Chapter Text
Obi-Wan ran like his life depended on it, Quinlan beside him. There was some angry Mandalorian after them for some reason. Okay, well, he realized they were Jedi and went nuts, apparently 'they' had killed his family at Galidraan which he had missed out on due to some injury or something? Obi-Wan was too busy blocking blaster shots to really pay attention to the drunken shouting. It was a surprise he had picked up as much as he had around trying to avoid getting hurt.
Their mission had been going so well, too. Just a basic investigation on Corellia. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to handle any negotiations necessary and Tholme and Quinlan to handle the actual investigating into the murders. Obi-Wan and Quinlan had just gone to look for food while their masters examined the most recent crime scene further and questioned the witnesses. The two padawans were relieved to get out of there for a bit. The case had been proving to be insanely difficult to crack, more than a week in already.
And then the Mandalorian, drunk in the middle of the day, noticed them and recognized them as Jedi. He was seriously trying to kill them and no one was helping them at all. Some even thought it was funny.
Obi-Wan looked around frantically, then spotted a walkway they were about to run over. “This way!” He ran and jumped over the railing. Quinlan followed quickly, and they dropped down to the lower streets and took off running, not daring to stop until they were certain they had lost the drunken idiot.
“Well, that could have been worse,” Obi-Wan stated cheerfully as they checked out a fruit vendor.
“How could it have been worse, Obes?” Quinlan selected some fruit and paid. They walked away, each munching on some fruit.
“Oh, he could have had a jet pack for one. Jumping over the walk way wouldn't have given us any safety at all in that case. He could have had a flamethrower. I've seen that before. Could have been more of them too.”
Quinlan elbowed him. “No wonder you were quicker on the uptake than me. My missions never go so badly with random people who aren't even involved.”
“I figure either I'm cursed, or Master Qui-Gon is.” Obi-Wan shrugged. “It's certainly given me a lot of experience.”
Quinlan snorted. “And some insane ideas on how to get out of situations.”
They laughed together and started heading back to where they came from. When they spotted the Mandalorian still looking for them, shouting drunkenly and being ignored, they ducked into a store, ignoring the bad feeling the area had been giving them. It would have been better to risk being spotted and having to run again.
Both were grabbed before they registered the warning in the Force. “What do we have here? Looks like a Kiffar and his friend... Oh, you're Stewjoni, aren't you? They're the only ones I've ever seen with such ginger hair...”
Obi-Wan and Quinlan fought to get out of their grips, biting was utilized, and then they pulled their lightsabers when they realized they were surrounded. Both knew the dangers of their species being recognized in this sort of context. And... this was not really a store, there were too many people in here for that. What did they stumble into?
“Aw, baby Jedi, even better.” The twenty people in the room closed in.
Obi-Wan and Quinlan communicated with the Force and moved at the same time, managing to make decent progress towards the door. They blocked any attempts to stop them as best they could, but then Obi-Wan felt a sharp pain in his neck. He reached back and pulled out a dart.
“That's not good.” The room started spinning, and the last thing he saw was Quinlan rushing to his side, only to get a dart in his neck as well.
.
Obi-Wan woke up with a headache and what felt like cotton in his mouth. It took him a moment to fully wake up through the grogginess of having been drugged. When he did, the memories of what happened hit him with a jolt. He opened his eyes and looked around frantically. He sat up, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.
Quinlan was still unconscious, but at least they were together in this small room. But... Obi-Wan looked down. Yeah, both of them were pretty much naked with collars and cuffs on. He closed his eyes and reached for the Force. Nothing. Yep, Force suppressing as he thought. Wonderful.
The room rocked. Obi-Wan let out a sigh. They were on a ship, weren't they? That meant it would be harder for their masters to find them, if they were able to leave their mission at all. Sometimes that was difficult, if not impossible, when it had nothing to do with the mission.
Quinlan groaned, rolling onto his back. His eyes opened a few seconds later and he sat up, looking around in a panic. He relaxed a little when he saw Obi-Wan. He moved closer to Obi-Wan, pressing himself against his friend.
“Well... this is great.”
