Chapter 8
AN: New update, yeah. Hope you people like it and leave a review.
Messorem-Dust: First thanks man, secondly I'm glad you are happy. Honestly, I think it was obvious to notice, yeah Acina, Shmi and Triz are basically sith versions of our favorite trio, well my favorite trio, Luke, Leia, and Han are on the same level but prefer the former, the Clone Wars did a really good job at fleshing them out. You are right about all three characters, Acina is what you expect her to be a true sith, Shmi will become more like her as time goes on and Triz is desperate to become powerful and sees Shmi as her way of getting what she wants.
The ship flew through the hyperspace towards Columex, Shmi leaving the ship on autopilot as she took her new crew member to the back of the ship.
"Right, this is the main area of the ship, this is where you can eat and pass the time, the table also serves as a holographic dejarik board so you can play that too," Shmi said as she took the kid on the tour of the ship, if she was going to stay with her might as well get that out of the way immediately. Triz followed her new mentor along through the ship, looking at everything with wonder. She had only been outside her village a few times, mostly to other settlements in the area. She had seen ships but had never been inside of one before. The tour started from the cockpit from where Triz saw the most breathtaking view of her life, then she was led and shown the communications room, the main hold where a table and chairs were found, medical bay, turret access, engine room, garage which was filled with droid parts, and finally the dormitory. She had already seen the cargo hold so that wasn't needed.
"This is going to be your room, you got three beds, take your pick," Shmi told the girl who gave both the older woman and the room an uncertain look. After a moment she put her backpack on the bed closest to the door.
"And where are you sleeping?" Triz asked.
"There's another dormitory on the port side of the ship, that's mine. The lavatory is behind that door," Shmi pointed at a metal door on the other side of the room. "I know it's not the coziest of lodgings but this ship was designed with practicality in mind, not comfort. If you are hungry or need anything feel free to tell me."
"No, it's alright, thank you," Triz said.
"Don't mention it," Shmi said with a small smile. "Now rest up kind, you had a long day. I will call you once we get near Columex. The sight of exiting hyperspace is as good as entering it."
"T-thank you again," Triz said before Shmi left the girl alone in her new room, the doors closing behind her. Triz stared at the door for a moment wondering if she had made the right choice. "No, there's no turning back now," she told herself determinedly. She decided to take a lay down but she did not sleep but continued to wonder what this new path might bring.
Shmi walked across the ship towards the cockpit, wanting to check the systems one more time.
"I hope this does not backfire on us," Shmi told her ghostly companion.
"I'm positive it won't," Acina said in a certain tone.
"She is an innocent child, she had lost everything she ever loved, her family and home. I just feel that she should have stayed, she could build a normal life for herself. There is good and kindness in her, I wouldn't want her to lose that."
"I sympathize with you but she is almost an adult, she knows what she wants. You decided to take her in and show her the ropes so to speak, she is your responsibility now."
"Don't you mean our responsibility?" Shmi said raising an eyebrow.
"Well I'm a part of you now, am I not?" Acina said.
"You are a tenant in my mind, which makes what you said true from a certain point of view but you are still an individual so it means it's our, not just mine," Shmi responded.
"It seems you were listening to your other lessons after all and not just thinking when you can continue your lightsaber training," Acina said with a hint of approval in her voice. "Relying on physical aspects like strength and speed will only get one so far, using your mind and words will achieve goals brute force cant."
"You have been saying that constantly." Shmi pointed out.
"Because sometimes it's easier to outplay your opponents than to face them head-on, a mind can be a dangerous tool, as sharp as any blade. When I was alive I managed to get out of more than a few dangerous situations thanks to my quick thinking and smooth tongue. You would be surprised how many people fall for a pretty face and some flowery words, especially people from long-lasting aristocratic backgrounds, they think themselves so high and mighty," Acina said, the dose of contempt when she said the last part did not go unnoticed by Shmi. So her ghostly friend had some beef with nobility, which was odd considering the usual way with which Acina spoke, Shmi could sense an aristocratic undertone. Something to ask at a later time.
"I just hope we are making the right choice," Shmi said uncertainly.
