***3 April 2005 – Faces of blood

 

Jane stared at the floor, watching at the remains of the blood that was leaving into the drain.

“That sort of stain never comes out, no matter how hard you many times you try to wash it away.”, a voice behind her said.

Blood..

What if we would remove all the blood from everybody.. how many liters would we get then?

She wondered this aloud. Jarome raised an eyebrow at her.

“What do you mean, Jane?”, he asked.

“Well, I wonder how many liters of blood the galaxy contains. If we would gather it all, I mean out of everybody..”

Relaxed he looked at her.

“I don’t know. But mark my words, we will spill much of it in a service of that which is greater than we are.”, he said to her with a friendly voice.

“What if we would just kill everybody and get the blood out of them...” She shivered.

Again she stared at the place where she had taken a shower just a few minutes ago, at the stain of blood that had washed away from her body. It made her feel nauseous. She remembered how the little man coughed up blood onto her clothes, his blood. She had been one of the people that had caused this, that had made him blood. So much blood..

“Come Jane. It is alright, I know how you feel, how stressful this day was for you. I have had this too.. it will get easier in time. Although you will never forget their faces..”

Jane walked into the sleeping room.

“I would like to have a talk with you Jane, just to know you better.” Jarome smiled at her and sat down on one of the chairs. She stared for a few seconds at the suit that she had worn all-day, lying on the bed now, stained with blood just like the bathroom floor..

Then she turned her face away from it. Jarome was right, she had to move on. It had been hard, very hard but like the others she knew that this was necessary. It was the only way to protect the Empire’s order and hence freedom of the citizens. There was a lot of scum and villainy, only with being rough and tough it was possible to keep them under control.

 

Jane stared at the Zabrak woman, cuffed it was standing in front of her.

“Come on.. move it!”, she shouted at it. Was it deaf or something?

It walked into the elevator, Jane followed it, aiming her pistol at it. The elevator was small, the four of them were almost standing against each other. She saw second lieutenant Stechra sitting behind his desk in his black uniform, tapping on his dataterminal, under a huge Imperial flag. He was one of the highest ranking officers in the Imperial base. She had been here before, but now she was one of the cadets instead of a civilian guest.

The trooper in the elevator tapped some keys after which they went down. Down into the detention center.

They lead the woman into one of the cells, and the bars closed behind it. It turned around and stared at them. She saw the glance of it penetrating her eyes. She felt a bit guilty.. but they had to do it! It hadn’t worn an ID so it needed to be arrested.

“For freedom.. we did this for freedom. We did this.. only.. for freedom.”, Jane stammered with a soft voice, after which she turned away from it’s penetrating glance.

Freedom could only exist under strict order. Only when the people were kept under strict control they could be really free. Chaos wasn’t freedom.. yes Jane was fighting for freedom, to keep everybody free. She hoped that the Zabrak would understand this, it would make it a lot easier for it. She hoped that she had comforted it a bit..

She saw Jarome and the trooper staring at her for a few seconds, it made her feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Upstairs cadets.”, the trooper said to them after this short moment of silence, “You are dismissed. Get something to eat and rest.”

The party.. there was a ladies night.. in the hotel of Mos Entha. Jane remembered from the holo-advertisements. This could be a good opportunity to rest a bit.

But when they had barely eaten they got another comm-call.

“(Com) gather outside in uniform!”

Jane grumbled, she had just changed. She put the cadet’s uniform, also called ‘monkey suit’ by the soldiers themselves, back on, put her pistol back into the holster and ran outside.

“Cadets, we have a mission to do!”

 

“(Com) search the building!”

Jane followed the armored Stechra, also called ‘TK-253’ into the left part of the guild hall.

A bit of a fat Sullustan, pinkish skin. Called Kyre.. she forgot the surname. Wanted for murdering an Imperial officer. Within a few minutes they found it, hiding under a table. It looked smaller than Jane expected, wearing short pants, trembling with fear.

“You are under arrest!”, TK-253 said.

The little Sullustan seemed to be protesting, talking with a fearful voice. She could barely understand it.

