Clouded by the Dark Side

Chapter 49 - To Find the Colonists

Alema Syndulla

The only thing waiting to greet us in the colony is a group of assassin droids on speeders. Thankfully it doesn't take us long to destroy them and get into the village itself. A brief look around shows that it's been completely abandoned, except for the obvious Separatist presence.

"How are we doing, Boil?" Obi-Wan inquires as one of his clones approaches.

"We're still mopping up clankers here and there, sir," he reports, "We've established a perimeter around the Governor's Tower."

"No one gets out without a fight," Cody adds, walking up.

"Good work," Obi-Wan praises, "Cody, any word from the Separatist commander?"

"He's barricaded inside," the commander responds, "His name is Darts D'nar. He sent you a message, sir." The clone starts playing the recording, and a hologram of a Zygerrian appears. They're cat-like creatures, and very ugly, in my opinion.

"Master Kenobi," the man says, "Come to the tower. We will negotiate terms for surrender."

"Well, that was easy," Obi-Wan remarks.

I look up, slightly startled at the sudden feeling of rage I can feel from both the twins. What's wrong?

The device is suddenly ripped out of Cody's hand and lands in Anakin's, only to be crushed and thrown onto the ground. "Zygerrian scum!" he snarls, "I'll handle that slaver myself."

Ahsoka raises her head from where she's sitting next to a contraption, looking as startled as I'm feeling. I've never heard them react with that kind of rage about anyone, except Krell. Certainly not an entire species. That's so against everything I've ever known.

"There is nothing to negotiate with him," growls Aniya, equal venom in her voice. "We'll take care of this."

Obi-Wan sighs quietly and steps forwards. "Anakin, Aniya, he asked for me. I need you two to locate the missing Togruta colonists."

"Fine," Anakin snaps, though he must have calmed down marginally. "I'll have Admiral Yularen initiate a planetary bio-scan."

"If anything goes wrong with these 'negotiations', I'll be ready to intervene," Aniya retorts. The twins stalk away without another word, and the droids roll after them.

Ahsoka stands and we slowly approach Obi-Wan as soon as our masters are out of earshot. "Why are they so upset?" Ahsoka questions.

"They've never talked about their past, have they?" he sighs.

"Only to tell me they won't talk about it," Ahsoka offers.

"From the little they've said, the most I gathered is that it wasn't anything good," I inform, "But that was... based on assumptions."

Obi-Wan nods understandingly. "As children, they and their mother were sold into slavery by the Hutt clans." My eyes widen in shock. They were slaves? That's... I knew they had a rough childhood, but I never would have guessed it was something like that. That explains so much about them. They always get touchy at the mention of their past. Now I know why. I can't believe the Republic even allows things like this. I can't even... how could our masters have gone through something like that?

"Oh," Ahsoka murmurs, "And these Zygerrians, they're slavers?"

He nods.

"That explains it," I say quietly. It's no wonder they were so upset.

"They have struggled to put their past behind them," Obi-Wan tells us.

"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on them," Ahsoka assures him.