Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Lux was sure the beeping countdown in one corner of his holographic display was getting louder as time wore on.

Hunched over his HoloNet terminal with his eyes wide and glassy from a few too many hours looking at screens too close to him, Lux Bonteri was hardly the picture of calm regality his father wanted to make of him. He'd gotten his growth spurt later than most, and never quite figured out to do with the extra height when he was sitting down short of sitting straight as a rod.

The sun burned his skin instead of giving it the ruddy tan his father was convinced appealed to the working people, and his eyes looked too dull and grey a green to lend his pallor any extra glow. With nothing but a small lamp and his displays to afford his dark, wood-paneled office any brilliance, he knew he had to look even worse than usual. Thankfully, he was too preoccupied to care.

A red light began to flash above a few lines of code, a failsafe to draw his attention to a missing series of characters before it was too late. Lux's fingers raced to a keypad to his left to fix it on reflex. He was fully in the moment, laser-focused on the task at hand. He had to take the active security measures offline again before the alarms started, or it would be too late to–

The door slid open behind him, and Lux nearly jumped out of his skin.

Muffling a swear or three, he closed the program and scrubbed the computer core of the access history it had archived from the past day – or rather from the past planetary rotation. Technically, it had only been day for two hours.

"You're up early." Lux swallowed another curse at the sound of his father's voice. It was probably best not to tell him he hadn't yet gone to bed.

Lux flushed crimson but said nothing. The first thing he'd learned during his brief stint as junior Senator was if the opposition made an assumption they believed explained everything, it would not do to correct them while their ignorance could be of service. Noble-born or common, his father respected a person's urges, and taking some 'alone time' would be an excellent excuse to hide Lux's latest covert venture.

"There'll be no more need for that, soon," his father said, smiling without warmth as he stared down his nose at Lux. It was one feature they shared; Lux had inherited his sculpted features and dark hair, but that was where the resemblance ended. "I've found you something far better than common filth off the HoloNet."

"I don't understand, Father."

"That's nothing new."

Lux stumbled to his feet and swept into a slight bow to reclaim his dignity before he fell victim to another jibe. "I am sorry, Father. I'll do better next time."

His father sighed, and though Lux didn't dare look up, he had a feeling he'd just been subjected to an exasperated eye roll. "It's time to grow up and face the real world, boy. As it stands you're far too like your mother."

And to think he once loved her. Only three years in the ground and already she's nothing more than a weakness in his eyes. Quietly, but with fire to it, Lux said, "Once you would have been proud of that."

His father bristled and drew himself to his full height – which was regrettably a full five inches taller than Lux was himself – and Lux only kept himself from shrinking away with concerted effort. "You should be grateful I am trying to make you and not break you, Aluxsidrian Noreino. I am equally capable of both."

Aluxsidrian Noreino Bonteri, bearer of two names he hated and one his father made sure no one ever used. The rebel senator and defender of the common people against the Separatists and the even more oppressive Empire that followed, narrowly spared execution upon capture and now Heir-Designate to the Imperator. The tabloids loved how far from those high ideals he'd fallen, and had his father not implemented harsher laws on media broadcasting, Lux had a feeling he'd still be all over the gossip columns even two years after his release.

His existence was miserable. His father had trapped him between a rock and a hard place in the hope that equal doses of fear and the perks of this life he had never wanted would be enough to make a worthy successor of him.

Lux's mother, Mina Bonteri, had been a Senator for the Republic and later for the Separatists, and she'd instilled a love of democracy and equity in him early. He'd been encouraged speak up when freedom was being eaten away by selfishness and greed, when justice was being forsaken for the 'greater good'. And yet, here he was, cooperating with the Imperial Confederacy and more immediately the rule of a man who was gearing up to declare himself dictator of Onderon. The principles Lux had once clung to so dearly were nearly unrecognizable now that the thugs in power had walked all over them.

"I am aware of that, Father, and I am eager to live up to your teachings and serve you any way I can," Lux said robotically, falling back on a hollow apology that had pacified many a tutor in the past. "My life is yours to do with what you will."

Literally and figuratively, he added to himself.

Zakhan Seruz Lorren Noreino sniffed and began walking back toward the door. "Be in my audience chamber in fifteen minutes. And for Dxun's sake make sure you look more than halfway presentable for once."

As though to spite them both, a few locks of hair drooped back down onto his forehead as Lux finally rose up from the bow. Despite his nerves, he had to hold back a long-suffering sigh. Kyzeron's oppressive equatorial humidity stole any chance at keeping his hair slicked back into place for more than five minutes – a fact his father seemed not to realize, and chose to label a general uncaringness for his appearance. As for the rest, it wasn't his fault he'd been forced to wake up at 0300 hours to catch the security refresh on that Imperial database!

He'd been waiting three months, only to have the whole business botched by his father. Swallowing anger, Lux rushed into the boxy little room that served as his closet in search of something worthy of a public appearance. If his father wanted him to put on a show, he'd do just that. He had two years of practice at it already.

