So on sunday,  april 12th-2009; emergenza is hosting this bandbattle semifinal in this place called P60, in Amstelveen (pretty near  from Amsterdam). And this great band, Black Apple, is going to participate; so they need your vote.

So this is the way of the #1 fan, photographer, friend, etc to support them, since I can’t be there. It sucks though ’cause I love seeing them live, especially my boyfriend playing the guitar.

Anyway, this is the flier for the bandbattle and stuff to support Black Apple (and of course I made it). So if you live in Holland, you should totally go and vote. They’re great, trust me.

[Oh, go check their myspace out!!]

During the time I stayed there, my suspicions were asured. I felt like even though I was 10,000 km away from my apartment, I was finally home. I feel I’ve met him my whole life, I really do. Being with him really feels like being in the place I belong to, it does feel like home. And thus, being an ocean apart is like being away from home, it also makes me homesick.

February 14th has gone by, and I feel like I might go insane. Getting back to where I want to be is not easy and won’t be quick. My better half is missing and my bed feels cold and empty. Some more art, for the hurt soul…

What’s next? Well, i can tell you that it’s not lack of love what hasn’t brought us together, but excess of rules. It is not easy to move in together, requires time, money we don’t have, language learning and following lots of goverment regulations. There’s been wonderful people that has tried to help us and we are really thankful for those souls. Why is it so difficult to go and be with the one we love? Why do they make it so hard for us? We do not know. But we do hope we can sort things out before we both go insane. You know? It is not easy to find the one, especially if that person lives across the Atlantic. It is also very hard to live like this.

Sometimes I crack and I can’t help when depression takes over. But I am fighting for what I want: the man of my dreams, the love of my life. I wish there could be an easier way, but there isn’t. And the thing is that it’s already hard to breathe, it hurts.

Do you want to help? You can. We’re starting this “saving box” [sort to speak]. In which anyone interested in helping this love story could actually help. This basically consists on donating money to our paypal account. It doesn’t have no be much as for one cent you can donate is one more cent we don’t have, a cent we could use, and a cent we will be very grateful for.

“A love like that deserves a break”

-A friend.

Without you, the ground thaws, the rain falls, the grass grows.
Without you, the seeds root, the flowers bloom, the children play.
The stars gleam, the poets dream, the eagles fly, without you.
The earth turns, the sun burns, but I die, without you.
Without you, the breeze warms, the girl smiles, the cloud moves.
Without you, the tides change, the boys run, the oceans crash.
The crowds roar, the days soar, the babies cry, without you.
The moon glows, the river flows, but I die, without you.
The world revives. Colors renew.
But I know blue, only blue, lonely blue, within me blue.
Without you, the hand gropes, the ear hears, the pulse beats.
Without you, the eyes gaze, the legs walk, the lungs breathe.
The mind churns!  The heart yearns!
The tears dry, without you.
Life goes on, but I’m gone.
Cause I die, without you.

There was something I used to call life before I met you, but the truth is I’ve never felt more alive than now. ‘Cause you bring magic into my life, you make me so friggin’ happy. I don’t remember what life used to be without you  and I certainly don’t want to try it. I love you monster! <3

Not to long ago I was at this lecture in school, and the guy was talking about parasites and the diseases they caused in the human being, and of course, what was the best treatment to follow.

What I really liked about the lecture was that the guy wasn’t boring at all. When really the topic could have been. He made lots of jokes and stuff and we kept laughing through the whole lecture.

One of the parasites he talked about was the Schistosoma. I remember he telling the whole med-student community over the microphone:

“Telling someone you love him or her (’cause in these days one doesn’t know anymore) that you love him OR her like a Schistosoma is saying everything.
*stupid faces of all the students that didn’t get it, including me*
Yes, really. There’s the male, large and thick, curvey and right in the middle he’s flat. And then there’s the female, shorter and thin. So the female gets in the flat part of the male where they live hugging and copulating happily ever after. So you see, when you say someone you love him or her like a Schistosoma you are saying everything. There’s no bigger love or no bigger way to express how much you’d like to spend all your time with someone…
*student’s laughs*
… copulating!!! “

So you see, this is me being geeky, but above all…  this is me saying everything.

