A SWTOR fan-fic short

[Shadowess]

In the hotel room on Drumond Kaas, Morpheus Baelfire had difficulty sleeping. He still couldn't believe that all of this was real. It still felt like some kind of dream. As though, at any moment, he would wake up and be a slave on Narr Shadaa again. Serving his cruel Devaronian owner, Mellukh Drisol. His owner worked for another Devaronian that Morpheus had never met but would hear the name of continuously, Cho'mash. 
Thankfully, he couldn't remember when he'd been branded. According to Alekya, his mother, Mellukh had gotten the branding iron ready as soon as he'd heard that she was in labor with him. Eager to claim his new property, right out of the womb. "I never want to hear a baby scream like that again." she'd said. It had been a miracle that the branding hadn't left him blind in that eye. Mellukh had wasted no time in putting the young Morpheus to work. As soon as he was old enough to stand on his own and follow simple instructions, the Deveronian would take him to one of his factories to work, cleaning in the hard-to-reach places and fetching parts that had fallen off the line. Sometimes the parts were still hot or they were sharp enough to leave his hands cut up. But he'd learned quickly to not complain or cry about it. Because the beating he'd receive if he stopped working was always far, far worse. 

He never saw his mother much then. By the time he was sent home for the day, his mother would be leaving for her work. Always dressed in minimal clothing and sometimes with a red feathery scarf. She'd never tell Morpheus what her job was but as he grew older and learned certain things, he came to realise why he might never learn who his father was. But considering the men who would pay his mother for her 'services', he decided that perhaps he was probably better off not knowing. 
As he grew older, the more senior slaves at the factory took him under their wing and trained him to use the equipment. Gradually, his role went from cleaner to machine operator. At the age of sixteen, he went home to find his mother sobbing. She was pregnant again. Mellukh was there and he was ecstatic. He was praising her for being a free source of additional labour and that if she 'pumped out a few more' then he'd promote her to 'breeder' and provide her with fine foods and drink while she 'worked'. The Deveronian had made Morpheus sick to his stomach but he didn't dare ruin his good mood. Mellukh ended his visit by popping the cork on an expensive bottle of champagne, pouring them each a glass and then leaving with the bottle. Once he was gone, Morpheus tried to comfort his mother but she became aloof and walked into her bedroom while saying she wanted to be left alone. 

Sometime later, Morpheus fell asleep. He awoke in the early hours of the morning with an awful feeling in his gut that something was wrong. Horribly wrong. He sat up and looked at their little table. One of the glasses of champagne was missing. He called out for his mother but when he got no answer, he walked over to her room and pulled the curtain back. She was sat on her mattress which was on the floor, with her back against the wall. There were long vertical slits down both of her arms from where she'd broken the glass and run the sharp edge into her skin. Not content that this would do the job, she had also taken to eating the glass, leaving half of it broken and bloodied on the mattress beside her. Her mouth and lips were a mess of deep cuts and blood. She was staring vacantly across the room. For a moment, Morpheus stared at her in numb silence until he finally found his voice and began screaming. He cried, shouted for help and knelt by his mother's side, begging her to not leave him.
Losing his mother was bad enough but Mellukh blamed Morpheus for her death. He had him beaten repeatedly for not stopping her. It was a miracle that he survived all the blows to his head but he ended up knocked out so frequently that he completely missed the vigil that the other slaves had held for her. When he was finally able to go back to work, he was depressed, nihilistic and angry. When he wasn't working, he was drinking homemade spirits and getting into fights. His wild hormones didn't help matters. He would step out of line regularly and be beaten by Mellukh for his rebellious behaviour. Finally, Mellukh had enough of his attitude and in an effort to make him submissive again, he slapped a shock collar on him. The more Morpheus acted out, the higher the level of shock he'd receive. On some occasions, Mellukh's cronies would shock him for the fun of it but when Morpheus would get angry with them and run his mouth off, they would increase the voltage and shock him for longer periods. Once they had shocked him for so long that he'd lost control of his body and they'd laughed cruelly at him as he sat humiliated, crying in his own waste.
Shortly after he'd turned twenty, Mellukh had selected him along with a few other slaves to clean a luxurious-looking apartment. Mellukh had warned them to be on their best behaviour that day. That the man they'd be hosting in this apartment was a Sith Lord who had every right to kill them if they so much as looked at him wrong. Morpheus hated his life but not enough to lose it so he obeyed and went about dusting the surfaces. Shortly after, the Sith Lord walked in. Apparently catching Mellukh by surprise as he'd arrived earlier than anticipated. Morpheus continued to clean but he watched the Sith in fascination as he and his owner greeted each other. He'd only ever heard of Sith up until now. As he stared, he caught the man's eye. Worried he'd be reprimanded, he quickly averted his gaze and continued to clean in a more hurried way. Then he heard a sentence that he'd always dreaded. "How much for him?"

