Background Stuff - "Installment 1"

[Keshani]

(Edited on April 28th to fix formatting issues)

It was winter. The blond haired girl with the piercing blue eyes was five. She wasn't surrounded in luxury, that was for sure, but she had what she needed. And she was happy. A giggle escaped her lips as she ran after a ball she was playing with in the front yard with a boy.

But then the men came - two tall men in black suits. She watched as they walked right up to the door to the orphanage that Keshani called home and entered without knocking.

She watched with curiosity as the men walked in, wondering who they were and why they had come. But she was a kid and her attention didn't stay with the men for long. Soon she was back playing with her friend.

An hour later the men had left, trailed by Miss Brielle with tears streaming down her face.

Keshani had known that something was wrong then. She hadn't known HOW wrong until later.

The next day Miss Brielle gathered them all in the living room where they got together after meals. Kesh could see that she was fighting hard not to cry. She wondered why.

And then Miss Brielle had explained that there was no money left. That the orphanage had to close.

The older kids had seemed really worried by that. Keshani was a kid. She didn't know.

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A week later she and about 10 other kids sat huddled in a gutted convenience store at the corner of the street where the orphanage had stood. The store had been closed for years. Kids liked to draw all over it and break windows. Sometimes they set fire to it and parts of the building were falling apart. But at least it was somewhere to go.

It was raining outside and Kesh was cold. She was hungry, too.  And sleepy. But it was hard to sleep with a hungry tummy.

She looked back at where her old home still stood. But it was locked up now and they couldn't get back inside. So they were here instead. Her tummy grumbled at her. She shivered and sneezed.

They had to beg for food. This made Kesh feel even worse. She hated begging. But people felt sorry for her because she was little. So they gave her money.

And after a while it wasn't so hard anymore. Maybe she just got used to it, or maybe she got better at acting. She learned how to cry on command. She also started to learn how to separate herself from the outside world. It was hard to explain, but there was this *bubble* inside of her where she knew who she was. It didn't matter what others thought of her as long as she had herself safe inside that little bubble.

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She was ten now and Chen had started teaching her how to lift things from other people without them knowing. People were stupid and carried their wallets and other expensive things right out in the open for others to see. Maybe they WANTED others to see their big fat wallets? Maybe they wanted to show off their fancy, shiny things.

But Chen said that made it easy for them to steal them without the people knowing, too.

Chen had been teaching her for weeks. She had practiced on him and some other kids that she lived with. She was getting really good.

Good enough that she decided she was going to go out on her own and try it. She would bring back something good for Chen. He would be proud of her. No more boring begging. She could do better than that.

She stood in a shadowy corner of the street watching the people as they walked past, looking for the right one.

And then she saw him - a middle aged man with a shiny head. He was wearing an expensive coat talking really loudly to another man he was walking with. He was waving his arms around all over the place as he talked. She giggled at that. Who talks with their hands? She could see his wallet sticking out of the pocket of his pants. It would be easy to "bump" into him and pick it out of his pocket. Chen had done it tons of times with others.

So she took a deep breath and ran toward the man, acting like she was running to catch a ball someone had tossed her but wasn't paying attention to where she was going.

She ran into the man. OOF!! She reached her hand up to the man's pocket just as Chen had taught her.

Only she hadn't realized there was a chain attached to the wallet. She pulled, and suddenly she felt the man's hand on hers. He had stopped walking and stared down at her.

"Just what do you think you are doing, young lady?"

Kesh froze. Her brain went blank. She just stared back and forth between the man's hand on hers and his face which was VERY angry.

She turned to run away, but the man was holding on to her tightly. He was much stronger than she was. His friend was standing watching now too, his hands on his hips.

"I'm sorry, sir", was all she could think to say.

The man did NOT look very impressed.

10 minutes later the local police were there. The police officer didn't put her in stuncuffs, but he DID hold onto her tightly as he led her to his car.

He had locked her in a small room at the police station. There were two chairs and a table but not much else. She felt like she was sitting there forever. But finally the police office had come back. With him was Chen, in toe. Apparently he had come to get her released. He didn't look very happy.

Kesh had never been afraid of Chen before. But there was something different in his eyes this time. She tried to stay at the police station.

He had almost dragged her out of the station, his head covered with a hood that made it hard to see his face. He kept dragging her through the streets walking so fast that she had to run to keep up.

She was out of breath when he finally stopped in an alley where no one else was at. She was glad to stop, hoping to just catch her breath. But instead he had backed her into a corner and had started hitting her. First a slap across the face and then another.

She had stared at him with a shocked expression. She hurt. Her nose was bleeding. But even more she had NEVER seen Chen act like this before.

"Chen?...", she had asked

"Don't you EVER do something like that again!" he growled at her. "Are you a total IDIOT?!!"  His face was red from yelling and Kesh burst out crying. That just seemed to make him more angry and he started hitting her with a stick that was lying on the ground.

She had curled up in a little ball and had just tried to protect herself as much as she could as Chen had kept hitting her.

Finally he stopped and she followed him back to their "camp". But after that day things never were the same.

She had learned later that somehow the police had recognized Kesh - they had gone back to the building where they were staying to look for Chen and had ALMOST caught him in the middle of some deal for drugs. His buddies had had to get out of there quickly to not get caught and Chen was FURIOUS.

It was soon after that that Chen had left. But that was okay with Kesh. She was afraid of him now, anyway.

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That day had changed Kesh. Chen was In Charge. He would always be there and would watch out for all of them.

Except that turned out not to be true.

She wouldn't make that mistake again. She wouldn't trust anyone else. It would just be her.

She stuck around "Camp" for a while, but everyone knew what had happened. They blamed her for Chen leaving. She couldn't deal with it anymore.
At the age of 11 she just left one day and didn't go back.

She had gotten a little better at pick-pocketing.  She had to be careful to pick the right person, but she could lift enough to get by and sometimes she could take things right from the stores, too - small things that she could hide in her pockets or under her too-large shirt.

But one day she was walking through the town and saw a Faire of sorts going on. There were tables set up all over and people were selling things out in the open. It was packed.

And then the light reflected off of something that caught her eye. It was gold in color and had jewels encrusted in it. It looked expensive.

I'll bet, if I could just steal that, I would be set for a YEAR, she thought to herself. All she could think about was an actual bed to sleep in and someplace warm and dry to stay.

Her feet carried her off before she had much time to think at all.

The next thing she knew the tiara that caught her eye was in her hand. There were so many people around that she just took off, panicking and just wanting to get away from there.

She had gotten just a few steps before the store owner had spotted her. Alarms had gone off and a jolt had coursed through her body from the Tiara, causing her to drop it. There must have been SOME kind of security device on it.

The next thing she knew the store owner had turned his sales over to an assistant and had dragged Kesh out to a transport that was sitting back a little ways. He had shoved her inside and locked the door, getting in the front and had started driving.

She tried to get out, but the door was locked from the outside and she had nothing to break the windows with. There was a divider separating the driver's compartment from the passenger like there was on taxi transports. She tried screaming but it didn't seem to bother him.

Finally they had stopped. The man came around and pulled her out, dragging her to an old building that could have been some sort of warehouse.

The next thing she knew he had thrown her on the ground and was holding her down as he tied her hands together and then her feet.

She kicked and screamed and tried to bite him where she could. She wasn't very successful. He tore off a piece of her shirt and tied it around her eyes cutting off any sense of vision.

Sitting on the cold, hard ground with her hands tied in front of her and her feet tied so tightly she could barely turn her ankles he left her.

When he came back some time later he was carrying what sounded like a metal chair with him.

"Up." He snarled, at her. Roughly he grabbed onto her and pushed her back into the chair.

"What makes you think you can just walk up and steal something that isn't yours?" he snarled at her again.

She opened her mouth to answer - to come up with some sort of excuse. But nothing came out.

"What if I just decide to take something from you that I want?" he spat out next. She could feel his warm breath close to her face and could smell it, too.

She started shaking. She had no control. She had no idea what was going on.

He roughly grabbed at her hands and forced them back against the chair, wrapping more rope around them to keep them from moving out in front of her.

Now Kesh was VERY scared. What was he doing?

Then he moved to her feet, using his body weight to hold one down as he untied the other and then re-secured it against the leg of the chair.

Kesh started fighting harder, now in full panic mode. She did NOT like where this was going.

Soon her other foot was tied, as well and then more ropes came to tight her thighs.

Her chest was heaving at this point she was so scared and tears started to fall down her face.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she managed to get out.

"You'll learn to not steal from me you little brat", he growled out.

And then there was a loud tearing noise and suddenly her pants and shirt were torn away.

Kesh screamed again, and the man's hand covered her mouth, making it hard to breathe.

"Shut up, you little brat. You'll take it like a good girl and never steal again. You messed with the WRONG guy this time sugar"

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When she woke up she was alone on the floor of the building - her hands and feet untied but still lying naked on the floor.

She crawled to the corner of the room and vomited. She hurt all over. She felt like she wanted to die.

The worst part was that on some level her body actually had LIKED what the man was doing. That thought made her throw up again.

She had laid there for a very long time, just trying to decide if she wanted to die or not.

Eventually she decided that she wasn't that lucky.

Her clothes were in shreds but she had managed to find an old blanket that she wrapped around herself long enough to sneak into a nearby backyard and steal some clothes off a line that was hanging out to dry. Then she had found an alley with an overhanging roof to curl up in and fell asleep, exhausted and feeling sick.

