Ashara stood next to Anakin and Obi-Wan as they talk about the colonists with the Jedi Council. Ahsoka and Teriko were off to the side, still participating in the conversation a little. According the bio-scan Admiral Yularen did, there was no sign of the colonists on the planet. She frowned, worry filling her system. Sure, she didn't know them at all, but they were still her people.

"Troubling, is the return of the Zygerrians", Yoda said. Ashara bit her lip, not wanting to speak out of turn.

"It is likely they mean to use Dooku to rebuild their slaver empire", Plo Koon said. Ashara sighed softly. 

"Something to say, you have, Ashara?" Yoda said. Ashara jumped, before hugging her arms close to herself.

"This isn't the first time the Zygerrians have returned", she mumbled. "It's just been under the Jedi's radar."

Yoda hummed. "Referring to your past, you are."

"Yes", Ashara said, looking away from the Jedi Master. "The Zygerrians are the ones who sold me into slavery."

She could hear Teriko's surprised gasp, but she ignored it. She knew he had many questions, especially with her panic attack earlier, but she didn't want to answer anything any time soon. This mission was already proving to be a good mental struggle for her. After all, she was still a teenager, even if she was technically an adult.

"Sense, I do, a darker hand in this mystery", Yoda said. Ashara realized she hadn't been paying attention, and was instead struggling with her raging emotions. "Slavery, a great tool it is for the rise of the Sith."