"Quiet fussing so much about it, she will be fine with us. You have made great progress so far and can teach her the basics, anything more if needed I can point out through you or if I have to you can hand me the reins over for a short bit. If she changes her mind we can always fly back to Saleucami and leave her where we found her," Acina said in a reassuring tone. "All will turn out well, trust me."
"Maybe I should trust the force," Şhmi said after giving the topic some more thought.
"Maybe you should but right now all I can say is that we did a good thing by giving the girl a chance, maybe she will surprise us, you never know."
"Maybe," Shmi said thoughtfully.
"Also while I mentioned the topic of me taking control for a short while, I was wondering if you could let me be the one to drive, it's nice to just be the one looking out the window but its gets boring after a while. If it's not too much to ask, I would like to take a walk, to really feel my legs and to have something to drink, I miss the sensation terribly," Acina said. Shmi was certain how to respond, on one hand, she wasn't so eager to relinquish the control over her body again but on the other, she did feel a dose of pity for Acina, she could remember how it is to be inside her own mind and body but not be in control, and Acina has been going through that none stop. The last time they did the swap it was only for a short while and thanks to that decision they managed to get off Korriban alive. After a long moment of thought, Shmi sighed.
"Fine, you will have your chance but only for a short period of time, It's my body after all," Shmi said.
"Splendid," Acina said, not being able to hide her excitement. "Thank you for this. I promise to not get in any trouble, I only wish to walk around a bit and visit a bar, that's it."
"I want to believe you but somehow I'm still afraid something will happen," Shmi said skeptically.
"Oh please, I'm not you, you are the danger magnet. If any situation comes to pass that might result in us getting in any type of danger I will deal with it like a proper lady and not like a thug. Who would want to hurt just some random traveler in want to a good drink."
"Thieves," Shmi pointed out.
"Hm, point taken but the part of the Columex in have in mind has little of those, it's the part of the planet dedicated to catering to the upper class of the society. There was a nice little place by the main plaza which had an excellent stake that was the special of the house, I would like to see if it still exists."
"It's worth a try but I doubt it," Shmi said. "Going to a place which is frequented by the rich is going to cost us."
"We have the necessary credits, my dear, don't you worry your head about it. All you will have to do is sit back and watch, you might finally learn some manners and proper etiquette."
"Wait, are you calling me a savage?" Shmi asked with a mixture of surprise and irritation.
"Your words not mine, dear. But I have seen how you eat and have pointed it out a few times by now. I know your previous life wasn't the best and you had few opportunities to educate yourself but now you will have a chance to see how a proper meal is served and eaten. Not to mention a potential opportunity to interact with a more civilized society, the places and people we have seen so far aren't exactly the cream of the crop. You cant just walk up to people and ask for something, there are rules and ways of behaving."
"I'm starting to think that you are doing this only to annoy me," Shmi said, her irritation rising.
"Perish the thought," Acina said in mocking tone.
Shmi huffed. "I think I going to start working on that protocol droid that came with the ship, we could use one," Shmi said. She found that fixing stuff helped her focus and ease her mind.
"That pile of rusted bolts, it would be better to scrap it and buy a new one," Acina said.
"What can I say, I appreciate the old stuff, not as old as you but close," Shmi said.
"Old? I'm not that old, I'm barely in my forties," Acina argued, she could not help but be insulted. There were several things you should never say to a woman even if you are a woman yourself, and one of those is to insult their age. Shmi felt satisfied that finally, she managed to get on up on her ghostly mentor.
"Add three thousand years to that and then maybe," Shmi said smirking.
She could feel Acinas annoyance. "Touche," the Sith said, relenting, her apprentice had a point. She was in her forties when she died and since then three thousand years had passed.
"Look on the bright side, at least you can say that you look good for someone who is three thousand years old," Shmi said, the smirk still present on her lips.
"If I had a body gladly but I'm a ghost, and since I'm bounded to you I can't appear anywhere else but inside your mind," the sith said.
"Well you will get your chance at having a body for a bit soon enough but I want it returned in the same condition as I gave it to you so no anything like unnecessary cybernetics, tattoos, or anything similar," Shmi said in a serious tone that left no room for argument.
