The sun beat down harshly on the blinding sands of Korriban. It was a dusty, desolate world, dry, harsh and treacherous. There were no forests or rivers, nor any wildlife, but for the deadly creatures that dwelled beneath the surface. The only natural beauty the planet boasted was its grand mountains. Formidable sights themselves, they intimidated the skyline, as light reflected off the dark-orange rock to create a fire-dance effect, which changed tone as the sun completed its orbit. Centuries ago, the occupiers of this world had used this majesty to create holdfasts, hewn deep and high into the mountains. Over time, though, these great caverns had been lost to the outside world. She was not sure whether she believed it herself, but judging from the effort required to overcome the degree of collapse and erosion, it was clear that someone with military-political influence was bent on its lost and ancient secrets.
Both near and far Kae'rena could hear the chaotic clamour of metal against rock. The excavation crew, to which she had been resourced, had been unearthing this particular ruin for many days. It had been so long already that the monotonous rise and fall of her labours went by unnoticed, with the only reminder being the constant ache in her body. Occasionally, she could hear agonising cries in the distance as her fellow slaves received, what she ironically called, Overseers' Encouragement.
Terror began to spread through her, as she found herself thinking on the injustice of such wanton brutality. How truly lamentable her existence was, she thought, inspiring her inner nihilist to emerge.
She had become so consumed by her thoughts she realised too late that she had involuntarily paused from her work. Although oriented towards the rock face, she still perceived an imperial overseer approaching, but only as faded staccato images, flashing before her mind's eye. The uniform was unmistakeable. Overseers wore black greaves, black trousers, and a grey tunic, gathered at the waist by a utility belt, which, Kae'rena immediately noticed, had no holstered heat-lash. She could not decide whether she had noticed this because she knew disciplinary measures were approaching, or whether she hoped her lapse had not been noticed and simply wanted confirmation. It did not matter. She felt the crack of the weapon across her back, as it burnt through her already torn vest and seared into her flesh. The pain lingered. It lingered even after the lash had given up all its heat, and was removed to be replaced by the smell of her burnt body. The stench would have made her vomit, but for her practised combating of the reflex. She felt disgust for herself. Her weakness revolted her, but she was too afraid to defend what little dignity and self-respect she had. It was unwise for any slave to turn to face an imperial. At least, she had noted well, every time a slave did, the outcome was always the same. As desperate as she was, she was not ready to tread down that path just yet.
The last thing she saw, as the imperial withdrew his weapon and began to step back, was the blue and red squares pinned to his tunic. She did not know whether it had a special meaning, only that they were as red as his eyes and as pale blue as his face. Perhaps it was the military's means of identifying non-human species. It did not matter too much to her. All the overseers, she imagined, looked the same and acted the same. They were as singularly dedicated to their purpose, as she and her damned companions were in their acceptance of their lives' two choices – endure or perish.
"They ensure we know nothing of our surroundings," she thought to herself miserably, as she resumed her work on the ruin. "They could be anywhere, and so they are everywhere. Who would risk being shot for the chance to know something that could be no help at all?" Kae'rena knew she would not be so bold, and at that moment realised just how powerful a weapon fear could be, especially in the hands of the Imperial Military, who exploited it to the fullest. "How does anyone fight an enemy from within?" she pondered, until at last determining she ought to clear her head of these debates, and focus on the task at hand before the imperial returned.
Her efforts continued on the mountain without any further cause for complaint by the overseers. Kae'rena made a conscious effort to remind herself that now was hardly the time for reflection, and she would be far better served to focus on her fate's duties. The wound across her back, however, made this a doubly unpleasant endeavour. Every time she raised herself to strike at the rock, she relived the experience, as her flesh was stretched and released over and over. She kept telling herself all which was needed was to make it to the end of the labour cycle. Although she knew the imperials did not see the need to waste medical supplies on slaves, such a respite from this ongoing torture was a strong motivator. Somehow, somewhere she needed to find the strength to endure this, and took comfort in the knowledge that she had seen out far worse a beating than this. There would be another day for her. Grimacing at the mockery of what a charming prospect another day actually was, Kae'rena agreed it was still better than an early grave.
