Twin Doubles and Hutt Troubles

[Dakota Gue]

The holovid screen flickered and in the green-blue glow of its light, the Baron looked kind of seasick. Dakota felt sad for him, his desparation was quite obvious despite the stoic face he presented.

"The money is being wired to your account even as we speak, Dakota. Please, tell me I can count on you? Tell me Nilari will be ok..? That you'll bring her back."

Ko did her best to reassure Baron Urda. The twin's plan had been in effect to rescue his Twi'lek slave for almost a month now and they were getting close to its culmination. She had to admit, the level of concern the Baron exhibited was remarkable, in fact it was a rarity she'd not seen in the likes of men like him ever. Nilari was not only his slave - a vassell that held within her pretty head the directions to a gem mine the Baron had long been searching for - but she was something dearer to him in a more personal level. A rarity, indeed.

"Dont worry, Baron. Everything is going exactly as Denali and I planned. Nilari should be home within the week"

The Baron smiled weakly, as though to hope for too much might work somehow against him. He nodded and gave a sad little wave before disolving to a pinprick of light on the vidscreen and then was gone altogether.



Dakota looked at the calandar - it had been 27 days since Denali had been taken by Gorgja the Hutt to be added to his harem of dancing slaves. She had not spoke to Ali personally, but all accounts from those who had the dubious pleasure of the Crime Slug's company had reported that her twin sister was there, alive and remarkably high-spirited for a captive such as she'd become. Ko had said its because of the pretty outfits and costumes and shoes Denali would be getting to wear, not to mention the oggling attention of a captive audience. But the twin sisters knew better. They were on a mission. They had a purpose of some importance and they were executing it with a creative discipline that would surprise many of their peers who were used to having noting more difficult to do than decide on their entree of the evening.

And now, it was all coming down to the wire. Dakota tapped in the co-ordinates to Ylesia, the planet base of Gorgja the Hutt and location of his palace and his slave dancers.

Ali had been so brave to take on the part of infiltrator. Now it was up to Ko to see that all that sacrifice was well given and see Ali and Nilari safely retrieved. Sitting beside her in the co-pilot seat, Matilda, Ko's pet dog perked up her ears, intuitively sensing a shift in direction of the ship.

"Time to crash a party, Mattie" Ko said, her eyes dancing with enthusiasm. "Time to go see aunty Ali and get her back from that stinky ol' fat ugly Hutt."

[Gorgja the Hutt]

Ylesia: Gorgja the Hutt's compound:

Gorgja the Hutt's compound was jumping. A den of not just scum and villainy, but debauchery, hedonism, prostitution, and everything else that was deemed 'bad for you'.

The fat slug, one grubby hand filled with a goblet, the other with a blonde dancer wearing a very small blue, jewled bikini, blue lace shorts that were almost seethrough, a soft pair of slippers (jeweled of course), and a small chain circling the dancer's thin waist. He chuckled and ran his long tongue across his slobbery mouth. Ah yes...this was the life.

Especially since this particular blonde was a new girl in his harem. She'd shown up about a month ago and quickly became Gorgja's new "favorite dancer". Normally slave girls took a while to break down, but this Denali had been quite pliable and willing to do (almost) anything to please her master. It had been more than an easy time. Some of the other girls had been a little jealous but then Gorgja's number one enforcer (since Kazaar was more drunk than ever and somewhere on Kuat), Akili Fah'tekla, was more than happy to explain why Denali was important and that all the other girls were important (even if he had explain it rather harshly).

This was the life...and Gorgja loved it.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei Wu Wei broke atmosphere in his small Jedi starfighter. Small, agile, but lacking a particular punch. It was a nice machine. Even so, the Jedi didn't like manipulating the starfighter's controls. They always seemed sluggish to his Force sharpened reflexes.

Gorgja the Hutt. A gangster slug creature invested in every type of crime there was, or so it seemed. Wei knew the Jedi didn't usually go out of their way to try to stop the Hutts directly. For some reason the Jedi had bigger fish to fry.

So while the Jedi were frying their fish, Wei was following up on a rumor he heard at Yog's: a beautiful blonde woman was recently added to the Hutt's collection of dancers. His heart nearly sank when he heard the person describe Dakota to a T.

It wasn't like Wei to take things personally like this. He usually kept himself detached from everything, but for some reason he felt invested. If Ko was in trouble, she might need help out.

Whether it was her own failing or just a victim of circumstance, she needed to be out of there. So he was going to get her out.

