***23 December 2004 –Slave auction

 

As usual I start my day with a visit on the Holonet. Information is very important for us rebels. Although the Holonet isn’t very reliable it is better than nothing. Again there is an Imperial announcement: tonight somebody will be sold as a slave, by the Empire.

The name of the slave, Talln Ika, sounds familiar to me although I can’t place it. Maybe this is a good opportunity to do some rebel action, to free this slave! This is a bad act of the Empire, they are selling somebody’s freedom! It doesn’t matter who this person is, it is just bad.

I hope we can do something about this.. maybe we can just buy him if we have enough money. What is money compared to freedom? I think freedom is worth more than the total sum of money in this galaxy.

 

I contact my superiors and wait till the evening.

I take a stroll through our Azaki base when I suddenly see a familiar face, that surprises me in a very positive way: Larec! We meet and I tell him how glad I am that he returned to us. We talk with each other, also about the blackmailer. I have to give him a as detailed as possible description of him and I’m happy to do this for him. I’m happy that he is back.

Then a strange person, or strange to me in this setting, walks into the room. I know his face, but not from this task force. Then I remember, I have seen him in the medcentre in Mos Entha before! I smile and feel happy, again some of the people from the town has joined us. I welcome him and then we have some chit-chat. We talk about the slave auction and decide to go to Entha; Bill, that is how he is called, is the fiancée of dr. Eleyenora. He knows she has a lot of money and when she is there he wants to ask her if she wants to help with buying Talln. He also knows him, Talln seems to be ‘one of us’ too. So then we really should get him out of there!

I try to contact others via the commlink and I ‘get’ the captain and Armax. Gou-geo tells me that a friend of him is planning to buy Talln. So then more people seem to have a lot of money, Bill himself told me that he owns about 200k (wow, I’m happy that I have 16k now.. 200k that much!). Maybe I think, if they cannot be successful on their own, they can put their money together. We could have a bigger chance to buy him then.

After we arrive in Entha Bill goes to the medcentre and I join Armax in the opening party of the Fallen Star. As I approach this cantina, that is made of a crashed spaceship, I see a lot of people. Also a lot of Imperials, I feel a bit anxious but I act as casual as possible. This is getting easier for me every time, I’m getting used to it. Even when totally surrounded by stormtroopers I can manage to have a standard face, showing no emotion especially no fear.

I put my pistol in one of the bags of Vorian, because there are no weapons allowed in the cantina. I try again to feed my Dewback, but he still doesn’t seem to be hungry. Maybe people feed him every time when I’m not with him? I think it is strange, just like a man a Dewback’s gotta eat, ain’t it? Although it never seems to be hungry. But well he looks healthy and energetic so it should be ok then..

I meet Armax inside the cantina, a band is playing nice music and it is loud enough to have a ‘personal’ conversation with him. But when I want to start talking about the slave auction and such, the band stops to take a break. One of the Imperial officers is watching us, or do I imagine this? Paranoia is my best companion these days, but also nerve-control. I act like usual and we leave the cantina. Outside we meet Bill and we move into an alley to talk with each other.

I tell about what I was thinking about putting the money together, I hope nobody will spy on us while we are talking. But I see nobody.. sometimes big crowds can be really handy.

We split after the short conversation to meet each other again at the Trader’s lane, the location of the auction. The location where Talln, a person, will be sold.

There I see Gou-geo. I haven’t seen him for a while too, it is good to see him back. He is in the company of a very good looking woman, I think her haircut looks really nice. She is called Leedha (I forgot her surname, I’m even happy when I remember first names!) and she acts nice to me and the others. I wonder if she is a rebel too, or a rebel sympathizer..?

Then a lot of Imperials appear from around the corner, like always they are making some military parade, a show, of it. They do this to intimidate people, but actually they are just people like us, aren’t they? Would they never be scared, as individuals? I think a big difference between us and them is that they are always in big groups, they have very good armor, a lot of military hardware and a good communication system to call even more of them when necessary. But each of them, when alone, would maybe be even more scared then us in the same situation.. because we are used to it. We are used to hide ourselves, to do our actions in shades. They aren’t.

 

When we ever win this war, I think for sure the people will call us hero’s. Because we had the courage to rebel against this Empire, while they were much more powerful than us. Each of us faced severe torture, death, our families being punished and more of this, but even while realizing this we just continued our fight. A lot of us would be dead, but finally we won the war! I wonder if I would be still alive then, or that my name will be put on some wall or something like that. Would they remember me.. or would I just be forgotten? And Hareb, and Gou-geo and the others? I feel the inspiration of writing another poem, but when I see all those stormtroopers, some Imperial officers and cuffed Talln standing in front of us civilians in a row, I pull myself back to reality.

