**19 May 2005 –Betrayal part I

 

“Today is the punishment of a traitor, squad.”, HK-619 spoke with a fanatic voice, “This scum, the former private Jarome Horati, will be punished in a most fitting way. Get the prisoner!”

 

TK-222 followed the other troopers into the cellar. There the traitor, her former best friend, was sitting on a bench. He looked bruised badly, but no sign of emotion was visible on his face.

“Get out, traitor!”

They sedated him and one of the troopers took him on his speeder. Then they left, into the burning desert.

 

They stopped on a completely deserted spot. Jarome was dragged from the speeder and thrown on the ground. TK-222 stared at him without feeling any emotion.

“You have been found guilty by court martial of high treason against the Empire.”, HK-619 said, “You will die slowly of dehydration and hunger.. unless the suns kill you first. A fitting death.”

 

“.. or the wild animals.”, she heard one of the other troopers mumbling, after which he chuckled slightly.

She sighed and stared at the E11 mark II carbine that she was holding in her hands. It felt feather light, a device designed to stun or kill living beings. She wondered how many people had already died from it.

“Tell TK-222 goodbye for me!”, Jarome shouted, enraged.

“Shoot the traitor!”, HK-619 ordered, and they fired their carbines at the unlucky man.

Goodbye traitor.. goodbye.. friend.

Then HK-619 turned to TK-222.

“TK-222. It seems that you have a personal connection to this traitor.. shoot him in the knee.”

Without hesitation, only a little gulp, she fired once more at her former friend.

“Troops.. back to base!”

TK-222 gave him a last glance, then mounted her speeder and followed the squad.

 

TK-222 put off her helmet and put it on the table, after which she did the same as the others: take a tray from the counter, giving the man that was standing behind it a nod.

She put it on the table but when she was about to start eating, she suddenly turned very nauseous and pale. Her hands started trembling a bit, her stomach felt like it got knotted. I shot my best friend and now he is dying in the desert.. my best friend..

After some bites and a few gulps from the bottle of water she put the tray back on the counter.

“What’s the matter Doe.. not hungry?”, one of the troopers that she knew as Sivat Rizaf, or LK-223, asked.

“No sir.. I’m angry at that traitor sir.. I- I hope he dies a horrible death.”, she answered emotionless.

The trooper nodded at her.

She walked towards the bathroom, feeling like some droid, it felt hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other with the only goal.. to keep moving. In the bathroom she stared into her own eyes in the mirror. A tear came out of her right eye and rolled over the right cheek of her emotionless face, making not a tiny noise.

She gave Zamar, that was standing under one of the showers, a glance.

Zamar.. also he looked very familiar to her. She had a strong feeling that he knew things about her past, but she didn’t dare to ask him about it. He sometimes made odd remarks like ‘If others would be half as strong as you’. She had asked him why he had said that, but then he had answered ‘I’m just an old fool, Jane.. forget about it’. Some days ago he had remarked with a smirk ‘You probably don’t know anything of before you joined the Garrison so why wouldn’t you like it here’. And yesterday at the campfire.. why had he said to her loudly, in front of the others, that it had been Ern Stechra that had shot her family in the head?

He and Teglo seemed to be good friends of each other.

Cadet Carpet.

Jarome, Andy and Jane never had been good friends with him. She guessed this was for the most since that night when they had gotten drunk in the Fallen Star and Teglo and some other cadet had contacted command about this.

Yesterday she had had a campfire with Teglo, Zamar and some others from the Garrison.

Jarome had still been locked up in a cell, she had been ordered to feed him but there was no way to have a talk with him. Guards were not allowed to talk with prisoners.

With a sigh she had put the plate on the table and then immediately left the cell again. Jarome had looked pretty beaten up, but what could she do about that.. nothing.

Jarome is dead now.. just accept it and move on.

There were other people, she become friends with them. Maybe she could have a talk with Zamar, he had proposed that to her. Life went on, she better forget about Jarome..

But in fact he hasn’t died yet, he still lives.. and you are already giving him up Jane, your best friend! How can you do that!

She bit her lip, sighing, new tears came out of her eyes. She looked at the floor, it was better if she showed as little emotion as possible; in every room there were camera’s. She knew that this was necessary to keep order and control.. in the Imperial army of course this was extremely essential. Why couldn’t she just keep her own feelings under control? Yesterday she had been weeping too, even in front of Zamar!

 

Jarome is dying in the desert, and you are just standing here!

