***
“Now.. where
do you store your equipment?”
“I don’t know! And if I did I wouldn’t tell you!” Aaricia shouted to the trooper.
“You know.. and you will tell me!” The stormtrooper said with a clinical voice.
Feeling nauseous from fear she stared at the pink that was lying on the floor.. her pink. Her hands ached by the sight of it, she gulped and winced.
Don’t tell them.. anything.. don’t
tell them anything.. don’t tell them..
She saw the trooper nodding at the trooper to her left..
“I DON’T KNOW!” She yelled, her voice started sounding hoarse.
The trooper grabbed her hair again, uncovering her left ear.
Don’t tell them…
“I DON’T KNOW I DON’T KNOW I DON’T KNOW!!” Aaricia yelled, starting to panic.
“You do! Tell me!” The trooper in front of her said with a filtered voice, expressing no emotion.
She felt the cold metal touching the upper side of her ear again. Panic started to control her.
Don’t tell them
anything..
“NOOOOO!”
As the knife was being cut through her ear she screamed, the vicious pain jolting through her.
“STOP IT! SOMEBODY GET ME OUTTA HERE!” She struggled to free herself from the interrogation chair but it was in vain. “SOMEBODY.. GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
She started to hyperventilate. Maybe she would lose her consciousness... she really hoped. Everything started to become vague, then somebody in white grabbed her shoulders and started talking to her.
“Listen.. look at me..”
“NO LET ME GO!” She gasped for air.
Everything started spinning around her. The person in white slapped her in the face, almost gently.
“This won’t stop.. it will go on forever.. until you tell us what we want to know.”
As tears came out of her eyes, she bit her lip.
“Do you understand.. rebel scum?”
She got shaken, then regained her consciousness. With eyes wide of fear she stared at the trooper in front of her.
“Do you understand?”
“Y.. yes.” She said, crying.
The trooper released her shoulders and got up again.
“Now.. where were we.. ah yes. The equipment.. where is it stored?”
Never ever betray them.. I’ll never ever-
“Where.. is.. it.. stored..”
“In the desert!”
“Where in the desert? Give me coordinates!”
“L.. let me remember.” Her voice trembled as she tried to keep her head clear. Concentrate.. don’t tell them anything.
“Remember fast..”
She mentioned some random coordinates. Winning time was the best thing she could do. Probably some day they would get the information out of her, but by that time the rebels had at least been able to prepare a bit for a possible Imperial attack.
The.. person completely covered in shiny white armor nodded at her.
“You see? We come along nicely..”
Please let this be the
end.. at least for now.. please let them-
“Now.. back to your friends..”
A new shot of adrenaline was being spouted into her veins from the center of her own body. Her eyes grew big, as she looked around bewildered she saw her pink lying on the floor.. next to her ear.
“NOOO PLEASE STOP!”
“The major has a staff.. tell me who they are.”
“I.. I don’t know them.” She bit her lip, sighing. There was nowhere to go... it felt like ages.. when would this ever stop..?
Don’t tell them.. anything.. don’t
tell them anything.. don’t tell them..
“I have some deja-vu.” She saw the trooper moving his lenses towards those of the trooper with the knife. On the knife there was blood.. her blood.
She shuddered, crying.
Just pretend that this
all is some bad dream.. pretend..
yeah I’m on that island again, at Naboo.. bathing in the sun. The grass whispers, hmm the sand.. yeah my ear and hands hurt like
hell but that I must just.. forget. Hmm.. the sun rays..
At the same time she saw the trooper taking her leg.
“Aaargh no.. I’ll tell you please stop please don’t- n.. names.. yes.. names..”
The trooper with the knife halted.
“I.. Ilse van Dam.. Sabine Maddison..” She continued with a shaky voice. “Lola Delancy.. that’s all I know!”
"SK-492, run a check on those names... this time we will know immediately if she lies." The trooper in front of her that was asking all the questions said, as if scientifically detached.
She gasped, the trooper stared at her.
“I hope that you told us the truth.. I really hope.. otherwise..”
Do you realize what
they will do with you, if they find out that you are a rebel, and capture
you..?
Gou-geo.. Lella..
Bill.. where are you.. I wish
you were here.. I really..
Then she suddenly saw them entering the room, beating down the troopers, Gou-geo approached her, giving her a reassuring smile. It will be alright Aaricia. His right hand approached the cuff that tied her right hand to the chair.
Somebody shook her body and then her friends turned back into white stormtroopers.
“Stay awake, rebel!”
Check on the names.. otherwise..
“No, they don’t exist.” She sniffed, biting on her lip again.
“Right..” The trooper nodded at her. “Do you wish to make any correction on that statement?”
She stared at the trooper to her left again, with the knife.
But for some reason.. what
did it matter.. they would probably slide her into
pieces anyway. And if she would betray any
of her friends, he or she would probably get the same treatment like she was
getting now. So she really couldn’t betray them! This was the last thing she
could do for the
Unity is strength..