When she had woken up the next morning she had felt something warm and fuzzy muzzling at her face. She pushed it away, not really awake enough to register the strangeness of what was going on.

But it came back. The warm, furry, slobbery thing was back at her face again, this time licking her and leaving big drool spots in its wake.
Kesh opened her eyes.

It was a Korena cub - young, by the looks of it. Kesh giggled despite herself as the cub's tail was wagging in one direction and his tongue licking away in the other.

"What are you doing here?" she said to the cub, although she knew it couldn't understand her.

"Go away, would you?"

It looked at her for a second and she swore it shook its head a little and then it went right back to muzzling her face and her neck again.
"Goofy thing," she giggled again.

She put her hands on the ground, meaning to push herself up into a sitting position. Then the pain hit her back again like a brick. Her memories flashed back to the day before. She turned over and puked again and seriously considered ending things right there.

But there was that damn Korena cub. It wouldn't leave her alone.

"Dumb Korena." She said under her breath, staring at the furry thing. It was still pretty little - about knee high to her if she had been standing, and had fur the color of sand. She felt her heart melting even as she pushed it away again. "Go away", she said again. But it stayed. She didn't know where it had come from or why it decided to stay with her. But it did. For the next two weeks.

Every day she would wake up expecting it to be gone, but there he was, curled up next to her.

They were the happiest two weeks she had had in some time.

Then one day she had been walking along an alley and she had heard a strange PING sound out. Next thing she knew she looked down at the korena and her heart clenched up inside of her so tightly that she was sure it would burst apart.

Sticking out of the korena's furry chest was a small post of metal. The very tip of two long barbs were sticking out of the korena's chest - the tips were all she could see. The rest was buried in his fur, in his flesh.

"NOOOOOO!!!!" she cried out. "YOU FRELLING SON OF A -" she was cut off as she heard another pinging noise through the air.

Tears streaming down her face she picked the little korena cub up in her arms and ran as fast as she could toward the nearest doorway overhang to protect her.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" she cried out at the alleyway in general. She didn't know where the shots had come from. She couldn't really make herself care right now.

As she looked into the little cub's eyes and saw the pain and pleading there - pleading to save him. To take his pain away. But she couldn't.

Tears streamed down her face harder as she sat holding the little cub in her arms gently, feeling helpless to do anything else for him. She sat there for what felt like hours as the light slowly began to get dimmer in the cub's eyes. And then, finally it was gone.

She held him for a long time still, not having the will to move. That little cub had given her the energy to keep living over the last few weeks and now he was gone...and for what?

She turned over and dry wretched, having nothing left to vomit up.

And her eye caught the post of the barbed metal dart. And then without really consciously thinking she had pulled the dart out of the korena cub and used it to slice her wrists - a vertical slash to each, lining up with the arteries pulsing through them both. She watched feeling only numb as blood oozed down her arms to her hands and onto the korena's sandy mat coat.

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[Keshani]

(OOC: Continued due to hitting max character limit) (Edited on April 28th due to formatting issues)

She woke up in a clinic. A young adult female was sitting beside her bed and smiled as she opened her eyes.

"Hey, you" she said.

Kesh closed her eyes again hoping that this wasn't real.

But she opened them again and the woman was still there, her dark hair held up in a clasp at the back of her head.

"Where am I?" she finally asked, trying to keep her voice neutral and uninterested. Maybe the woman would go away.

"At the Healing Heart Clinic", the woman replied back. "You were pretty bad when they brought you in here. I'm glad you are feeling better".

"That's a matter of opinion," Kesh muttered to herself, looking around and taking in her surroundings.

She was in a bed with curtains around her. There was nothing else within arms reach of her aside from a glass of water. The garbage can, the table, the medical equipment - all were conveniently JUST out of arms reach from her so that she would have to get out of bed to be able to reach any of them. She had a feeling the woman's job was to make sure she didn't do that.

"Am I being forced to stay here?" she asked.

"We would prefer that you think of yourself as our guest," the lady answered, her voice gentle and filled with what sounded like genuine concern.

The thought of someone caring about her made Kesh's insides squirm. She didn't want anyone to care about her. The Korena had...

She turned her head to the side of the bed again as she threw up again thinking about the korena and that day.

In a panic she started thrashing around looking for SOMETHING to use to try again to end things.

The woman's hands were on hers before she could even come up with a full thought, and suddenly restraints were being placed on her arms and legs, preventing her limbs from moving.

Kesh immediately tensed up. She had been down this path before..what WAS this place? Was this woman crazy?

She started thrashing harder, in full panic mode.

She saw the woman shake her head as she fought to keep Kesh from hurting herself. "Sedate her", she heard her call back to the curtains.

The next thing she knew she was feeling very sleepy again..

The next time she opened her eyes she was still restrained, but she still had a gown covering her body and a blanket over top of that. It was dark in the room, but there was a small light on her side that lit the room gently. It didn't FEEL like before, the other time...

"Ya know, you don't have to do this, love".

The woman. She was still here. Kesh turned her head toward the direction of the voice.

"Then let me go."

"I can't do that. Not until you calm down."

Kesh took a slow breath.

"Can you tell me your name at least?"

The girl tried to roll over in the bed so she could look at the woman but the restraints on her arms and legs wouldn't let her.

"Keshani". She mumbled, a tear of frustration and hurt sliding slowly down her cheek.

"Hello Keshani. My name is Mikki."

Kesh didn't say anything and there was silence in the room for a minute.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

Again, silence.

"Ok, can I get you anything then?"
 
"You aren't going to leave, are you." It wasn't exactly a question.

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She had remained at the Clinic, a "guest" for about a month. She attended sessions with other "guests" on a daily basis and sometimes had private sessions with the doctors, as well. And there was always Mikki, watching out for her, making sure she was safe.

They got to know each other a little, and when Kesh actually let herself open up a little bit and told Mikki that she liked to fix things and tinker, Mikki had found some tools for her to use and some old gadgets to work with. Some of the doctors and other staff around the Clinic knew a bit in the technical department, as well, and they seemed to find their way over to her every now and again, showing her new things and helping her as she worked on projects (always in the presence of Mikki).

It got to the point that she thought of Mikki as a big sister of sorts (mind you a very annoying big sister with NO respect for personal space or privacy).

But then had come the day when they decided she was "healed" and could be released.

Suddenly Mikki was saying goodbye and Kesh was out the front doors, all alone again.

She wasn't suicidal anymore. That feeling had passed. But she found herself with a new feeling of emptiness inside of her again. It wasn't the sharp pain of before, but there was definitely a strong dull ache there and at that moment, looking back at the sliding glass doors of the clinic with the etched heart in the middle of them, Kesh decided that she wouldn't let anyone else in. Ever.
Letting people in had only hurt her. She would be a rock from now on; living for herself and no one else.

[Keshani]

(Edited on April 28th for formatting issues)

(About 2 years later...)

She was in the marketplace, where she had just lifted a bottle of highly priced namana liquor off the shelf of a store.

The stuff was good and she had acquired quite a taste for it. But enjoying something and paying for it were two different things.

Kesh couldn't remember the last time she had actually paid for something she wanted. Well, not in cred coins, anyway.

She had been walking out of the store when suddenly a man ran right into her, knocking her sprawling on the floor, causing the newly liberated bottle of namana liquor to slide discreetly away from her, rolling to a stop underneath a display case out of sight.

Worse, Kesh knew this man, she realized. It was Benishay, and she knew him because he "worked" in the same circles as she did.

The shaggy man in ragged clothing stood up, pretending to apologize profusely for running into her. But she narrowed her eyes at him and a smirk quickly appeared on her face. Benishay and she did not get along. He was always getting in the way and ruining her jobs in any way possible.

Paybacks were a bitch sometimes..

Dramatically she schooled her face into one of absolute shock and innocence at the same time.

"THIEF!", she yelled loudly, catching the attention of those around her.

At about 1.6 meters tall, Kesh was not exactly a bad looking teenage girl. Her long blonde hair hung loosely at her back, framing her face and her piercing blue eyes just so.

Today she was dressed to look "clean" and "normal". She was wearing a blouse with a low v-neck and a loose fitting pair of pants.

She didn't dress like this every day, but sometimes it was nice to be able to fit in with the crowd, and today she had some work to do that would mean avoiding unnecessary attention...

"I don't know what you're talking about dear lady. You must be confused!", Benishay sputtered.

"THIEF!!", she cried out again. By this time a few customers and the store owner were looking over curiously in her direction.

"He stole my wallet!", she continued, pointing insistently at the man. She glanced at him again, and threw him a quick smirk before reverting back to her feigned look of innocence bordering on hysteria.

She moved toward the man, reaching out to him and patting him down, as if looking for her missing property. He started backing away, finally realizing that he had lost control here. She grabbed him and from her hidden pocket in the sleeve of her jacket she nudged her wallet to slide down discreetly into her hand, which was currently inside the man's own jacket.

"Look!" she cried out again. "Here it is. Just now he stole it from me. Someone call the Constable!"

And suddenly there he was - Rhejay Kelrich. Handsome as all could be, sauntering up to her ready to play the part of Knight from the old Tales, rescuing the "damsel in distress". He had brown hair cut close to his head and the darkest brown eyes she had ever seen - so dark they were almost black. He was muscular and toned and looked like he could have been chiseled out of a piece of marble. Except that he was much warmer.

He was wearing a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up as high as they could go, nicely showing off the muscle rippling on his arms and shoulders. He was hot.

