But… perhaps I was overreacting? Perhaps something called an extermination factory was… not at all what it sounded like? Maybe they were exterminating disease? Homelessness? Unemployment? Poverty?
"Call your commander," I told no one in particular, my voice icily calm. "I would like to have words with him. But stay here. I will have need of you."
...
A few minutes later, a man with terribly facial hair and wearing the uniform of an imperial army officer walked into the corridor at a brisk pace. I barely paid him any mind, my attention consumed by the people this man had chosen to condemn.
From the neck down, they could have passed as human. From the neck up, the only thing suggesting an alien heritage was a bulbous nose, pointed ears, and a propensity for partial baldness. Also mild facial discoloration, but that might not have been genetic.
Evocii. The most unfortunate race of sapient life in the galaxy.
"Commander Vergost, reporting as requested, my lord," the officer said, snapping off a salute that looked crisp enough to belong on a parade ground. He held it for a few seconds, waiting for me to acknowledge it, as protocol demanded, until I nodded.
"What kind of operation are you running here, Commander?" I asked. The initial burning anger at the situation had worn off. All that was left was cold rage. I already knew what was happening here. I already knew what would happen to him. This was just to know what I had to do next.
"You don't know, my lord?" he asked. "Then why are you-"
"I know what this place is, Commander Vergost," I cut him off. "I want to know what you are doing here."
"It… it's an extermination factory," he said. "We're rounding up these vermin and disposing of them, trying to find the most efficient agent to do so before unleashing it on Nar Shaddaa."
"I see," I lied. "Might I know why?"
"Beyond the obvious, my lord?" he asked. The officer did not wait for me to answer before continuing. "The Hutts find their presence almost as offense as I do. They offered an alliance in exchange for their extermination."
Of course. The Hutts. Who else but the Hutts? It was fortunate I did not have the time to salt the slug squad, but their time would come.
"I see." That time, I spoke the truth.
Without another word, the locks on the cells clicked open in unison. Doors slid to the side, letting the trapped Evocii spill out. Already, I could see the troops bring their weapons to bear for reasons I had no desire to experience.
A heartbeat later, the imperial soldiers and officers I had collected were thrown back, pinned to the cell walls. The blasters they had carried spilled from the hands of some of them. The rest I tore from their grasps with the Force. Blaster pistols joined the pile on the floor, tugged from holsters with a bit more care. Commander Vergost, meanwhile, remained standing on his feet, confusion writ clear on his face.
"But- my lord… I don't-" he stammered before I interrupted him.
"This operation disgusts me, commander," I said.
"My lord, this operation has been sanctioned by the Dark Council, everything here is perfectly legal…" he managed to say. The man swallowed nervously before continuing. "Please allow me to explain. Just- there is no need for executions."
"Executions…" I mused. "You know, commander, I've gotten a lot of people killed. Directly and indirectly. But never have I personally taken a sapient life. Honestly, I have no desire for you to be the first."
"Well… that's very good to-"
"These Evocii, however, are another story," I said, gesturing to the now-freed prisoners. A decent number of them just stood there, fear writ clear on their faces. Some of them, however, reacted more viscerally. Their anger and hatred at the people who had subjected them to this fate was obvious. "And there are an awful lot of spare blasters just lying around here."
The commander drew his blaster pistol. Whether he had decided to go down in a blaze of 'glory', taking down just a few more abused aliens he had planned to have murdered, or had merely been hoping for one last display of defiance was beyond me. With the ease of a worrying amount of practice, I compressed the magazine on the blaster pistol to its failure point.
A ball of flame erupted around the officer's right hand. No doubt it would have grown to spread out around his entire arm, had I not intervened. The flames were sucked away before they had the time to grow much, gathering behind my head and sustained through the force of my will.
Despite my efforts, however, the cuff of the commander's sleeve was gone, reduced to charred embers that tried to sneak up his arm and spread to the rest of him. The blaster pistol had been ruined, reduced to a melted mass of plastoid and various metals.
That was when the finality of the situation sank in for the commander.
"I will have none of your kind in my Empire, Commander Vergost," I announced, walking towards the exit, and speaking loudly to ensure everyone there heard me. "My Evocii friends... I will be outside, should you need me. No doubt you wish to return home."
Assuming their homes still existed.
This Empire really was the worst.
Naturally, that was when my commlink chimed.
I couldn't get a single moment to myself, could I?
...
