LW: Huge apologies for the delayed update. College and stress got in the way. I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

AL: Now that's the calm address from my wonderful friend, for me, I wish I could say what profanity I want, but I just don't want to spend any more time on this 'cursed' chapter that took way too long.

After this, I'll be working on my other stories. Me and LW will take a break for the next week (He deserves it more then me, give him a shout out and thank the man)

Also, I want to thank some other Beta writers who I am thankful of: Wabakeba, ThatTerribleWriter78 and Chaos-PSD, shout outs to them too!

Before that, to keep up to all updates of the stories that are active, I'll be releasing an 'update' story in the Misc X-overs to keep you all updated about the current devolopments of the stories. Possible in the next few days, taking a break.

Enjoy it, you bastards XD.

[Kirigakure]

Kirigakure, also known as the Village Hidden in the Mist, is a Shinobi village that is part of the five big powers of Elementia. This village, nicknamed "The Village of the Bloody Mist", was currently going through something that they hadn't experienced for many years:

Peace.

For the first time since ages, true peace had finally made its way to the lonely, yet brutal village. The people were finally able to rebuild, as the village had now had finally ended its long and bloody civil war that had destabilized the region for so many years, with numerous atrocities that had been committed across the Land of Water and its population by rogue ninja, bandits, and deranged bloodline lynch mobs that would fill the streets with the bodies of their victims. But now that was over, all thanks to the rebels and the new Mizukage.

She was now seen walking through the village's market that not only had been rebuilt, but also had gone through some new technological changes thanks to their new allies and visitors.

The market was filled with people and these strange, new beings called "droids", many who were selling food to equipment native and nonnative to this planet, which was dubbed "Elementia" by the apparent Republic that ran this galaxy alongside the Confederacy. Although initially skeptical of these beings from the stars, with some of them not even being human beings, they quickly proved their worth when they supplied their rebellion with not just food and supplies, but with more weapons and droids to aid them in not only fighting but also reconstruction.

Mei smiled from her recollection, walking up to a fruit vendor who was selling both the native fruits of this land and a new variety of fruits that came from other planets.

"Excuse me, sir."

The vendor looked up towards the voice. His eyes widened at the unexpected visitor, and he quickly bowed his head down. "Lady Mizukage. It's an honor to see you."

Standing right in front of him stood Mei Terumi, the 5th Mizukage, a slim, beautiful woman who had unique green eyes that were a match for her ankle-length, auburn hair that was styled into a herringbone pattern at the back. Despite her beautiful, gentle look, she was one of the strongest Shinobi from the Hidden Mist, who led the rebellion into the village and ended the madness that brought the civil war to the village and the Water country, defeating her enemies swiftly with anyone who stood right in front of her, unifying many parts of the Kiri Shinobi under her in restoring the peace and status of the Hidden Mist.

Besides being a good military leader, a fighter, and a unifier, the Mizukage was also showing signs of being a natural in politics. Using only her words, she managed to convince the defected shinobi and clans to return to the village, promising them that the war and bloodshed were over, and that their criminal status would be erased. Thanks to her new friend, who was currently walking with her, she also began to get along with some of the other members of the Confederacy, which she found to be very helpful in keeping her village's ruined economy up.

"I'd like two of those - I believe they call Fuji apples - for me and my friend." Mei turned to the person standing next to her. "If you'd like to have one, Senator Bonteri?"

"Oh, please, call me Mina," said the Senator of Olderon, Mina Bonteri, a representative of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the same organization that supported Mei's rebellion with military and humanitarian goods. "Yes, I'd like to have one, please."

"Two Fuji apples coming right up." The vendor pulled out two of the freshest fruits he got from his stand, and handed it over to the two ladies. "It's in the house, ma'am, so please enjoy."

Mina, who was flattered at the generosity, insisted, "Oh please, mister-" she pulled out a few credits but was met with a shaking head.

"No ma'am, I mean it." The vendor respectfully declined her offer of coins. "If it weren't for you, this war wouldn't be over. My son and daughter wouldn't be alive today. So please, accept these as a sign of my gratitude."

The Onderonian was slightly taken aback by the elderly man's words of gratitude and decided to accept his token of gratitude with the Mizukage. "Have a good day, mister."

"You both have a good day, ladies. And thank you for bringing peace!" The elderly vendor was heard saying before the two women descended into the crowd.

…

Bonteri took a bite of her Fuji apple, savoring its crisp, sweet taste, before turning to her colleague. "I see that your village is very happy with the newfound peace that you have established."

"Oh indeed," Mei let out a small smile, "They're just glad the civil war is finally over, and that no one in the academy has to worry about killing each other. Of course, there are some of those who wish to go back to the old ways…"

This mostly came from the old timers who survived the civil war, who stated that "not all of our old ways were terrible," which, of course, included the bloody initiation and the bloodline eliminations. She was glad that she removed those old fossils from their positions; it was because of their neglect in handling the former Mizukage's actions that so many of her friends and comrades perished in the Bloody Mist's horrible past, including one of her closest friends, who was confirmed to have died in the Land of the Waves.

She was talking about her old friend, Zabuza. A comrade she knew from her days in the academy, she got through the same brutal graduation ritual like her friend, which she still remembered the time like it was just last week. Living through the dark days of the Village of the Bloody Mist, she had fought desperately, drenched in the blood of her former classmates, becoming the last one standing, just like Zabuza, who, on the other hand, was from a previous class, with the little boy having killed over a hundred off his classmates...before he was eligible for graduation, earning himself the nickname, "Demon of the Hidden Mist."

After their separate graduations from the academy, Mei and Zabuza both rose in the ranks as certified and deadly Shinobi going on high-risk missions and earning themselves respect and a fearful reputation among their fellow Shinobi. She herself got the rank of Jounin with her two kekkei genkai abilities, which were rare to have, while Zabuza, on the other hand, gained a reputation of being an efficient assassin, who joined the ANBU Black Ops and then becoming one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group of Kiri blade-wielding Shinobi that consisted of the best swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. Meaning they were the strongest the village could offer after the Mizukage.

Unfortunately, when the civil war broke out, Mei herself wasn't even in the country when it occurred when the fighting and atrocities began to take place, but when she heard about the attempted coup d'etat Zabuza committed, she began to band up her rebellion in hopes to put an end to the carnage, even trying to find Zabuza and asking him to help her in her rebellion.

Unfortunately, she arrived too late, finding out that Zabuza had been killed long before she could reach him. She learned that he died in the Land of Waves fighting against a team from Konoha, perishing alongside a boy who he took as an apprentice named Haku. It was hard for her to accept that Zabuza, one of the toughest warriors she had ever met, was dead, even when she stood over his grave, staring at his large blade, which acted as his tombstone.

"Mei, are you alright?"

Quickly snapping out of her thoughts, the Mizukage turned to her colleague. "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening…"

Mina recognized that look on her face. "Thinking about someone?"

"Just a friend...someone who I lost…"

"Due to the civil war?" Mina asked cautiously, looking around and staring at the flourishing market. "I'm...sorry to hear that."

"...He would've been proud," Mei continued softly. "He would've loved to see this place; a world where kids don't have to worry about killing each other just to graduate. A place where for a few small minutes, kids could be kids. He...he would've loved to see this…"

"He sounds like a good man."

"He was." The redhead nodded. "Even if the world didn't believe it, deep down, he was a good man who just wanted a place where kids could live in peace."

"..."

"..."

The two women just stared at the ocean, which, for once, was cleared from the fog that constantly blanketed their world, with their guards, both mechanical and human, just standing there awkwardly.

…

"The view is quite beautiful."

The two leaders had concluded the tour around the village and were now back at Mei's new office.

"It is." Mei agreed. Despite having seen the same bay for many years, it had never looked and sounded so peaceful. Instead of the screams of the dying, or the monstrous roar of the ocean, or even the crunching of ships, doomed to remain at the bottom of their ocean, it was now filled with the sounds of laughter, with children playing in the sand and water, with some of them hopefully never knowing the gruesome atrocities that had occurred in their home. On top of that, it seemed as if the gods above were happy at their hard-earned peace, with the mist having been lifted at least for now, allowing the beautiful sunshine to illuminate the once dark and gloomy sky.

"It's hard to believe that a place like this was filled with such a violent past. One that I hadn't seen in a long time." As an experienced politician and diplomat, Mina had visited many planets of different environments, experienced many things, but this was rather new to her. To think that there were still planets who lived with such violence, in such a war-like culture. Racking her brain for any similar cultures, the only ones that came to mind were the Mandalorians and the Kaleesh. "It seems like a beautiful city."

"...I know what you mean," Mei replied as she looked out her window, her thoughts the same as her friend. "A village-like the Hidden Mist deserves better than it had endured."

Mina let out a small, supportive chuckle, "Well, I'm just glad that we were able to help you with your first steps to peace."

"I just hope that I made the right decision," Mei said with a sigh, as it was a frustrating week for her, "because I feel like this will not be the end of it."

"Don't think back on it," Bonteri reassured her, "That's just the scare tactics that they usually do. Believe me, the Republican Senate bureaucrats are known for doing that. Especially now with their new Chancellor." She was referring to the newly elected Chancellor Palpatine, the former senator of her former protégé's planet, who was now the Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and one of the core reasons for the current discourse of the Separatist Movement.

Mina frowned at the thought of the elderly Chancellor. There was something about the man that greatly unsettled her, despite his kind demeanor. She remembered the day that she once shook his hand in a meeting. His hand, despite it being warm just like anyone else's, gave her the chills the minute their skins touched, and it took everything she had to not recoil in front of everyone.