The light, at last, began to fade. That was not to say that it was darkening. Although Korriban's sun was relatively small in size, it burnt with an intensity rarely matched in the known universe. Feeling a sense of triumph, she allowed herself the rebellion of a brief moment of silent celebration. Breaking time into small, manageable units of measure had been an effective strategy in keeping her spirit from completely conceding. She could not help feeling a sense of pride, as it restored some faith in her insuperable force of will.
As she turned back to see out the last moments of the day, it immediately caught her attention. The rhythmic crushing of gravel under boot had become audible, even from a fair distance away. "Footsteps," she cursed to herself, as she felt the fire in her go out. Whatever insurgence had filled her, she had now been reduced to the scarred, frightened girl again. In her panic, she recounted what action or inaction could have earned the Empire's displeasure. "Nothing!" she answered to herself in desperation.
As she struggled to find answers to calm her anxiety, she took note of something rather odd. The approach of those footsteps was not coming on particularly quickly. Usually the overseers would rally to lash out at the slaves, yet this imperial was clearly in no hurry. She dismissed the thought that he was out to enjoy the scenery almost as quickly as it had occurred to her, while simultaneously admonishing herself for useful suggestions. Yet, the facts were inescapable. The imperial was barely on a leisurely stroll, almost as if he had no specific purpose at all. Kae'rena tried to convince herself that, if she paid it no mind and kept to her labour activity, whoever this was would pass by her. "Yes. I shall do that," she resolved. No sooner, though, did the whole situation turned from merely inexplicable, to utterly bizarre.
The mystery imperial was now being joined by another. This one was clearly in a hurry. From the clumsy sounds of movement, it was almost as if this officer wanted to run as quickly as he could, but kept checking his pace. She likened it to a contest between the indignity of haste and the inadvisability of delay, in stalemate. Then it stopped.
Kae'rena supposed the second had caught up to the first, and heard the one talking to the other. She was too far away to make out what was being said, but judging by how the one was gasping for breath, it was clear who was speaking to whom. She made certain not to draw unwanted attention to herself, while she listened out for any hint of developments between these furtive individuals. Eventually, the conversation came to an end.
Kae'rena had learnt nothing from her attempted eavesdropping, and so reserved her jubilation, which ultimately was shown to be a prudent instinct. Both the imperials now began to walk in her direction, albeit in silence. Apparently, enough had been said. One of the officers stopped, and let the other pass and walk on ahead. She estimated they must have been five metres away from her now. Knowing she was in full view of whoever it was looking on, she gathered every ounce of her dwindling nerve and pounded her tool against the mountain with all possible enthusiasm. She was on guard though. "Just assume hostile intent," she kept repeating, bracing herself. So she listened, analysing everything she could hear. She had filtered out all ambient noise of the excavation site, and was singularly focused on this approaching officer.
Without warning, she realised she felt cold. She felt a rush of adrenaline, her pulse racing, and her heart pounding at her chest. Her throat and mouth were as dry as the sand, as if all the moisture had been forced into three ice cold droplets of sweat, which were now rolling down her face. Fear was the staple of her emotional construct. It was all she could remember feeling, since she was a small child, yet this was something she had never experienced before. It was menacing, malevolent, malicious. The air was heavy to breathe. To hold herself upright became a trial, as her entire musculature began convulsing in dreadful anticipation.
As she looked up to take another strike at the ruin, it was there. The black shadow appeared on the rock face, representing the manifestation of ever negative thought or emotion Kae'rena had. Startled, she struck the shadowy stone as if unconsciously hoping to vanquish the darkness. Her efforts were for naught. The shadow continued to grow bigger, as the man approached her, until finally it stopped. "What is happening?!" Kae'rena screamed silently to herself.
While each moment seemed to last aeons, Kae'rena desperately tried to remain composed. The spectral outline of the cagy figure remained fixed and rigid. He merely stood there and stared at her back. "If this is a senior imperial officer, he will surely see the marks of my recent discipline," she worried to herself. "Perhaps he is here to make an example of me to the other slaves. Perhaps he will order me to be executed, publicly tortured first to embellish the lesson."