"Did you steal this young lady's wallet?" he asked Benishay.

"NO!!", he responded. Kesh had to fight very hard to keep a straight face.

The handsome guy (who looked like he wasn't much older than she was - maybe a year or two) just folded his arms in front of him and gave Benishay a look, pinning him in his spot with his stare while waiting for the police to arrive.

It was clear that this guy was used to people listening to him. He walked with an obvious confidence and calm about him. He looked sophisticated. And, although Kesh tended not to trust anyone at all, she felt herself being drawn to this guy.

After the police had taken Benishay away (thowing murderous looks at Kesh the whole time), the guy had turned to her and held out his hand.

"I'm Rhej," he said. "I'm sorry that happened."

Kesh hesitated for a minute and then tentatively took the proffered hand. He was gorgeous, afterall, and watching him come in all poised and in control like that made something inside of her feel kinda funny.

But then.... "Danaka", she replied back softly. She tried her best to stand tall and act like someone that a sophisticated guy like this would want to be seen with.

"Nice to meet you. Can I walk you anywhere?"

And again, the hesitation. What was she doing?

She shrugged it off, ignoring every single alarm bell going off in her head. Something inside her was sick of hiding; was sick of being alone. But she couldn't be herself here, either. Who wanted to be seen with a homeless street urchin who had earned everything she had in life by stealing?

"Sure", she had replied, with the sinking feeling that she was making a very bad decision...

It was night. The lights of the city of Salis D'aar glittered off in the distance as they walked along the footpath, the quiet chirping of nistridus softly in the background - thousands of thousands of them, their chirping interwoven to make a type of symphony of sorts.

The twin moons shone overhead, bathing everything around them in muted tones of silver.

And for a moment Kesh forgot who she was. She found herself relaxing for the first time in a very long time. There was something about this guy...

And she found herself wishing that she didn't have to be ashamed of who she was - that she could be something more.

And then the touch of Rhej's hand on her shoulder pulled her back to the here and now. As he pulled her in close, his arms wrapped around her all of the sudden the flash back began.

She was in the chair again, her legs and hands tied. She couldn't move. He grabbed her hair and pulled, forcing her head to move where he lead it

Kesh's eyes went wide and she pulled away, her body as tight as a drum, every muscle in her body quivering.

And then, all at the same time, as she was trying to recover from that vision, another body bumped into her on the path.

"Keshani?" A shaggy man with a full beard and a hood covering his face was standing next to them. He stunk like an unwashed body and was missing teeth in his mouth.

Kesh's eyes widened with this new assault to her already confused and shocked brain.

"I thought you said your name was Dannaka," Rhej pulled farther away, his eyes now filled with suspicion.

"Dannaka?!"spat the man, "This is Keshani. And she's been 'rested more times 'n  I can count on me hands. Dannaka. You must have bumped yer head, boy!"

The look of utter revulsion that came to  Rhej's face was enough to make Kesh feel sick. A pit formed in her stomach and before she could give it a conscious thought her feet were carrying her away, fleeing in confusion and hurt at how quickly Rhej's opinion of her had changed.
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She swore to herself that night two things:

1) That she would find out who Rhej was and make him pay for rejecting her so cruelly and 2) She was not totally and utterly done with other people.

Kesh learned through searching some news holovids and looking some things up on the holonet while working out of the Repair shop she worked at by day that Rhejay Kelrich was the son of Sontier and Tuvia Kelrich, minor nobility who owned a namana plantation further away from the City on the continent of Prytis. But they spent most of their time living in a mansion right outside the City, which is why Kesh had run into Rhej that day.

The address of their residence was public record.

So she went to do some surveillance of her own.

She spent a week - every night after she was done at the Machine shop - watching that house. She recorded when Rhej and his parents got home and when they left. She recorded all the doors and windows and used a hopped up datapad to record the signals that were sent to their numerous alarm systems and locks.

People were idiots for relying on all of this technology. They thought they were safe with all of their security systems that beamed information to a datapad that you could watch or that you could remotely control from miles away.

But that just meant someone ELSE could control it all, as well.

She didn't even really want to steal anything from the house. She just wanted to break in and destroy things and freak Rhej out. And even more so, she partly wanted him to KNOW it was her.

And so she planned carefully, her anger and resentment simmering slowly inside of her like a pot on the stove set to a slow boil.

And then the night came.

Dressed in black she waited for them to all be out. They had some dinner event to go to which meant no one would be home for hours. She had heard them talking loudly about it earlier that week ? flaunting their wealth and bragging about the event.

She clenched her fists thinking about it.

Then, letting out a slow breath she skulked up to the mansion back entrance where there were less lights to silhouette her body.

The cameras were already set to loop. The security system was already linked into her datapad, reporting whatever she told it to report.

She smirked, standing in the front foyer, anticipating what the inside of the house would look like when the family returned home..

And then she heard a noise she was not expecting - the faint "snick" of the front door being unlocked. She froze. The family had left. She was sure they had. Who was this?

Panic shot through her body and her adrenaline started pulsing, causing her heart to pound in her chest. She reached for the small hold out blaster she had managed to repair and now carried on her right thigh and moved into the shadows to wait and hide.

The door opened and in walked one boot, and then another. A grown man in full Imperial Navy uniform appeared in her view.

The man looked the spitting image of Rhej, but years older.

"FRELL!", she muttered under her breath. She didn't know he had a brother, much less one in the military!

Maybe she could still surprise him, she thought, rather stupidly. Afterall, she was pretty good at getting in places she didn't belong and taking that which wasn't hers, but she wasn't exactly an expert at fighting or firefights.

Brashly she stepped out into the room, pointing her small hold-out blaster in his direction. And with much more bravery than she felt yelled out "Don't move!".

The man stood for a second and then turned to look at her. But instead of fear his face broke out into a huge grin and the air was filled with..laughter?

The man let out a loud belly laugh and, before Kesh realized he had even moved, had his own, much bigger blaster, aimed at her.

"I'd put that thing away, if I were you." He managed to get out in between bouts of laughter. "All that you'd be able to do with THAT thing is give me a rather severe sunburn".

And then the laughter was gone, and the Imperial Navy man's face was stone cold serious again. His eyes blazed with anger.

"You have 5 seconds. Why are you in my house?"

And for one of the few times in her life, Kesh couldn't think of a thing to say. Instead she just stood there, her tiny hold-out blaster still pointing futilely toward the Naval Officer.
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The police had been called and Kesh found herself being roughly cuffed and shoved into a Constable transport.

She shrugged it off. She would be out by morning. And maybe NEXT time the frakking Naval Officer wouldn't come home to ruin her plans. She'd be more careful next time.

She sat in lock up for what felt like days. Tiny tasteless meals were brought to her a few times a day and she was given a bucket to use to relieve herself. Other than that no one spoke to her.

She thought this odd - no one even tried to find out who she was or why she was in the Kelrich's mansion. She supposed it was pretty obvious.

She was getting rather bored and wondering when they would get around to letting her go when she heard the sharp click of boots walking down the hallway leading to her cell. Click click click click. It sounded like 2 sets of boots. There was a soft jingle of metal as they walked, too.

She sat up on the bench that was built into the wall of her cell, looking in the direction of the sounds.

The door to her cell was unlocked and one of the guards grabbed her roughly by the arm. Stun-cuffs were forced onto her hands as the other guard aimed a blaster pistol at her as if daring her to resist.

Then suddenly everything went black as a hood was thrown over her head blocking her sight.

An involuntary scream escaped her lips which caused the guard to reward her with a smack across her face with the butt of his blaster.

She bit her lip to try to keep quiet as the guard half dragged her out of the cell back down the hallway.

What the frell was going on?

Again she was roughly shoved into the back of a transport. She heard the doors slam shut and felt the vehicle move as it drove away from the lockup.

"Where the frell are you taking me?" she asked the compartment of the vehicle at large (since she had no idea who, if anyone was with her).
Silence was her only answer.

The sick taste of fear coated her mouth again. Again she was held at the whim of some unknown party - vulnerable to the point they could do whatever they wanted and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Her body started to shake, the flashbacks starting all over again.

She was in the chair again, her legs and hands tied. She couldn't move. She could smell his scent as he came toward her?..

She felt sick and tried hard not to vomit. She mostly succeeded.

The ground transport stopped and she was hauled out to another transport. Though she couldn't see where she was, she heard the sounds of others around her. Others who sounded like they were in stun-cuffs like her?

Another chain was attached to her wrists and her legs and she found herself locked to some type of rail. She couldn't move at all now.

And then the transport took off - instead of going forward, feeling instead like it was going UP.

Where the FRELL were they taking her?
----------------------------------------------------------------

When the hood was finally pulled off, a rough set of clothes were shoved into her hands - orange in color and rough as could be. That was okay. She'd had worse. She was shoved toward a set of showers and rudely told to strip.

She looked at the male guard standing at the door spitefully, her instinct to fight tooth and nail warring inside her head with the cool realization that the guard was armed and aside from that was HUGE.

Her most basic instincts to fight for survival won out and she sprang to fight with the guard, aiming to try to pull the blaster from his hands.

It was a stupid instinct to follow. Her muscles spasmed as the stunbolt went through her and she was aware of her kneecaps hitting the ground with a shattering force.

The guard held his blaster aimed at her and watched as she twitched for a few minutes until she was able to regain control. Then he gestured again toward the shower.

"Strip by yourself or I'll do it for you."

Her hands trembling, she slowly pulled off her clothes and stepped into the shower.

