Chapter 11

AN: Hell yes, an update. It's been almost two months but it's here finally. This chapter continues the Columex slaves arc, the next chapter will be the final chapter of the arc and it's going to be good. This chapter mostly is mostly an in-between chapter, it focuses on Shmi dealing with slavers and showing more of her hate toward them.

Messorem-Dust: Yeah, Acina is manipulating Shmi and keeping quiet. Yeah. the modern-day Jedi are weaker than their Old republic counterparts. The only ones that are on the same level are Windu, Yoda, Kenobi, Anakin, and the rest of the council members. Acina is going to be both pleased and disappointed at the current incarnations of Jedi and Sith. Acina will teach SHmi sith lighting. I'm glad you like it.

Shmis first engagement with the zygerrians went well all things considered, apart from the aching pain coming from her shoulder and pretty much everywhere else, the whips did a number on her but she prevailed in the end, her hate and anger towards the slavers driving her on towards victory.

With the deaths of the captors, she was able to free the poor souls that were destined to be taken off the world and sold off on slave markets for a handful of credits. The sith apprentice went from cell to cell, unlocking them and ushering the people trapped inside them outside. The cells housed more people than she had anticipated and combined with the ones that were already aboard the slaver's ship, the number of people that were almost sentenced to a life of misery came close to a hundred.

At first, seeing her, the people were frightened, an understandable notion considering her attire and the fact she was wielding a red lightsaber. The fear quickly evaporated when Shmi explained that she was there to free them, some were skeptical of course but after a few gentle words and showing them that she meant no harm the former prisoners believed her. After breaking them out of their cells she ushered them to follow her outside.

"What about the slavers?" one of the women asked with trepidation.

"The zygerrians have been dealt with, they shall trouble you no longer," Shmi replied in an even tone. This brought both a feeling of ease and satisfaction to the woman and the rest of the freed people. That is until their eyes saw the carnage that Shmi was responsible for, the sight of all of the bodies that she had mutilated in her pain and hate-induced rampage littered the main area of the hanger, the expression of horror forever etched on their faces as they died. This scene made the former prisoners weary of their savior, the slavers weren't just killed, they were dispatched with an unhealthy dose of brutality. Mothers covered the eyes of their children, urging them not to watch and continue walking, while some others could do little but stare in shock. Shmi felt a pint of guilt that the children were forced to witness such a sight even if the act of killing all of the slavers brought no small amount of satisfaction to her. Children were so young and fragile, they should not go through what they were forced to endure. The thought of that only served to fuel her hate for the zygerrians. Shmi noticed the ones staring at the macabre sight. "Keep moving," she ordered and they did as told. Some of them wanted to say something but opted to keep quiet, mostly due to fear.

"I never thought a Jedi would do something like this," she overheard one of them whispering to another.

She turned her head slightly to look back at the man. "That is because I'm no Jedi."

"Why do people keep confusing us for Jedi?" Acina said, her voice etched with irritation. "Has the galaxy forgotten so much of its history? As if the Jedi are the old force-worshiping sect that used lightsabers in existence."

"Yeah, it's getting kinda annoying to have to correct people every single time," Shmi said.

After a moment of contemplation, Acina continued. "I guess that we just have to put up with it for now but in time the galaxy will remember, it always does."

"We did what we came here to do, now we move to the next location before anyone starts to suspect anything," Shmi said.

"I know when you aren't telling me something, a rancor has not gotten your tongue so out with it my dear, tell me what's bothering you," Acina said in a soft, yet japing tone.

"This place," Shmi said looking back at the hanger with scorn. "It should be destroyed. It is a place of suffering, used by the wicked to harm others, it needs to be burned down."

"An explosion could potentially alert the other cells of our presents and intent. Right now our main advantage is the element of surprise, it would be best to keep it that way. Our goal has been achieved here as you said, nothing more is needed," Acina spoke but this time her tone was different, more commanding and authoritative, the voice of a teacher lecturing a student and Shmi knew this.

"I understand master," Shmi replied. As much as she hated to admit it, Acina had a point. One of the best ways to attack an enemy is when they are unaware that you are coming for them and they still possessed that advantage.

"You need to pay attention to the bigger picture of a plan my dear, if I went along with every impulse I had back in my day half of the plans I conjured wouldn't have come to fruition. I said it before, emotions are a source of power but do not let them jeopardize what you seek to achieve. Let them be the key to it."

Shmi used the force to open the large hanger doors and proceeded to lead the people outside. The group stopped once they were outside the hangar.