[And btw, if you were curious I was making this up:]

This is a very old picture of my very dear friend, David and me, of course. ‘Cause we are muffins twins. There was a time in which we were thinking the same thing and finishing eachother sentences. Time has gone by, but David still has a very special spot in my heart. To one of my bestfriends:

This one next was made a couple of weeks ago or something around that time, ’cause you know there’s this guy and he kinda owns my heart. <3

And last, but not least, the new wallpaper. Love doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about my boyfriend, there are no words to describe it exactly how it is. All I can say is baby… I love you.

And if alrightI’ll lie awake at night pretending i’m curled up at your side.

—————————————

An R2 unit was beeping trying to communicate with it’s owner.

“I know, it’s late again, I am late again; hurry up Artoo!!” Said a young girl who was standing in her own hangar bay, trying to choose which of her vehicles to fly to the Academy. The thirteen-year-old, who was wearing the brown jacket with the Galactic Empire crest that her stepfather gave her a long time ago, jumped in the purple QH-7 LAVr Chariot to her right and the astronomech joined her. They took off and within minutes, they reached the Academy.

Once in her classroom, Drael didn’t notice that someone was talking to her. She secretly found the Academy’s fake gardens way more interesting than a class about something she already knew. The girl kept looking through the window, the sunlight combined with her dark hair made her purple highlights even brighter than usual. The marvels of the gardens surrounding the Academy reflected in her big green eyes. A boy sitting next to her nudged her so she could wake up and pay attention. The girl shook her head and turned around to face the Imperial Officer that was trying to teach and who had just asked her a question.

“Huh?” Drael tried to remember what he just asked but at the time he asked his question, she was too busy to pay attention; she then looked to the holoblackboard and saw the image of the YT-1210 and looked back at him. “Chuba” [Damnit] She said in Huttese.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing, I meant to say..the YT-1210, well…” Drael sat straight, still making eye-contact “of course, there’s the fact that it has a hyperspeed of six, nice heavy lasers and it takes 6 passengers per raid. But to tell the truth, I don’t think that’s a pretty ship, I really prefer the YT-2000, which by the way, has a hyperspeed of seven and it’s a way better ship.” The last words came out of her mouth with a slight chuckle. “Am I right?”

Everyone around laughed. Drael was popular in her class because she was one of the most intelligent students in it. Every Imperial Officer that met her was very impressed by her skills. After all, it wasn’t very often that you meet a student who had such retention skills, who was the best pilot of her class with amazing reflexes, and who also drew good designs of droids, ships, guns, or any technological thing in which the Empire was interested. She also used to go to play her favorite instrument, the mandoviol, between classes. Thus, she was pinned as a born leader, and a human who would have a bright future within the Galactic Empire. Strangely enough, Drael never got close to anyone, unless it was a droid named Artoo.

After getting out of the Academy, she flew to the place she was supposed to meet her stepparents for dinner. “Waiter, bring me some more Coruscant Blush. So, I heard you were causing trouble at the Academy again, kid.” It was late, like every night, Oonai Rak Sha and his family were having dinner at the Manarai. The senator loved having dinner at the most famous and exclusive restaurant on all of Coruscant with the very best chefs in the Galaxy providing the finest cuisine; besides,  it was the only time they spent together as a family.

“Karking d’emperiolo koochoo,” [F&%kin imperial idiot] Drael said after she swallowed the Kashyyyk land shrimp she was eating.

“He also mentioned you spoke Huttese in class again. I told you, Basic is the only language you should be speaking, darling. So please, abstain from speaking that dirty language at this table or anywhere else for that matter.”

Drael nodded to the senator, “but it was not my fault, father; he’s always picking on me because you are a senator and he is still a teacher.”

Senator Rak Sha smiled kindly at her after sipping his drink. “I know. Kadlu can’t forget the old times when I defeated his theory before the Emperor himself. He had rebel ideas and he didn’t realize how stupid that was. The Galactic Empire is the only answer to the problems in the galaxy. We humans, have the duty to rule it, and it’s also our right fas we’re the most intelligent race around. And don’t even get me started on the rebels, that alliance will end soon; they are nothing but scum. The Emperor is so unpleased with what has been going on. Imperial intelligence says..” He had started, yet again, to talk about his political views, and about how the Empire should get rid of the rebels. Drael, however didn’t share this point of view, politics was the least of the issues she had on her mind. And while her stepfather kept going on, she just turned her head around to stare at the view of the Manarai Mountains, the only place where natural terrain was actually visible on the entire planet, through the glass.