"You have my word my dear apprentice," the sith said.
For the hours that took the ship to fly through hyperspace from Saleucami to Culemex Shmi took her time to start repairing the protocol droid, as Shmi worked on the machine she realized that the droid in question was a RQ protocol droid. After tinkering with the droid for a while she went to check the engines and had a small chat with her two droids, R5 kept complaining and asking why did she have to bring another person aboard while the combat training which was a heavily modified empire era combat droid just stared at her with those three red eyes. Honestly, the training droid unnerved her sometimes and finally went to see the status of the ship's systems in the cockpit. During all that time Triz stayed inside her new room, she had managed to fall asleep after a while. A beeping noise caught Shmi's attention, it was an indicator that they almost arrived at their destination.
Shmi got up from her seat and proceeded to walk to Trizs room. She didn't know if the girl was asleep or not so she opted to politely knock on the metal door, after a few seconds a groggy murmurer of yes was heard from inside.
"Can I come in?" Shmi asked.
"Yeah," Triz said. Shmi pressed the button which opened the door, revealing the zabrak teen laying on the bed looking at Shmi with half-opened eyes.
"Sleep well?" Shmi asked.
"It was alright," Triz replied. "The bed is a bit hard but I will get used to it."
"Sorry about that, as I said the ship is practical, not comfy. I came to tell you that we will be exiting into real space soon, so if you want to watch now's the time."
The girl quickly jumped out of her bed, the sleepy expression she had before now replaced with an excited one. Shmi could not help but smile at the child's behavior, she had been through a lot but had not lost all of her innocence. She had a spark of wonder inside her, Shmi liked that about the girl.
"Come on, we should be exiting above Columex any minute now," Shmi said and started walking back towards the cockpit with Triz following right behind her.
"What is Colemex like? Have you been there before? Is it like Saleucami or different?..." Triz started to bombard Shmi with questions and even the ghostly sith had a tough time catching everything the teen said. When they reached the cockpit, Shmi took the pilot's seat while Triz sat in the copilot's seat. The teen could barely contain her excitement as she stared at the ship's captain, waiting for answers.
"It's a big trading planet, urbanized. No, I have never been there before. It's different from Selucimi in many ways and as for the rest you asked I have no idea, I barely managed to catch this much of what you said."
The teen looked down at her knees, embarrassed. "Sorry."
Shmi chuckled. "Don t be sorry, traveling to a new world for the first time is a big deal. Now direct your sights in front," Shmi said and the girl looked through the windows to see the blue of the hyperspace fade and make way for a sight of a large green and blue planet surrounded by the blackness of space and faint lights of faraway stars. Both of them took the sight it no a moment. The beautiful scenery was suddenly broken by the forms of a dozen or so gray and blue warships that were stationed in the planet's orbit, just above the North pole.
"That's unexpected," Shmi said eyeing the warships.
"Are we going to get into trouble?" Triz asked fearfully as she too eyed the gray warships.
"No, we don't have any beef with them, we are just travelers after all. There is a war on and luckily we aren't on either side, so no one should bother us while here."
"If they do, I will just dispose of them," Acina said.
"Patience, I haven't even given you the control over my body yet."
Shmi piloted the ship towards the surface of the planet and towards the main spaceport. One of the warships scanned the incoming freighter.
"And we have..." the B1 battle droid that sat at the scanning terminal of a Munificent-class star frigate said in his typical high-pitched voice. "A Dynamic-class freighter."
„Wow, that thing must be ancient," Another B1 battle droid said. "Who would even want to fly that fossil?"
"Junkers maybe? Smugglers?"
"Check," the droid officer said, this being a B1 droid as well but with yellow markings. The droid at the terminal did as told and ran the freighter through the warship's recognition systems and found nothing.
"Uh Sir, it doesn't match anything in the system. Should we hail them or use a tractor beam?"
After a moment of thought, the droid officer waved it off. "Nah, that thing will be lucky if it survives the planetary reentry."
"Roger, roger," replied the other droid.
