DISCLAIMER: Based on characters and situations created by George Lucas. All characters (sans those of authorâs creation) belong to George Lucas and Lucasfilm, Ltd. and I make no financial gains whatsoever by the work presented here.
Lylla sat at her small table, completely nude, mindlessly pushing the cred chips around on the slick surface. Twenty five hundred credits, that was all she needed. Just twenty five hundred more to meet her buyout price of ten thousand credits. Then she would be free.
Her short-lived optimism suddenly burned away like a lit match. She slapped herself in the forehead and clenched her teeth. Twenty-five hundredâŚmay as well be in the millions. How long had it taken her to accumulate what she had already? Five years? The following week would mark the beginning of her thirty-first year aliveâŚhow long could she hold herself together like this? When will the small lines start forming on her face, around her eyes? When will those parts of her still firm body begin to soften and sag? How long could she still successfully turn the trick before becoming a useless, aging joke on board the Death Star? Like she wasnât one alreadyâŚ
In a small fit of fury and despair, Lylla swiped her arm across the table top, sending the little cred chips flying in all directions in her quarters. She shook as she intensely forced her tears back, berating herself for this weakness. Stop it, stop it, you weak little fool! Get a hold of yourselfâstop acting like a pathetic little WOMANâŚ
The money would come, one way or another. Fifty creds here, a hundred there in the form of tips and small gifts bestowed by DS officersâŚit would come. She smiled bitterly as she glanced about her tiny quarters. She was already more fortunate than the other pleasure slaves onboard. She was the only one with her own living space, cramped as it was. Her room even had a window, be it a small one. She had her own berth and her own table and chair. She still had to share the fresher with the other slaves, but this was a minor annoyance in light of everything else she had.
No, she would find a way outâŚ
Her thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of the comlink. Irritably, she hit the speaker button. âYes?â
The harem matronâs voice crackled over the speaker. âLylla, youâve been called for.â
Lylla stretched in her chair, pulling her arms and legs to their fullest length. âMmmâŚwho is it now? Tarkin? Tagge? Motti? Gods, I hope itâs not Motti, that freakâŚâ The comlink remained quiet for a moment. Lylla huffed, âWell, who is it?â
âItâsâŚumâŚâ The matron cleared her throat before she could spit out the name. âItâs Lord Vader, Lylla.â
Lyllaâs chair practically flew across the room as she leapt up, threw her arms over her head, and let out an elated screech that bounced off the ceiling and almost shattered the matronâs eardrums. The matron obviously took Lyllaâs screams to be those of terror, for she piped, âLyllaâŚI can make some sort of excuse for you if youâre afraid. I can perhaps tell Lord Vader you are in the infirmary or somethingââ
âAre you crazy?â Lylla barked into the mic. âDo you know how long I have worked for thisâbeen waiting for this? Inform Lord Vader I will be there in a half-hour.â She slapped the comlink off and skipped toward the small wardrobe, passing the slim full-length mirror hanging on the wall. Stopping, she gazed at her nakedness, running a hand over her torso and lightly caressing her breast, all the while smiling. âPlay your cards right, Lylla,â she murmured as she intensely glared into her own eyes.
She pulled a garment and pair of boots from the wardrobe and began to dress. She slid her arms into the tight sleeves of the black garment and fastened the front across her breasts and ribs. She donned a pair of black vinyl briefs cut low in the front and high up the hips and back with fasteners on either side. Finally, she pulled on the thigh-high black vinyl boots, clipping them to the garters that hung from the briefs.
She stood, nimbly balancing herself on the thin and impossibly high heels of the boots, and admired herself in the mirror. The top garment fit snugly around her form and heaved her breasts up and out of the neckline while exposing her tight midriff. A long two-meter train of black silk spilled from the back of the top garment and pooled around her feet. The high boots and skimpy briefs made her already long legs look even longer, and the heels made her almost as tall as Vader himself. She had sacrificed a good sum of her buyout money for this outfit, but she now saw it was well worth it. She ran her hands through her short scarlet hair and moaned as she found herself aroused by her own image.
Executing a neat pirouette on her heel, she moved toward a small drawer in the wardrobe. Opening it, she pulled out one of the many hand-rolled glimmer-spice joints there and placed it between her lips. She was about to light it with her tiny laser-lighter when she stopped. She withdrew the joint from her lips and stared at it for a moment before putting it back into the drawer. âNo, not this time,â she whispered to herself, âThis time, you go sober.â
She exited her private quarters into the main harem chamber. Several girls, human and alien, were lounging or sitting on their berths and whispering nervously amongst themselves until they saw the Amazon-like red-haired pleasure slave enter the room. Lylla narrowed her black eyes and smiled a tight smile at their sudden stillness. They had obviously heard the news of her newest client.
She raised an eyebrow at the girls. âWhat?â
A young, lavender-skinned Twiâlek girl gawked at Lylla with huge eyes. âYouâre actually going, Lylla? To Lord Vader?â she asked in heavily accented basic.
âOf course I am, donât be stupid. What, Iâm going to say no?â
âLylla,â a petite brown-haired human girl whispered tightly, âYouâre crazy.â
Lylla threw back her head and laughed heartily at the comment. âI may well be,â she said as she sauntered toward the younger slave. Her smile dissolved instantly as her hand shot forward and painfully pinched the girlâs chin. âBut letâs see how crazy I am when youâre still rotting here and Iâm NOT!â She jerked her hand away from the girlâs face and strode through the chamber door.
Her heels clicked noisily against the durasteel floors of the corridor as she proudly strode toward Vaderâs private chambers. She could feel the gawks and stares of Imperial officers and stormtroopers grope over her lithe form like invisible, salacious fingersâbut instead of lustfully returning their stares as she normally would, she kept her head held high and her gaze focused ahead. She couldnât be bothered with these âpeonsâ at the moment. Her services had been requested by the most powerful and feared entity of the entire galaxy. With the train of her garment billowing behind her and anticipation flooding through her veins, Lylla felt and moved like dark royalty.
She never hesitated for a second when the door to Vaderâs chambers slid open upon her approach. With a final toss of her bobbed tresses, she confidently stepped through into the awaiting antechamber.
The first thing Lylla noticed was that Vaderâs quarters were unlike any other officerâs on the Death Star. She found herself standing in a dimly lit octagon-shaped foyer with seamless walls of black marble. The walls were carved in a form of writing she had never seen before. Staring at the writing, she could swear that it was pulsating, moving, shifting slightly before her eyes. She blinked hard a few times to focus her eyes, suddenly remembering that she was completely sober and that she was not hallucinating this phenomenon. She walked slowly toward one of the walls, reaching out toward one of the symbols to see if would still move under her touchâŚ
*Unless you wish to experience severe seizures and possible death, I suggest you do not touch any symbols of Sithskrit.*
Lyllaâs hand froze just centimeters shy of the wall, and she glanced around the chamber, trying to decipher where the rumbling voice had come from. As it spoke again, she came to realize it was generating from her own head.
*You are punctual. That pleases me. You may enter.*
The wall in front her smoothly and silently lifted from the floor. Lylla showed no sign of surprise or fear, but calmly waited for the wall to rise high enough for her to step through into the adjoining chamber.