Mellukh turned and stared at Morpheus in contemplation before turning back to the Sith. "Normally I would charge more." Mellukh lied. He'd never 'rented' Morpheus before today. "But as it is you, my lord, fifty credits for an hour. Two hundred for the evening."
"And to buy outright?"
"And take away a source of my income, my Lord?" 
"The evening then."
Morpheus's heart sank and his cleaning slowed. He felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He didn't know what this Sith had in store for him but if his mother's life had been anything to go by then it wasn't something he wanted. But he didn't have a choice. Even without Mellukh's earlier warning, Morpheus knew that this man could kill him if he disobeyed. He couldn't explain it but he simply felt it the moment he'd entered the room. 

Later that evening, once the Sith had concluded his business elsewhere, he'd returned to the apartment. Morpheus had long been left to wait for his return, after having a somewhat crude pep talk from Mellukh. Morpheus stood against the wall, awaiting orders. He kept his eyes on the ground and shivered as the Sith approached him. He felt sick from nerves. But the Sith didn't come any closer that a few feet from him. "I can sense your anger." the Sith had said in an almost amused tone. "Among other things..." Confused, Morpheus lifted his eyes to the Sith who was staring back at him with a determined smile. "I feel you might not belong under the rule of your owner. I sense the force in you. You could accomplish great things but as long as you remain under the thumb of that insufferable Deveronian, you will always be a slave."
"...What?" Morpheus stammered. "N-no, that can't be right... I don't have any force sensitivity. I'm nothing like you. I- Please forgive me but I think you might be mistaken, my Lord."
"I am not." the Sith answered simply. "Come..."

Over the next week, the Sith paid to 'rent' Morpheus. Although Mellukh assumed that it was for the Sith's carnal pleasure, what was happening behind closed doors was the farthest thing from it. The Sith was teaching Morpheus to hone his latent gifts. To use them for simple tasks such as levitating objects across the room. Morpheus had been dubious at first but the more he listened to the Sith and reached out to the force, the more it made sense. At the end of the week, Mellukh sent Morpheus to the Sith's apartment as usual with a cheery pat on the back for earning him so much money. He'd made an offhand remark about Morpheus finally being good at something, which irked him a bit. But he ignored it, eager to head to the Sith's apartment to learn more force tricks. But when he arrived, the apartment was bare and droids were leaving with the Sith's luggage. His heart dropped to his stomach as his eyes landed on the Sith who appeared to have been waiting for him. "You're leaving?"

"My work is done here." The Sith replied with a nod and stepped forward to hand him a card. It was a shuttle pass to Korriban. "But this isn't the end of your training. I told you that you could be capable of so much more but you need to break free of this life first. That anger that you feel festering in your soul? Use it. Unleash it on the one who owns you. Break your own chains and then continue your training on Korriban. Only once you have done this and passed your trials can you become Sith."
"Me? Sith?"
The Sith placed his hand on Morpheus's shoulder. "Take control of your own destiny. I hope to see you again. On another world, carving out your own future."
Morpheus watched the Sith leave with a sad expression. Once he was alone in the apartment, he looked at the shuttle pass. For the first time in his entire life, he could imagine having a completely different life. One where he wouldn't be beaten for talking out of turn. One that he had more control over. It excited him. It granted him hope. He knew in his heart that this was exactly what he wanted but the Sith had been right about one thing. Mellukh would never let him just leave. He needed to take his destiny into his own hands and break free from his bonds. He looked at the door that the Sith had left through. "Until we meet again... [REDACTED]"