Shmi landed her ship at one of the hangers of the spaceport and paid the Trandoshan that worked there. Then she turned back and walked over to the exit ramp where Triz was standing.
"Alright I got a few errands to run so you will have to stay and watch the ship," Shmi said.
"What? Why?" whined the teen.
"Because I said so," Shmi answered.
"What about R5 and the combat droid?"
"R5 is a good droid but he ain't exactly security. Considering what happened last time when I landed at a spaceport I would feel less worried if I left at least two people to watch over the ship."
"What happened last time?" Triz asked raising an eyebrow.
"Let's just say this is not the first ship I owned," Shmi said and left it at that. "Now will you do what I say?" the older woman asked. Triz stared at her for a moment before sighing.
"Fine," the teen said in a defeated tone.
"Just stay in the ship and keep out of trouble. If R5 starts complaining about me leaving you on the ship, ignore him."
"Yeah, yeah, got it," Triz said dissatisfied. She was hoping to see the big city for the first time in her life, well more than just a birds-eye view of it. She was also hoping that Shmi would start teaching her stuff, then again they just met a few hours ago, and that will take time.
"See you later," Shmi said with a small smile and left towards the exit of the hangar. When she was sure that Triz was out of sight she spoke to her ghostly half. "Alright, it's your time to shine, don't make me regret this."
"Oh trust me, you won't," Acina said. Shmi closed her eyes, took a deep breath, relaxed, and let the ancient sigh take control of her body. She left as she went further into the back of her mind and the other occupant swam to the surface. As she breathed out, her eyes opened and instead of her normal brown, they were dark yellow now, the eyes of a sith. "Finally, it's been so long," the sith said in exhilaration. Acina fixed the body's posture, standing straighter, her chin slightly up, shoulders more relaxed.
"So what now?" Shmi asked from inside of her own mind.
"Now," Acina said with a large grin on her face. "Now we have some fun."
Acina entered a good-looking bar near the main plaza. It was filled with people of higher standing not just from this planet but from the rest of the galaxy. All were dressed in elegant clothes, suits, and dresses which made Acina stand out among the crowd as she looked more like a beggar with her pants, shirt and coat than a lady of high standing. As she was about to start walking further inside, a large bouncer put his hand in front of her.
"This establishment is for selected people only, it's not open for everyone," the bouncer said.
"Oh come on dear, I know I look like I was just spat out by a rancor but I got credits," Acina said and could hear Shmi yelling Hey watch your mouth! on the inside.
"As I said, selected people only," the bouncer said in a more intimidating one. Acina looked at the large man and did her best not to laugh, she was a sith, one of the most powerful sith the empire ever had and this lowly simple man was threatening her. She could easily kill him right here in so many different ways but she promise to behave, and it would not be civil of her to do so in such an establishment. So she opted for a more, persuasive solution.
"You will let me in and not bother me again," Acina said and moved her hand slightly.
"I will let you in and not bother you again," the large oath repeated while in the trance-like state caused by the mind trick.
"Good, thank you for being so kind dear," Acina said and proceeded to walk passed the dazed muscle-bound oath and towards the large bar in the center. She sat down on an empty bar stool and looked at the Mirialan bartender who looked at her with skeptical eyes.
"Could you give me some good Corellian whiskey," Acina said, the bartender eyed her for another moment until he complied and went over to the shelf where the drinks were kept. "No, no that. The bottle you are holding under the counter," she added which surprised the man. Acina tossed a bunch of credits onto the counter and after seeing the amount of money, the bartender complied. Soon enough a glass of fine Corellian whiskey was placed in front of the sith. Acina sported a pleased expression and thanked the Mirilialan before taking the glass into her hand. She took a sip, the feeling of the strong drink going down her throat after so long felt amazing. "That tastes magnificent."
The sith took another sip and looked around, there were plenty of people drinking and gambling. After a moment of looking around Acina spotted an empty seat at one of the gambling tables. She smiled a cheshire grin. "Let's test our luck, shall we?"
