Can One Displaced Hero Save a Galaxy?

Summary: Seeking a new Lightsaber Crystal for Aayla, the vacationing trio travel to Tatooine.

Warning! Err...basically the whole chapter has periodic lime content? There wasn't really a way to explicitly label the bits that are limey, though there's no outright lemon. If you really want to skip it, bypassing the first 50% or so of the chapter will get you past the vast majority of it.

Chapter 44: Roleplay

-Warning Lime Content Scattered through Chapter-

Aayla suppressed a moan as she clung to Izuku's arm, mentally sending a pout over their bond that wouldn't have convinced anyone who witnessed it that she wasn't enjoying the situation. Even if she still wasn't quite able to believe she'd been talked into it. Well, no. In the privacy of her own mind she could entirely believe it. But that was because she was self-honest enough to know she was more than a little bit of a pervert. At least, she was now. She supposed she'd been more of a 'repressed pervert' before meeting Izuku. She was also well aware that she'd actually enjoyed certain aspects of her original situation with her lover.

Which…well…so was he. Aware of that, that was.

Which is how she'd ended up in a chastity belt again, suppressing a moan as she tucked into Izuku's arm, in an only half-disreputable cantina on Tatooine.

Of course, this chastity belt wasn't the original she'd been stuck with when they'd first met. She'd long ago fed that thing into the Infinite Engine Seed on Ossus. She hadn't entirely hated her experiences with the thing, once Izuku had become her 'Master,' but she'd had far too many mixed emotions about it to ever consider using it again. Instead, she'd fed it to IES-Alpha as a way to give the database a sample of phrik to work with. Something that had paid off handsomely as the IES used that sample to produce more of the material. In a beautiful bit of poetic justice, even now that they'd expanded too much to provide it to everyone, the Elite Commando units of the Shattered Shackles were still always equipped with phrik-lined armor. Armor that could eat a half dozen blaster bolts before the commando was hurt at all. The chastity belt that she'd been stuck in as a slave had provided the seed to equip anti-slaver commandos with armor that made them an unholy terror to slavers. Suitably karmic, really.

That didn't mean she'd hated everything about the original experience.

The early bits of 'fun' she and Izuku had together, when she was still stuck in the belt, were actually fond memories. More to the point, they had also led to Aayla either developing or discovering (she honestly wasn't sure which it was) a taste for various sorts of bondage play. Even once she'd been freed from the belt and her memories completely restored, she'd found that she very much preferred Izuku taking control. To the point that she'd even, entirely of her own volition, continued their occasional master and slave roleplay. She liked being handcuffed, she enjoyed being teased, and she'd even admitted to herself that she occasionally found the idea of what had happened in those early days with Izuku hot-a-fuck, once sufficiently separated from the downsides.

Izuku knew it, too. He'd had far too many peeks inside her head via the bond not to know. But for well over a year since she'd been freed from the belt, her love had still been fairly cautious about introducing things. He'd backed up a lot, taking it slow and introducing things a piece at a time, in a much healthier way than their early headlong collision and forced circumstances. A blindfold here, handcuffs there. Public use of a remote-control toy on a date as an escalation. She'd enjoyed nearly all of it, with only a few hiccups here and there with things that had proven not up her alley at all. Their one and only experiment with impact play, for example, had ended up being a turn-off for both of them.

It had only been during their recent vacation on Naboo that he'd finally mischievously floated the idea of getting another chastity belt for her. And even then, he'd done it in such a way that there'd been both a logical reason to go for it, and every chance for her to back out. He'd been adorably cautious about the whole thing, really.

She hadn't backed out, of course.

In fact, she'd been embarrassingly turned on by the idea. It was a unique type of control exchange, and nothing they'd done had ever quite scratched the exact same itch. Despite blushing horribly, in a way she hadn't done around him since near the beginning, she'd promptly agreed to the idea…and even jumped straight into research. Research she mmmiigggghhtt already have made half a dozen different head starts on, but always before chickened out about actually suggesting the idea. She'd promptly helped pick out the right belt for their situation. As well as other possible situations.

