Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and the main plot is the property of Dark Horse Comics and George Lucas.

AN: Enjoy!

Slaves of the Republic

Yes of course. That's just fascinating." Said Anakin, in reply to something that Queen Miraj Scintel had just said. Miraj gushed again and continued on with some story about her vacation to Rhodia. Anakin's eyelids started to droop. This is gonna be so easy… Anakin thought. Miraj clearly didn't suspect a thing and it didn't seem like she was going to start anytime soon. It was actually pretty entertaining watching Miraj fall all over him while not noticing any of the sarcasm in his responses.

"-and I was wearing this absolutely gorgeous new frock that matched the sky perfectly!" continued Miraj.

"I'm sure you looked absolutely lovely." Replied Anakin, barely keeping from gagging. The queen beamed and continued describing in detail the exact shade of the dress she was wearing. Sitting on the ground behind Miraj's throne, Anakin could see Ashoka concealing a huge smirk and shaking from silent laughter at Miraj's obliviousness. With a quick wink at Ashoka, Anakin continued on with the careful flattery.

"Of course, I would have expected nothing else from someone with outstanding beauty such as yourself."

"Oh Lars! You're just too kind!" screeched Miraj, indiscreetly patting some of Anakin's hair out of his face. Suddenly, a blaring horn sounded out across the stadium, making a deafening sound. Thunderous applause followed as Miraj's private ambassador, Tork, stepped onto the podium.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I would like to welcome you all to Queen Miraj Scintel's annual Zyggerian Slave Trade! Some lovely specimens will be on display today and I would like to remind everyone to have fun and to feel free to browse!" exclaimed Tork, into the microphone. With that, the horns started blaring another song as slaves were paraded up and down the stadium, with Tork announcing each and every one's age and physical ability.

Anakin could see that Miraj and her guards were all distracted by the show of slaves. He gave a nod to Ashoka who immediately unlocked her binders and started looking for the emergency lockdown switch. Suddenly, a glare of sunlight revealed something metal next to a curtain on the far side of the balcony. It was the switch. Anakin caught Ahsoka's eye and gestured towards the lever, all the while keeping an eye on Miraj and the guards to make sure that none of them noticed anything.

Ashoka was creeping towards the switch. She was just about to pull it down when suddenly, Tork came onto the viewing balcony, a hurried expression on his face. Ahsoka quickly sat down next to the lever, pretending to not be doing anything as Tork came up to Miraj and whispered in her ear. The crowd's cheers drowned out Tork's words as Anakin strained to hear. Suddenly, Miraj stood up, looking quite smug about something, and walked over to the microphone.

"Well, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt this exciting event, but it appears we have some special guests with us today! May I present…" At this point, the stadium doors were opening again, letting in another bright glare of light. Many figures were being led into the stadium and Anakin, although not being able to see the identity of the people, felt a swooping sensation in his mind. A disturbance in the force. Miraj continued on with her announcement, in a nasty voice, "… Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi and some clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic! Let us give them a warm welcome!"

Anakin's eyes widened in shock and his jaw dropped. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ahsoka wearing a similar expression. Well… this wasn't part of the plan… he thought. Down in the stadium, he could now see Obi Wan, Rex, and some other clones being dragged into the center of the arena by at least a whole battalion of droids, all wearing chains and looking as if they've just been through a huge battle. Anakin gestured his disbelief to Kenobi, who in return caught Anakin's eye and shrugged, like he wasn't really sure how he ended up there.

"Well Jedi, it is such a pleasure to have you here with us today! Your participation in this slave trade will prove the point that it is possible to enslave any being, even a Jedi!" Miraj exclaimed, smirking as the whole stadium erupted into cheers from the watching crowd.

"Oh, I assure you, Your Grace, that is certainly not my plan. Now I must demand that you submit to Republic law and release us immediately." Said Obi Wan, still calm no matter the situation. Miraj smiled wickedly at his words.