The next few minutes were uneventful as she showered briefly and was permitted to cover herself with the orange clothes they had given her.

Then she was led off to another cell.

[Keshani]

Scritch scritch scritch scritch

Keshani lay on her bed and shoved her pillow over her face willing the noise to go away. It was early. The guards wouldn't wake them up for hours yet.
 
Please just let me sleep, she begged the Gods silently.

Scritch scritch scritch scritch

So much for that. The teenager opened her eyes and looked over to the source of the noise.

On the other side of the small cell she saw her cellmate, an human female about 8 years older than her, sitting on the corner of her bed working with something in her hand.

She squinted into the darkness suspiciously. Mianti was obviously trying to hide whatever she was working on.

"What are you doing?", Keshani whispered.

Mianti just glared at her for a moment through the darkness and then went back to her work.

Scritch scritch scritch scritch

Keshani sat up, anger boiling up inside of her. She was bored. She felt trapped. And this pain in the ass lady would NOT let her sleep.

"Either shut up or tell me what you're doing." She retorted back to her cellmate through clenched teeth.

That made Mianti stop and look over at her again, this time inquisitively - like she was trying to come to a decision.

"Alright, but if I tell you you're in and there's no chance to reconsider. Your choice."

Keshani rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing?" she repeated.

And Mianti showed her.

"But that's ---"

Mianti slapped the teenager across the top of her head to stop her from talking.

"Are you CRAZY?!" she whispered frantically, "Keep your MOUTH shut".

Kesh closed her mouth but her expression was still a mix of surprise, curiosity and a little fear.

"In 1 hour," she whispered, continuing in a voice barely loud enough for Keshani, who was now sitting less than a foot away, could hear, "we are getting out of here. So be ready. And be prepared to fight."

Again, Kesh's eyes widened a bit.

Growing up on the streets of Bakura she had had to fight before. But usually it was with a vibroblade or a knife or a spare piece of pipe. This sounded like it might be a lot more than that...

Mianti was still looking at her - judging her, reading her, waiting for her reaction. If she said "no" what would Mianti do?

The teenage girl swallowed. And slowly nodded.

There were all sorts of stories going around about why, exactly Mianti was here in lock up. Most of them weren't very believable. But could she chance it?

"You asked for this," the older girl hissed at Kesh. "You better pull your own weight. I mean for this to work and I ain't no babysitter"

Again the teenage girl nodded and moved back to her cot, hugging her knees to her chest. Mianti continued to move around the cell - back and forth, here and there. The shuffle of her feet almost drove Keshani insane as she waited, not knowing what was to come.

They waited in silence for what seemed to Kesh like hours. And then, off in the background, she heard a loud bang. And then another, this time closer. Then there was yelling and the sound of feet running. A jingle of keys sounded and then a shadow appeared, a silhouette of a being holding a key in the lock to the door of their cell.

And then they were free.

Keshani let out her breath slowly and looked at Mianti for a second before jolting into action moving through the now open door.

She followed Mianti and the other Being who was of a species she didn't recognize down the hallway until suddenly Mianti thrust a hand out, clearly meaning for her to stop.

Mianti skulked forward, holding something in her hand and then there was an "OOF" and a "THUD" and some scraping against the floor. Then Mianti was back, holding a blaster in one hand and a much smaller one in the other.

"Yours.", she said gruffly, pushing the smaller blaster into Keshani's hands. "You better use it."

And then they were off again, slinking through the hallways.

Keshani had lots of practice moving quietly and she kept up with the two older beings rather well as they skulked down hallway after hallway, turn after turn.

She had no idea where they were going but now she was following out of necessity more than anything else. If she stopped she would be lost.

Every so often one of the beings gestured for her to stop and then listened before moving on. They seemed to have this whole thing planned out well.

Keshani left out another breath, this one out of relief. Maybe this would be ok?.

If jinxes are real....

Out of nowhere the muzzle of a blaster pressed into her back. She froze and let out a gasp. The two other beings took one look at her and broke out into a full-fledged run, leaving her behind. She was still holding the blaster in her hand. She spun around and squeezed the trigger without thinking, discharging it into the owner of the weapon pointed at her.

A second later all she knew was darkness...

***********************************

She woke up in Sick Bay some time later, her hands and feet again immobilized, her body resting on top of a hard lumpy mattress.

She tried to move. The flashback caught up with her again:

She was in the chair, crying, pain stabbing through her whole body as she screamed?.

"She's awake", a voice said.

And then a Guard walked into her line of sight, wearing the bars identifying him as the Warden.

"You had quite a morning, young lady." His voice was carefully neutral.

Keshani just glared at the man and said nothing.

"It seems that your friends abandoned you, though." He scoffed, picking at some dirt in his fingernail as if she was not worthy of his notice.

" 'course, it doesn't matter. They didn't make it either." He watched her now, as if waiting for something - maybe fear, maybe hopelessness, maybe remorse?

Still nothing.

"They have had their chances. But you are new here." His expression turned thoughtful now, as if considering her. Then he turned and stood up.

"Don't try it again." His voice trailed back coldly as he turned his back on her and was gone.

She was brought out of Sick Bay after a short examination by the medical droid and roughly pushed into a cell again. But this one was different. It was much smaller and seemed to have padding on all of the walls. She looked around wondering what this was when suddenly the door slammed shut and all there was was darkness...

****************************************

Solitary confinement. It was a thing of dread. It was barely talked about, and when it was, it was spoken about in whispered voices. They called it the Room of Living Death.

Some people went crazy. Others, the really scary ones, seemed to enjoy it.

The room was soundproofed so you were left with nothing to distract you but the sound of your own breathing. And your own beating heart. Thump, thump, thump, thump.

There was no light. It was so dark that Kesh couldn't even tell if her eyes were open or not.

Except that she could blink. And feel the movement against her eyes.

She was ready to scream after what felt like 5 minutes.

She felt trapped. She felt caged. There was nothing she could do other than sit. And think. And breathe - her heart thumping away.

She tried pounding on the door. There was no answer. She felt around the room - looking for ANYTHING to help her escape, but there was nothing there.

So she tried to sleep. And breathed - in, out, in out, for what felt like forever.

Finally the door opened and the glint of light shining through the slightly cracked door felt like enough to blind her.

"Move away from the door", a voice said.

Kesh complied.

The door opened the rest of the way and hands reached forward to grab her, guiding her roughly out of the room and down the hallway.

"Next time will be longer." Came the statement of threat.

Kesh took a steadying breath and let them lead her away.

She was locked in a new cell, this time with an electronic lock of sorts. And there was only one bed. She was alone.

The teenage girl sank down to the floor leaning her head against the wall and just focusing on calming herself down. She knew she did NOT want to go back to that room again. But she couldn't just give in, either. Mianti and the other weren't in sick bay with her. She had to think that maybe that meant they really DID get away. She knew she would try again at some point. But she would watch first. And learn.

**************************

With the move to the new cell came a change to her work detail. She was now working in a repulsorlift coil assembly line. It was boring, dull work. She was sure it was meant as punishment for her attempt to escape.

But they didn't count on her knowledge of repulsorlift parts in general, and she was able to quickly work out much faster ways to finish her tasks leaving her time to investigate other things as long as it LOOKED like she was working. She talked with the other inmates. She learned.

The prison was actually on a space station. She was still above the planet of Bakura and there were several different sections to the prison with different levels of security. They were all connected to each other but were secured with electronic security systems.
Kesh hid a smile at that. Security systems she could maybe work with...

But she had to have time to explore, which meant a distraction.

*****************************

It took a promise of two week's worth of comm time. But she didn't care. She didn't have anyone to talk to anyway. The plan was set and went off without a hitch. On the way back to the cellblock from work detail two of her block-mates staged a fight, drawing the attention of the guards.

More inmates joined in. Everyone loved a fight..

Keshani slipped away and was able to study the security system for a few minutes before slipping back to the Block unnoticed.

She smiled. She recognized the manufacturer of this security system. She had seen it before. It had a flaw that she had learned about. She could bypass the system at will.
She complied meekly as the Guards shoved them around threatening them with their batons and pistols if they started fighting again.

She would not be here for long.

***********************

Through the weeks she spent at the Prison Station many things stayed the same day after day. But one thing changed. Inmates in the work detail would appear with marks tattooed onto their hands. And then by the next day they were gone.

Finally she asked one of her Blockmates about it.

"They are moved on.", was all the inmate would say. She asked again, pestering for more information. She needed to know EVERYTHING there was to know before she would try to break out again.

The inmate visibly looked shaken and her words came haltingly. "I dinnae know tha' much about it," the older woman finally answered, her accent so thick that it was hard for Keshani to understand sometimes.

"They say tho' tha' go end up in a place way worse 'n this. Har' labor, no food an' guards that ken do whate'r they wanna."

"Dinnae make them angry enough t' send ye there". Was all that she would say.
Keshani looked at the woman and saw the fear in her face. She nodded and didn't ask anything more.

************************

Although she believed the warning her blockmate gave her, Keshani could not give up on her escape. She was bored and knew she needed to get away. And she knew how. She could do it.

She slid the small datapad she had managed to secure on her last work shift out from under her mattress. She had always been good at pickpocketing, and the Tech that had been the previous owner of the pad had not been the most vigilante...

All she needed to do was send a certain frequency signal to the security lock. If she got the frequency just right it would cause the lock to spit back the code to disable the lock. The manufacturer knew about the defect, but since it would be too expensive for them to retrofit all of the systems with a fix they tried their best to keep it quiet and hoped no one would find out. Apparently the Warden here had not yet found out...

