***30 January 2005 –Operation Sasseke’s freedom

 

“Move it, prisoner.”

Aaricia limped towards the hotel. So many times she had walked here, but now she was cuffed, bandaged, wearing some prison suit and she wasn’t able to say a word.

She was escorted by two imperial cadets and some stormtroopers. As they approached Vesper Square it started to feel very realistic.. she was about to be executed.

 

 

She felt a lot of things, on one hand she didn’t care. Someday it would have happened anyway; if the Imperials would capture her and find out that she was a member of the Rebel Alliance she would definitely be executed. She wasn’t the only one, a lot of rebels endured these kind of treatments every day. It was the sacrifice that the Alliance had to make in their fight to bring down the New Order, it was horrible but inevitable. And today Aaricia was just one of those unlucky people..

On the other hand she felt very scared, scared to die. She knew that if the Empire would capture her, she would die, but that it had to be now.. if felt like too soon. She was only 21.. actually she didn’t want to die, not at all! She wanted to scream, she wanted to run away but this was impossible. She was not able to run, and she couldn’t even say a word.

She wanted to let herself fall, let them drag her onto the stairs of the government building. But it wouldn’t make any difference. She was about to die, at least she could do it with some honor.. the little bit of honor that was left of her.

There were a lot of people on the square, and a lot of stormtroopers too. The people were standing far away from her, against the wall of the theatre.

“Move it!”, one of the cadets barked at her, as she was slowly walking up the stairs while watching the people. She hoped that they wouldn’t arrest Lella or Bill, she hoped that they wouldn’t be there. But they were some of Aaricia’s best friends, big chance that they actually would be there. They would be captured.. and that was all her fault. She had mentioned their names during the interrogation..

 

 

They knew that she was a member of the Alliance, and they knew that at least some of them would come and watch.. maybe even try to free her. They had made a trap for them, and the only thing Aaricia could do was watch. She saw the little boy and gasped, he had his camera with him and was watching the civilians. Poor kid, he was about to die too.

“Yeah execute her!”, she heard some people yelling.

Stupid people, stupid sheep. They didn’t think for themselves, the only thing they wanted to see was action. An execution was not somebody that got killed, but amusement. She had watched executions herself many times before now, and never had she understood those people..

This was just another execution, but this time she was the highlight of the show. She didn’t feel any pain anymore, that many adrenaline was pumped into her bloodstream.

Nooooo I don’t wanna die, somebody get me out of here, I wanna live!

She was standing on top of the stairs, the same place were other people had preceded her. At least she wasn’t the only one. Tears crawled over her cheeks, she saw the public watching. Some faces she recognized.

I may die tonight, but at least I have pursued my dreams. At least I have had a free mind. I have fought for freedom, it was worth it.

 

Soon some Imperial officer would start giving a speech with a lot of bullshit and lies in it, Aaricia sighed. It was all lies, and she couldn’t say a thing. Her tongue was tranquilized, the bastards. She couldn’t even say a last word. She was dying and she couldn’t even.. say a last word.

An Imperial officer ascended the stairs, pointing at her. When she saw his face she gasped.. Jobosan? What the hell?

“I will file all of this. I need to take her with me now, orders from high command!”, he said with an angry voice.

Aaricia closed her eyes and opened them again, staring at his face, but not too long. It really was Jobosan! The Alliance was trying to free her! In the right corner of her eyes she saw him grumbling.

“Look, I have to take her to Dathomir prison now. She cannot be killed now. I only follow orders and you are not allowed to kill her.”

The rest Aaricia couldn’t understand very well because the wind started to blow hard and dust was blown everywhere. She bent her head to avoid dust coming in her eyes.

Aaricia thought back, she thought of a week ago..

 

“Shall I be your big brother?”, Jobosan smiled at her.

“Sure, how do you wanna be called? For you ‘Sasseke’s fake ID service’ is free, but you will cook for me for a week for slicing their database again!”, Aaricia said to him with a grin.

“Yeah I really wanna be your big brother Sas, your big brother serving in the Empire. A big brother to be proud at!”

“Haha yeah, that would be fun. I am proud at you, that you dare to have infiltrated them. Maybe sometime it can come in handy..”

“Yeah little sister, and remember.. as your big brother I will always protect you. I will nobody let harm my sweet little sister!”

“Hehe sweet, yeah right!”

He poked her in the ribs, she grabbed a cushion from the couch and slapped him with it.

“Come here little sister of mine.”, he said and gave her a hug.

