Republican base "Biem Hoa", headquarters, land battle of Dvar.
The troop of prisoners, still led by the scouts, finally reached the republican base at the end of the second day after their capture.
Jay was in such a state of exhaustion that she didn't realize anything. She was trying to sleep while walking while opening her eyelids every ten steps, and even like that, she had been hit with the sticks for deviating from the column. Julius, who was behind her, was trying to guide her, and had himself been hit several times for speaking despite the ban.
They had to remain standing while the chief of scouts was arguing with the sentries in front of the gate. Finally, the orders were given, the wire mesh panel opened and the imperials were able to enter the base.
Reinforcing troops had been recalled and surrounded by a hermetic cord of soldiers; they entered a barbed-wire corridor at the end of which was another wire gate, more small.
About five metres from this gate was a folding table behind which stood three officers. In addition, two soldiers were standing next to the table, one of them carrying a high-resolution camera.
The soldiers who flanked them commanded: "Get down! Cross your legs!"
The detainees obeyed in no hurry. Jay wasn't angry when he sat down, and neither was the rest of the troop by the way.
At a sign from the officers, two soldiers detached themselves and grabbed one of the crouching prisoners.
"Rise up!" Say one of them.
"You should know" Blom grunted, for it was he who had been chosen by fate.
The other soldier kicked him in the ribs. The convict got up without adding anything more. Flanked by the two watchmen, he was brought to the table.
"Your name?"
"Samuel Blom, formerly corporal, penal sections"
"Why are you in the penal section?"
"I don't remember"
The middle officer intervened: "Stretch out your left arm"
The prisoner obeys. A chip reader was applied to the inside of the forearm and the third at table read on a screen:
"Corporal Samuel Blom, third airborne regiment, life sentence for the rape and murder of his platoon leader"
Jay remembered. So it wasn't just talk! The scoundrel who had taken them prisoner had been right, they had cracked the codes.
She thought it over and relaxed a little. After all, he wasn't likely to find much on her.
The camera was filming the scene.
They all passed by like this. It was just murder, rape and torture of various kinds, with some in a few robberies and hijackings of military equipment. Only Julius was the exception, he had been found in the criminal section for insubordination.
Finally, his turn came. The reader was diligent. There was a great silence. Everyone, jailers and prisoners were listening.
"Major Jay Hawkers, commanding officer of the second assault squadron..."
A moment passed. Then the voice resumed:
"Imperial flight school report: "Gifted pilot but in conflict with authority. Organizes cadet contest to distract and subdue the male students at the school" "
She almost burst out laughing. That was all they had found! She remembered, not without a touch of nostalgia, her years in flight school. She had actually played that and even won a fight against another younger, yet much prettier. What had become of her?
She drove the question out of her head. Bujac was the last one, and had just been called in. The same ceremonial repeated itself. She was intrigued. Normally, the ex-Jedi being senior staff, they had to find nothing.
A moment passed, a little long then the voice resounded again:
"Member of the special commandos of the Empire called "Ashes Burners" "
"That's enough!" Cut the officer to the left of the table.
He stood up and addressed the assembly:
"There it is the last bulwark of the Empire! Rapists, murderers, and even a nymphomaniac! Those troops are a reflection of the regime we're fighting! The Republic can only defeat and sweep away this foul mire!"
He stopped and addressed the cameraman and his assistant.
"Do you have the shoot?"
"Absolutely, Captain. We even took the coarse-grained filter for the lower species"
"Perfect"
He turned to the soldiers who were supervising the prisoners.
"Search them and put them in the enclosure. We will proceed to the individual interrogations from tomorrow."
The prisoners were untied, and then underwent a final search in a small guardhouse, which was quite lean: three styluses, a few cigarettes of indeterminate material and a small dumpling of explosive. Yil, for it was on him that this discovery was made, received a solid beating as a bonus.
At last they were pushed into the enclosure, each with a grey blanket with wide ochre stripes across it. They were finally able to walk on the muddy ground without hindrance, giving Jay a wonderful feeling of freedom.
Finally, they were pushed into the enclosure, each with a gray blanket with large ocher stripes. They were finally able to walk on the muddy muddy ground, which gave Jay a great feeling of freedom.
"It's strange though" she thought to herself. "I'm a prisoner, but compared to these last few days, I'm almost feels on leave"
His gaze wandered through the gates. Suddenly his heart stopped.
Spade was looking at her, standing still.
She stared at him without lowering her eyes, and for a few moments their eyes met. Then, without having expressed the slightest expression, the scout turned around and left.
A voice to his left. It was Julius.
"Major, Blom found a corner a little drier. Bujac is already there. Would you like to come?"
"I'll follow you"
She's joining the group. They were sitting in a circle, with a blanket over their heads to protect themselves against the drizzle that was beginning to fall. Two places were free. They sat down. She noticed a new head, which confusedly reminded her of someone, but she couldn't put a name to that face. It was the stranger who first spoke to her:
"Hello Major. I remember you well"
"Hum..."
"I'm Sergeant Shi Drehel, pilot of the TIE A04-11. I managed to throw up my ship on this damn planet, unfortunately near one of their outposts"
"Has there been another crash?"
"No major. I was the only one brought here. What about you? Your face?"
"I took a laser hit in the face on my last firing pass. I was blinded, and it was my gunner leaded me to the planet"
"He's here ?"
"No, he's dead" answered Jay after a silence.
