Morru lay awake in her bed, counting the stars that hung upon her ceiling.

Long ago on Iridonia, some researcher or other had published a lecture which stated that in order to reach optimal health, children should always be made to sleep in the great outdoors. When that could not be practically achieved, natural imagery in its finest form could and should be substituted. Maldad, although less than the ideal caretaker, wanted his slaves to be as healthy as possible. After all, if it would avoid time-consuming and costly constitutional problems later, then it was worth his attention.

And so it was that Morru found herself in her old room aboard the sentient vessel Anomaly, inundated by the sounds and smells of a cool summer night.

Ten years ago, she had found it refreshing to be here; it had been, in a way, her own private world, her escape from the horrors of daily life with such a sadist as Maldad. Horrors which she feared she was doomed now to relive.

Now, however, she found it stifling - dead in some sort of way which she could not put into words.

It did not occur to her until precisely 3:40 am standard time that the reason she found her environment so wrong was quite obvious: like her fellow travelers, she had been cut off from the Force. It was one thing to be here when she was younger, when she was planet-side so rarely that the limited Force-contact space-travel caused did not even disturb her sleep. But now, now that she had experienced Life, now that she had known the sensation of the Force flowing through her as she slept in the real outdoors.... this was unacceptable. And especially now that Anomaly had cut off any contact with the Force whatsoever.

She lay thinking for a minute; Maldad had ordered Anomaly to close his passengers off from the Force. In a way that was good--after all, the Sith had no contact with the Force, either. But the Jedi were helpless then, too.

And damnit all, she couldn't sleep.

Morru lay where she was a moment longer, considering her options. Finally, she spoke.

"Hey, Anomaly."

"Yes, Morru?" Anomaly responded, cheerful any time of day or night.

"What exactly did Maldad say concerning the Force while we are all here?"

"He said that the Jedi must be put in Force-hold, Morru. Is this not to your liking?"

Ah... a possible loophole, if Anomaly could pull it off. And Morru had yet to find anything that Anomaly couldn't pull off.

"Anomaly, do you think you could release the Force-hold from me because I'm not a Jedi?"

Anomaly seemed to consider.

"I cannot remove the Force-hold from you completely. My sensors would overcompensate and overload."

Morru thought a moment more; not an easy task for one as tired as she.

"So... could you maybe lessen it around me? Just so I could get some sleep?"

Anomaly considered.

"You are no Jedi. Master Maldad's instructions were that the Jedi would have no contact with the Force. Would it make you happy if I lessen the Force on you because you are not Jedi?"

"Yes, Anomaly."

"Then it is done," said Anomaly, always happy to comply. "Are you pleased now, Morru?"

Morru did not answer. For a moment, lying there in her bed, she felt as though she had never breathed, never lived before in her life. The all-extensive fingers of the Force, though still partially shadowed, filled her, connecting her, making her for a moment one with beings light-years away, even beings that no one in the Republic had seen. And for a strange, bewildering moment, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was life beyond the barrier... that travel there could be achieved... and she was reminded what Anomaly's original purpose for existence was...

And then her sensitivity returned to normal, and she was breathing again.

"Morru?" Anomaly spoke again, concern tainting in his still-too-cheerful voice.

"Yes, Anomaly..." Morru spoke breathlessly. "I'm fine now, Anomaly. Thank you so much--now I can sleep. Goodnight, Anomaly. Communication end."

Morru drifted off to sleep, content in her lessened but present state of awareness of the worlds around her, and never once thinking about what Anomaly meant to lessen the Force-hold on all non-Jedi personnel.

***

The next morning, Morru seemed much more...relaxed... than she had the night before. At least, so she appeared to Mace Windu. But as she sat in the lounge area, waiting for everyone to arrive so she could begin what she called "Story-Time," she was very careful not to let anyone come near her. If anyone tried, she simply moved to another corner of the room. Windu was considering whether following the roving girl would be worth ferreting out her reasons for isolationism when the Chancellor made his appearance, completing the quorum. Smiling as if with a secret, she sat primly on the edge of her seat and waited for everyone to assemble themselves around the room.

