Chapter 23: Chapter 23 – A Fate Worse Than Death
Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
AUTHOR'S WARNING: This chapter describes scenes of torture and much worse that happened to Aayla and the others at the hands of the Death Watch, I did not enjoy writing those parts of this scene at all and to be honest I wish I had not now written myself to the point where I had to write it but I did and I have so here goes. If you do not want to read about this stop reading NOW and go no further.
Chapter 23 – A Fate Worse Than Death
As Hermione slowly awoke the first thing she realised was that she was no longer in the Trade Federation base, the colours of the bulk head above here were distinctly different. She also realised that she was laying on a mattress rather than on the hard floor of the Trade Federation ship.
"Good morning Hermione," came the familiar voice of her Master, causing her to snap her eyes around to look at him. She appeared to be a berth of a diplomatic cruiser with her Master sitting on her bed beside her feet.
"Master," she greeted, sitting up tiredly and pulling herself back so she could lean against the wall at the head of the bunk. "What happened?"
"What happened to me, what happened to you or what happened to cause us both to be here now?"
"All three," she responded after a moment's pause, her brain slowly getting up to speed.
"Well, in that case let me start with what happened to me as that links in with the other two. In short I was captured, detained and then escaped the Trade Federation, Captain Dofine was also apparently detained under orders from his number two. It appears as though he made a deal with the trandoshan commander to siphon of a small percentage of the vast profits from the resources of Alaris Prime into their own accounts. The neimoidian Commander would have me and his captain killed and the trandoshan would try to drive the wookiees of the planet by using gundarks herded in to attack."
"I remember that;" she replied, flexing her now healed shoulder. "Chewbacca and I were forced away from the colony and we discovered the droids driving them, we then went to the enemy base to try to stop it."
"Yes and with a broken clavicle at the time, but we shall come back to that. The Captain and I managed to retake the ship, just as we did so another ship entered the system carrying a taskforce of Jedi reinforcements led by Grand Masters Yoda and Master Yaddle."
"Master Yaddle!" she exclaimed in surprise. "I thought I recognised that voice. But Master isn't it very unusual for the Grand Master himself to lead a mission?"
"Usually yes," he nodded, "But Master Yoda has very good relations with the Wookiees, he was once the Jedi Watchman for this Sector so he knows them very well. As soon as they were within hailing range we appraised them of the situation and I requested that they headed straight to the moon to help you and the wookiees as we were having trouble controlling the droids on the surface. We found out later from Chewbacca that that was your doing, well done Padawan."
"Thank you Master," she beamed.
"Most of the Jedi jumped ship at the colony including Master Yoda who helped beat back or defeat the gundarks while Master Yaddle and several others headed to the Federation base to capture the trandoshan commander and, as we discovered as they approached, to rescue you. They entered just after you took out all the droids, where did you learn how to use that Force Power?"
"I consulted Master Yaddle briefly before the mission Master, I thought it would be prudent considering that the Trade Federation's forces are mostly made up of droids to ask about some techniques to disable them other than a few spells which I know of that can take down individual droids. I hope you don't mind Master?"
"Not at all my young apprentice, it shows a good use of initiative and common sense, especially considering that Master Yaddle is one of the best experts when it comes to rare and unusual Force Powers, I'm more surprised you could use it so easily after little or no practice."
"It wasn't that successful Master, it exhausted me and rendered me unconscious, if Master Yaddle hadn't turned up with the others when she did I would have been killed, probably Chewie too."
"Hermione, that particular technique is advanced and nowadays is not very well known, it's one that I have never even learned so in this you have surpassed many jedi including myself. It's also not surprising that you were rendered unconscious; you were injured, you had been using the Force to suppress your injuries for hours and you had just channelled an awful lot of power into taking out an entire room full of droids with a technique you had never used before. In addition I heard from Master Yoda that your intervention on behalf of the wookiees came at just the right moment, the number of gundarks around the base had kept on increasing when you left and they were in the process of overrunning the base perimeter as the taskforce arrived. In addition wookiee scouts later discovered many cages containing dozens more gundarks transported from all over the moon to the colony ready to be released, many more wookiee would have died if you had not stopped the Trade Federation when you did. You did very well Hermione so stop trying to put yourself down."