The fitting for the belt on Naboo had been quite fun. Though Aayla admitted she was glad the specialty shop that sold them had droid fitters and sophisticated holosuites, rather than getting a person involved. Particularly as they'd ended up buying more than one during her streak of enthusiasm. The belt she was wearing now, as part of her disguise, was an intentionally high-security model. Not to the ridiculous extent of her original belt, of course. But, despite looking nicely ornamental in a gorgeous polished silver, it was made of some fairly tough alloys and with some very solid embedded tech. It was more streamlined than the phrik belt had been, something made possible in part by the fact it only blocked access to her pussy, not her ass. But it was solidly durable, contained a multi-part lock that required both a code and Izuku's biometrics, could be programmed with a timer, and technically had the sort of tracking and shock features you'd find in a slave collar.

Those last two features weren't functional, in this case. She and Izuku could both turn off the tracker at will, and the shock feature didn't properly connect. It would look like it connected on even a deep scan, but a tiny bit of tinkering had been done to make it non-functional. Those two features were there not because either of them had any interest in them, but because Izuku's original 'selling point' of the belt for this trip had been to help Aayla safely play the slave girl. On a Hutt-controlled world like Tatooine, Aayla would be a highly prized slave. Rutain Twi'leks were rare to start with, and Aayla was gorgeous by virtually any standard. Something made only more true by how incredibly fit she was. A lifetime of constant training having enhanced her lithe, dancer's body and the prowling, graceful walk she could fall into at will.

Izuku's counter for this had been a brazen idea. Simply dress Aayla up in a harem outfit that was mostly transparent, then equip her with a very visible chastity belt that registered as a slave tracker/control device to literally anyone with even the most basic scanner. It was a slightly unusual choice, with collars being the typical fare for those that preferred not to use implants, but as Aayla was a high value slave clearly there for her Master's 'personal pleasure,' no one would likely blink at said choice on a world like this. They might even think it made an uncommon degree of sense, in point of fact. Hopefully they didn't accidently start a trend or something.

All of that explained how she'd ended up playing the part of a faithful Twi'lek slave girl, on Tatooine. Sitting in a local cantina. In the middle of her Spiritual Quest for her next lightsaber crystal, trying not to moan as her lover took full advantage of the fact that they'd gone ahead and equipped her belt with a similar insertion toy to the original. A toy Izuku had the controls for and was idly and playfully teasing her with as they waited for a local contact the Shattered Shackles had made on world. Aayla tried not to squirm too obviously as he literally toyed with her in public. The semi-public teasing was a hell of a turn on, but she did want to keep at least a little alert. Even if she knew Izuku was fully alert himself and would stop if he sensed anything remotely like actual trouble.

Her mischievous lover continued to push her buttons, literally and figuratively, for another ten minutes or so, before abruptly stopping. Despite her efforts to stay alert, Aayla's mind was a bit of a haze, her eyes having shut tight as she bit down hard on her bottom lip at some point. A mental nudge from Izuku to pay attention made her want to whimper or whine, but she used the Force to focus and push aside how worked up he'd gotten her while they waited instead. Thankfully, the entire sequence of events had only taken her perhaps thirty seconds, and a local man with sun and sand weathered looks was only just sliding into the booth across from them as she finished mentally gathering herself.

The man was clearly a merchant, rather than a moisture farmer. Well dressed by at least local standards, his sliding into a booth with an equally well dressed and 'obviously wealthy' man like Izuku wouldn't be overly remarked on. Aayla, as the obvious sign of said wealth, would be even less noticed. At least for anything beyond reasons of male lust. Part of the set dressing, rather than a person of interest. Even so, Izuku continued to play the part a little longer.

"Marstrap! Good to see you, I trust business is going well for you, yes?"

