***
‘Wow.. I guess I’m famous
now’, Aaricia thinks when she looks at one of the big screens in the travel
hall of Coronet Starport, ’They are fast with this.’
She feels confused, her thoughts go fast and
feel chaotic. It all happened so fast..
While she continues watching the screen and tries to listen to the
voice of the Imperial officer that is talking on it in this crowded hall, she
checks with her shaking hands if her wig is still well enough attached to her
head. Sometimes she anxiously looks around herself,
adrenaline is streaming through her veins. Every moment she expects a hand on
her shoulder, of a Corsec agent or somebody from the Empire, who are going to
arrest her.
She looks at the text that appears on the screen, while the voice reads
it. It is the description of the fugitive rebel ‘terrorists’. Yes it is
definitely her.. she gasps.
But then he starts talking about a second fugitive. A second?
Aaricia thought she was the only one shooting at those stormtroopers. Her mouth
falls open as she reads the text.. the
description.. that could be Xtyx! No, that can’t be,
he would never attack stormtroopers.. he is Imperial himself!
***IMPERIAL ANNOUNCEMENT***
((on the Holotv you see an Imperial flag and hear the Imperial
March, after which the following text appears))
TERRORISTS
ATTACKED MOS ENTHA, SOME OF THEM GOT AWAY.
((a man looking around 50 years old in Imperial officer uniform
appears on the screen, sometimes changed by scenario pictures of the Mos Entha
hotel, scared civilians, a short film with a firefight in it and searching
troopers))
"Dear citizens of the Empire.
Tonight there was an attack by rebel terrorists on the hotel in the
city of
We can imagine that you must be scared by now, but don't be. We have
stationed extra troopers in the city for the coming days and we do our best to
protect you against more terrorist attacks. We also have provided heavy AT-ST
vehicle support which will make any rebel think twice
before attempting any cowardly strike on civilian targets.
Two of the terrorists managed to get away and if you think you have any
information that can aid us in our search for them, please contact any Imperial
representative right away. This is for your safety. You are also ordered to
turn in any of that false propaganda (the officer's head turns red and he
raises his voice, a bit angry), which will only lure you into their trap. So
that we can all contribute to bringing back the freedom and safety that every
Imperial citizen should enjoy.
Description of the wanted terrorists:
((these words appear on the screen))
1. Species: human
Gender: female
Estimated age: 17-19
Skin color: white
Hair color and style: black, straight, shoulder length
Length: estimated about 1.63 meters
Build: slim
Clothing: black shirt and skirt or dress
Weapon used in attack: acid pistol
2. Species: probably trandoshan
Gender: probably male
Estimated age: unknown
Skin color: dark greenish (only seen on the feet and hands)
Length: estimated about 2.20 meters
Build: heavy
Clothing: blue ubese armor including helmet
Weapon used in attack: flamethrower
((voice continues speaking))
This is in short the text of the false propaganda:"
((the following text appears))
***TO ALL IMPERIAL 'CITIZENS' WHO GET THIS PAPER IN THEIR
HANDS***
Make up your own mind after you have read this. Forget it, spit on it,
think about it.. whatever.
...............................
...............................
...............................
May the Force be with you all,
one of the Rebel
((the text vanishes and you see troopers
marching through Mos Entha))
"Thank you for your attention, citizens.
We end this broadcast by reminding you that serving the empire today
is to secure a better tomorrow!"
((imperial flag appears, imperial march
sounds))
((the usual commercials continue..))
She tries to remember what only happened a
couple of hours ago. The suspected rebel sympathizer started to run and the
stormtroopers that had arrested him started shooting at him, she was in an
alley close to it, pulled her pistol, her heart pounding in her head. It was
her fault that the poor man got arrested.. if she wouldn’t do anything now she was definitely a coward.
But she was a member of a Rebel specforce company, she
had to stay out of trouble with the Empire. Only attack them when her
commanders order her to do. But the man.. she looked at the sky above her.. then
the firefight sounds stopped and there was only silence. She looked around the
corner.. and saw the arrested
man lying on the ground, covered with blood. At that moment her emotions won
from her ratio.. she ran
toward the man and realized that he was dead.. killed
by the troopers.