"We thank you for freeing us once more," a large burly man said. The guy had put up a fight when he was captured, judging by the wounds on his body. "But our lives have been completely uprooted by these sons of Hutts, we have no homes to return to, and even if we did what would stop the slavers from coming back?"

"Me," Shmi replied in a cold voice which slightly unnerved the people present. "I can't rebuild your homes or restore your dead loved one to life but I can grant you your freedom back and a chance to start anew. Don't you have anyone you can turn to for help in the city or outside of it?"

"Perhaps, some of us do have some friends and relatives that live in the city and around the planet..." the man stated.

"Then you are luckier than most," The memory of herself bound to chains came to mind. Shmi tossed a pouch filled with credits to one of the women. "It's not much but it should be enough for basic necessities until you sort things out on your own."

Shmi proceeded to walk back toward one of the alleyways but stopped a few steps from it.

"One more thing, I suggest you keep a low profile for a while, for your own safety sake," She said and proceeded to walk into the dark alley, none of the people she saved uttering a word as she left. The large group of people who almost suffered the fate of becoming slaves had mixed feelings about their savior. On one hand, she had saved them yes both from being sold to who knows where and even potentially being killed but on the other, there was something unnerving about her, and it wasn't just what she did to those zygerrians. The way she held herself and spoke, but most of all those strange yellow eyes, there were plenty of species that had yellow eyes in the galaxy but these just felt wrong to the person looking at them, unnatural.

Shmi walked through the back alleys of the city until she finally reached the port where her ship has docked. The main ramp was lowered, looking around Shmi could not detect anyone outside. Extending her senses with the force to check if anyone was hiding nearby, she found nothing, everything was quiet. A percussion might seem a bit much but after what she had just pulled, a hint of paranoia was justified. Entering the space-traveling vessel Shmi found everything as she had left it in the storage compartment, it seems that Triz had managed to stay put and not let anything happen to the ship and its cargo. She made her way to the center area of the ship where she found the zabrak teen playing Dejarik with the astromech droid and judging by the look on her face, they had been at it for a while or Triz had been on the losing side one too many times. When one of the droid's pieces moved and crushed one of Trizs leaving her with only two, Shmi got her answer.

"Oh come on! Again!" Triz shouted in frustration. The droid produced a noise that was interpreted as laughter, Shmi could not help but chuckle at the scene, which made her wince as pain shot through her shoulder where the blaster bolt hit her, the adrenaline and the effects of the dark side had worn off somewhat so she was starting to really feel it. Triz noticed Shmi leaning on the side of the entrance and quickly jumped from her seat. "You are back! How did it go!"

Shmi walked over to the chair next to Triz and sat down. "Bring a bacta patch from the cupboard over there," Shmi said as she pointed with her good arm. Triz immediately did as told and brought the first aid patch to her mentor. Shmi took over her armor with a bit of struggle before planting the bacta patch on her shoulder, a cold sensation washed over the wound and made her relax somewhat. The sith apprentice looked at Triz who sported a worried expression,

"W-What happened?" Triz asked.

"I got careless a bit, a lucky shot hit me but I will be fine, just have to give the patch time to work its magic," Shmi said.

"You know that one patch won't heal that wound, right?" Triz said, slightly uncertain. The zabrak had full trust in her mentor's abilities but she could not help to wonder.

"I know that," Shmi said as she leaned back into the chair and exhaled. "I just need it to heal me up enough so I can continue with the mission undeterred."

Triz looked at the slouched form of her master and could not help but be both impressed and worried at the same time. She knew that Shmi was strong but that she would brush aside an injury like that and still be determined enough to push on with her mission was something to be admired. Triz was also worried for her master due to the injury she sustained and her willingness to almost ignore it. Shmi could sense the worry coming off the teen, Triz had no mental barriers to speak off, well not yet that is, not to mention the uncertain look on her face.

"Don't worry about me, I will be fine," Shmi said in a reassuring tone. "Did anything happen while I was gone?" she added trying to change the topic.

"Not really, I was mostly trying to kill time anyway I could until you got back," Triz answered. Shmi could detect a small lie in there somewhere.

"Really?" she asked. Their eyes met, Triz immediately noticed the sickly yellow color of Shmis eyes had replaced the usual brown once more. This greatly intrigued her and made her nervous somewhat. Her eyes might have changed but not her way of speaking and mannerisms like during the gathering at the Greyshade palace.

"Yeah," Triz responded. "Why you ask?"

The droid then made several loud beeping sounds which made Shmi raise an eyebrow at what the C1 series droid said.

"Oh did she now?" Shmi said with a small smirk.

