Chapter 4
AN: The story continues, I hope you guys enjoy reading it and feel free to leave a review.
redbleik: I'm glad you like it.
spiderfan: It's set during the clone wars, I want for there to be issues for Palpatine to turn Anakin to the dark side but for there to be a conflict between the Jedi council and Shmi and Anakin later down the line. There are also other things but I won spoil anything here.
Weeks have passed since Shmi and her inner voice companion Acina made their way to Seleucami. The first thing they did once there was find a new ship, which they did easily. They traded their old ship and have a few extra credits to purchase a Dynamic class freighter, which was in good shape considering its age, Shmi moved all of the crates and artifacts from the old ship into the new one. She had even managed to persuade the astromech droid to come with her.
Shmi was just starting to gather the first crates when she saw the little droid looking at her with interest. She turned to him and smiled. "Hey there little guy, finally got the courage to come out I see. Well, I bought a new ship and will be moving to it, you can stay here if you wish and join whoever buys it next, or stay with the man whos selling the ships," the droid didn't seem to like neither of those ideas and just continued to stare at her. "I know we might now have had the best start but if you wish you can come with me, I could honestly use a capable droid on my new ship and I promise no harm will come to you while you are with me."
The droid replied in questioning beeps.
"I'm sure. You can trust me," Shmi said in a reassuring tone. After a moment of contemplating his possibilities the droid reluctantly agreed to come with Shmi, "Splendid, now come let's get these things to our new ship," With the droid's help she had moved the artifacts to her new ship and decided that it would be best to lay low so she piloted the ship to an area covered in forest and landed it there, a suitable place considering it was far away from any town and no people would be lurking around that far into the woods.
During their first day in their isolation, they started going over everything in the crates that came with their first ship. There were more lightsabers, crystals for them, tablets, pieces of armor, and various artifacts from the tombs but what was most interesting and most valuable were the pyramid-shaped objects that Acina called holocrons, deposits of knowledge of the Sith Order. She had managed to open one which turned out to be on forms of lightsaber combat, so far she had been good with learning the basic form Shii-Cho quickly, and had shown great interest in Djem So. She did want to over time learn Niman due to it being more centered on dual-wielding blades unlike other forms, she wanted to use two blades like Azera did when she dispatched those tugs on Korriban.
Shmi had spent those weeks training with Acina, the ghost was not a gentle teacher and would chastize Shmi whenever she would do something wrong and the droid didn't help the situation much pointing out that she was crazy for talking to herself when she was actually talking to Acina. The droid also had an annoying habit of complaining a lot which made Shmi regret the fact that she somehow understood the little guy. Shmi and Acina spent most of the morning going over the lessons about the force, then in the afternoon it would be lightsaber combat, something that really interested Shmi and in the evening Acina would explain more powerful technics but would still not teach them due to Shmi still being barely on an apprentice level in siths own words. Over the weeks she had started to pick up Acinas teachings more quickly and recently they had discovered something they dubbed the bleeding effect. The ghost had managed to show a memory of her fighting another lightsaber dualist to Shmi and later Shmi performed most of the moves she had seen in the memory, granted they were a bit sloppy but it was a great improvement. The downside of it was that after the showing Acina had felt drained and said it was due to her still being weak, so Shmi decided to limit the use of the effect and focus on doing things the old-fashioned way. They had a close encounter with one of the more dangerous wildlife that Seleucami has to offer but a few well-placed blaster shots to its chest and head took care of it.
While doing some maintenance on her new ship she received a vision which she concluded was a memory flash of a shop filled with used mechanical parts and a flying alien standing at the counter. It was a surprise when it came but a welcomed one, a short memory it might have been but it was better than nothing. It gave her hope that her memories might return with time. If she had worked in a mechanics shot that would explain her knowledge of the ship's components.
"Again!" shouted Acina as Shmi panted, desperately trying to get some air in her lungs. They had been going over everything they had learned about form I for hours now and Shmi was close to collapsing from exhaustion.
"J-Just…give me...a… minute," Shmi stammered out, desperately trying to get some air into her lungs.