Morpheus went back to his owner's quarters to confront him. Mellukh had raised an eyebrow in surprise at seeing him. "Back so soon?" he asked. "You didn't do anything to embarrass me or put him off, did you?" he demanded, already looking agitated. 
"I'm leaving," Morpheus replied simply and for a moment Mellukh was taken aback but then erupted in laughter. 
"Good one! You had me going for a second there!" he cackled. "Now if you're done 'servicing' his Lordship, go and scrub the factory floors. There was an incident about an hour ago and now the floors are sticky... and I'm down a slave." he waved dismissively. "If only your mother hadn't decided to eat glass. I'd have a few replacements ready to go by now."
Morpheus glared at Mellukh. "Don't talk about my mum like that!" he growled, clenching his fists. 
"Now, now Morp. Calm down. Do I need to shock some sense into you again?"
"Fuck you! I'm done with this! I'm done being a slave! I'm leaving and I'm going t-" Pain shot down Morpheus's spine. His muscles tensed as electricity coursed through him. He gagged, gasping. He gripped the collar around his neck and fell to his knees in agony.

"Leave me?" Mellukh laughed as he stood from his couch. A remote was in his hand and he kept his finger on the button that caused Morpheus's shock collar to shock him repeatedly. "And where will you go, hm? With what money? You. Are. Mine! You were mine from birth and you were mine from the minute a client pumped you into Alekya! You will be mine until you expire! Do you hear me slave? You're nothing but property and that's all you will ever be!"
Rage. That's all Morpheus knew. All Morpheus had become. He forced himself to stand despite the pain and reached an arm out to Mellukh who was grinning at him evilly. 
"What's that Morp? You want me to stop?" he mocked. Having assumed that Morpheus was reaching out to beg for mercy. "Have you come to your senses yet, boy?"
Glowering, Morpheus focussed on the intense hatred that he felt for his owner. He felt the force shift and move around him so he focussed on tapping into it. He wanted him to feel the pain that he was feeling. He wanted him to feel the burn of the electric volts charging through his every limb. He wanted him to suffer the way he'd made him suffer. Static snapped around his fingertips. Seeing this, Mellukh's smile slipped but he didn't have time to react or move before purple lightning erupted from Morpheus's hand and ensnared him in its current.

Mellukh dropped the remote while letting out a loud shriek. The relief was immediate but Morpheus was so consumed in his hatred and he maintained the stream of lighting that he'd thrown at his owner. Bolt after bolt struck Mellukh and his screams were like music to Morpheus's ears. He loved every second of it as joyful tears slid down his cheeks. He kept it going until his screams died out and all that was left of Mellukh was a smoking, smouldering corpse. The entire ordeal had only lasted seconds but to Morpheus, it had felt like a lifetime and now that it was over, he quickly became aware of his surroundings. The alarms. The approaching shouts from Mellukh's men who were rushing to help him. Morpheus knew that he wasn't skilled enough yet to take them all on so he hid and at the first opportunity he snuck out and made his way to the shuttle for Korriban.

An Imperial trooper accepted his pass after seeing which Sith Lord it was from, then made arrangements to have his slave chip and shock collar removed before he could get onboard. It was happening. It was really happening... the start of his new life! Morpheus Baelfire felt reborn as he looked through the window to see a sea of stars and ships. He chuckled to himself as tears dripped onto his shirt. He was free... finally. Of course, he was terrified of what his trials might entail. He'd heard a few stories during his trip from other would-be acolytes but he didn't care. Anything was better than the life he'd just come from. He realised during this trip that this would be an opportunity to re-invent himself. He could be anyone he wanted to be. Maybe-...

He stopped mid-thought as he felt as though he was being watched. He looked away from the window and met eyes with a red-skinned woman who was smiling at him. He stared back uncertainly, wondering who she was or why she would show any kindness to him. Little did he know at this point, that during their trials on Korriban, she would become a valued friend.