***8 January 2005 –Best friend gone

 

"Thanks for letting me sleep here again, Xtyx.", Aaricia said with a smile.

"Oh well no problem, hehe.", the big doshan replied to her.

They were about to split again to see each other the next day. Xtyx had finally given an answer to her question of two weeks ago and this answer was: yes. Yes, he would 'join' the Alliance. But he would stay in his position with the Imperials, he would be an excellent spy. He had muttered about this because he as a hunter preferred fighting, but Aaricia begged him to stay there. She and a lot of other members of the Alliance could never afford a position like this. Aaricia couldn't even allow to get a stupid ID at the Imperial Garrison because she was wanted, and her current identity was fake as a result. They could scan her face and such, she couldn't take the risk.

When her friend walked towards the door of his little house she suddenly felt miserable and sick. She had the weird feeling that she might never see the doshan again. She had this feeling one time before: a couple of minutes before her family got arrested.

"Xtyx wait!", she shouted, "I.. I have a bad feeling.. please take care of yourself!"

Xtyx grinned.

"Why are you so worried? I'm getting a bounty of 10k today.. you shouldn't be worried little silly human, I see you again soon..", he said.

"Be careful.. that bounty could be a trap! I have a very bad feeling.. I have the feeling that I will never see you again!"

The doshan laughed and gave her a hug and then he left. Aaricia watched him jumping on his swoop and riding into the desert.

She felt lonely and almost had to puke, that sick she felt. Just forget it Aaricia, it will be alright. But she couldn't put this feeling away. She put on other clothes and outside she took her swoop.. then her commlink started beeping.

*comm* Sasseke... argh.. this is Xtyx... @@#$ dammit its a #$%#ing trap.. KGGGGGGGG.. it's Pincer, I know it is.. I screwed up.. imperial battle cyborg troopers.. -KGGGG- too many.... -KGGGGGGGGGG- (transmission ended)

*comm* where are you?

*comm* KGGGGGGGG <static>
Then she saw some black Tyderian shuttle taking off from behind some other buildings.
"NOOOOOOOO!", Aaricia shouted.

 

Rage was the only thing Aaricia was feeling now, she wanted to destroy things, she wanted to kill all Imperials. They had taken her best friend away from her, just like her family. They had taken away everything that she loved.. and now she felt alone, totally alone. Like a zombie she walked up the ramp to the Fallen Star and there she ordered a bottle of brandy. Like a robot she took a seat and started to drink.. drink.. drink..

Then she saw Lella and she walked towards her.

"What is wrong?", Lella asked.

Then Aaricia told everything that she felt, Lella hugged her and took her outside. There some little rodian was kicking Lella's dewback, Aaricia could only watch, she felt like she wasn't really in her own body. Lella gripped his throat and they started fighting. Aaricia woke up from her trance, pulled her gun and started shooting. She felt like she was some fighting robot, like this all wasn't real. Then she fell on the ground and the next thing she remembered was her dewback lying on the ground, dead. Talln and Old Bill appeared and they helped Aaricia and Lella to the medcentre. There was also some Ubese person that was following them all the time. She didn't like her because the Ubese didn't act very nice.

At the medcentre some doctor that she didn't know tended her shot right arm and left leg, Lella was still sleeping and Aaricia got herself up to have a talk with Bill, who was still with them. Ubese was tending Lella, was she a friend of her Aaricia wondered.

In the theatre Aaricia told about Xtyx to Bill, also about this 'Pincer', some Imperial guy Xtyx had spoken about. He had yelled his name in the comm when they were taking him. If Aaricia would ever find out who this man was and where he lived, she would kill him personally. Bill comforted her and said that she better never stop feeling, no matter how much pain it was.

"We are soldiers, but also humans. Never forget that.", he told her.

Yeah, but sometimes.. it was a bit difficult. Aaricia wanted that this was all over and wanted to bury herself until that time, as long as she couldn't feel this anger, this sorrow, this pain..

 

 

Bill gave her a staff where she could lean on (so that her left leg could cure). She felt better now as she realized that she still hasn't lost EVERYTHING. She still had friends, from Task Force Banshee. Some people had vanished, like Jordiane, Mi-Na, her family and Xtyx, but no matter how many of them the Empire captured, there would always still be others left. They had to do a really hard job to make Aaricia completely alone..