Bujac inserted himself into the conversation:
"How's it going here?"
"They're well informed" replied the pilot. "They brought two R-Wings for reconnaissance and they had also an observation satellite over what is left of the imperial zone, but I believe it has been destroyed in the space battle"
"What about the questionings?"
"It was a little quick. They wiped out our attack fleet, and they saw what happened next. I had nothing to teach them. They just asked me a few questions about our mothership"
"Why?"
"Looks like things are getting pretty bad with the space fleet. They didn't tell me anything, but I did catch a few sentences when I go in for questioning. Apparently, they're having trouble attacking the "Destiny Blade""
Bujac couldn't help smiling. With Louchké, it was predictable.
Julius asked: "Did you hear anything else?"
"When the transporters arrived, their commander ordered a general assault. They wanted to end it"
"And so? "
"For the moment, it still stands. They've been advancing on the northern front, but apparently it's slowed down. On sees a lot of medical ships go by. Their losses must be great"
"Ours too" couldn't help but think Jay.
The conversation then turned to more practical details. They learned the location of the sanitary facilities, meal times, electrified fence features, and much more again.
One thing was clear for the moment: any thought of escape was illusory. The enclosure was right in the middle of the base and surrounded by three electrified barriers. In addition, there were no permanent buildings that could be hiding anything.
"And yes!" concludes the pilot, "Here we sleep under the stars! Or more exactly under the stars, because the Dvar's celestial vault does not lack charm"
"That makes up for a bit" replied Jay, "Because for the planet, it's really not that great! "
"Well, now we'll have to settle down to sleep" said Julius. "The nights are rather cold in this moment..."
"And I'm going to stretch my legs a bit" announced Bujac. "Major, you're coming with me to go round the Owner?"
Jay was exhausted, but she felt that Bujac hadn't invited her just to talk to him about the quality of the fences and the number of toilets. So she agreed. They left the group and began to walk along the fence. When the former Jedi got a little out of the way, the old Jedi stopped and turned toward her.
"Major, I've had a chance to speak with your gunner. He told me how you've been going last mission, and there are a few points in his story that I want to clear up with you"
Jay didn't show anything, but she was a little surprised. What did she care? She replied unemotionally:
"What do you want to know?"
"When you came out of the big jump, you had an absence. That worried him; he thought there was a problem of oxygen. Is that correct?"
"Yes, that's right. But it had no effect on the rest of the mission"
"It's not really the mission I'm interested in. What happened?"
Jay appealed to her memory. It seemed extremely old to him, almost in a previous life, although these events were only four days old.
"Right after the booster was turned on, I felt like I was no longer alone, but watched from above, as if someone was astride the cockpit"
"Was he talking to you? What was he saying?"
"No, he wasn't talking to me. It was a conversation. There were two voices"
Bujac had frozen like a statue. He asked:
"And what were those voices saying?"
"I can't remember exactly, it's very vague now. Just at the end, I had the impression that they were fighting"
"What about their tones? Were they male or female voices?"
"I can't tell. As far as I remember, they were very quiet voices, even during the argument"
A silence, then the defrocked Jedi resumed:
"He then described your manoeuvre with the two X-Wings just after the frigate was destroyed. How did you know to trigger your inverters?"
"I felt it"
"But how? You were wounded, blinded in your cockpit. Even under normal circumstances you couldn't see them unless you asked your machine gunner for the signal"
"I can't explain it, but I sensed their presence and their position"
"Two deflected shots on target, the way you were, that's amazing"
A new silence. This time it was Jay who broke it:
"What's your point?"
Bujac then began to speak:
"Among the Jedi, we have members who can detect spontaneous manifestations of force. We call them canaries, because they have a bit of a sentinel's role that used to serve as a toxic gas detector in the mines..."
Jay remarked: "In the old galleries, the bird was dying"
"It happens sometimes" replied Bujac in an equal voice. "Still, the look-outs detected for a few months now the presence of a new force. By cross-checking, it has been deduced that it was the Imperial fleet, then a space wing, then an assault squadron, then finally... you"
Jay shrugged: "I had nothing to do with this. I'm a soldier, a pilot, and these power plays are for me completely foreign. And I have no intention of dressing in rough fabrics and carrying an obsolete weapon on the belt"
"You don't understand. Brute force is very dangerous to the one who carries it. He can be possessed at a distance and then used as a tool against his will..."
"Is that why you woke me up when we were tied up on the plain?"
"Yes. Somebody is testing you"
"Who's "somebody"?"
"Siths, dark Jedi... maybe darker..."
He continued:
"If you let your guard down, you'll have moments of absence when you won't know what you do. You'll get longer and longer and longer... then you can wake up anywhere after you've done anything..."
"That's lovely" Jay replied. "Is there a way out? Maybe suicide?"
"We're not there yet" replied the former Jedi. "I'm here to help you"
"Help me or watch me?" Couldn't help but think Jay.
She looked the ex-Jedi straight in the eyes:
"Finally, you don't care if Dvar goes down or not. You're only here for this history of strength..."
"It's a bit of a rough summary, but it's pretty accurate. Let's say that my official mission does not prevent me from make extras..."
Bujac turned to the group that was sitting in a circle to spend the night and keep warm.
"I think we should join them. Breaking the wheel later will make them lose heat"
Jay agreed and followed the man who would become his mentor.
"Disfigured, trapped and now half mad... But why on earth was I born?" she thought to herself in scrolling his cover to take his place.