"So, shall we speak about the trade deals the CIS has offered to us?" Mei asked, wanting to try to change the subject, "You said that the Confederacy is willing to further aid us with building up our economy for exchange of some raw materials?"

Mina took a seat in front of Mei. "Yes, you told us that the Land of Water is home to a large quantity of resources, correct?"

"Metal and fish is what this country's main exports are," Mei responded as it was mostly sold to shipyards, blacksmiths, or food markets "Is that what you're interested in?"

"Yes, resources like that are what we're looking for to trade. In exchange for that, we offer to give your village and this country whatever you'll need."

Mei was already prepared for this question since she had a file of requests and needs from the village, as well as her checking out the village's conditions itself.

"Well, many of our farmers in the countryside will need some equipment to not only plant and harvest our crops but to help repair the land itself. Your generous food rations are very helpful, but I know that they will not be a permanent fix. On top of that, I believe that more of your battle droids will be needed to help compensate for our massive loss in manpower. Despite us winning our war, we still need to keep up basic security, since bandits, rogue nations, and the other villages could still be a problem."

Bonteri nodded to all of that. "I see no issues with it. Once I return to the Parliament, I will bring this forward, alongside the other trade agreements and negotiations from the other CIS-village members of Elementia. I will warn you, though, that there will most likely be some hesitations against some parts of your needs, due to our limited resources and from general politics. But I believe that your requests should go through without much trouble."

"How so? Who are the other involved parties?" Mei asked. She knew that the Hidden Mist wasn't the only village that aligned itself with the Confederacy, but aside from that, she had no further knowledge about Elementia's galactic alliances.

"Well, it's too soon to tell about the smaller villages, but I can talk about the other big four," Bonteri spoke, trying to recall the negotiations. "The Hidden Cloud village, for example, wasn't clear enough on what they specifically wanted, while the Hidden Rock spoke about wanting to expand their military might by trying to negotiate for more droids on their grounds, so they could be placed on the borders, something we are currently opposed to."

Even though Kumo had quickly aligned themselves with the Confederacy, the CIS wasn't very sure what to think about the village, especially since communication had been difficult since then. Kumo told them that they needed more time to think, but that was months ago, and on top of that, the CIS lost contact with the droids they sent them, which only created more distrust. On top of that, the basis of their strained partnership only seemed to have been born from Konoha's decision to join the Republic, which didn't exactly leave them with any clue to what they could want or offer.

Then there was Iwa, who was the complete opposite. While Kumo hinted at what they wanted with the droids, Iwa was more blunt about it. The Hidden Rock, who was still bitter about the previous war, wanted not just more droids, but multiple droid factories and the Geonosian scientists to produce more droids. However, because they lived in the mountains, they were rich with metallic resources, which was why the Trade Federation, despite the fact that they were probably going to use the droids for a preemptive strike on their neighbors, had pushed to include them into the CIS.

"What doesn't help is that Iwa and Kumo don't appear to like each other very well, which makes negotiations even more difficult. Your village cannot act as a meditator for the two of them, since your village was evidently a huge part of the previous war if I'm correct."

Mei sighed at this. She was no fortune-teller, but even she knew that this would be a problem at some point. "Unfortunately, that's the way it is now. I guess you can say that this situation is like the galaxy now if I'm right."

"As much it hurts me to admit it, you're not far off from the truth," Bonteri said, looking through the window as she shook her head. "Times are changing now, and it's not looking good, especially with our silent war for the domination of systems getting rough." The two factions were struggling to gain allies, and while the CIS was gaining lots of support, the Republic was too, and hostilities were beginning to escalate.

The doors suddenly opened as a B1 battle droid stepped towards Bonteri. ["Ma'am, we've just gotten a transmission from Count Dooku, saying you're needed back on Raxus for an immediate session of Parliament."]

Mina let out a small sigh as she reluctantly stood from her seat, "I guess duty calls me back home. Sorry I can't stay much longer."

"It's okay, we at least got some key issues cleared out."

"Oh!" Mina clapped her hands. "I almost forgot something. I've arranged a gift for you as a token of respect for joining the Confederacy."

"Please, it's not needed."

"Nonsense. You'll love it." She turned around and clapped her hands. "Come in."

The doors swung open again, and this time, a different looking droid stepped inside. This one was much larger than the B1 battle droids, and yet, it didn't look very fit for battle. Large and cumbersome with its thick upper body, it looked much more rectangular. Its head held glowing, white eyes that took the form of two upside-down trapezoids.

The top of its geometric head was a small cover akin to a hat, which looked like a way to block out the sunlight, albeit ineffectively.

Unlike the tan color the B1 battle droids usually were painted with, this droid had a much more variety in colors. Its "hat" and head was painted red and blue and silver, with the rest of its metallic body following the same three colors.

She noticed how the color red was mainly painted on its head, and she couldn't help but touch her hair.

"What kind of droid is this?" Mei asked.

"This is one of the brand-new droids the Geonosians have invented. It's a T-Series Tactical Droid, a droid built not for battle, but to help you come up with countless strategies for battle."

["Hello, ma'am."] The droid's emotionless, robotic voice buzzed through its voice processor. ["I am a T-Series Tactical Droid, unit 054. It is nice to meet you. I hope I can be of great service to you in the name of the Confederacy."]

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, there was an area where most decent locals would not go, but where the newest visitors of the galaxy gladly went to not be bothered by the law.

This was the Kiri Red-Light District, the seediest, dirtiest, poorest part of the village that has similar districts in every village on Elementia, but unlike the other major villages, this one was already being a popular hotspot for the worst parts of the galaxy: smugglers, assassins, and of course, bounty hunters.

This was also where two known individuals were seen walking down the street towards a small, but popular bar that was known to have back rooms for certain customers who wished to "not be disturbed."

"Are you sure they're here?" Cad Bane growled, walking behind Jango who was wearing a cloak, concealing his infamous armor. Jango was also pushing a cart with a small, metal crate full of items he brought back from the Uzumaki island. "I doubt anyone reasonable would travel this far from Tatooine to come and listen to your offer. Including me."

"That I know, but I'm paying you to help keep trouble off my back," Jango said, ignoring the curious and greedy stares the box in front of him was getting as he walked further until he found that bar he heard about. "Now stop complaining and help me find this bar."

"You know if we didn't know each other for this long, I would've shot you in the back already."

"Sure…" Jango made a dry unusual shrug before he stopped right in front of what he was looking for: a bar named The Tipsy Mist.

"Here it is," Bane walked past the Mandalorian, "Let's get inside and find the bastards." The Duros entered the bar, with Jango following suit.

Once the two entered inside, they were met with a dimly lit room, with an obvious smell of toxic, illegal substances in the air. The two could see people at tables smoking and some snorting whatever they had into their bodies while being accompanied by the local working girls in their revealing clothing.

Two of those local girls noticed the two bounty hunters and walked over to them in a seductive way with sly smiles with the first one trying her luck with the Duros. "Hey baby, do you wanna have a good time?"

"Get off me, woman," Bane glared at the woman, "I don't have time for the likes of you." He pushed her hand off his shoulder and walked forward as the first girl fumed in anger and walked away.

Jango on the other hand looked at the other woman, who stood there quietly. "Look, ma'am, no harsh feelings, but we are looking for some people we're supposed to meet up here. A bald-headed woman with an antenna sticking out of her head."

"Oh! That woman, she's in the backroom with some of the other guests waiting for you," she led him through the bar, expertly dodging shoulders and groping hands. "She told us you and your friend would arrive. Please keep your head down and follow me."

"Thanks, ma'am." He followed her to the back of the bar with Bane, who followed right after him, while gaining a few stares from the locals who weren't used to seeing a nonhuman coming here to a place like this, to which Bane just ignored them and continued onwards.

Opening the door for the two patrons, the working girl said to them, "They're at the end of the hallway, left door." The two walked past her with the working girl looking at them before closing the door behind them.

Walking down the dank hallway, Jango was able to see that the other rooms were occupied with some of the patrons, busy with the girls they had hired for their pleasures. Years of experience and professionalism taught him to block out the moans and screams as he continued to his room.

Finally, making it to their room, he knocked on it roughly in a certain sequence. A second passed by, before it slid open, allowing the two of them in. Stepping inside, they were greeted by the sight of familiar faces.

Castas, the Klatooinian bounty hunter with the literal big mouth, was seen drinking from a bottle of sake he ordered, and he looked like he was barely standing on his two feet as he was facing off a bounty hunter the two did not recognize. The said bounty hunter was a female Zabrak, who, while a few inches shorter than the Klatooinian, did not look intimidated at all, and instead glared at him like he said something that set her off.

"Care to repeat that, you pathetic drunk?" the Zabrak said to Castas in front of everyone, including Aurra who sat near the table with a drink in her hand and her legs over the table, accompanied by Zam and young Boba who was watching this scene unfold. Sitting near them was a careful individual with a canine-like beast laying next to him observing the scene for himself.

"Go make yourself useful, you stupid tramp, and go find yourself a bed and-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as he got a kick into the face that made the blabbering bounty hunter stumble back and hit his head against the wall, knocking him out of consciousness.

"Castas, you loudmouthed idiot," Aurra sighed, shaking her head before taking a sip from her drink.

Zam shook her head. "I don't even know why we even let him in here, even though I guess it's better than Greedo."

"Everyone," Jango announced his entry and gained everyone's attention.

"Well look who it is, our missing knight in shining armor." Aurra chuckled, standing up and walking over to them. "So you came after all. Good, because no offense, but don't make it a habit to make me a babysitter for him. That ain't my job."

"Dad." Boba walked over to his father, "Why are we over here anyway?"