Her hand hovered over the command bar on the pad for a minute, her fingers trembling slightly. If she failed this time...

She brought her hand down on the button, starting the protocol she had spent all night programming.

And she waited.

After a few moments spent listening to the pounding of her own heart she saw the pad flash with a new entry - an 8 digit code.

This was it. Now or never.

She hit the "enter" key again to send the code out to the locking device on the door of her cell. She was rewarded with a soft "beep" as the lock went into standby mode.

She sat listening for several more moments, making sure the coast was clear. And then she slipped out, silently padding across the floor.

It was night time. The guards were more lax. Everyone was asleep. There was no trouble at night.

Quietly and carefully she walked through the hallway to the end of the cellblock and entered the code. She held her breath until again she heard the soft "beep" of acknowledgement and quickly she slid through the now open door.

She continued to move through the hallway until she heard voices and laughter. She couldn't resist looking to see what was going on.

There were about 5 of them all sitting around a table - their Covers off, their feet up and cards in their hands and on the table.

"Are you kidding?" she muttered under her breath. Apparently she had ran into a late night Sabaac meet of the on-duty Guards. She had a feeling they would get in trouble if anyone knew...

And then the door behind her slid open and out walked a sixth guard. She was standing directly in front of the door to the Guards 'Fresher station!!

Her eyes went wide and her heart started pounding.

They say tho' tha' go end up in a place way worse 'n this. Har' labor, no food an' guards that ken do whate'r they wanna.
Dinnae make them angry enough t' send ye there.

The inmate's words burned back through Keshani's mind. And she ran. No pretense at stealth or trickery she ran flat out, her footsteps now fueled by all out panic. She had already been warned once before not to try to escape again. She had a feeling this would be her last chance.

She managed to make it out of the Guards' field of view and ducked into a closet to catch her breath. And then she ran again.

Until suddenly on the wall she saw a door with white lettering on it: "Escape pod access. For emergency use only".

Her heart beat faster and adrenaline surged through her already pounding heart and head. She felt like it would explode if it beat much faster. Her legs felt weak.

After a split second pause she depressed the handle and the hiss of a hatch release could be heard.

She ducked inside. She could hear footsteps behind her now. She mashed her hand into the release button again, willing the thing to cycle faster. "Come on, you frelling piece of - " her words were cut off as all of the sudden she felt like her stomach dropped out somewhere below the floor and her body was pushed back into the seat. She was moving.

She couldn't breath she was so scared. But she also dared hope. One realization dashed through her head. Somehow. Somehow she was away.

I'm free..

But then just as suddenly she felt a sickening lurch and the motion of the escape pod halted. And then, just as suddenly, she was moving back in the other direction - back TOWARD the prison.

"NOOOO!" she cried out, frantically looking for SOMETHING to override whatever was happening. But there were no controls. There was nothing she could do.

She was trapped. Again.

************************

The tattoo was placed on her hand that very night.

The next day she was forced to still go through the daily routine - first work and then chow.

But the inmates looked at her differently today - with a mixture of sympathy and fear.
It was strange feeling terrified but not knowing what of. She knew the stories. She had heard the warnings. But no one seemed to know what actually happened to those who were given the Mark.

Soon she would find out.

**************************



 

[Keshani]

(Edited 4/28 to fix formatting issues)

She remembered being shoved roughly onto another shuttle, bound in stuncuffs on both her hands and feet.

She remembered the long trip through hyperspace and then hands roughly grabbing her and practically dragging her from the shuttle once they had reached their destination, then nothing.

She woke up on a surface that felt cold and damp beneath her. It was dark and she could make out the blurry outlines of other beings around her. It smelled absolutely putrid - like the stench of body odor, vomit, urine, feces and worse all rolled into one. She almost vomited as she inhaled the fetid air.

Her neck hurt. She reached up her hand to feel but was stopped in surprise when she felt a hard disk-like object that complete encircled her neck.  She reached up with her other hand and felt the device a bit more intently. She tugged on it experimentally to see if it would come off. It didn't budge, but sent a tingle through her as she continued to attempt to dislodge the device. It wasn't powerful enough to hurt her, but it was definitely there - a warning. The device was NOT to be messed with.

Keshani let her arms drop back to her side as she sat up looking around at the room that she had been left in.

There weren't any actual beds - only mounds of what could only be described as "nests" where other Beings clearly had slept. Some were made of rags, others flimsy paper or even garbage. Anything, it seemed, to make things a little more comfortable. Keshani shivered. Where was this place? Or more importantly what was this place?

Suddenly a loud GONG noise could be heard: GONG!..GONG!.GONG!..GONG!.

The teenage girl didn't know what it was, but she could hear beings moving around outside and so she slowly got up to look around.

When she first stepped outside of the small building she was in she stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw.

Everywhere she looked there were people - mostly covered in either fur coats or white armor. Those in white armor carried VERY large blasters. Again Keshani shivered.

A loud cry pierced the air. It sounded like something that only could be described as a battle cry: RAAAAAAHHGH UUGHGUUGHHHGHGHGHHHGH!!!

Then she saw a mass of fur charging toward the armed guards followed seconds later by a storm of blaster fire - turning everything an angry red in the light of the setting sun.

Then there was silence; utter, profound silence. Nothing was moving - as if those that could were holding their breath afraid of calling attention to themselves.

Then a cry of pain could be heard - a wail of agony, a plea for mercy.

Then a single blaster bolt rang out.

Then silence reigned again.

The stormtroopers held their weapons trained on the group of rioting slaves until they were sure that there was no more movement. Then without a word they holstered them.

There were bodies everywhere; mostly charred from blasters clearly set to kill. Keshani felt her stomach churn as she looked on. What was this place, she wondered again; the queasy feeling in her stomach growing more and more intense as time progressed.

She looked around again, looking for some sort of cue as to what she was supposed to do now. Slowly she saw other beings drift off in the direction of a large tent. She sniffed the air. The scent of something was clearly wafting through it, although the native Bakurian wasn't able to identify just what that something was.

The gong sounded again. GONG!..GONG!..GONG!.

Slowly, feeling almost dizzy as her mind tried to digest everything she had just seen, her feet carried her in the direction the others were heading.

It took almost all of her effort as she walked to convince her feet to take one more step. As she got closer to the Tent she merged in with other Beings - most of them, again, covered in coats of fur which were so hopelessly matted to their flesh that Kesh was sure they hadn't bathed in weeks. The foul odor that accompanied them only served to confirm this idea.

Again the teenage girl fought back the urge to vomit.

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot..

An elderly man stood in front of her in line. Guards in white armor bordered them, weapons at the ready as if daring the slaves to give them an excuse to kill them.

And then suddenly the man in front of her stumbled. He tripped as he took a step up in the line and fell, his hand reaching out to steady himself.

But as he fell his hand reached out as reflex, grabbing on to anything to keep him from falling. It found purchase on the arm of a guard.

Immediately with no second thought the guard jumped into action firing a point blank shot into the man's chest. His body hit the ground with a thump, the charred hole where his chest had been moments ago still smoking.

"Get him out of here," a voice said next.

For a second Keshani just watched the man. "Now." The voice prompted again. This time there was an edge of danger to it that jolted Kesh out of her shock. She looked at the Stormtrooper. He was talking to her.

Fighting the urge to throw up for what seemed like the 100th time that day Keshani moved forward to pick the man up. He wasn't heavy. His skin was so tight that she could clearly see each of his ribs, no fat evident anywhere on his body. What were you doing here, old man? She asked as she carefully lifted him up over her shoulders and turned to the guard for direction.

He gestured and Keshani followed, walking until another strong scent hit her nose - the smell of rotting flesh. And then she saw the pile. There were too many to count. Body on top of body. All dead.

The teenage girl placed the old man on top and then doubled over to be sick yet again, before turning around to head back away. She wasn't hungry anymore, that was for sure.

Her feet carried her randomly around the compound. She didn't know where to go. She sure wasn't hungry. She was lost in thought, the images of death flashing relentlessly through her mind when suddenly the muzzle of a blaster rifle appeared in front of her, obstructing her path.

Heart pounding, Keshani froze, trembling as she slowly looked up - first to the blaster blocking her path and then to the stormtrooper who was wielding it.

"C-can I help you?" she finally managed to get out, her natural spunk and teenage audacity powered down by the intense feeling of terror that was quickly creeping into her.

And suddenly she experienced a feeling like none she had ever had before - total, complete and utter pain. It was like a thousand tiny needles were stabbing every little bit of her body and grinding as they went. White hot pain flashed in front of her eyes and she fell to her knees as her legs failed her.

A scream of agony escaped her lips and pierced the silent air. The pain continued until she felt like she would die if it went on much longer.

Suddenly another piercing yell could be heard through the air.

"AAAAAHNR UUH UUGHGUUGHHHGHGHGHHHGH!!"

A flash of brown streaked across the ground and suddenly a body crashed into the stormtrooper who had stopped Keshani moments ago.

The pain stopped. Keshani doubled over on the ground vomiting and panting to catch her breath. She was so weak that she could barely move but slowly, using all of her strength she made herself look up to see what was going on.

A wookie was wrestling with the stormtrooper, yanking off his helmet and mawing his face. It looked like the wookie would win for a few seconds, until another higher pitched alarm began to sound and more guards and men in white armor came flooding into the scene.
And then suddenly another blaster shot rang out. And the Wookie's mad fight suddenly ceased.