They were interrupted by the hiss of the door opening before another member of the High Council walked in.
"Master Yaddle," she greeted with a smile.
"Padawan Granger," she replied walking up to the bed and using her Force powers to propel herself up onto a chair beside it. "My congratulations I have come to give you. On the moon under exceptional circumstances very well you did."
"Thank you Master, but I do not think I did that well."
"Padawan Granger," Yaddle said disapprovingly, "Undesirable for a Jedi too much pride is, as is too much humility and modesty. In your achievements take pride, very well you did."
"You see Hermione," interjected Coleman with a smile. "Except due praise where it is earned. You did well, accept it and rest. We are on our way back to Coruscant now and we will both need to give full reports upon our return."
"Yes Master," she nodded, still not quite accepting the praise.
"Oh, I nearly forgot," added her Master as he and Yaddle headed out the door. "Chewbacca sends his thanks and his everlasting gratitude and respect for what you did and said if you ever need a place to rest for a while head for Alaris Prime or Kashyyyk and the Wookiees will make you welcome."
Voldemort groaned to himself inside the mind of his nemesis as he regained consciousness, he had no idea how long he had been out, it might have been hours or it might have been days, it was hard to judge the passage of time when you hiding in someone else's mind. The last thing he remembered was feeling a disturbance run through Potter's mind as he watched his hosts body being rushed aboard a ship by those Mandalorians that had come to rescue him and his blue tentacled master.
It was something he had gained the ability to do as his power increased thanks to the black thoughts of Potter that he resided within, the stronger he got the more he could observe.
He had felt Potter's life signs seem to fail for a moment and then his world went black as all that surrounded him seemed to fluctuate, as he was still here Potter must have been revived which was just as well, he had gained much power in this dark place in Potter's mind, but not enough.
There was also something different about his surroundings, he could not tell what it was but it felt as though something in Potter's mind had changed, not something conscious but something...As if something familiar that bad been there before was now gone, what it was he did not know but for the time being it did not matter, his power was increasing by the day, he just had to wait for the right opportunity. A time when Potter was away from almost all others, had no help around him, no Master to call upon to save him, at that time he would be able to strike. He had waited fourteen years to return to his body the first time, he knew the art of patience, he could wait as long as he needed to in order to take Potter's body from him.
The trip back to Coruscant was much more tense for Harry than it was for Hermione; Aayla, Alema and himself were taking the Wayward Son back with a couple of Antarian Rangers as crew and there was much tension between them. Alema and Harry were at odds over the slavery issue with Harry refusing her help at every turn while she went out of her way to get ahead of him and help him before he could tell her not to. Aayla was evasive around Harry, he knew because of what happened during her imprisonment that he needed to know and she was determined that he would not know, and whenever it came up and Alema was nearby Aayla would start to look awkward and although she covered it well it was obvious to Harry who knew her well that Alema was somehow involved in some important way that he was not aware of.
By the time they were a day out from Coruscant Harry had had enough, he could not resolve the slavery issue right now but he needed to know what happened with Aayla and Alema. He could have gone to Alema and ordered her to tell him but he could not do that as it basically said that he was accepting her as his slave so that meant he had to confront his Master, never something a padawan looked forward to. He got so worked up about it that he punched one of the bulkheads with such force that he unwittingly channelled the Force and made a fist shaped indent in the surface.
It was late when he decided that it was time to act, he went to the cabin she had been given and using the Force opened the door, he knew it was very inappropriate for a man to enter a woman's room uninvited, not even mentioning the fact that she was his Master and also because it was very intrusive and rude to do so but he knew he had to force her into talking to him otherwise she would just dodge and dodge again and either leave or make him leave.
As soon as he used a quick Force Pull to send his Master's lightsaber flying from her side to his hand where he quickly deposited it outside of the door with his own before casting a couple of quick spells on the door as well as a one way silencing charm on the room before turning to the young twi'lek who had regained consciousness.