Darth Maul was noticeably missing.

So was Anakin Skywalker. Apparently, they were going to let the young Padawan sleep in.

"Well, young lady?" prompted Mundi. "I suppose now you're going to tell us exactly what your connection here is and how exactly we are going to re-awaken our midichlorians?"

Morru looked carefully at her audience. "You are all taking this very calmly," she said.

The Jedi looked back at her impassively. Palpatine chuckled.

"I think that's part of their job description, my dear. As for me.... well, I've seen enough excitement in my service to the Republic. This is... inconvenient," he continued as the others in the room looked at him with some small surprise. "I just hope the Republic can stand strong with so many of it's leaders out of ac...."

"Morru, now shall tell what you know," interrupted Yoda. Apparently when not in the Temple, his tolerance for the Chancellor's inflated speeches had waned.

"Well..." Morru began, unsure. Then her eyes found the solid eyes of the Chancellor, and she felt... impossible as it was... that he was sending her strength and encouragement, as though through the Force. A numbing, comfortable empathy...

Shaking her head slightly, she looked around the room and continued.

"As I'm sure you've gathered by now, I have a... history... of sorts with the owner of this vessel. Ungrid Maldad, one of the greatest minds in Clone research, resident of Iridonia... and my former master." She let that information sink in before resuming.

"This ship, the Anomaly, was--is--his finest creation. Originally designed for deep space travel--deep, deep space travel--in this he managed to re-create himself, in immature version, that is. This ship has a seven year old Maldad for a brain. That makes it totally unique, like a living being. In fact, he was growing and maturing like a living being until for some reason Maldad decided he didn't want Anomaly to outgrow him, or something, and removed Anomaly's maturity chip.

'"But the 'body'--well, Anomaly was designed with one purpose in mind: it was designed to carry passengers--explorers--beyond the barrier." She paused, half-remembering for one moment the sensation she had had the night before of otherness outside her known galaxy...

"Outside the barrier? That is impossible. The Barrier completely surrounds this galaxy. We've known it's impossible to cross for a very long time..."

"But Maldad found a way," Morru insisted without the slightest sound of excitement in her voice. "And he designed this ship to somehow handle the stress of the Barrier and bring people safely back and forth."

"But how do you know such a thing would work, my dear?" Morru started slightly as Palpatine's soft, almost sensual voice broke in. There was something about the way he was speaking, the way he was looking at her...

She regained her senses.

"Because he did it already."

Stunned silence met this statement, as of course she knew it would. Morru could only wish that she'd been able to catch a holo of the most powerful men in the Republic with comically shocked looks on their faces.

"That's another story." Morru continued to speak, rushing ahead, her hands now twisting against one another and her voice rising, slightly wavering in pitch. "You need to know more about Maldad now. He's... he's totally sadistic. Like nobody you've ever met before, because he's so cold about it. I saw him once... I've seen him do things... to people... to my mother..."

For a moment, Morru faltered. And then she felt it... there was no doubt at all that she felt it... Palpatine was sending her strength. It had a warm, sort of buzzing effect. She had the weird sensation that if she succumbed to this impossible thing-that-he-couldn't-be-doing-because-there-was-no-Force-and-besides-he-wasn't-a-Jedi, she would fall into a trance. Even if, for some reason, the Force-hold did not apply to him, the influence he was extending toward her was far too strong to simply be empathetic. Shaking it, she tried to continue.

"He has you all here because of me. I'm the only slave who ever escaped from him - one of the only ones who ever escaped from Iridonia, period. You see, there's a...."

And at that moment, something else impossible happened.

The "door" at the back of the room smoothly and silently opened, and Darth Maul stepped casually into the room.

Without the Force to alert them to new presences in the vicinity, the Jedi were only tipped off by the look on Morru's face.

As one they turned.

Unnoticed, Palpatine smiled. Occasionally, his student's precociousness surprised even him.

Darth Maul, resplendent in the same black robes with which he had first faced Qui-Gon Jinn, crossed his arms and smiled charmingly at his fellow inmates.