He ruffled Boba's hair as Jango answered, "I've been going through some of my old roots, and had to be alone for a while. Thanks anyway for looking after him."

"Your old roots you say?" Aurra chuckled at this, "In a place like this? Spare me, Jango. What does a primitive place like this have that is remotely close to your Mandalorian past?"

"You'd be surprised," Bane said, dropping in as he was with Jango for the last few days on that island not that far away from here. "The things we saw were something you wouldn't believe even if you saw it with your own eyes."

Jango then noticed two unknown faces. "Who are these two if I may ask?"

The female Zabrak didn't look intimidated by Jango's appearance, despite him being a legend. "The name's Sugi." She pointed at the Kyuzo male in the corner. "That's Embo, and lying beside him is his Anooba partner."

"Embo...I've heard that name before…" Bane said, looking at the Kyuzo bounty hunter; a good one he heard. Someone who possibly could be an equal to Aurra as a sniper, but also a ruthless close-ranged fighter who would kill his bounties in the most brutal way possible. Gotta give him respect for a reputation like that.

"Okay," Zam said, not wanting the conversation to take a different turn, "let's stick to the subject, what have you two been doing lately?"

"We've been exploring a former village that was abandoned for a long time, the ruins of the former Village hidden in the Whirlpool, a place that's not that far away from here." He answered her question, gaining some weird looks from his fellow bounty hunters and even a weirder look from his son.

"Ruins? What were you doing at some old ruins, dad?"

"Because, Boba, your father found out his old comrade's extended family were villagers of that place," Bane answered his question while tipping his hat. "And to top that, there might be an extended family member alive who we 'accidentally' met not that long ago."

"Wait, what?" Aurra turned sharply towards the Mandalorian. "Jango, what is he talking about?"

Jango took a deep breath as he shed his cloak. Staring at everyone through his helmet, they could feel his glare through his visor, and the room quickly fell into silence.

"Listen, before I explain everything, let me make this clear: this information will NOT leave this room, understand? If I hear so much as a whisper about this in the streets, I will find which one of you is responsible, and I will hunt you down myself, friend or not."

The bounty hunters tensed up as his words hit their souls. They knew that Jango was not the type to kid around, so when the Mandalorian promised something, he would go to the ends of the galaxy to get it done.

"Got it?" the Mandalorian asked once. Everyone quickly nodded, with even Bane nodding as a way to promise his silence.

Satisfied, the Mandalorian finally sat down at the table, pulling up the remaining seat, and reached for his crate. "In those ruins, we collected some artifacts, including this." He placed a piece of debris he took with him on the table.

The people around the table looked at the small debris, and what they saw got their eyebrows to raise up.

"A whirlpool symbol." Zam nearly snorted, "Are you messing with us, Jango?"

"The whirlpool is a symbol of a local clan that previously existed on the island, which Bane and I have explored for the last few days. The ruins indicate that this village was long in existence, with what we could easily say from some of the earliest gravestones tracing it back to almost over six hundred years back."

"Since when are you an archaeologist?" Aurra began to chuckle but stopped when she noticed Jango just staring at her.

"It appears to be that this village was home to a group of people that are not natives to this world, and were relatives of my old mentor."

"Excuse me?"

Bane scoffed at this response, "It was a Mandalorian village, you numbskulls. That's what he's trying to say."

"How's that possible?" Zam asked in disbelief, "This planet has only been discovered less than a year ago."

"Officially, the Republic 'discovered' the existence of this planet about a year ago." Jango nodded. "Unofficially, I think this clan was one of the first settlers to live amongst these people. Makes a bit of sense once you think back on it."

"What do you mean, dad?" Boba asked.

Jango took a moment to think back on a story he heard in his younger days. "There was once a man during the days of the Old Republic. He was a charismatic warrior who held a dark lightsaber, who unified many of the Mandalorian clans under him. When the time came for the three factions to unite, he led all of Mandalore against the common enemy. He gave his life to give the others a chance to seal away the great evil that threatened our galaxy, with his clan choosing to stay behind on the planet to watch over the terrible beast, knowing that one day, someone would be foolish enough to reawaken it."

"Mandalorians, Jedi, and Sith working together?" Aurra shook her head hearing this, "You're really believing this?"

"Trust me, I thought it was just a myth myself, but I then began digging deeper into this 'myth,' and found out it wasn't one."

"So the story is true?"

"Not only that, I made a discovery that's been on my mind ever since." Jango began running his fingers on the whirlpool, his eyes absorbed into its unique pattern. "My mentor, Jaster Mereel, told me about his clan's history and I found out he's actually a descendant of the same people who were in that battle centuries ago."

This revelation got the bounty hunters' curiosity to spike, and this time it was the female Zabrak Sugi who asked the next question.

"What was the name of the clan that previously lived there? Like you said. They lived there in honor of their fallen clan leader."

"They named the village around here is called Uzushiogakure, meaning Village Hidden in the Whirlpool, after their clan, the Uzumakis," Jango said nothing after that, with the gears turning in the heads of everyone who took part in the Elementia kidnapping mission.

It was Zam who was brave enough to speak up, whose human form paled white as she spoke.

"Wait... that's the name of the boy…"

Jango just nodded as he opened the floating crate, pulling out several objects covered in blankets. Once the crate was empty, he pulled off the blankets from the objects, and there laid a whole set of Mandalorian armor, painted red and black, the colors of the once renowned Uzumaki clan.

"Woah…" Sugi said with a whistle at the whole set, "Look at that. Is this what you found on those islands?"

"Yes...that and much more…" Jango said. This had been what he could take with him. Which was small in comparison to what he found on that island.

Aurra took notice of the helmet and began to examine it. For such an old artifact, it looked in pretty good condition, with no rust or even damage seen on the Beskar armor, not even on the tinted visors. Aurra couldn't help but wonder what sort of technology was used to preserve such a magnificent piece of history.

"So Jango, we just learned that we accidentally threw a fellow Mandalorian into Hell," Aurra said grimly, "but I'm guessing that's not the only thing you're here to talk about, right?"

Looking up to everyone who was listening to him, the last True Mandalorian nodded, before he spoke again.

"I've got a job for you guys."

[Jedi Council room]

The Jedi High Council was in full session, with all its members summoned to the room as they had just heard out the intel briefings of Jiraiya's spy that might have found the location of the boy. In the middle of the room stood two holograms whom they were communicating with.

Standing there was Jiraiya, and next to him stood a stern and very angry Tsunade who was not happy to hear the news. They had just been told that Jiraiya had some important information in the search of Naruto Uzumaki.

"Are you certain he's where you think he is, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked, holding her hands in a clinging fist as she heard where her godson was.,

"My spy in there just confirmed it," The toad sage responded. "Naruto is on Kessel, forced as a slave to mine spice from the underground."

BAM!

The holographic figure of Tsunade was seen smashing her hand into the ground, possibly cracking the floor beneath her as her anger seemed to boil over.

No one from the Jedi Council looked to be so much as unsurprised by this reaction. They understood her and decided to let her blow off some steam.

Windu turned to the male Sannin spy-master, "Are you sure that this intel is valid? We need to know that it's 100% true before we make any moves."

"He was found in the medical facility transporting equipment and bodies. Naruto's name and photo was on that list. He must be in one of those mines." That confirmation left the members of the Jedi Council talking.

Shaak Ti was the first to speak up as she listened to every detail carefully.

"We'll need to handle the situation fast. Who knows how much longer that child can hold out in there?"

"That's not going to be easy," Master Fisto said, ticking his chin before asking the Shinobi, "Do you know which mine young Naruto is in?"

"I don't know precisely," Jiraiya said as he sighed in frustration, "The problem is that my spy will not be able to leave the mine."

"How so?" Windu asked.

"My spy entered as a slave, with a random background. Disguised as a resident of Coruscant, nothing interesting. I lost contact with him before he could directly tell me which mine he was in, but he did tell me that it was run by a Zygerrian slave owner named Darts D'Nar."

That name caused a few murmurs to travel through the room, as some of the Jedi masters recognized that name, much to Tsunade's dismay.

"Who's this Darts you're talking about? And why is everyone so concerned about his name?"

"Darts D'Nar is a well known vicious man, to put it kindly." This was coming from the Jedi Master Eeth Koth, an Iridonian Zabrak who had some knowledge of the slaver. "From my understanding he's a rather powerful slave trader who's rumored to have a disgusting hobby of kidnapping or buying certain people for his collection."

Windu narrowed his eyes, "And by collection, you mean...?"

Koth didn't want to finish that sentence and just gave a nod in response, confirming many others his meaning of 'collection'.

"Action to be taken, it must." Yoda said what needed to be said, "Plan you have to locate, you have, Master Jiraiya?"

"I do," Jiraiya nodded, "but for that I'll need a team of shinobi to come with me." He turned towards the Hokage. "Tsunade, I'll send you the coordinates of my current location. I'll count on you to send me a team of trackers if you can."

"Like you have to ask. I'll send you more than that." Tsunade already knew who she would send.

Jiraiya nodded, before explaining to the Jedi, "I've got a location where D'Nar is supposed to be for the next few days. It's the perfect chance to finally locate and rescue Naruto."

"Know this, Master Jiraiya." Yoda spoke again, "Prepared, we should be, for anything is possible…"

"I've already lost several students of mine, Master Yoda." Jiraiya replied grimly to the elder, "I'm not going to lose another one."

"Join you, I shall," Yoda said, volunteering himself in front of the others, "Strong in the Force, the young one is. Must be found before the Sith does."

Jiraiya was stunned by this proposition, but accepted it. "Thank you. I'm glad you would join us."