While she contemplated any number of terrible things this enigmatic presence may epitomise, to her astonishment and relief, the shadow began to subside and move off. Her psyche was divided on whether to rejoice, or to remain in its state of alarm. There had been no natural conclusion to this encounter, if it had been an encounter at all. "What imperial bothers to come to stare at slaves" she remarked to herself, "unless they have been assigned guard duty?"
If this meeting had been anything, it had been deliberate, but with no apparent outcome. Borne out of sheer desperation, Kae'rena chanced a glance to her right. Apparently, she could be so bold if pushed to it, and for the risk she took all she saw were her fellow labourers going about their work. They were seemingly unperturbed by the shadow, as it crossed their part of the rock face. Although it was diminishing, Kae'rena remained extremely unsettled, as she puzzled over her comrades' bravery in comparison to her immobilising fright. One thing at a once, she thought, muttering how this was not the time for self-exploration. After this near miss, she was even more determined to return to the holding camps, and refused to let anything jeopardise that.
It was, nevertheless, a difficult challenge for Kae'rena to supress the flood of questions raised by her strange rendezvous with the shadow on the wall. Fortunately, she managed to avoid any temptation to ponder them, and shortly she heard the familiar sound of the overseers herding the workers into convoy. It was at last time for the journey back to imperial installation.
The path needed to be taken was more or less devoid of any inclines or declines, but the rocky ground often made the passage a contemptuous one. Kae'rena, and all the others along with her, were bound into one single line by the use of rudimentary chains, passed through rings on magnetic foot shackles. The shackles were made from premium materials, and the chains had the added security feature of carrying an electrical current, which made any attempt at destruction or tampering inadvisable. Kae'rena recalled, when she had been assigned to a work detail on the other side of Korriban several years ago, she had tried to break her chains with a large rock. It turned out to be the precursor of a poorly considered escape attempt. At best, it had been an unpleasant experience, and it could be said to be one of the defining moments of her life, as, since, she had never again considered of the possibility of escape.
It was a long march. Several of her company would no doubt observe the sad inevitability of collapsing along the way, their strength completely spent from the hard toil of the day. Of course, the overseers did not concern themselves with such things. They would indiscriminately lash at the convoy of slaves until the column resumed its advance, and left it to the group to save themselves by helping the weakened. Kae'rena supposed, from the imperial perspective having slaves self-regulate like that was an efficient method. Irrespective, at that point she was not concerned with the misfortune of those without stamina to travel. On the contrary, for her part she welcomed the long walk back to her holding cell. It was an excellent time to put forward all the riddles this latest labour cycle had presented.
At last, everyone was grouped, shackled and chained together. As the column started to move ahead, Kae'rena could finally permit herself to relax her guard somewhat. She took several deep breaths to help calm her mind, and began to consider the implications of recent events. After much debate and internal monologue, she was still no closer to divining an answer. Finally, Kae'rena was forced to concede that her visitor was not part of the regular imperial personnel contingent, assigned to the outpost where she was kept.
After examining a few workable theories, she decided her forerunner was that the man had been an emissary of the high ranking individual, who had ordered the work on the ruin. This seemed to her to be a more than plausible explanation. Whoever it was who was so bent on the contents of the stronghold would naturally want progress reports to be sent by members of their own staff. "Finally, some progress" she thought, just before she felt a body fall onto her back, and stumble for balance.
Besides the added pain from her laceration, this ill-footed fool had put her off her line of thought. She was irritated, and, in truth, quite surprised at her reaction. Usually her natural inclination would have been to avoid confrontation, too afraid to draw attention to herself. It was different on this occasion. She simply had far too important matters on her mind to be distracted by overseers, needing to break up a scuffle, otherwise, she expected, she would have reproached this clumsy oaf, promising more drastic measures should he relapse his recovery. "No," she thought, "now is not the time for this." Resolved to place her contemplations as the priority, she let the incident pass, and returned to her thoughts.