"How did you get out of your room?" Asked Morru in a very young voice.

"Maldad ordered me out." This was not strictly true. However, no one had ever been able to fault a Sith for lying poorly. "He said that he wanted us all together for something he called... story time."

Maul continued to stand where he was and smile. The Jedi continued to sit where they were and stare. Palpatine had to stifle the sudden and insane urge to giggle.

"Pray," prompted the younger Sith in his mellifluous voice. "Continue."

Morru hesitated, perused the growing tension among her audience, and began speaking strictly to draw attention back to her and away from more dangerous areas. As a result, she really wasn't paying attention to what she was saying.

"I... have a... thing..." she was still wringing her hands. Actually, thought Obi-Wan as he looked more closely, she was not wringing her hands--she was wringing her wrists.

Maul suddenly provided the third surprise of the morning by brazenly crossing the room in three brazen steps and arriving at Morru's side. Before anyone could respond, he grabbed Morru's left arm and held it up in question-answering position, as though he couldn't decide whether to wrench her to her feet or present her as a prize.

"I recognize this," he said in a low, sensual voice, keeping his eyes on hers and his audience guessing as to what he was talking about.

"This bracelet," he said, not breaking eye-contact, "is of Mandalorian make. It is a slave bracelet. The wearer--which would be you--is tied for life to the bearer of the little black box--which would be Maldad. As long as he has that box, he controls you--because he controls your pain. He could actually kill you with pain." Maul leaned closer, his innate sensuality and desire for her momentarily overwhelming everyone in the room. "He owns you," he said in a low, vibrating tone.

"That is enough," said Mace Windu, standing and moving to interpose himself in between Maul and Morru, who had lost all color in her face. For a moment the two men stood nose to nose, Maul snarling silently, Windu impassionate but firm.

There was a horrible moment in which nobody moved.

Then Maul smirked and let go of Morru, stepping away from Windu as he did so.

Windu looked from Maul to Morru, the former once again at informal attention with arms crossed and the latter rubbing her arm and looking very pale although Maul's touch had not hurt her at all.

In fact, quite the opposite.

"Sith, you will step away from this young woman. Once you have done that, you will be permitted to remain in the room. If, however, you try to resist or cause trouble in any way again, I do not care what Maldad does or does not say--we will destroy you."

Maul looked amused. Worse, he looked defiant. But with a careful nod, he stood down. Walking to the other side of the room, he leaned back against the wall and said not another word for the rest of the morning's entertainment.

"Of course, that cannot be true," said Mundi, very carefully, ignoring the episode that had just occurred between Windu and Maul. "We--the Jedi, that is--eliminated the evil of the Mandalorians years ago. The very thought of that bracelet being Mandalorian is ludicrous." He was not prepared for Morru's response.

She turned a baleful, powerful glare on him, still unconsciously rubbing her wrist.

"Cannot be true? Cannot be true?" she said in rapidly rising pitch. "Oh, no, of course not. Not after the great Jedi handled the situation, naturally not. Oh, no. You went in and killed all the big bad Mandalorians. Bully for you. Of course, you never thought that someone might show up after you were gone and pick up all the Mandalorian equipment that you Jedi just left lying around. Oh, now, they'd never do that. Well, somebody did!" She nearly shouted now, a sound that was almost hysterical in its misery and bitterness. "And that technology has been used against me and my people for generations!'"

And as quickly as she had gotten upset, she calmed down again.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, addressing Mundi with downcast eyes. "I've had to live with this thing all my life; so did my mother, and her mother before her. I've lost friends' lives to this, some because they tried to escape but most just because their masters felt like playing with them. I'm the only person I've ever even heard of who escaped--and now I'm back in Maldad's clutches, and he's never going to let me go, even if you all get free. I am going to suffer and die, no matter what, because I shamed him by escaping before my breaking-in party. And all because of this... this thing... which you forgot to destroy in a moment of `oops.' Slaves on Iridonia curse your names, Jedi." She let that sink in. "And so did I, until I met Qui-Gon."