"I didn't give you permission to rest, your movements are passible at best, you won't defeat any real opponent like that," chastized the dead sith.
"If you had forgotten," Shmi said lifting herself up. "I have an actual body that gets tired, my muscles ace and I'm hungry. I know that a disembodied voice has nothing of that but you could at least show some understanding considering that you too once had a real body. I'm not a droid."
"I underwent thousand times more grueling training regiment than I'm currently making you undergo, this barely passes as child's play."
"Alright now you're just making yourself look better, I'm still new to this while you had years to prepare yourself for it."
"Who said I was prepared?" Acina said and this got Shmi's attention. "I did know that I was force sensitive until I was told about it. I was a servant girl barely out of my teens when I was sent to the academy to train, and let me tell you my instructers held nothing back, their job was to make sure the best make it to being picked by a sith to become their apprentice. When I arrived at the academy I knew that I had to be the best to have a real chance and I became the best in my group."
"And what happened to the rest?" Shmi asked.
"They failed their trials and did not continue their training," Acina said, it was true from a certain point of view, the truth being that they were all killed either in the tombs by some creature or by each other but Shmi didn't need to know that detail. "I'm doing my best to train you in a way that is suited for you, I might be harsh but that is necessary. Only a strong person can truly survive in the galaxy but I don't need to tell you that, you only need to remember what those thugs on Korriban would have done to you if I didn't intervene."
Shmi thought about the ghost's words and sighed. "You have a point."
"I'm glad you see it my way," the sith said. "Now, if you are done wasting time, I want you to repeat every movement from first to last."
"Ah fine," Shmi said through greeted teeth and started moving her lightsaber around, performing the moves of form I Shii-Cho with practiced ease mostly because she had done it who knows how many times that day alone.
After the sun set over the forest and Shmi had her meal, the tired human went to bed in one of the ship's cabins, leaving the droid to wake her up just in case something unwanted shows up. Shmi was fast asleep in the captain's room on the ship, sleep being welcome after an entire day of training mentally and physically. She was having some much-needed rest and was barely moving in her bed until she started shuffling. A dream was causing this, of a little girl who looked like a younger version of Shmi being dragged by a man in the middle of what looked like to be some kind of a market.
"A young slave girl, fit for duties around the house," the man said and a surge of anger hit Shmi as she slept. Soon several people among the crowd started biding for her and a rodian was the one to buy her. The credits were given and the alien pulled the girl by the hand, leading her away from the market. The scene changed to another auction where now Shmi in her teens stood at a podium, her face having an expression of fear and uncertainty, eyes filling with tears while several men bid for her, and just like the first time someone brought her and took her away. Shmi woke up in a pool of cold sweat and gasping for air, after a few moments she managed to calm herself down enough to start processing what she had seen.
"Was that?" Shmi asked in a low tone.
"Another memory flash, I believe so, yes," Acina said.
"So that means that I…I was a slave," Shmi said, barely managing to utter the words, a dark, painful feeling went through her body as she said those words.
"It seems so, the girl in the vision was definitely a younger you," the ghost confirmed. This was hard for Shmi to take in, on one hand, she now knew why she hated the concept of slavery and the Hutts and it did give her more information on herself but on the other hand, finding out that you were a slave from early life was not something a person would find pleasant. Her hope was that she wasn't a slave for long but a gut feeling was telling her otherwise. Seeing the memory brought some hard feelings, like hate, anger, resentment and bitterness. Now she wasn't so sure if she wanted to find out more about her former life. She lay down once more and curled up in a ball, anger and shame filling her mind.
"What more was done to her while she was a slave?" Shmi asked herself. "Was she simply used as a worker or was she made to act like a pleasure slave, was she beaten for disobeying, did she have anyone who cared about her, or was she simply alone by herself, a weak, forgotten slave who no one even gave a second glance?"
The Siths voice broke Shmi from her dark thoughts. "I might have the answers you seek but I might have a piece of advice you can use."
"What?" Shmi asked in a whispering tone, she didn't want to talk right now but knew she had no choice considering her situation.