 

The dust storm ended, the suns were rising. Maybe this wasn’t Aaricia’s last hour.

“Finally!”, she heard Jobosan saying impatiently, she grinned. He was really good at acting. Big brother had come to save her!

One of the cadets prodded in her back with the barrel of his rifle.

“You heard him, move it!”

Aaricia hoped that it would turn out ok.. there were so many Imperials, they were everywhere. But.. she felt hope again, maybe she wouldn’t die, not now!

They walked towards the public, everyone was staring at her. She saw Iara, looking at her with a sad face. She saw Vernant, she saw Eleyenora..

Her feet hurt, but they didn’t care. If she didn’t walk fast enough she got a poke in her back. But maybe not for long anymore..

 

 

Jobosan walked in front of her, acting like a real Imperial officer. She grinned. They passed the medcentre, now they were moving towards the starport. Then suddenly some droid attacked some of the stormtroopers that were part of the parade. Jobosan grabbed Aaricia and started dragging her towards the starport entrance. In front of the entrance she fell on the ground.. in front of a lot of stormtroopers.

O @#$%, she thought, it is over.

“What are you doing with the prisoner?”, one of the stormtroopers asked to Jobosan. They surrounded them, Aaricia felt scared.

 

 

“I was dragging the prisoner to safety, she cannot be killed. She deserves her punishment first!”, Jobosan said fanatically and he showed his ID.

At first the stormtroopers hesitated, but after a few minutes they nodded to him. Jobosan was in his element. One of the troopers grabbed Aaricia’s arm and dragged her along, following Jobosan. Then they entered the Imperial transport. They pushed her onto a chair rudely and strapped her, then they left.

“Good private.. you won’t be stationed on Hoth now!”, Jobosan sneered to one of them.

 

 

“Sir yes sir!”, the trooper saluted.

Then the door closed and they took off.

Jobosan looked at Aaricia and grinned.

“Big brother will never leave his sister behind!”, he said.

 

 

Aaricia smiled and nodded.

“Can’t you talk?”, he asked seriously.

She shook her head.

“Oh my god..”, he stared at the bandages, “You will be fixed as soon as possible!”

Fast he removed her straps and cuffs.

“First I have to bring us to safety, it ain’t over yet. I have to make sure that nobody is following us.”

She nodded and laid back in her chair with a sigh. She felt so tired..

 

When she woke up again they were in Mos Eisley.

“Here put on this cloak, put the hood on your head.”

She nodded and put on the clothing.

“Come, fast we need to move to the other transport before they find out!”, he helped her walking towards another vessel. She sat down on one of the chairs of the little compartment and again she fell into a black hole..

When she woke up again she was being carried by Jobosan, she recognized Anchorhead. It still looked a bit deserted, still black holes from laserblasts were visible on several walls. She felt nauseous.

 

“Aaricia wake up.”, somebody gave her a soft but friendly slap.

No I don’t wanna wake up, please stop it, make it stop.. I’ll never tell you any names!

“Aaricia, you are safe now.”, she opened her eyes and saw two Jobosans kneeling in front of her. She was in some kind of cellar, lying on an improvised bed.

She started to puke.

“You are a tough lady.”, some other voice said, she looked up and saw Xanado standing in front of her too, and Lella, and Gou-geo, and Bill, and Aylmeth..

Was this a dream, or was it reality? Was she dead now, or was she alive?

 

 

 

They smiled at her.

“Welcome back.”, they said.

Aaricia sat on one of the couches of the big room. She stared at the holoprojector with a sad face.

I betrayed them.. I betrayed Lella, Bill, Hassana, Mi-na and Katerina. I have said something about the base.

‘No Sasseke, you have done your best. You have done well, don’t blame yourself’, they had told her, but she didn’t feel that way. She thought about the last few days, days of being interrogated. First she was beaten up and thrown around the interrogation room. Her hands were squeezed, she would never be able to use them again. She told them one name, a fake one. Next interrogation they started cutting off body parts, like an ear or finger. She only told them fake names, fake locations. Then suddenly she’d reached a point at where she didn’t care anymore, she felt so much pain, one body part more or less didn’t matter anymore. But soon they realized this too and then they used ‘the last option’: an interrogation droid, a floating ball-shaped droid that had some drugs in its reservoir. It was those drugs that had made her say the names.

But now, sitting in Ani’a’s spaceship that was traveling towards Talus, it all felt like some dream, like it all hadn’t happened.

‘And how do you feel, being free again?’ She couldn’t tell, she only felt tired, really tired.