Morru rose, mindfully putting her hands at her sides. "I am going to my room. Story time is over for now."

And with that, she walked out.

And ran into Anakin in the hallway.

"Ani," she said in surprise as the door closed behind her and cut off all communications.

***

Windu turned to glare once more at Maul. His voice was all the more weighty because of its lack of volume.

"You will leave her alone, Sith," he said dangerously.

"My name," Maul said casually as though making introductions at a dinner party, "is Maul. I do not expect you to call me by my earned title, but you may feel free to use my name." And then he turned and walked through the wall at his end of the room and away.

***

"What's wrong, Anakin?" asked Morru. Ani's expression was one of someone suffering severe constipation.

"I don't know what happened, Morru," he said. "I just woke up and... and I have the Force back. But it's weird... it's like it's filtered. Shadowy. And I can't feel the other Jedi--I think they can't feel me, either."

Morru knelt, trying to look more reassuring than she felt. After her stressful morning, she couldn't think of a good lie to tell the boy; so she settled for the truth.

"Well, Anomaly doesn't have a regular life-support system. He was meant for really, really deep space travel, and part of the problem with deep space travel is keeping an entire ship's life-support systems on line for the duration. That's why Maldad made Anomaly the way he did; each of us actually has a type of force-field around us. We did the moment we came on board. In that field, all our needs are taken care of; our own air is regenerated, given back to us to breathe. Our temperature is regulated, everything. But the field is slightly electric, which is why Maldad was able to zap us all earlier.

"Last night," Morru told Ani without hesitation. "I managed to convince Anomaly to lessen the Force-hold in my life-field--that's what Maldad calls them. Anomaly did, but apparently he also lessened it for all the non-Jedi, including you. And, I'm afraid," Morru said, mentally kicking herself for not thinking this through the night before, "also around the Sith lord."

"And around the Chancellor," said Anakin.

"Right," said Morru. "The Chancellor. I don't know if Anomaly can reverse that or not... we can find out... but at least Maul can't try any funny business. If he did, Anomaly would fry him. Let's see... hey, Anomaly!"

"Yes, Morru?"

"Could you replace the Force-hold on Maul?"

"No, Morru, and I can't replace it on you, either. Master Maldad told me so this morning."

Morru cursed mentally. "Thanks anyway, Anomaly," she said with a sigh. "Communication end."

"All right--just don't tell the Jedi now. I will break the news to them later, but right now if I told them, they'd panic. And that would be bad. So... keep it to yourself, okay?"

Anakin nodded. He knew when to keep his mouth shut.

The wall soundlessly opened behind Morru.

"Miss S'mec," came Mundi's voice. "Apparently Maldad has given all of us access to roaming the ship."

Morru sighed. "To a certain extent. Just don't get lost. Now," she said, straightening, "anybody want some food?"

Still a little boy in spite of himself and the grim situation, Anakin jumped lightly up and down on his toes.

"Yippee!"

***

Maul continued moving down the hallway away from the Jedi and his master, cursing himself for his stupidity. He could have ruined everything back there, absolutely everything. At the moment, Palpatine did not yet know why Morru needed protection; he thought vengeance was the motive. But for that brief moment, when his flesh had actually been in contact with hers, he had almost lost his senses, and right in front of Lord Sidious, had practically announced that he wanted her. Wanted her. Sidious was sure to know there was lust involved now, but he couldn't know anything else. He mustn't.

And then of course, there was the whole issue of Maldad's hatred for her, Maul's chosen one...

Cursing volubly now, Maul continued walking, thinking. He would have to move more quickly now. Time was running short.

***

The rest of that day passed with little or no incident. There were a few snippings in the kitchen area between Sith (the younger, that is) and Jedi which threatened to degenerate into blows, but that was ended quickly enough when a quick but harmless shock hit each of the would-be combatants. Apparently, Anomaly had been previously instructed on how to deal with such problems.

Maldad, for his part, was inanely happy, staying in his private quarters, musing in his lab, humming to himself and leaving the running of his vessel and the maintenance of his prisoners up to Anomaly.