After she had refreshed her memory of the likely identity of the officer, a feeling she had had resurfaced to contradict her conclusion. "That man stopped to glower at me, and he did so deliberately," she conceded. Although there was nothing to confirm or refute it, there was something inside of her which would not let her propose otherwise. It may have been an instinct, or nothing more than her typical paranoia. The effect was the same. She could not shake the idea that she was somehow involved in his promenade, and became convinced of it.
With all the schemes and suppositions racing around her head, Kae'rena was mystified to find that they had arrived at the slave camps in seemingly good time. Her recollection of the trail was it usually felt interminable. On this occasion, it felt like those moments when one wakes from sleep without the notion of the passing of time. Ordinarily, such an easy passage would have been joyous, but she could not deny a building sense of trepidation with each step she now took. Her instincts told her that if she were intended to be involved in some upcoming imperial intrigue, the first move would be made in her holding cell, probably in the middle of the night when she would be most malleable.
As the column finally was called to a halt, Kae'rena took the opportunity to take in the scene, especially hoping to notice if anything appeared unusual, while at the same time wishing for all to be in the ordinary course. The camp itself made magnificent use of the geology of Korriban, and was built against the mountain side, which reached high into the sky. Seen from the outside, a two metre wall had been built to cordon off the interior of the camp, reaching from one side of the mountain to the other. The shifting contours had been accommodated by the barrier taking a crescent-like shape from one side, before it straightened sharply to make its final connection at the other.
The imperial military designed its equipment to be as re-usable as possible. In keeping with this policy, the wall itself was a collection of durasteel segments. At each connecting point there was an electrical relay, which gave the structure an additional defensive feature. Once coupled with a power source, they formed an energy-shield barrier, which was pale reddish in colour, blending well into the natural environment. Despite the aesthetics of the defences, the intensity of the heat and electrical discharge from the shield made any scaling of the wall impossible. Furthermore, the amount of ordinance required to breach the durasteel itself made the structure well impenetrable.
The overseers began to usher the slave column to the outer gate, which gave access to a small holding tunnel the other side of which was the camp interior. In terms of imperial military protocol, there were always two sentries on world side of the outer gate with a sharpshooter positioned in a defensive holding position above. Kae'rena looked for signs of increased security, but could only see the standard three. The sentries raised their weapons, and placed them at-ready positions, as the overseers marched the group into the tunnel. Eventually, Kae'rena passed through, and waited as the outer gate was closed behind them. They all huddled in the darkness for a few moments, before a narrow inner door was opened. The sudden light cut through the blackness so ferociously, the camp wardens had to yell several times before the group regained enough vision to see their way through.
After clearing the inner door, the chains were removed from the foot shackles of the slaves, who were allowed a moderate freedom of movement from this point. The likelihood of escape was extremely low, and not considered a risk to imperial security. There was a wide walking space, allowing the guards a broad field of fire to supress any trouble. The walls of the inner compound forced everyone in one direction. Immediately to her right she could see the Main Command Bunker, atop which flew the imperial flag. Kae'rena naturally blended in with the crowds, and began to meander along to her holding cell. As she passed the command bunker, the imperial barracks and officers' quarters came up into view. It was a vast building, housing the outpost's soldiers, overseers, as well as its officers. A watch must have recently ended, judging by the high influx of personnel, presumably coming off duty. It inspired her to reach her cage without delay, and take in some rest, which she most desperately needed.
The lighting of her path began to turn noticeably artificial, as Korriban's sun moved off beyond the horizon. Kae'rena began to quicken up her pace, for she did not want to risk being caught in a restricted area after curfew. The imperials did not tolerate it.
The day was ending routinely enough. There were no signs of any special operation, or the presence of any important visitors. Kae'rena thought she could finally lower her defences, confident in her ability to handle any belligerence from her fellows. She continued on a few more steps, carefully weaving her way through the multitude, until the numbers began to thin out, as the slaves started to peel off few by few.
Then, it happened.