As this was being settled, Tsunade had a stern look on her face, as she was now holding on to perhaps the last bit of hope for the young goofball she grew to love as a son. So she knew they'd need to act fast before it was too late.

'Hold on, brat. Hold on. We're coming.'

[Ölüm - Infirmary]

*COUGH!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!*

Tarik gasped as his body was racked with nasty coughs, his head jerking back and forth as his body used what little energy it had left to torture itself.

"You have pneumonia," Idel broke the news to him in a somber tone. "That's all I can say for now, and the only thing I can prescribe for you is this." She pulled out a small object from her pocket, and handed it over to the Urzik.

Tarik accepted the device and recognized it. "An inhaler? Forgive my ignorance, but isn't that for asthmatic people?"

"Yes… but right now it's the only thing I could offer for your lungs, as getting you a nebulizer is basically impossible." Idel said bitterly. She had tried to keep him here for another day to further monitor him, but she was being denied permission to give any other treatment.

"Besides...that's my inhaler." Her hands reached over his and closed them over the device. "You need it more than me, so just make take it and use it every time you feel like coughing….okay?"

"I will…" he paused for some reason and looked at her. "And thanks, I don't know what I would do without you."

"Don't flatter yourself." She tried to not make direct eye contact with him as she excused herself. "I've got to go back to work, excuse me." Idel walked to the back of the infirmary, leaving the Urzik man alone for him to leave.

Putting the inhaler away, he walked out of the infirmary, suddenly feeling much better than before.

…

(Underground tunnels)

The elevator stopped at its final destination as the gates rose up slowly but painfully, the sound of the rusty doors being raised up torture for the naked ear.

Escorted by a Pyke, he threw the man out of the elevator shaft with a kick in the back, shoving Tarik onto the floor.

"Get to work, slave." The Pyke ordered as he closed the elevator right in front of him. By the time the elevator began to go back up, Tarik was already on his feet as Adrik and Hera approached him.

"Tarik," Hera said as she went over to him, with Adrik helping him up, "You alright? You don't seem well…"

"No…pneumonia." Tarik said weakly as he let out a hard cough. "I got it pretty bad, should've expected to be honest - *cough!* Got this from Idel." He pulled out his inhaler and showed it to them, "That's with I am working with now."

"Well, at least you were diagnosed early." Adrik said, helping him walk by crossing his arm over his back so he could carry him. "Still, it could be worse, so we're not going to take any chances. Got it, Tarik?"

"Okay...Okay…" Tarik coughed one more time to clear his throat, before he used his inhaler, "I'll keep myself in check. Hera, I'll leave some of the tasks to you, until I'm back on my own feet again."

Hera, who was already taking on a major role in the underground resistance, nodded to this responsibility being given to her. "Of course, just try and be careful, okay? There's no need for you to be worked to death by these bastards."

"They'd like that, wouldn't they?" A chuckle escaped from Tarik's mouth as he gained a few smirks from the others, the small moment unfortunately had to be interrupted when a random slave ran to them.

"Tarik, you need to come, now." he said to the others, "Actually, all of you need to come."

"What is it?" Adrik asked, uneased by the tone in his voice.

"It's Levi."

...

A crowd was gathered around something, and judging by the ocean of faces of horror, shock, and disgust, whatever they were surrounding couldn't have been good.

"Let us through," Adrik spoke as he pushed through the crowd, making a path for Tarik and Hera to walk through. Finally, getting to the front row, where the other leaders of the underground resistance were, he looked down in utter shock.

Levi Laskov (or "Bomber" to those close to him), was laid on the table, and looked like he was struggling to stay alive. His naked torso, which was littered with scars and open wounds, weakly raised up and down as his respiratory system struggled to keep working. His veins were disgustingly visible, bulging out of the skin as the muscles squirmed and moved like giant worms under his tissue. One look at him, and many of them wondered if it would be kind to kill him instead of letting him live a second longer.

A heavy gasp escaped through the man's breathing tube mask, followed by a series of coughs that grew worse with each wheeze. The limbs trembled as the man looked like he was trying to say something.

"Take it easy, Levi," Sabine said softly while holding the mask over the man's head to try and calm him down. "Save your strength, you're gonna need it."

"What is this?" Adrik finally managed to ask. "Can somebody explain to me what hell happened to him?"

"We brought him back with us," one of the slaves explained. They recognized him as one of the few who were selected by the scientists. "He was like that when the scientists forced us to go back there to collect the bodies. We found him in this state."

Adrik suddenly noticed that there were only three of these handpicked slaves here, including the poor man on the table, and asked, "Where are the rest of you guys? Fifty of us got picked, right?"

"We're all that's left," a man replied.

The speaker was a bald and skinny man with an armband around his arm. He was one of the few who was selected to be seen coming back.

"The rest are either dead or still being experimented on as far we know about it," he continued, much to the horror of the others. "Possibly both."

"Experimented?"

"Yes, we were sent to be experimented on like rats," the second survivor spoke up. "I thought the spice mines were bad, but the things they did there...it made me want to go right back..." He looked at the barely breathing Levi, flinching at his coughs. "He's the only one that made it out alive out of that white hell. Nobody else was seen coming out, but we could still hear their screaming when we left."

"Then why are you standing here?"

"We're the body crew." The third slave answered that question as he showed an armband around his arm he and the two others wore that had the skull on it. "They forced us to pick up the bodies after they were done with them…" The man could not speak further before he suddenly began vomiting whatever was left in his stomach into a nearby bucket on the floor, causing some surrounding crowd to back off to give him space.

This caused an ocean of murmurs and angry mutters. They've already heard what had happened, but watching one of their own being visibly traumatized from just trying to tell the story again made them even angrier.

Hera quickly walked up and pointed at some of them.. "You three, with me. You're going to explain everything you saw to us."

She then turned to Adrik. "Meeting, now."

"Wait, what about Levi?" Adrik said, pointing at the barely conscious man. "He can't even stand up straight."

"You guys go," Sabine said as she stood by Levi with the inhaler. "I can handle this."

Adrik nodded and turned around. "Everyone, disperse now," he ordered.

The crowd knew better than to stay and disobey, and the group swiftly left the underground room, save for a few who had to stay behind.

Tarik was the last to be seen walking out of there, save for a certain blond.

"Naruto, you too."

The young blonde hesitantly looked back and forth. "I-" Someone grabbed his hand weakly, and he turned to see Levi, who looked like he was on death's door, and yet, used the last of his strength to raise his head one last time.

"Go…" Levi muttered those words out of his mouth briefly, "Go now…," was the last thing Naruto heard the man say as Sabine put the inhaler back over his mouth.

"I'll take care of him," she nodded at the shinobi. "We'll meet you at the third HQ room. You know where it is, right?"

Naruto nodded, turning around and walking away with Tarik, leaving the few who were left to take care of the ill man and to discuss the current developments.

"Joseph, can you help me bring Levi to the secret med room?"

"Of course, let me get his legs," Joseph nodded as he and two others began raising Levi up from the table. Quickly putting him on a makeshift stretcher, they brought him away to the secret tunnel that wasn't far away from here. Within no time at all, he'd been laid to rest with something warm to lay on and a makeshift blanket.

That was the least they could do for their poor comrade, whose groans and whimpers of pain were torture to his friends' ears.

[Ölüm - Resistance 3rd Underground HQ]

Unbeknownst to the rest of the resistance, the leaders had their own secret HQs, where it would be a place for them to talk in private amongst themselves. This is due to the idea that there might be spies within their ranks, and only the leaders, who were the most trusted ones amongst the resistance, were allowed in.

The 3rd Underground HQ was one of the oldest and most well-kept secrets amongst the slaves, with this particular room even being one of the first secret rooms the slaves from before dug in what little spare time they had in hopes that one day, it could be used to help bring about their freedom.

Currently, the leaders were talking about the lab, and what to do now that their ranks were rapidly being eaten up by the greedily facility dubbed "Sector 12."

It horrified the leaders, who could only sit there in disgust to the details they had been told - in extra detail, this time.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing."

"This is not good, this is really not good."

Sitting on a chair, Tarik was seen deep in his thoughts as he just heard the numbers of the people who were sent to these facilities. 25 were picked out in total, mostly humans and some sentients of different varieties, yet, out of those, only 4 came back alive, including the three body crew members and Levi who was in a very bad shape. Around 8 bodies of deceased slaves were brought to the mine and had already been put into the crematory, with some of them coming out with only a limb or two, as if they were tortured with frostbite signs, burn patterns, on their bodies and one of them even showing the same signs as Levi, but instead was already dead on the spot.

What was going on in those facilities? And what was Sector 12 built for?

"You're excused to go now," Hera said to the three men who told them everything. "Go to the kitchen and get something to eat, you'll need it."

The three nodded and left the room, leaving the members of the underground resistance who now needed to discuss these topics with a clear vision on how to deal with them.

Hera was the first to speak, "Okay, we now know that the Zygerrians and these scientists have facilities of labs now just a foot walk away from here, but we don't know what's going on inside there."

"Its obvious, lets not play stupid here;" Adrik began with everyone turning towards him as he spoke, "They're using it as a site for experimentation. That would make sense with an organization like the Umbrella Corporation if you ask me."

"How so?" Hera asked the Russian. "What's with this Umbrella Corporation anyway?"

"They're a multinational corporation that is well known on planet Earth," Tarik explained. "They were well known for their pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and chemicals. Originally a British-based company, it has spread across Earth but mainly operates in the US and in Africa. They're also known for its tourism and other major businesses. That's their public cover anyway."

"Public cover?" Naruto asked the Urzik man.