"Harry? Wha-" she only got part way through the sentence before realising what was going on.
She sat up, revealing her night attire which was very similar to her normal day attire except that it was softer and more feminine, the same material as Alema's slave clothes. She had not slept naked since she had flashed him just after they became master and apprentice.
"I don't want to talk about it Padawan," she said firmly.
"We need to talk about it Master, we cannot operate as a team like this, with so much tension and...uncomfortableness around us. I need to know and you need to stop keeping this secret from me or we cannot move forward and we will only grow more distant."
"Padawan," she repeated, sounding more like a Master than she had in years. "We are not going to discuss this, now leave my quarters now."
"No Master, I refuse," he replied crossing his arms in front of him.
"Harry," she replied slowly. "Leave."
"No."
Having had enough Aayla got up and went to the door, only to find that it would not work for her, even when a few seconds later after glaring at him she tried to use the Force only to find that it was firmly stuck, some spells Harry had uncovered were almost impervious to that element of the Force. Then reaching for her lightsaber to cut her way out she realised that that was not there either.
"Harry," she said, turning to him, losing much of the master like authority she had been exhibiting before and now sounding more panicked. "Open the door!"
"No Master, we need to talk and we are both staying in here until we do, I have rations with me so we can stay here for days if we need to, I have silenced the door so no sound can get out as well as , I have even left orders with the rangers that they are not to attempt to get us out unless there is an emergency and that if they don't hear from us by the time that we reach Coruscant they are to put us into orbit and send a message I have recorded explaining what he are doing to the Temple. I have also left a note for Alema not to worry and that we are going to be talking for a long time with a request not to disturb us."
Aayla was looking more and more upset, her eyes had started shinning when she realised that the Force would not open the door and now tears were beginning to leak out.
"Let me out Harry!" she shouted, thumping on the door with her fist several times before losing the will to continue and sliding down the door to sit against it as tears started to flow freely.
Harry dropped down beside her and embraced the crying twi'lek, he hated that he had caused this but knew they had to talk and this was the only way to get her to do so.
They stayed there for several long minutes, it took only a couple for Aayla to hug him back, clinging to him as if he were her only grip on reality and pouring out her emotions both into his shoulder and down their bound through which he sent as many calming thoughts and feelings as he could.
It must have been almost half an hour later that she had regained some semblance of control and although she still clung to him tightly he was able to lift her up and transport her over to the more comfortable bed where he could sit on the mattress and lean up against the bulkhead whilst she clung to his neck and body as hard as she could.
"Thank you Harry," she choked out, "I needed that."
"Tell me what happened Master," he encouraged before remaining silent and waiting.
"As I said on Mandalore," she sniffed. "They initially just used me as an easy target, kicking punching etc, I could deal with that, I've trained for that but then it got worse. After hours of that they decided to have more fun with me."
Harry tensed internally, fearing what he hoped had not happened might actually have happened.
"Yes Harry, they were going to rape me, right there in the middle of a crowd of a hundred other chained slaves and a dozen or more jeering Death Watch soldiers and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop them so I gave up fighting and just hung there praying it would be over quickly. They got as far as moving and ripping some of my clothes before it happened."
Harry had never been so tense, he needed to know but he couldn't ask.
"Alema happened."
Harry's eyes flew open as wide as they could, what in Merlin's name had happened?
"Many of the other slaves had been shouting, bellowing, howling for them not to do it and they got punished for it, but it was her who saved me. She said something that I could not even believe she had said, something I prayed was a dream because it was something far worse than what had been about to happen. She told them to take her instead."
Harry's brain nearly shut down, the tears threatened in his eyes as he listened to her. Alema the slave had offered to let them rape her instead of his Master...And he had shouted at her. He had never felt so ashamed or disgraceful.
"The Death Watch were as surprised as I was and nearly the entire hall stopped in stunned silence before the Death Watch burst out laughing and left me hanging where I was, my clothes partially torn and no longer in place with a look of utter shock covering my features. They asked her again if she really meant that and offered her a chance to take it back...She didn't and repeated her offer. I could not believe it, she was sacrificing herself for me. As soon as I regained my senses I started shouting out protests and obscenities at them, pleading for them not to but they simply instructed two of their number to resume beating me again whilst they unchained Alema...and before my very eyes...they..."
