***20 May 2005 –Escape from Tatooine

 

When Jane opened her eyes her heart immediately started pounding wildly. Left of her Jarome was snoring in a chair, looking peaceful. She jumped out of her bed and checked the door, but it wasn’t locked.

Ok Jane you are safe.. don’t be afraid. If anything happens you will take Jarome with you and get out of here.

She searched the pockets of her pants and found something hard: her datapad. She took it out of it and turned it on.

*You’ve got mail*

Sender: Private Andrew Rirdo, from ISD ‘Black Cobra’.

Gasping she opened the email and started to read.

 

 

Oh my god Andy, you don’t seem to know yet or maybe you do by now already.

Lots of love –Private A. Rirdo.

All this was over, this life had ended. She had to put Andy out of her mind.. if he would ever meet her in person.. he would kill her. That’s how troopers got trained; it was necessary that you could even kill your best friend easily, or your lover. They were just drones of the system, bees, ants. And like in a human body, sacrifices had to be made, to keep the body as a whole alive. Cells that had become different.. cancer. A cancer, that was how the Rebellion was called. Cancer that needed to be eliminated immediately, before it had the change to create metastasis. Cancer.. like Jane and Jarome.

She returned to the here and now as she heard Jarome mumbling: “Morning.”

He was bandaged. Jane sighed. With saving him she had lost all the rest. She had lost Andy, Zamar, cadet Carpet, Onoxa.. they were all enemies now. Or maybe not yet.. maybe she could still return, maybe they wouldn’t kill her.. maybe if she turned these rebels in maybe then they wouldn’t.. execute her.

Bitterly she bit her lip.

“Morning.” She said quietly. “I.. I’ll make some breakfast.. we are safe now.”

“No time for it, I’m afraid.” Jarome said hastily.

“Why not?” Jane answered emotionless. “We have all the time of the world.”

She walked into the other room and looked for food in the fridge.

She saw the madman, Xanado, sitting on one of the couches.

“Morning.” He said to her.

She muttered softly while continuing preparing breakfast. After a sigh she asked: “Do you want breakfast too?”

He shook his head.

She put the food on the table and saw Jarome sitting down with a smile.

Cancer.

“We cannot stay here for long.” Jarome started hurrying again. “They will comb the desert.. they can find us here.”

“You are a threat to the Garrison.” The madman joined in the conversation. “Because of what you know.”

“Like it or not..” Jarome added.

Jane sighed.

“So what are we gonna do then? Get off the planet?” Scared and confused she looked in Jarome’s eyes.

“I can get the Daggerwolves to extract you and get you to safety on a private ship.” The madman then proposed.

“Hrmmmm…” Jane felt a bit wary. “Rebels. Daggerwolves. That name sounds familiar to me. I don’t trust you.. madman!”

Wincing Jarome put one of his broken, bandaged hands on hers.

“Jane we can trust them. We need them.. what do you want else?”

“Flee together!” She replied with a fierce voice. “Oh my god are you going to TRUST.. rebels?”

“Jane.. it is too dangerous. Entha is too dangerous also! Aaricia we can trust them..”

“I’m NOT Aaricia!”

Feeling a lot of aggression she got up. She saw both men staring at her. She managed to calm a bit down and with a resigned sigh she got back on the chair.

“I’m sorry.” She said quietly.

“I trained you Aaricia. I know things about you..”

“Jarome I’m also sorry about yesterday.” She sighed again. “I don’t know.. it was like.. I was torn apart. Mentally I mean. And now.. it is simply hard for me to realize that we can never go back there. I mean to the Garrison.”

“Maybe not, but we have each other.. Jane. You and I, we can have a life together.”

“But Andy! How can I just.. leave him!”

“Andy is dead to me.” Jarome said calmly.

“WHAT?! How can you- why?”

“Jane he is our enemy now! Put him out of your mind.. he will kill you on sight!”

Distracted she took her datapad because she saw one of the little lights of it blinking.

When she read the announcement on the Holonet Primetime she gasped and the device fell out of her hands.

“OH NO!”

Jarome grabbed the datapad and took a look at the announcement, then sighed.

