Abattoir/Part 14

Nineteen years earlier

Alecto stirred, rubbing her head against her pillow sleepily. Was it morning? She didn't think so—Huriah wasn't yelling yet. Her tummy felt bad, though; not sick, but all tight, like she was afraid. But she didn't know why.

"Mmm?" she asked, picking her head halfway up.

"Shhh." Odelia padded across the little cell, sitting on the side of Alecto's bed.

"'delia?" Alecto mumbled. She covered a big yawn with one hand. "Whasgoinon? Is it time—"

Odelia shifted to straddle Alecto's waist and gently pressed the pillow down on her face.

Alecto flailed, slapping at Odelia's arms, shock waking her quickly. Odelia had a good position, though, holding down the pillow on either side of Alecto's head. Alecto sucked in a great big breath through the fabric, but when she breathed out, the fabric around her nose and mouth got all hot. She tried to breathe again, but this time it was heavy and made her chest hurt. She slapped Odelia's hands, but she was feeling weak and sleepy again.

I don't wanna die! she thought, panicked. She punched Odelia's arm, and the Force helped; the weight shifted off the pillow a little, and Alecto jerked her head sideways and sucked in a breath. She kicked, thrashing until Odelia went sideways into the rock wall. Alecto heard her yell out in pain, and fell out of bed the other way. She cried out too as her knees banged into the floor, but she staggered up.

"Odelia! What're you doing?!"

She couldn't see much in the dark, but somehow she knew when Odelia drew the vibroblade, and Alecto hopped aside just in time; she heard the knife buzzing in the dark along with Odelia's panting. Alecto pushed Odelia with the Force; while the Human girl wobbled, her arms pinwheeling, Alecto slapped the door release and ran out into the hall.

"Help! HELP!" She slapped on her fellow potentials' doors, but no one answered. The corridor was lit only with the red nighttime lighting, and it turned Odelia's face ruby and her tunic maroon as she lunged out of Alecto's room, knife in hand.

"Odelia, stop!" Alecto begged, but Odelia bared her teeth and charged. Alecto had no choice but to run. "Somebody help me!"

No door opened to her pleas. She heard Huriah's voice in her memory snarl, ''Help yourself, trash. Real Sith don't need anyone's help''. Alecto needed help now, but her only friend was the person trying to hurt her. She started to cry as she pounded on closed doors and ran through open ones. Her feet still hurt from the burning trial, and she had a hobbling sort of run.

"Why are you doing this?!" she wailed.

"They'll only take one of us!" Odelia yelled from only meters back. "I'm not gonna be stuck here forever while you go to Korriban! I can't stay here, Alecto!"

Not that she had said Alecto, of course…

I didn't want to go without you! Alecto wanted to scream, but her lungs were burning from sprinting already. She thought of the armory, but she knew the adult Sith locked it; all the weapons in the galaxy would do her no good if she couldn't reach them.

She turned into the dining facility instead. The lights were off, and Alecto was too short to reach the switch. She didn't know if Odelia could reach, but she thought Odelia was too angry to stop and try. Alecto jumped, rolling over a table and crawling under another one. Odelia raced into the room behind her, jumping up on a table. Alecto pressed herself to the floor under a bench, trying to breathe quietly, shaking in misery.

"Come out, Alecto! I can't let you get away!"

She was far enough away that Alecto risked calling, "I don't want to fight, Odelia! We're friends!"

It was a mistake; she sensed Odelia coming her way. "You heard Lord Oruval! A Sith has to be better than anyone else!  And even Huriah said you're a maybe!  I'm better than everybody here but you, Alecto, and they're only taking one!"

She was quiet a moment as she searched, stooping to look under benches. Then she grunted, "It has to be me. I'm sorry."

Alecto wanted to sob from the awful unfairness of it, but Odelia walked around a bench two meters away, and fear replaced every other emotion. Don't find me, she begged. ''Don't find me don't find me don't find me. I'm little and I'm scared and I don't wanna be a Sith and I don't want you to hurt me, please don't find me''…

Odelia paused, then turned and walked off the other way. "Where are you, Alecto? Come out and…and we'll get this over with.  I won't be mean, I won't be Huriah.  I tried to make it nice with the pillow…"

Alecto scooted back little by little, not daring to breathe loudly, no longer fool enough to respond. When she got to the end of the bench, she crawled to the other door, hiding behind a garbage bin and trying to think. There were no weapons in the dining hall, she couldn't get to the armory, nobody was going to help her, and her best friend was going to hurt her if she didn't do something…

As she thought of Odelia, Alecto remembered one of the many times they had been punished. It was minor in comparison to Huriah's beatings, though severe at the time—scrubbing dishes with bare hands, wincing at hot water and whimpering as cleaning chemicals splashed little droplets up in their eyes. They had gotten through it by supporting each other…

Alecto sniffled, and she felt danger; Odelia must have heard her. Opening the back door, she ran for the kitchens, Odelia yelling behind her. Throwing herself through the kitchen door, Alecto didn't even bother trying for the silverware. She dove instead for the cleaning closet, digging out a little cleaning droid and prying it open to pull out the vials of cleaning solution inside. She stuck a bundle of them in a bucket and ran across the kitchens as Odelia burst through the door.

