***25 march 2005 – Only the strong survive

 

Aaricia forgot to count the days, although she shouldn’t have been in here for very long yet. There were people..

With her back she leaned against the cold metal wall. Finally she had had a cell mate.. although it was a Rodian it was at least a nice one. But when they had just started to talk with each other they removed the ‘bug’ from her cell.

She heard rumbling footsteps on the metal floor. Two stormtroopers were dragging a woman towards her, put off the force field of the cell, pushed the woman inside the little cell and turned back on the field of energy that kept the prisoners inside their little cells. Aaricia glanced at the woman from a corner of her eye. She didn’t look very old, even younger than Aaricia herself.

Everybody was silent, in the cell that was facing Aaricia’s cell there was a man accompanied with a big mean looking doshan. Aaricia had seen them more often, but never talked with them. She had been a lot on herself, which seemed to be a strategy that was good enough to survive.. till now. Life was hard in prison. One time Aaricia had been in a fight with a man.. there weren’t many women in Dathomir prison so life was extra hard for them as the guards didn’t seem to care. That was the only good thing from Aaricia’s terrorist part: at least she was able to fight.

“What are you in for?”, the man in the other cell asked suddenly.

Aaricia sighed.

“I don’t wanna talk about that.”, she said, “And besides.. does it matter? We are all in the same situation no matter what we have done..”

Then the girl in Aaricia’s cell said that she was in here for terrorist actions against the Empire. The man in the other cell said that he had been an assassin.

“They call me a murderer but all I have done is end people’s suffering.”, he said. After a short silence he continued, excitedly, “Only the strong must survive.”

The doshan didn’t say much, seemed to be more on himself, like all of their race.

“Come-on what have you done. Tell us.”, the man urged Aaricia.

Aaricia sighed, feeling the staring glances of the other people.

“I was a terrorist. I killed people, innocent people.”, she said and stared at the ground, sadly.

The girl in her cell shrugged.

“What are you feeling guilty for?”, she asked, “What does it matter..”

Aaricia got up and moved to a corner, leaning against the wall. Again she had to fight against the claustrophobia that she sometimes felt in the little cell. She hoped that they would be released out of them soon, that they got some yard time again.

The girl started talking about the war, that trying to end the war was in fact the same as fighting in the war and such.. it made Aaricia feel confused. The war..

“Why-“, she asked.

“Because war is an infinite timeline which will never end.”

No Aaricia don’t listen to this crap.. oh why did they put her in a cell with another terrorist that seemed to have the same false idea’s that Aaricia had had.. only some months ago..

“You are brainwashed.”, Aaricia said to the girl.

“No the Empire brainwashed you, because they think that you are dangerous to them.”, she said back.

No they saved me. They had easily been able to kill me..

 

Finally the troopers came to open the cells.

“Yard time, prisoners!”, they barked.

Aaricia sighed in relief. She hoped that the fresh air would lessen the painful headache that she again felt. Suddenly some fight started.. the doshan.

She sighed.. they were all the same, violent and strong but with no brains. The troopers managed to overpower him after which they dragged him outside of the little barrack and shot him in the head. Aaricia stared at all of this and shook her head, suddenly feeling sad. Another inmate killed.. a lot of people seemed to die. The Empire was very harsh in this prison. But well.. the doshan deserved it, he started to attack the troopers. He knew this before, or was his brain too small to realize that? Even if you were a human you would be punished badly, but as alien.. were they stupid? Although on the other hand.. if you have to be here for the rest of your life it is a quick and easy way to have it ended, if you don’t wanna live anymore. Maybe the doshan had done this on purpose for this reason? No Aaricia, they are dumb, doshans don’t have much brains. They cannot think like yourself, like a human.

Ah whatever, finally Aaricia could inhale some fresh air. She shrugged and let the thoughts wash away from her mind while running some rounds. She remembered what the psycho killer from the cell next of her had said: I have life sentence. A lot of people had this sentence. But nobody had told Aaricia what sentence she had. If she would have to be here the rest of her life too.. she slowly stopped running, panting. She started feeling nauseous by the thought.. her stomach rumbled. When was the last time that they had eaten?

 

At the same moment a voice shouted.

“Against the wall prisoners, it is mining time again!”