Things were... boring. Plain and simple. Sigh-yourself-to-sleep-dull. Or at least, that's what Morru thought. She had expected fireworks of one sort or another by now, but the only interesting thing was the tentative connection now between herself, Maul, Anakin, and Palpatine, and but nothing seemed to be coming of that. Perhaps... just perhaps... they might get out of this after all.

Morru chided herself later that night when everything was over, when she went back to bed, that she should really have known better than to ever think such things.

At two o' clock in the morning, Morru suddenly sat straight up in bed screaming Anakin's name.

***

"Ani!" she shouted. Of course, there was no answer. Anakin, whatever danger he was in, was rooms away, and couldn't hear her. Audibly.

"help" came through in her mind, and she immediately flung off her covers and left her room, wondering what good she could possibly be, and wishing that she had bothered to learn where all the Jedi were sleeping. She bolted through the hallways, briefly wondering why it was so dark.

Following her instinct, she raced into the half-lit kitchen and found a strange sight:

Anakin, sitting in shadows on the counter, protectively holding to his chest what looked like palli fruit. In front of him, holding a butcher knife (and only Heaven knew how he had gotten hold of that) looking positively murderous was Maul. In a brief psychic insight, she knew all.

They were fighting over food.

Morru lost it.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed. Anakin was startled enough that he dropped one of his precious fruits, but Maul's eyes never left the brat.

The brat? Damn, thought Morru. The Sith's thoughts are affecting me now... but she had too much momentum to back off now.

"Don't you pay attention to ANYTHING that goes on here? Don't you remember what happened earlier when you and Obi-Wan almost fought and you both got knocked on your asses by Anomaly's electricity? Don't you know ANYTHING at ALL?"

Maul looked at her, shocked. She stood shadowed in the "doorway" of the kitchen, hair streaming down her back, eyes wide and glaring, and her teeth actually bared. She looked ferocious.

Maul almost took her right then and there.

"I'm sorry, Morru," Anakin broke in apologetically. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't found out about the sleep circuit..."

"The sleep circuit?" Morru cried shrilly. "Who the hell told you about the sleep circuit?"

"Well... Anomaly did," answered Anakin, sounding very shy. "We were talking and Anomaly told me all about the sleep circuit and how it's on and so he shuts down about this time every other night and I was hungry and nobody was around and so I figured I'd go get something to eat but Darth Maul was here and we argued over who would get the last pallis and ..." he trailed off and hung his head.

Morru clenched her teeth and turned to look at Maul.

"And you? What's your story?"

Maul drew himself up and glared at her, the lust in his eyes being replaced by something much more dangerous.

"Take care how you speak to me, woman. I am not your equal. I am a Lord of the Sith, and you will give me the respect I am due or I will teach it to you." His own eyes narrowed; his voice lowered. "Anomaly cannot help you now." Neither he nor Morru noticed the awed look Anakin gave him.

Morru narrowed her eyes to slits, an expression which would probably have had a terrifying effect on anyone who was not a Sith lord.

"You listen to me," she hissed, and his posture grew more menacing. "Do you think I give a damn about what you can do to me? I'm dead anyway! On this ship, I'm dead. Maldad is going to kill me. I have felt the pain of this," she said, raising her left arm with a vicious shake. "And there is nothing... nothing... that you can do to me that would be worse than the fate I am now doomed to have. Take your threats where they'll be more appreciated, Sith, because I'm not buying them."

They stood, breathing hard, eyes glaring, arms crossed in an unconscious imitation of one another. Anakin had never felt such tension in his life, not even when the Jedi Council was arguing about him. He wondered that they didn't both burst into flames right then and there.

Maul looked at the woman in amazement. She was so strong. Even the threat of his presence alone should have cowed her, but knowing what he was, knowing there was no help for her if he chose to attack, and feeling the black depths of his anger toward her and his hatred toward all that she represented should have been enough to at least make her frightened. But there she stood, honestly not giving a damn if he hurt her.

So he turned around and grabbed Anakin by the wrist and hung him in the air.