Obi-Wan snorted. “Isn't it though?” He was just fifteen. He should not be used to this. “I expect we're being taken to some sort of auction, or maybe they already have buyers in mind.”
“How do you know this is slavery?” Quinlan asked, frowning.
“They called out our species. There's no way they're not going to be taking advantage of that. Plus these cuffs on our hands are Force suppressing already, if they weren't planning on slavery, the collar is overkill on two padawans under the age of eighteen. They did call us baby Jedi.”
Quinlan sighed. “Right. Any ideas on what to expect?”
“Nope. My only two proper experiences with slavery are Bandomeer and that spice freighter months ago, neither of which were really traditional slavery experiences. I know more about what to expect from the support groups than actual experiences.”
“Right.” Quinlan sighed. “So how do we get out?”
“I don't know. It really depends on how competent everyone involved is, for if we can break out. We might just have to hope our masters can come after us in time, or get someone else from the Order tracking us quickly.”
“Too bad they took everything from us.” Quinlan grumbled. “Even my gloves.”
“Yeah, that's not a great sign either. That's not really common unless they want our bodies to be part of the appeal.”
“You're joking.”
“Afraid not.”
Before they could have any further conversation, the door opened. Five men entered. Two grabbed Obi-Wan and pulled him up, and two grabbed Quinlan and dragged him up. The final man came over and inspected them intently, lifting their chins and laughing at their struggles and attempts to bite his fingers.
“You two are feisty, I'll give you that. Took out a few of my mafia, at that. Impressive, really, for baby Jedi. Lucky for me you entered the wrong building. A Kiffar and a Stewjoni, both Jedi... You'll fetch a lot at sale, especially if I sell you together, yes, a two for one deal, so many will pay more to get both rather than just one.”
Obi-Wan continued to stare at him defiantly, refusing to show any of the fear he was feeling. Very few had picked up on his heritage, so he had thought he'd be able to keep flying under the radar. It seemed that was not the case.
He was backhanded.
“Don't touch him!” Quinlan struggled against the hands holding him back, glaring at the leader.
The leader laughed. “Or what?” He stepped forward and ran a finger down Quinlan's cheek. Quinlan froze. “You can't escape, we're already on route to the best auction happening any time soon. But... I do think you both need to be taught a lesson. If we rough you up now, you'll heal up before you're sold and won't look spoiled...” The leader punched Quinlan in the gut, then stepped away and gestured out the door for others to come in to continue the 'lesson.'
When they were done, Quinlan and Obi-Wan were left on the floor, groaning in pain. The leader laughed at them again.
“You two have fun now. Food will be twice a day, use that bucket for certain needs. And don't even think about escaping.”
Quinlan sat up, wincing in pain. It was just bruises and maybe some fractured bones, ribs mostly, but it still hurt. “So. Uh. I suppose maybe we should discuss why where we're from is important to them before we find out the hard way or something.”
Obi-Wan groaned, also sitting up, arm curled around his ribs where it hurt the most. “We probably should.”
He took a deep breath. "Stewjoni as a whole tend to come out dualsex or intersex. Something like... 80% are born with both sexual organs, with hormones affecting how functional they are, and something like... 20% of us end up with both functioning even if we look like we lean one gender or the other. On the plus side, because I definitely am male and do get all the testosterone for that from my body, at least that's the way it's looking so far, any periods will be about a year apart, because the uterus apparently doesn't build up tissue as thickly other near humans and the cycles can be a bit wonky anyways.”
“Have you had one yet?” Quinlan was actually taking this rather well.
Obi-Wan huffed. “Unfortunately. Right after Qui-Gon rescued me from the spice, actually. It was hard to separate the symptoms from withdrawal, but it did cover it well to others.”
Quinlan nodded. “So we don't have to worry about that any time soon. That can't just be it, though.”
“There's a lot of rumors about how good Stewjoni are in bed as a result, something about us being bred for better sex appeal or something. That's all false, thankfully, but that is something they look out for. But there is something else...” Obi-Wan shifted uneasily. “We do tend to be physically stronger and more durable than most. Which means we can take more punishment.”
