The Lion's Den

[Neesa]

She pushed herself up from the ground, hands and clothes blackened. Neesa turned to run for the staircase, but even her weight was too much for the second beam. It fractured beneath her weight and tipped her back down to the ground.

He was quicker than she had expected, barrelling into her and shoving her down. His hands clawed at her robes to find purchase. He started dragging her across the ground. As he looked down upon her the impossible happened. She saw, with crystal clarity, the thoughts running through his mind. That cold terror she had been able to focus became a desperate fear she could not control. Neesa wretched at the images, feeling hot bile creep up her throat. His hands were impossibly strong. She clawed desperately at the floor boards, achieving nothing more than leaving two fingernails behind. She was faced with the possibility that what he invisaged would come to pass for her.

 

[Neesa]

Control your fear, use it, she told herself. It seemed too great. Then, on impulse, she threw her hand into a pile of debris she was being dragged past, hands curling around something cold and hard.

Silver glinted through the black coating. A knife. He saw it too.

"Now girl..."

But that terror had hardened again. She swiped at his arm, leaving a bright trail of red. He recoiled as she scrabbled back up to her feet. Now there was rage behind his eyes. Her grip tightened on the shard of metal. It felt right in her hand.

She feigned a strike from the right. He swung a balled fist. She was ducking before she even saw the strike coming. Stepping to her left under the arm and then bringing the blade back from her left in a backhand slash. Her strike was true, opening his throat in one swing. How she had found the strength, she didn't know.

He fell away, clutching desperately at his throat. Tripping on a crack in the floor he went down and she followed. He slender body landed atop his, the blade glinted just once more in the half light. Down it came, again and again. The warmth of his lifeblood soon covered her arm, but even when he was still she kept bringing it up and down. He represented everything that had sought to control her, to own her, to keep her down in the gutter.

 

[Neesa]

It was half an hour before she managed to lift herself off his cooling body. Some part of her mind was distraught at what had just happened, but that practical side was in charge again.

Check him for credits and weapons, gather your things and leave before any more can come.

He had credits, more than she had ever held before. Only a hundred or so, but a small fortune to Neesa. He also had a real blade, one she kept tucked beneath her rags.

That night she migrated to a district on the far side of the town centre. Belly full of food and rage the gang of children there kept their distance as she found a suitable doorway for the night.

 

[Neesa]

THE PRESENT

There would be guards of course. This many important people in one building would mean guards. Not many of course, but each of them would have at least one. Her master, Tek Sitas had been the growing threat that drove them together, but they were still distrustful of each other.

She stepped through the open window looking in each direction, stretching out with her senses. Inch by inch she closed the opening behind her. Leaving it unlocked risked it being found, but she decided an open exit was a better option. It had been made clear that failure wasn't an option tonight, but she would still flee if things went wrong. Better to force Tek to track her down and mete outbher punishment than let the guards take her.

 

[Neesa]

Her training had not been kind, but neither had her life been. It had seemed right. Tek has told her something she had always known herself. She wasn't supposed to be the lowest form of life on this world, subject to the charity of others above her station.

She'd broken her ankle twice trying to learn to gather the Force to propel herself over the rooftops of the city at night, bit soaring high above those who had looked down upon her was the natural order of things. Achieving it was worth such a minor cost.

 

[Neesa]

There was a guard stationed at the next corner. A hulking, board shouldered gran. His attire was loose around the chest, with more than enough room for a small repeating blaster.

Whilst Neesa had a good grasp of telekenisis she didn't have the fine control to disable his weapon or take his comm from a distance. Her heavy cloaks hid more tools of her trade. A small dart gun, each barb laced with a quite lethal sith toxin.

Neesa rounded the corner and let the Force guide her hand. As the barb struck home the gran reached for his neck, the shock froze on his expression. The last one he would make. Neesa ran hard, yet her footsteps barely made a sound. As he collapsed down she grasped him under the arms. He was heavy, but she braced against the wall and slowed his fall so it was little more than a dull thud.

 

[Neesa]

The Force moved around her of its own volition now. She was coming to the end of her assignment and no matter what happened there would be death. She crept quietly and spared a glance around what she knew was the final corner.

Two guards, one either side of the double doors. Within that room were eight individuals. They were having an emergency meeting to decide what to do about her master's continually expanding influence. He had forced them together, underworld leaders who despised each other to the core. As one they were a genuine threat, she had worked that out from her master's inflection more than what he told her.

