Chicken Little; Pt 02

[Captain Larraq]

(past)


Kali was a slave. Her master was a Sith.

Her master was nobody important. He had very little power and had accomplished nearly nothing with his life. But he was a Sith and she was a slave and they lived on a world called Dromund Kaas.

Kali hadn't been born here and she hadn't been raised here, but this was now the only home she knew.

The Sith had destroyed her old home... along with her old life... her old family... her old friends...

The old Kali was dead and gone. Lost with her home.

Kali was just one more slave among the tens of thousands of other slaves on Dromund Kaas.
This was the life she knew.
This was all she knew.

And what she couldn't know, was that today was the last day she would be a slave.
Today... she would be set free.

 

[Captain Larraq]

The day began like any other. Kali woke first, before anyone else in the large townhouse awoke. Kali showered and cleaned herself in the small communal bathroom for the slaves and servants. Kali dressed herself from the modest assortment of clothing that had been provided for her. Kali cleaned her small section of the small room that the slaves were kept in. Kali went to the kitchen an made herself a small breakfast from the moderate supply of bland food that was provided for the slaves to make use of for themselves. Kali ate her small breakfast using cheap plates and utensils that were for the slaves to use instead of the nicer dinnerware that the master and his family used. And then Kali and the other servants made a big breakfast from the finer food that was for the master and his family. They prepared it and placed it upon the nice dinnerware and readied treys with which to take each to the bedroom of the various masters in the house.

With the breakfast made, Kali moved on to her next task for the day. She was to wake the master himself. Other servants would wake the master's two wives and five children, but it was Kali's choir to wake the master.

 

[Captain Larraq]

She made her way up two flights of stairs and down a hallway. Quietly, she entered the room of her master. The master's wives were not in the room with him, they slept in other chambers. Closing the door behind her, Kali began to prepare the master's clothes for the day. Shoes, socks, undergarments, robes... the usual attire for the master. Even a low-class Sith like himself was still expected to dress the part. Kali had to be careful to keep thoughts like that to herself though. While the master was awake, he could read such thoughts and punish her for them... so Kali had to be careful of not only what she did and said, but what she thought as well.

With the clothes prepared, Kali walked into the master's bathroom and drew water for her master, the exact temperature he liked. She prepared the soaps and salts that the master liked, she prepared the master's towels and robes, and she prepared extra towels for the master to step on. The bathroom ready, Kali returned to the master's room and, after preparing herself with a deep breath, Kali awoke the master in her usual way. Kali played music for her master. In her old life, Kali was a musician. Or, was training to be. Her mother had tought her. In her new life... The things that Kali could do were simply amusements for her master.

 

[Captain Larraq]

The master stirred and rose from bed. He ignored Kali and walked into the bathroom. When the sound of urination stopped, so too did Kali's music. Placing the instrument back into its case, Kali also walked into the bathroom and helped the master disrobe. She helped the master into the bath she had prepared. And she washed the master herself. With soap and sponge, she scrubbed the master's flesh. With soap and fingers, she cleaned the master's hair. And with buckets of clean water, she rinsed the master of soap as he stood over the tub. The master stepped from the tub and Kali dried the master, then placed the robe upon the master. As they walked from the bathroom, a second slave brought the master's breakfast into the room. The master sat at a large table and ate his breakfast while Kali again played the instrument from the case. When he was done, Kali stopped playing and dressed the master.

 

[Captain Larraq]

And then the master was gone. His wives and children lingered around the house while the slaves tended to their needs, but they too left in time. And then the house was quiet. For a while anyway. Slaves washed laundry, for both the master, his family, and the slaves themselves. Slaves cleaned dishes and slaves cleaned the house. They dusted, they swept, they mopped, and they scrubbed every inch of the master's home, which was also their cage.

Slaves even landscaped the moderate yard that their master possessed. There were no fences, no guards, and no collars to keep the slaves from fleeing. There were only the statues that lined the property. At no point had the slaves been told what exactly would happen to them if they happened to travel beyond the line of silent watchers, but most assumed it was no less horrible than what had been done to their families when they had been captured and enslaved in the first place.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Hours had passed before the first of the master's family was expected home. The daily cleaning of the house had been all but completed, the food for the young master had been prepared, and the young master's study had been prepared that he might complete his assignments before retiring for the evenings.