"That means they're into very illegal activities, kid, and not small-time." Adrik answered sternly for his friend. "For a long time, it's been suspected that this corporation was involved in illegal building of biological weapons for militaries across the world, and also were involved in a conspiracy to accumulate deadly viruses that are illegal to collect. That is at least what my country's intelligence agencies know." He closed his eyes, taking a sip of water from his canteen.

Tarik nodded. "Yes, that's pretty much it about the Umbrella Corporation: a shady and very powerful organization."

"Well, it would fit right into other big corporations I heard of," Hera said, thinking back on a few like the Trade Federation and the Techno Union. "But now we need to focus on what to do now."

"What do you mean?"

"About the plan," Hera brought up the big question. "Will it go through, or do we postpone it further?"

To this, murmurs began to travel around the room, but they soon died down, not daring to come between the conversation between the main leaders whom they were focused on. Tarik looked around and noticed the many stares he was getting from the other members, all knowing that it was Tarik who was who had the last word of it.

"We aren't ready yet. We need some time to-"

"Need some time? We don't have time anymore!" one of the other leaders protested. "We need to act now before it's too late!" A Yellow Twi'lek resistance member of his level then went a bridge too far, "You, on the other hand are on death's door, but I-"

"HEY!" Adrik jumped up shouting at the male Twi'lek member, clearly angered by the poor choice of words of the rowdy Twi'lek slave, but before he could act, the Russian second-in-command clapped his hands "Sit down and let him speak."

"Thanks, Adrik," Tarik replied gratefully before he continued. "I understand that many of you are unsettled by the stories coming from those laboratories right now, but the matter of fact is that we need to keep our focus. We cannot afford to make irrational decisions now."

"And why shouldn't we just start now?" the same Twi'lek slave argued, getting some nods. "We've got the weaponry, we know the guards' posts, got their schedules and everything. What's holding us back?"

"The Control Room."

Hearing this, all heads turned to the green Twi'lek Hera.

"In order to make the riot work, we need to be able to deactivate the electric collars around our necks." Hera explained, getting some nodding heads as she continued. "We can't do that now because the one who worked up there in the control room was one of the people sent to that facility."

"Which means what?" the male Twi'lek resistance member asked stubbornly, getting some weird looks from Adrik and Tarik briefly before Hera continued.

"Without somebody inside the control room, we won't have access to the other levels, let alone make sure that these collars on our necks won't be a problem." Hera pointed to her own collar for emphasis. "Besides, it's also the only room where they can communicate for larger reinforcements."

"It doesn't matter if we take control of the other two targets," Tarik explained to the other resistance leaders. "So long as that control room remains active and under enemy control, our chances of getting out of this hellhole are close to zero."

"Then why not just send someone as a replacement?" the Twi'lek male demanded, getting some annoyed and frustrated glances. He had only been in these meetings for a few weeks since the previous member passed away, and he already was a nuisance they hoped they didn't have to deal with.

Adrik inwardly groaned, but calmly responded, "We've already tried to get a replacement there, but they refused to bring any more slaves up there, even for cleaning. This leads me to believing that they are suspicious of our activities." This was everyone's fear coming true. After months and months of planning, there was a sudden obstacle that was not easy to solve. To make matters worse, it would seem like they were running out of time to replan their escape.

"So, what should we do now?"

Every member of the meeting looked to one another, hoping for someone to have an answer. This delicate situation was something an easy solution could not help with.

"We wait." Naruto suddenly suggested, gaining everyone's attention to what he had to say, which was unusual because he was usually the quietest and youngest member of this meeting.

"Oh please," the Twi'lek rolled his eyes, not taking him seriously, "Just sit there and be silent, boy. Let the adults talk-"

"Shut it, Marrok." Hera shut the male Twi'lek down with a harsh tone, before turning to the kid. "Naruto, what do you mean?"

"I say, we wait and try to gather more intel," Naruto continued with his suggestion. "Wait for the right moment and see when we have a window on the control room. Until then, we need to wait and don't do anything that will attract the attention of the guards."

"Even though our people are getting thinned out by those barbaric experiments?" one of the other leaders pointed out. Everyone's eyes returned onto the blond, waiting to hear and see his response.

Taking a moment to figure out what he was going to say, Naruto gave his response.

"We've got over 50,000 people here in Ölüm, and most of them are being worked to death. We've been planning for almost half a year for this, and it's not just our own lives on the line, but also the many who joined up and volunteered to help us even at the high risk of being executed." By this, he was talking about Sabine, Jimmy, Zeb, Joseph, Bellatrix, Idel... Levi, and so many others he couldn't even name.

He couldn't risk losing them all. "If we blindly go through with the plan now with this new obstacle, everybody involved will be dead, and everything we've worked for up to this point will be for nothing. This place will keep running, and many more people will perish in these mines. So we need to have patience and wait for the right moment." Naruto ended his explanation to the other resistance members, who listened to him closely.

"The kid's right;" Adrik agreed with Naruto and turned to everyone. "We simply can't risk it, at least for now. I say we wait and see what will come next."

Hera nodded. "I agree too. We'll wait. Meanwhile, try and keep the people on your levels calm, and tell them to stay sharp, alright?" She talked directly to the others who nodded to her.

"Yes, ma'am."

"This meeting is adjourned," Tarik had the last word. "We'll tell you when the next one will take place. In the meantime, try to watch out for each other. Even in Hell, we must keep our compassion. Now go, it's time to work."

Soon all the resistance members had descended back to their working stations, except for the three, which included Adrik, Tarik, and Hera.

*COUGH!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!*

Tarik's coughing came out of nowhere as he nearly collapsed to the ground, but got caught by Hera and Adrik, who held him up by his arms.

"Easy, Imam, easy." Adrik helped him out towards a nearby rock to sit on. "That cough of yours is getting worse. It can't be normal."

"Of course it ain't normal, it's Pneumonia." Tarik ended his coughing and gasped. "I'll be alright, I just...need to rest for a bit…" His coughing then returned as he held a cloth to his mouth.

This did not bring Hera any confidence, and she handed her canteen over to him. "Here, there's still some left in it."

Tarik accepted the canteen and began to drink from it, with small streams trickling from the sides of his lips, before lifting the container away from his face, letting out a loud gasp. "Ah, that's good. Thank you."

"No problem," she smiled at her friend, before noticing someone had already left. "Where's Naruto?"

"I don't know, he left quickly." Tarik said, remembering how the kid was awfully quiet today. "Maybe he's getting to his shift."

"Nyet, today he's supposed to work in the day shift, that's just two hours from now." Adrik said, having memorized the work shifts. "He's most likely going back to see Levi."

"Levi…" Tarik looked down in shame as he thought about the man who was fighting so desperately for his life. After all, he was supposed to be the one going to that facility instead.

"Tarik?"

"If it wasn't for him, I would've been dead." Tarik said as he looked up to the two, "but now, it will only be a matter of time before the news gets out about the experiments."

"You think we can still postpone it?" Hera asked him, and Tarik just shook his head.

"Not likely, not for very long." Tarik was now sure that they were out of time. "We might have to vote on it in the next meeting."

"But we don't have a man inside the control room," Adrik reminded them. "With that still being an obstacle, we won't have a chance."

"... I guess for now, all we can do is hope for a miracle," Tarik said bitterly. Just then, a rodian walked in, and gave the signal that it was almost time for their shift. Nodding at him, he quickly turned back to his friends. "Before we go, there's one more thing I'd like to discuss."

Adrik raised his eyebrow. "About what?"

*GASP!*

Levi let out another choked gasp as he clawed at his throat. Sabine, Jimmy, and Joseph's teeth were chattering as they fought the urge to cry and lash out at one another, tugging at their hair or biting their lips until it bled. Despite their near hysteria, they managed to try to give the dying man some water.

"Remember to keep some water for yourself," Jimmy warned his friend. "You won't get another full canteen for at least three days, you know that."

"I cannot afford to be greedy in a time like this, my brother," Joseph responded as he kept giving Levi his remaining water he had, "The Lord demands me to serve those who can't help themselves anymore."

Jimmy, for once spoke in his native tongue. "En serio hombre, tú también necesitas sobrevivir."

(Seriously man, you need to survive too.)

"Incluso si muero, mi conciencia no estará limpia si no ayudo a los necesitados." Joseph replied to his friend, declining the advice as he continued his duties.

(Even if I die, my conscience won't be clean if I fail to help the needy.)

"You know what, I give up." Jimmy groaned, switching back to English after failing to change his friend's mind, whose devotion to his god remaining stubborn even in the darkest moments like these.

Sabine shook her head at the two, and couldn't help but smile at their conversation. She didn't mind them speaking in their own language, but it did remind her of the times she and a bounty hunter friend of hers had with similar conversations, before they split on bad terms.

"Hey."

The three turned around, and saw Naruto holding a few items.

"Got these from Ibrahim," he grunted, pulling out some towels, more canteens of water, and some painkillers made from spice and other chemicals.

"Just what we needed." Joseph thanked the blonde as he put the towel underneath Levi's head, and used the others to dry up the man's sweaty body to wash him. "Tell Ibrahim that we owe him one."

"Well, it was also a Canadian who helped bring in the meds; some new guy I heard came by the other week."

"A Canuck? My God. Who aren't they enslaving from Earth?" Jimmy shook his head while washing Levi's face. "Bastards even go after our dear Canadian friends, who just mind their own business."

Meanwhile, Naruto was staring at the barely responding Levi. He only knew him for less than a year, and yet, Naruto was close to this large man, who was one of the few that took him seriously as a capable young man instead of a helpless, stupid kid, helping him get through the bad days of the mines. Bomber had shown him so much kindness - kindness that he knew he could never pay back. Instead, all he could do was watch him slowly die, with even his force healing doing nothing but prolonging the inevitable.

