Catlula hit the floor with a loud thud. Her hip was the first part of her body to hit the stone-cold ground of the rancor pit, and she felt a bruising pain in that part of her body. Although the pain was minimal, it added to the stress she felt in an execution room. The twi'lek lay on her side and stared at the large gate she presumed would cause her death. Dirt, grime, and rust covered the metal door as no one cared to clean what the Hutts hid.
The metal bra hugged Catlula's voluptuous boobs. They bounced in their container as the twi'lek moved her upper body. The bra was too small for the busty girl, so her tits swelled upward to escape the pressure.
The Twi'lek Imperial looked around the decrepit room with a heartbeat she could only reach while running. Old slave girl uniforms from forgotten owners lined the stone floor. Many of them were bloodstained by their grizzly fates. The black hue of dried blood covered the bottom and walls of the room. The Hutts had likely used the underground chamber for years, and Catlula believed she was their first victim in years. Depression filled the twi'lek's heart as the essence of death filled the room. Ceiling lights covered the room to help the twi'lek see the disgusting place with her dying sights.
Suddenly, Catlula saw the trap door open again above her. Then, Her sniper blaster and the rest of her weaponry drop from the height. Laughter and mocking penetrated through the trap door as if there was no knowledge of what was happening in the rest of the base.
Catlula stood up, walked to the opposite edge of the room to the rancor gate, and sat against the wall.
The twi'lek set her rifle in her vulnerable lap and thought, "I flew too close to the sun and burned up in a blaze. A single drop of hubris and ignorance of caution can lead to this. I wish I could take my actions back. I want my life back. Do I deserve this fate because of my few mistakes? I will be nothing more than a drop of blood in this disgusting room. Was I always doomed to this fate? I could compare my death to my mother's, but she lived longer than I will. The universe will kill me off at 18 before my story starts. I could have done something. I could have made an impact."
Suddenly, The large metal door started opening, and the twi'lek looked at it, mortified, afraid to meet the same fate as her mother. As the mechanisms of the door lifted the metal gate off the floor, it revealed the frightening image of the Rancor. The rough, brown skin of the rancor repulsed the twi'lek as the situation filled her mind with trauma and hopelessness.
Suddenly, Catlula remembered her training from the academy, where she would complete seemingly impossible missions. She was not the same as her mother and would not go out the same way. The twi'lek stood from her seat and decided she had nothing to lose in fighting.
Catlula started shooting the Rancor in the head once it was exposed. She hit both the creature's eyes with her first two shots, blinding the monster. The shots aggravated the Rancor, but its blindness caused it to stomp around the execution chamber. The twi'lek continued shooting the monster, but the scales were too strong for the shots to do any damage. It would only make the deadly creature angrier. Catlula decided to change her strategy. She walked toward the Rancor with deep breaths. The twi'lek held a powerful grenade and the detonator in her hands and yelled at the monster, getting its attention. The creature clumsily swung its hand at Catlula, knocking her down. Then, the Rancor opened its mouth to intimidate her, and the twi'lek threw her grenade in its open mouth. The monster was oblivious to the turning of the tables until it was too late, and Catlula pressed the button.
The explosive was in the creature's throat when it ignited, and the blast destroyed its trachea. Blood filled the Rancor's throat, stopping the monster from breathing, and it fell to the floor, dead.
Catlula stood back up and walked to the slain monster.
She sat against the creature's corpse's head and to it as if it could hear her, "It was either you or me."
The explosion shocked The Hutt and his patrons. The crime lord released his grip from his slave's tits to check the situation below him. The purple twi'lek tried to get as far away as possible from the Hutt as her master looked down the trapdoor to see Catlula alive and the Rancor dead.
He was shocked by this finding, but he decided that dealing with her would be more trouble than it was worth. The execution room could act as a makeshift prison.
The Hutt announced, "It seems the Imperial has killed the Rancor, but she can't do anything down there. We will starve her until she agrees to be our new slave."
Everyone except the purple twi'lek supported the crime lord's idea and replied, "Yes, sir." and continued with their day.
Suddenly, marching sounds came from the hallway leading into the hidden den. Metal collided with the archaic stone floor, and Catlula knew salvation had arrived.