 

((link to the announcement: 20 May 2005 -Imperial Holonet News: fugitives on the run))

 

“This.. this cannot be true!” Jane felt confused and panicked.. how could they do that?

“A wanted announcement, Xanado. They put a bounty on our heads.. 100.000 credits.” Jarome said calmly to the madman.

“The Empire wants you dead.” The madman said. “What would you expect else, Aaricia?”

“This cannot be-“

“It IS true. We are hunted by the Empire now.” Jarome said to her, trying to calm her down.

“We.. we need to get out of here!” She almost screamed. “Jarome, together you and me.. we have no other choice. We go off planet, together we build some little house in the wilderness and we live there for the rest of our lives. They won’t find us!”

“You cannot do this alone.” The madman said. “I will contact the Daggerwolves, they will help you get off planet.”

“Well..” Jane sighed loudly. “Ok then.”

Jarome grabbed her hand and took her into the sleeping room.

 

“Jarome maybe we can get Andy out of there.. could we?”

“Aaricia.. you are all I have left.” Gently he grabbed her shoulders. “Together we will survive this. I’m not planning to die. You saved my life.. we won’t die!”

“Andy was our friend. Jarome I want him here.. I cannot just..”

“Make no mistake! He will kill us both on sight!”

“He would never do that!” Fiercely she glared into his eyes.

“You know he will. You know that yourself.. Aaricia. Think about your past.. traitors deserve to die.. so we do too.”

Jane sniffed sadly.

“Jarome.. what do you know about my past.” She said with a soft, sad voice. “Probably as much as myself.”

Bitterly she resumed. “Maybe we should turn ourselves in Jarome. We are traitors. We have to die. We are the cancer that can destroy the body. It.. it would be rightful to die.. but.. but I-“

“No Aaricia.. we can have a new life! Or at least a chance!”

“Aaricia..” She mumbled.

Warmly he looked at her.

“Aaricia.. Jane.. so many names.”

“Who am I?” She asked sincerely. “I really don’t know anymore.”

Then a knock on the door.

“The Daggerwolves will arrive any minute.” Xanado interrupted their conversation after having opened it.

Feeling a bit wary again after having heard ‘Daggerwolves’ Jane turned back to Jarome.

“We can leave together still.” She whispered to him.

“Why are you so afraid of them?” He then asked.

She shuddered.

“They do bad things to people. Rebels are savages. I know.. I have been one of them.”

He gasped at her.

“Now I understand!” He then said.

“Jarome please.. let’s leave together.. the two of us!”

She opened the outside door and stood on the ramp.

“We don’t even have water.. Jane this is insane.. think damnit!” Jarome protested.

But Jane kept walking into the desert. In the distance she saw something black floating, it approached them slowly. She gasped.

“Shit! Get back.. a probe droid!” She jumped back into the house, followed by the others, cursing.

Xanado shook his head.

“And you wanted to leave on your own..” He grinned at her.

She sighed loudly again.

“Well ok.. the Daggerwolves. For now.”

She saw the madman getting some rope.

“Turn around you both. I need to bind your hands behind your back.” He calmly said. “Just for safety. You are known Imperials.”

Imperials hunted by the Empire. The cancer in the core of the body itself.

“Why am I safer when bound!” Jane asked.

“I have two broken hands.” Jarome sighed at the madman.

“You need to trust me. Nothing is going to happen.”

“Trust you! Ha ha ha.. trust you!” Jane jeered.

Jarome sighed, then looked at her.

“We have to trust him.. them.” He said to her calmly.

She cursed loudly, then turned around. The man bound their hands.

 

“They will be arriving soon. We will move to Mos Entha. The starport is secure.. we have a ship ready.” Xanado then said, after having listened to his commlink again.

“If all I had to do was betray the Empire, get blasted and left for dead and sign myself to an unknown fate to get this close to you.” Jarome said to Jane with a grin.

She blushed a bit after these words.

“They have arrived!”

She started to feel very scared, but when some people, all wearing some kind of hunting clothing, one of them dressed in some full body armor, entered the house this feeling got tempered.

“Can you run?” The armored man asked them.