"Alecto!" She gave chase, but Alecto dodged under a row of sinks and into a supply room. Dumping the bucket on the floor, she popped open the vials, emptying the chemicals inside until the vapor made her head spin. Rifling through the shelves, she found a strand of cooking twine and tied it around the bucket handle. Retreating back through the shelves as Odelia followed her into the room, Alecto looked around for a good spot, hating herself for this. Eventually she found a dark corner and unrolled a few meters of twine, looped it around shelf walls. Then she took a deep breath and used the Force to lift the bucket up onto the top shelf.

"I can sense you, Alecto," Odelia said. "Stop running."

"I don't want to fight, Odelia!" Alecto said, sitting down on her twine. ''Please don't make me, 'delia. Please…''

Odelia turned the corner and saw her sitting on the floor. She passed the vibroblade from hand to hand; her eyes looked watery, and the hand holding the knife was shaking, but she started forward. "Don't make this harder, Alecto."

"Odelia, please, stop!" Alecto begged. "I don't want to do this! I can mess up the tests, you can go to Korriban…"

"Liar!" Odelia fumed. "You just want to get away!"

Please don't! Alecto hoped, but she did. Odelia took that last step and tugged the twine tripwire with her ankle. She wobbled and managed to keep her balance, but the bucket spilled down on her, showering her head and shoulders with cleaning chemicals. Odelia screamed as it got in her eyes, dropping the knife to wipe frantically at her face. She staggered back, wailing, and even in the dark Alecto saw the knife on the floor, bright like the Force had drawn an outline for her. She thrust her hands out, and the knife skittered across the floor and into her grip.

"Odelia, stop!" Alecto said. "Don't make me hurt you!"

Odelia wiped at her eyes, blinking and crying in pain. "I HATE YOU!"

It cut worse than the knife would have, and through her terror Alecto finally felt anger. "You were supposed to be my friend!" Alecto screamed back. "I never would've hurt you! I trusted you!"

Odelia shrieked and lunged blindly toward the sound of Alecto's voice, and Alecto screamed too as she ran into Odelia and buried the knife in her chest. Odelia wailed, choking and spitting blood. Alecto fumbled with the knife until the vibration turned on, then pulled it free in a shower of blood. Odelia fell and Alecto fell on her, sobbing and stabbing again and again as the Force urged her on…

She didn't remember walking out of the closet, covered in blood and clutching her knife two-handed, but when she did Huriah was there.

"What've you done, then, trash?" he snarled, reaching for her.

Alecto looked up in fury, blinking through her tears as she held the knife out. "Don't touch me! Get away from me!"

Huriah snorted, drawing out his beating stick. "I'll beat you bloody for that you kriffing little—"

He swung, but the Force was angry too, and Alecto cut the end off the beating stick. Huriah looked startled for a second before he made a fist and Alecto couldn't breathe. She dropped her knife, clawing at her neck with bloody hands.

"I think that's quite enough, Huriah," said a cold voice in a tone of mild interest.

"Kriff that!" Huriah barked. "This little trash is gonna pay."

There was a snap-hiss, and suddenly a ruby blade glowed at Huriah's throat. Beside him Alecto saw the angular, mad-eyed Lord Ko Davad. "No," Lord Ko snarled. "She isn't."

Alecto could breathe again, and she fell to her knees in a coughing fit. Someone turned on the lights, and Alecto blinked, rubbing her eyes. Her hands were sticky, and when she looked at them she saw they were covered in blood. Her tummy tied in knots with fear and sorrow, but she forced herself to look up. A bunch of big Sith were in the kitchen now—Lord Oruval and Lord Ko, some of the Sith who had come with them, and a few other trainers, too. It was Lord Oruval who had spoken first, and he who came forward now.

"What is your name?" he asked.

Alecto looked at his dark face and penetrating eyes, and she told him the name of a little girl from Mirial.

"Heh," Lord Ko rasped; was it supposed to be a laugh? "Not anymore, I don't think."

"No, I think not," Lord Oruval agreed. He studied her a moment. "That isn't a very Sith name, is it?"

"I…I dunno," she whispered. "No?"

"No indeed." The Sakiyan nodded. He dropped to a crouch, studying her. "You feel the Force, girl. You called it and it answered you."

"I…I was scared, Lord," she said. "Odelia tried to kill me! She was my friend, but she tried to kill me, and I had to make her stop…"

"And you did," Lord Oruval said gently. "Indeed you did. An amazing will to survive.  Feel the Force now, child.  Ask it what your real name is."

She frowned; didn't she have a name? But the more she thought, the more she realized he was right. She remembered Odelia calling her name, that little girl name, and the memory burned. She didn't want anybody to call her that anymore. She wasn't going to be scared and helpless anymore. That's what she had been on Mirial—scared and helpless. That's what she almost was tonight. She was going to be new, and strong, and she needed a new, strong name.

She squeezed her bloody hands into fists and thought really hard, feeling angry again, and she blurted out the word that popped into her mind. "Alecto."

Lord Oruval nodded and smiled. "Alecto. Just so."

She got to her feet and crossed her arms. "Darth Alecto!"

Several of the Sith trainers laughed, but Lord Oruval only raised a hairless brow, and Lord Ko didn't make his not-laugh at all. "Not yet," he growled. "But maybe someday."

The anger inside almost made Alecto insist on it, but she thought better of it. "Alecto."

"Alecto it is," Lord Oruval agreed. "Come then, Alecto."

He stood and held out his hand, and Huriah snorted. "What about your tests, my lord?"

The Sakiyan shrugged. "What further test is required? When the dark side makes its will known, I will not stand in its way.  Now come, Alecto.  Korriban awaits."