You would think getting a call telling you that there were notables from a rival galactic power who were looking for you would have been the most pressing concern at the time. A reasonable assumption, I will admit. Unfortunately, this was not a reasonable galaxy.
"Lord Sith, my associates and I are beginning to have some reservations about our little arrangement."
I turned from the important business of overseeing the tail end of my little rescue operation of the Evocii that had been marked for extermination. The very thought still made my blood boil and conjured images of overcrowded railway cars, of brick arches with contemptible slogans that claimed work would set you free. Of piles of skin-and-bone corpses, barely clad in striped rags.
The ones I had saved were a little better off, thank God; these had not been confined for years at a time and slowly starved to death. Most of them still huddled in groups, crying with joy and embracing each other in a subdued celebration of having escaped certain death. But a few did not share in this; A few clutched the blaster rifles and pistols they had used to exact their vengeance upon the imperials who had subjected them to such trials.
In their narrow faces, many of their eyes stared ahead vacantly. But one or two burned with determination. Good; The galaxy needed people like that.
Of course, not all was well in paradise; The Boss Kajain'sa had taken exception to my using his territory to house a few hundred or thousands of refugees.
"What appears to be the problem?" I asked, sparing a few seconds of my attention to turn toward the Nikto in charge. The remaining gangsters could be trusted to distribute blankets, food, and water without my direct supervision for a little while longer.
"My associates and I are of the opinion that you are turning our business relationship into something… more," the middle-aged Nikto gangster said. Though he was trying to convince a Sith Lord to step back from his involvement in the criminal underworld, there was not a single sign of nervousness in his leathery reddish-brown skin. "They are rather protective of their independence."
"Rest assured, they have nothing to fear from me," I said as gently as I could manage. "I will be out of their hair in a few days and a new shipment of raw materials from Taris should be here to earn them a tidy little profit."
"Lord Sith, this is about your callous disregard for the boundaries between the brotherhood of the Nikto on Nar Shaddaa and the Sith Lord who occasionally does business with them," he stated, rather emphatically, earning a sigh from me in response. That he was talking to me at all instead of bringing in a wall of blasters to tell me off was a good sign, all things considered. That he had come to me to talk without bodyguards was an even better sign. "They have no desire to become subservient."
Who was I to so disregard those signs?
"Is my word not good enough?" I asked. "Or do your associates want something?"
"An apology for overstepping your boundaries," he offered, and I could feel my sphincter clench instinctively. An apology cost me nothing, true enough, but that was only when it was offered without prompting. If I apologized, it was because I wanted to, not because I was ordered to; Being ordered to apologize was as good as admitting to being the weaker partner. They were telling me to know my place, and that was simply unacceptable.
Fortunately, I was willing to negotiate.
"They can have credits," I said, the words coming out just a bit harsher than intended as the bugs on my chest and shoulder gave an erratic twitch. "And the freedom to interpret that gift as they see fit."
"An apology tends to take that form, Lord Sith," the crime lord said. "Though it usually accompanies a lengthy verbal apology."
"They can have credits," I repeated. "If they would like to renegotiate their share of the revenue from the imports I funnel through them, they are welcome to do so."
"A good start," he allowed. "They may request more."
"Then speak with your associates and come up with a counteroffer," I said, trying to keep the exasperation out of my voice. By then, the gangsters had just about finished distributing the aid to the rescued Evocii. "If you cannot formulate one before I leave, please recall that you have my holo-frequency."
"In time?" he asked. "You intend to leave soon?"
"While I was away, I was contacted by a group of Jedi who are interested in meeting me," I revealed. When I had told the Little Jedi to do whatever she needed to do on her end, I had not expected her to give my contact information to the Jedi hunting down Darth Angral, but she did have a unique sense of humor. "Here, as it turns out. If the meeting turns out well, I hope to leave with them."
"That would slow down negotiations," the Nikto pointed out. "Even if we could reach you at all hours."
"Correct," I observed. "Though it would mean every offer and counteroffer would need to be considered all the more closely."
"Which would work out in your favor," he countered.
"Also correct." All around us, the gangsters were still hanging around the warehouse. Sure, there were other things they could be doing, like indulging in all the vices credits could buy, but one of their bosses was here. Sticking around meant showing their support for him, especially when there was an outsider around.
"But if you intend to twist my arm, I suppose I can make our further cooperation more… immediately profitable for you and your associates."
The older Nikto nodded his assent.
...
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