"What? What did he say?" Triz asked nervously looking at Shmi.

"Oh just that you were snooping around the cargo containers earlier," Shmi said, she would have crossed her arms but decided that the better option was not to move her wounded side much until the patch is done with its work. But she still gave an accusing look to her would-be student.

"I-I just wanted to see if there was more cool looking armor inside," Triz said stuttering and doing her best to conceal her nervousness and failing spectacularly. Shmi could not help but laugh at the teen's antics.

"Don't worry, I'm not mad but I'm disappointed that you went behind my back," Shmi said in a now more serious tone. "Some of those artifacts are more dangerous than you would believe, especially for someone who is untrained like you."

Triz could not help but feel ashamed, she knew that she should not have gone behind Shmi's back but her curiosity got the better of her and thought that she had made the droid swear he would not tell anyone.

"Did you take anything out of the containers?" Shmi asked.

"Nothing big, just one of those pyramid things," Triz replied.

"A holocron, it's called a holocron. They are repositories of knowledge but they can also be dangerous depending on which one you take. Anything else?"

"And I might have opened it accidentally," Triz said, nervously scratching the back of her head. This got Shmis attention immediately.

"You opened one?" Shme asked, slightly surprised at the new development. Triz was force sensitive, yes, but it takes focus to open a holocron.

"And to open a sith holocron it takes hate, despair, and loathing," Acina added. "The girl has that although she is trying to hide it. I do wonder whose holocron did she take."

"Well, at least I think I did. There is supposed to be a projection of a person talking, right?"

"Yes," Shmi answered. Sith holocrons are powerful objects full of useful information for any practitioner of the dark side but they can also be dangerous due to the allure they possess and the possibility of something more being stored in them. Acina knew about it, during her time, some powerful sith managed to put parts of their psyche, their very being into the pyramid-shaped objects so that when they perished more than just their lessons and memory of them would be preserved. That part that was stored inside the holocron had a large degree of sentience, all the knowledge of its maker, and even potentially a portion of their power. That was what made sith holocrons so much dangerous compared to their Jedi versions which only housed knowledge that is to be passed down.

"Did the projection introduce itself?" Acina asked and Shmi repeated the question.

Triz shook her head. "No, once I opened the holocron it started going over some force abilities that sounded really cool," she said with excitement.

"Just a regular holocron then," Acina said. The sith ghost was honestly pleased that they had not encountered any problematic holocrons as of yet. They had opened most of them so they would know what each of them contained but there are still a few that remained untouched in the cargo containers. The last thing she needed right now was for another sith to interfere in her plans, even if one was stuck inside a holocron there was no way of saying what would happen if said holocron was opened.

Shmi sighed. "How have you fared with the texts I gave you to study?" she asked her student.

"So far so good, some bits were more philosophical and harder to understand at first but I managed. I'm eager to start my combat training," Triz replied. Shmi had told her student repeatedly that there is more to being sith than combat but the teen keeps only focusing on that. It was Shmis main focus at the start as well so she could not blame her but through Acinas lectures she learned that there is more to being sith than just using the force and wielding a lightsaber in combat. Triz was young and utterly new to this, she will learn in time.

"Focus on your force studies for now and once I'm done with the slaving operation on this planet I might start your lightsaber training."

"Really?" Triz exclaimed with excitement and rushed to hug Shmi who winced once more at the contact. "Sorrysorrysorrysorry,"

"It's fine," Shmi said, readjusting herself in the seat. "Now, I have an hour until the patch is done, C1 go start the engines, better not to waste time. When we reach the next target I should be healed up enough."

"And if not, you can always channel that pain through the dark side, it will give you more power," Acina advised.

"Noted," Shmi replied. She used the force to summon a datapad from the nearby table. That data pad was linked to the surveillance devices she had planted around the targeted sights. "Let's see what we got."

The ship landed in the industrial district of the second largest city on the planet, that's where their next target was located and where the zygerrians had their second base. Shmi got up from the pilot's seat and rolled her shoulder a few times, it still hurt but she would manage. After putting her armor back on she proceeded to leave the ship once more and head into the city. Before she left she packed a bag with detonators when asked by Acina what those were for she replied: "If we can't destroy those facilities right now, we can do it once the last one is cleared out."

"Hmmm, not a bad idea actually," Acina replied. After some time of traversing the city streets, they found themselves in front of the slaver's facility. Just like the previous one, it was a large private warehouse with a docking hanger and just like the previous one it was guarded both on the outside by human mercenaries and zygerrians on the inside. "Let the games begin," Acina said with a hint of mad glee in her voice.

