***
She stared at the wounded, unconscious Deen Yodo.. her shaking hands, that held the E11 that had been used so much, sweated. The E11 that had killed civilians and rebels, and now it had the blood of Imperials on it too. Like she had hoped.. like she had hoped this whole day, fanatic, enraged, eager to take revenge. She had done it now..
The place was covered with dead bodies. Probably her former friends, Cadet Carpet, Zamar.. she didn’t know, they were all armored. White cans, with some human flesh in it. Dead, fried human flesh.
“Aaricia, come.. HURRY!” A voice shouted.
The young woman frowned, then turned away from them to run away with the other rebels..
“Hurry, backup is underway!” Cel’es shouted with a bitter voice.
They got in the vehicle quickly and the driver punched the gas.
Aaricia burst into tears, feeling confused.. and just.. bad. In front of her there was the dead body of Liakhara. She sensed a lot of hate and bitterness, Jarome was sitting next to her with a grim face, staring into the nothing. Finally she had been able to take revenge, the base where she and Jarome had served for the Emperor was now filled with dead bodies. But she didn’t feel as she had hoped.. not at all.
She felt defeated, sad, unhappy. Many people had died.. and for what?
She thought back at what happened in such a short time, yet it felt very long also. They had lied on the sides of the canyon for a very long time, waiting, ready to ambush the ambulance as soon as it would arrive. But it never arrived..
Then they had decided to just.. rush the Imperial base, to get Cel’es fiancée out of there.
They had done as said.. and they got Liakhara. Many had died, including her. She remembered how she was ordered to slice the entrances, although she barely remembered the protocol, it was easy to do it. But they had arrived in the cell too late. A stormtrooper had been standing next to Liakhara and he shot her right before they were able to take him down. She remembered Cel’es shouting ‘NOOOOOOOO’ in pain, mourning. Enraged, Aaricia had shot half the interior, while they had gently taken Liakhara with them, life already departed out of her..
Through the watery veil of tears she looked out of the window of the vehicle, feeling sad and tired. The arrived in Mos Espa probably, she recognized the buildings.
It was like everything wasn’t real anymore, like a robot she got out of the big speeder and followed the others into the starport, to the ship.
She only woke up when they had arrived back on Talus, her head lying on Jarome’s lap. He stroke her hair, softness was visible in his eyes. Softness.. how was this still possible in this bitter war. They got out of the ship, she stared at the child and the cop that were taken with them. They had freed all the prisoners that had been in the cells of the base. A child.. why had they locked up a child. The Empire didn’t care, they locked up everybody and everything. On the left there was the blindfolded and bound dr. Roseward, complaining loudly as always, everybody threatening her to shut up right now.. as always. While they walked towards the transport the holstered E11 rifle felt like a heavy weight on her waist. When they were sitting in the transport she felt something odd in her belly, like something was kicking. She put her hand on it, biting her lip, more tears coming out of her eyes. Then she smiled at Jarome.
“She is kicking.. she is kicking!”
As he smiled at her she cried and chuckled at the same time.
Maybe the new life would compensate a bit for the weight and coldness of the carbine that she carried on her belt.
She thought back at this day. Liakhara had a bounty on her head, just like Jarome and Aaricia. Liakhara and Cel’es were engaged, just like Jarome and Aaricia.
She remembered the fear in their eyes, combined with love and tenderness. Liakhara had taken a pill that made her look dead, for a while. A bounty hunter would then get her and take her to the Imperial Garrison. They would test if she was dead. If everything went right the bounty hunter would collect his bounty and Liakhara’s ‘dead body’ would be escorted back to Entha in a guarded ambulance. The rebels would be waiting on the sides of a canyon to attack this ambulance and get Liakhara out of there.. if everything went according to plan. She remembered getting in line with the other soldiers, all in different clothes. She remembered her grim feelings and how she checked her gear again and again.
This was her first mission with the Daggerwolves, since she had arrived ‘back’ at Azaki depot.
She remembered how they arrived on Tatooine again.
She had almost forgotten how hot it was on this planet that was scorched by two suns. In a transport they had driven into the desert.. she remembered how fanatical she felt, and so eager.. finally she could fight back against the Empire again. Finally she could unleash her hate and anger towards the people that deserved this. She remembered staring at the two suns from behind the window, while everybody was checking his or her gear.
Another wookie sat next to her, he looked familiar but she couldn’t remember. Nervously she had farted and then everybody had started complaining, that had made her chuckling and less nervous.
In the canyon they were ordered to put on their field
uniforms, fanatically she had thrown her hooded cloak on the floor of the
little house and changed into the
Then they had climbed the walls of the canyon to wait..
There was this rodian that seemed to have followed them. She had seen it.. him.. at the depot too. She had, together with this wookie, approached him, then she had fallen forward and rolling she landed next to him. She remembered her own hard feelings as she grabbed his shirt and almost started yelling at him, ready to hurt him if he didn’t answer quickly enough. Like the ways of the Empire. When she realized this she released him with a sigh, gulping.. saying ‘sorry’.
“There will be a fight.. rodian. Fight with us or leave.” She said to him grimly.
He wanted to fight with them and introduced himself as Tee’bik.
“Welcome to the Galactic Civil War.. Tee’bik.” She said and then summoned him to follow them. They could use as many fighters as possible and this rodian had already been following them for a while. He definitely knew who they were, so why not ask him to fight with them?
Jordiane shook her head to Aaricia as she and captain Val-Tane Ricaud met them.
“You shouldn’t be there.. you are pregnant!” She said to the girl. “Val-Tane you should send her away!”
“That’s her own decision.” The captain said. “Silverstar.. follow me.”
Quietly nodding Aaricia followed the captain to the opposite wall of the canyon.
When she took position with Lanis and Larec she touched her belly with her right hand with a slight frown, then bate her lip with a sigh. Yeah she should stay at the depot as she had new life in her belly. But she really wanted to help Liakhara and Cel’es, and in this war the rebels were already with very few. Every extra fighter was an asset. Aaricia was still able to fight..
With a sigh she stared at the Star Destroyers that were hanging in the sky, creating a grim atmosphere. The father of her child was in one of them.. if he was still alive.
She had lied to Jarome, but she was going to tell him the truth. She felt bad and she just hated lying. There were already so many lies in this Galaxy.. today Jordiane had given Aaricia a check-up. Then she had told her that the father actually wasn’t Jarome, but an Imperial trooper, somebody that was still serving the Empire.
Jordiane had gasped and then comforted Aaricia. The child was already well underway, in a few months she would be born. Aaricia’s belly was growing noticeably.
She hated this war.
Everybody jumped in the two transports, outfits got adjusted, gears checked and prepared for battle.
“TO THE GARRISON BASE!” Cel’es yelled bitterly and cold.
Aaricia shuddered, the carbine in her hands, ready for the battle. They were going to assault the base of 336th Sentinel Company.. now Aaricia could take revenge, now was the time. But it felt so soon.
She jumped with the others out of the big speeder, everything felt like it wasn’t real. She saw the barracks in the distance and pointed in the direction of the main building, were they locked up prisoners.
“Go go go!” She heard a voice ordering and then they just rushed in, enraged, fanatical, shooting, killing.
She stood on the ramp of the main building, feeling confused, staring at the dead troopers.
Cadet Carpet, Zamar, Sien, Asa.. the others..
“Lance Corporal.. slice the entrance!” She heard a voice ordering.
“Yes sir!” She shouted and got the proper gear out of her backpack.
Maybe if she had been faster with this..