Nar Shaddaa

Ashla has gone to Jo’s Indentured Servant Emporium to look for something.

The speeder barge that is Jo's shop of slavery is easy to find and filled with people looking for deals!

Ashla looks for someone who can help her find what she wants.

A droid approaches and says, "Hey, hey, you in the market for a slave?"

"Um.. yes. A child preferably. One that my dad would have liked to kill."

"Oh we have plenty of those, going to have them fight in the pits? Or is this for personal fun, no matter we have a slave for every budget," the droid says walking to a pen of children of varying species.

"More like an experiment. May I inspect them?"

“Feel free but if you break it you bought,” the droid responds.

Ashla looks at the children until she finds one she wants. Looking at these sad children, she begins to feel bad. But it has to be done.

OOC: Flipping a Destiny to find a Force-Sensitive child.

"How much?"

“600 credits, and this child can be yours,” the droid responds.

OOC: Purchasing a slave will grant 4 conflict to Ashla.

Ashla nods. "Deal." She looks at the other children and winces. "I'll take those four as well." She points at four random children. "Control group."

OOC: Conflict if Ashla intends to free them? And is it 4 per child?

“That will be 2400 credits, up front,” the droid says.

OO: 4 total Conflict for now.

Ashla pays him.

OOC: Shouldn't it be 3,000? Ashla is buying 4 plus the Force Sensitive child.

Ashla Vyliis wrote:Ashla pays him.

OOC: Shouldn't it be 3,000? Ashla is buying 4 plus the Force Sensitive child.

The droid hands over the children and the control chip for their slave collars.

OOC: Correct, I misunderstood.

Jeebu, the first child she wanted says in Huttese, "I am hungry."

Ashla realizes she just did something stupid. "Yeah. That makes sense. We'll all stop at Kidaja-Burger and then I'll take you home. What's your name?"

“Jee… Jee… Jeebu,” he says.

“I hope you don’t beat me. I will be good, I promise,” he says looking up at her.

A pained look comes across Ashla's face before vanishing, and she kneels down to him, responding in Huttese. "I'm not going to beat you. I can't say what I'm doing is a good idea, but..." Ashla looks to the ground trying to find what she wanted to say. Why did she feel so awful being here? Slavery was just that. It was a thing. Nothing to concern herself about. But these children... Buying these children. It felt sick. Not for the children. But for the ones she left behind. She looks back up to the boy. "You won't have to worry about beatings for a long time. Come on kids. I'll get you the Hutt jr. Meal. It comes with a toy."

The children follow along and Jeebu says, “What are you doing?”

"Well, we'll talk about once we leave."

Once they leave and get far enough away. "I think... I think you might be able to become a Jedi one day, Jeebu. If you want to. Otherwise, I'm bringing you all to Vatou's orphanage. It's not the best thing, but it beats being a slave. Oh. That's right. Let me take these damn things off." One by one Ashla frees them, taking off their collars.

She smiles at the children. A genuine smile. "You're free. You can leave me if you want. You can do whatever you want to do. But you should probably come with me. I can't protect you if you leave me."

“Thank you.”

“So what do we do now?” Jeebu asks. The rest of the children are excited and pile into the fast food place and scatter to the bathroom, the booths, and the playpen area.

Jeebu stays by her side and says, “What’s a jeeda?”

"It's someone who can use the Force to help people. The Force.... It's a thing that ties everything together. A Jedi can manipulate it to do things. Some Jedi can see visions. Some can heal others. Some can move things with their mind. And we use something call a lightsaber. " Ashla pulls hers out, though does not ignite it. "It's like a laser sword."

Ashla thinks how to explain it. "There are others who can use the Force, but the Jedi dedicate themselves to help others like I helped you and the others."

“Okay, but why?” Jeebu asks.

Ashla looks into his trusting eyes and hates herself. She's using him. But she doesn't stop. After all, if he is Force Sensitive, it's better he go to the Jedi than the Sith or whatever is hunting Force Sensitive children. The thought didn't make her feel better. But he was asking a question.

"Because we can. I'm not a very good Jedi, I do selfish things sometimes. But I'm going to take you to meet one. I was a slave like you once. I know it can be awful. I don't want you to go through that. I don't want anyone to." Ashla was shocked more than anyone that she meant it. "Me and you can understand what others went through. We can use that to help them, so they don't have to suffer like we did. So, other children won't have to worry about beatings. The Jedi do their best to stop suffering. We were given a great gift. We should use to help others."

"So why so sad?" Jeebu asks.