Aayla broke down again and she again drowned Harry in tears, but this time Harry's tears joined hers, but the look of shocked sorrow on his face would have spoken volumes to anyone who could see it. He could barely believe what she was telling him, it was unthinkably and right now Harry needed Aayla as much as she needed him, Alema had allowed herself to be raped in order to protect Aayla, someone she did not know at all, and for what reason?
"They spent hours with her in front of the entire room, every Death Watch soldier seemed to participate and have their turn, enjoying the chance to have a go at a willing victim, the two that had been beating my joined in later allowing some of the nearby slaves to re-cover me as they best they could when the soldiers weren't looking with what remained of my clothes. When they eventually finished with her several hours later she was sent away to be cleaned up so she could be used again later. That's when it got worse, Vizsla got the idea from looking at me watching Alema that they could torture me much easier than they had been with their fists; they took the best of the female slaves and dragged them away somewhere and defiled them. We could hear their screaming from the hall and almost the entire population of slaves was crying, bellowing fury or struggling to free themselves despite the whips of the soldiers. It took ages for the Death Watch to regain order through punishment and torture until all that was left was the sobbing and crying of the other slaves and the wale's and screams of those that had been taken. There was nothing I could do, just...HANG there...," she shouted in fury and sorrow. "...Hang there and listen to what should have been my fate that others were now suffering because I could not stop them and I could not stop Alema from taking my shame as her own...But that was not the worst of it...the worst was, when the other slaves returned the few that were able sent looks of such hate and loathing at me at being the cause of their pain, that they were raped just so that they could torture me...but still worse was to come. When Alema returned and heard the sound of the others being raped, she looked sorrowful but then she looked at me and do you know what she did...she smiled."
Harry took another broken breath, this whole thing was a nightmare, it got worse and worse, never in any of his worst dreams had he ever heard of anything so awful, but this...And why would she smile?
"She smiled...why did she smile?"
"At the time I didn't know," she replied, "Other than the fact that the smile was genuine and was not a mask for pain or disgrace or because she enjoyed hearing the others scream. After you had rescued us and while you were unconscious I asked her about it..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - FLASH BACK - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On Mandalore, shortly after the rescue part had returned from the moon with the slaves and jedi in tow.
The first thing that Aayla remembered as she awoke was the memory of her apprentice crying out in pain and the sound of blasters.
"Harry!"
She sat up sharply only to find herself far from the place she last remembered.
"Easy Mistress, the healers said you were very badly injured and would need time to recover."
Aayla turned to the person who was speaking and it all came flooding back to her as she realised that this was the person who had sacrificed herself for her.
"Why did you do it?" she asked, ignoring her other instincts that were telling her to find out where she was, where Harry was, if he was ok. "Why did you let them do that to you rather than me?"
"At the auction my Master Harry saved me from being tortured by the guards and promised to free me and the others. One of the other slaves was one of you and explained how Master Harry was the apprentice to a powerful twi'lek Jedi Knight who was also pretending to be a slave and that they were all going to get us out. When after the soldiers took us they called you 'jedi' I knew you were my Master's Mistress and that I had to treat you as I would my Master and that I needed to do what I could to protect us both until my Master rescued us. When they beat you I know there was nothing I could do as they had no anger towards me and would not be interested in beating me instead of you and might only have resulted in them beating us both, for that I apologise Mistress but there was nothing I could have done. But when they went to un-robe you I knew I could be of help, I have been trained in the sexual arts and have been of service to my previous Masters, Mistresses and their associates that way, so I volunteered and prayed that they would only take me and not both of us. When they did what I wanted I made sure to make the experience as pleasurable as possible for them so as to keep them focused on me for longer."
"But why would you do that for me," Aayla interrupted. "You do not even really know Harry or me?"
"I knew you and my Master were both Jedi Mistress and I knew that Jedi protect others regardless of the cost to themselves, so I knew that not only was it the best way I could protect you but it was most likely what my Master would have done too."