"That anger, hate, fear you feel right now, don't try to simply ignore them or bottle them up, used them, emotions can be a great way to channel the force. I taught you the Sith code?" Shmi knew that the question was rhetorical, Acina had told her the Sith code in the first few days when they came to the planet. Shmi sighed and remembered the words spoken to her.
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall set me free," Shmi recited the code Acina made her memorize,
"The words of the Sith Code," the sith said. "Others had heard them, contemplated them, and so on. But I understood them, and they changed me. For what was I before I heard those words? Nothing. You learned the code but do you know what it truly means?" The question made Shmi clear her thoughts, focusing from the revelation of her slavery to contemplation of the code.
"The first part has something to do with conflict," Shmi said after a minute of thought.
"Correct," Acina said. "My interpretation of the code matches the one my first instructor at the academy had. What Peace is a lie, there is only passion means conflict forces one to better oneself. It forces change, growth, adaption, evolution… or death," Shmi understood what her companion meant but did very much like the death part. "Through passion, I gain strength means that it ones goal is to be stronger, to achieve our full potential and not rest upon our laurels. We are the seekers, not the shepherds. The members of my order saw themselves as seekers, challengers of old and stagnant ways, in touch with the laws of nature and the universe. Without strife, victory has no meaning. Without strife, one does not advance. Without strife, there is only stagnation. Unless the victory is achieved by demonstrating that your power is superior, it is only an illusion. Temporary at best. We seek more. The Sith did not believe that victory by any means was desirable, it can be any type of victory whether by truce or through force of arms, but believed that unless victory proved your superiority, it was an illusion and temporary. One who has freed themselves from all restrictions has reached perfection… their potential fulfilled. Perfect strength, perfect power, perfect destiny. The final line, The force shall set me free means that the Force is not just our servant but is also our master. Our teacher and our companion. A weapon and a tool. Know it and you know the universe. Master it and you master the universe. Strive for perfection and the Force shall reward you."
After a long moment of contemplating what her companion just told her, everything about strength, power and freedom, Shmi spoke. "I…I think I understand it, maybe not all of it completely but I understand what you mean. But what does that have to do with me, from the way I see it, I have freedom, I got what strength and power I need, I don't need to be the most powerful being in the galaxy."
"You might have freedom but honestly you have very little strength or power, an old ship, a droid and a blaster won't do you much good in the long run. The galaxy is big and filled with people who won't hesitate you use you, trick you or just kill you and take what belongs to you. I have started training you in the ways of the force, through it you will gain what you desire or are you simply content with what you have now and would easily allow yourself to be taken and sold into slavery once more," the Sith said and the last part hit a nerve, it caused Shmis emotion to rise again.
"I'm not going back into slavery," Shmi growled out, the metal walls around her starting to bend and objects started flying in the air crashing at those walls. "Never!"
"Good to see you are properly motivated," Acina said. "If we are to ensure that does not happen, I would suggest a harder, tougher training regiment but one that should yield faster results. It is still not as hard as one I had but it will be much harder than the one you had so far," Shmi listened to the ghost's words and calmed down enough to think clearly once more, the objects stoped flying and the walls stopped bending.
Shmi looked down at the small cracked mirror on the floor, seeing her broken reflection in it. She did want to be caught and sold off once more, she did want to belong to someone like she was just some object to be owned. She loved the freedom she had, she would not give it up for anything and would do whatever it takes to keep it. Acina had a point when it comes to there existing other beings with more power and influence out there, she just needed to think about whoever was looking for the original owners of her previous ship, the Hutts, or any other criminal or other organization who wouldn't choose how they got money in her hands. She had no intention of being left in some hellhole to rot until the end of her days, drowning in her misery and despair. Shmi looked at the broken mirror once more, this time with a look of determination instead of fear in her eyes.
"Fine, we do it your way," Shmi said in a tone that left no room for argument and Azera had no reason to.
"Exellent," the sith said in a satisfaid tone. "I suggest you get back to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a much more exhausting day than this one was."