Just like she did the first time around Shmi first took out the outer perimeter guards with ruthless efficiency, the red blades of her lightsaber making quick work of the unsuspecting guards. For some strange reason, Shmi could not help but relish the fear she felt coming from them in their final moments. They were scum who were helping ruin other people's lives so they deserved their fate. Entering the warehouse was easy with the guards out of the way and the sight inside was identical to the first warehouse she liberated. Zygerrian soldiers mingled around the interior, some were loading up the captured prisoners onto the ship while others were standing guard. She had made a mistake last time around, one she would make sure does not repeat this time. Just like the last time she opted to make a distraction first but this time the distraction would be much louder and more damaging.

Shmi pulled out one of the detonators, primed it, and using the force made it fly all the way up to some fuel barrels. With the detonation of the explosive device, the barrels exploded as well, killing the zygerrians that were standing close to them and making the rest find cover. The shouts of alarm followed but before anyone could even get the faintest clew at what in the name of seven Correlian hells was going on Shmi leaped into action, twin sabers at the ready. She did not give anyone her targets time to react properly as she cut them down one by one. Finally, the slavers managed to scramble themselves and form some kind of defensive line on the side of the hanger opposite of Shmi. Soldiers with blasters and energy bows fired at the intruder in an effort to dispatch her quickly but only found their bolts redirected back at them. As emotions rose inside Shmi she kept on pushing the slavers back. Finally one of them had a bright idea to bring a more powerful gun, a blaster cannon which was being wielded by a rather large zygerrian. Shmi managed to duck behind covered just in time to avoid the devastating barrage of the blaster canon.

"Blaster canon! Seriously!" Shmi shouted with irritation.

"I would not recommend trying to deflect that," Acina advised in a strangely calm voice considering their current predicament.

"No shit!" Shmi shouted before another series of blaster shoots hit the pillar she was hiding behind. The blaster cannon shoots several times at the pillar with a detonator being thrown at it a split second later. The combination of the blaster weaponry and the explosive caused dust and debris to fly through the air and mask the view over where the Zygerians target was hiding. The officer in charge ordered a cease fire. For a brief moment, no sound was heard, and no one moved, they only stood and watched the smoke before the commander ordered his men forward. The feline slavers moved slowly towards the smoke that was slowly evaporating, their weapons at the ready just in case but it was doubtful that anything could survive that. How wrong they were.

To the pure shock and terror of the Zygerrians, out of that smoke and debris flew out Shmi, cutting the heads of the first two slavers with her red blades before moving on with all the swiftness she possessed towards the blaster cannon. The feline soldiers tried shooting at her but her speed combined with her skill with her blades proved too great and she reached her intended target quickly. An x-shaped slash was all it took to silence the cannon for good and a vertical slash was all it took to end its wielder. The last of the Zygerrian resistance was dispatched rather easily, Shmi took particular delight in killing the last several members. Soon enough, the sight in the main area of the hanger was the same as in the previous warehouse, bodies littered the floor all cut into pieces by the sith apprentice's crimson blades. Yellow eyes went over the carnage briefly before they focused on the bag filled with detonators.

"First thing first," she said and moved towards where the people were being held captive. Unlike the first time, instead of the number of cells that the potential slaves were kept in, all of them were held in one large room with their limbs restrained. Shmi used one of her blades to cut open the lock and enter inside. Frightened people of Columex stared at their would-be savior with weary eyes.

"H-have you come to save us?" a little boy's voice was heard asking, it was both hopeful and scared at the same time.

"Yes," Shmi replied as she stepped into the room. "Don't worry, all will be fine. I come to get you out of here," she said trying to reassure the prisoners. With a bit of focus and a force-enhanced movement of her hand, the shackles that bound the Columexi opened and fell to the ground. "I advise you not to linger here for too long. The guards have been dealt with and you have free passage to the city from here. I also suggest that children and those with weak stomachs close their eyes on their way out, the hanger is not a pretty sight."

Shmi tossed a paunch with credits to one of the men on their way out and told him to use it to buy necessities. After freeing the last few prisoners that were held aboard the ship she started going through with the final stage of her plan. With the guards dead and slaves freed, Shmi proceeded to plant the detonators all over the warehouse. These detonators will only explode when a signal is sent from the ship. All of this will go up in smoke and fire when she is done with it, no trace of the slavers will be left in this world and they will learn to never come back here again. With the final detonator planted, she left the warehouse and returned to her ship.

"Two down, two to go," Shmi said, a triumphant smile on her lips.