“Get it up and with you.”, TK-253 commanded the cadets.

Roughly Jane pulled the thing with her. Thing.. it breathed.. it talked. It sensed..

No Jane turn off your feelings. It had done a very bad crime, it had to die. It had to be treated like this, and also it wasn’t a human. So there was nothing, nothing, to feel bad about.

“Move it!”, she commanded it gravely, and kicked it in the butt.

It got put against a wall, she stared at it.

“You are under arrest for murdering an Imperial officer. The sentence is death.”, the trooper said with a cold voice. He kicked it onto it’s knees then shot it in the head.

“May he rest in peace.”, one of the cadets remarked.

“Peace.”, Jane mumbled, feeling absentminded. As if she was not here, she felt like this was a dream, like this wasn’t real. She stared at the bleeding dead body of the Sullustan..

Then they moved on. The medical centre was called, they would remove the body. Like they always did it seemed..

 

There was this blue haired man, this punk, again it was playing that music. He was singing about political things, questionable things. They arrested him, Jane cuffed him after having thrown away the bloody instrument. Again she felt bad in herself, but this had to happen. This man could get people to even join the rebellion and hence suffer the same things that Jane had undergone. She shivered and felt a lot of anger in herself.

“Take him to the precinct.”, TK-253 ordered.

“Yes sir!”, Jane said with a resolute voice, and pulled the prisoner along.

He kept singing, didn’t stop, he shouted that everybody had to get up against this evil regime, that everybody had to revolt. She whapped him in the face. She should tell him about the tortures that she had to endure while in the rebellion, about all those bad things. But there was no time for that..

“Beat him up including his instrument, then detach his jaw.”, the trooper ordered them.

Jane’s eyes grew big. She stared at the little man, cuffed onto a chair. He could do nothing, he was defenseless.

No Jane, turn off your emotions. The Empire saved your life and cured your mind instead of executing you, your life is in service for the Emperor now..

She stared at the two other cadets, one that she hadn’t met yet and Jarome. They started beating up the man. Something.. she tried to move but she couldn’t. It was like time had stopped, like she was in some sort of vacuum. Confused she put her pistol on the chair next to the..

“Jane, go ahead.”, Jarome said to her with a clinical voice.

She walked towards the bruised and bleeding man, the others staring at her. She clenched her teeth and released her anger..

Tears came out of her eyes.

“Terrorist! You terrorist! I hate you I hate you I HATE YOU!”, she yelled enraged.

The man screamed in pain. Crying she turned away while the others took it over again. She heard a loud scream in pain and a loud *knack* as they broke his jaw..

As they dragged him out of the precinct she cried all the time, one of the cadets comforted her.

“It’s alright Jane.”

They left him on the stage, so that the people could look at him. So that they could see what happens when you try to spread lies. Her suit was stained with blood, he coughed more blood onto it. She kicked him in the ribs for that.

”Bah!”, she shouted, then they left. It was time to go back to base.

 

After Jane had showered she put on her frock and stared at the floor, watching at the remains of the blood that was leaving into the drain.

It will get more easy in time.. but you will never forget those faces.

 

Jane stared into the Tatooinian suns, deep inside of her she felt a lot of sorrow. Tears came out of her eyes, with her right hand she swept them away from her cheeks. There was no time for sorrow, there was no time to cry. It was war, she had to be hard as a soldier. The Empire could use her skills, she had said ‘yes’, ‘yes’ to that officer in Dathomir prison. Her life was insignificant, she was in full service to the Emperor. The Emperor, who had shown mercy for her.. for a rebel..

 

Jarome smiled at her.

“With your skills.. you can make it to scout trooper Jane.”, he said, looking relaxed, “I can’t wait till we both are troopers.”

She stared into the lamp that was on the table and nodded.

“Jane get some sleep. It has been a tough day for you.. but remember we are all in this together.”, he continued and gave her another smile.

She watched as Jarome left the big room with a lot of beds.

“Goodnight.”, she mumbled and showed a faint smile, “Goodnight friend..”

Get some sleep.

Jane had barely been able to sleep for already three days. This night she didn’t sleep at all.