They didn’t even have any transport? Jane sighed slightly.

They both nodded at him.

“Ok.. let’s go then!”

They started running, the sun burned on them. Jarome and Jane both were wearing cloaks. In the distance the contours of Entha became visible. Then they stopped. Scared Jane peered around, hoping no probe droid would find them. She stared into the sky, at the star destroyers.

Andy.

“Can somebody put on the hood of my cloak.” She asked. “My hands are bound.”

A Trandoshan, that was speaking with some weird accent all the time, like he was hissing all the time, approached her and put the hood on.

“What are the ordersssssss now?” He hissed.

“We make a move around the city, then we move in. There is backup in the starport.” The armored rebel pointed to the left of the contours. “Move it!”

They continued running. For some reason Jane didn’t feel scared, instead she felt comfortable with these people. It made her confused.

They arrived at the banking terminals, in front was the starport. Jane panted, she sweated profusely, a salty drop was moving into her eye and she blinked as she couldn’t wipe it away with one of her hands.

“We have to make a run towards the entrance.. there are no troopers outside now the way is clear.. are you two ready?” The armored man asked calmly.

Jarome and Jane nodded.

“Ok.. go go go!!”

They ran like hell, Jane just avoided bumping into some Ithorian as they entered the starport.

“Hammerheads..” She grumbled.

Inside a group of people was standing at strategic positions, armed. Almost all of their weapons were illegal, she remembered from Imperial training. Then this.. Val-Tane approached them.

“Aaricia..” He said to her softly. Then he looked at Jarome.

“Cel.. who is this?!?” He snapped to the armored man, glaring at him.

“He was with her sir.” The man in armor answered.

Val-Tane sighed.

“I’m not going to leave before I know who this is!”

“Val..” Jane stammered faintly. “Euh.. I got him out of the desert. He was shot, he was a traitor to the Empire.”

“Didn’t you read the announcement?” Xanado asked him.

“Sir.. they locked the starport!” Somebody suddenly shouted, alarmed.

“Get strategic positions troops.. this is gonna be a fight!” Val-Tane ordered. “Get those two as close as the launch bay as possible!”

“We are surrounded by Imperials!”

Gasping Jane tried not to panic.

Xanado took them towards the launch bay, there they waited. Blasterfire was heard, she gulped. They were coming to get them. They were coming to arrest Jarome and Jane so that they could kill them.. and the rebels.. the rebels.. were defending them.

She saw the armored rebel slicing a terminal.

“Almost there.. almost there..”

“They are breaking through!” She heard somebody yelling. Alarms sounded.

“This is the Empire! Surrender at once!” She heard an emotionless voice shouting.

They were driven to one spot, more and more surrounded by the troopers. If the armored man didn’t hack the system fast enough they would be ran over..

“If we ever die-“ Jarome couldn’t finish the sentence, as Jane kissed him on the lips.

“Then you die with the knowledge that somebody loved you!” She said to him with a soft voice.

On the left some stormtroopers turned around the corner, one of them aimed at Jane..

“The door is open!”

Somebody grabbed her arm and she got dragged towards a parked starship. “GET IN!”

They got inside the ship, the Rebels fighting with the Imperials. Jane almost tripped on the way but managed to keep herself standing. People were shouting all over the place. The ramp closed as the ship was already taking off.

But the hunt hadn’t ended..

TIE fighters started chasing the ship.

 

“MAN THE TURRETS!” Val-Tane shouted.

The armored man had taken a seat and seemed to be steering the ship. Gasping Jane peered around in the huge cockpit.

“I assume that we are being taken to a detention cell now?” Jarome asked Val-Tane.

But Val-Tane ignored this, they seemed to just.. have forgotten them. Were they mad? Jane and Jarome were prisoners! She felt confused and saw the same glance in Jarome’s eyes. They left the atmosphere of Tatooine, Jane stared out of the huge window, at the planet, at the TIE fighters.

Andy..

Then a woman, that looked familiar to Jane, approached her with a smile from under the shadows of her hood.

“Welcome back Aaricia.” She said, then removed her hood.

“Back?” She said confused. “Eur.. I.. I cannot remember, my memories are lost.”

