Chapter 2
Garrel Bounty Hunger White Eagle woke up to a nagging throb in her head. She ignored the pain as she snuggled deeper under the blankets, an early morning chill snaking through the room.
Wait…what?
White Eagle bolted straight up, ignoring the sharp pain that followed. The Bounty hunter looked around the room as she tried to remember what happened after she blacked out. All she could recall was immense pain and hushed voices as she surfaced in and out of consciousness.
The room she was in was nothing special. Just a bed, a desk and a bookshelf. The bed had old but clean blankets on it, the desk only holding a tin cup and the bookshelf had nothing on it. The window was filthy but sunlight filtered through the drawn curtains, as did voices.
White Eagle stood on unsteady feet and started to walk towards the window. Her head was pounding with pain but she managed to make it halfway to the window when the door opened to reveal a young man approximately about the age of twenty or older. He was tall and scrawny looking, wearing a strange brown jacket and with an even stranger hat pressed down against his blonde curly hair. His brown eyes went wide when he spotted the bounty hunter standing in the middle of the room. The two continued to stare, wide eyed until the young man suddenly slammed the door shut. Oookay then…
Now's my chance, White Eagle thought as she bolted towards the window. The bounty hunter tugged and pulled with all her strength but it wouldn't budge. It was bolted shut. White Eagle scowled at the window, drawing back the curtain. Glancing out the window, the bounty hunter saw that she was in some sort of compound with men wearing different uniforms mingling around, while what Eagle assumed were guards watched them carefully. Clutched in their hands was a strange type of weapon, looking like a primitive version of a blaster riffle. A thought suddenly came to mind. Where did her weapons go? Her light saber? Her blaster? More importantly, her ship? Even more so, the Holocron?!
White Eagle was panicking so much that she didn't realize someone else walked into the room until they spoke.
"Nice view huh?" White Eagle jumped, startled and fell into a defensive stance. There was a man with a brown jacket, crème colored khakis and shirt and what looked like a crush cap. The stranger's hair was deep brown and slicked back. His brown eyes darted here and there, taking and assessing everything. It honestly made Eagle nervous.
"Where am I? What am I doing here? How did I get here?" Eagle's rapid-fire questions were stopped as a wave of dizziness washed over her, causing the bounty hunter to prop herself up on a chair. Another followed the man, carrying something with a giant red cross. Eagle's vision blurred as she attempted to hoist herself up which failed. The two men helped Eagle sit on the bed; the man carrying the box knelt and shone a flashlight in her eye. For a second, White Eagle was shocked and shielded her eyes but soon realized the man was a medic and he was checking her responsiveness. Putting her hand down, White Eagle followed procedure. When he was finished the medic turned to brown jacket.
"She should be fine," the medic stated stoically. "Just make sure she gets enough liquids."
"Thanks Wilson," Brown Jacket said as the medic, Wilson, left. Brown Jacket turned to White Eagle. "Now that's over I guess introductions are in order." He held out a hand. "The name's Colonel Robert E. Hogan, senior POW officer here at Stalag 13."
POW…. Prisoner of War…. Prisoner….WAR," The words ran circles inside Eagles head. That must mean I'm in a prison camp…. I need to get out of here.
"Pleasure to meet you Colonel," White Eagle said, straightening her spine. "My name is White Eagle, Bounty Hunter."
Before either could say another word, the door burst open revealing a man wearing a blue turtleneck, blue jacket, pants, black shoes, and a strange blue hat placed precariously on top of his black hair. His nose formed almost something of a beak and in his hands, were a worn deck of…playing cards? Okay. Anyway, he smiled warmly at the now conscious woman then turned to Colonel Hogan with a sneaky sort of smile.
"Klink's looking for you Colonel," he informed before removing his hat. The blue man had an accent similar to one of the Jedi Masters. Master Kenobi I think except his sounded as if he was of lowborn status. The man took White Eagle's hand and planted a kiss on it, shocking the bounty hunter. "'Ello there Love. 'ow ya feeling?" White Eagle smiled, still too shocked to speak.
"Oh, forgive me, uh…"
"Corporal Pe'er Newkirk," He supplied. "At your service."
"Forgive me Corporal, but I'm feeling just fine." White Eagle managed, her tongue feeling quite heavy. It's been a while since she's talked so formal since the people she deals with on a daily basis for the last fifteen years were pirates and low lives.