She couldn't move. All she could do was stare at the Wookie's now lifeless form.

He died because of me?., her subconscious mind cried out. She stared, refusing to process the thought.

From that first horrific day Keshani had learned two things: 1) Any "rebellious" behavior was met with immediate and severe punishment. 2) Caring about others got you killed. Allowing others to care about YOU got THEM killed. Neither was acceptable.

*****************************

She had remained in that place for over a month. First had come the almost endless battery of tests - tests of her strength, her agility and her knowledge. Beings who scored well on the aptitude tests were rewarded. Beings who did not...you made sure to not do poorly on the tests.

The first few weeks Keshani's stomach was in a constant state of upheaval. Between the stench of unwashed bodies, the appalling sight of beings so sick, weak and malnourished that it was amazing that they were still able to function at all, and the scent of death that permeated everything , it was as if the teenager had been transported to another galaxy - a land of Hell.

**********************
It wasn't abnormal on any given day to watch the summary execution of at least 5 Beings - those too weak to work, those who did something to offend the Guards and those the Guards killed just "because". The guards could do whatever they wished. There was no law here.

Slowly the teenager became anesthetized to it all. She could now walk down collis corporum - "the hill of bodies" - without any reaction at all. The sickening scents of rotting flesh, feces, vomit and bodies that hadn't been washed in weeks no longer fazed her. She could now get through a week at a time without throwing up.

But each night as she curled up in her mound of rags to try to fight the demons of her mind long enough to catch some sleep she would fight to hold back tears. And often she found herself thinking again of ways that she could potentially just end everything right here.

But she kept going, forcing herself to live just one more day. Her mind took on a kind of tunnel vision. It wasn't possible to worry about everything that was going on everywhere. A being, in order to cope, had to lock their mind down - focus only on the here and now; focus only on themselves and the next few minutes. That was the way to survive. The ONLY way to survive. Fueled by a hope (however small it was) that someday this Hell would be over.

[Keshani]

(Edited 4/28 to fix formatting issues)

Some beings believed that life was made up of an all-encompassing expanse of energy and that when one died their physical form was returned to energy within that net that makes up all life around us. Others believe that the spirit is freed when the physical body dies, leaving it free to roam and safeguard others. Still others believed that beings are reincarnated when they die, their future form being determined by the life decisions they made in that former life. Others believed that when your time came it was the end. Final. Finite.

Keshani wasn't sure what she believed. But regardless of what happened after life, the teenage girl did not fear death.

Nothing can be worse than this nightmare, she thought to herself almost nightly as the exhausted and broken slaves were finally permitted a few hours of rest before they started the whole thing over again at first light.

It turns out that she was wrong.

********************************
A month had passed since Keshani first arrived at the slave labour camp on Horuz. Or was it a year? Or two? Time passed so slowly on Horuz that it was difficult to tell.

Kesh had settled into a routine with the rest of her group of slaves on Horuz - 1 week on the station, then 1 week back on the planet. She hated the planet. It was like stepping into a bucket of scalding hot water - immensely painful at first and then, after a bit of time, you no longer felt the pain.

The slave camp on the planet was like that, as well. After walking through the pits of human feces, death and decay for a while you "got used to it". Your brain just stopped processing the information and it was like you didn't even notice the surroundings. You had to. The alternative was to go crazy. But every time she got shipped up to the station and was away from the putrid stench and gruesomeness, she had to recondition herself again once she was sent back down to the surface. And it got worse each time, because she knew what it would be like and what she would experience. It was like knowing you had to take your foot out of the bucket of scalding water just long enough for it to be sensitized again and then knowing you would have to put it right back in again.

Even worse, it was general knowledge on the planet that anyone with a "collar" was "special". They had skills that the Imperials needed and so it was preferred that they not be killed. "Collars" were seen as a kind of "status", and those who were "awarded" them were viewed with envy and more than a little jealousy and even resentment by those who did not.

The "unskilled" slaves didn't have any protection against being killed outright. They were seen as expendable and could be killed for nothing. There was no law on planet and "unskilled" slaves were at the mercy of the guards' whims. Many did not last long.

"You don't understand the feeling of constantly being in fear, wondering when it's your turn to die!", they would spout off in anger. Fights would break out frequently in their sleeping area - mostly among the newer slaves. Those who had been there for a while no longer had the energy to fight..
But at least dead was dead and whatever you believed in after death THIS living Hell was finished.

Those with Collars didn't have even that peace of mind to cling to. For them it truly was a "Living Hell", complete with grueling work, fear and torture. And never a break. Not. ever.

The neural collars most likely would not kill you (although one could always hope), but they could, Kesh was convinced, cause even more pain than the worst way she could imagine dying in her wildest imagination (And she had spent quite a lot of time thinking about death).

She resented those without a collar assuming that she was better off and she hated them for the fact that they treated her like she was. They don't understand, she found herself thinking with frustration. There are some things WAY worse than death!

And so she had decided she was done. She couldn't take it anymore. She had decided that her next rotation up on the station she would make a break for it and try to escape. Worst they'll do is kill me, right?

She was wrong.

********************************

A blood curdling scream of pain and terror tore through the corridors of the space station. The body of the teenage girl who had produced the sound lay spasming on the deck.

It was like tiny white hot knives stabbing into every aspect of her body all at the same time; like tiny shards of glass grating into every surface - grating, twisting and turning. Her eyes flashed white, her ears heard only the wild pounding of her heart.

It seemed to go on forever while she lay there, helpless - her body spasming beyond her control. It was worse than death. It was living Hell.

Finally it stopped. She couldn't move. She felt the force of something impacting against her ribs. The new pain was almost welcome, as this pain was familiar - an old friend of sorts. She felt the force again, this time more insistent. A foot.

"Get up unless you want to experience that again at a higher setting." The cold voice of the Overseer rang out to her. Her eyes went wide. She hadn't realized until then that there was a higher setting. She couldn't  go through that again. Not now.

Despite her body protesting every move she made she rose, sneering at the Overseer. His hand moved toward the button on his control stick again. The teenage girl held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. She schooled her face into as neutral an expression as she could manage. Apparently it was enough. The hand moved away. Kesh let out a breath. Spirits give me strength, she silently prayed. (For, it is funny how so many people who claim that they don't believe in a higher Being still pray to one when they find themselves in a time of need).

"How stupid must you be, Slave 13323, to even THINK about trying to escape?", the Overseer's voice rang out.

Keshani looked over at the crisp gray uniform of the Officer and forced her eyes down toward the ground at the man's feet - a forced look of contrition. She knew better than to try to speak. Slaves did not speak on Horuz. Not unless directly ordered to.

"You have caused more problems in your time here than ten Wookies put together. You may be useful, but do not overestimate the value of your skills."

He pulled out a datapad, still studying the teenage girl with a scornful expression.

"Stupid ungrateful girl", he spat, keying more into his pad.

"You will skip your group's next rotation up to the Station. You will spend time down on the planet with the work crews there. If you can't properly appreciate your time up here then perhaps you have not earned this privilege."

The Overseer gestured to a nearby guard to take the teenage slave away. But before they reached her he turned to her one more time.

"Oh. And I think a reminder of why you're being punished would be useful, as well."

And with his full attention on her face watching for her reaction his hand moved to the control stick again.

And suddenly the shards of glass were back. But instead of feeling like they were ripping her apart from the inside out it felt more like being pricked constantly throughout her body - constant pain but not enough to debilitate.

"For the next three weeks your collar will go off randomly. Fail in a work assignment because of it and you will be dealt with harshly."

He gestured to the guard and she was taken away.

**************************************
It had been a long and torturous 3 weeks. Keshani wasn't exactly weak, but the time she had been a slave on this World had taken its toll and she wasn't exactly strong, either. And she certainly was not a Wookie.

Between being forced to work all day - often far into the night - on meaningless manual labor and her neural collar going off randomly, the teenage girl was totally and utterly spent both physically and mentally. She had been beaten, neurized and degraded within inches of her life more times than she could count. She felt like she couldn't lift another brick if her life depended on it and she was ready to collapse into her "bed" for the night.

Best laid plans...

"Slave 13323."

Slowly. Bleary-eyed and painfully she turned toward the sound of her "Name" being called.

The Overseer. The son of a frelling bastard Overseer who seemed to have made it his frelling mission in life to make her life a special kind of living Hell.

She just stared at him not saying a word. What do you want now, she thought to herself.

"You are to report to the shuttle. You have night detail on the Station."

No!.I just need to sleep!..

It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. Forget hurt. It was as if her brain had turned to sludge. If it were a computer it would be flashing a message: "WARNING. SYSTEM LOW ON RESOURCES."

Her collar twinged sharply. She glared at the Overseer. But she slowly convinced her feet to start moving toward the shuttle.

*************************************
She was sent to work with a mixed group of humans and Wookies once on the station. They were carrying supplies from one area to another. Mind numbingly boring, menial work. She normally wasn't put on crews like this. It was a waste of skills that the Imperials needed as this station was slowly being built. Apparently the Overseer was not done torturing her yet.

As the night dragged on and the teenage girl walked back and forth from point to point step after step after step after step she felt herself getting sleepier and sleepier. All she wanted to do was curl up somewhere. She didn't even care where. The cold floor of the corridor would do just fine. Anywhere. Slowly she dragged her feet on. On and on and on. Minute after minute after minute.