"Sabine, can we talk?"

Looking over to Naruto who caught her attention, Sabine noticed the look in his eyes, seeing that same expression he had when that family died, or when that girl Tayuya was found in her state.

"Sure…" She stood up as they both walked away. As the two youngsters were seen going off, Jimmy and Joseph quickly glanced at their backs and made small talk.

"Do you think the plan will go through?" Jimmy asked as he could figure out that the underground resistance leaders were talking about this revelation "The rumors will spread around the underground mines like wildfire. It's only going to be a matter of time now."

Joseph dipped the towel into the water can, and began washing Levi's forehead slowly as the man's eyes twitched multiple times. Joseph paused as he let out a sigh.

"Whatever happens next...will be a decisive moment in history," Joseph said to his friend. "God be with us."

Standing by the entrance of the underground mines, Naruto leaned against the red wall as he stared to the ground, waiting as Sabine walked up to him.

"You wanted to talk about something?" Sabine asked, holding her bicep as she bit her lip in worry.

Naruto took a deep breath to settle his nerves. "...It's very likely that we're going through with the plan soon."

Sabine's eyes widened a little, but aside from that, there was no indication of her being surprised.

"When?"

"I don't know, but soon, very soon. Most likely within the next few days." Naruto said, having a feeling that postponing it might no longer be a possibility, especially with the rumors of the facilities and its victims spreading around Ölüm, meaning that containing the calm would be way too difficult if they wanted the uprising to go as planned. If one person made a mistake, it would all come apart.

"So...we're pushed towards the endgame..."

"Yeah…."

"What do you think the chances will be? For our victory?"

"... Low…" Naruto answered bitterly. "... Very low…"

Before he could sink into the pit of despair, Naruto felt Sabine gently grabbing his hands, before he was pulled into her armored chest. She began stroking his hair, and he began to do the same for her.

His fears, his anxieties, his worries began to melt away from Sabine's touch and smell. Out of everyone else within his group of friends, Sabine was the one he felt the most comfortable with to show his true face under his mask - and he knew that she felt the same towards him.

"It's going to be alright," Sabine murmured as she stroked his hair, her words music to his ears. "I mean, you're probably the biggest moron I've ever met … but you're also the sweetest guy anyone can ask for, you know? If this goes wrong and we all die or worse, I'm just glad that I spent these last moments with you."

The two of them then went silent, absorbing each other's warmth as they felt their worries fade away. They couldn't even care to respond to the other slaves as they walked by, who were either congratulating or teasing them. Either way, somehow, watching the two stand there in each other's arms in bliss made them happier, and it seemed to revitalize their spirits and bodies.

(Control Room)

The Control Room was a metal, circular projection that stood out the most from the giant mine. Sticking out of the red ground, it loomed over the many levels, reminding those slaving away at the bottom of their place, with its shadow even reaching the very bottom.

Sitting on his chair, D'Nar was reading the report about the Umbrella corporation's background, to which he was reminded of the likes of the Trade Federation and the Techno Union - organizations that often claimed to be clean and humane, and yet, reeked of corruption (not that he was one to talk.)

Its origins, according to his intelligence, began from three university students who shared a deep and committed interest into "Eugenic" science that was growing in the '60s according to the Earthling's time calendar.

D'Nar read the report with a chill running up his spine. The rest of the intelligence was about the numerous accusations that this company was investigated for on Earth, which all were fitting to what was taking place just the area next to him.

"I expected some filth from these people, but this is quite surprising," D'Nar said as he leaned back into his chair. Putting down the reports, he let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes. The more he learned about this organization, the more he was beginning to wonder if he made a mistake cooperating with them. Sure, what they promised was tempting, but was the potential fallout worth it? D'Nar was an arrogant man, but even he knew that playing god could lead to catastrophic results. The Blue Shadow Virus was a key example of how destructive nature alone could be, so the idea of nature being tampered within the hands of a man was justifiably a terrifying one.

These Earthlings... were different, very different indeed. They weren't like the humans living in the Core Rim, where they viewed non-humans as inferior. Although they weren't unified and their technology was rather primitive, they were still very vicious people and had fought many brutal wars amongst themselves. On top of that, they apparently weren't above experimenting and slaying each other for power.

"I've made a deal with dangerous people."

The Zygerrian snapped out of his thoughts as a Sentinel Pyke walked through the doorway.

"You needed me, sir?"

D'Nar turned to the voice and saw who it was. "Ah, Zykol. Good that you came." He stood up from his chair. "I've got to personally thank you for the time you put into gathering this information for me."

"It was nothing, sir." The Pyke accepted his boss's gratitude with a quick bow, before continuing. "Although it was quite difficult to obtain some of this information, especially the ones containing government investigations." D'Nar nodded at this in approval. He understood the great lengths this pyke had to go through to obtain these files since the earthlings knew just how to keep secrets. Fortunately, money could buy anything, which included information, and thankfully, Zykol was one of the few he trusted with his personal funds.

"Even so, I'm actually proud of you for giving me all of this," D'Nar smiled, walking past his trusted man. "Still, I do have one question about the...unusual format of the documents you have given me." He pointed at the table, where the pile of paper documents quietly sat.

"Why is it that you've given me all this information on primitive material like paper?" He asked the Pyke. "Don't get me wrong, you haven't disappointed me, but this question is one out of curiosity."

"Well, apparently the Earthlings still use this type of material." Zykol paused shortly before continuing. "It's rare I know, but my time there on Earth was rather fascinating, for the planet that is filled with billions of humans, they act and fight like animals, especially when you read their history."

"So I've heard. Rather a bunch of interesting humans, aren't they?" D'Nar was particularly interested in the violent history of the planet Earth, which was a planet full of civilized life that was somehow also so divided. "An interesting place, especially if you want to find cheap labor, but that's a conversation for another day, maybe after the party."

"Party, sir?" The Pyke questioned.

"Yes, I've been invited by the Royal Yaruba Family to attend one of their expensive gatherings," D'Nar told his friend as he poured two empty glasses of wine. "It's just a formality party for all who do business on Kessel. It's not an event I like, but sometimes new owners are invited too, and I cannot possibly ignore opportunities to expand the business."

"Forgive me for asking, sir, but how long will you attend this party?

"Not long, perhaps a few hours if I'm bored. It depends, really," D'Nar answered his agent, before turning around to the Sentinel Pyke with the two glasses in hand. "That's why I'll put you in charge for the time I am gone." He gave the second glass to his best guard as they stood next to the windows, watching the mining operation.

Zykol nodded while accepting the glass of wine. "It would be an honor of mine, sir," he said as he looked outside the glass view with his employer. "Although, not to be rude, but I highly doubt this is the only reason you summoned me."

D'Nar smirked at his colleague's words while staring outside at his operation. "Very observant you are, but yes, there's also another matter I'd like to discuss with you."

Just then the elevators reached their levels, and the Earthling slaves began coming out in droves to begin their shifts, while the non-humans slaves were going towards the elevators.

"You heard of the rumors that have been playing around, about the slaves organizing of some sort?" D'Nar asked the Sentinel. "Well, apparently they have been planning an uprising."

Zykol looked stunned at this coming from the Zygerrian. "Are you sure those aren't just rumors?"

"At first, I myself was suspicious of this, but my mind has changed with concrete evidence….and of course, a valid witness," D'Nar smirked, and on cue, the door behind him opened, and in walked two guards escorting a slave.

It was the male Twi'lek member of the resistance, Marrok.

D'Nar chuckled as he turned to the slave in front of him, who was bowing his head to the floor. "Ah, Marrok, so you've got something to offer me that can clear my conscience about this supposed 'rebellion?'"

"Yes, master, I have information that you need to hear." The slave bowed lower to the ground, with his full body to his master's boots. "The plans, tunnels, weaponry, smuggle routes, I can give you all of that."

"Ah, a good obedient slave that knows its place." D'Nar laughed at the thought of one of their own betraying the rest. Typical of a Twi'lek honestly, they were a submissive species that were the victims of slavery.

Always was, always will be.

"I heard also that for this information, you wanted to serve somewhere else, yes?"

"Yes, master. Please. I'd like to work somewhere else, whatever it is, anything better than in the mines," Marrok begged him. "I'll even give you the names of the leaders." D'Nar laughed at what he was hearing, and, for once, was glad he wouldn't have to beat the information out.

"Good, good. I needed a servant up here anyway, so consider yourself lucky." D'Nar turned to the Pyke. "I'll trust you to put an end to this pathetic rebellion while I am gone?"

"Of course, sir. It will be done." Zykol nodded as he noticed something out of the window. "Hmm, look at that…"

D'Nar turned around and saw at one of the entrances, two young slaves in each other's arms, and were seen openly embracing and kissing each other.

"Well, well, well, would you look at that." D'Nar chuckled as he stared at the couple, a sinister plot developing in his mind at the sight of the teens. "Apparently, there are those who still need to be reminded of the rules of forbidden relations between slaves."

Zykol spotted the two, and suggested, "Should I punish them here now, sir?"

"No, no, let them enjoy it, for now," D'Nar declined that suggestion, coming up with his own. "Instead, why not let Vatik take care of it? It's his speciality in cases like these anyway."

"...Yes, sir." Zykol slowly nodded at his boss's wishes. Vatik was the supervisor of Ölüm lower-levels and the third-highest ranked in this mine right behind Zykol himself. While Zykol was professional in his work as an overseer on keeping the slaves working, Vatik was a sadist who enjoyed tormenting people in any way that fulfilled his satisfying needs. It was demonstrated once with one of the newly imported slaves who he had personally dealt with.