A lot of troopers entered the yard. Aaricia wondered when they would be getting some food again. Having to work in the mines cost a lot of energy..

Only the strong must survive.

She saw the psycho killer standing some spots left of her, staring at the wall. Did he have that weird grin on his face again? She shuddered.

Next of her there was some weird naked man. Aaricia had seen this guy more often. He was totally nuts, talking all the time, talking nonsense. Why didn’t they shoot him, he was annoying.

One of the Imperial officers, dressed in black, assigned the working teams.

“You are with Leo.”, he said to Aaricia, while pointing at her and the crazy guy that was standing on her right.

She gasped, that wasn’t fair. Why did she have to work with the crazy guy now? Who said that he would work, and then they would punish her for this too because she was with him in the team! But she knew that having an argument with the man wouldn’t make any difference, it could only make it worse. She sighed. On her left there was some weird girl, looked like a nightsister. She was chained on her hands and feet and was all the time talking about slaves and such.

“You white slaves.”, she hissed to the troopers.

“Eurm.. technically it would seem that we are the slaves, not them.”, Aaricia said to her with an emotionless voice.

What a bunch of crazy weirdo’s they had put in this jail, Aaricia sighed.

Again they were chained to each other in a long row and again they had to walk the long way to the mines. This prison was huge, it was almost like a city. It was raining a lot, fortunately the orange prison suits that they were wearing kept out a lot of the cold. Dathomir wasn’t a warm planet.. Aaricia thought of Tatooine. She wished that she was there now instead of here. On the dustball it was a lot warmer..

When they arrived at the mines crazy Leo got hysterical.

“Another day in the mines.. another day in the mines!”, he kept shouting, “Mines mines mines!”

Aaricia sighed and picked up a pick-axe from the ground. She felt the urge to use it on another person instead on the stones in the mine.. but she kept herself calm.

“Move it, you know the way!”, the guards ordered and they slumped into the mines, armed with axes and the like.

Aaricia shuddered, she felt scared. There were giant spiders in the mines, she had seen some once. Firstly she suffered from arachnophobia, secondly those spiders actually killed prisoners. Aaricia didn’t want to die yet, but fortunately she was one of the last persons in the row. The spiders always attacked the people in the front.

Only the strong must survive.

She clenched her hands around the pick-axe, ready to defend herself if this would be necessary.

“Walk prisoners we don’t have all day. MOVE IT!”, the troopers urged.

Aaricia felt the fear and hesitation, especially of the prisoners in the front. But the guards had no mercy. She saw the nightsister girl, which was walking in front of her, cracking an evil grin. She actually seemed to enjoy other people’s fear and suffering. Behind her crazy Leo kept talking nonsense, in a hysterical way. Then the clicking was audible.. the row stopped, Aaricia’s heart pounded in her head. She started sweating nervously. Spiders..

She saw some humanoid bones lying on her right. The imperial officer that was leading this ‘expedition’ kicked the skull away with his foot.

“KEEP MOVING!”, crazy Leo fell against Aaricia as the troopers were prodding the people in the back of the row. Aaricia bumped into the nightsister, the nightsister pushed the man that was in front of her and after some seconds the row started moving again.

Then the spiders came..

The prisoners in the front tried to defend themselves, but the arachnoid’s managed to kill the first in the row.. the terrorist that had been in Aaricia’s cell. The troopers started shooting at the spiders.

“Keep going or DIE!”, the officer yelled firmly, and so they were forced to move on. Barely defended, with a chance to die a horrible death.

Only the strong must survive.

But it wasn’t the strong that were in the back of the row, was it? It was just a coincidence. If Aaricia had been the first person then they would probably have killed her instead of the other terrorist. Did this make Aaricia stronger than her?

“The chain broke!”, the officer suddenly shouted, as more spiders came and started an attack at the expedition. Everybody started to panic and run. Crazy Leo vanished, Aaricia hid in a corner together with a Twi’lek woman and a man.

“BACK, EVERYBODY BACK!”, the troopers then shouted.

Aaricia saw that the spiders were attacking the officer, and this was reason to pull everybody back.