He landed the starfighter several miles away from the compound, well out of any sensors that might pick up his presence. 100 miles out at least, he decied to use his Force Boosting skills to run to the compound. His mission would be simple: cut his way in, stop anyone who opposed him, and take Ko out. It would be simple enough to avoid hurting the slaves. They would all be scantily clad. He couldn't rescue many in his starfighter, but maybe he could find some sort of transport that could carry them out to start new lives.

"Dakota, why am I doing this for you?" He asked himself. "I hardly even know you. I guess I really am just too nice a guy."

He powered down the spacecraft and took off like a thunderbolt with is ponytail whipping in the air behind him.

[Dakota Gue]

Ylesia - Gorgja the Hutt Compound East Access - aka, Back Door!


Denali moved steadily down the corridor, just as she had each day for the past week at this exact time. The Ylesian sun was about an hour passed it's zenith and though still beating down mercilessly on the Palace roof, it cast a decent span of shadow on the outer east perimeter. Denali, accompanied by her Gamorrean guard, made her way to the Eastern exit in order to sit outside and enjoy the relief of the shadey fresh air - it was an indulgence from Gorgja she had worked ceaselessly toward since her arrival and, by the same token, was a planned rendevous she'd arranged with her sister Dakota before she'd even been captured as a means of getting Ko inside the palace walls when the time came.

"Put the chair a little further out please" she directed the guard sweetly, "and the little folding table just beside it, yes thats perfect." Clumsy as he was smelly, Denali forced herself to patience as the rotund fellow slowly set her up in style...well comfort, anyway. She wondered if today would be the day Ko arrived - she really hoped it was. It was quite trying having to live in this fashion, sharing sleeping quarters that were really quite sub-standard - the Hutts idea of a palace sorely lacking in the luxury one might imagine of such a grand title. It was a far cry from Gue Tower, that was for sure.

Settling herself into her chair as the Gamorrean snurfed and snorted his indignance at being set such a menial task as serf to a slave girl, Ali put on her sunglasses and scrutinized the landscape. Ylesia was a tropical place and as one might imagine, was humid most of the time. The Hutt Compound was located in a low clearing but the surrounding forrest growth was an assett both in camoflaging its existance as well as hindering access to it. Forrest creatures were also a deterent, one never did well to venture very far or very frequently into its depths.

Without warning, a dart struck the guard square in the side of the neck, the telltale pink fluffy end a dead give away as to who's gun had fired it. The Gamorrean made a little pig-squeal and then toppled forward, unconscious, breaking a tusk as his face hit the ground. Ali jumped up delighted and within seconds the twins were embracing each other and jumping around on the spot.

"Go in ahead of me" Ali directed her sister after a few moments of reunion - after, of course, Ko had filled her in on the latest gossip from Coruscant where she told Ali that there was not just one Belargic brother, but two! "Can you imagine Ali..three of them!"
"So dreamy" Ali agreed wistfully.
"I know. And their hair!" Ko gushed.
"So glossy!" Ali had the right of it, and it took a moment for the pair to shake of a little lock-envy.

"Go all the way to the end of the corridor, up three levels and the girls room is the first door in. Hide in the area marked "Denali" -- thats my own little closet..I have the cutest capri's in there, you'll just love them, they'd really go with those pumps by the way."

Ko nodded, acknowledging the directives and more than pleased that her sister had noticed her new shoes, they'd been such a bargain. "You'll wait here for help with the guard?" she checked.

"Yes" Ali replied, plucking the dart from the drooling guard and giving it back to Ko. "They'll put this down to a bite from one of those tropical gnats that are so prevalent round here - A mature one of those things can drop a Nexu on the spot...no one will think a thing of it. I will meet you in the room when Im done with all this"

Ko gave another quick girly-hug to her sister and then moved quickly inside the Palace walls.

Operation High-Heels was underway as scheduled.

[Gorgja the Hutt]

Gorgja rumbled as he patted the red-haired dancer's rump and sent her down to where the other dancers were. Such a sight, watching them all move their bodies the way they did. Some were quite flexible, while others made up for their lack of flexibility with other...things...they could do.

The corpulent gangster gave a smile and looked for his new favorite dancer. He rumbled something in Huttese, causing the nearest Gamorrean to whisper something into Fah'tekla's ear. The Falleen then explained to him Denali was lying in the shade outside the compound. Gorgja's next order was simple: go get Denali. He wanted to gaze at her charms all over again.

