Chapter 4: The Sorting

"A child stolen is a hope lost."

The grip on the front of Ahsoka's dress was unyielding as the Pyke guard shamelessly dragged her deeper into Kessel's heart of darkness. The air grew thicker, heavy with spice dust that coated her throat and made her eyes water. The narrow canyon walls gave way to vast, cavernous pits where lean figures in rags swung pickaxes at glowing veins of crimson rock. The rhythmic clang of metal on stone was a relentless, mechanical heartbeat for the entire operation.

They passed another section where Wookiees and other large, powerful species grunted under the weight of enormous coaxium tubes. Ahsoka eyed the faint, pulsating light from the canisters, a knot of unease tightening in her gut. She knew the radiation from those volatile fuel canisters was a slow, silent killer. Did they?

Her guard shoved her into a wide, cavernous chamber that served as a processing center. A handful of other new captives stumbled in behind her. Ahsoka's eyes darted over them, taking in the mix of species. There was a young, green-skinned Twi'lek man, his lekku trembling with fear, and a hulking Gamorrean female who snorted defiantly, though her eyes betrayed her terror. Closest to Ahsoka was a human woman, perhaps in her forties, with strikingly beautiful features and a muscular figure that even her grimy rags couldn't hide. Her face was a mask of grim determination.

"Line up! Against the wall! Move!" a Pyke commander barked, his voice like grinding stone.

They were herded into a narrow chamber, its walls humming with energy. "Contraband scan," the commander stated flatly. "Anything hidden will be found. The penalty is severe."

A piercing alarm shrieked, and two red lights locked onto the Twi'lek man and the human woman. Guards descended on them instantly. "You two! Against the wall!"

Before they could react, their clothes were ripped away, leaving them starkly exposed. The woman gasped, her arms flying up to cover herself as she was shoved face-first against the cold metal. The young man let out a choked cry of outrage. Ahsoka watched, frozen, as the guards conducted a thourough, invasive search. The woman's whimpers of humiliation were the only sound in the silent chamber.

"Found it," one guard grunted, holding up a crudely fashioned shiv taken from the man's discarded clothes. Another guard produced a sharp metal haircomb from between the woman's large, curvaceous breasts.

The commander nodded. "Lesson time."

Both were forced to bend over, naked, exposing their backsides, legs apart. The sharp crack of leather against flesh echoed twice. The man grunted in pain, but the woman's scream was sensual and piercing. Ahsoka flinched with each strike, her stomach churning. This was a message, meant for all of them.

Tears streaming down her face, the woman was handed a scrap of cloth to tie around her waist. The twi'lek male received a similar loincloth. The woman timidly asked for her old dress back since nothing was hidden it in. The guard laughed, a grin spreading across his face. "No but you hid contrband here," he said, giving her breast a generous squeeze. "We will make sure nothing else is hidden here... ever."

They were shoved back into the line, their heads bowed in utter defeat.

Ahsoka let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. A wave of profound gratitude washed over her. Her lightsabers. Safe on Hondo's ship. She prayed the pirate wouldn't pawn them. For a moment, she pictured herself in the woman's place, stripped and exposed before these leering creatures. The Jedi Code demanded chastity, but this was something else entirely—a humiliation so complete it made her soul ache. The thought of anyone, let alone these brutes, seeing her naked body sent a tremor of unwanted arousal through her.

"Move!" a guard shouted, breaking her reverie.

They were herded back out, deeper into the mines. "You work until you drop," a Pyke lectured, his voice flat and dead. "You do not speak unless spoken to. You do not look a guard in the eye. You do not run. The perimeter is your world. Step outside it, and you will die."

As if on cue, a slave from a nearby work gang suddenly broke away, sprinting with desperate hope toward a distant passage. He vanished around a corner. A moment later, a muffled, wet BOOM echoed from that direction, followed by silence. The guard who had been speaking didn't even flinch.

"Oh yes," he said casually. "That includes explosive collars. Try to remove them, or leave your designated area, and you'll lose more than your head."

The line of new slaves trembled as one. They were finally funneled into a large, sterile room where a Pyke overseer stood at a console, sorting them. A family stood before him: a human father and his two daughters. The father watched, helpless, as each was fitted with a new, gleaming slave collar.

""You," the overseer said, pointing at the father. "Coaxium mines. The radiation will finish you in a year, if the cave-ins don't first." He then gestured to the younger daughter. "You. Spice processing. The dust will rot your lungs from the inside out."

His gaze fell upon the older daughter, a girl who looked to be at least Ahsoka's age. She was pretty, with wide, frightened eyes. "You. Step forward."

The girl moved timidly, clutching her father's hand. "No," he whispered, but two guards grabbed her, tearing away her dress in a single, brutal motion. She cried out, trying to cover herself as her arms were wrenched out to her sides. The overseer walked around her, his eyes appraising her naked form. The gaze of nearly everyone in the room rested for a moment on her on her perfectly rounded bottom and puffy pink nipples. The overseer next down and briefly parted the soft untrimmed patch of hair between her legs. Ahsoka felt sick as the girl let out an embarassed squeal.

"Healthy. Untouched." the overseer declared. "You'll be sent to the Pyke pleasure palace on Oba Diah."

"NO!" The father broke, lunging forward and wrapping his arms around his naked, sobbing daughter. For a moment, they were just one, clinging to each other one last time.

Then the guards pulled them apart. It was a brief tug-of-war with the naked, squealing girl as the prize. The father's collar was activated, and he fell, convulsing. The girl was ripped from his grasp, thrown over a guard's shoulder. She was spanked once by the guard between her thighs to quiet her down, then carried out of the room, her kicks and gasps fading into the distance.

Ahsoka was next. Her heart hammered against her ribs. The same fate? The thought made her want to die. They snapped a new collar around her neck, its cold metal a chilling promise of captivity. A sharp tool cut away the bantha hide collar Hondo had put on her. With it went any illusion of control. She was trapped. Utterly. She cursed Hondo Ohnaka with every fiber of her being, a silent, burning oath.

She stepped forward, her bare legs barely supporting her. The overseer stared at her, his black eyes unreadable. He seemed to recognize something in her posture, in the fire that hadn't yet been extinguished.

"You," he said, his voice cutting through the silence. "Step forward."

The world narrowed to that single command.