“I can’t keep doing this, Artoo,” Drael said sighing while she was lying on the grass, staring at Coruscant’s four moons. Like every night, right after dinner, she escaped, evaded the Imperial Guards who were guarding the Manarai Mountains, thanks to them being in the proximity of the Imperial Palace, and found her usual spot. The droid beeped. “I know my father is not a bad person after all, but sometimes, his ideas are just… I’m so tired of this life. I know I have everything I ever wanted and everything I would ever want here. But the truth is this is not my real home, you know? I really want to know who my real mother and father are, where was I born? Where do I come from? Maybe I should leave and start looking for answers.”

The green eyed girl had been very curious and unrested about this issues that had been revolving on her mind. Thus, she visited the old and rusty building that once contained the glass cages in which she was displayed along with more children. But when Drael found it, it was very unused. She was told that the business dissolved and that there was nothing, not even a datacard or any kind of information abour her origins. However, she was told that the ship in which she arrived to Coruscant the day she was adopted came from Agrilat in Corellia. And the thought of leaving Coruscant to follow the traces to her origins was beating in her mind, as if it had a heart of its own.

* * *

“What is this?” Grunted someone nearby in some sort of language that was hard to understand, Anx language. The tied 18-year-old that was lying on the floor in a weird position tried opening her eyes to the sound of the words. Everything was incredible blurry and her eyelids seemed too heavy. Muscles and bones the girl didn’t even know existed were aching in her thin and very fragile looking body. She tried to focus on what was around her. But she could barely distinguish colors. Strangely enough, there was something moving right in front of her face, a tail.

“I told you to bring two twi’leks, not a twi’lek and a human! And not even any twi’lek, the contract specifies the best dancing twi’leks we could find!”  The one with the tail kept talking. Drael tried looking up to see who it was. This action caused her great pain. All she could see was a big red crest that belonged to the same individual, who apparently was very tall. Regardless of the pain, she was determined not to scream. If they would only speak Huttese, then she would understand…

Why was she feeling so weak and lost? Why was she in so much pain? Everytime she tried moving, her body kept aching. “I’m sorry, master.”  Someone else was in the room, and to Drael’s surprise, this one was speaking Basic. “I know what you said. I looked for the best dancers, and then I found these two.” The anx grunted some more before the other continued, “you wont be disappointed, you have to watch them in action, they are great. The act they do together, their dancing is out of this world. It took me a long time to follow them and slide some Neutron Pixie into their system.” He seemed very pleased with what he just expressed.

Neutron Pixie? No doubt that was why Drael felt this way, the powerful spice was everywhere in her body, causing her to be defenseless. The girl finally opened her eyes fully to see who the other drugged sentient was. And then she found her. An orange-like twi’lek was also tied to her lekkus and was laying on the floor next to Drael, she was awake too, but she couldn’t move either. That’s right, two days ago, or so it felt, Drael and her orange friend were in the Nightlands of Ryloth, however, there was a chaos they could not understand, everything else remained blurry. Something must’ve happened, and they must’ve been given that drug, to later be kidnapped and brought into a ship that led to this slave-trader’s haunt.

“Drael…” said the Twi’lek, with a very cold voice, very different from what her voice used to sound. “Don’t talk, Zora, we’ll get out of this, I promise you,” said Drael whispering, her voice more fragile than ever.

“The scum is waking up,” the Anx said in his language and immeditely, Drael heard some footsteps, clearly the other sentient  was approaching her. His voice was loud and the girls noticed the  anger in it. The light iluminated his face, it looked like a reptile. “I told you to keep your mouths shut!” And with those words Drael felt the most terrible pain when the Trandoshan kicked her in the face with all his might. Her lips started bleeding as she screamed, she couldn’t take the pain. After he stopped, he slid some more Neutron Pixie into Drael’s mouth, and then into Zora’s, who was shaking out of fear. Everything went dark…

Someone was crying and wouldn’t stop. “Where am I?” the human girl thought. She opened her eyes slowly. It was a ship, a dark and cold one. Zora was at the end of the room, untied, sitting in a corner and crying. Drael, however was sort of standing, her hands tied to some weird structure that came from the ceiling. “Zora?”  Her voice was disturbing. “Wha– What’s wrong?” Zora was not replying, and the human girl, suddenly remembering what had happened changed her question:  “How long was I out?” “Twenty days– they come every few hours to feed you more of that spice.” The Twi’lek’s hands were shaking.

