Chapter Six: Hope
Depa sighs as she walks alongside the wall of the sewer.
"Out of all the places I could've hid in, I chose the sewers …"
She shakes her head as she makes a disgusted face. This place smells worse than Zeb.
She'd managed to get her restraints off by spinning her lightsaber in an awkward way, slicing them through the middle. Then she'd immediately thrown the pieces away and put the saber back in its hiding spot.
Unfortunately, the smell wasn't the only problem she was facing. The Sundari sewer system was large, and it connected with the upper levels of the city's bio dome. It was basically a large maze, one that she didn't have a map to.
Maybe Chopper can plug in somewhere.
Depa pulls out her comlink and tries to contact the droid, only to hear a burst of static.
"Great. Transmissions are jammed." She shoves the comlink back onto her belt frustratingly.
Her whole plan had gone up in flames the moment she'd run into that checkpoint. She was supposed to be blending in, quietly getting the information she needed. Now she had the city's entire garrison of Imperials searching for her.
I need help. And I won't be getting it if I run into more trouble.
Something told her that she wouldn't be getting anything today. With another frustrated sigh, she stops walking.
A few hours of rest and then I'm going out. Hopefully everything will kind of be back to normal.
Depa slides out of her jacket and lays it out across a dry piece of duracrete. That was the closest she could get to having something to lay on.
It'll have to do.
— — —
Flashback
"Ow! Chopper!"
Depa giggles as the blue haired boy in front of her recoils after receiving a painful shock. "What was that for?"
"I think he just doesn't like you. Or Uncle Zeb," Depa says, getting the boy's attention.
"Well, he needs to stop. I almost got this thing working." He kneels down next to the wall, fingers working on some cylindrical shaped object.
"What is that?" Depa asks, walking over.
The boy grins, glancing at her. "It's a little prank Mom helped me set up. As soon as Zeb wakes up and walks through this door, he'll trigger the sensor and get sprayed with paint."
Depa didn't have to ask where her friend had gotten the paint from. She knew his mother would be more than happy to give up some if it meant making Zeb look like a walking canvas.
"Do you wanna wait with me?"
Depa smiles at the thought of seeing Zeb covered in paint. "You bet, Cal."
Caleb knocks on the door to Zeb's room loudly before quietly running to Depa's hiding place around the corner of the hall. Chopper rolls over with them.
It takes the Lasat a couple of minutes to finally make it outside of the room, but when he steps through the doorway, nothing happens. He rubs his eyes and looks around. "Who knocked?" he asks with a yawn.
"Aw, Chopper, you made me mess it up," Caleb whines, thumping the droid on the side of his domed head. Chopper throws up his arms in protest, saying, "I had nothing to do with it," in his language.
Caleb and Depa walk over to the device planted on the wall as Zeb watches with a confused face.
"What were you two doing this time?"
"Well, we were gonna —"
Suddenly, the device activates, spraying both Caleb and Depa with yellow paint.
Chopper starts laughing, along with Zeb, who slaps his knee. "Oh, that's gotta be the saddest thing I ever saw."
Caleb and Depa wipe the paint away from their faces at the same time, and they glare at Chopper, who was laughing and waving a remote.
Then, another burst of paint flies from the device, this time spraying Zeb's side.
They all face the droid and yell, "Chopper!"
End Flashback
— — —
Depa jolts awake, rising up to a sitting position. Her panic subsides as she remembers everything that happened.
Gotta go.
She stands and grabs her jacket, brushing bits of dust off before putting it back on. Then she realizes that everything is quiet, besides the steady drop of water coming from the other side of the sewer tunnel.
The alarms stopped. Depa smiles. "Must be my lucky day."
It's a short walk to the nearest grate, and she gently pushes it open with the Force before jumping up through the hole.
The grate happens to be in the middle of another alley, but this time it isn't deserted. People dressed in nothing but rags and dirty clothes huddle up against the walls, and there's a large piece of cloth that hangs over half the alley.
Depa connected the dots quickly. They were homeless, and apparently were hiding from the TIE patrols above.
This is worse than I thought ... I really need to get that information.