As Pincer has taken Xtyx with him, and Aaricia was his best friend (they had often spent time together in public) maybe Aaricia better watched out, and then she remembered about yesterday.

 

At the same place where Lella and Aaricia talked with each other now almost a month ago, Xtyx and Aaricia met again. Xtyx had made his decision: he would join the Alliance, but they both agreed that he best stayed in his position because he had contacts with the Empire as an 'Imperial bounty hunter'. Xtyx promised that he would never attack any rebel anymore, this was over now. Then he told Aaricia about her family..

"Your family, were they called 'Silverstar'?", Xtyx asked Aaricia.

"Y.. yes! Why?", Aaricia answered.

"I found information about them in an Imperial database, they were taken to Dathomir prison a year ago. Was something with some Tibanna gas mining installation.."

Aaricia gasped and then somebody appeared, a Twi'lek wearing some Tusken outfit. So they started 'chit-chatting' again about hunting and credits and such, but Aaricia felt not very comfortable. This Twi'lek could have heard a lot, how long would he have listened to them? He followed them into the Fallen Star, kept sticking with them. Aaricia had made a note for Xtyx 'shall we dispose of him or something', Xtyx had told her 'no I don't think that is necessary, he seems to be a nice man'. But maybe.. could he have turned in Xtyx.. and maybe Aaricia too..? The Alliance would find this out, about this Twi'lek. We better don't take too many risks, and now Xtyx got arrested..

 

Aaricia and Bill split and as she walked outside the theatre, she met some girl sitting on the floor, looking very depressed. Deep inside herself Aaricia felt like this girl was a bit like herself, yet she felt something strange about her. She couldn't name this feeling..

The girl started talking to her, she asked if Aaricia knew how to earn some creds. Aaricia told her that hunting makes good money, but the girl didn't seem to be well at fighting.

"Can you teach me fighting?", she asked Aaricia.

She got a flashback, it was like this girl was Aaricia and Aaricia was Xtyx. Maybe, now Xtyx was gone, it was time for Aaricia to train somebody else. Maybe this was some 'sign', some destination of her..? The young looking girl stared into Aaricia's eyes and Aaricia felt a lot of pain and confusion. It was like she felt the things that this girl was feeling, a sensation that she sometimes had with other people. Then the Ubese woman appeared and asked Aaricia if she was alright.

"Aaricia, I am one of your 'friends'." ,the Ubese said.

Aaricia felt amazed and smiled. Xtyx has gone but she got new people around her now. The Ubese was called Hassana and they both started training Lyzzie, that was how the girl was called. She was only 15 and already alone.. even younger than Aaricia was, she was 20 when she was lingering around at Tatooine, just arrived there and no real goal yet. Well she had a goal but where could she start? Xtyx had helped her..

 

Then the 'looneys', the gang of rodians, bothans and such, appeared on their swoops. They were yelling and spitting at Aaricia, and now they surrounded them on their swoops. What did they want?

 

 

Then Hassana called 'Troops, we are being robbed!'. I stared at her, darn she called stormtroopers. A LOT of them walked towards them and started surrounding them.

"This is an illegal gathering, move along.", one of them said. Aaricia, Lyzzie and Hassana 'moved along' and Aaricia was happy when she left the town. She felt a bit pity for the looneys, what would the troopers do to them? She also felt a lot of hate, she wanted to take revenge for all the people that they have taken from her, but not now. Revenge will come..

 

Later in town one of the looneys spoke to her. He apologized, Aaricia did the same. She felt no hatred towards them, even after they killed her dewback. Hating the Empire was already enough..

Aaricia had been drunk, she lost her best friend today and her dewback too. But she would get over it, she was strong enough.

 

After the training she took Lyzzie and Hassana to Xtyx' house. It looked deserted, empty. She hoped that one day he would return. Until then she would take care of his house, maybe Lyzzie could live in it as she was homeless. Hassana was homeless too..

As Aaricia fell asleep she realized that life would continue now, even after Xtyx was gone. But maybe he would return someday.. maybe..