Her master had eyes and ears in all corners of the city. His influence had spread far more quickly than they had even realised now, when it had finally dawned on them that he was taking their city away from them.

"This meeting was an opportunity," he had told Neesa. "A chance for you to prove yourself worthy of my personal attention and a chance for those who would oppose me to be scattered before they can even begin to rally."

 

[Neesa]

She backed around the corner and dropped to her knees. Her cloak slipped from her shoulders revealing her pale slender arms. Across her back was a long packages wrapped up in a silky black fabric. She hoisted it from her shoulders and laid it out carefully on the ground before her. She undid the cord at each and and slowly unravelled it.


Within the wrappings were two gleaming swords. A gift from her master. A true gift. Normally his gifts came second hand: training from his house staff; books left where she could access. But these, these he had forged herself. Whilst she had not grown up in the culture of the Nagai she had always had an affinity for blades. The moment she had laid eyes on them she had wanted them. He had teased her, left them in their stand between them. Watched her carefully as he outlined her mission.


A smile had crept across his face as he had permitted her to hold them, explained that they had been made for her personally. Weighted perfectly, imbued with sith alchemy to match her talents. Some of those properties would only come as she grew, he had said.


On the floor of the mansion corridor she took up both blades and she felt complete.

 

[Neesa]

THE PAST

She was bolder now. The blade tucked against her thigh, and the one in the breast pocket gave her confidence. The city couldn't afford many officers on the streets; they sat at their desks and compiled reports. If someone reported a robbery there was a chance they might come and take a statement.

They concentrated on big crimes and Neesa rarely stole anything worth much. One of the local criminals would buy data terminals and other valuables from her, but it was on her terms and not his.

 

[Neesa]

It was late evening, the sun was low and the streets were dark. Yet people felt safe in this twilight hours. They risked the narrow alleys and back streets to avoid the worst of the foot traffic.

Neesa had managed to steal better clothes from bags left outside charity shops. Children grew out of clothes quickly and people would pack them up in sacks and donate them. Neesa didn't see this as really stealing, not that her conscience when it came to theft. Everyone had too much of everything anyway.

And she had nothing.

 

[Neesa]

She slipped through the crowd easily. There was a point where she could no longer keep to the shadows and watch the crowd. She had learned that if she just followed her heart she would often find an unwary person with a fat wallet. That wasn't the only thing she had learned she could do.


As she meandered through the commuters something caught her eye. A flash of colour. From within a dark robe a sleeve of red and gold. Exquisite embroidery. She couldn't not help but follow the owner, felt drawn to it. She had become accustomed to that sensation, knew to follow its call.


The man weaved through the crowd at an increasing pace, long legs threatening to outdistance Neesa. She willed people to move aside to ease her passage and they simply did, letting the lone child move through them quickly. The one she followed turned into a side street. She could see the right pocket of the robe bulging, a nice wide opening for her small, deft hands.

 

[Neesa]

Her hand came within an inch of that pocket, looking to free the man of the weight inside. Scarlet fingers had her wrist in a vice like grip before she even sensed movement. Neesa reacted quickly her free hand went for a blade whilst she focussed on giving him a shove with her mind. The basics had come naturally, pushing and pulling things without even touching them. No one else could do that, she was special.


But she felt that push meet an immovable wall between them. The hand that snaked towards a small blade was paralysed by an unseen force. The man released her other hand, grasping the front of her shirt instead. In one smooth motion he picked her up and slammed her weight into the wall. Neesa looked around desperately but despite there being people around none of them paid any attention to the commotion. Her eyes settled on her captor.

 

[Neesa]

Yellow and red eyes regarded her curiously from within his cowl. She hadn't seen one his his kind before. His skin was deep red and there were slender tentacles hanging down from his jaw.


Neesa opened her mouth to cry for help. The man's other hand came up before her forehead and his fingers danced an intricate pattern and he muttered something unintelligible.


“Quiet,” he growled. Neesa found she was unable to disobey him. Words formed at the back of her throat and stayed there. She could no longer ever writhe against his grip.


His head craned from side to side, watching her intently. She felt her skin crawl under that gaze. It felt as if everything she was was being laid bare before him. She felt exposed and vulnerable.

 

[Neesa]

“You have some blood in you. Not much, but it is there,” he rumbled. Neesa couldn't understand quite what he meant. “How did you end up as a filthy street rat? Interesting.”