Lux had never liked Noreino House, the gaudy, claustrophobic palace as unoriginal as its name his father had had built at the very center of Kyzeron to symbolize their family's might. He liked the bounty hunters and slavers that hung around its halls even less, but there was something satisfying about seeing them run for the shadowy corners from whence they came as he passed by. Few were brave enough to risk upsetting the sensibilities of their host's son with their presence.

He liked the Great Hall, his father's audience chamber and favorite place to hold court, least of all. It was a cheap mockery of the one in Unifar Temple in Iziz, where King Dendup greeted his subjects and listened to their questions. Noreino House had matched the grandeur, but not the spirit or the architectural elegance.

"...and where is that useless boy?" his father's voice floated down the hall, none of its sharpness lost in the echo. Though it wasn't his father's way to scold Lux too badly in front of their subordinates, he picked up the pace. He was more likely to be left alone to attend to his daily tasks if his father was in a good mood.

The instant he set foot in the Great Hall, Lux noticed several things out of place. Firstly, his father was at ground level instead of his usual spot on the podium dominated by two ornate thrones. He was deep in conversation with a blubbering little man whose fingers, tipped with yellow from years of spice use, moved in agitated little circles every time he spoke.

Secondly, guards in Noreino livery stood at attention around the room, belying what Lux could only guess was an attempt to look more approachable. Zakhan was compensating for the loss of strength the high ground afforded him with more troops – he never ceased to worry about the image he presented to the people he ruled over in everything but name. Lux would bet the fact that the guards were his personal force and not part of the Imperial garrison was no accident, either – just another means of sending a message about personal power.

Thirdly, and most glaringly, half a dozen scantily clad young people waited in a row beside the thin golden-haired man Lux knew as Heron Felarra, his father's head of staff – both willing hires and not. Today the cavernous room was thick with local scum and villainy, all eyeing the quaking group from beyond the perimeter the guards created.

"Ah, son. There you are," said his father, a proud smile on his face but a sneer in his eyes. Lux knew that look: his father had found some new way to test his mettle as a future leader, and there would be consequences if he didn't pass.

"Father," Lux greeted him warily, dipping his head.

Zakhan clapped one hand on Lux's shoulder to turn him toward the line of girls standing before them. With his free hand he gestured widely to the lot, and from there his dangerous smile only grew. "I let you have first pick."

Lux had to choose someone. A scantily clad someone. A pleasure slave.

With the part of his mind not focused on quelling the urge to throw up, Lux desperately wished he could've faced the firing squad with honor like his old rebel comrades instead of being plucked away when his head was two from the chopping block. The halls of his ancestors had to be better than this hell he lived in as a walking contradiction: destined uphold his father's legacy of slavery when the thought of any person being sold to another made him sick to his stomach.

Lux managed a weak smile and stepped away from his father's side, willing himself not to panic. This could be factored into his plans – not easily, but it was still possible. He had nothing to fear so long as he showed no fear.

The girls recoiled a step when he drew nearer, prompting a harsh word and a slap to the nearest girl's arm from Felarra. Trying to find it in him to smile for their sakes, Lux began walking the length of the row.

The first one, a Human who looked four or five years his junior, had curly red hair and a smattering of freckles across his nose. Crying had made his fair skin – fairer even than Lux's – red and splotchy. When a single look from him made more tears jump to his eyes, Lux quickly moved on.

The next person was a woman, a little older and wonderfully curvy. Her blank stare made Lux sad. Once, she must've been defiant enough to keep bouncing back despite the blasts to her nervous system from her tracker, but no longer. The stress had sapped all awareness from her, and even as the wheels in his mind began to turn Lux said a quick prayer it was enough to make the ordeal easier on her.

A girl with limited awareness could be just what he needed, if he were to choose an optimal outcome for this situation. She would be least likely to decide something was amiss with how he spent his free time and report back to his father.

Several horrible comments about how a submissive woman suited his tastes already on his tongue, Lux began to turn back to his father. But he stopped dead when he saw the last one in the line: a Togruta with eyes as blue as the Inland Sea.

She small and nicely shaped for her slenderness, but the heavy crown of her montrals made her look taller than she was. Her white stripes were bright and clear against unblemished orange skin, a sign of good health for members of her species. Her lips were full and dark, and parted ever so slightly.

Physically, there was nothing all that remarkable about her. By conventional standards, she was the least attractive there. What really set her apart was the sheer power she exuded. She was his equal, even his superior, in a way he couldn't explain but that utterly transcended the social boundaries between slaves and masters.

Her back was straight, her shoulders were squared and her face was tilted up confidently to stare at him. He couldn't look away, not from those eyes... those eyes.

He felt like he was seeing Steela Gerrera in a whole other face: that same eagerness, that same kindness, that same drive to conquer and might to make it so. There was a hidden depth to this Togruta girl's eyes that made her look older than her small frame suggested, like she'd seen too much before her time, but Lux thought little of it. He was too far gone the second their eyes met, when the girl smiled lightly like she had been expecting the attention and was welcoming it.

Lux didn't even bother looking at the slaves that stood ahead of her. His mouth was open before he realized it, speaking louder than he'd expected as he proclaimed to all that he chose her.

