Lucia's fingers shook as she tried to turn the keys in the lock.

It didn't work. She let her hand sink and took a deep breath. Her heart was racing. The sun beat down on her neck.

Nervously she risked a look over the back of her shoulder.

The clones were working, barely visible on the bottom of the trench, sweat was glistening on dark skin.

Their guards stood around, tightly holding their rifles, one watching the clones, one staring at the street, turning ever so often to keep al direction in sight.

Their armour was white, sterile in the wind-swept streets of her little town.

One of them turned, light catching his visor, Lucia snapped around, hands trembling.

"I haven't done anything." She murmured, trying to calm her racing heart.

Why was she so nervous?

Lucia tried to tell herself that they were part of the Imperium. The war was over and they were guarding the prisoners, they were here for her safety.

It didn't work and her hands were still shaking as she again, tried to force her key into the lock.

It felt wrong to lock the door, nobody here ever did, when was the last time she had?

A sigh escaped her, right that had been when Lucia had brought him to the space port.

Unbidden memories rushed through Lucia's head.

She ground her teeth and angrily pushed the key into the hole, this time it worked.

The metal turned with a satisfying sound.

'What now?''

Lucia stared at the lock.

It was her mid-day break and she had made the decision to go talk to the guards. Surely it was a misunderstanding; surely they would change things when they knew.

With a deep breath she raised her head and turned on her heels, marching down the street, but the closer she came, the slower her pace became.

The guards were tall, Lucia eyed their weapons.

Perhaps she should just keep walking? Surely it had been a mistake.

She could just turn around, someone else would take care.

It wasn't all that important.

"Hello."

'Too late' Shot through her head.

One of the guards nodded at her, indicating it was him who had spoken. His armour had a special shine to it, brighter than the one of his colleague.

"Hello." She forced out.

"I-I've got a question." She said, trying to speak loud, seem confident, but only seceded in feeling ridiculous.

"Well, I have one too." He said. "Why is it that no-one on this planet has a real door?"

He nodded towards her house. "I mean. Mechanical doors, really?"

The question came so out of the blue, Lucia laughed.

"I asked my neighbours the same thing when I moved here." She said, "that has no real reason. People here just don't see the sense…"

She looked up at him, trying to find his eyes, but met only the blank visor, no sign of a face.

Suddenly she felt reminded of all the holo-vids, of all the news who talked about the dying clones as if they weren't people.

What had been a name for them? Meat-cans?

"Why?" the guard interrupted her thoughts.

"Well, nobody here locks their doors and the buildings are so old, upgrading them would cost quite a sum of credits. People just don't see the sense in paying for something they don't use. The newer buildings are pretty modern though."

He nodded. It should have reassured her, but Lucia felt unsettled, talking to someone whose face she couldn't see.

"Then why do you lock yours?" He asked.

There it was again, the nervousness, 'just say it' she thought.

"Well, with everything that's going on I've just been really nervous. My partner…"

A deep cough interrupted her.

One of the clones was doubling over, dropping his shovel. One of the others dropped his shovel and laid a hand on his back, trying to sooth the deep coughs. Slowly the fit ebbed off, but the clone remained in his doubled over position. He was breathing heavily and leaning into his brother's hand.

"Hey"

Lucia flinched at the sudden shout.

The other guard barked down the trench.

"Back to work."

She expected the clones to protest, but the pair simply picked up their shovels and went back to digging.

The guard watching the clones turned to Lucia. "What is it?"

One clone, the one who had come to his brother's aid, looked up.

The number five was black on dark brown skin.

The news had talked about the clones as something expendable, the Imperium had said they were dangerous, but this, this was nothing more, nothing les than a man, one who looked at Lucia.

Brown eyes met hers, tired, sunken in; he licked parched lips in the hopes of moistening him, bringing some relief.

He looked as if he wanted to say something and looked away, not daring to speak up.

It had just been the fraction of a second and Lucia scraped together her courage.

"What are they here for?"

"Their crimes." Was the short answer.