She blushed at the woman.

“We once knew each other.” She put a hand on her shoulder.

“Euh I guess so..” Jane stammered.

Then the woman turned around and walked away. Feeling a bit shy Jane stared out of the window again. Their hands were untied. Jarome stood behind her, holding her in his arms.

“It seems that we are on the other side of the war now.” Jane noticed aloud. “Yesterday I still was TK-222 and now-“

 

“It’s gonna be alright.” Jarome said calmly.

“Now I’m on a ship swarmed with rebels that seem to know me also!”

She turned around and scared she looked in his eyes.

“Jarome..” She whispered. “I’m scared.. I don’t know them and all my memories.. Jarome we better watch out.”

“Prepare for jump to lightspeed!” She heard somebody shouting.

“We better grab a hold to something.” Jarome said, grabbing her more tightly.

She grabbed the balustrade in front of her, staring out of the window with open mouth.. another TIE fighter was exploding. A bleeping, counting, sound was heard.

Then the stars turned into starstripes, and Jane’s stomach turned, as it always did with jumps to lightspeed.

 

“Jarome.. Jane.. follow me.” Val-Tane summoned them.

They followed him into some room that looked like a briefing room as there were a lot of chairs and Holoscreens.

“Take a seat.”

They sat down on the closest chairs. Val-Tane walked behind one of the main projectors.

“Your names?” The man asked calmly.

“SK-81.. euh I mean Jarome Horati.” Jarome answered.

“I don’t know my name. Yesterday I was TK-222..” Jane started answering. “But without the helmet I was called Jane Doe, before that my name was Jane Doe and it seems that I have also been called ‘Sabine Lanark’ but before this all my name was Aaricia Silverstar.”

He nodded at her, then smiled warmly.

“Welcome back.”

Back.. back to the Rebellion..

She nodded briefly at him.

“We will take you both to a safe hideout now. We have gotten out alive..”

They nodded.

 

“LAND ON DEARIC STARPORT!”

Jane recognized the planet.. Talus.

Talus.. some hideout.. some village.. she couldn’t recall the name. Wasn’t it something starting with an A..?

Without any problems they landed. Jarome and Jane had put their cloaks back on, the hoods up. They took the nearest shuttle to some place called ‘Gaia’, that sounded pretty familiar to Jane too. There a small transport was awaiting them.

Talus. Grass everywhere, lots of flowers and mushrooms. Trees.. water.. it looked like autumn.

They arrived at some little, remote village that looked like some mining town. Then she recalled.

“A.. Azaki?” She wondered aloud. “Is this Azaki?”

Val-Tane put a hand on her shoulder.

“You seemed to have forgotten a lot, Aaricia.”

“Aaricia..” She mumbled.

Val-Tane turned to Jarome.

“So.. a stormtrooper.” He said with a cold voice, raising an eyebrow at him.

“SK-815. Private, Imperial Stormtrooper Corps.” Jarome said.

“Ryden, question him. You know the way to the brig.”

Jane’s eyes turned big, panic was raising inside of her. Not Jarome..

“Let me be with Jane!” Jarome protested, also looking a bit scared.

Would they be executed? That was normal protocol with the Empire.. would they be tortured and executed now? She gulped.

“I want to stay with him!” She said firmly. “I’m a stormtrooper also.. well euh was.. TK-222, private of 336^th Sentinel Company!”

“No, I want you to be split. Ryden, I ordered you to take him with you!”

“Euh yes.” Some man in civilian clothing answered, he also looked familiar to Jane.

She shook her head, especially when Val-Tane ordered him for the third time. Ok now he would be put against the wall and executed. She sighed. Stupid man, not following orders..

But instead, which amazed her a lot, Val-Tane put a hand on his shoulder.

“I know you are a good soldier.” He said to him.. warmly!!

She gasped.

“Jane I love you!” Jarome grabbed her and kissed her passionately.

Then they dragged him away.

“Aaricia.. what do you remember?” Val-Tane asked the trembling young woman.

“Not much..” She answered totally confused.

“Follow me.”

“Why aren’t you going to throw me in jail? I was a stormtrooper just like Jarome.. I was TK-222!”