But the Emperor is more important than anybody, we are nothing but drones with only one purpose: serve the Emperor. If I cannot even let go of a friend then I’m a worthless trooper, or even worse: a traitor just like him!

But.. he.. was.. my.. best…

The system is more important than any of us, that is the only way that it can keep existing!

She clenched her fists, biting her lip, trembling all over her body.

 

Hiding her stream of emotions under an emotionless face she walked back into her dormitory. There was nobody inside, except for the eye that continuously watched everything that moved, the eye of the camera droid that was floating in one of the corners of the room.

Her decision was made.. Jane bit her lip while taking some stuff out of her cabinet and put it into her backpack: a first aid kit containing some bacta patches, a blanket and more of these things. She realized that there would be no way back, that she would be branded a traitor just like Jarome.. that this life would be over forever and there would be no turning back, ever.. but so be it! She hoped that he hadn’t died yet.. she better hurried. But how could she sneak out without getting the attention of the other troopers? And she had some feeling.. that LK-223 was watching her all the time.

“TK-222!”, LK-223 suddenly ordered via the commlink.

She put on her helmet and backpack quickly and ran upstairs.

“Sir?”, she gave the corporal a salute.

“The armory seems to be a mess.. clean it and find me a 78347-x4 screwdriver!”

“Sir yes sir!”

She gave corporal Hagins in the armory a nod and nervously started seeking for the tool while acting like she was cleaning.

Hurry Jane, Jarome is dying!

She got a screwdriver and rushed back to LK-223, hoping badly that he would dismiss her.

“What is this, private.. you gave me a 78347-c5!”, he stared at her from the black lenses of his helmet, “I specifically said I needed a 78347-x4, not a 78347-c5!”

Feeling a bit panicked she realized that every second the chances if Jarome’s survival lessened.

“Bad for you!”, she hissed, and then she stabbed the corporal with the screwdriver, after giving him a punch. She grabbed the trooper and slowly put him on the ground, so that as little sound as possible was made.

Now there was no way back anymore, now she was a traitor.. and if she wouldn’t get out of here right now, she would die just like Jarome! Like nothing happened she walked towards the exit of the building. Outside was NK-546. TK-222 walked past him in a normal pace, muttering under her helmet.

“Why is it always me that has to fetch equipment.. why don’t they just send a cadet instead..”

With a sigh she got seated on her speeder and slowly drove away. When she left the base she pushed the gas as hard as she could.

“TK-222 IS A REBEL TRAITOR, ALL UNITS.. GET THAT SCUM!!”

Jane pushed on the gas even harder as she heard the alarm message via the Garrisons commlink, in her helmet. She knew that the chance was big that they could track her via her helmet. She stopped in an industrial zone and there she ripped the commlink out of her helmet, then threw the helmet on the ground.

Jarome please don’t have died yet please no.. you are the only one that I have left now!

Crying she tried to push the gas even harder, but the speeder went as fast as it could.

At the location where Jarome was shot there were only some blood clots, stained in the sand. She traced a trail and about 100 meters away from the spot there was Jarome, still living, conscious, struggling to move.

“Ah.. TK-222..”, he said bitter, “Are you coming to finish me off now?”

“No, I’m coming to save you! Get on the speeder.. quick!”

In the meantime she kept listening to the comm device that she had taken out of the helmet. They had indeed traced the helmet and now they were underway to.. here.

She helped him on her speeder and then drove away fast. Only about 1 minute later the troopers seemed to have arrived at the spot, she sighed in relief. Her comm signals got jammed as they had found out that she had taken the device out of the helmet, and she threw it away. They kept driving, and after a while, what felt like hours, they arrived at some house that looked deserted. She hid her speeder in a trench and helped Jarome off it.

“It looks deserted.. I hope it is.”, she said, grabbed her E11 Mark II carbine and shot the lock.

She helped the wounded Jarome inside and gently put him on the floor. Then she checked the house. Normally, with her helmet on, she would see through the darkness easily, but now she had to get used to it with her own eyes. She heard a sound in the cellar, but the only living thing in the house appeared to be a womp rat. After she shot it, she returned to check Jarome. She patched his wounds with bacta from her backpack.. but she realized that the wounds were so bad that she would need a doctor, else he would probably still die.

“Jane.. I love you.”, he stammered faintly.

She stared at him, feeling no emotion.

“You should rest now.”, she said with a neutral voice.

He passed out and she put a blanket over him to keep him warm.

“I’ll be back.”, she said resolute, then put off her armor, took a cloak out of her backpack and put this on. She put the hood over her head, holstered her carbine and departed for Mos Entha.