Fah'tekla bowed and ordered the Gamorrean to go find Denali. Her midday shading could wait for a while. It was time for her to show her master how much she 'loved' him.

The pig-faced guard nodded and smacked a Rodian over the head. A few growls and oinks later and the two were headed towards the veranda Denali had set up for herself. They didn't even see the other blonde, who looked a lot like Denali, slip into an alcove near them as they walked forward.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei continued across the landscape. It was mostly grassy plains and rainforest, and all of it was beautiful. It was strange that some place so full of life and so cheery could be a stronghold for criminals. Things weren't always what they seemed.

"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them," he whispered the age-old adage to himself.

A building was coming into view. Wei's vision was poor at a distance and required his glasses to correct it. But all he needed was the Force and he could enhance it. He saw a woman on the roof dressed in a slave outfit. He could tell it was a slave outfit because of how little of her body it covered.

Wei felt something stir in him. It was the basic desire every man feels when he sees a beautiful woman scantily clad. But his Jedi training and sense of right always left a sharp twist of sadness when he saw a woman in a position of playing slave. She wasn't just an object. She was a person too.

Then there were two other people on the roof behind her. A Gamorrean, standard fare for a Hutt complex, and a Rodian. No doubt a bounty hunter or some kind of hired muscle. Maybe just someone looking to spend a heap of blood money to take advantage of a pretty lady in trouble with the wrong crowd.

Wei was still a few miles off, but he knew he could make the jump. His legs coiled under him and soon he was in the air. The compound went from looming over him to cowering beneath him as he reached the height of the prodigious locomotive jump. On his way down he snapped on his saber and landed on the Gamorrean hard. It collapsed under the sheer momentum of the jump. The blade plunged through the porcine alien from head nearly to its pelvis. Wei could tell how it crumpled to the ground its legs were broken. Then the blade passed out of the back of the dead creature.

The Rodian drew his blaster, but found its attack hitting him squarely in the head.

"Dakota!" Wei said. He turned off the saber and approached her. "Are you ok? They haven't hurt you or anything? You're still--" he fumbled quickly for words--"in tact?"

He wished he had something with him so she could preserve her modesty. He was concerned, but not rushed or harried. Her body did not cause him any distraction or unwanted passion. He wasn't even disturbed by the corpses he created. He was empty. He was nothing. There was only the Force.

"We need to get you out of here."

[Dakota Gue]

"Are you crazy?" Denali rounded on Wei, more shocked than anything else. Where had this fool come from? Surely he hadn't arrived with Ko -- he would have known the plan if he did -- The plan, which he'd just gone and thrown one bantha-sized hydrospanner into.

Ali looked down in dismay at the corpses at their feet. This was a disaster! She had to think quick..

She took Wei by the arm and pulled him forward. "Come with me, we have to hurry"

She moved him along inside the Palace entrance and into the corridor where coming down to meet them was a small army of Rodians and Trandoshans.

"Just follow my lead" she said to Wei.

The distance closed between them and Gorgja's men raised their weapons at the sight of an unknown intruder with their masters favorite slave-girl. Ali lifted a calming hand.

"Its ok, its ok" she pressed Wei forward a little. "Take this guy to Gorgja -- he just killed a couple of your fellow guards"

Wei was quickly swarmed about by the Slug Lord's lackeys while Denali moved off to ascend the next level and find Ko. Maybe her sister would know where this crazy Jedi had turned up from. His arrival threatened to spoil everything!

[Gorgja the Hutt]

Fah'tekla gazed down at Wei, a cruel smile on his face and grabbed the Jedi's lightsaber. "Take him to Gorgja. We'll see if he likes 'the pit'."

The thugs gripped Wei's arms as hard as they could, without breaking them, and forced him along the dark corridors towards the lift which would take him into Gorgja's grand entry hall. Wei struggled a bit, hoping to make an escape. Just as he was starting to clear his mind, something struck him in the back of the head. Hard. He winced and started meditating again. The same thing happened again.

"Jedi aren't allowed to meditate here." Fah'tekla sneered and smacked him once more. "Try to focus some other way."

The lift lurched to a halt and Wei was pushed towards the doors and into a hallway, which had a large tree (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Olbio_tree) in the middle of it. It was then it struck him. A bubble of some kind suddenly surrounded his senses, throwing them off. He tried to focus and feel the Force, but couldn't.

In fact...he couldn't feel it at all. He was cut off from the Force!

[Wei Wu Wei]

He had not been taken to see the Hutt. Troublesome. Having his weapon taken from him was something he had expected. The tree, and the lack of feeling the Force was not.