They seemed to be ignoring it and she followed them towards a little barracks.

“Your house Aaricia. Maybe then you start remembering.”

She stepped inside slowly.

“My house.. I don’t even remember-“

Inside she gaped at the interior. She did remember! Everything was so familiar.. this was no coincidence!

“T.. this looks.. familiar.” She stammered while walking into the other room. The dataterminal, cabinet, paintings, bed..

“Your house, Lance Corporal Aaricia Silverstar of the 101^st Daggerwolf Company!” Val-Tane said. “Alliance Special Forces Infiltrator. Do you remember?”

She shook her head negatively.

“You earned the Badge of Merit and the Superior Service Medal for your service for the Rebel Alliance.”

Xanado and the armored man were in the room too. The armored man had taken off his helmet. She gasped at his face.. it looked pretty familiar too.

“Aaricia this is your unit.. our base.. your home.. your friends.. your comrades!”

“I don’t remember.” She sighed, feeling a bit frustrated.

Then the armored Zabrak started talking.

“You were a stormtrooper. You were ordered to hurt people. To shoot innocent people.” He said bitterly.

She bit her lip, staring at the floor.

“Cel’es stop!” Val-Tane ordered.

“Sir, if she is shocked enough her memory might return.” Cel’es protested.

“No.. that’s exactly what they did to her. Shock her, hurt her, confuse her! Like it or not. She is no longer the person we once knew. And she may never again fully be that person.” Val-Tane continued.

Then he turned towards Jane.

“Jane.. Aaricia. They brainwashed you, don’t you remember? Sasseke.. remember the chair, the wall, the needles, the restraints. Remember.”

She gulped.

“Sasseke died.” She then said with a bitter voice. “And they only cured me. It was necessary.”

“Any government that finds it necessary to restrain people, to force them to undergo any ‘treatment’ to make them support it, to ‘save’ them, is a failed one.” Val-Tane then said. “They called it ‘re-education’.” He sighed.

 

“You are free to leave whenever you want.” The Zabrak then said. “We are not holding you prisoner.”

“You beat them Aaricia.. you won! You have chosen for yourself.. to save Jarome instead of following the order to let him die!” Val-Tane said. “Do you want to know your past? Do you want to know what really happened?”

She nodded.

“This place is your past!” The Zabrak said.

“I have nightmares. People in white.. tortured me. They sliced off my ear and pink and- WHO DID THAT? I wanna know!” Fiercely she stared at the men in the room.

“The Empire.” Val-Tane answered calmly.

“They would never do that!” She protested.

“Aaricia.. you got captured a long time ago. They interrogated you to get names out of you and locations. And during that interrogation they sliced body parts off you. They do that.. you know that they do that to people. And like you said yourself.. people in white. Think Aaricia.. white armor!”

She gulped.

“Good guys.. w.. wear white.” She mumbled confused. “D.. don’t they?”

It was just a too big shock to realize.. no this couldn’t be true. But somewhere deep inside of herself she had the feeling that it was true. She bit her lip.

“Aaricia, nobody will hurt you in here you hear me.. NOBODY!” Val-Tane said. “You are safe here from them. Get some sleep.. Lance Corporal.”

Then he gave her a short hug and left the room.

The armored Zabrak approached her, offering a hug.

“Welcome back, friend.” He said warmly.

Jane hesitated a bit, then gave him a brief hug.

“Rest well Sasseke.”

“My house.. I don’t remember having had my own house.” She stammered, confused, sad and tired.

“Your bed, your house, your life Aaricia. You won’t find any locked doors here.. only open ones.”

Tears started coming out of Aaricia’s eyes.

Afraid she turned towards him.

“I’m scared. I have nightmares-“

“I know what you mean Aaricia.. next time I’ll come into the nightmare and hunt them away, I promise that!” He smiled at her, then left the room.

Feeling sad, but all of a sudden very very tired, she undressed, got some night dress from her clothing cabinet and crawled under the blanket of her bed. Within a few seconds she fell asleep, into the black, the void. But this time it didn’t feel scared, this time she felt safe, for the first time in her life.