“Oh no!”, she screamed, and looked at the
troopers, enraged.. “You BASTARDS!”
She pulled the trigger but then realized that they were with too many,
she was alone. Without armor.. and
a lot of people were watching..!
“Aaaaargh!”, she
yelled while running back into the alley..
‘What have I done, o @#$’,she thought while
she sprinted away from the chasing troopers as hard as she could. Fortunately she
knew the city map for a big part by heart and after about 10 minutes she didn’t
hear the troopers following anymore. But she knew they were still after her.
They would wipe the city searching for her now.. She
hid behind one of the little houses in one of the poor neighborhoods and
quickly changed her clothes. She had always carried a blonde wig in her
backpack for situations like these and about three minutes later a blonde girl
appeared back on the street, whereas a girl with black hair had vanished only a
few minutes ago.
‘Ok just stay relaxed.. breathe
in.. out..’, she told herself while she walked towards
the spaceport where her second hand Z95 headhunter was parked.
Ok she was almost there. Only a few meters now and then she could fly
to freedom, hyperspace to Corellia, away from this dust ball..
“Hey you there!”
Aaricia’s heart stopped pounding.
Some woman ran towards her, ok good no stormtrooper..
“Have you seen somebody running away?”, the
woman asked her.
She looked not much older than Aaricia herself..
but paranoia as Aaricia felt she decided she better
not answer ‘yes’ to this question. Although on the other hand the woman didn’t
actually look Imperial..
“Hey you!”
Aaricia looked to the left, where the filtered voice came from, and she
gasped. Stormtroopers! O no, she was busted! Ok stay calm Aaricia, breathe in..
“Euhm.. hi.”, she
said to one of the troopers with a nervous smile, ”I.. is
there a problem?”
The trooper was talking into his commlink that was in his helmet. It
felt like hours, what was he saying? She had to keep herself from biting her
lip, better not act too nervous.
Then the trooper started talking again.
“You are free to go, citizen. Move along.”
And Aaricia continued walking towards the spaceport entrance.
“Keep searching for her.”, she heard the trooper order to the other
troopers as they walked away.
She sighed relieved and showed a big smile. She got away thanks to
those other clothes and the wig. But she better not stay too long here for if
the troopers would change their minds..
The woman, dressed in blue clothes, followed her.
“Are you- ach never mind.”, and she started to walk away.
Why was she asking this?
Aaricia remembered her from a couple of hours ago, when she had pulled
one of Aaricia’s flyers from the wall and read it looking interested. Maybe she
was a Rebel sympathizer..?
“Wait!”, she yelled to her, the woman turned
around.
“Yes?”
“I.. I have seen her running.”, Aaricia told her.
“Which way?”
“This way.”, and she pointed at herself, the
woman raised an eyebrow at her.
Then Aaricia saw more stormtroopers walking by.
“Eurm.. I.. I have to
go now.”, she said hurried, and walked towards the spaceport in a fast pace.
Without further problems she jumped into her Z95 headhunter and took
off to space, where she started to make hyperjump calculations for Corellia.
“Come on you stupid slow computer, calculate!”, she said, and after
about 20 seconds the stars changed into star stripes as she jumped into
hyperspace.
All her life she has hated everything that interferes with people’s
freedom, and any injustice. She remembered that she already had problems with
‘authorities’ on nursery school, namely the teachers. And after that it had
only gone worse. Already in nursery school there was the Imperial propaganda,
but she never believed that even when she was only about 4 years old. Later in
her life she had tried to adapt more to ‘the system’ but it had only made her
very depressed. From about her eight year she was thinking about joining some
rebellion, if there existed any. And else she would start her own rebellion, or
maybe those ‘terrorists’, which was talked about many times, were actually the
rebels..?
Her parents said that she was too young and shouldn’t have these
radical, weird ideas. But she couldn’t stop thinking about it. That her father
was friends with the Imperials didn’t change her mind, it even made her hatred
towards this regime bigger. Those Imperial officers that sometimes had dinner
at her house made her irritated.
When her father started threatening her to put her on some Imperial
academy ‘because that was best for her’, she joined the Rebellion. That was
about two years ago, when she was only 18..
