"My sincerest apologies, Captain," Elara said. "I assure you, this was not what I intended."
"Well, I'm here," Xal said.
Elara nodded. "General Garza assures me I will receive my full leave time once the matter is settled."
"What happened, exactly?" Xal asked.
Elara said, "I did not fill out the proper forms in a timely fashion."
Xal looked at Cyr'rnin.
"I couldn't believe it either," she said.
"My supervisory officer, Captain Kalor, intends a full hearing," Elara explained.
"And I gotta testify," Xal said. "Let's get to it. The sooner we're done, the sooner the fun."
"Yes," Elara said. "I am very much looking forward to it."
"Ter'viro?" Cyr'rnin said.
"Not a word," Xal replied. "Not yet, anyway. No one believes it. Especially not Mom and Dad."
"You talked to them?" Cyr'rnin said.
Xal nodded. "When I asked Y'nai to set up accounts for Corso and me."
"Good to hear," Cyr'rnin said.
Elara said, "If you please, Captain, the hearing awaits."
"I am Colonel Adatha Phessii," the Togruta judge said. "I will be conducting the hearing. Captain Kalor, where is Lieutenant Elhdo?"
"She had to recuse herself," Kalor said. "Apparently, she and Captain Onoka had an encounter some months ago."
"Redhead?" Xal asked. Kalor nodded.
"And, another one," Elara said.
Xal said, "I was on Coruscant a long time."
"Of course," Elara said.
"Discuss it later," Phessii said. "Captain Kalor, you may begin."
"Sergeant Dorne," Kalor began. "Why did you fail to report your relationship?"
"We were not officially in a relationship until quite recently," Elara said. "The forms require both of us, and Captain Xaldiba has been busy with his own projects. Our intermittent fling was known by both Lieutenant Onoka and General Garza. Neither expressed concern. I intended to broach the subject with Captain Xaldiba during our planned trip to Tatooine. However, the hearing interrupted my plans."
"Convenient," Kalor said.
"Hardly," Elara replied. "Both Captain Xaldiba and Havoc Squad have engaged almost continuously for the past nine months. Our meetings were few and far between. We've only been seeing each other since Tatooine, barely two months ago. That was the first time we met."
"Very well," Kalor said. "Captain Xaldiba, has Sergeant Dorne ever tried to get you to use your influence over your sister?"
Xal held in a laugh. "My sister has not taken my advice in anything since she was twelve."
"Is your relationship with Sergeant Dorne exclusive?" Kalor asked.
"It is," Xal said.
"Since when?"
"A few days ago," Xal said.
"And, prior to that-" Kalor began.
"Lady Cedonia Teraan, for one," Elara said.
"That was him?" Phessii said.
"Yes," Elara said with a sour expression.
"Lady Teraan?" Kalor asked.
"Sergeant Xarinn," Phessii said over a comm. "Bring over that thing on Lady Teraan you were showing me."
A Zabrak sergeant appeared, handed the judge a pad, gave Xal a sour look, and left.
Cyr'rnin said, "Xal, did you spend any time looking for your ship?"
"Found it, didn't I?"
Kalor read the pad and read it again. "You're the unnamed smuggler?"
"That would be me," Xal said.
"Lieutenant Onoka," Kalor said to Cyr'rnin.
"Not since I was twelve," she replied.
"What happened when you were twelve?" Kalor asked.
"He went on a date with my best friend," Cyr'rnin said. "She and I haven't spoken since."
"Captain," Kalor said, reading from his notes. "Who-?" He sighed.
"Captain Kalor?" Phessii said. He gave her his notes. "'Who initiated the relationship?'" Phessii read. "'Was Sergeant Dorne the aggressor?' 'Did Sergeant Dorne manipulate you into sex?' 'Did you consider your sister's reaction when-?'" She put the pad down. "Sergeant, you have three days to complete the forms. Your leave is suspended until then. Failure to complete the forms in that time will result in disciplinary action. That is all."
The next day, Cyr'rnin found Dorne scowling at the supplies.
"Dorne?"
Elara said, "Your brother is the worst person I've ever met."
"Uh-huh."
"I thought it would be rather romantic," Dorne said. "Formal declaration of a personal relationship with a family member of a superior officer."
"Right. Who wouldn't be excited about that?"
"Exactly," Elara said. "But, your brother absolutely refused, unless I... did things while filling out the forms."
"Did he ask you to lie?" Cyr'rnin said.
"Of course not," Elara said. "I would have left him straight away. He wanted me to do foul, perverse, degrading things while filling out the forms."