Quinlan did not have to use his imagination to know how that could be advantageous to slavers. He shuffled closer carefully and put his hand on Obi-Wan's arm. “I get it. Uh. Kiffar actually... well it's a little different. Very few Kiffar are single sex, most are somewhere on the spectrum between intersex and dualsex. Most of us lean one way or the other and we don't always get the same ability to have children you apparently do, but there are ways... and I'm sure by now slavers know that.” Quinlan shuddered.
“I prefer not to think about it because it changes nothing about who I am. But there's another reason slavers like getting Kiffar. The psychometry is a thing that all Kiffar have to varying degrees, without the Force. I am an outlier, and thankfully impressions aren't nearly as strong without the Force.”
Obi-Wan winced and wrapped an arm around his friend. “Well, that all sounds just pleasant. I do not want to know what they could possibly do with psychometry. At least they're keeping us together.”
Quinlan huffed and wrapped his arm around Obi-Wan. “Yeah, that's about the only positive we have right now.”
.
The rest of the time to wherever they were going was brutal. They weren't fed enough, so they were starving, but they learned the hard way not to complain. Well, Quinlan did, on accident. They were given even less for the next day. They spent the time meditating, as best they could without the Force, mostly. There wasn't much else to do while they were healing up, besides talk. And well... there was only so much to talk about when there was nothing new going on.
It was sickening the way the leader sometimes cooed over them when he caught them cuddling. He thought it was great. And they knew what he meant by that. Both shuddered each time. And he quickly caught on that they were both virgins; with being dualsex it was hard to know what to do about other partners, especially since that was something both preferred not to think about. Many thought that Quinlan at least had experimented, but he just let them think that. Easier than denying it and having to explain.
When they arrived on planet, the two of them were given old clothes, just enough to cover themselves. Then they were dragged out of the ship into blinding sunlight. Two suns, dusty. It was pretty easy to guess they were on Tatooine just from that alone. Not many planets had a binary star system.
They exchanged looks as they were dragged straight to the slave auction site. This was of course where they ended up. Where such things were open and often ignored, even by people who had morals, because there wasn't anything that could be done.
Now that they were here, the reality was settling in. Quinlan was shaking as they were registered with the auctioneers. Obi-Wan nudged him and offered him a small, calm smile. Quinlan managed a small smile in return. Obi-Wan hadn't been auctioned before, but being a slave wasn't anything new, so he was taking this better, even if he was scared
Then they were tossed into the cell, cage really, they were assigned at the auction house. It wasn't very big, barely big enough for them and a chamber pot. It would be humiliating if they hadn't already spent the last several days naked.
Obi-Wan and Quinlan looked around to see if there would be any opportunities here to escape, but it didn't look like it. The cell had an electronic lock. Quinlan touched the bars, then recoiled at the residue of fear and pain he found. He had forgotten his psychometry there for a moment. Obi-Wan hugged him and they huddled together.
“Your first time?” A voice startled them. They turned to the left. There was a Twi'lek in the cage next to them. She looked worn down and resigned to her fate. There were so many other cages here, in the distance they could see large ones holding huge groups, but where there were, they were mostly individual ones.
Obi-Wan nodded. “I've been unfortunate enough to have been caught by slavers before, but never for more than a month, this is the first time I've been to an auction and the first time they actually recognized what they have. I'm Stewjoni. My friend though, he's never had any experience at all.”
The Twi'lek looked around cautiously, but there were only guards at the exits to the room or at the windows, which were nowhere near where they were. “Why don't you two come over here and I'll talk you through what's going to happen?”
Obi-Wan nodded.
“Okay, that sounds good.” Quinlan let out a shaky breath and they moved three feet to the other side of the cage. Quinlan leaned against Obi-Wan, who leaned against the bars that separated them from the Twi'lek.
She never gave them her name, but she talked for hours as long as no masters were around to overhear. Telling them about the auction, about how they were for the special high priced auction that went on three times a year, rather than the near daily auctions that Tatooine had. She was too, not because she was a twi'lek, but because of her talent and how long she'd been a slave. The next high price auction was the two days away.
She explained what they could expect from most masters, how they would be beaten and trained for what was expected of them. How best to avoid punishment, and how to know who to trust. But that wasn't all she gave them.