“NOOO!” She shouted fanatically.
Her left leg got grabbed again immediately.
“Wrong answer.” The trooper nodded at the trooper with the knife, who was holding her leg.
The beautiful island
on Naboo.. the sun.. hmm the water it is so warm..
She screamed as the trooper put his knife into her calf.
Swimming.. the sunrays, look the flowers!
The knife was being slit through her calf.
“The people will see how you mutilated me!” She gasped as she saw the trooper getting his knife ready for another cut. “THEY WILL SEE WHAT YOU DO TO PEOPLE!!”
She was ready for the next one, she was already feeling so much pain.. one cut or less didn’t matter anymore. She clenched her teeth..
The stormtrooper in her front stared at her face, then motioned the trooper to his left to stop. He put her leg down roughly.
“Prepare an interrogation droid.”
Aaricia sat on the toilet, leaning with her back against one of the cold metal walls. With what was left of her hands she tried to keep the thin sheet, that was once white but not anymore because it was covered with blood.. wrapped around her body.
Where is Lella, she wondered, what have they done to her?
They had been separated yesterday, after they were taken to this Imperial base. From that moment she hadn’t seen her anymore. She hoped that they would let her go, that they wouldn’t think that she was a rebel too, because she was in the same house as Aaricia when they both got caught.
Suddenly she heard someone cough, very close to her. Was there somebody else in her cell too? She bent and peeped around the little wall that formed the only means of privacy in the bare metal room, and there, she saw a little boy sitting on the couch. What was he doing here? The boy looked young, only about 13.
“Hi there.”, she said to him.
The boy looked at her, looking shy.
“H.. hi.”, he replied.
“What are you here for?” Aaricia leaned back on the wall.
The boy didn’t say anything. Aaricia sighed.. they were even locking up kids.
“What have you done to be put in here?” She peered around the corner of the little wall again.
She saw the boy shyly looking down, twiddling with his thumbs. The mere presence of the kid calmed her down.. at least she wasn’t alone in this cell anymore!
“What is your name? I’m Aaricia.”
Again, no word. She wondered what had happened to him. She hoped that they wouldn’t-
The Empire would even interrogate kids. If they were considered rebel then age didn’t matter.
She smiled sadly at the kid, then footsteps approached the cell. She heard the forcefield being activated and when she peered around the corner, she saw a stormtrooper entering the cell.
“Boy.. follow me.”
Looking a bit scared the boy jumped up from the couch and followed the trooper.
No please, don’t leave
me alone, not again..
“What are you going to do with him!” Aaricia yelled at the trooper.
“That is none of your business.. rebel. You better worry about yourself.” The trooper replied. Then they left the cell and the forcefield got re-activated again.
Frowning she leaned with her back against the cold metal wall again. Sadly she sniffed, then she jumped up and walked towards the forcefield. She heard voices coming from some room.
“Get in the chair. We are not going to hurt you..”
She gasped. The interrogation room.. Immediately she got flashbacks from yesterday, when she was beaten up in there, when her hands got.. broken. But she hadn’t told them any valid name, nor any location.
Sadly she stared at her hands, the bandages where dark red from the blood. Then she listened to the conversation again, as hard as possible. She couldn’t hear everything.
“That woman in the
cell is a mean person.. a
nasty.”
“Nasty.”
“Yes..
a nasty. We are your friends..
the nasties hurt you.. we protect you.”
“Protect.”
“Yes..
protect.”
“That’s a lie! Kid, don’t believe them.. they are lying!” Aaricia shouted.
“Silence that rebel.” She heard a voice order.
Then a trooper approached her, with a stun baton.
“One more word...”
She glared at the trooper, but didn’t say a word. The trooper stared at her for a while then walked away.
“Picture.”
“Yes..
picture. Photograph. You take a photograph of
everybody that might be a friend of the nasty woman, at the execution.”
“Photograph.. nasty friends..”
“Yes. Then we can
protect you. We are your friends.”
“Friends..”
“Friends.”
What was with this boy.. had they drugged him or something? Did.. did they..
This was horrible!
“Kid don’t listen to them.. WE are friends, not them! Do you think that I’m a bad person.. they are going to kill ME!” Aaricia shouted again.
A trooper immediately entered her cell with a stun baton and slammed her down onto the ground. She winced and gasped for air, while a jolt of pain went through her body. She heard footsteps and tried to shout again, but couldn’t get enough air. Then the footsteps were gone..
“When this is over.. kill the kid.” She heard an emotionless voice order sharply.
“Yes sir.”
“Imbeciles don’t belong in the New Order.”
The footsteps left the cell again, with difficulty Aaricia swallowed while staring at the ceiling, that looked like it was spinning.. spinning.. like like some..
“Prepare the woman for interrogation.” A voice echoed in the distance.
Her eyes grew wide as she heard the last word. They had found out about the names.. about the false names.. and now they wanted to know the real truth. Not again..
She managed to get up again, the blanket had fallen off her and she shivered, feeling cold. She peered around the cell, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. Instinctively she wanted to hide somewhere, but it didn’t make any difference..