“Why are you not tied like me? How come…” Drael’s words were interrupted by the sound of footsteps getting closer. “They did… they. They do bad things to me,” Zora said, sobbing. “What things?!” The Trandoshan came into the room and spotted Drael. “Good, you are awake, my master wants to see you”. He began to untie her, “no use to try fighting me, your body’s still weak.” Zora remained there, crying; while Drael was taken to the so called master.

The human girl saw the Anx, right into his eyes. He was 4 meters tall but didn’t seem to be able to see very well. He sniffed the air and walked to the girl who had just been untied and left there. “You smell like fresh meat,” the Anx articulated in Basic with a very peculiar accent and then made a bunch of strange sounds that were not understandable. He approached the human girl slowly, moving his tail side to side. His crest wasn’t red anymore, but he still looked rather impressive. Drael scowled at him, wishing she could get away from that situation with her friend. “Da Da beeska co palyeeya pityee bo tenya go kaka juju hoopa,” [The last fool who called me that got his antennae stuffed down his throat] she said, trying not to sound as fragile as she felt in the situation. But the tall and ugly creature only smirked while he closed the door.

How many days had passed? Drael didn’t know. She didn’t even remember if the pain she felt was caused by the spice or by what was done to her in that room every couple of days. She wasn’t tied anymore, she was sitting in a corner, she had been woken up by Zora’s screams of pain and misery. The screaming stopped and Drael felt something went even more wrong than usual. She got to her feet after several atempts, the green eyes in her emaciated face saw how the trandoshan dumped the lifeless body of her only friend next to the door, everything covered in her blood. She saw how the anx and the trandoshan where laughing at the corpse and she felt a rush of anger coming from her guts, yet she was still very weak and could not do anything. The trandoshan had approached Drael and made her consume some more of the spice, hoping to make her relax and forget what she had just seen. But something was different, instead of feeling weaker and more pain, the girl started to feel all better. It was like she could do anything! “Those bastards must’ve forgot the next dosis when they took Zora in there,” she thought. Neutron Pixie did cause someone to feel pain in muscles and bones, but that was after getting the first rush, the rush Drael was feeling right now, the rush the trandoshan was avoiding by feeding her small and never ending doses that caused her to be so weak in the past weeks. Anger kept rising inside the girl’s body. Her close friend had been murdered and hurt, not to mention what other things had been done to her. Her beauty was lost in the horrible face she had now,  black eyes and scratches is all anyone would’ve seen in it.

The trandoshan was still looking at her and in half a second, she had made up her mind. She smiled at him and placed her hands in the right spots. Every race had right spots, as Drael had discovered, funnily enough, males had them in the same place whether they were Hapans or Gands. “I never noticed how strong you are, it makes me…” The girl was interrupted by some growling. “My master wants to see you,” said the creature and took her into the usual room. Once in the room, Drael looked at the Anx in a seductive way, she was barely moving though, so they wouldn’t notice she was not where they wanted her to be. “Rood eht so-heck,”  [close the door] she said, and the trandoshan closed the door. Drael looked around and spotted some sort of knife among other things, she took it while the anx was too busy to notice; he approached her and lifted her skinny body. As he did so, the growl she heard coming from the Anx was quite disturbing for Drael had stabbed him directly on his neck, causing serious damage to nerves and arteries.  “Da panwa!” [Enjoy that!] Drael yelled, with tears in her previously beautiful green eyes that were now full of anger and looked like they were set on fire. The Anx threw her away, he was bleeding and he had lost the ability to move his arm properly. Due to the loss of blood, he was getting dizzy and weaker. In a desperate attempt he tried to reach the door, but the human girl had quickly recovered and ran after him. “Nenki noni!” [Not a chance!] She shouted to make clear he wasn’t going to escape. She stabbed him again in the back moving the knife while it was inside the Anx’ body, destroying as much organs as she could on her way. Drael seemed to have aquired an incredible strength thanks to the spice. The Anx was lying on the floor, too weak to even call for help. Drael sat on him and punched his face as much as she could, laughing at his expression. All she wanted was revenge, revenge for Zora, for her.  “Bazda wahota shag, nok. Nee choo!” [You won't walk away from this one, scum. Die!] She stabbed him over and over with all her might until the he finally dropped dead.