She gave them stories. They listened with curiosity and a growing sense of understanding; this was how most survived for so long. These stories gave them something to cling to, hope. From it grew traditions and something of a coded language they used to communicate.
They fell asleep to her storytelling both nights they stayed in the cell. And it was only on the morning of the auction, when they were eating their meager breakfast that Quinlan got the courage to ask the burning question he had.
“Why tell us all about it? You don't know us, we're probably not going to have the same master. There's no guarantee we'll stay all that long; we have people looking for us.” She'd heard their story including the part about being Jedi; there was no way that wasn't going to be one of the things mentioned. There was no point in hiding it.
“No one should be in slavery without that sort of comfort. And the longer without a rescue, the less likely it is,” she said gently. “If you are able to escape, you will still always carry these experiences with you, regardless, so you will always be one of us.”
There was silence after that, as they braced themselves for the coming preparations. The ones who captured them, collected them and dragged them to the preparation area. There they were forced through a cleaning and grooming process. Their hair was left loose and trimmed. Their padawan braids completely removed, which they had to be held down for as they both freaked out about the very idea of losing that one sign of being a Jedi when they couldn't feel the Force anymore.
Make up was applied to bruises. Clothes meant to show off as much as possible were picked out and put on. Only then were they deemed ready for the coming auction. They were then given a number, each with the number around their necks as they stood together in order with the other slaves.
Then they were prodded onto the stage for their lot, staring out into the crowd. They were scared but unwilling to show it to those looking to buy them. Apparently, they were 'feisty' and 'unbroken' and then, just as the masters were getting ready to bid, eyeing the two up and down with interest, the final bit was revealed. Jedi in training. Their lightsabers were shown as proof and would be tossed in upon purchase.
The numbers climbed the highest they had all auction, doubling then tripling what had been the highest previously. Then finally, someone succeeded in outbidding everyone else. Once that had been decided, they were led to the area where the bidder settled the debt and collected their new slaves.
Quinlan was shaking again, and this time, Obi-Wan wasn't much better. It was real now. Who knew how long they could keep their virginity? They'd be lucky if it lasted more than a day, probably. Their master turned out to be some Zygerrian. He turned to them once the purchase had been made and their lightsabers tucked away and stepped closer to examine them himself.
Obi-Wan squirmed away when he started trying to look at him. This earned him a hard smack that made his eyes water.
“None of that now, slave. Hold still.”
Once he was satisfied, he went to Quinlan who barely kept himself still enough to avoid getting smacked himself.
“Yes, I can work with this. Come.” He turned and swept off.
They reluctantly followed, knowing that it would be a bad idea to start anything right here. They stuck close together as they followed. It turned out that their master had a house here, and they would be leaving when his business on Tatooine was done to go to his actual home. If that happened, there was slim chance they would ever get free. Hope of rescue was dwindling.
They had no time to settle in as apparently, he wanted to get started right away on training them and breaking them. They tried to protect each other, but that only gave him more fuel for breaking them.
After the initial start, they finally met the others, and started learning what to do, and learning more traditions and stories. They were in pain, physically and emotionally, but they were getting through it. They had to survive no matter what was thrown at them. They would endure.
By the time they were to leave the planet more than a month later, they were almost too sore to walk from everything he had put them through. They were in pain, on little food and water, and hadn't even been allowed to bandage the open wounds he had left. Wanted the message to sink in or something.
Their master apparently spent a long time on Tatooine each year, having a lot of business there. And after close to two months, he was satisfied by their progress in their new duties that did include doing other slave things than what they were primarily for when he didn't want them. Quinlan's main duty though was to check for ill feelings in anything brought in from outside the house. Make sure it wasn't supposed to harm the master.
He sent the other slaves ahead to the ship but made sure to escort Quinlan and Obi-Wan himself. He didn't trust them yet. For good reason, they had tried to escape the night before (their fourth attempt) and had received the worst beating yet for it. He had them tethered to a lead as he just about dragged them through the city. If they stumbled and fell, they were indeed dragged so they had to somehow find their feet and get up again or they would get new injuries.
They had no time to be observant, or to consider anything but forcing one foot in front of the other.
.