"So, Klink needs me?" Hogan questioned. Newkirk nodded as he returned to shuffling the deck of cards.
"He said somethin' about preparing for a surprise inspection from the visitin' Gestapo." White Eagle's brow furrowed as the two men continued to talk until the Colonel turned to her, her spine suddenly snapping straight.
Hogan saw this and hesitated for a heartbeat. However, he just shook his head and spoke, "Stay in the barracks." He looked over at Newkirk. "Keep an eye on her will ya?"
Newkirk nodded as Hogan walked out, leaving the two in silence until White Eagle's stomach rumbled. The blue clad Corporal looked over at her and chuckled. White Eagle blushed slightly as she tucked a strand of hair her ear.
"I guess I'm a little hungry."
"Well don't you worry love," Newkirk assured. He placed the deck of cards in his pockets. "We'll get you right as rain. Follow me."
The human Corporal opened the door and walked out, White Eagle hesitantly following him. They entered what looked to be the sleeping quarters for the prisoners, with trunks at the foot of each bed, a table in the middle of the room and a stove. The barracks were all but empty except for the boy White Eagle saw earlier, a dark-skinned man in green clothes and a short man with dark hair and a red shirt at the stove. They all turned towards the two as they walked out and White Eagle sat down at the table ignoring the stars and looks.
Newkirk patted the man at the stove on the shoulder. "This is Lebeau, our own chef here in Barracks 2. He'll fix you up with somethin' nice an' hot."
White Eagle nodded her thanks, her eyes travelling all throughout the building. Although there wasn't much to look at. White Eagle had to admit it was a lot nicer than some of the prison camps during the Clone Wars. She was brought out of her musing when someone snapped his or her fingers in front of her face. It was the man they called Lebeau.
"What would you like to eat mademoiselle?"
"Anything is fine, thank you." The room was plunged into silence, except for the sizzle of the stove. Never the fan of pregnant silence, White Eagle drummed her fingers on the table. Her mind wondered to her friend's fate. Sure Bonga was a mechanic but he can also fight as well as White Eagle herself and considering her past…. the bounty hunger sighed as she shook her head. It wouldn't do any good to wallow in self-pity. She did enough of that fifteen years ago.
Lebeau placed a bowl of soup in front of her, the spicy scent working its way into her nostrils. She smiled her thanks and gulped the soup down. Once it was gone, White Eagle saw all four men stare at her with wide eyes. The bounty hunter handed the now empty bowl back to the short man.
"Thank you," the Garrel bounty hunter thanked. "It's been a while since I had substantial meal."
"De rein," the man said placing the bowl in the sink. White Eagle stood and walked over to one of the bunks, her curiosity wanting to look around. Before anyone could say anything else the door slammed opened to reveal a rather large man with a strange helmet that lowered over his ears. A small grey mustache was the only thing that adorned his chubby, wrinkled face. White Eagle knew enough to realize that this guy was a prison guard and froze. Glancing worriedly at the others, who were also frozen, their eyes as wide as saucers. Very slowly as to not to catch guard's eye, White Eagle moved off the bed and slowly dashed behind the bunk.
Right as the woman ducked behind the false bunk, Schultz turned to him so he forced himself to look at the bumbling guard. Carter forced a relaxed smile, causing Schultz to narrow his eyes.
"What are you up to?" The bulbous guard asked.
"Nothin' Schultzie," Newkirk replied patting him on the shoulder. Schultz in turn pulled away afraid that the British corporal would pickpocket him.
"Commadant Klink has ordered fore very prisoner to remain in the barracks until evening roll call." Schultz said curtly. The door opened to reveal Hogan walking in, an amused smirk plastered on his face.
"Hiya Schultz," Hogan greeted. "What a homecoming!"
Schultz looked uncomfortable as the room full of POWs started crowd him. Finally, he shrugged the prisoners off and started towards he door. Once he was gone everyone waited a few minutes to make sure he was gone before conversing. Hogan turned to Carter.
"Where's White Eagle?"
"Right here Colonel," The woman answered as she climbed on top of the false bunk. Carter inhaled sharply but played it off as a cough. This woman could be a spy for the Germans planted here to get info.
"I see you've met most of my men," Hogan stated as he causally sat down at the table. White Eagle shrugged as she faced him.
