Chapter 11
***
Eager to get back to Coruscant and greet Si on her arrival, Maul set the course into the computer and blasted into hyperspace.
***
Si slumped on the couch in her ship. She held a glass loosely in her hand. The handmaidens stood across from Si, along the far wall. They watched as their mistress sipped her mynock-blood fizzer.
“Si, will you be needing anything else?” Da’ie asked timidly.
“No, you can sit down and relax. I’m much too tired to play royalty. We still have a long way to go before we reach Coruscant-” Si was cut short by a loud thump.
“What was that?” Si said.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Ti’ie looked to the other girls, who shook their heads. Another thump caused the girls to turn their heads to the far door.
“You didn’t hear that?” Si raised an eyebrow in suspicion. The servants shook their heads again. A third, much louder thump sounded, as if someone had thrown something against the door. Jun’ie jumped in surprise, letting out a short yip.
“You’re not going to tell me you didn’t hear that. Someone is on my ship!” Si got up and stomped to the cargo door. The handmaidens crowded behind her, showing mock support. Si slammed her palm on the switch, and the door opened with a whoosh. Two boys were leaned over a third, who was on the floor, grasping his ankle. They all looked up in surprise. Si stood in the doorway, cloaks disheveled, glass in hand, eyes wide in shock. The handmaidens stood behind her, peeking out from behind her shoulder. As soon as Si recovered from her scare, she exploded in anger.
“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SHIP?!” Si threw down her drink and advanced on the boys, hands in front of her as if ready to strangle the first one she could reach. The boys backed up in panic, and the handmaidens rushed forward, placing themselves in between Si and the frightened boys.
“Si, we can explain.” “Don’t hurt them.” “We’re sorry.” The girls spoke at once, trying to calm Si down.
“What are you doing?” Si screamed.
The girls erupted in another jumble of words, each one tripping over the other in explanations.
“ONE AT A TIME!” Si yelled, breaking through the din.
Da’ie stepped forward. “Si, we brought along a few..... friends. We’re really sorry.”
“Please don’t send them away,” Ti’ie chimed in, and the other girls joined her with “please” and “sorry”.
“This is inexcusable. You are my handmaidens, my trusted servants. Do they know about us? Do they?”
“We, um, sort of let it slip out,” Jun’ie replied timidly.
“If you three let our secret slip out everywhere we went, the entire galaxy would know about us! Maul will be furious! Not to mention, Lord Sidious. He’ll have me disintegrated for sure!” Si sat down and fanned her face with her hand. I must calm down. This is not the end of the galaxy.
Si collected herself, and calmed her mind. She drew on the Force, gathering it around her like a security blanket. Along with the warmth of the Force, she felt the touch of lips on the back of her neck. Maul had felt her distress and was comforting her.
***
Maul sat in the cockpit of his ship, carelessly watching the light wormhole of hyperspace travel. Suddenly, like a jolt of electricity, he felt Si’s heedless anger, tying around his own constant rage like a rope. He instinctively followed that rope back to her, and pushed his patience towards Si. The anger retreated, replaced by calm, repose.
I should not have to correct her, Maul thought.
***
The handmaidens stood before Si, their heads down in shame. The boys had been left in the small cargo room. Si had poured herself another drink, and sipped it absently.
“Si, we’re sorry-”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Si interrupted. She took a deep breath, put down her drink, and rubbed at her eyes as if it might also rid her of her tiredness and her burdens. The girls watched as she slowly collected herself. The silence was deafening, like the static of a jammed comlink. Finally, Si spoke. “When we arrive on Coruscant, I will leave the boys to you, and I will leave you to Sidious. You betrayed our secret, you brought them on board, you defended them; defended them against me, your mistress, your leader, your entire reason for being. If you would so easily abandon me, then I should do no more than the same for you. It will be your responsibility to explain to Sidious. I’ll have no part in it.”
The girls were horrified. Sidious would be rid of them, cast them out. They were bantha fodder for sure. Da’ie spoke, “Si, we’re sorry. We really are, but you don’t understand! We won’t even be banished to laundry duty. Sidious will lock us up forever!”
“Don’t you think I know that? I spent a year and a half in that cell, forgotten. But my crime was not as serious as yours. Yeah, I killed a few people. But I kept to the shadows. I was smart enough to remember that no matter what I did, I could only fuck it all up if I fucked up Sidious’ plans. His entire purpose relied on secrecy. You betrayed his secrets, our secrets, to those three boys. You didn’t attempt to cover it up. You didn’t even attempt to keep it unknown. Who have they told? Who else knows?”
“Nobody! They promised us they didn’t tell a soul,” Jun’ie replied.
“You don’t know that! You didn’t think. None of you thought of the consequences. None of you thought at all.”
“Si-”
“Go. Leave me now. Don’t speak to me. Not even when we reach Coruscant.”
The handmaidens walked through the cargo door in one solemn line. They didn’t say a word. Si picked up her fizzer and gulped it down, just as the ship emerged from hyperspace in front of Coruscant.
For disclaimer, see chapter 1.