Finally it was too much. She couldn't stand it anymore. She was bored out of her mind and she felt like she was going to collapse from fatigue.
She looked around. The Overseer wasn't directly looking her way. Maybe she could disappear for a minute. She knew she would get in trouble if they caught her again. But part of her didn't actually care. What would they do to her? Send her back down to the planet again? Maybe if they did that someone would kill her. It would be over then, at least...

She couldn't do this anymore. Not now. She was desperate. She needed sleep. She needed peace. She needed the Overseer to go to Hell...

But she would take, as a start, a few blissful quiet minutes where she could just lean back...

Praying silently to the Powers that Be, she made her choice. Moving nonchalantly like she was just carrying one more case from point to point she walked along. Until she got to a crossway. And then she slipped away. Maybe no one would miss her. She wasn't the only human there. Maybe they wouldn't know that she had gone...

This hallway lead to a portion of the Station that was still being worked on. It was rough with some parts not completely fastened down yet. Lights flickered above her. There would be a crew in here in the morning, she was sure, to continue the work. But tonight it was empty. Blissfully empty.

She more slid down the wall rather than actually making an effort to sit down. She didn't have the strength left to actually sit in a controlled fashioned. All she wanted to do was sleep...

Her eyes had been closed for just a few seconds when she heard a short scream coming from further down the hallway.

Ignore it. Ignore it and it will go away. Let someone else deal with it.

But the young girl knew that no one was supposed to be working in this section tonight. And the scream sounded very human. And too high pitched to be coming from a male...

Something inside of her compelled her exhausted limbs to move once more, forcing her overly tired body to follow them and slowly she moved in the direction of the scream, picking her way carefully over an uneven floor.

She blinked. She saw a hand. She blinked again. It was still there, scrabbling fiercely for purchase on the edge of what would soon be the floor of the newest section of the station. Only it hadn't all been built yet and there were holes all over the place in the decking where it hadn't been secured yet.

Frell.

Her feet carried her more quickly toward the frantically scrambling hand and without thinking she found herself laying on her belly extending her own hand toward that of the frantic victim.

Her heart started pounding in her chest. Adrenaline began to course through her body. Suddenly all thought of sleep was gone.

She wasn't an evil person. She'd just been living on her own for so long that she wasn't used to trusting other people and had been stabbed in the back too many times to want to try. But she wasn't evil.

She made contact with the scrabbling hand and grabbed onto it just as it was disappearing over the edge. She grabbed on with her other hand, pulling with all her might trying to keep the owner from falling.

She looked down. And practically let go as she saw the gray color of an Imperial Army Officer's uniform. Imperial? This woman could die for all she cared. She hated the Imperials. This woman could suffer and be a lesson for them all. Anger started boiling up in her blood, replacing any exhaustion that still remained. Let her die. She moved to let go. She prepared to enjoy the look of realization and terror on the woman's face as she plummeted to her death. But something stopped her. She saw the woman's face as she hung there, helpless, a silent plea for help frozen there. And suddenly Keshani's mind flashed back...

"Hey, you" she said.

Kesh closed her eyes again hoping that this wasn't real.

But she opened them again and the woman was still there, her dark hair held up in a clasp at the back of her head.

"Where am I?" she finally asked, trying to keep her voice neutral and uninterested. Maybe the woman would go away.

"At the Healing Heart Clinic", the woman replied back. "You were pretty bad when they brought you in here. I'm glad you are feeling better".

"That's a matter of opinion", Kesh muttered to herself, looking around and taking in her surroundings.

She was in a bed with curtains around her. There was nothing else within arms reach of her aside from a glass of water. The garbage can, the table, the medical equipment - all were conveniently JUST out of arms reach from her so that she would have to get out of bed to be able to reach any of them. She had a feeling the woman's job was to make sure she didn't do that.

"Am I being forced to stay here?" she asked.

"We would prefer that you think of yourself as our guest," the lady answered, her voice gentle and filled with what sounded like genuine concern.

The thought of someone caring about her made Kesh's insides squirm. She didn't want anyone to care about her...


No...it couldn't be...but she looked just like her!..

And without thinking, her subconscious mind seemingly working of its own accord, Keshani found herself fighting to pull the Officer back up over the ledge.

It took every ounce of strength she had left and then some. Her ribs screamed at her where they were still healing from being fractured in about 5 places. She bit back her own squeal of pain and still fought to keep this woman from falling. The world began to turn into spots around her, threatening to disappear altogether, her abused and well beyond fatigued body at war with her mind which seemed to just not be willing to give up. She started sliding closer to the edge herself as her body began to fail her. More adrenaline pulsed through her. Her heart pounded harder in her chest and behind her ears. She dug her feet into the floor harder and gritted her teeth. And pulled. Sweat was freely running down her face, pouring into her eyes and mouth. It tasted like a dirty sock and almost made her gag. Her eyes burned. She should let go and save herself. But she didn't.

And slowly, inch by inch, the female Officer's arm appeared back above the deck. And then the other. Finally the Officer was able to grab on and help the struggling girl as her now trembling body worked to save her from the dark maw below.

And then the Officer was safe - lying on the deck, panting as she fought to catch her breath and will her own beating heart to slow.

Keshani took one more look at those eyes - those eyes that looked so much like another's - and fled.

"Can you tell me your name at least?"

The girl tried to roll over in the bed so she could look at the woman but the restraints on her arms and legs wouldn't let her.

"Keshani". She mumbled, a tear of frustration and hurt sliding slowly down her cheek.

"Hello Keshani. My name is Mikki."

Kesh didn't say anything and there was silence in the room for a minute.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

Again, silence.

"Ok, can I get you anything then?"

"You aren't going to leave, are you." It wasn't exactly a question.



She knew it wasn't really her. When she had pulled her up over the edge and she had known it wasn't the same person. But those eyes. That face...they had looked so similar..

The girl shivered as she ran.

I saved an Imp!, she thought to herself and felt almost sick at the thought. After everything they did to her. She saved one of them. She almost died doing it. Those frelling eyes!

She didn't even know why she was running at this point - out of fear that the Officer would turn her in? Out of hatred for the Imperials for what they were forcing her to do? Out of confusion over the fact that she just almost DIED to save one? Out of..pain?....for missing someone who maybe she had never really known in the first place? Who had kicked her back to the curb as soon as she was well, never to hear from her again?

Her feet stopped their mad dash suddenly, her energy depleted. Her arms and legs started shaking like crazy and she reached out to lean against a wall.

She needed to get back. She would be missed.

Suddenly her world turned white-hot in agony as the neuro collar switched on. Too late.

[Keshani]

(Edited 4/28 to fix formatting issues)

**********************************************
She lay on a solid metal frame, her arms, torso and legs secured with leather straps. There was a bite block in her mouth and a small pad behind her head.

She remembered the white-hot pain and she remembered screaming and then nothing. She must have blacked out.

There was no one around. The walls around her were reflective - like mirrors. They looked thick. As if they were made to defect sound.

A feeling like cold lead settled in the teenage girl's gut. She had a really bad feeling about this...

And then it started. She was screaming within seconds. But it didn't stop.

It was worse than pain. Pain was just one specific sensation that your brain could interpret. But there were others as well - intense cold, intense heat, intense pressure....

It was as if she had suddenly been emerged in a pool of ice cold water, thrown into a burning fire, been branded with a red hot iron, smashed with a metal press and pierced by a thousand daggers all at the same time.

Her brain fought to pass out - to find some release or protection from the sensations now invading it. But something prevented her from passing out. She screamed again in utter agony. She begged for death, tears freely streaming down her dirt encrusted face.

*********************************************

A female Second Lieutenant stood in the booth watching wordlessly as the blonde haired girl who looked barely old enough to be out on her own lay there, her mouth open in a scream that could not be heard through the soundproof viewing booth.

Slave 13323. She knew her number. She had followed her after the girl had ran. She had seen her collapse and later get dragged off by the Guards. She was an Imperial Officer. She was a subject area expert on the weapons systems of this Station. When it became operational she would help to make History as the Empire smashed down these Rebel uprisings that pretended to be fighting for freedom and justice. Her path was set. Her Father had seen to that.

She had seen slaves dragged off and killed almost daily since coming here. The slaves were nothing. Meant nothing. They were vermin. They were worthless. She should ignore them and pay them no mind.

But not this one...

She shook her head slightly to herself as she stood there watching.

Turn around, Danny, just walk away

Just a minute longer

Do it now. Just walk away. She's a slave. She has no feelings

The expression on the young girl's face tended to dispute that "fact".

WHY had this girl risked everything to save her life? What sense did that make? Slaves were cold and cruel Beings. They were here to be punished, to be broken. They had no rights.

But beings like that didn't risk their own lives to save someone else, much less someone they should have hated.

WHY had she done it? And WHY had she fled? There was clearly more to this girl's story and something in the young Officer's heart had carried her here to learn what it was. She had to know.

Finally the machine turned off and the girl's face relaxed into a blank expression. Two orderlies came in from a side door and carried the girl's limp form out to "Sick bay".

"Sick bay" for the Slaves, Danny knew, was a laudable name. It was merely a holding area where slaves were kept who were not well enough to work but too valuable to outright kill. Slaves were not given medical attention. But if they managed to survive they would be permitted to resume work.

The young girl's form slumped back against the rough metal bench that the orderlies had unceremoniously deposited her body down on. She lay there barely moving other than a shallow rise and fall of her chest. Even that seemed uneven.

Second Lieutenant Danny Webster's heart ached looking at the girl. She was young enough to have been her little sister, if she had had one.

