Jedi, she was accustomed to strenuous mental activity, and as a slave she received very little actually challenging mental stimulation. Cooking was like a training session in disguise, testing her focus and memory.

Most of the food had already been prepped, so once Riksha arrived the rest of the cooking took only an hour. Steaming dishes were sitting on a heated counter, so that they would stay hot until it was time to eat. The Queen was having guests over, and so there was a lot of food. Judging by the quantity that she and the other slaves had cooked, Riksha estimated that somewhere between 6-8 guests were expected.

She hung her apron on a hook, then went back upstairs to get changed. The Queen liked the slaves to look their best during such dinners, and so each of the slaves had a collection of fancy outfits. The higher ranking slaves had the 'nicer' outfits, while the lower ranking ones had very simple attire. Riksha was one of the higher ranking slaves, and so she was expected to wear something fancy. She already knew which outfit the Queen expected her to wear; after two years, she had learned to note the subtle signs that indicated which outfit the Queen wanted.

Riksha pulled out a white top and tan skirt. The top piece had long sleeves that were made of an almost mesh-like see-through material, and had green embroidery. There was also embroidery along the bottom hem of the top, which fell at a slant from above her left hip down to her right one. Along the hem were short strings of emeralds. The skirt was fairly simple, with emerald colored embroidery along the bottom hem (which fell at her ankles.) The outfit showed the wealth of the Queen, yet also showed that Riksha was a slave.

After braiding her hair into a French braid and putting the emerald hair decorations in, Riksha went down the hall a few doors. She knocked gently on one door, and a young Togruta slave girl of about 8 standard years opened it. Her eyes lit up when she saw Riksha standing there, and she pulled the door open more.

"Riksha! Can you help me with my outfit?"

Riksha laughed softly. "Yes, Tarani, I figured you might need some help."

As it turned out, Tarani didn't really need much help, but she was having trouble with the headpiece. Strings of simple crystals and beads were supposed to hang from her head-tails, which the young girl had trouble fastening. It took only a few moments for Riksha to fix them, and Tarani responded with a hug.

"Alright, now head on down with the others," Riksha said when the Togruta let go.

"What about you?" Tarani asked inquisitively.

"I'm supposed to greet the guests and bring them to the dining room," Riksha replied.

Tarani nodded, and the two exited the room. They went down the back staircase together, which was the servant stsircase. Tarani joined the other servants, while Riksha went towards the front door where the Queen was waiting.

"Good, Riley, you are right on time," The Queen stated. She never called her slaves by their true names, instead giving them new but similar names.

Riksha bowed her head in response. "As you wished, my Queen."

Nodding in approval at Riksha's behavior, the Queen left Riksha at the door and went to the dining room.

Meanwhile, Anakin had made his way through the streets of the city and was now very near the palace. He paused a moment, examining it and forming a plan. A pair of guards stood outside the palace, dressed in odd armor and each holding an electrostaff. These staffs were not on, but they could be turned on at any moment by their possessors.

Anakin needed to get into the palace, and to gain the Queen's trust. Usually, he would just wing it and come up with something on the spot. But he felt that this time, he should probably do some actual planning.

He remembered hearing some people talking while he was walking through the city about a dinner party the Queen was having. Perhaps he could get himself invited to that dinner party... It was worth a try. Smoothing his cloak, Anakin strode confidently up to the palace guards. They turned their attention to him, crossing their electrostaffs in front of the door.

"Halt!" Bellowed the guard on the left. "Who are you?'

Anakin plastered a fake smile on his face, hoping it looked confident and that he himself looked like someone important. "I am Arwyn Ghinkt," Anakin replied. He had come up with this name during the flight here, knowing he would not be able to use his real name.

The guards looked at him suspiciously. "Your name is not on the list of guests. Do you have an appointment with Her Majesty?"

Anakin simply continued smiling at the guards. "An appointment? I'm sure that you can make an exception for me. I have some information for the Queen."

The guard was not amused. "No exceptions, the Queen is very busy-" He was cut off by a voice, coming through his comlink. "Err, yes your Majesty?"

"Let the man in. I'm curious as to what exactly he has to say." The Queen's voice ordered, coming through the comlink.

The guard appeared to be a bit annoyed, but he complied. Both of the guards stepped to the side, and the tall door opened. Anakin stepped inside, where he was greeted by a young woman.

"Welcome to the Queen's palace," she said. "The Queen is right this way."

Anakin noticed that she didn't meet his eyes when she spoke to him, and realized that this must be one of the Queen's many slaves. He followed her through the foyer, up a flight of lavish stairs, and into the dining room, where a tall alien woman stood at the head of the table. No doubt this was the Queen, anyone could tell just by looking at her expensive attire and by the air of authority that radiated from her.

"Go back and wait for the other guests Riley. Bring them here when they arrive," The Queen told the slave.

Riksha bowed, before turning and walking quickly back to the door. Anakin watched her leave for a minute. Something was odd about her...

"So, Arwyn Ghinkt is it?" The Queen asked, interrupting Anakin's thoughts.

Anakin turned his head back around, so that he was looking at the Queen. "Yes, your Majesty," he replied, bowing slightly. He could sense that the Queen was pleased by this. So, she is one of those rulers who likes a lot of attention, he guessed. The rumors he heard had stated as much, and Anakin could see that they were correct.

"You told my guards that you have information I may be interested in. What so you have to tell me?" The Queen asked, getting down to business.

Anakin straightened up. "Yes, I do. I am sure you will be quite happy to know that the planet Suyolx has recently joined the Separatists, in hopes of opening trade with your planet."

This did indeed make the Queen happy. "Thank you for informing me, I will have to have a cup of tea with the Suyolxi Queen to discuss a trade agreement. Tell me, how did you know of this development?"

"I have my ways of learning what is going on in the galaxy," Anakin replied. "Especially when it has to do with the sort of business I do." He knew this information because the Republic had marked down Suyolx as going from neutral to Separatist. But the Queen did not need to know this.

The Queen simply nodded. "I see. Well, Arwyn Ghinkt, as I am sure you are aware I have invited some if the most well-known slavers on the planet to join me for dinner. Perhaps you would like to join us as well? I am sorry to say I do not recognize your name, but I can tell you are of high status."

This was exactly the sort of invitation Anakin had been hoping for. "It would be my pleasure."

"Good. The others should be here shortly."

These words had barely escaped her mouth when Riksha entered, 6 guests following her. They all gave respectful nods to the Queen, before sitting down around the table. Anakin copied, sitting down in the third chair on the left side of the table. Riksha went to stand beside the Queen, looking down at nothing in particular. The Queen clapped her hands together, standing at the head of the table. She gave a short welcoming speech, before sitting down.

"Let the dinner begin."