"Most of them. I still don't know you," she pointed a gloveless finger at Carter, "Or you." This time she pointed to Kincheloe. "Or that big guard that almost rivals Jabba the Hut."
"Oh, that was our barracks guard Schultz," Hogan stated as he pulled out a cigar that he got from Klink's office. He ignored the strange name. The silence was thick as the woman looked at Carter. His face grew red from embarrassment.
"Oh, Andrew Carter," he stated as they shook hands.
White Eagle nodded and smiled dryly. "Pleasure." She turned towards Kinchloe who was leaning against the bunk.
"Sargent Kinchloe," The radioman greeted. "At your service."
"Well I think that covers everyone," Hogan casually stated, stepping between the two.
"If I may Colonel Hogan, but where is my light saber? I'm going to need it back if I get to go home." White Eagle asked after everyone had settled down. Hogan blinked in confusion as well as everyone else. They had absolutely no idea what light saber was.
"What's a light saber?" Carter asked, voicing everyone's thought.
White Eagle laughed nervously as her eyes darted from one person to another. "Okay guys you got me. Everyone knows what a light saber is."
At their blank stares and quizzical expressions, the young woman dropped her smile, fear and frustration clouding over her face. Suddenly her eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" She shouted. "Of all the planets in the Outer Rim I had to crash on the most primitive! Why couldn't have crashed on Tatooine? Or Alderaan? Or heck, even the Diagobah system would've worked! But noooo! Fate just has to continue to make my life a living hell!"
On 'hell' the woman who was thought to be docile kicked a trunk so hard she dented it and she didn't even look hurt. The room was silent except for White Eagle who took deep, calming breath. Finally, the woman turned towards the prisoners.
"I, uh apologize for my outburst. I guess I need to learn to control my anger just a smidge more."
Before they could say anything else, a hurried knock on the door told them roll call was about to commence. Each man quickly put on a coat, grumbling about the 'bloody Krauts' and how they would love to 'put a bullet between their eyes.' Eagle shook her head as she sat at the table, watching Hogan and his men as they tugged on their coats and jackets. Eagle tilted her head in curiosity. They seemed to be the only ones not complaining as they all seem to silently converse with their eyes. Those five didn't seem to act like prisoners of war. More like spies or something similar. But of course, the bounty hunter couldn't afford to worry about it as she had more important things to think about. Like finding a way off this primitive rock.
With a stern warning from Colonel Hogan to stay in the barracks everyone walked out into the cold. The room was silent and after making sure everyone was gone, White Eagle stood up and walked over to Hogan's quarters. After thirty minutes of searching each space for false bottoms, hidden rooms or loose floorboards as well as the drawers, her search was all around fruitless. She checked every inch of the room, but her each turned up nothing.
Unable to except defeat, Eagle took a deep breath and stretched out the force. It had been a long time since she opened herself to the Force, so it felt strange when she did but it also felt comforting, like having a security blanket returned to her. And since the Kyber Crystal is contained within the holocron, it basically crystalized force energy it shouldn't be too hard to locate. Just like radar, Eagle felt the crystal but it was accompanied by a problem. It came from under her. That was impossible unless there was…White Eagle mentally face-palmed as she walked over to the bunk she hid behind earlier. It looked like nothing out of the ordinary, yet when she dove behind it for a split second she could sense a powerful wave of the force wash over her before it vanished.
Looking at it from different perspectives, Eagle managed to finally pulled it open, revealing a secret tunnel. A ladder led down in the dark, so Eagle would be walking in blind. With a last look at the door and a split-second decision, White Eagle slowly climbed down the ladder.
It took all of five minutes for White Eagle to feel lost. Up until now, she had been using the force to help her to the holocron and ultimately her stuff, using the dirt wall to steady her. After what seemed like forever, White Eagle finally saw a light up ahead. When the bounty hunter arrived, she couldn't help but marvel at the room. It looked like an underground command center, with primitive radios and headsets. In one corner looked like some sort of sewing room, with needles and threads carefully placed next a half-finished uniform. The room was lit with electric lights so when White Eagle decided to explore a little more, she made sure to stay in the light's safe bubble. Deeper in the room, there was some chemical table set up.
That's when she saw them.