"But what crimes?" She stepped forward, away from the one guard who had made her laugh and toward his colleague.

"He is clearly sick, can barely stand."

She gestured towards the sick clone, still unsteady on his feet.

"How much food are they getting, how much water?"

She took a breath, no answer came, and so she curled her hands in her pockets into fists and continued.

"On top of that, it's in the middle of the day, no-one works now. Not even the labourers on the fields. Working now is asking for a heat stroke."

T

he other guard laughed. He turned towards her, crossed the space between them and stepped into her pace. Lucia scrambled back as he leaned forward, visor nearly touching her face.

"What their crimes are Missy? They are traitors to the Imperium. We need them to dig the new water system, so there will be a better harvest for the Imperium. So they are treated well enough and now," he stepped back, giving her room to breathe, "I suggest you leave and stop asking questions, that don't concern you."

She nodded, but as she turned she caught sight of the other guard and paused briefly. Perhaps he would say something, see reason. The men needed rest, shade and water. Their faces were drawn and tired, didn't look like they got enough sleep, or food.

But the other guard didn't react.

"I would do as he says." Was his only comment and with that he went back to scanning the street, seemingly forgetting about her.

Lucia took one more look at the men in the hole, skin slick with sweat, searching for the one who had nearly broken down and found him, moving sluggishly and breathing heavily.

She left, heart pounding and tears in her eyes as she walked quickly, nearly ran back to her house. She was mad, angry and frightened. This was not how it should have gone.

The Imperium might not be great, but it wasn't worse than the Republic before.

Lucia forced the door open and slammed it shut from the inside, leaning against it, reassuring herself that the world had stayed outside.

'Or was it? Could it be?' Lucia thought.

What was she thinking, it couldn't be. She hadn't even gotten a speeder ticket, she couldn't do that.

Then she remembered his voice. "There is so much wrong Lucia, so much…"

"I don't want to hear it." She said, repeating her words from the past.

"I don't want to hear it."

He had looked at her, sad, had expected another reaction from her. "One day you won't be able to hold back anymore. You will have to choose."


Lucia had forced herself to fry some meat, had opened up her shop after lunch as usual. In the afternoon she had haggled with Cad, one of the farmers about the price of repairing his tractor.

The day crawled by and Lucia was constantly turning the thoughts in her head, pro and con. She shouldn't do something, should go to their superiors, but, the guard's reaction had frightened her and his words still rang in her mind.

Despite, or perhaps because of that, Lucia searched her bathroom-cabinet after dinner.

She found fever reducer, pain killers and an anti-inflammatory, a left-over from last cold season. Clutching the vials she was trembling, scared of what she did implied.

Then, when night arrived she closed her shop. Deep in the night, when there were no lights in the houses surrounding hers Lucia went to tend to her garden.

She had made a decision, actually it had made itself.

The night air was warm against her skin as she carried a basket with her gardening tools around the corner. Her hands trembled, expected someone, something to jump around the shadows as she knelt and started pulling out weeds.

The earth broke up and Lucia took a deep breath, the strong smell of the rich, fertile soil calmed her nerves. As her knees started to ache from kneeling on the ground Lucia stood up. She stumbled, put a hand against the wall rubbed her legs.

She had made a decision and when she opened the water barrel and found that the water level had once again decreased Lucia felt it was right.

She bent down and laid a sealed back in the barrel.

Lucia had thought of nutri bars, favoured by many workers in the fields, and medicine.

"So," she said and took a piece of charcoal from her basket and scribbled on the inside lid.

What else? Then, the lid was closed.

Lucia didn't sleep well that night, tossing and turning. The sheets clung to her skin and made her sweat, but when she pushed them off she was freezing.

But somehow, having made the first step, she knew it was right.


A.N.:

So many thanks to everybody who reviewed, you absolutely made my day!

Sorry about this chapter, I felt it was needed to really show how (and perhaps why) Lucia takes that step and all the ones that come after it.

It is so tempting to just look away and think, nope, somebody else's job.

I promise, next one goes to the clones, I think you know at least one of them :)