***27 January 2005 – Hiding

 

I’m in hiding now, in a little house only one and a half mile away from Mos Entha. The Empire found out about me.

I’m alone but I feel safe. They will probably not search all houses around Mos Entha. I do not think that I'm that notorious for them.
An hour ago I made a really brief walk, enjoying the setting sun, the colors of the sky and the first rising stars. I’m happy that I could escape, what would have happened to me if I wasn’t able to do that? I would probably have been taken to Dathomir prison, and be tortured and executed, or die in the mines. I feel pretty exhausted, and tense.
Gou was with me. He has put me with a friend of him, called Lovim. The man feels warm and hospitable, a trader with a good heart. Soon I'll be put back to Azaki.

But what then? My face is known. I cannot travel on myself anymore, I can barely walk around in Mos Entha or any other city. Maybe I will need something like plastic surgery but this idea hurts me: I do not want another face! I want to stay myself! *sigh* I'll think about this later..

Well, dear diary, lets write down what happened yesterday, for now.

 

It started like a usual day. I went to Iara's place and we talked about possibilities for the local resistance, and possible connections for aiding, with Task Force Banshee.
I'm a member of Banshee now, though I also still feel connected with the local resistance. Since I've left them, I can watch it all from a distance. And I still wanna help them. I'm thinking of some way to connect the several departments of the Alliance with each other, without too much risk. Like some equilibrium.
Iara seems to be pretty afraid, though, there is a lot of love and warmth in her. She gives her life for other beings, no matter what alignment. We had a good conversation, after which I left.

I met Gou-geo and Bill in the Fallen Star and Bill had taken the jacket with him, that I had recently ordered. It looked exactly what I had in mind! I feel good in it.

 

 

Gou got a distress call: doctor Roseward got arrested in the medcentre. We hurried there and saw cops taking her with them. Iara looked very sad and worried. Gou and Bill started talking with the cops while I asked Iara what was going on. She said ‘sorry I.. I had to show them the videotape’. After some asking she told me that doctor Vernant Globewalker sent some videotape to Iara showing Eley threatening a patient to use her as a test subject in some experiment.
Iara had become scared, and contacted the police to show them the contents of the tape. For some reason she was feeling guilty to doctor Roseward now.
"I.. I.. I felt like doing it. But I do not-"
It was a tough dilemma. Maybe not on such a big scale, but that didn't matter about the core of it. I felt sympathy.
Gou heard this also and went mad at her, I saw Iara growing pale. I came in between, comforting Iara and staring at Gou-geo. Gou-geo didn't like such a young person, and also someone of lower rank in his army, to act like this. Though, he admitted that I was right. We were all human beings, and sometimes things happen that force us to make a tough decision.

 

 

“We are going to pay doctor Globewalker a visit!” Gou-geo exclaimed. "Mathilda, you'll come with me!"

"Ok." And I followed him towards the entrance of the building.

“Shut off all entrances, let nobody get in or out before we checked all their identifications.” I heard a voice ordering outside.

It was the Empire, and we bumped into them as we were about to leave the building.

“Your identifications..” One of the troopers said to us and Gou and held up his gloved hand, waiting for a card to be put into it. I started feeling very nervous for some reason, and with a shaking hand I handed him my identification card. Gou did the same, looking more calmly than I felt.
I didn't know why, I had more identification checks, but this time I felt really trapped. Though, right on the corner, only about five meters from here, there was my swoop.
Gou got his card back very soon. They didn’t give back my card. Gou took my sweating hand in his, knowing my background story. He felt also tense, but gave a gentle squeeze with his hand to reassure me.

I couldn’t swallow anymore, my brain worked very fast. My swoop was parked around the corner, I could push the trooper away and run to it, I might be fast enough in this that they wouldn’t be able to shoot or grab me.

Then I heard the trooper mentioning my real name: Aaricia Silverstar. I squeezed back in Gou-geo's hand, hoping to reassure him a bit. I would not be surrendering myself like that.

 

 

“You are under Imperial arrest.” The trooper then said to me, and he pushed me against the wall with the barrel of his rifle. This all didn't feel real anymore, I felt like being in a movie.

Now Aaricia, NOW! Shouted a voice in my head.
I collected all my anger and with a yell I pushed the trooper away, after which I sprinted towards my swoop.

“GET THAT REBEL!” I heard a voice shouting. Then there were shots, though I didn't get hit.

I raced, raced, raced. I looked back but saw nobody. After a few miles I dared to stop my swoop. In a trench I rested a bit, panting, drinking all of the water in the bottle. Trembling, calming myself down.
But Gou-geo!

After having waited some minutes I tried to contact him but the only reply was ‘<static>’. I had to return, I had to find him, I couldn’t let him be captured and transported away because of something I had done.