"But how could you just allow them to do that to you so willingly?" Aayla asked, still not quite believing what she was hearing.
"It is not the first time Mistress that I have been put in a situation where I have needed to entertain multiple men or women at the same time, it was also far from my worst experience of that sort and it has very little effect on me unlike yourself or the other fake slaves who were taken. I didn't really enjoy it but I don't fear or hate it as most do."
"But why did you smile at me?"
"Because I knew that although the others were being subjected to what I had been, by sacrificing myself I had managed to spare you the same fate and in doing so I would please my Master if you ever decided to tell him what happened."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - FLASH BACK ENDS - - - - - - - - -
"How come you were so calm with her when I awoke?" he asked.
"I spent practically every second of the time between when I awoke and when you awoke either meditating or spending large amounts of time speaking to her; she explained what happened and how she came to consider you as her Master and I thanked her profusely for what she had done for me, though in the long run it caused me much greater pain...It has been hard trying to remain as composed as I have been."
"How could the other slaves blame you for what happened?"
"Not all of them did, I went to see those who had been violated in the hospital and many apologised for the way they sent me angry and bitter looks or asked if I was ok, they knew it was not my fault but at the time they had been badly hurt and it just felt like I was to blame, though a couple were bitter and still blamed me for it despite the fact I could do nothing about it. I apologised for my part in their slavery and they just turned away from me."
"More Jedi haters in the galaxy, how could they..."
"It's not their fault Harry," she replied, now comforting him as much as he was her. "If it were not for me having been there they may not have been raped."
"And if you hadn't been there they would not have had someone to beat up for hours before they moved on to raping them."
"Do not hold it against them Harry, most of the slaves were very concerned about me when I went to see them, treating me as though I had been raped myself which in a way I wish I had."
"Never say that again Master," he replied sharply. "We need never speak of this again, no one else needs to know of this."
"The Council does Harry," she replied almost normally if not slightly vulnerably.
"Fine, but no one else, it's our secret, the only ones who will ever know are us, Alema and the Council."
"And the hundred slaves and the Death Watch," she added sadly.
"Forget about them, the slaves will not want to discuss something so traumatic to them openly and most of the Death Watch were captured or killed, it's a secret and will remain that way. And you know I am here if you ever need me for anything. I will never think less of you, I will never think ill of you for what you went through, I will only ever look up to you as the wonderful Master, Jedi, person and mentor that I know you are, the person who rescued me from prison and who I am blessed by being apprenticed to."
Neither managed to say anything for several minutes before Aayla managed through fresh tears:
"Thank you Harry."
When Aayla and Harry finally left her room after a long and sleepless night, although tired and emotionally exhausted they both felt much better after comforting each other through the night.
As soon as they came upon Alema who was preparing breakfast for them, something she insisted on doing, Harry lunged at her and pulled her into probably the first genuine emotional hug that she had had from anyone who was not a slave.
She was evidently quite unused to the gesture as she just stood there looking over his shoulder with a look of uncertainty and confusing on her face before it occurred to her to look to Aayla to tell her what to do.
When Aayla replied by hugging herself with her arms by way of demonstration Alema uncertainly brought her hands up to hold Harry.
"Thank you for protecting my Master," he said into her shoulder.
This obviously unnerved her even more, she did not get much in the way of thanks as a slave, and none that were accompanied by emotional hugs.
"Err...It was err...I was just doing what I hoped you would do Master," she replied.
After a couple of minutes he separated from her and looked her in the eye.
"I can't say I would have been able to do what you did," he said, before quickly adding more as he saw uncertainty appeared in her eyes that she might have done the wrong thing. "But I would have done whatever I could to ensure the safety of my Master. I will never be able to thank you enough for what you did, you did a wonderful thing for us."
"Thank you Master," she replied, curtsying. Just for once he was not going to object to her calling him that. It was because of her insistence that she belonged to him that she had saved his Master from a fate that for her was worse than death and he owed her for doing so.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well that was a hard chapter to write, I know a lot of you asked for this sort of confrontation between master and apprentice and I hope this met your expectations.
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