The stranger, their contact here on Tatooine, had the rough look that came naturally to everyone born on this sandblasted hell. Despite that, his clothing was of noticeably finer cut than normal, and the blaster on his hip was nearly new. Bendan Marstrap had been an extremely lucky find for them, a man whose family owned one of the major hydroponic gardens on the planet. Everyone needed food, and it didn't exactly grow all that naturally on this planet, making his farm an important and wealth-generating business that even the Hutts forced everyone to play fairly with. He also happened to hate said Hutts, and detested slavery as a rule.

That combination had attracted the eyes of their still very limited spy network. Hutt worlds were places they badly wanted informants, and Izuku had used one of his many shell companies to invest in the Marstrap family. One hydroponic garden had turned into three, and the Shattered Shackles handler assigned to play the role of investor had gotten a good feel for Marstrap. By the time he'd felt the man out, they'd been nearly certain of him, and they'd been right to be. He'd become their primary contact on Tatooine soon after, as well as someone who carefully and quietly managed a stop of the Underground Hyperlane that helped escaped slaves off planet.

"Business has been fantastic, partner! I'm happy you finally managed to stop by in person for a chat about the progress we've made! I think you'll like how well the gardens are doing…"

What followed were several minutes of boring business jargon being thrown around, before Izuku quietly slipped a white-noise device onto the table. The device was a subtle thing, building up signal-fuzzing interference over the course of the next minute or two. If anyone did have a directional mic pointed at them, unlikely but possible if someone suspected Marstrap, it would seem more like their equipment was failing than that they were being jammed. Once the green telltale light finally winked on, the tone of the conversation shifted and the volume of Izuku's voice dropped.

"It truly is good to meet you, Marstrap. We've been extremely pleased with what you've accomplished here. The network you've built is far beyond our expectations."

A far more real smile than the 'business' version that had been firmly plastered on the man's face before made it all the way to Marstrap's eyes, making him look years younger as he responded.

"Even if no more comes of it than the slaves you've already helped me smuggle off planet to freedom, I would count it worth every risk. Thank you for the chance to make a difference. Still, I doubt you'd be here just to check on things. The message I got said you needed local information?"

Izuku nodded and got to the point quickly. 'Equipment failure' would only be believable for so long, if anyone was trying to listen in.

"Yes. Though it's Aayla here that needs something. Love?"

Aayla straightened only a little, not letting her indolent posture shift much, even as she tried to describe what little her meditations had shown her once they'd made planetfall.

"I'm looking for a type of crystal that is of some considerable use to us, and our only lead on where it might be found brought us here. It's largely transparent but gives off a silver or gold glow when you shine light through it."

Aayla went on to describe everything about the crystal she could think of that might help it stand out, though there wasn't much. Thankfully, she'd felt a burst of recognition from the man early on, and it only tightened to certainty as she continued her description. When she finished, he nodded.

"Durindfire. It's a type of crystal found out in the sands of Tatooine. It's almost unknown by the humans here, though. I only know about it as it's valued by the Jawas. They use it to make the lenses for their goggles. Protects their eyes from sun glare out in the sands. Without something like that you can blind yourself quick out there. It virtually never makes its way into human settlements as a result, though. If you're looking for it, you'll have to make contact with one of the Jawa clans. Which is easier said than done."

Aayla frowned, having been to Tatooine once before, she already knew why. Izuku didn't and asked the obvious follow up question when Aayla didn't do so immediately.

"Why? I only read a brief summary of them on the way here, but I understood they traded with the locals?"

Marstrap nodded.

"They do. The problem is that most of said locals aren't exactly on great terms with them. The little scavengers have a reputation for making off with anything that isn't nailed down…and quite a few things that are nailed down, too, if they have half a chance. Worse, they are nomads of a sort, so finding them when you're actually looking for them isn't the easiest thing in the world."

The businessman pursed his lips, tapping the fingers of one hand on the table as he obviously thought for a solution. Slowly, he nodded.