White Eagle sighed in relief as she quickly picked up her weapons and the holocron, all three of them looking a little worse for wear but okay. The bounty hunter's fingers hovered over some new scratches on the light saber handle that weren't there before, which meant that they were attempting to take apart the sacred weapon of the Jedi. The holocron and blaster seemed okay. White Eagle broke into a sly smile as she hooked both weapons to her belt. Only with the force could you take apart a light saber or open a holocron. If they had never heard of the force or the Jedi then it would be useless to explain. They probably hadn't even mastered space-travel beyond their own moon, if that.
After White Eagle was finished securing the items on her belt, she continued to explore the small command center. There was a corridor that led past the beds that was completely dark. Unhooking her saber and igniting it, White Eagle followed it until she came to another ladder, leading upwards. White Eagle didn't hesitate to climb up the ladder using her free hand to open the exit. Using the force, the female bounty hunter climbed out of a hole quickly closing the lid (which was disguised as a stump, clever!) and dove behind some bushes right as a searchlight passed over her.
Once the light had passed over, Eagle hesitantly poked her head out of the bushes. She was…outside the wire! That was easy, but going by past experiences, Eagle knew she wasn't out of the woods yet. Turning on her heels, White Eagle took off in a random direction. Step one, find her ship; step two, see If she can get the engine or at least the long-range communications to work and finally, step three, make sure no one spotted her.
-Line break-
Colonel Robert E. Hogan was in the state of near panic. Once roll call was over, Hogan and his men made their way back to the barracks, only to find the girl gone and entrance to the secret tunnel opened. Immediately Hogan ordered Carter to the door as a watch out and Newkirk and Lebeau down into the tunnel to see if they could intercept her, while Hogan and Kincheloe paced. Well Hogan paced, Kinch watched.
They both knew what was at stake if they were caught. The firing squad. That's why they had certain parameters in place to make sure that the Germans didn't sneak a plant in. But this girl didn't seem like the spying type, or at the least the ones that Hogan's men were used to. She acted like a soldier, with a straight posture, attentive eyes, and a commanding presence, but something in her eyes had sent a shiver down the fearless Colonel's spine. A haunted look was imprinted in her eyes, a look that Hogan could only describe as fear when he introduced himself to her as all the color drained from her face. Perhaps she was desperate, looking for a way out while they were at roll call.
Hogan was brought out of his musing when the bunk lifted and Newkirk and Lebeau crawled out. And only them crawled out.
"You didn't find her, did you?" Hogan asked, although he knew the answer already. Lebeau looked down dejectedly.
"Non, mon colonel," the French man answered. The American Colonel sighed heavily through his nose, attempting to calm his racing heart. He couldn't show his panic because they'll panic. The only reason they were calm despite the situation, was that Hogan was calm. Well outwardly anyway.
"But we tracked her to the stump," Newkirk spoke up. "None of the equipment seems to have been tampered with."
"What about the items?"
"Gone too," Newkirk took a breath. "Something tells me that we should let her go."
"But she knows about the tunnels!" Carter argued. He moved away from the door and walked over to where the others were gathered. "What if the Gestapo gets her?"
"We'll have to worry about that later," Hogan interjected. "Right now, we can only hope she can get far enough."
The team nodded simultaneously as they scattered from the circle. Hogan sighed as he walked back into his quarters, plopping down on his bed. There was no way he would get any sleep that night. With all the anxiety he was feeling, it wouldn't be possible to get even a minute of shut eye. A metallic glint caught Hogan's eye as he moved to power off the lights. Under the table there was a strange circular device that wasn't there before. Colonel Hogan scooped down and picked the strange device, turning it in his fingers, brow furrowed in question. Deciding to figure it out later, Hogan sat the device on the desk and laid in bed, staring at the ceiling before his eyes closed in a dreamless sleep…
A week had passed since the incident with the estranged woman and everything had settled down. Hogan and his men were back to causing trouble for the Germans and Klink was still clueless as ever. However, that peacefulness was shattered when General Burkhalter arrived with a certain woman as his captive.
It was around noon when the 'esteemed' general pulled up with a prisoner transport truck behind him. As soon as Hogan's team spotted the car they immediately headed towards Barracks 2. When everyone was accounted for Kinch switched the listening device disguised as a coffee pot on….
Kommadant Klink was currently working on a stack of paper work he had managed to get behind on. It was a stressful job being the colonel in charge of a prison camp but Klink supposed it was better than being on the Russian Front. After Klink started to move automatically through the stack, his pretty blonde secretary, Hilda, poked her head in.