I contacted Bill and we met just outside the city. He put an arm on my shoulder, and gave me a cloak with a hood that I put on.
"Aaricia you have to leave right away, they are searching the town at the moment!" He spoke, and then gave a tight hug. "We will try to find Gou-geo. Now go, into the desert."
I nodded to him and walked back to my swoop, as Bill walked towards the other side.

 

 

As I quickly put on the warm cloak and mounted my swoop, I suddenly noticed a man standing in a shadow close by. He was staring at me.
I didn't know what to do, and decided to act casually, mounting my swoop. But when I drove into the desert I saw something behind me in the distance. It looked like the same man.

I parked my swoop, waiting for him to approach me. But he also stopped, staying far away from me. I jumped back onto mine. Maybe I could shake him off, but how? I had to think fast. Then I reached the trenches.
I shut off my comlink and parked my swoop in one of them. I put off my cloak because it was too hot and started running in the labyrinth of trenches.

I knew that doctor Globewalker, and Lyzzie lived nearby, and if I would make it out of here I could go to their place to get some water and hide.
I heard a filtered voice calmly giving an order. My heart was pounding, I forgot the heat. This was like a cat-and-mouse game, just like in that Imperial base on my second mission with my unit, that was called 'the Daggerwolves' in those days. It was silent and I almost bathed in my own sweat.. it was too hot to keep running. Fear deep inside of me was turning into despair. For some seconds I felt paralyzed.

“Ah there you are.”
I gasped when I saw the man, that had chased me out of the city, standing on the edge of the trench where I was standing in, aiming a pistol at me. A stormtrooper stood next to him, also aiming.

"You traitor.. you Imperial dog." I said to the man, shaking with rage. "You must be feeling really proud of yourself now." I raised my hands.

He didn't say any word. His eyes were emotionless, empty..

Then Aylmeth came, one of Azaki’s residents.

“Garvin what are you doing here? Come back home with me!”, she shouted.

“Who is that?”, one of the stormtroopers asked Gou.

“My wife.”, he said.

After a husband-and-wife discussion the troopers became impatient and they let Gou and Bill go. I wonder why they had captured them in the first place.. maybe because they had done wrong something small..?

“You stay here.”, one of the troopers said to me. I felt sad.. now I was left alone with them.

I stared at my friends, they stared at me.

Goodbye friends, I thought, it was great serving with you in the Alliance.

 

 

They were talking about Dathomir prison and then they escorted me on foot towards the starport. They were with too many, estimated chance that I would be rescued was minimal. We approached the starport entrance, I gave the city a last glance.

Then suddenly I heard blasterfire, one of the troopers pushed me onto the ground. Masked people were attacking the group.. I was amazed: who were they?

((OOC actually  it was a jedi ganker, so I made this up for a bit for the ‘immersion’))

“We need backup!”, one of the Imperials shouted.

I took my chance, got myself up and started running.

I hid in an alley, my heart pounding in my chest, my veins full of adrenaline.

I had to get rid of those cuffs, I had to-

Then suddenly somebody appeared.

O no, I thought scared.

But it was Gou!

Then Bill and Aylmeth appeared too.

“Let’s get you out of here.. that’s an order!”, Gou said to me. I nodded and he removed my cuffs.

We ran into the desert. I felt dizzy because of thirst.

 

 

But I had escaped.. I was free again!

Aylmeth gave me a bottle of milk and after drinking a lot from it we continued.

 

 

About one and a half miles away from the city there was a small house. Some strange man, looking like some trader, was standing outside and waved to us.

“Ah welcome welcome.. be coming inside quickly now!”, he said to us in a hurry.

 

 

I’ve never seen the man, Gou looked a bit amazed too. But we followed him inside. He introduced himself as Lovim Lightingstar.

“Thanks.. thanks a lot!”, I said to the man, “I don’t know you but you’re taking a big risk.. you risk your own life with hiding me here!”

“Anything to annoy those pisspot heads!”, he said to her, and laughed.

I grinned. I didn’t know this man, there seemed to be more people helping the Alliance than I thought..

 

 

“I have to go now.”, Gou said, “As soon as we get you to Anchorhead you’ll be fine.”

He put a hand on my shoulder.

“Thanks a lot!”, I said to him.

 

 

I haven’t slept very well tonight. I felt exhausted but also.. what happened today I just couldn’t sleep because of that. I woke up a lot of times, from little sounds, thinking that ‘they’ were breaking into the house and things like that. Today Gou allowed me to rest, tomorrow I’ll be taken to Anchorhead. I hope they won’t come searching all the houses in the neighborhood of Mos Entha.. we are so close.

Pfff I can’t realize.. I barely escaped Dathomir! What if I was taken there, would I then be with my family again now? Will they still be there?