After that, she went after the trandoshan and killed him just as she had killed the Anx. But Drael was now bleeding, the purple highlights on her hair were now blood red on the right side because the trandoshan had ripped open her shoulder with his ferocious claws. The girl took Zora’s bloody corpse to the cockpit. She placed it softly in a seat. “We are still going to run away Zora, trust me.” Then she deactivated the auto-pilot. She was leaving with the ship. “Taris… we are quite far away,” Drael said to Zora when she realized where they were, hoping to hear what she had to say about that, a voice Drael would never hear again. The girl was trying to figure out where to go but she was losing her strength, and her bones and muscles were starting to ache again, she was feeling too weak to even pilot. Something beeped behind her, she turned around with great pain to see what it was. The human smiled softly at the droid,  “where have you been? I thought I lost you… please, Artoo, take us to a planet where we.. we can.. land.” Drael passed out.

[Drael, after escaping].

* * *

She lived in Ryloth for at least a year. She loved that place so much that she dared to call it home. It was the first place she called that after Coruscant.

“Echuta! No, not you Artoo. I’m trying to fix my shoulder… Ouch!, men yo nara!!” Piloting a stolen ship and trying to heal your wounds aren’t things you should atempt at the same time. Her mind was racing. She aknowledged she wasn’t at her best and her mind was somewhere else when she stole the old GRZ-6B wrecker she was piloting now. But she had been starving for days after crashing into that unfamiliar planet  and she had also been without sleep, her wounds weren’t getting any better. How she managed to leave  the destroyed ship alive with her droid and the corpse of her best friend she did not know, for she was probably still under the influences of Neutron Pixie.

“What do you mean “where are we going?” You know where we’re going, Orus.” The green eyed girl was so distracted remembering the past events that she forgot that they were already out of hyperspace. As she realized they were already in system, she grabbed a datapad to check the name of the planet again. “Oh.. Tatoo, I mean Tatooine.”  The astromech set the course. The shoulder wasn’t completely healed. All her posessions remained at Ryloth and she didn’t have any credits with her, not even to buy a bacta patch or something alike. But she did her best to try to heal herself.

“A desert, is the planet even inhabitated?” She said outloud as they were trying to look for a good spot to land. “Beep beep beeeeeeep!” responded the astrotomech. “O yeah, there’s a city… Mos Eisley, that’s what the computer says. Let’s leave this piece of shit at the outskirts.”

It was quite a strange feeling. The sand, the suns, the sky. Everything looked oh, so familiar although it was the first time she visited the planet. With no credits and blood still on her clothes, she walked into the first inn she saw followed by her R2 unit. It was imperative to find a ride to Palace City, for the stolen ship couldn’t keep flying anymore. Or was it that she didn’t want to be sighted on it?”

She approached the bar, despite the fact that she had not eaten anything in a long time, she went straight to business. Once more she was on her long quest, a quest that started five years ago, a quest that Zora promised to help Drael with. Finding herself alone again and her best friend dead; she figured that she had to go on. A Duros behind the bar looked at her, without thinking she just started to speak Huttese instead of basic. “Chut-chut. Chuba  ati je hopa? Kaba nu arpa to Palace City?” The bartender just looked at her.

“Nobody around here will do anything for you unless you show them some cash.” A young man had approached the bar as well and placed 5 wupiupis (which apparently were the currency on that planet) on the bar. “Two Jawa beers, non alcoholic, please.”  Drael looked at the man surprised and speechless. He was wearing a brownish outfit with a logo saying “AE” on one arm and a New Republic one on the other.

“Kotar,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“Tomra Kotar. You look like you had a tough day, erhm…”

“Drael.”

“You look like you had a tough day Drael.”

“You have no idea.” The Duros placed their drinks on the bar and Drael, almost unwillingly, sipped hers; for she didn’t want to seem rude to someone that was being kind to her on a planet she did not know at all after the experience she just had. Tomra had drunk half his drink. “You seem like fresh meat”. The girl glared at him. He realized that what he just said could be easily misinterpreted and tried to fix it by laughing nervously since Drael didn’t look amused.

“I mean, you seem new to these surroundings, it’s refreshing to see a new face,” he said as his eyes spotted the blood on her clothes. “Er.. what brings a pretty lady like you to a remote planet like this?” Tomra Kotar realized he was staring at the blood stains and shook his head before looking up to her green eyes.