She could sense that these people were cautious of her, some even scared, but one particularly wasn't. When she turns around, she finds him looking back at her from under the hood of a cloak, resting against the wall.
She shuts the grate and steps over to him. Before she can even open her mouth, the man speaks, sounding older and worn out.
"You're not from here."
The other people then ignore them, talking amongst themselves. Depa was sort of glad. She didn't like being watched.
"No, I'm not," she answers truthfully.
The man surprises her by gesturing for her to sit in front of him. She cautiously does so.
He grabs a nearby cup and pours some liquid into it from a large can, then offers it to her.
Depa nervously accepts it. She takes one sip and tries to hide the disgusted look on her face. Her coughing gives it up, though.
The man smirks from behind his hood. "Nothing here is good, but at least you don't starve. Anyway, what is a Twi'lek doing on Mandalore?"
Depa sets the cup down on the ground and bites her lip. Should I tell him?
She decides to only give him half the truth. "I'm looking for something important. Very important. But … I'm kind of stuck."
"Ah … you're what got the Imperials all riled up last night. Heard the explosion from here." The man takes a sip of his own cup and sighs. "It's been a long time since anyone's done something like that. Ever since Rau got himself captured."
Depa perks up. She'd heard that name before, somewhere. "Rau?"
The man nods. "Mm. Fenn Rau. Leader of the Mandalorian Resistance … or he used to be. The Empire took care of them a few months back."
Depa makes a confused face. "But you said Rau got captured."
"He did. But Imperial prisoners don't last long. They're interrogated, then executed. I doubt he's still alive."
Depa's expression falls. She could've had a good lead. "Well … how did he get captured?"
"He agreed to help these two kids and some man. If I remember correctly, he was with the Republic …"
Depa's eyes widen as the man takes another gulp of his drink. "Wait. The Republic came here before?"
"Yes. He stumbled into the Resistance command center one day, bleeding out. These two kids carried him inside. Said he had to complete some mission or something so the Republic could come and free us. The man bled out though. But … he did tell Rau that if he got what he came for, then he could send it to the Republic on a secure channel. So, Rau, these kids, and half the Resistance went and stormed the Empire's main base."
The man sets his cup down and closes his eyes. "It was a massacre … we lost all of our people within an hour. Rau ordered the kids and the rest of us to retreat, but we stood our ground. Had to. We were surrounded. So, the Empire tried finishing us off with explosives. Only me, a few other soldiers, and one of the kids got out."
"Wait a minute. You were there? You were a Resistance fighter?" Depa asks, shocked.
The man nods again. "Mm hmm. Me and the others split up after our base was destroyed. That's how I ended up in this little pit."
Depa frowns. Had he said there were kids that fought? "Who … were the kids?"
The man tilts his head to the side, and he scratches his dark beard. "Uh … I'm not sure. Rau knew the girl … she'd helped before in the past. Now the boy … he was about your age. Rau only listened to him because of his name."
"What was it?" Depa asks, interested.
"Uh … Wen? Or was it Wren?"
"Wren?" Depa launches a series of questions at him. "Are you sure it was Wren? You said he was my age. What was his full name?"
The man flinches at her sudden change of behavior, and then holds up his hands. "Whoa … slow down."
"Was his name Caleb Wren?" Depa begs for an answer, hand clutching something tightly against the front of her shirt.
"Uh … yeah, I think that was his name."
He's alive! I can't believe it!
"Do you know where he is?"
She had to find him. She had to.
The man shakes his head. "No … like I said, we all split up. There was nothing left to fight for since Rau was gone."
"Do you think he's still alive? Have you seen him?"
"I'm not sure …" His voice trails off when he sees Depa's happy expression vanish. "But … he was a strong kid. For his age, anyway. A Mandalorian like that could survive for awhile."
A small smile appears on Depa's face, and she nods. She runs a hand down her face to find water appear on it.
Am I crying?
"Thank you," she says as she stands, not worrying about whether she was crying or not.
The man smiles back and nods. "You're welcome. Oh, and you might need this." He pulls the cloak off and gives it to her. "That way the Imperials don't see you right away."
Depa nods in appreciation and starts walking off.
"I hope you find your friend," he says quietly as she disappears around the corner.