"If he's hurting you-"
"I didn't say it hurt, exactly," Elara said.
"Seeing him tonight?"
"Yes, of course," Elara said. "But only, only, only, because, because I need him to... to unlock something that is currently, currently locked."
Elara fell onto Xal's bed, gasping for breath. "That's... the last... of them. Captain. Would you... please... remove... that? Ahh! Thank you. I wish... to reiterate... you are... the worst... man... I've ever... Don't stop. Ever... met."
"Are you officially on leave?" he asked.
"I am," she said. "The forms are submitted."
He tossed the items into a corner and settled onto the bed behind her. "Then, you are all mine."
She moaned against him. "Yes, master, I'm all yours."
"What?"
"What?" she asked. "Oh! Nothing. Caught up... caught up in the moment."
"Don't joke like that. Not to a Twi'lek."
"Of course, Captain," she said. "Where is Princess Drayen?"
"Still strange hearing that," Xal said. "She's cataloging her father's holdings, now that the gangster pretext is over."
"Bowdaar and Mister Riggs?"
"Kashyyyk and Ord Mantell, visiting."
"Then we are quite alone," she said, rolling toward him.
"We'll have a week on Coruscant all to ourselves," he said. "I know quite a few... less familiar... places that you might enjoy."
"Will I be asked to wear anything like that?" She nodded at the toys.
"I was just playing with you," he said and began kissing his way down her body.
"Do you know any?" she asked with a moan. "Places that expect you to use... those sorts of things?"
He rolled her onto her back. "What are you turning into, Elara Dorne?"
"What do you want me to be, ma- Captain?"
"Happy, Elara," he said. "You are my girlfriend. I want you to be happy."
"Would you indulge a fantasy for me?" she asked.
"I expect I would," he said.
"I've had more dreams," she said. "More vivid than before."
"Maybe you should talk to Agenord about them," he said.
"The lieutenant suggested the same thing, but Master Agenord is very busy right now." She took a deep breath, not sure how to say it. "I would very much like to go to Tatooine."
"You still want to go there?"
"I do," she said. "Please."
"Of course," he said. "Anyplace special you wanted to see? Tatooine doesn't have much."
"Yes," she said. "I... would like to visit..." She took another deep breath. "Mos Entha. If you please." She waited. And waited. "Captain."
"Mos Entha?" he said.
"Yes." She waited. "I want to see it for myself. That's all."
He eyes hardened, and he grabbed her throat with one hand and squeezed a little. She gasped and watched him. "What is this, Elara?"
"Just a visit. Nothing more."
"Mos Entha is never 'nothing more'."
Elara said, "I want to be yours, master. Captain. I want to be yours. Captain. In a way only Mos Entha can provide."
"How far do you want to take this?"
"I want to face the reality of my dreams," she said.
"Some fantasies should stay fantasies," he said.
"That's exactly the point," she said. "I want to know what they are to me." She pulled his hand from her throat and kissed it, kissed his palm and his fingers, guided his hand to her breast. "How may I serve you, master?"
"Do you know what you're asking?"
"Yes, master." The word was thrilling to her, like she'd been waiting months to say it. "You've already done terrible things to me."
"That was all a joke, Elara," he said. "Just some fun."
"I want more, master."
He pinched her nipple until she gasped. "Is this what you want? Mos Entha will be a lot worse."
"Yes, master."
He made her gasp again. "Prove you're ready for it. I'll ask the ground crew for an inspection." He went to a locker, moved some items around, and took out a metal collar. "Zabrak on Nar Shaddaa. She'd chew up Mos Entha and spit it out." He gave her the collar. "Sit in the cockpit wearing that and nothing else for the entire inspection." Twenty minutes for a ship this size. The ground crew, the controllers, the communications officers, and the cameras would be able to see her the whole time. "You wanted reality," he said.
The idea of it thrilled and terrified her. This wasn't supposed to be her. She was supposed to be concerned about Captain Kalor and the mundane business of an Imperial defector in the Republic. How did this happen? Was this really all the effect of Master Yvisnussiish? Was that the answer she really wanted? Not at the moment. When he offered to take her to Tatooine, she thought immediately of Mos Entha. The stories of it had always horrified her. More slaves went through Mos Entha than any other city on Tatooine. Workers. Domestic servants. Pleasure slaves. Naked slaves were marched through the streets and sold on every corner. If the stories were true. She could learn more about slavery in a week in Mos Entha than she could in a year owned by a Hutt.