“The lovely weather,” she replied, her mind was racing again. Should she trust this man? Would he be dangerous like the last beings? Would she have to kill him as well in that case? And if she had to, would she do it again? Would she kill someone again? Tomra seemed confused.

“The weather? I don’t reckon there’s too much to say about it.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The weather… never mind that. Look, it was good to meet you but business is calling, i’ve got to go back to Astralwerks and I need to go humple some of my workers.” The man walked away. Humple? What in the galaxy was that? Drael turned around quickly and spoke loud so the man could hear her. “By any chance do you know where Palace City is?” She looked so lost and such a mess that it was no wonder why the man threw a nice proposition in. “Come with me, I’ll give you a ride.”

“This is as far as I can go, Drael, I’m sorry I can’t help you more on your quest,” Tomra said when he stopped the speeder. For a strange reason she did not know, she told him everything about the quest she began around five years ago at Coruscant. It was quite strange since the only one she had told everything about it before was the twi’lek formerly known as her bestfriend, who was dead now: Zora.

“No worries, Tomra. You are a good man. I don’t know how I can ever repay you,” the girl said as she got off the speeder together with her droid.

“No need to repay, just take care of yourself and it wont do any harm if you consider the Republic. I know some people at the Academy, they can take you in whenever you decide, even though they already started training the new cadets.” Drael smiled kindly at him. Turned out Tomra Kotar was a respected member of the New Republic, the very own rebels Senator Rak Sha always  complaining about. And when he talked about it to Drael it sounded pretty interesting; not the sort of thing for her since she didn’t care very much about politics though. No doubt if her stepfather ever found out that she joined them, in case she decided to, he would be very displeased and disapointed… but did he even know she was still alive? Or did he ever look for her?

“I’ll think about it Tom-Tom.”

“Fair enough, good bye and good luck.” Drael stood there, watching the man go to the horizon. The astromech beeped.

* * *

“More wine!”

“It is not wise to let yourself get lost with everything you’ve drank tonight.”

“I said more wine, old gand.”

“Suit yourself, but this one still says it is not wise.” The gand quickly brought more wine to the zabrak that was sitting in front of the bar.

The inn was not that crowded. Drael had been walking on Palace City all day until she fond it, still with no credits in her pocket. Hence why she hesitated to walk into the inn. She have had lots of experience finding her way on any situation before but she was tired, starving and thirsty. Tatooine’s suns, the sand… it was all too exhausting. She walked to the bar where she saw a zabrak arguing with a gand. As the latter brought what the zabrak asked him for, she took a seat.

“It might not be wise but I need it, old gand”, the zabrak said.

“This one wonders what troubles you.”

“My wife is destroyed, she’s at home. It’s our little girl, those bastards!” He paused to drink. “They… I can’t even said what they did to her…” Drael was not particularly interested in the story but she was on the drink. She was staring, wondering if she could steal some from the back while tha bartender was being distracted.

Posted in Drael's Bio ]]> http://dartmonkey.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/adolescence/feed/ 0 Phoebz http://dartmonkey.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/early-years/ http://dartmonkey.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/early-years/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:51:07 +0000 Phoebz http://dartmonkey.wordpress.com/?p=187 ]]>

—————————————

The lights of the largest room inside the Warrior of Darkness were off. The laughter of the children was long gone. Every orphan was in the bed that was assigned to them when they boarded the oh so familiar ship, a Colossus-class Heavy Liner back in Corellia. The mandalorians who owned this business had been traveling through the galaxy for quite a long time, always on a new planet; sometimes paying to get the orphans into their custody, other times just finding and kidnapping them from their homeworlds. Most of the times, it took several years for them to come back to the exact cities where they got the children. After picking up enough of them, they would board the ship and fly to the capital so the orphans could get a home in Coruscant, and they themselves of course, a large amount of cash.

The Galactic Empire didn’t really care about this kind of business, although selling and buying humans wasn’t the best choice of carrier, it had to be done in the shadows. In fact, the idea of getting children for the families that supported the Empire and who couldn’t conceive was fully accepted, if not encouraged.