The holo-com shut off, leaving the group of five Jedi to ponder about Yoda's worrying words.

~~~~~~

Anakin, Obi-wan, Ahsoka, Rex and Teriko watched out the window as they approached Zygerria, Ashara currently off somewhere in a different part of the ship changing into her disguise. Anakin could feel Ashara's disgust at her outfit through the force and merely chuckled. It caught everyone else's attention, and he just shook his head, looking back at Ashara as she approached.

She wore a cloak over her outfit and it covered most of her body. The parts visible were her hands, and her eyes. She glared at Anakin.

"Why am I playing the part of the slave?" she spat. Rex turned to look at her, and raised an eyebrow at her appearance. She shook her head at him, not wanting to deal with it at the moment. The three males were wearing Zygerrian armor they had managed to steal, while Ahsoka was in her normal clothes. She was going to stay on the ship with Teriko, and make sure nothing happened to it, and so they could be ready to get away if need be.

"Because you've been a slave before, and you know how to act. Ahsoka here is too brash", Anakin said.

"You were a slave once too!" Ashara argued.

Anakin shrugged. "Sucks to suck, Ash." The togruta scoffed and walked away, waiting in the cargo bay for them to land. When they did, she and the rest of the group walked through the market. Most of them were twi'lek's or togruta's, and Ashara scoffed. Those two species were considered the most exotic of all, though she had no idea why. They were just themselves.

She saw a slave being whipped by his master, and she wanted to intervene, but she knew what would happen if she did. She bit her lip under her mask, before leaping forward, and catching the man's hand. 

"You don't want to do that", she snarled quietly. The Zygerrian scoffed, and tossed her hand away, about to whip her, but Anakin stepped in.

"Excuse my slave, friend", he said. "She is freshly caught."

Ashara backed away, putting on a submissive act, even though she was boiling with anger inside. She hated this place. She didn't think she had ever been here before, but it could be a blocked out memory. She only remembered Tatooine, and even Kiros just barely, but nothing of Zygerria. She wondered if the Zygerrian slavers had just chosen to go to Tattooine instead of here.

Anakin grabbed her arm, and started dragging her forward, and when she started following by herself, he let go. They were guided through the palace, until they reached a magnificent room. In the center of the room stood a throne, and on top of it sat the Zygerrian queen.

Ashara rolled her eyes as Anakin started spitting some sort of half truth about a guy named Bruno Denturri. Yeah, the guy was dead, but not by Anakin's hand. Of course, if their plan was to work, the Queen needn't know that. 

Anakin suddenly pulled off her cloak, revealing the outfit she wore. She wore a red tube top that tightly hugged her figure. It was decorated with diamonds along the bottom edge of the tube top, with silver beads hanging down across her stomach, the center one ending just above her belly button, and the outer edges reaching down only an inch. The matching red skirt hugged her hips before flowing outward. On the right side, it end mid-thigh, whereas on the right side it ended down by her ankles. Beads were wrapped around her hips, almost like a loose belt, and diamonds studded the bottom hem, with beads falling down onto her legs just below the diamonds. Silver beads also adorned her head, with a string beads wrapping around each montral, along with her three lekku. Three strings of beads also fell down onto her forehead. She also wore fingerless gloves, the edge at her hands coming to a point at her middle finger, the outermost edge lined with diamonds. 

Anakin had to admit, even though he picked out the outfit for her, she looked absolutely stunning. He almost wished Rex could see her like this, just to see what kind of reaction they would get out of him.

Ashara glared at Anakin. "Don't touch me", she hissed. Anakin raised a hand as if to slap her, and she flinched. In the back of her mind she knew Anakin would never hurt her, but being around Zygerrians again had her nerves on edge.

"You impress me, Lars Quell", the Queen said as she stood up. Everyone in the room got on their knees except for Anakin and Ashara, but Anakin pushed her down. She wanted to glare at him, but she would follow his lead for now. "She's quite a prize. And to have defeated Bruno Denturri in combat? Well, you must be quite the warrior."

Ashara stood as the Queen reached her, not daring to look her in the eyes. She could remember what happened to her when she looked one of the Zygerrian slavers in the eyes, and she shudders as she remembers it. The queen circled her, humming softly.

"I feel as if I have seen this specimen before", she said. "She hasn't been here before, has she?"

Anakin started, glancing at Ashara, before smoothly replying. "I don't believe so. I caught her on the street, trying to nab a bit of bread to eat."

The togruta sent him a glare, but held her tongue. She waited for the queen to speak to her, knowing that she would likely be questioned.

"Tell me, slave... what is your name?"

Ashara hesitated about telling the queen her real name, since she was a leading figure in the clone wars, but she figured that her name hadn't made her way out here yet.

"Ashara Ki, your majesty", she said softly. The queen hummed again, before her eyes lit up in recognition.

"Oh, I know", she said. "But that was so long ago... surely you cannot be the same togruta that he caught oh so long ago, can you?"

Ashara held her tongue, unsure of if she could speak or not. "Tell me, Ashara, do you remember this place at all?"

Ashara bit her lip. "No", she said softly. "But I have been a slave before when I was little."

"And were you captured by Zygerrians?" the Queen asked as she stood directly in front of Ashara. 

"Yes."

"Where might you hail from?"

"Kiros, your majesty."

"And where were you taken?"

"Tatooine, majesty."

The queen hummed. "You are the togruta I remember seeing in that oafish skug's cages. He was so proud to show me that he had caught you, saying that were a wormy one. Apparently it was a narrow escape too, your parents almost caught up to him before he got away. Oh well, they're my slaves now."

"What do you mean, majesty?" Anakin jumped in.

"Thanks to Count Dooku, we now own the entire population of Kiros", the queen said. "50,000 slaves, to my disposal." 

"And where do you keep these slaves?" Anakin asked, curiousity filling his voice. Ashara winced, thinking that he was being too obvious. She could sense the suspicion radiating off of the queen, and knew Anakin had pushed it. 

"Later, Lars Quell", she said. "The slave auction is about to begin, and I doubt you would want to miss it."

No more than a few seconds later did the slave serving drinks try to stab the queen.  Anakin managed to stop her, and she ran out onto the balcony. 

"Perhaps this slave requires further processing", the queen spat. The slave backed up, further toward the edge.

"No! I won't go back there!" Ashara instantly knew where the slave was going with this, and she wanted to stop her, but it was too late. The twi'lek had thrown herself over the side of the balcony, dropping several stories down. She closed her eyes, afraid of what was going to happen.