"I don't think so my dear Kenobi. In fact, your request is just downright insulting. We Zyggerians are not part of your precious Republic, nor do we ever plan on being. I believe such a request deserves punishment," At this, Miraj turned to Anakin, who was still a bit in shock of the whole situation. "Lars darling, would you mind teaching our guests a lesson they will never forget? And here, take this electro- whip." Anakin was frozen. If he refused to do so, he would certainly blow their cover. But then… it wasn't like he could do what she was suggesting either. His mind set, Anakin took the electro-whip from Miraj's hand. He looked over to his shoulder to Ahsoka and R2 and nodded. It was time to introduce himself.

"Sorry, but I have a strict policy about not harming the innocent." And with that, he discarded the electro-whip and flipped off the balcony to screams from the audience. With a popping sound, R2 launched his lightsaber down after him. He saw his lightsaber, along with Ahsoka and R2, in a free fall after him. He used the force to draw his lightsaber towards his open hand and ignited the blade as he landed gracefully onto the ground." And by the way Miraj… I really didn't care what color matches your skin tone the best."

Anakin saw, to his great satisfaction, that Miraj was gaping at him in complete disbelief, her eyes seeming to pop out of her skull. He could hear her, still speaking into the microphone, mumble something along the lines of, "What? But… but… JEDI?" as he sprinted along to Obi Wan, deflecting blaster fire coming from the battle droids.

Well… he thought, Might as well take out the clankers as I go! With that, Anakin started slicing down every battle droid he could lay his hands on. Ahsoka rushed forward to cut Obi Wan and the clones free, and they immediately joined the fight. By the time the Zygerrian guards and slave traders had time to react, only a dozen battle droids were left out of the whole battalion, a third of which Anakin had destroyed single- handedly.

When the slave traders had actually gotten onto the arena however, the group immediately slowed down, the Jedi in particular. It was against the Jedi Code to kill any living creature if they could help it. Plus, they were greatly outnumbered once again and the half of the clones had been wiped out by the battle droids. Obi Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, and the remaining clones backed into a circle near the center of the stadium. Obi Wan, catching Anakin's eye, whispered "Get the Queen. With her as a hostage, they will call off the attack and no unnecessary killing will have to take place here."

Anakin, although more than willing to eliminate the slave traders, nodded and immediately force jumped into the air and into the crowd. Chaos ensued as every slave trader, and there were at least 300, tried to land their whips on him. Anakin attempted to slice the ends of the torture weapons off, but for every whip he destroyed, there were about 30 more raining down on him. He continued to run through the crowd, although he was making less and less progress through the barrage of weapons that were being aimed at him.

Behind him, he saw that Ahsoka and the rest of them had been brought down, stunned into submission by the electric whips. Now, every single person in the stadium was attacking him and he felt a rush of panic, the feeling that this wasn't going to end well. He was so busy deflecting the whips in front of him and worrying about the others, who he saw fall out of the corner of his eye, that he momentarily forgot to watch his back. Unluckily for Anakin, that was exactly the moment the slave traders needed.

He felt a painful stunning sensation go through his body and cringed at the contact. He sliced his lightsaber through the head of the alien slave trader who had struck him, only to see about a hundred blaster bolts and whips raining onto him. It was impossible, even for a Jedi, to block all of them. Knowing that this wasn't going to end well, Anakin deflected and dodged the blaster bolts and ignored the stinging whips. He knew the bolts were more of the problem here, considering they were fatal.

He pushed on through the crowd, force jumping to make more progress and block shots. Despite his efforts, he could feel the burning sensation of the electro-whips increasing, more and more making contact with his skin. He visibly slowed down as his vision became to blur and his capturers took note of this. With ecstatic screams, they pursued him across the stadium with renewed energy.

Panting hard, Anakin felt through the Force that he wasn't going to make it to the Queen. He could see Miraj's smug expression through his barely opened eyes as he fell to his knees then collapsed completely onto the sandy floor, his lightsaber rolling out of his hand. Everything went dark.

AN: And the action finally starts! This is, however, as far as the document I've found on my computer goes. I never finished this story but I will continue if my readers would like it. There is a poll on my profile, or you can leave a review. Comments/suggestions are also welcome! I realize that this is a bit of a cliffhanger so I will be writing at least another chapter.

'Till Next Time!

Sol Oriens