He still couldn't get that image of that fat Zygerrian over the body of that redhead girl…

"Well, that's all then," D'Nar said, turning around while emptying his glass, before turning back towards the Twi'lek slave. "Now you will tell me every name of the people who are involved in this plot."

The slave nodded and began a list of those names. With every person he named for the next half hour, the more lives he endangered for his selfishness.

And slowly, without the resistance knowing, hope truly began to diminish.

[Next day, Landing platforms]

Naruto grunted as he pushed another crate full of spice into a freighter that had been waiting on the platform for hours for a large pickup. Pushing the last few crates in the cargo load, Naruto finally let himself sigh in relief, before walking off the loading dock right towards the platform. Spotting his friends, he walked up to them, who were waiting for the next ship to land.

"Hey, guys." Naruto frowned as he noticed some of his friends were missing. "Any of you guys seen Hera?" They all shook their heads, "No? What about Adrik? Tarik?"

"No, kid. We haven't seen any of them." Zeb shrugged, looking just as confused as the blond. "Not since last night, at least."

"Oh no…" Naruto began to sweat even faster as a million thoughts began to race through his mind. "They didn't return from their shift last night, and neither did Jimmy, Ibrahim, nor Joseph. You think…?"

"-They got grabbed?" Someone brought the idea up, and Naruto bit his lip so hard, he began to taste iron. "What if they found out about the plan, and are rounding everyone up?"

"Maybe not. Naruto's on that council," Zeb pointed out. "If the plan was foiled, they would've already nabbed the kid."

"New freighter, dock 3"

The loudspeaker crackled to life, and they looked up to see that above them was a new freighter, which was getting ready to pick up or deliver.

"Well, enough talking. Everyone split up and get to work!" Zeb ordered as he grabbed a crate, pushing it away with two more in front.

The group quickly scattered back to their posts. If Naruto's theory was correct, then the last thing they needed right now was to paint a bigger target on themselves by slacking off even for a second.

With that in mind, Naruto began pushing a row of four spice crates to the freighter that had just landed on the platform, with the cargo gate already open and with others pushing in crates already.

Right as Naruto reached the ramp of the freighter, he suddenly was joined by someone who started to help him push the crates up to the cargo bay.

"Ah, thanks for the-" Naruto took a look at this guy and saw who it was. "Hey I remember you, you're one of the new arrivals, Mugabo, right?"

"No time, I came here with a message from Hera," the African said in his broken English/Basic as best as he could. "Listen, secret tunnel in Level 3 got raided by guards last night."

Naruto felt his heart stop at that news. Freezing midstep, he jerked his head violently towards the messenger.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked the man. "Don't bullshit me!"

"I saw it…" Mugabo said grimly. "I live on that floor, I saw the guards burst in with weapons, and forced everybody out their cells, shoving them on the floors while they continued to search." As he spoke, they continued to push their crates after a Pyke barked at them to continue.

"And?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"They found nothing, it was empty," Mugabo finished. "Guards were pissed, searched for hours but found nothing. Someone gave up location, which means-"

"Someone betrayed us." Naruto gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his crate. "I guess that means the leaders got investigated..."

"Didn't get all. Only matter of time before they'll get to you," Mugabo warned him. "Hera sent me to warn you. Leave now before the guards get you-"

"YOU THERE! COME OVER HERE!"

The two nearly jumped out of their skins when a group of Pyke guards and a Zygerrian overseer suddenly marched into the freighter, weapons in hand.

"Are you deaf?!" the Zygerrian yelled impatiently. "COME OVER HERE!"

Naruto gulped, before he gave them a quick nod, moving swiftly to move towards them while doing his best to not appear too nervous. "What is it...master? I am busy with delivering shipments.

"You're coming with us," the Zygerrian just told him. "You're being summoned for interrogation to the Control Room."

"But-"

BONK!

Naruto saw stars as he fell painfully onto the ground, tasting spice and blood. He was sure that his head was bleeding, but he couldn't tell.

"Take him to the Control Room," was the last thing Naruto heard before darkness took over his vision.

As the Pykes dragged the blond teen away, the human man who tried to warn him could only stand there helplessly, watching as one of their last hopes began to disappear from his eyes.

"Shit…"

[Control Room]

"We got one, boss!"

Naruto grunted in pain as he was thrown onto his face again, remaining conscious this time. He grit his teeth as he tried to get back up, a stabbing pain blinding his vision for a minute. Blinking light and stars out of his eyes, he looked around to figure out where he was. His eyes widened as he remembered where they were taking him.

It was what he expected: a room filled with guards staring at the holographic screens with glowing letters he could barely read. The room was surrounded by windows as it was centered in the middle of the mine with a view of the whole mining operation.

This was the heart of Ölüm's security center - the most vital part of the spice mine.

"Move it, brat!" The Pyke behind him shoved his staff into Naruto's back, causing him to fall forwards again. "Here, boss. We found him."

"Look up, kid."

Holding back the urge to glare at him, Naruto slowly lifted his head, and blankly stared at the Pyke that was standing in front of him. Unsure what he wanted, he kept himself quiet.

"Okay kid, let me get straight to the point," Zykol said in a strict tone, but not one of arrogance like most of them had, "Lord D'Nar has left me in charge for the next few hours, and I've been given information about an uprising being conspired."

Naruto just stared at the Pyke sentient with a neutral expression. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't start that nonsense with us, boy," the chubby Zygerrian who got him on the platform angrily responded. "We found the secret underground headquarters just a few hours ago, and we know you slaves are planning something."

"Stay out of this, Vatik," Zykol snapped at the Zygerrian overseer. The 2nd-in-command wasn't pleased with working with Vatik at all. Sure, he can admit that the Zygerrian got results, but sometimes his extreme and brutal methods made things worse. On top of that, Zykol couldn't help but be repulsed at his ways. Perhaps it was his "soft heart" that his peers sometimes mocked him for, but even he had standards.

"Are you sure you didn't just find an old, abandoned mine?" Naruto said, trying hard not to let out a grin. "I mean, this mine is pretty old, so who knows?"

"Why you little-"

"Stop it, Vatik!" Zykol commanded his subordinate. "Don't make me repeat it again."

The Zygerrian stepped back again with a displeased grunt, leaving Zykol to his interrogation.

"Listen kid, I'm going to give you one last chance, so don't make things harder for yourself, and just tell us the whereabouts of the other leaders." ."

"Like I said," Naruto glared at the Pyke, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Just then, a different guard, a fellow Pyke, walked up to Zykol. "Sir, we may have found the second hideout of the resistance leaders."

"Are you sure about it?"

"Our informant has verified it," the guard nodded with confidence. "I've assembled a team to get them."

"Okay, I'll come too." Zykol said. Interrogation could wait - for now, he'll deal with this puny rebellion himself, which would certainly help keep him in good graces with the higher ups. "Vatik, stay here and watch over him. The rest of you, with me."

"Hey, I am not going to babysit this little brat," Vatik protested, not wanting to miss out on the action, but the Pyke just snapped at him.

"That's an order, Vatik. Stay here and watch over the kid. This will be dealt with quickly."

Gritting his teeth, Vatik eventually replied, "Fine, just be quick." Not bothering to reply, Zykol left the room swiftly with his men, leaving Vatik alone with Naruto and the operators.

...

Zykol and his fellow Pykes were waiting for the elevators to reach their level. For some reason, the elevator was running extra slow today, which meant that they had to wait a bit longer than usual. This meant that for a good minute or so, they had to stand there in the heat in pure boredom.

Zykol sighed as he looked around them, almost wishing for something to happen. His eyes then fell onto the Pyke next to him.

"Vash, you've been rather quiet for some time. Is something the matter?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm just wondering why you decided to leave that blond Elementian with Vatik. I mean, you and I both know that he acts on his own interests, so chances are, that boy's going to be dead by the time we come back."

"Normally, I'd agree with you, but even that thickheaded Zygerrian knows better than to kill a major suspect. Besides, I hate getting my hands dirty anyways, so maybe he'll punch out some answers."

Their conversation was cut short when the elevator doors finally slid open. They cautiously waddled into the elevator, not trusting the slaves to have rebuilt it well enough all of a sudden.

"Even so, what he is doing lately is only going to pour more fuel on the fire." Vash continued. "Kriff, we still haven't been able to find that girl he dragged into the detention cells."

"Don't remind me of that."Zykol's nose scrunched up in disgust when he remembered that particular moment. It was disgusting, and perhaps barbaric even for them, but more importantly, he feared that it was going too far in a sense where the slaves might revolt. Sometimes too much punishment was bad, and could backfire once the slaves realized that they greatly outnumbered them, and if they decided that surviving was no longer a priority. Zykol liked to think that the way they did things was good enough, and while tiresome at times, it kept the fear level balanced to where they wouldn't dare organizing together to fight back.

Ah well, trying to get him kicked out would be a task for another day.

"So Zykol, how big do you think this rebellion is anyways?"

"I dunno, maybe like three or five levels worth?" Zykol shrugged. "According to our informant, the current leaders are Hera Syndulla, Tarik Karim, and Adrik Yahontov, with second-in-command leaders being Naruto Uzumaki and Sabine Wren."

"The Mandalorian girl?" Vash turned to his friend sharply. "Are you sure about that?"

"Like I said, our informant confirmed it," Zykol grunted as he rechecked the names on his tablet. "Why? Something wrong?"

"If I'm not mistaken, I think I just saw one of Vatik's men drag her towards the Control Room about 30 minutes ago."