He never realized just how much he had come to take feeling the Force for granted. His Jedi training kept him as serene as ever, but there was something wrong. Like when a small breeze stops blowing or how an admiral can instinctively feel when the engines on his ship stop working. There was an absence.

Wei looked at the big aliens holding him. They seemed very interested in hurting him. Most people like them were. He just had to show them how little the situation bothered him. There was always a danger of losing one's life when acting as a Jedi in the world, but when you were released from all attachments death was just another part of life.

His head ached from where they struck him but he decided not to show it. He'd have to make the best of things until an opportunity found itself. Go with the flow. His namesake. Do without Doing.

[Dakota Gue]

enali entered her closet to find it empty. Well, not empty exactly, just Ko-less. Instead of finding her twin amidst all the glitter and sequins waiting for her return and being able to extract a satisfactory explanation of who the saber-weilding would-be hero might be, Denali instead found that their grand plan was unravelling further.

"Hi Ali" a voice called from behind her. It was Nilari, Baron Urda's twi'lek slave and the object of their rescue. "I thought you went up to the Grand Hall already...how'd you get back here so fast?"

"Ummmm"

It wasn't much of an answer and Denali realised that she would have to move the agenda of events up ahead of schedule, beginning with telling Nilari what the Gue twins were up to.


****************************

Wei was helped from the elevator, a burly thug on either side of him each holding an arm and hoisting him roughly forward.

"An intruder, most High Gorgja" Fah'tekla declared, adding another thump to the back of Wei's head. "He has killed two of our men and..he is a Jedi" he pronounced with an air of doom, producing the lightsaber for dramatic effect and the Hutt's inspection.

To the far side of the room, Dakota slipped in through another entrance and gasped audibly as she realised just who was being hauled before the Crime Lord. What was he doing here? A heavy hand pushed her forward. It belonged to another of Gorgja's many Trandoshan henchmen and the very same who had intercepted her on her way to Ali's room and demanded she get herself presentable (in other words, in costume) as the mighty and beneficent Hutt had demanded her presence.

She stepped abruptly forward and tried to hide her confusion at seeing Wei, of all people, here in the thick of Gorgja's court.

[Gorgja the Hutt]

Gorgja stared down at the black-haired Wei like he was a specimen of some kind. Then his deep booming laugh filled the compound. "Ho ho ho ho ho ho. Hah hah hah hah hah." Gorgja's next words were in Huttese. "Kee chai chai cun kuta Jeedai? Kee chai chai cun kuta Denali...?"His stubby hand motioned Dakota to his side.

Fah'tekla turned towards Wei. "He wants to know why you're here. And what you want with his prized Denali. Since." He gave an evil grin. "You were found with her."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei's head was still aching. The minions weren't going to let him get a grip on the Force. Somewhere along the way they'd get tired of hitting him. Or they'd forget. Something might distract them. Maybe the blonde bombshell in the dancer's outfit.

The Jedi Knight looked at the woman standing at the Hutt's side. Why was he there? What did he want with Dakota?"

"I am not attached to that woman," Wei said. "And to you, she's just an object. She doesn't mean anything." He shrugged as best he could. "She is a woman though. Worth something. Maybe not much more than credits to some, and to others a thrill."

Wei looked hard at Denali. Or was it Dakota? He couldn't be sure. If he could stretch into the Force, he'd know. But the minions were still trained on him. He needed them to focus on something else. He hated to do it, but the Gue sister was the only readily available distraction.

"Take a look at her. Take a good long look. That woman there, she's not an object. I said that already. Soft of skin, beautiful to look at. She's real, fellas. Yeah. Take a good long look. The Force touches her. Just like it touches you. Just like it touches me. The universe that surrounds me also surrounds her. The Force that flows through me flows through you. If you think about it like that, we're all the same. So when you enslave her, you enslave all. And when you enslave all, you enslave yourselves."

Wei chuckled. "You guys don't want to be slaves, do you? Maybe Gorgja pays well. Maybe he has beautiful women and good food and drink, but is it worth being under that slug's thumb? Is it really?"

The Jedi was running out of philosophical talk. Soon he would have to act fast. "I'm no slave. I'm free of everything with the aid of the Force. Mental blocks are crumbled. Emotional hang-ups don't leave me hanging. And the chains and weight of people who oppress my body--"

Wei took a deep breath in and felt the Force for the briefest of seconds, "They are shed like water."