Stormtroopers marched into the room and shot at the massive Hutt. The first shots did little to harm the slug, but the burn marks dug into its skin until the bolts hit The Hutt's organs, killing him. Then, the Imperial soldiers rounded up the unarmed inhabitants of the room and lined them against the wall. They also killed anyone who tried to resist.
Catlula called for help, and a stormtrooper quickly heard her and threw a grappling gun down at her. The twi'lek picked up the device and shot it toward the trap door to propel her up. She reached the surface, grabbed the edge of the trapdoor entrance, and climbed out. Without hesitation, Catlula removed her slave attire and swiftly changed into her uniform. She stripped off her bra, and the tight metal clothing left red marks where the bra hugged her tits.
As the twi'lek finished changing, her squad commander approached her and asked, "Did you kill that thing down there?"
Catlula responded, "Yes, sir. I shot it in the eyes and threw a grenade in its mouth."
The commander looked down at the Rancor's corpse and replied, "That is impressive. You have some excellent sniping skills. I think you have proved yourself tail-head."
The kind comments surprised the twi'lek, and she replied, "Thank you, sir. I'll continue trying to prove myself."
The squad leader walked away from Catlula, saying, "I hope the armor doesn't burn your beautiful naked skin."
The twi'lek was uncomfortable with the comment, but she did not reply and moved on.
Catlula looked around the room at the brutal executions of prisoners. The captured terrorist let out bloodcurdling screams as the Imperials ripped their souls out of their bodies with the sound of gunfire. The twi'lek looked at the men getting shot and slashed, but instead of being angry at her allies, she was tired of the sight. These men mocked, humiliated, and attempted to kill her. She believed they deserved death but saw the process as visibly unpleasant. Though deep in her mind, Catlula started to see the necessity of violence for a functioning, organized empire.
Suddenly, The Imperial twi'lek saw an Imperial officer groping and fingering the purple twi'lek slave as she tried to resist. Catlula was furious at this sight, having grown up as a slave.
She approached the officer and angrily asked, "What are you doing with her?"
The officer looked the blue twi'lek in the eyes and said, "I'm trying to have fun. This profession can be boring, so when I can enjoy myself, I enjoy myself."
The man's hedonism angered Catlula, and she replied, "She doesn't seem to enjoy what you are doing. Please stop what you are doing, or I will report what you are doing to the higher-ups."
The comment confused the man, and he said, "You want to go to the higher-ups? General Ackerson won't care. He intentionally stays away from the violence because he knows how bad it can get here. I could rape this bitch and dismember her while alive, and no one would even remember it. Morality does not exist on the battlefield. I am merely a symptom. You are not the first soldier to feel disgusted at what happens here, but I recognize you are unique in that you are a twi'lek. I promise not to rape or kill her and safely bring her to prison."
Despite the horrific sight in front of her, Catlula was surprised by the man's rational expression and tone. The twi'lek wanted to refute his words and explain how he was wrong, but she could not. She just stared at the man and saw the guilt in his eyes. He felt like he was in the wrong but did not know why. Then, Catlula dug into her psyche and found that woman's identity as a twi'lek interested her more than the action done to her. She looked at the dead bodies of men tortured and killed next to her and felt nothing but the plight of a twi'lek slave angered her. Catlula saw herself in the woman and believed she had an idea of what she had already experienced and fought through.
Despite the blue twi'lek's anger on the purple's behalf, she did not want to be hated by the others in her army and said to the man, "You better keep her safe and alive." before walking away.
As Catlula walked out of the building, she saw the blood, gore, and carnage that initially shocked her. Now, she was numb to their appearance as they rotted and decayed. Violence was merely a part of the war, and Catlula needed to accept that.
The twi'lek walked out of the base feeling she had lost a part of her soul. She used to believe the Empire was fighting to keep order, but now, she recognized they were fighting for the expansion and retention of power. The ideas of the Empire disgusted the twi'lek, but she could see why they were right. She had studied the galaxy's history and knew it functioned on a kill-and-be-killed basis. As Catlula walked back on her shuttle, she recognized the battle royal she lived in.