The guards pushed the chaotic group of panicking prisoners back to the entrance of the mine, while seeking for missing prisoners. The Twi’lek woman tripped, Aaricia helped her up before the guards would start kicking her for being slow. Outside everybody had to wait. Aaricia felt very relieved. She knew that they would put them back into the mines again soon, but for today this horror was over. She saw how the troopers blamed the two aliens that were left: the rodian that had been in Aaricia’s cell for a few minutes and the Twi’lek woman. It was all their fault, the imperial officer said. The spiders like aliens, and aliens stink. Their smell attracts the spiders, so it is their fault. She saw how the troopers undressed the two aliens, mocking and laughing at them.

This is wrong..

Again the headache.. no the humans were the superior race. That was just.. how it was. It was their fault so this was just. If they hadn’t been at the expedition then the spiders would probably not have been there. Then they wouldn’t have been attracted to them!

“Execute them.”, the officer said with a bitter voice. It had started raining again, raining hard. It was getting dark, Aaricia wiped the drops from her face. Someone tapped on her shoulder, it was a guard.

“You, watch the execution!”, he ordered her.

So Aaricia watched how the Twi’lek and the Rodian got shot, their bodies falling on the ground, blood pouring out of them, the officer laughing.

The nightsister was shouting all the time, getting more and more excited.

“Oh yes let them suffer, oh yes hurt them!! Yes feed my soul with their agony.. yes.. YES!!”, she said with a hissing voice.

Aaricia felt terrified and hoped that she would ever get out of here alive.

She looked around herself, where was crazy Leo? She remembered that they had dragged him out of the mine, but he seemed to be gone again..

Her stomach rumbled, she noticed how weak she felt. She had asked for food several times today, but nobody had given her any answer. She asked again, but again the guards didn’t react to it. How could they keep working without food?

“When do we get #$%^@ food!!”, she then shouted, frustrated.

The officer walked in front of her and stared at her.

“Be patient prisoner, or you won’t get any Rancor gruel at all today.”, he said to her with a cold voice.

No not the gruel again.. the food here was almost indigestible. Especially the Rancor gruel, that seemed to be the favorite prison food, made Aaricia almost puke. But if it was almost the only food then they had no other choice than eating it, else they would die of starvation it was as simple as that.

“Back to your cells!”, the officer shouted and they were taken back.

“Hurry up rebel scum.”, a trooper said to Aaricia. She clenched her teeth, why did they keep calling her a rebel scum. She thought that she was cured, she thought that she would get the status of citizen now.

Maybe this promise wasn’t true, maybe they would just let her rot in here like everybody else..

When she was back in her barracks, the imperial officer followed.

“Sir can I ask you a question please?”, she asked the man.

“What is it, rebel?”, he said to her.

“How long do I have to stay in here.. I mean, everybody has a sentence. But I don’t have one..”

“That depends, Aaricia Silverstar.”, he then said, staring at her with a glance that made her shudder.

Depends..?

“Tell me, what do you think of the Empire? What are the thoughts and feelings that come in your mind when you think about the New Order?”

“Euh.. that it is a good regime..?”, she answered, “That they maintain peace and order to take care that everybody is happy and free.”

He nodded at her, looking content.

“Don’t you feel bad about what you have done? Don’t you feel bad that you have killed your family?”, he continued.

This felt like a cold knife that got poured into Aaricia’s heart. Tears came out of her eyes.

“Sir I’m so sorry, I regret it all. I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done..”, she answered with a trembling voice.

“You can repay them Aaricia. By helping the Empire.. for example you can put your tech skills to helping advance the Empire. Work for us and you will repay it all.”

Aaricia stared at the wall.

“I’m not worth that.”, she said, feeling terribly bad about herself, “I have done too many bad things, I was a terrorist.”

“Follow me Aaricia.”, the man said and she walked after him.

Aaricia don’t do it, he is lying. The rebels were your true friends, they have brainwashed you.. don’t do it Aaricia!

She looked around herself, feeling confused.

“Who said that?”, she asked, but there was only the officer, and some stormtroopers that were standing guard. That voice- it was the voice of a woman.

Aaricia if you do this you will betray your friends, they want you to join the dark side, their side. To help make this devastating Empire stronger!

“Stop talking to me, voice!”, Aaricia yelled, grabbing her skull.