The slaves of the house had made all this come into being, but the young master did not arrive when expected. An hour later and the second of the young masters was also tardy in arrival. An hour after that, the slaves started to worry. Not that something had happened to the young masters, but that something had happened and they would somehow be blamed for whatever had occurred.

Fresh food was made every half hour in the hopes that the young masters would arrive soon. Most of the slaves had convinced themselves that the two youngest masters were with the master's wife, and that all would be arriving soon. They busied themselves with making the house ready for the masters to arrive.

Kali, her other chores complete, helped in the kitchen.

 

[Captain Larraq]

When two more hours had passed and the mistress had yet to arrive, that was when the slaves began to truly worry. The mistress was missing, as were the young masters. Should the master return, would the slaves be punished for his missing family? What if the master never returned?

Well... that was a sobering thought. They would simply be bought by another master...

But still... The slaves began to fret over what could have happened to the master's family.

Kali, now free from the chaos of the kitchen, wandered the halls of the townhouse and listened to the other slaves. Thinking that some music may help calm their nerves, Kali asked one of the younger boy-slaves to keep watch for their approaching master and turned on the master's radio. The music that played was the music of the Sith. It was harsh and metallic and alien to Kali, but it was music. A rare treat for herself and the other slaves to enjoy.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Kali and the other slaves enjoyed the music for the next two hours. With each passing minute, their nerves grew ever more frayed. But when their master too was late to return home, that was when the slaves began to panic.

The master was harsh, but he was not cruel. There were many daily tasks to perform, but there were many hands and the master possessed a small house. If the master never returned, they could be sold to a much worse Sith to be lorded over.

If the master returned, delayed and angry, would he lash out at them? Would he lash out at them if they did not have fresh food prepared for him? Would he lash out if they wasted his food by making fresh meals that would only grow cold?

The master had left no instruction for such a period of unsupervised time. And while the slaves secretly wanted to enjoy it, their anxiety deprived them of that small luxury.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Day turned to night and the master still had not returned home. The radio paused the music that it played and a woman's voice came over the air. Dromund Kaas was under attack. The Mandalorians were attacking the capital city and a fleet of warships approached the planet.

That was when the real panic set in.

Had the master been called away to fight? Had he sent his wife and children to a bunker somewhere? Or had they abandoned the city entirely?

More importantly... were they safe in the master's home? There was no basement here. There was no bunker, no place of refuge. Nor could they flee the property if the fight came to them.

They were but slaves... and when the air raid sirens sounded, instinct overruled training. Kali and the other slaves, almost as one, decided that their best chance was to flee the property for someplace... safer. Kali ran across the master's lawn and towards the street. In a flash, the slave in front of her was gone, a splash of blood all that remained. Stunned, Kali looked up at the statue as is slowly clinked back into its old position, bladed sword still stained red with the blood of a slave. Stunned and silent, Kali looked down at the slave. He was in two. Kali looked around her. Two other slaves had been cut down by the statues... the rest had simply halted.

There would be no escape for them.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Another hour had slipped by and the voice on the radio grew only more panicked. The Mandalorian Fleet was still accelerating. The Mandalorian Fleet was dragging asteroids. The Sith Defense Fleet had fled the system. In the kitchen, one of the slaves had given up and opened a bottle of the master's wine. Most of the slaves huddled in the kitchen and sipped at the wine. To many, it was the first alcohol they had tasted in years. For others, it was the first they had had in their lives. For all of them, it was the best they had tasted in their lives... but it was still a bitter thing.

Kali wasn't in the kitchen and she wasn't drinking wine. Kali sat in the lawn with the radio. She listened to the woman talk, she felt the breeze on her skin, and she stared up at the night sky. Bright lights streaked across that sky. Red and orange and angry and beautiful. Lights raced in every direction. Massive streaks of light spread out in every direction... a bright blue sheen filled the sky for as far as Kali could see... and then it was gone. Replaced by a thousand balls of fire that descended from heaven.

Kali watched the approaching storm. She felt the warm breeze against her face.

And she smiled.