With a tremendous effort Wei Wu Wei bucked upwards against his captors to scatter them across the room.

[Dakota Gue]

Ko's confusion quickly turned to horror when she realised Wei was not here for Gorgja's party, but was a captive - and that was somehow due to his association with Denali. When had he met Ali? And when was he with her?

Remembering her place, Dakota had joined in superficially with the laughter Wei's bravado had generated. He was so noble, poor thing. Did he really think these gutter crawlers cared one tot about anyone save their own slimey selves and seeing that Gorgja didn't seperate them from their own slimey skins? She felt her heart ache for Wei, even as he struggled to throw off his captors - which was no small feat - it was only a momentary hiccup in their operations however, as he was quickly swarmed again.

*****************


Denali smiled invitingly to the ugly little rodian and the creature's horn ears positivley trumpeted themselves to attention. Behind him, Nilari moved silently raising the brass water urn they'd taken from their apartments and brought it down with a will onto the rodian's head. He crumpled into a little blue heap at Ali's feet.

"Get his blaster" she directed the twi'lek. "We'll get the other guard at the north end of the corridor and that will give us a weapon each.

*******************

Inside the Grand Hall, Gorgja was demanding Wei answer his questions or...and Ko's Huttese was not as good as it should be, given the circumstances, but she thought he said something about a "Ruugtut" ritual.

"Ruugtut....ruugtut..." she repeated to herself, trying to remember where she'd heard it before.

"Torture" offered a scruffy human beside her, his decaying teeth blackening in a wide smile, "Death by a thousand spikes"

[Gorgja the Hutt]

More laughter from the Hutt. He'd never gotten the chance to actually meet a Jedi who didn't spend 20 minutes prattling on about how he should live his life, before slicing his men to ribbons. It had cost him dozens of men, but this time he had Pure Sabacc. Gorgja looked at his Falleen enforcer, who nodded.

"Mister Jedi, you are something else indeed." Fah'tekla smiled and patted Wei on the face, as he struggled. "Trying to free all the women who are here. Did you some of them chose this life to get away from what they were facing. That they willingly sold themselves to save others. What do you say to them?"

Gorgja rumbled something else and pulled Dakota to his side. "Kava doompa D'Jeedai stoopa." The gangster spoke again and the horde laughed again.

"I'm 'sorry' Mister Jedi, but you can't have Denali without giving him a good enough reason to let her go. If that's what you're here for. If not, the krayt dragons haven't eaten in a while..."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Denali? But that was Dakota? Clearly something was wrong. But it did explain why the girl on the roof hadn't recognized him. He needed to think of something.

Wei was having no luck getting the minions off of him. He needed space to move and breathe. It was getting crowded and he needed a break.

"Well, can I propose a wager?" Wei asked. "I'll fight your Krayt Dragons. For each Krayt Dragon I kill, I take one dance with me. Any dancer I want."

Wei was pretty confident he could kill a Krayt Dragon. Well, it would help to be armed. "But to make things interesting, I'd like my lightsaber for the fight. Or at least a vibroblade."

[Gorgja the Hutt]

Gorgja seemed to think about the contest a moment. Then he laughed and took a drink from his glass and yelled something to his companions who all turned towards Dakota.

It was pretty obvious they wanted her to decide Wei's fate.

[Dakota Gue]

Ko blinked numerous times before she realised the decision was hers and then
she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She wanted to believe Wei was more than up for the task he'd wagered, but how much of what he'd told her before when they'd first met was simply the bragging of a young, self-assured Jedi? She didn't want him to get hurt, yet she saw no real option. The mob that populated Gorgja's court were already jostling credits between themselves in side-bets as to Wei's fate and the whole prospect of bloodsport gave the Hutt Crimelord and his lackey Fah'tekla fits of mirth, which they displayed openly between expectant looks toward Dakota.

Gorgja nudged her impatiently with his meaty fist for an answer and Dakota remembered her role, smiling broadly at her pseudo-benefactor. "I think the wager is fair" she stated in a most official tone then clapped her hands together excitedly, "Let him fight!" Wei noticed Ko flash a quick, apologetic expression in his direction which told him two things - she knew who he was, as she was indeed Dakota, and that she hoped he was as good as he'd claimed himself to be.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked up from where he was held down in his kneeling position in front of Gorgja. He glanced up at them to see Ko--yes, that was her--give him a look of apology.

Wei couldn't resist a smile and a wink as the cheers erupted from every black heart in the room. He would be fine, he was sure. He just needed enough space to move and clear his head.