"FARKLED!" Zykol cursed out loud as he turned to his friend. "And you just decided to tell me about this now?!"

Just then the elevator came to a sudden stop, and the doors slid open.

"Hey, how should I have known that those two were fucking?" Vash huffed as he walked out of the elevator. "Hell, last I've heard of them, they were trying to kill each other in the cafeteria."

"Unbelievable," Zykol muttered, before pushing the elevator buttons. "You go with the others and finish the job. I'll go back upstairs and stop that maniac. I'm counting on you, Vash."

Like hell he'd let Vatik do something like that again. Who knows what else could happen if they went too far again?

Vash nodded at him as the elevator doors slid shut. He watched the elevator return back up, before he turned towards his men.

"Alright, listen up you guys. He left me in charge of this operation while he does his thing. Let's get this over with, so no wasting time. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" the Pykes barked out in unison.

And with that, they marched towards the cafeteria, determined to crush this rebellion before it could have a chance to even begin.

[Control Room]

WHACK!

The Control Room operators tried their best to ignore the slave being tossed around by the Zygerrian, although the Pykes couldn't help but flinch time to time from what their imaginations offered to them.

Naruto's head jerked violently to the left as he got punched in the face by Vatik, busting his lip badly. Blood slowly poured out of his wounds delivered from the brute Zygerrian.

*Hah*, *Hah*, Hah*, *Hah*

Naruto coughed, spitting out a mixture of saliva and blood to add to the ever-growing pool of his life water forming beneath him. His eyes were beginning to swell up, making it even harder to see. Everything hurt, and it was getting harder to think.

On top of that, his hands and feet were cuffed to each other, making his already painful position more uncomfortable. He wasn't even able to wipe the blood off of his face, which was honestly the worst part about the whole experience.

*Crack*, *Crack!*

Vatik cracked his knuckles as he sneered at the beaten boy at his feet.

"I'll give you this, you little shit. You're hard to break."

Naruto could only let out a pathetic gurgle, before he spat out some more blood at Vatik's feet.

"Pfff, my granny could punch harder than you, so suck it you hairy asshole." Despite how painful it was to do so, Naruto managed to give him a shit-eating grin.

Vatik responded by slamming his foot against the blond's neck, making him gasp for air as he pressed him against the cold, metal floor.

"You're really getting on my nerves, you worthless human trash!" Vatik growled dangerously. "I'll teach you how to respect your betters!"

"Psh, I ain't scared of you. Dying's just part of the job for us, and honestly, it sounds a lot better than sharing the same room as your stinky ass. Do your worst."

Much to his surprise, Vatik's frustrated expression turned into one of glee.

"Oh don't worry, brat. I won't kill you…" He stepped off of the blond's neck, and walked over to a large, metal box. It was larger than the average spice crate, and judging by the way he was grinning, whatever was inside couldn't have been good. "However, I'm going to do something...worse, to you."

He pushed a button on the box, and it opened with a hiss. Reaching inside, he pulled out a very familiar slave-

Sabine! Naruto thought with horror. Looking rather beat up herself, one of her eyes was nearly swollen shut, with dried blood caking her face. Her other eye struggled to open itself. The moment her beautiful, brown eye met his blue, bloodshot ones, it widened in horror.

"You know, you really shouldn't have sucked each other's faces in public. You never know who might be watching," the Zygerrian sneered devilishly. "Thanks to your girlfriend here, I found your only weakness."

Vatik then pulled Sabine's face up to his as he grinned at the fallen boy. "So, are you willing to talk now that I have your precious mate?"

"MmmmMmmpphhff!" Sabine tried to scream something through the gag, making Vatik cackle in glee.

"Leave her out of this!" Naruto roared, his eyes glowing with rage. "She has nothing to do with this!" He tried to stand up, but fell onto his knees, dizzy from his injuries and blood loss.

"Wrong answer! I guess you don't love her as much as I thought!" He shoved the girl onto the communication projector table, slamming his greasy lips against her neck and face.

Naruto could only watch in horror as Sabine's eyes began to water. Despite her muffled pleas, the Zygerrian rubbed his large body all over her petite figure, his hair, lips, saliva, and hands fondling the struggling girl.

'No, no, no, NO!' Naruto's mind raced with the same words as a dark surge of power began to course through his body, the rush, the power, it came slower than usual, as if something was holding it back with what fading strength it had. "STOP IT!"

"Too late for that, kid. It's time you learn the consequences of disobedience," Vatik grinned, his sharp teeth failing to hold back his excited purrs as he stroked Sabine's derrière. Sabine was screaming now, her cries loud enough to be heard even with her gag.

RIIIIIIIIP!

Sabine's tears flowed even harder as the Zygerrian tore open her pants, exposing her bottom. Her screams grew even louder as she fought even harder, but in her weakened state, there was nothing she could do against the beast on top of her.

"Hmm, that's a nice ass." A cruel laugh escaped the monster's mouth. "I've heard that Mandalorian women are women of high culture - let's see how it really is!" As Vatik was about to unleash his sinful lust, the doors opened, revealing a panting Zykol who made it just in time.

"VATIK!" He ran over to Vatik, pulling him off of Sabine. "I TOLD YOU TO NOT ACT IN YOUR OWN INTERESTS! It's acts like these that pushes them to rebellion!"

Vatik's wicked face turned sour as he saw who it was that was ruining his fun.

"Zykol…"

He let go of Sabine, letting her fall onto the floor. She just laid there quietly, her sobs muffled by her gag as she trembled like a leaf.

"You always come at the wrong time, huh?" He glared at the Pyke, his fists clenching. "Don't you have a job with those rebel slaves?"

"I would be crushing the puny rebellion by now with my men, if not for your insolent actions! Besides, what good will stopping that rebellion be if you ignite the birth of another bigger one with your hedonism?! It's bad enough that you raped that redheaded Elementian, but we lost her now, and who knows if that's what triggered the said rebellion in the first place!"

Naruto's body twitched while the two slavers were arguing.

"Enough of your idiotic paranoia," Vatik growled, getting into the Pyke's face. "They're just slaves; they can't do anything while we hold the blaster! If they try, we'll kill them, simple as that!"

"Too much fear and pain will inevitably lead to rebellion, be it big or small. With every time wasted subduing or killing the merchandise, it'll be more expensive to replace them! Besides, what if you put my people in danger because of a rage-fueled riot?!"

"You know what? I don't give a damn!" Vatik roared in Zykol's face. "I'll teach them obedience however I want to! They're just slaves! They can't do anything unless I say so. I can do whatever I want with them, and THERE'S NOTHING ANYBODY CAN DO ABO-!"

*GUUUKK!*

The air suddenly grew stiff as their words stopped dead in their throats. Whatever Vatik was going to say next, nobody would ever know. His look of unrestrained rage shifted from one to confusion, to terror as he began to reach for his neck.

What...is going...on? I can't - Zykol! The Zygerrian looked at the Pyke, and found that he too seemed to be frozen, being strangled by an invisible force walking amongst them. His eyes widened as he saw Zykol being slowly dragged up into the air, as if being dragged into the sky with a rope by the gods!

Looking around them, even the operators were frozen, being squeezed to death by some unholy force. They were choking, gagging as they tried to do anything. Take in air. Call for help. Push the buttons. Anything! But like Zykol and himself, no matter how hard they struggled, they couldn't move a muscle!

CRUNCH! SHATTER!

His eye twitching, he saw the control panels - the one thing that could stop all of the slaves in their tracks if they so wished - get crushed, sparks, metal, and wires ejecting from the machines.

And suddenly, he learned the true meaning of fear.

…

If not for the situation at hand, Sabine would've found the situation to be humorous. Unlike the monsters that surrounded them, she knew exactly what was going on the moment it happened.

Despite the fact that she has witnessed this once, and despite the fact that this time, she was not on the receiving end of the invisible grip, she still couldn't help but feel a little terrified and amazed at the situation at hand.

"N-Naruto-"

"... Sabine, get out, now." Naruto murmured at her.

Ah, there it was. Despite his eyes glowing golden, just like that time at the elevator, instead of hatred, they were full of concern and sorrow - regret for not being able to save what was left of her innocence in time. It struck fear into her, and yet, at the same time, it was oddly comforting.

"Go." It was a simple word, but it was more than enough to snap her out of his hypnotizing gaze. Nodding quickly, she got up, and quickly passed by the paralyzed slavers. She had work to do.

…

Vatik gulped as the blond slave slowly turned his head towards him. His golden, slitted eyes glared at him with hate and power, and it was then that he knew that it wasn't the same boy that he was torturing earlier.

Somehow letting out an audible gulp of fear, he noticed that his vision was blacking out. And yet, somehow, he was still able to think. He was still able to notice his eyes, his hands, and with everything else that went on-

"A...Jedi?" he managed to breathe out, before he went limp.

In response, Naruto let out a roar as he clenched his clawed hands into fists, crushing everything in the room.

ROOAAAARRRR!

Everyone, from the slavers to the slaves, and even the few droids that walked around the mining hole, all froze at the sound of some ungodly roar echoing the area. Every organic being was paralyzed as fear invaded their hearts and souls, with the younger ones even crying on the spot.

CRASH! CRASH! SHATTER! CRUNCH!

The ones in the upper levels of Olum looked up, their eyes widening as they saw the mighty Control Room suddenly being crushed like a tin can at the bottom of the ocean, its durable glass being shattered with ease.

Everything went silent for a moment.

Then, all hell broke loose.

And that is it for this chapter! I'm going to sleep now, hope you guys liked it, 16K chapter with over 4 months of delayed work. You guys better give Lucius some word out. Good night!