Derry and his group were heading back to their ship. They had completed their bounty hunting and now wanted to go home. Bounty hunting was fine once in a while for some fun, especially since they targeted criminals, but they hated being around slavery and being unable to do a thing about it. Not without putting themselves at risk. They could try to get individual slaves out and that was usually about it.
It was rather unfortunate this hunt had led them to Tatooine. Derry, of Clan Vex, always felt like the lowest scum to ignore those slaves all around them. He also could never take his gloves off at a place like this, because anything handled by a slave showed him their pain and exhaustion, and often enough, worse. With him were his brother Darach, and two others of Clan Vex, Fianna and her sister Laoise.
They were walking through the market when they noticed a Zygerrian dragging two slaves behind him. One with bright ginger hair. The other... Derry's heart stopped when he saw a flash of gold as the slave glanced their way then looked back at the ground. A Kiffar, most likely.
He ignored his brother and cousins to hurry closer to get a better look, his anger rising as he could tell that this was just a kid, maybe sixteen or so. A Kiffar teen, being a slave, that was the one time anyone put themselves at risk. No one wanted to see their fellow Kiffar in chains, let alone one not even an adult yet.
The others caught on to what he had noticed, and then as they were discussing what to do, the Kiffar fell. He turned his face their way, breathing heavily, and then pushed himself up, stumbling along.
Derry turned to Darach. “Please tell me I was seeing things.”
“Can't say you were, brother. He's Clan Vos.”
Derry cursed. “We have to get him out.” Clan Vos was important to Kiffu, and also the most notoriously protective clan of Kiffu. Others were protective, of course, but few could match Clan Vos. Which made it all the more important to get that Kiffar free.
They finalized their plan and hurried after the Zygerrian, waiting until they were in a less crowded place to strike.
Darach and Fianna moved in to distract while Laoise cut the line tethering the kiffar to the Zygerrian. Derry grabbed the teen and pulled him back. The teen panicked, struggling against him.
“I've got you, prince. You're safe with us.”
The prince whipped around to stare at him, but he didn't stop struggling as he quickly turned back to the other slave with him. “I can't leave Obi-Wan.” He continued to fight to get to the other slave.
Derry was a bit surprised. The prince clearly hadn't been in slavery long too long; he didn't quite have the look of someone who was completely starved yet, so there was no reason for him to be so determined to not leave the other behind. They hadn't exactly been planning on not freeing the other slave, as their priority was the prince. With how distressed the prince was about leaving him behind, that was no longer an option.
Derry indicated to Laoise to get the other one, who was looking around frantically for where the prince had gone. He went limp as soon as she picked him up, eyes panicked until he saw the prince. The prince stopped struggling once he saw his friend was safe, and then promptly fell unconscious. The other wasn't far behind.
Derry stared at the two kids, the other one looked even younger than the prince, and they hurried onto their ship. Laoise started it up while Derry situated them on the one bed in the room they used for first aid. He started by cleaning them up carefully, taking stock of which were the worst injuries.
By the time Darach and Fianna had joined him, he had started the two on an IV for hydration and nutrients both. That was clearly a factor in why they had collapsed. He was not happy that he ended up completely stripping them in order to access all of their wounds. He did not like violating anyone's privacy like that, especially when they were unconscious.
Fianna got the collars and cuffs off of them while Darach stared at something they had gotten off of the Zygerrian.
Later Derry would find out the Zygerrian had pulled lightsabers on Darach but had no clue how to use them and so was easily disarmed. For now, he was too focused on first aid for the kids to notice let alone ask.
They couldn't treat everything, and there were a few worrisome injuries; some infected, some just rather nasty. The teens stayed unconscious the entire days long trip back to Kiffu, which was even more concerning, even if it was a good thing they didn't wake in a panic on a ship.
Finally though, they were landing on Kiffu.
“We need a medical team,” Derry told said to the person who cleared them to land. “We picked up two teens on Tatooine, they've been unconscious since. One, a Kiffar of Clan Vos, and the other possibly Stewjoni. They were slaves.”
“Understood. We'll have a team sent at once.”
Derry sighed in relief. He hoped they would be okay, that was a horrible ordeal, and horrible injuries that would probably scar at this point. But at least they were safe now.