"Sir, General Burkhalter is here," she said. Klink, who was too focused on his work, mumbled something absentmindedly. Hilda, thinking he gave an affirmative, turned to the Gestapo General. She smiled and gestured to the door. General Bulkhalter did his signature entrance (kicking the door open with his foot) and lumbered in, his personal guards dragging a prisoner between them.
Klink dropped his pen and embarrassingly almost soiled himself as General Burkhalter barged in. The aging German colonel saluted the frightening Gestapo with a shaky 'heil Hitler'. The Gestapo general sneered at the lowly Kommadant with a twisted scowl, his eyes showing disgust.
"Klink, you dumpkompf," Burkhalter sneered. At least it seemed that the Gestapo was in a good mood.
"Ah General Burkhalter," Klink welcomed with a shaky voice. His smile was nervous and his voice. "What a pleasant surprise!"
"Shut up!"
"I will shut up," Klink complied plopping down at his desk, shrinking slightly. The Gestapo sat down across from Klink, taking a cigar. Cringing inwardly, Klink bit his tongue as he fought down a biting remark. This man could send him to the Russian Front faster than he could blink. In the silence that followed Klink allowed his eyes to drift over to the prisoner that was slumped between the guards. It was obviously a woman with long dark brown hair, wearing some strange clothes. Her head was slumped over so it was hard to see her face, but Klink assumed she was beautiful.
"General Burkhalter may I ask who our…guest is?" Klink asked cautiously.
Burkhalter blew smoke before answering. "She is an unknown. I have brought her here to extract information I know she has. Unfortunately, she has not cracked. Yet."
Still sucking on his cigar, the evil Gestapo grabbed a fist full of the woman's hair and yanked her head up. Klink didn't even try to hide his grimace as he took in the woman's face. It was a mass of cuts and bruises, her lips split as if someone hit her there. The woman's left eye was swollen shut and dried blood running down from her nose. The one eye that wasn't swollen glared at the Gestapo with more hatred had ever seen. She was breathing through her clenched teeth, either to contain her anger or to make the pain a little more bearable.
"Say hello to Prisoner 4-3A," Burkhalter introduced her, dropping the woman's her. "We captured her on the road to Hammelburg when she attempted to flag down a military convoy. Apparently, this woman doesn't speak one lick of German." Burkhalter started to pace before turning towards the guards. Both snapped to attention. "Take this…. woman to the cooler. Maybe a few hours will convince her to talk."
The guards saluted before dragging the girl towards he solitary confinement. When they opened the door, Colonel Hogan was standing in the doorway with a scowl. Burkhalter narrowed his eyes, causing Hogan to step aside, which was very rare. As Burkhalter and the guards left, Hogan stepped inside to see a slightly fuming Klink, another rare sight.
"Hiya Klink," Hogan greeted.
"Hogan," Klink warned. "I cannot talk to you now."
The German and the American Colonel were both taken about at the Kommandant's tone. Usually it was laced with annoyance but today it seems that Klink was talking slow to avoid yelling. Hogan immediately took advantage of the Kommadant's growing agitation and anger to grab information for the Underground. The American Colonel sat down where General Burkhalter just sat.
"Come on Klink. I just came to talk that's all."
Kommadant Klink sighed, letting himself deflate. "Forgive me Hogan. It's just that…seeing Burkhalter and what he was doing to that poor woman has me seething."
"Ah." Hogan let the man continue while a plan was formulating at the same time.
"Now I'm all for the Fatherland. But that woman obviously has no information we can use. She probably doesn't know about the war."
You don't say, Hogan thought as Klink continued.
"I just wish I could do something about it," the German Colonel mused. Hogan took that as his chance.
"Well you could just report him to the Offices of Unfair Treatment." Hogan lied. The American cringed inwardly as it wasn't his best lie, but Klink's eyes seemed to light up.
"Oh, do you really think they could help?" Klink asked as he decided on it.
"Sure," Hogan insisted enthusiastically. "Just write to them, and if they think he needs to be punished they'll write back with orders from the highest-ranking officer."
Klink immediately stood up from his desk and grabbed Hogan's arm, moving him towards the door.
"Hogan, you are a genius!" The German said with renewed energy. "I will write to the Offices of Unfair Treatment immediately. Thank you!"
With that Klink pushed the American Colonel out and slammed the door in his face, leaving a slightly stunned Hogan to stare at the door.
Okay then….