She got up from her stool at the bar and proceeded to walk to the table. As she got closer she noticed that the people there were playing sabacc and as she got even closer some of the table occupants noticed her heading their way. Acina came to the empty chair and sat down.
"Would you be a dear and give a girl her cards, I'm feeling lucky today," Acina said and this caused a few eyebrows to rise.
"Madam this is a high-stakes table, I would advise...," the dealer started nonchalantly but was cut off when Acina tossed a pouch of credits on the table. The dealer took the pouch and opened it, to his surprise there was enough money there. He hummed. "This will suffice."
The dealer's decision to deal the sith in surprised several people present but they did not let it be shown, one more person added to the game means one more people to take money from.
Sabacc was a game of both skill and chance that could be played with as few as two and as many as eight players. Players could designate a dealer or take turns as the dealer, rotating in a clockwise fashion at the beginning of each hand but in this case, it was the former. The object of sabacc was to have a final hand with a total as close to 23 or -23 as possible without going over. A hand with a total of 24 or higher was said to "bomb out" and lost the round. There were two types of pot to be won in sabacc. The first one was the hand pot, which is taken by the player who won an individual hand. The second was the sabacc pot, which was continually built during the game, and went to the overall winner of the match.
The dealer started shuffling the deck before dealing one card to each player, including him, in rotation. He repeated another rotation until each of the eight players had two cards facedown. Acina briefly looked at the cards given to her, they were decent enough for the start. What followed was each of the players starting from one on the dealer's left, choosing to draw one or more cards from the deck then choosing to trade a card from their hand for one from the deck, or stand. They could then choose to place a single card in the game table's interference field to prevent the said card from being Shifted if a Sabacc Shift occurred. If a Sabacc Shift occurs, all the cards that were not locked in the interference field randomly changed suits and values. That new hand was the player's final hand for the round.
That same process was repeated by each player, ending with the dealer. Each player then called out his or her final hand's total. The player with the highest hand, totaling twenty-three or below, won the round. A hand of twenty-four or higher was said to "bomb out" and lost. A perfect hand of twenty-three or minus twenty-three was called a Pure Sabacc, and it could only be beaten by a rare and unbeatable hand called an Idiot's Array, consisting of The Idiot, a two card of any suit, and a three card of any suit.
In most high-stakes games, the cards are actually small screens that can change the value of the card at a signal from the Randomizer, causing a Sabacc Shift. Starting to the dealer's left, each player then called out their beginning hand totals.
Three of the players dropped out leaving Acina and four others. The sith had a decent hand, the total value of her cards being seventeen. The other players revealed their cards, nine, thirteen, six, and twenty.
"Damn," the sith thought. "So close. Well, it seems we will have to do this the fun way."
In the following rounds, Acina used her force abilities to read the minds of the other players, gaining a distinct advantage. Knowing what cards other players had she when to back down and when to press on and so far she had accumulated a good amount of wins. Something which visibly irritated some of the other players while few others had kept decent poker faces but Acina could read their minds and they were as irritated if not more than those who showed it. This went on for a better part of an hour and right now they were playing the final found. The stakes had gotten higher with every round and three of the players had left the table in an effort to save what little money and dignity they had left. That left the five of them, another two dropped out due to poor cards and now only three remained, the dealer, a sharply dressed man and her. The dealer revealed his card's value it was twenty. Acina looked at the well-dressed man who had a large smug grin on his face.
"Sabacc," the man said, his grin only getting wider. And sure it was, a pure sabacc, its value twenty-three. The guy laughed. "Lady luck is smiling on me today."
It was then that Acinas stone cold face morphed into a predatory grin. "Not so fast there," she said just as he was about to reach out for the stacks of credits. It was then that the sith revealed her own cards. "Idiots Array beats Sabacc, unless the rules have changed since the last time I played," she added sounding both innocent and smug at the same time. She could see the man's expression turn from smug to one of unbelief and finally anger.
"Damn it all!" the man shouted.
"Don't be such a sore loser, this is a game of chance after all and a person with more luck won," Acina said, leaning back into her chair as she sipped on her drink. The man glared at her.