The Imperial officer turned around.

“Are you alright?”, he asked.

“That voice.. I have voices in my head.”, she said, feeling scared, “They are telling me that the Empire is devastating and things like that…”

He shook his head.

“The rebels brainwashed you Aaricia, don’t give into it. I can save you. Come..”

The troopers opened the gates and they walked through them, to the direction of the main building. She had never been in there before.

You will betray your friends Aaricia.. deep inside of you you know that!

“No they weren’t my friends!”, she yelled with an angry voice, “Stop talking to me you evil voice, leave me alone! I’m with my friends now, now I finally have friends!”

The officer grinned and let her inside the main building. She saw some people wearing black suits.. were they guards without armor? One of them was playing an instrument. When they entered they all looked at the officer and Aaricia.

“Troopers.”, the old man said, “Say hello to a friend.”

Then he smiled at the girl.

“You can be one of us now, you are one of us now Aaricia. Only one word of you: yes.”

She saw the troopers staring at her.

“Euh.. hi.”, she said with a nervous smile.

“Hi.”, they said back.

“Come Aaricia.”, the old officer then motioned her again, “Come.”

She followed him onto a stairs and into a room, they were alone.

“Do you see who are your friends now? We are!”, he said.

She nodded at him.

“Wouldn’t you like to work for the Empire? This is a golden opportunity Aaricia.. you will be let out of prison, you can repay all the bad things that you have done. Repay your family.. and we will pay you well for it!”, he said to her.

She smiled, feeling happy.

“Yes sir!”, she said with a resolute voice, “I will do anything to pay back all the crimes that I and my family have committed!”

He nodded at her, looking very content. She smiled at him. A friend, she felt so happy. Finally she was getting real friends..

“Come.”

She followed him back into the room that seemed to be the recreation room for the guards. He gave her some clothes and she put them on. In the room there was some female officer accompanied with a wookie. The wookie didn’t seem to be wearing a slave collar so they put one on it. When she looked into its eyes for a second she felt a deep sadness, but after this second it was already gone.

Forget about the past. This is the right path Aaricia. And wookies are supposed to be slaves. Like all aliens.. because the human race is the superior race!

Yes, Aaricia belonged to the superior race. It felt good, like a pleasant warmth inside of her.

She followed the old man outside. Then suddenly a prisoner jumped on him and started punching him in the face. The officer was thrown against the wall. Aaricia jumped on the prisoner, she recognized the psycho killer. How had he managed to get out of the barracks section..?

“Stay away from him!”, she yelled enraged, and fought putting all her energy reserves into it to defend the imperial officer. She saw in a corner of her eye that the officer had grabbed his commlink and was calling the guards.

The killer threw Aaricia on the ground but she got up and kicked him in his balls. This special attack had come in handy several times before, and this time again it did it’s work well.

“How the hell did you get out of the barracks section?”, she shouted and kicked him again.

Then the troopers arrived and they pushed the man on the ground.

She saw the officer pulling a long sword that was decorated with gems. That sword must have been expensive..

Then he looked at her.

“Kill him.”, he said to her and offered her his sword.

“Prove your loyalty to the Empire. Kill him.”

She took the sword and stared at it, stared at her own face that was reflected in the shiny metal. Then she stared at the prisoner.

The man was laughing.

“Haha you don’t dare to do that.. haha you are weak.. hahaha!”

“Do it Aaricia!”, the officer repeated at her with a firm voice.

Only the strong must survive..

She clenched her teeth and then, with all her power, she stabbed the sword into him, and again and again..

She saw the man dying, together with the blood his life was streaming out of him.

I’m stronger than you.

For some reason Aaricia now really felt bad, the sword fell out of her hands and she started crying. A trooper put a hand on her shoulder.

“You did well.”, he said with a filtered voice, “He deserved it. After all he tried to kill you.”

She nodded. Yes it was ok, she had done well. There was no reason to feel sad.

“You are truly an Imperial now.”, the old officer said to her, “Come with me. A new life is awaiting you.”

Aaricia gave the dead body, the body from which she had taken the life, another bitter glance, sighed and then followed the officer.

They walked to a parked Tyderian shuttle and stepped into it. Then they took off..