Resurgence

Slaughterhouse

Due to the extreme nature of this chapter, I will summarize the events here so that you can skip ahead. 

It starts in the past, 8 years before the Battle of Yavin when Erika and her cousin Lorelei are 12 years old. Erika's uncle Jaeger gives the girls a brief anatomy lesson on a Twi'lek slave who's attempted to run away. He reinforces their existing hatred of aliens and belief in the inherent inferiority of Twi'leks, saying they are basically talking livestock with barely enough intelligence to carry out their function of serving humans.

Lorelei is somewhat disturbed by the examination and lobotomy but Erika finds it insightful, though she suggests beheading the woman rather than perform a lobotomy as Jaeger intends to do. Jaeger proceeds with the lobotomy but agrees to let Erika execute a different Twi'lek who has grown too old.

27 years later, contemporary Erika explains the true nature of the slaughterhouse to Task Force 17. Sentient aliens of various species are kept here to be harvested for milk, cheese, eggs, and most importantly meat, as the name slaughterhouse implies. This is because Heldin hates aliens so much she consumes them and their products rather than using traditional sources like nerfs and the like. Enraged and disgusted, task force 17 liberates the more than 20,000 slaves imprisoned here awaiting slaughter. It is directly stated that Heldin has a taste for veal and eats a third of the Twi'leks at age 8.

One Twi'lek woman, upon seeing Erika remove her helmet, embraces her literally and metaphorically as a savior. Erika, knowing she vaguely resembles Heldin who is ultimately responsible for everything in this slaughterhouse, and embarrassed that she could barely stop herself from throwing the alien woman off in disgust, bursts into tears.

On the journey home, Lady Erika reveals that a total of nearly 120,000 beings has been imprisoned here at various points in time, with only 22,880 of them still living to be rescued. She is struck by a member of Task Force 17 named Stepf for allowing the slaughterhouse to remain open this long. 

Commander Narrul explains that the trauma of seeing the slaughterhouse has led so many members of task force 17 to resign that it will likely have to disband. Erika expresses regret that no evidence was found to tie Heldin to the crimes and that she can't disable the obedience system, an advanced behavioral monitoring system designed to turn any slave into a willing and obedient one. She mentions that if she only knew who in her extended family had continued the project she could find their Master recall code and eliminate the system from the galaxy.

If you choose to read on knowing what lies ahead, consider this your final warning.

CONTENT WARNING: EXTREMELY DISTURBING CONTENT AHEAD. THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER CONTAINS BODY HORROR, REFERENCES TO CANNIBALISM, CHILD SLAVERY, AND SIMILAR TOPICS MANY READERS MAY FIND GROTESQUE. DISCRETION IS ADVISED

Erika's uncle Jaeger guides her and Lorelei through the examination. A Twi'lek woman lies on the table, restrained and sedated. Her chest is folded open while they examine her intestines. The 2 cousins are 12 years old.

Jaeger says, "This isn't too dissimilar to humans. Most humanoids have similar anatomy and can even interbreed. Another reason why neither of you should engage in romantic relationships with lesser creatures. Polluting the bloodline is a real danger. Most of them are basically animals, just talking nerfs really... the better to serve their masters... or mistresses in your case."

Erika shows disgust, "Ew, like I'd want to kiss a filthy Twi'lek anyway. There are plenty of human men in the galaxy."

Jaeger laughs, "Your mother raised you well. I sense your disgust is genuine. Well, even the best humans have been tempted by some of the finer alien specimens. They see a Twi'lek girl dancing in not much more than this would be runaway and they think they're struck with love."