"Only people that have more than a passing relationship with them are junk dealers. There's one here in Mos Espa that's known to deal with them a lot, actually. The place is named Watto's Junk Shop, owned by a Toydarian of the same name. I dislike dealing with him, since he's a slave owner. But he is good, enough so that he's got one of the more successful businesses in Mos Espa. And a good relationship with the Jawas is a major part of the reason for that. Though he's been having a rough go of it the last couple of years. Lost one of his slaves in a pod race, a talented kid that somehow won the Boonta Eve Classic, a few years back."

Aayla's eyes were wide and as submissive posture failed her slightly from sheer shock. Izuku looked over at her with concern, but she was laser focused on their contact.

"That kid's name wasn't Skywalker, was it?"

Marstrap's own surprise was visible as he blinked rapidly at Aayla.

"Er…yeah, actually. Do you follow the pod races or something? Kid shocked everyone, a human winning a pod race! Actually, pretty sure the one slave Watto has left is the kid's mother. Fucking horrible, them having gotten split like that. But at least this time it was for the kid getting freed, rather than sold off to the highest bidder."

Aayla outright swore, lowly and in multiple languages. Izuku was surprised at the violence of a few, along with the fact he could feel her directing every single one of them at the Jedi Council over their bond. Along with an overpowering desire to strangle as many of them as she could get her hands on. With her bare hands, rather than the Force. Gently elbowing her, he sent her a feeling of concern.

"Aayla, what is it?"

She groaned, but he could feel her ruthlessly reign in her desire to 'cut a bitch for stupidity' and release the violent emotions into the Force. She leaned into him again and closed her eyes for a brief few seconds as she did so, and only opened them again to speak once she'd gotten proper control of herself.

"Anakin Skywalker is currently a Jedi Padawan. Apparently, the Council of High Dumbasses didn't go back and free the kid's mother. Leaving a karking emotional landmine buried in one of the most powerful Force Users in recorded history. No kriffing wonder the Force led us to Mos Espa! Looks like we have someone else's mess to clean up, love, which just so happens to give us a good lead on the crystal we're seeking."

Okay, so Aayla was only mostly over the temper flare. But that sounded like a really good reason for having one. Also, that absolutely sounded like the Force at work. It did seem to like subtly nudging people on side-quests before giving them a quest reward. Though Izuku wasn't quite sure why his brain just put it in that context. He'd never been a particularly avid gamer. Shaking that odd thought off, he addressed both of his companions of the moment.

"Well then. It looks like we have both our lead, and a good deed to do before we leave. Marstrap? If you could give us some directions, we'd appreciate it. Along with anything else you happen to know that's relevant."

Marstrap shook himself, clearly having been taken aback by the shift in conversation. Clearly, however, he liked where this was going.

"Gladly! I just hope you can do something about getting her out of there. Watto is a stubborn bastard. Still, he's your best chance of finding the Jawas, and I'm always happy at the idea of getting another slave out of shackles. His junkyard is pretty easy to find…"

Within just a few seconds more, Marstrap had given them some simple directions and a few more possible names to look for if Watto didn't work out. After that, Izuku turned off the white noise generator and they talked random business again for a little longer, before getting up to exit with a new destination in mind…

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Chapter 44 AN 1: Return of the specific kinky bits that drew some of you in :-p. Don't worry, it's not going to take over the story or anything if you're not into it. It's just another fun bit of play for them. Which technically served a purpose...even if one they are having fun with ;-).

Chapter 44 AN 2: The Marstrap family and the Hydroponic Garden thing is at least EU cannon. Though the specific character is not. That family is mentioned somewhere or other as being who the Lars homestead sells water to. With one of their kids being among Luke's friends growing up, I think.

Chapter 44 AN 3: Aayla's opinion of the High Council here reflects my own firmly. I actually DO get the point of not keeping them all in contact with their families. But actively leaving one of their kid's family is slavery is just stupid. You're trying to make a bunch of stable, well-functioning people. So leaving GIANT EMOTIONAL LANDMINES in the past of someone already a bit of an edge case is just too moronic for words.