There was a little girl laying in her bed at the end of the last bed row; even though she was not moving at all, she was awake. Her dark and long hair was slightly covering her face, her deep green eyes were staring at the barely noticeable blue light that the R2 unit that was placed next to her bed was projecting. The little girl was seven and had been with the Mandalorian since she could remember. Never, on the long trips to the planet city during those six years she had been adopted by a family or sentient. There were three things she knew for sure: Her last name was unknown, she didn’t have a home and the only thing she owned in the entire galaxy was the droid standing next to her. Drael, which she was told was her name, was a very quiet girl. All the other orphans thought she was quite strange, especially since she prefered spending her time with her droid rather than with the others.

“Yes, we will arrive to Coruscant in four hours, everything is set up…” Drael heard some whispers, she sat down immediately and tried to listen. A mandalorian who came from the cockpit of the  ship was talking to another one. The girl opened her green eyes widely and looked at the droid after what she just heard.

“Inkabunga” [Amazing] She whispered in Huttese without noticing. Although Drael spoke mainly Basic, she knew a few words in Huttese, apparently something she learned before being an orphan. Nevertheless, she didn’t remember where she got those words or why she was able to remember that sort of thing and not anything else. “Did you hear that, Artoo? Coruscant! I might finally leave this ship.” The droid beeped in response. Artoo was Drael’s droid, she named it that because she couldn’t think of a better name for an R2 unit. “I guess I should sleep some,” she said while she reached to Artoo with her left hand and patted the droid as if it was alive.

* * *

“Pick up your stuff and get the hell out of the ship! I said now small pieces of…”

“I told you not to treat them like that, at least not on this planet, Jager. We don’t want to bring undesired imperial guards in our direction.”

Drael and her astronomech were the first to abandon the ship. The entire crew walked into a very old, rusty building. It was late and dark, but Drael knew the building very well, she had seen lots of children leave from it with their new family. As she walked in with everyone else, the light of the room hurt her eyes, as it did with the other children, and it illuminated everyone’s face. Drael’s hair was still dark but it had some purple highlights that were now evident under the light. The mandalorian led every orphan to a kind of cubicle behind glass, better kown as the -glass cage- to every child. They used to stay inside them until either they were bought by someone or until they were told to board the ship yet again.

The day went by very slowly and the little girl with green eyes lost hope. Suddenly, a mandalorian came running from the front door. “Imperial guards are here!”

“What?!” said the mandalorians in a chorus.

“We had a deal with them, they have no business in here.”

“They aren’t alone. They came in a senatorial ship. We have important guests.” As the tallest of them, a mandalorian called Frell, who apparently was the boss, finished saying that, two figures joined them in the room. They froze as they recognized the figures.

“Senator Rak Sha,” said Frell as he bowed, everything and everyone else was silent. “We are very pleased to receive you and your lovely wife, Lady Lahini tonight. The senator was a tall coruscanti who was in his fourties, his wife was clinging to his right arm. Senator Rak Sha simply nodded to Frell.

“I understand you have a business here.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Drael was almost one with the glass, as she was pushing her body onto it in order to get a glympse of what was happening, she was pretty impressed by the aristocrats.

“Oonai, how about that one? She is really cute, her eyes are lovely.” Said the woman while pointing at Drael. Drael froze right at that second. Senator Rak Sha and Lady Lahini were very involved in the government, they supported the Galactic Empire ideals. They had been married for years but they didn’t succeed in having a child of their own, a fact that was the cause of laughter and bad publicity for the senator. Thus, they were there to adopt a child.

“Jager, bring that kid and her ugly droid” Ordered Frell, suddenly understanding the purpose of the senator’s presence on that lugubrious place. “She’s a human girl my lord, seven years old, has been with us almost since she was born. That astromech is hers, it’s her only belonging, she came with it, we didn’t dare to take it away from her, you know how it is, these kids have nothing in…”

Senator Rak Sha waved a hand. Tha mandalorian got quiet as he saw it. Drael walked to the happy couple very slowly, Artoo was following her, she was not crying, not smiling either, she was in shock. Senator Rak Sha smiled as the girl aproached. Lady Lahini reached to her hair and caressed it. The senator finally looked at the mandalorian. “We’ll take her, I’ll pay you. But know at once, that if you ever mention this on your poor and worthless life, any word about this and you’ll regret it forever. I will destroy you and your so called business. You hear me, Frell?”

“Yes, sir.”

[Drael at the window of her room on Coruscant].

* * *

A true ninja is not just someone who wears black, drops down from the ceiling and slices everyone to pieces.

A ninja is he who lives by upon a series of ideas, morals and philosophies, among other important things. I do have a thing for ninjas.