"Will they complain?" she asked.
"Not this crew," he said. "I've berthed with them before. But don't leave the ship."
She nodded, considered the collar carefully, then closed it on her neck. It locked with a sharp click. "Shall I prepare a meal for you, master, or display myself immediately?"
She needed only two days to recognize her mistake. Two days seeing the treatment of the slaves around her, treatment that horrified or disgusted her. Two days of wearing barely anything. Or nothing. Two days of complete humiliation. Mos Entha was worse than its reputation. By the end of the first day, her body was bruised from the pinching, the spanking, and the grabbing. Some asked first, but most just grabbed. Her outfit was pulled off five times. Her breasts, her nipples, and her ass were exposed and squeezed more times than she could count. Most people expected her to be for sale or rent. Xaldiba had selected the worst outfit possible. Her skirt was a loincloth with nothing behind it. Anyone could move it to the side and have free access. And they did, to test her reactions. One man paid Xal fifty credits to time how long he needed to make her climax. She almost gave up after him, but, the next morning, she was desperate to feel it again.
The entire time, Xaldiba treated her exactly like a slave, even when they were alone. He received four offers to buy her, one of them three times the standard rate. The negotiations continued until she feared he might sell her. In Mos Entha, it would be completely legal. She was examined, naked, with a crowd watching. She was squeezed, groped, discussed, questioned about her skills, and treated like cattle until she begged Xaldiba to stop. In character. As a slave would.
By the second night, Elara was near her limit. That morning, he'd taken her outfit. He told her she'd be naked until she broke. He took her into the city with a leash attached to her neck, and she nearly gave in. The pinching, grabbing, and inserting escalated. Toward the end of the day, he took her to a cantina and played sabacc, while she fetched him food and drinks. Only two other slaves were naked, and they were both being punished. The hands in the cantina were even more bold, molesting her while Xal played on. He intervened only once. A Togruta thought she'd look better with a scar, and Xal shot the knife from his hand.
Elara wondered if he might lose her in the game. Some of the players were very good. She heard "Imperial" a few times, and "feed her to my Rancor". The men playing against Xal spoke in graphic detail about what they wanted to do to her. In the end, a Rattataki woman at the table won an hour with her, and Elara was certain Xal lost intentionally. His only request was the right to watch, no doubt to prevent Elara from being stolen. The Rattataki seemed to guess Elara's situation and was excited by it. Called the Lady of Pain, she lived up to her title. By the end, Elara was shaking and barely able to walk. She and Xal returned to the ship immediately after. She continued shaking in his arms until she fell asleep.
The next morning, she went to the galley in a light robe and dropped the collar on the table.
"You did better than I expected," Xal told her.
"Better how?" she asked.
"You held onto yourself," he said.
She ate some of the breakfast he'd made and said, "No, I didn't. I suspect more was done to me than I realized, and I think I know why. It is time I spoke with Master Agenord."
"Now?" he asked.
"Not yet," she said. "I still have four days, master." She said the word comfortably.
"How, exactly, are you feeling?"
She paused, staring at her food. "Not how I'd expect, master. I've always hated slavery. It's one of the reasons I left the Empire. The very idea of it goes against everything I've always been. Part of me is grateful to be free and to be with someone who wants to keep me safe." She took a few breaths to calm herself. "Part of me wants to put on the collar and go back, to be sold or lost in a game, to be owned and used. Part of me wants to be degraded, master, to be treated like property, to be made into an animal." She looked at him. "Part of me wants you to make me your slave, master." She started eating again, slowly, her hands shaking. "As I said, I need to speak with Master Agenord."
"Until then?"
"I want things I should not want, master, things I should never want. But, I cannot stop wanting them. I've tried. For now, I want to go to Anchorhead, and I want to stay on the ship. Because, I don't want to stay on the ship. I want that woman to do all of that to me with a crowd. I'd have been happier if the whole cantina watched. I'm almost ready to be rented out. Instead, I must compromise between the two desires. If you'll let me."
"Let you how?" he asked.
She finished her breakfast, removed her robe, and knelt on the floor in front of him. "Use me, master, as a treasured slave."
"If I did something rotten right now, would you hate me?" he asked.
She lifted her head from his chest. "I think you've earned a favor or two, master." She hadn't called him anything else for two days.
"I need you to return to Coruscant," he told her.
"Your reason, master?"
"Ter'viro contacted me," Xal said. "He needs my help."
"I can imagine."
"Not that," Xal said. "He told me his girlfriend is dying."