Survivor: A Star Wars Story

Chapter III

REINA TAUTASKI

After she'd pulled herself together, Reina steeled herself for the rest of the day. She knew that the queen would want her by her side at the slave auction, even more so now to remind Reina of her power, although she would undoubtedly have extra guards with her as well in case she attacked her again.  More than that, Reina was absolutely sure she would have an extreme lashing, or worse, coming her way later in the evening if she planned on sticking around long enough to suffer it.

Sure enough, she was proven correct on the guard theory when two of them arrived to escort her to the auction. Slowly getting up from her shelf, she glanced around the room before finally settling her gaze on Thea's bunk. This would be the last time that she saw it - the one place in this entire wretched system where she had any sense of safety. Walking out into the hall, she gritted her teeth as one of the guards shoved her in the back with his staff painfully, but she kept her mouth shut.  They wanted a rise and she couldn't afford to give them one.

It's almost over, it's almost over.

It was that chant that kept her walking, and that chant alone. One way or another, she had to believe that this would be her last day here as a slave. She had to believe that tomorrow, she would be able to taste freedom again, after so long. The kind of resolve that was blossoming within her was one that she had never experienced before, and as she considered the risk of dying, it almost scared her to find that she wasn't afraid that possibility.  If she hadn't told herself that this would end one day, all the years she'd suffered on Zygerria, she would have ended up like Thea a long time ago.

Harsh, burning sunlight streamed in through the windows as late afternoon came around, and the temperature in the palace had escalated since the morning. It was days like these that Reina despised, when the muggy air seemed to choke her and made her brain swim.  Though she supposed it could join the long list of things she hated about Zygerria.  A couple of minutes later, a low roar became loud enough to be noticeable and continued to raise in volume until they came to a stop outside a white painted set of double doors.  She took a calming breath, knowing exactly who and what was behind them. She pushed them open, bracing herself for a few more hours of torture.

On the other side of the room was a balcony that overlooked the pit where the slave auction was to be held; a dismal place where the unfortunate were sold to cruel owners. The queen's viewing box itself however, was very nice. The right wall of the room was covered in monitors, all showing different angles of a sunken pit, presumably from probes down there. The room was filled with flora of all types and the queen had a lavish throne to lounge in whilst the less appealing slaves were auctioned off. Expensive decorations were either hung or placed around the room, and she flinched slightly as she saw a whip laid on the balcony ledge. Lars Quell stood to the queen's right, with his Togruta slave to her left side.

"My queen. Your servant has arrived." Said one of the guards.

Without looking back, the queen simply replied, "Oh?  I was almost expecting a corpse to come back to me.  Well ever mind.  I mustn't get my hopes up."  Reina gritted her teeth hard enough to hurt and tried not to fling herself at her again.  "Stand to the side, scrat. Observe."

Unsuccessfully trying to stop her face from twisting into a scowl, she walked over the the right side of the room, next to Lars Quell. Looking over the balcony she saw the auction pit, not that it had changed from past years. It was a large square arena with a dirt floor, sunken deep into the ground. In the centre was a red stone dais where the slaves were to be displayed and sold on to the highest bidder. This time she did scowl: very obviously. It was disgusting. A tall Zygerrian man walked out of one of the entrances to the pit, staff in hand as he waved to the audience. Climbing onto the platform, he spoke.