Yesterday she found the old letter she wrote some years ago, in her
datapad it was still stored there.. it
was a rebel propaganda letter that she wrote on Bespin, she was intending to
spread it around the floating city which she lived in. She had made a virus
from it that spread among the computer system of her university, where she studied
information-psychology. And now she was reading it again..
***TO ALL IMPERIAL 'CITIZENS' WHO GET
THIS PAPER IN THEIR HANDS***
Make up your own mind after you have read this. Forget it, spit on it,
think about it.. whatever.
Have you ever felt like you are not really free, although the Empire
told you and all the other civilians that everybody is free now? Have you ever
wondered if everything they told you is true, ever questioned any propaganda or
what is on the Holotv? Have you ever had the feeling that you want to see all
these propagandic things yourself and not just take it all as true because you
hear and see those 'stories' everywhere? Have you ever thought that it might be
better to wear chains than to believe you are free, and weight yourself down
with invisible chains..?
Have you ever had the feeling that you want to think for yourself, make
up your own mind.. but there
is something that feels like a weight on your shoulders, like a depression..
All this propaganda makes us feel depressive too.
Have you ever made fists and felt angry but powerless when you saw
Imperials beat up other civilians or non-humans on the street and acting very
rude to you and other civilians.. like
some military regime, like a regime that could be the opposite of freedom(?).
Have you ever felt irritated because of another ID check and/or contraband scan
'to protect you from rebel terrorists' but you've never actually SEEN such a
'terrorist' from your eyes and you wonder if the 'facts' in the propaganda
about this are true? Have you ever even wondered if those 'terrorists' really
are terrorists, evil people that kill innocent civilians?
You are not the only one.
Have you ever thought of another, better world, maybe without the Empire?
Have you ever wondered if everything maybe was better instead of worse BEFORE
the Empire?
They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them
yourself. Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has
its enemies. Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the
frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change
occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.
Be the change you want to see in the world. And if you think you are
too small to be effective you've never slept with a mosquito. Even one mosquito
can be very irritating.. but
there are much more. We all together, even if we do really small things (like
spreading a paper like this), can be a very big pain in the butt for the
Empire!
It WILL become better. The rebel alliance WILL win someday, it is
inevitable. We are already gaining more and more terrain. However long the
night, the dawn will break.
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick
society. If you feel you don't fit in and you want to do something about this,
take the things from this letter to your heart and hopefully you have gained
back some hope. It is for a big part because of you citizens, that someday
there will be freedom again in this galaxy!
May the Force be with you all,
one of the Rebel Alliance's members.
In a rush she made this letter up-to-date and on a public data terminal
she started to print the letter, after which she made a lot of copies of it.
She put on a hooded cloak, bought some tape in a local shop and started
to stick these letters to walls and put piles of it on public places, looking
around herself cautiously.
She saw people read them and put a sheet into their pockets, and she
smiled. Everything went perfect and when she was finished she put off her cloak
and while whistling innocently she strolled to the hotel, where she had put a
huge pile of letters in the entrance hall only about 20 minutes ago.
She met Xtyx at the hotel, he was grinning and
making remarks about the letter. “Is this your letter?”,
he asked her with a grin.
Aaricia smiled back. “No off course not, I would never do something
like that. I would never promote those terrorists!”,
she answered.
Xtyx was a friend of her and he actually didn’t seem to care about her
suspected rebel activities at all. She felt safe and victorious. But then
stormtroopers entered the hotel and they started searching people and asking
for their ID’s. Then she heard ‘You are under arrest for suspected rebel
activities’ and she watched how the troopers arrested a young looking man. O
no, they were arresting somebody else for what she had done! This was her fault.. and those papers, it was her
action.. it would be bad if somebody else would pay
the bill for this.
Then she started following the troopers and the arrested man towards
the entrance.. and outside
she hid in an alley, thinking, thinking fast..
After the Imperial announcement Aaricia gets up and slowly walks
towards the exit of the spaceport. It is very busy,
there are a lot of people. Nobody seems to be interested in her.. She is happy that the Imperials
don’t seem to possess a picture of her face. While the sun is setting and
spreading a bright yellow-red light, the sky is turning purple and dark blue
and the first stars of this night become visible, Aaricia hurries to find an
image designer.