"You cheated, there's no way you won so many times without cheating!" the man accused her. Acina stopped the glass just as it touched her lips, her unnatural yellow eyes boring into her accuser. The siths eyes shinned slightly and a dark aura started emanating from her. The gambler suddenly felt fear gripping his mind.
"Is that so?" the sith said, her tone even, yet there was a dark undertone present. "You are accusing an honest woman like me of cheating. On what grounds then if I may ask?"
"Y-you, there is no way..." the man stuttered, the fear rising more as the woman stared at him.
"You need to accept that today you were just down on your luck and you also need to apologize to me. I would prefer if we didn't have any issues between us, wouldn't you?"
The man was not gripping the armrests of his chair, his hands going white. There was something terribly wrong here, he never felt fear like this and all because he looked into those yellow eyes. Finally, his will broke.
"I-I'm sorry madam," he said stuttering. "I s-should not have accused you unjustly."
Acina gave the man a polite smile that somehow still managed to stir terror into the man. "That's good to hear, I accept your apology," she said and finished her drink before standing up from her seat. "It's been fun playing with you gentlemen but I think I had enough of cards for one day, I wish you better luck next time."
Acina took her winnings and placed them into a briefcase that formerly belonged to one of the other players. She then proceeded to walk out of the building as some of the attendees kept their wary eyes on her. The strange scene did not go unnoticed by other occupants, especially by those who were close to the table and felt the unnerving feeling coming from the woman. As the sith stepped outside the voice of Shmi was heard.
"Did you have to do that?" the original host asked.
"What, he started it when he accused me of cheating," the sith said feigning innocence.
"You did cheat," Shmi pointed out.
"Oh come on, if you think that any of those rich idiots will miss what they lost today you are wrong, they have plenty more. It is their egos that are hurt, not their wallets."
"Still you cheated, you said that you won't do anything that would get us into trouble."
"And I didn't, I solved the situation quickly."
"By almost giving him a heart attack?"
"Oh please I just gave him a little fright, he won't be experiencing any further harm," Acina said trying to reassure her companion. "Besides this money will be better used in our hands than theirs."
"That is..." Shmi started but then Acina felt a familiar presence stalking them.
From behind a nearby wall Triz watched as Shmi walked out of the bar and onto the street before starting to walk in the opposite direction from where she was hiding. She tried to get into the bar but the bouncer kicked her out before she even had a chance to look for her new mentor. So she decided to wait and she did, for an entire boring hour. She had started to ponder an idea of getting inside but before she managed to think of anything remotely successful she spotted Shmi exiting the bar with what looked like a lot of credits.
As Shmi started to walk away Triz started following her, carefully staying within the crowd so as not to be noticed. She followed Shmi into an alleyway where to the teen's shock the older woman disapeared. Triz started to frantically look around, she was certain that Shmi could be here until an unfamiliar voice was heard from behind her.
"Weren't you supposed to stay on the ship?" the voice said and Triz froze for a moment until she spun around only to meet Shmi.
"How did she do that?" Triz wondered as she stared at the older woman. Triz could swear that there was no one behind her a moment ago.
"I asked you a question girl," Acina said with a stern voice.
"I-I got bored so I went after you," Triz replied. "And why does her voice sound different?" It was then that she noticed that Shms's eyes weren't brown anymore but sickly yellow in color. If she didn't ask about staying on the ship, Triz would have thought that she had found Shmi's doppelganger. How did she change her eyes and her voice?
"Got bored, did you? After what, five minutes?"
"Less than that," Triz replied, lowering her head in shame.
"You don't follow commands so well, that is going to take some work," Acina said. "At least you are good at stalking people, although that is going to need work as well," Acina gave Triz a good look over. "And new clothes?"
"What's wrong with my current clothes?" Triz asked slightly offended.
"What's wrong? We are in a civilized world and you are wearing what can be described as farmer's clothes at best, and there aren't any farms anywhere near here."
"Like your clothes are better, you look like a criminal," Triz said.
"I'm aware of that and I have full intention of remedying that," Acina said and turned her back to Triz before starting to walk back to the main plaza, Triz running after her. "You and I have some shopping to do."