Slavery Is A Crime

Chapter 7

- Unknown System  

The Queen was shocked to find Obi-Wan was a Jedi but retracted her whip. "I may not be your Queen... but you will prove valuable for a resell now that we all know your reputation..." the Queen said with a greedy smirk.

Obi-Wan gulped. "Slavers," the Queen started. "Who wishes to buy this slave now? Now that we know he's a Jedi?" she asked. A voice in the back yelled out, "10,000,000,000 credits for the Jedi!"

The Queen gave a satisfied grin. "Sold!" she said as the owner of the voice came close to the stage. As he approached, Obi-Wan could see the person more clearly. They wore black combat boots, black pants, a green shirt, and a brown jacket with a brown belt. Obi-Wan also noticed they wore a satchel.

As Obi-Wan scanned the man over, his eyes made their way to the person's face, a man's face. He had shaggy raven hair, blue eyes, and a big bushy beard—much like Obi-Wan's own before Aiko had shaved it.

"What is your name?" the Queen asked with a flirty smile. The man gave the same smile back. "Aaron Sailor, Your Highness," he said with a bow, as he took the Queen's hand and kissed her knuckles.

Queen Alizée rolled her eyes pulling her hand away. "The slave is yours," she said as she handed Obi-Wan's chains over to Aaron. Aaron smirked. "I thank you, my Queen," he said with another bow. Braz handed off Obi-Wan's lightsaber to him, then Aaron turned, heading for the door of the tent. As he walked, he gave a hard tug on Obi-Wan's chains, telling him to follow.

Obi-Wan sighed and followed.

~

- Unknown System  

After being brought out of the tent, Obi-Wan was loaded onto a cart with some other slaves, which Obi-Wan assumed were slaves brought to be sold. "Come slave! You're next for the stage!" At the command, a male Twi'lek quickly scurried to the edge of the cart and hopped off. Eager to please his Master so as not to be beaten, I suppose. Obi-Wan thought.

The Twi'lek then followed Aaron to the tent and Obi-Wan sighed. He looked up and counted exactly two other slaves in the cart. Obi-Wan's eyes filled with tears as he watched a Twi'lek girl cling to her mother. Obi-Wan looked towards the entrance to the tent, then looked back at the girl with sad eyes.

That Twi'lek must have been the girl's father and the Twi'lek holding her must be her mother, the wife to the other Twi'lek. Obi-Wan thought. Obi-Wan decided to try and give the girl some comfort. He put a sad, yet friendly smile on as he knelt to the girl's height.

"Hello, young one," he greeted gently. The girl hid behind her mother but sent a small wave his way. It's a start. Obi-Wan put his hand out for the girl to shake, making sure not to make any sudden moves that would scare the girl after everything she had probably seen as a slave.

"I am..." Could he trust her with his name? Not that it mattered now considering everyone at the auction knew he was a Jedi. But she was a child who was helplessly a slave, and his name could possibly give her some hope that she could make it out of slavery. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, what's your name, little one?" he asked.

Obi-Wan watched as the child's eyes went wide. "Nerra Kenobi!" the Twi'lek girl exclaimed, hugging him. "N-Nerra Kenobi...?" Why was this child calling him brother? Surely she only knew who he was because of him being a Jedi, right? "Numa! Numa!" the girl said, pulling away from the hug and pointing at herself. "Numa...? Numa..." Why did that name sound so famil- Numa...? Then it hit him. Numa was the name of the Twi'lek he had met on Ryloth about two years ago.

"Numa." Obi-Wan smiled as he hugged the girl. Obi-Wan then proceeded to ask the girl if she knew Galactic Basic. "Numa, do you know Basic?" he asked. Numa nodded. "N-Numa... knows... Basic." Obi-Wan smiled slightly at the girl's attempt at Basic, then, with a frown, asked, "Who put you here, Numa?" "Pi...rates..." the girl spoke out.

Obi-Wan went to rub his beard in thought, only to mentally sigh when he remembered it was no longer there. Kenobi gently placed his hand on the girl's forehead and began to reach into Numa's mind.

~

- Ryloth

Obi-Wan watched with a smile as he saw a young Numa sitting in her room playing with her toys. She played peacefully on her own with a big smile. From what he could see, the girl was happy and content, despite being one of the more poor Twi'lek families.

At least... she was content until an all too familiar pirate invaded her planet... Hondo. Blast! Hondo, why must you shut out every spark of joy and peace in the galaxy along with the Sith! Obi-Wan thought.

Obi-Wan watched as Hondo's ships landed on the surface of Ryloth. The ramp of the ship opened and Hondo walked down it, straight towards Numa's house. Kenobi growled slightly as he watched the pirate walk in as if he owned the place.

How dare he... he thought. The Twi'leks are innocent people living their own lives, same as those farmers Anakin, Ahsoka, and I helped on Felucia! He continued to watch as Hondo began talking with Numa's mother. From what he could understand, the woman was trying to tell the pirate he was welcome to anything in their home, just as long as he didn't hurt Numa.

Unfortunately for Numa and her family, Hondo couldn't understand what she was saying and thought she was trying to threaten him. "Are you threatening me, skug?" Hondo asked. Kenobi winced at the term "skug". He had heard the Zygerrians call the Torgruti slaves by that several times during his time on Kadavo.

The name now left a bad taste in his mouth, so much so that he felt sick. How dare he refer to her as that! Why... I'd love to be the very Jedi to stab that pirate in the back if given the chance. Kenobi bitterly thought. His attention turned back to the pirate who was currently putting binders on Numa's mother, father, and Numa herself.

He then watched as Hondo lead them back to the ship. "You'll make me a fine amount of credits on the black market," Hondo mumbled with a greedy smile.

~

- Unknown System

Obi-Wan drew out of Numa's memories with shock, anger, and sadness flowing through his veins while Numa just stared at him in concern. Obi-Wan gave a small smile. "I'm all right, little one. I've just..." Obi-Wan paused.

Should he really tell the child what he had seen? How would he even phrase it? Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I used the Force to see into your memories and found out how you came to be in slavery? Kenobi quietly snorted at the thought of himself saying that.

He noticed Numa was continuing to watch him and he smiled as he picked the child up and sat her in his lap. Numa giggled and ran a hand on his face, then gave a look of confusion. "Ch-chin hair gone. Why?" the young Twi'lek asked, doing her best to pronounce the Basic words properly.

Obi-Wan sighed, then gave the girl a small, sad smile. "It was shaved off, young one," Kenobi explained while doing the best gesture he could of shaving his beard off to help her understand.

Numa frowned slightly. "Miss it. I-it you," she said. Kenobi smiled while raising an eyebrow in amusement. She misses my beard and thinks it's me? he thought. I wonder why she'd think that... probably because she's never seen you clean-shaven, Kenobi!

It was then that Obi-Wan heard someone coming. He perked his head up going on full alert.

Aaron was coming back...

[Twi'leki Translations: Nerra - Brother]