She was lowered down onto her feet, her clothes released. Without further explanation he turned and continued on his path.


“Follow,” he called without turning back. She felt a strong impulse to start putting on foot in front of the other. She resisted, anchoring herself to the spot. Her eyes burned a hole in the back of his cloak.


Now he turned to face her. There was amusement in this expression. His fingers danced a little pattern and she felt her resolve melting.


“Follow,” he repeated and she was unable to resist this time. He led her to a parked airspeeders. There was a driver waiting for them. The human cast an odd glance over Neesa as she moved into the back seat but only when the red-skinned man wasn't looking.

 

[Neesa]

The speeder took them further away from the city centre than Neesa had ever gone. Slowly the height of the housing around them dropped. She saw houses that were actually detached from those beside them. They pulled onto a wide busy road and accelerated away.

They eventually turned down into a suburban district, down into a row of his very large houses. Each was at least three stories with walls around the gardens. In her head she tried to map out how far they had come. Only a few kilometers. She'd never imagine such large mansions could exist. This was also the first time she had been in a landspeeder, she reflected. They pulled in towards a gate that had a small guardhouse. The heavy bars slid out of their way and the guard waved them by.

Neesa looked up at the building before them. Only a few lights were on, yet she imagines such a building should house a hundred people. The gardens around it were immaculate. Only a few miles and she had entered an entirely alien world.

 

[Neesa]

“Out.” She didn't sense the instruction being enforced this time. It was just a lonely word. But what choice did she have now? There was nowhere to run but that smooth, two metre high wall. She pulled herself out of the airspeeder and followed the man towards the house. The driver followed close behind her.

The door was opened for them. Another one of the same species as her abductor. He too had a brightly embroidered vest, like the one her abductor had on under his travelling cloak.

“Stator leave us please, Djerik stay there.”

The driver walked away whilst the doorman replied with a bow: “Yes Lord Sitas.”

Neesa stayed frozen in place. She still had the knife under her cloak. All she needed was an opportunity.

 

[Neesa]

Lord Sitas nodded at his staff and then his eyes fell upon Neesa. Normally when threatened she felt that ice in her veins, the sharp clarity that rode upon her fear. But when he looked at her she could feel herself shrinking in, drawing her cloaks right about her as if they would afford some measure of protection.

“Your stench offends me. Djerik take her to the first floor refresher.

“What is your name girl?”

“Neesa,” she whispered.

“Go and get yourself washed completely. Djerik will… burn those. I don't intend to have you in my house for long and I'd rather the smell didn't linger for longer.”

Neesa could not blanche, but her breathing quickened. Lord Sitas gave her a peculiar look and then shook his head. “As if I would breed with one of such little blood. You will eat with the servants and then we will talk.”

 

[Neesa]

“Questions?” It was such a blunt remark that Neesa didn’t even know where to begin. She’d been dressed in plain servant’s clothing. They were the nicest things she’d ever worn. They had even promised her a new travelling cloak and footwear before she left.

Lord Sitas sat in his private library in a chair made of rich, burgundy leather. He indicated the stool across from him. Neesa looked at it suspiciously and then sat down. She was clothed, fed and warm, but that only served to heighten her suspicion. Where to start?

“Wadda ya mean I have blood in me?” she asked.

 

[Neesa]

He visible flinched at her speech, protrusions on his face twitching. He sighed. “I will have to get one of my servants to try and teach you to speak correctly. The way you talk grates on my sensibilities.

“But to answer your question…” he placed both hands on the arms of his chair, leaning back and crossing his legs. His robes were more ornate than those he had been garbed in back at the city centre. “Pure Sith blood is very rare. Not many of us left now. That is because it has been diluted over time as we interbred with outsiders. You have a distant relative who was a Sith like me.”

Neesa cocked her head in confusion. How could she be related to a different species? “Don’t know who my parents were,” she stated.

 

[Neesa]

“No memories at all?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Why am I here?”

“Ah you are straight to the point at least. The fact that you have Sith blood means you have potential. You even used the Force in an attempt to break free from me. Potential means you could be of use to me. You will need training.”

“You’ll train me? To do what?”

He laughed. A deep rolling noise that reverberated around the room. “Me? No, no. I can’t spend my time training every waif with a few millilitres of pure blood. I’ll have some of my staff do it.”