There were warning bells going off in droves in the back of her head.

Get out of here now. Leave. You don't want to do this.

She clenched her fists and shook off the voice. She was just going to talk to the girl. To find out why she had helped her. She had to know.

Slowly she entered the room, closing the door softly behind her. There was no-one else in there. Slave 13323 was alone.

Quietly she stood as the girl recovered from her ordeal, watching and waiting until finally the younger girl's eyes fluttered open.

And they widened in some sort of apparent recognition, and then closed again.

It was a few minutes before they opened again. She didn't speak.

"My name is Danny Webster", the Imperial Second Lieutenant broke the strained silence.

The girl still did not speak.

Danny moved over and sat next to her, the warning bells in the back of her mind going off even louder.

She's a slave. She's dangerous. She could kill you. Get out now.

Shut up, she told herself. And she sat.

"You saved my life", she continued. "Why?"

She was an Officer and the daughter of a Governor and she was used to being obeyed when she spoke. But there was also a hint of urgency in the Officer's voice. For some reason the answer to this question was important to her.

Keshani forced her eyes open and studied the woman who was sitting just feet away from her. She was carrying her service pistol on her right hip. She could make a grab for it and end this right here...

But she didn't. She couldn't. The resemblance was still there.....Mikki..

She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She wet her lips with her tongue and tried again.

But no words came out. The truth is that she still had no idea why she saved this Officer's life. She still, in a way, hated herself for doing it. She wouldn't be here, like this if she hadn't ever run over to investigate that mysterious scream, would she?

She closed her eyes again, concentrating on her breathing. She was still so tired. Every inch of her body hurt. Every move she made caused a fresh explosion of pain to course through her. She wanted to hate this woman. She wanted to tell her to go to Hell. She wanted to lash out and strike her - to finally have some sort of outlet for her anger and pain and hurt.

But instead she opened her mouth again. "You saved my life. Why?" The voice was haughty but there was something else there - a silent plea. Help me to understand. But she couldn't. She didn't know the answer. She shrugged.

"I don?t know," she answered finally. "I...didn't want you to die".

With that her battered and abused body and brain gave in again and she dropped back into a sea of unconsciousness. Blissful unconsciousness, where only her dreams could hurt her...

*************************
Danny sat staring at the girl for a long time after she passed out again. She sat there, taking in all of the scars and wounds that covered the young girl's body.

This girl should not be here!.

The warning bells clanged louder. Don't do this. Just walk away. She's just another slave. You will be killed if you do this!

But she couldn't. It just wasn't right. She couldn't leave this young girl here. She couldn't live with herself if she did!.

And before she even realized what she was doing she had scooped the girl up in her arms and had moved to the door of the room.

The Orderlies wouldn't question her. She would tell them she had orders to transfer the Slave. They would let her go....

Down the hallway she went carrying her unconscious burden. She didn't know quite yet what she would do - she just knew she needed to get this girl away from here. So she headed toward the docking bay. She would take one of the shuttles and fly away from here. She would get the girl medical attention and then figure out what to do from there. She was supposed to go on Leave in the morning anyway. Her Father was the Governor. It would be ok.

She got as far as the security door to the docking bay. But that was it.

"Second Lieutenant Webster".

She froze.

"Turn around."

Captain Sorentino. His ever-present sneer contrasted with the dark gray of his uniform.

"What are you doing?"

It wasn't really a question.

He un-holstered his pistol, aiming it at Danny.

"Put her down. Slowly."

Danny did as she was ordered.

"I hereby place you under arrest, charged with dereliction of duty and theft of Imperial property." His smug voice droned on. The cold feeling in Danny's stomach congealed into a lead pit. She remained frozen, watching the Captain. It was clear that he was looking for ANY excuse to fire. Captain Ulstan Sorentino and she went back a LONG way. Not exactly a calm and friendly road...

Soon more troopers were called and Danny and Keshani were taken off in separate directions - Danny to the Brig and Keshani...she didn't know where they would take her. I'm sorry, she pleaded silently, I tried.

Out loud she drew herself up and spoke her most commandeering voice.

"I demand to speak with my Father."

Sorentino's voice broke out into laughter at that. A cruel, cold laughter.

"You think Daddy's going to rescue you from THIS?"

He laughed again and wiped his eyes.

"Governor Webster has already made it clear that he wants no part in this." He moved in close to Danny's right ear and spoke again. This time only loud enough for her to hear. "You're on your own, now sweetheart".


*********************************

Keshani woke up again in the "Sick Bay", this time secured down to a bench with a set of stun cuffs. She opened her eyes slowly, waiting for the pain to hit.

But it never did. Not like before. She looked around. Yup. Same "Sick Bay". She felt her neck. The neuro collar was still firmly attached. She took a deep breath. Her ribs were still tender, but it didn't feel like daggers were stabbing into her every time she tried to take a full breath. She let out a breath.

She remembered the female Officer carrying her in her arms. But her brain was so muddled that she kept flashing back between the time she spent with Mikki in the clinic and her time here in Living Hell.

She remembered the Officer whispering to her, telling her she was going to get her out of here. Then she remembered the Overseer appearing. She remembered the cold fear in her gut and then nothing.

Panic flooded through her for a minute and for once the panic wasn't for herself, but for the Second Lieutenant - Lieutenant Webster. She had signed her own death sentence. She was sure of that. There was no way they wouldn't punish her for trying to free a slave. Of that Keshani was certain.

Speaking of death sentences...

Keshani's attention was drawn to the door as it opened and in stepped the shiny black boots of an Overseer.

Not again...Frell?

She turned away and didn't speak.

A tingling sensation began throughout her body. Frell. The collar..

Biting her tongue to keep from lashing out at the man she turned. Slowly.

The sneer on the man's face was so pronounced that the girl had to fight very hard to keep from punching him right in his face. The tingling sensation pulsing throughout her body intensified - a persistent reminder from the dear Overseer of who was in charge.

He pulled out an official document and began to read.

"By order of the Governor of Horuz System you are hereby sentenced.."

Please let it be death, the girl silently pleaded, her eyes closed and her hands folded silently in front of her. Please just let this be finished. It would be a relief. Just let the next words coming out of his mouth be 'to be executed'....

************************************************

The Governor stood staring out the panoramic viewport of his Office. He was livid. Fuming. Furious.

He had done EVERYTHING for his daughter - had made sure she had had the finest education possible, the right contacts, the right friends...

How did she manage to screw this up?

He read the data pad where the letters still burned across the screen.

"Sentenced for dereliction of duty and theft of Imperial property"....

Each word he read had felt like a knife stabbing him through his heart. Such treachery. From his own daughter. Trying to free a Slave?!

It was the Slave's fault, of course. This Slave girl had somehow hoodwinked his daughter. That was it. It had to be.

Both would be punished. Of that, he promised himself...

*************************************

"By order of the Governor of Horuz System you are hereby sentenced.."

Keshani sat there pleading and praying for this to be the end. Finally. It would be a relief. Let it be done.

"to Life as a prisoner of this planet with no chance of parole"

Her insides imploded. Her stomach turned to jelly and fought to evacuate her body.

What??!! her brain silently screamed in horror. Life??

The frelling bastard Overseer was just standing there, clearly fighting back the urge to laugh as he was very clearly aware of how this news was affecting the teenage slave.

"Your ass belongs to me. Forever. When you are so injured or sick that you are barely alive you will be healed. When your body is so starved that you can no longer function you will be given food. And then it will start all over. Forever." He laughed.

*******************************************

Time had become nearly meaningless - shift after shift of tedious, monotonous labor, and always in the presence of the Overseer who had promised to make her life a special kind of Living Hell. He watched her constantly, never ceasing to miss an opportunity to beat her or neuralize her, sometimes for no reason at all. It was quickly becoming intolerable and the girl's thoughts turned more and more often to ANY way possible that she could end this. But of course the Overseer made sure that didn't happen either.

Then, something happened that broke the monotony. Alarms sounded. There was a security breach several sections away. That was odd in itself, but the security alert quickly expanded to neighbouring sections and increased in severity. Now it was a class 5 breach, five whole sections of the station were on lockdown, and all active and off-duty security personnel had been ordered to their duty posts.

Keshani had been detailed to work installing a power converter for the repulsor engine that handled cargo movement. She was handling the technical aspects while half a dozen wookies handled the heavy lifting. It was high risk work dealing with a high chance of having electricity zapped through your body. This risk was increased by the fact that the Overseer kept triggering her collar to go off randomly distracting her attention away from the task at hand.

How she wished that she could turn the electricity on that frakking bastard instead. How she wished?.

Suddenly half a dozen stormtroopers marched up to take defensive positions. Close behind them was the Overseer, waving the control rod menacingly..

"All of you, in the cell! Now!" He pointed to a temporary holding cell. The station had thousands of these all over the place - temporary structures meant for securing slaves. If they were taking slaves off their work, there must be something big going on.

The sound of blasters intensified on the other side of the blast doors, and the overseer looked nervous. The Stormtroopers fidgeted with their rifles as they prepared for whatever was going to come through those doors.

Keshani's gaze flicked between the stormtroopers and the Overseer and then to the cable she was working with. She licked her lips and made up her mind.

And suddenly, her heart pounding, she reacted. No real plan in place she took a deep breath, and, as she dashed in the direction of the spool of power cable, aiming to lasso it around the overseer's head, yelled at the top of her lungs: "FREEEEEEDOM"!!!