In pain, the boy cried out.

Morru uncrossed her arms. "You had better put him down," she said very quietly, her own posture indicating the insanest of all things: that she was close to physically attacking him. Attacking the Sith...

"I will not," Maul said, and raised the knife in his left hand.

"Put him down," she commanded a little louder, and most men would have. But Maul was an expert at reading people; her eyes were wide, no longer slits, and they were trained on the boy, not him. She did not want the boy to get hurt. She was, in fact, more concerned for his well-being than for her own.

Ah, foolish mortals. Love was such a weakness...

Perhaps this could be turned to his advantage.

"I will put him down... in exchange for something," wheedled Maul in sly, quiet tones.

Morru looked at him, trying to read his eyes. Her own widened more in horror.

"No, no..." Maul said, and actually chuckled. "I don't want that--not now--that will come in time. You will come to me of your own free will. Right now, however, in exchange for this boy's life..."

He looked toward the ceiling, gently and meditatively tapping his chin with the flat of the butcher knife. He looked back at her with a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

"One kiss."

She looked at him for a moment in silence. Anakin looked back and forth between them, no comprehension of any kind on his face.

Her brows knit slightly.

"One kiss?"

"Yes."

"Just one? No strings attached? No groping or anything else? Just one kiss?"

Maul seemed to shrug. "Yes. One. And nothing else. But not now--when I want it."

Morru's jaw opened and she looked at him as though he were crazy. Maul stiffened and unconsciously drew the knife closer to the boy. Morru S'mec would have to be taught a great deal about respect before their time together was up.

"You're kidding."

"No. One kiss when I say it is time. I want your word on this, woman."

Morru swallowed, still sure of some trick. But this was Ani's life...

She took a deep breath.

"All right. I give you my word. Let him go. Gently!..." Too late. Maul dropped Anakin to the floor with a thud. The boy lay where he was, looking at Maul with a respect that would have horrified Morru had she noticed.

"Your word is given, woman. I will collect."

And then, with perfect timing, the lights came on. Anomaly was once again awake.

Smiling, Maul put the knife on the counter, bent to pick up the fallen palli fruit, and then walked toward and past Morru, back to his room. He was sure to brush in full body contact past her as he went.

Morru stood where she was, very pale.

"Are you all right, Anakin?"

He stood, rubbing his arm. This was nothing special--he had been handled more roughly when he was a slave.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you. What... happened here?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about. Just promise me you won't tell any of the Jedi. No, not even Obi-Wan. Please--they'd be so worried..."

Anakin looked more confused than ever. "All right, Morru. Because you saved me. But I don't think Master Kenobi will like this when he finds out."

"He's not going to," she said, and put a hand to her forehead. "Nobody's going to," she repeated as if to herself.

Ani looked at her. "He spoke with such authority," he said. Morru looked at him. He sounded impressed--much more so than he should have been. "I've never heard anyone--not even Master Yoda--speak with such power. I wish I'd had power like that to tell Watto to let my mother go."

Morru knelt and grasped Ani's shoulders. "Yes, he did. But forget it Ani," she said intensely. "Don't go down that road. He may speak with power, but it's power that he has no right to own. It's stolen, and that makes it bad. Do you understand?"

She knew, deep down, that this was a stupid argument, but for some reason her thinking circuits seemed to be out of whack.

"Yes," he said carefully, avoiding her eyes. "I understand." But something dark had begun to swirl in Anakin Skywalker, something that if Morru's midichlorians had been allowed full range she would have seen and maybe had a chance to intercept...

Then he looked around the newly-lit kitchen with disappointment.

"Drat," he said.

"What?" asked Morru. Her heart was beginning to feel very heavy over the events that had occurred in the kitchen that night.

"He took all the palli fruit."

As if in a trance, Morru prepared a small snack for the boy. Then, leaving him to fend for himself, Morru retreated to her bedroom. The ramifications of what she had promised were only beginning to hit her.

She did not get to sleep until the faked nature of her bedroom had begun to show dawn on the horizon.

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