Then I recognize Talln’s face, from the medcentre! I look at the other people, standing in our row of civilians, and see Iara, looking very sad. Talln is a friend of her..

 

One of the Imperial officers, called Ern (I know his face from Alliance Intelligence), starts to give a speech. He tells that they are very lenient to Talln, that he can rehabilitate and given back the status of citizen. A slave a citizen? I hope we can buy him, that would be very funny, the thought makes me grin. Ern describes the man as if he is some animal, some cattle animal. I have seen this kind of things a lot of times, but still it feels weird to me. I think I’ve never gotten used to the idea of slavery. People start to bid and while bidding, I feel funny when I watch those Imperials. The locations where we are standing, Imperials in one row, about 10 meters in front of a row of civilians, staring at each other. Some troopers are walking behind us, but the rest is in front of us. I think this is a good symbolization of the relation between us ‘citizens’ and this Imperial government. We are the opposite of each other, better don’t come to close to each other, looking each other in the face because we are scared of each other (they are scared of us and we are scared of them).

 

 

The situation becomes a bit tense because a lot of people seem to be wanting to buy Talln. Some of us do have to put their money together, and the winner of the slave auction is.. Leedha! I grin and see one of the officers giving me a cold glance, I look in the man’s eyes and smile. Would he know what I’m thinking now? A MILLION credits, that is what the man costs.. pff that is really a lot of money.

Leedha will be able to get Talln in a few minutes. Armax and I walk a bit through town. In front of the Imperial building, on the square, a few people are protesting against slavery. They have put on masks and ask us to join the protest. My feelings tell me that I should, but my ratio tells me this is not very handy. Because it will be only a matter of time before the Imperials will strike this protest down, and they could arrest, or kill us because of it. But I think it is courageous of these people to do this.. they are only with about 3! Three civilians dare to do this, against a complete squad of stormies.

 

More and more people dare to stand up against this regime, and in the end it will be the people against it, and it will be the people that outnumbers them. When this happens, the regime will fall automatically, there is no military force that can stop this. Because unity is strength.

 

I get a comm call from the captain, we are needed in the medcentre. As we walk towards it I see a group of stormtroopers approaching the square, where those three people are showing their opinion that doesn’t match that of the Empire. I really respect those three people.. and I hope they won’t suffer very bad consequences.

After arrived in the medcentre I face another problem: it is crowded by Imperials. I see Talln sitting on a bed and Leedha is standing next to him. Bill is also sitting on a bed, looking angry. Two stormtroopers want me and Armax to leave, I try to converse with them but they already start to threaten. I act like I have a very bad allergic reaction, I hope this will work. I start acting like I’m sneezing and coughing and tell the trooper that I sometimes have allergic attacks that can be very bad. He seems to be taking this and I sit down on a bed. I wonder what we can do, what is happening? Armax is dragged out of the medcentre, that leaves me, Talln, Leedha and Bill amongst the Imperials.

 

 

Were they attacked, I wonder, as I see some Imperials being wounded and Iara is treating them, looking quite stressed. Poor Iara, she is a good woman, looks as old as me but just like me maybe much older in her mind. I think she also has been through a lot of things, maybe even more than myself. I don’t dare talking with her because of all those Imperials. I feel like we are stuck in a mountain squill cave and I hope we will be able to leave it alive. Then suddenly the others leave, I don’t dare to follow them as I told those troopers that I needed medical attention. I don’t want to make them suspicious. I feel stuck, now I’m almost alone, and if this isn’t worse enough SEVEN other troopers enter the room! They drag a protester inside, he looks wounded. His mask is torn off and I gasp: isn’t that that little punk-thug, did he lead this protest? I never thought that people like him would do politics! This surprises me in a positive way, but well, with all those troopers.. is he arrested? Somehow I manage to forget my own fear (maybe enough fear makes you not feeling it anymore..?) and walk towards him, I smile at him and comfort him. Iara tends his wounds. A trooper taps my shoulder. “Hey didn’t you have an allergic attack?”, he asks. “Euh.. not anymore. It is over I guess.”, I shrug and make a face as casual as possible. “Ok move along!” This time I’m happy to hear this, because I can leave the squill cave of Doom.

Outside Armax is waiting for me. While walking towards the spaceport, where I take my Z95 back to Talus (if there are no troopers there, but they seem to be busy with other things now), he tells me that Talln, Leedha, Bill and the captain have gone to Corellia and they are safe there. We dare to cheer wildly, haha we won this ‘battle’.

It has cost some of us a big load of money and I think this is very courageous of them, that they spent a lot of money for somebody’s freedom. Money is very handy, but I think freedom is worth more than the total sum of money in this galaxy.