"Is that your final choice, Aluxsidrian?" his father asked in veiled disdain. Lux came out of his daze just enough to realize Zakhan thought the girl too plain to be worthy of him. He had to be questioning Lux's reasoning, his eyesight, his ability to lead... none of which he could justify truthfully without seeming weak.

"Yes, Father," he said, and the words came effortlessly. "I could not hope to take the most beautiful for myself. Clearly, this lot was meant as a tribute to your greatness. I will reap my rewards once I am owed them; my star is still rising."

For a split-second, Lux though he saw a flicker of pride cross his father's face. Then, it vanished into an unreadable, stony expression once again. "And rise higher it may yet. I hope you don't regret your choice. With any luck, her performance will be better than her looks. I still have some matters to discuss with my... new friend, who so kindly bestowed this gift upon us."

Lux wanted to fire back a reply, but some force made him hold his tongue. He turned back to motion for the girl, but she was already close behind him, staring up at him with those enticing eyes of hers. Her gaze was magnetic, and the desire to protest his father's vile talk quickly faded as he got lost in it all over again.

She followed him without question as he walked out of the Great Hall, her steps light and graceful. That, at least, was enough unlike Steela to give him some measure of peace: he could still remember her heavy, confident gait, the way the metal spurs on her favorite boots clattered over the stonework in the old downtown area of Iziz... She'd always sped up to a certain pace, a certain metallic tempo, when she was going to make a grab for his hand.

Lux shook the train of thought away when the memories started weighing too heavily on him, and took a few calming breaths. Now was not the time to go reopening old wounds – gods knew he still had too many he was still trying to close. Best to focus on the Togruta girl instead. Despite the hint of similarity she bore to his old love, she was an entirely separate person.

The fog around his mind lifted at that, and Lux realized that for a long time, they'd been walking in silence, both of them more content to keep to their own thoughts than attempt a conversation. Hoping he wouldn't be making things more awkward than they already were by speaking, he said, "Tell me about yourself."

"Master?" Her voice was soft and musical in a way that couldn't have been accidental. In a sobering burst of cynicism, Lux wondered what else about the image she projected now was being catered to him.

"Your name, your age, where you're from... that sort of thing."

"I was born on Shili, almost nineteen years ago by Galactic Standard."

"Eighteen?" His brows shot up. "Forgive me. You just seemed so much younger, uh..."

"Alynna, master," she offered after a pause. "Alynna Taari."

Lux couldn't help but notice that there was something off about the way she said it, like her own name was unfamiliar to her. "Is that your real name?"

There was just the right amount of confusion in Alynna's incredible blue eyes. "Of course, master. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I've met people who were renamed, because whatever person they served thought their birth name wasn't... uh, suitable. I guess I thought maybe there was something else you'd prefer to be called," he said. Then he stopped short, beginning to smile. "Hang on, did you just talk back to me?"

For the first time, the girl's shiny veneer cracked, and beneath it she looked terrified. "I'm sorry, master," she said quickly, bowing her head. "I didn't mean–"

"No, it's all right," he interrupted gently. "I've just never met a... person of your station who didn't answer me in clipped sentences. It's refreshing, actually."

"I didn't have to talk much in the service of my old master, so I didn't have the chance to practice proper etiquette as much as some of the others. I was mostly just a decoration, not a–" This time, Alynna cut herself off, then bowed her head lower still. "I did it again. Forgive me."

"It's all right," he said with a soft laugh. When her expression didn't shift, he sighed. "From now on, I want you speak your mind, and give me your truthful and honest opinion, whenever it's the two of us. I'm not going to hurt you, Alynna."

She looked up at him, an odd expression on her face. "Well, if you don't mind me saying it, you're not like the others I've served." She pursed her lips in a way that Lux found made her look even younger – cute, almost. "You're not quite like anyone I've known in a long time."

"I get that a lot. I'm not exactly what a lot of people expect." Lux bit back a chuckle halfway, but she still caught it, looking up at him with a hint of a smile. "Do you find that's a good thing, or do I just seem weird to you?"

"A good thing, I think?" Alynna replied tentatively, and though the words had come out in a stammer, she was considerably more relaxed than before. Perhaps there was a chance at making this easier for her after all.

"That's good enough for me."

Ahsoka has crossed paths with another major player in this book: Lux Bonteri, known to most nowadays as Aluxsidrian Noreino. But his life took a marked turn from what we've seen from him in another universe. How did he get here? Why does he follow such an overbearing father? What happened to the rebellion against the Separatists he took part in? Ahsoka must not have been involved or had any other major role in his life if he doesn't recognize her now, but perhaps there's another explanation. Only time will tell...

I'm very happy with the introduction I gave Lux in this chapter. He's being pulled in a lot of different directions, and now he's about to be pulled in yet another one. Don't know about you guys, but I always felt that in TCW Ahsoka showed up just when Lux needed to have his way of thinking challenged, to see another perspective.

This time the new perspective may have been a bit forced, though. Was that trance he fell into as he chose her a mind trick? It felt like a mind trick to me... which could complicate things a bit. Lux definitely isn't weak minded, and while Ahsoka was lucky he was drawn to her this time, if she tries it again, she might run into major trouble...