Do you realize what
they will do with you, if they find out that you are a rebel and capture you..?
She remembered Gou-geo’s words. It had been that night when she had gotten drunk and behaved a bit.. imprudent. Sadly she thought about Gou-geo and the others. Probably she would never ever see them again. The last thing that she could do for them.. was not betray them.
Footsteps again.
“Get up, prisoner.. hands behind your head. Move it.. you know the way.”
She took place in the chair again. This time her hands and feet got tied to it. She stared into the black lenses of one of the troopers. Now she was sitting here again, she didn’t feel scared all of a sudden. It was like she was in some kind of a dream, like this all wasn’t real. Maybe that was the best thing to think.. just think.. that this was a dream.
Only a dream..
I’m not afraid, I’ll
handle this. I’m a rebel, a tough soldier.. they won’t get any information!
She breathed slowly, feeling quite calm as several
stormtroopers were staring at her from different positions in the room that
bathed in faint green light.
“Name?” The trooper asked.. same first question as yesterday.
Win time Aaricia.
Every minute was a minute more for the
“You know my name.” She answered calmly.
The trooper sighed.
“Your.. name.”
“I told you yesterday, I’m not going to say it once again. Seek in your database. I appear to be famous with you.”
“Your name, rebel!”
“Maybe we can do this another way, mister stormtrooper.” She continued. “What if I ask you a question, and after you reply.. I shall give an answer to any question of you. We could have a peaceful conversation then.. and you want me to cooperate, don’t you?”
The trooper stared at her for a few seconds.
“So.. ok then I shall start at first. After that I ask you a question, and then I’ll answer one of you again.”
“You are not in a position to ask questions, rebel.” The trooper then said slowly with a sharp, filtered voice.
“Aaricia Silverstar.” Aaricia said, showing totally no emotion. “And yeah I’m probably not in a position to do this.. but if you want to get information out of me in a fast way.. if you want me to cooperate then I would suggest.. well we are all grown-up people aren’t we? If you start hurting me then I won’t like you anymore and how big are the odds then that I will still cooperate with you?”
“Go ahead rebel, one question.”
Win time Aaricia, this
is going well..
“How did you find me in that house?” She then asked. “How did you trace me?”
She remembered how they, all of a sudden, had been bashing on the door of the little house.
“We intercepted a comm transmission.” The trooper replied.
“What transmission-“
“One question, one reply.. rebel.”
“Euh yes, of course.” She showed a nervous smile. “Your turn now.”
“Do you work alone?”
“Yes.” She had told them that she would reply, but not if this reply would be the truth or not.
The trooper held his head a bit to the side, staring at her.
“You are trying to sell me that you work alone? Hmm..”
She nodded.
“Like I told.. not on Bespin, there was my sister and Tessa Vanderwijk. But here.. yeah I worked on my own here on Tatooine.”
“How comes that we intercepted a radio transmission with rebellious content?” The trooper continued.
“It’s my turn now to ask a question!” Aaricia said with a slight trembling voice.
Win more time..
“Answer me rebel!”
“No. It is my turn. I thought we had an agreement.” Angry she stared at the trooper.
“Don’t push it.. HK-619 is eager to use his knife.”
Then the trooper to her left pulled a big knife from a sheath that was on his belt, looking at the knife then at her. She gulped. It seemed that time was running out.
Try to stay calm Aaricia..
But she knew too much!
“Who is Gou-geo.”
“Euh.. my employer.” She answered with a shaky voice, giving the knife a short glance again. “He.. he is a trader!”
“And a rebel.”
“A rebel? I didn’t know that!”
“That’s a lie!”
“Why would you think that I lie?”
“Names.. give me more names! I want to know every dirty name of the locals!”
“I don’t know them.”
“HK-619.. teach her where it leads to, when she lies.”
The trooper to her left grabbed her left hand and moved the knife towards her fingers.
I’m not afraid, I’ll
handle this. I’m a rebel, a tough soldier..
But she was afraid to death, she almost panicked. As the trooper cut off her pink she screamed in pain.
“NOOOO YOU BASTARDS!” She tried to free herself from the chair. “I DON’T KNOW ANY NAMES!” Tears came out of her eyes.
“You DO know.. and I want to hear them. Loud and clear!”
Mad she spat at the trooper.
“NEVER!”
William Gunn.. Lella Lombardi, Hassana, Katerina Starshine, Mi-na..
Finally she told them those names. The drugs from that interrogation droid had been too strong to fight. She hoped that her friends would be very cautious.. but they didn’t know.. if she only was able to contact them somehow. And now the boy was going to take photographs of everyone that looked like a friend of her.. at the execution.
Her head hurt like hell and as she stared at her body she noticed that her hands, head and left foot were bandaged. How long had she been lying here again? What did it matter..
She had always wanted to live, but now she really hoped that she would be dead soon. Executed, like those other people.. like so many rebels.. so many of her..