We approached Lah'mu not too long after this disturbing conversation. The little window at the back gave me a fantastic view - if not very broad – over the silicate rings of the planet. A former moon crushed a long time ago. I had done my research; Lah'mu was a planet whose crust had split numerous times, causing a great amount of minerals and volcanic content to spread everywhere. Hospitable enough, it held a generous amount of water that formed geysers, oceans and a fair amount of humidity in the air. Iron turned into chlorophyll, coating the planet of dark soil in greenery. It created a weird landscape from up there, far from the bustling Coruscant. This planet hosted nothing but farmers ; a very peculiar place to settle for a bright scientist.
Unless he wanted the world to forget him.
We landed upon a wide expense of dark soil, wet enough to host life, yet it didn't squish under our boots. Director Krennic's bodyguards trailed us and I was confused; did he really expect an attack on such a remote and peaceful planet ?
I didn't voice my concerns, my mind was too busy taking in the large homestead of the Erso's family. A dome-like structure barely emerged from the ground, its whitish roof worn out by the elements. As we walked, a tall man emerged from the house and came to meet us. My heart rate picked up and I struggled to keep a straight face.
There he was ! The man I had worshipped for the past ten years! And as he approached, I couldn't help but be surprised. Gone was the proud scientist that stood tall in his uniform on my holograms. In his stead stood a man with a wary gait, clothes dirtied and worn out, hair in disarray and deep lines around his eyes. His beard streaked with white – already ! He was not even forty yet – ate away half of his face. What struck me the most, though, was the light in his eyes. Fear. As if he had seen a ghost.
My shoulders tensed, and I tried to summon a smile but he spared me only a glance. To be fair, the six death troopers that surrounded us weren't so forthcoming. A few feet to the front stood Director Krennic, and it was his voice that greeted the great Galen Erso. I, however, couldn't really ignore the sarcasm.
"You're a hard man to find, Galen. But farming? Really, a man of your talents?"
"It's a peaceful life."
His voice felt like a caress, smooth and not overly deep. I knew its intonations by heart; the holocrons I worked with gathered a hundred hours of his footage.
"It's lonely, I imagine," Krennic quipped.
"Since Lyra died, yes."
His face gave nothing away, and I could only wonder how this man, said to be a pacifist and an idealist, could speak of such a dire event without flinching. My mentor's voice, though, dripped with mock sadness ad he opened his hands.
"Oh. Oh. My condolences."
I couldn't help but frown; I was missing the point here. Something told me that those two men's history was more shadowed than I initially thought.
"Search the house!" Krennic suddenly called.
I nearly started at that. What ? His former friend's announced his wife's death, and the director sent his death troopers to investigate him like a criminal ? I took a long exhale to prevent my blood from boiling, forcing my uneasiness down. I kept repeating myself that I didn't have all the cards, that I was missing plenty of information.
As the death troopers spread, leaving only two of them behind, I took the liberty to join Director Krennic. I needed to see his face to assess what was happening; he had never led me astray until then. I trusted his judgement. My movement caused Erso's darkening eyes to settle on me for a moment before his jaw clenched.
This wasn't a reunion of two former friends. It was a confrontation, and I was thrown right in the middle of it.
"What is it you want?" he eventually asked.
"Elya, here, has taken over your work brilliantly. But try as she might, even she has limitations. The work is stalling, she needs you to come back."
I summoned another smile, wavering, for sure, for the bitter taste is my mouth spread at being used as a bait. But I knew what Krennic expected of me, and so I spoke.
"I have such high respect for your work, sir, but my crystals won't stabilise. Over a certain size, I can never keep them long enough to generate a chain reaction."
His eyes lit up, just a spark of interest before his face closed off. He seemed to munch over his tongue before he sternly responded.
"If you have respect for my work, then leave it be. I will not have my research used for warfare."
His worse stung more than I could admit. Here he was, the man whose brain I worshipped, telling me that I had no respect for his work.
"But…"
My protest was drowned this instant, for Erso turned to my mentor with steel in his eyes.
"I won't do it, Krennic."
"We're on the verge of greatness. We were this close to providing peace, security for the galaxy."
I had to admit that his words were more inspiring than mine.
"You're confusing peace with terror," Erso responded.
I started at that, expecting my mentor to deny this accusation and speak about how the empire was pacifying the galaxy of all rebellions and factions. His casual response took me aback.
"Do I, huh? You have to start somewhere. "
What ?
"I'll be of no help, Krennic. My mind just isn't what it was. I have trouble remembering, even simple things."
I cocked my head aside in wonder, tracing the man's tired lines. Could Galen Erso really be sick ? Was it the reason why he had abandoned his research ? My eyes narrowed, trying to discern what was left unsaid in the little amount that was voiced. I couldn't make heads or tails of this mess, especially since Coruscant mastered several techniques to repress mind illnesses. And the man before us seemed aware enough, and so was my mentor.
"Galen, you're an inspired scientist but you're a terrible liar. Now I admire the effort, I really do."
The sarcasm didn't touch home, for an instant later, Erso suddenly turned his back on us and started walking away. Damn, he was fast with his long legs. Had he seen something I had not ? A woman emerged from the grass like troll popping out of the ground.
I gasped when she extracted a blaster and pointed it straight to Krennic. My training kicked in, searching for possibilities to extract him from danger. But there, unarmed and in the open, there wasn't much I could do. If I jumped to push him away from the line of firing, she could hit him before I made it.
"Oh look, here's Lyra back from the dead. It's a miracle."
So this was Galen's wife. It explained the emotionless way he had announced her death; a terrible liar indeed. Beside me, a death trooper was advancing upon Lyra and my breath caught. This encounter I was so happy about had gone from bad to worse, and I couldn't fathom it might come to blows.
"Stop!" Krennic yelled at his soldiers.
I breathed in relief as they stood down. Phew. We weren't about to kill Erso's wife here and there. When had this madness descended upon us that we couldn't talk it out like proper adults ? Lyra approached slowly, her blaster still aimed. Her dark hair was in disarrays, her clothes didn't fare much better than her husband's yet she harboured a red sash. The sign of the Force church. One I respected albeit I didn't believe in any kind or religion. Her eyes glared daggers at my mentor, anger written upon her lovely – if dirty – face.
"Oh, Lyra. Troublesome as ever," the director said, almost amused.
Adrenalin pumped in my veins, I was ready to spring yet Krennic joked around. I wondered in how many life threatening situations my mentor had lived through to take things so lightly. Erso was livid, standing awkwardly by the side. So much for the idol I was supposed to meet.
"You're not taking him," Lyra ground.
I nearly scoffed at her determined tone. What did she think that we were here to take them prisoners ? Director Krennic tried to soothe the angry woman.
"No, of course, I'm not. I'm taking you all. You'll all come. You, your child, you'll all live in comfort."
"As hostages," she spat.
Way to be overly dramatic. This was a job offer, after all, right ? Not an ultimatum.
"As 'heroes of the Empire.'"
Galen had taken a few steps towards his wife, trying to tame the wild woman. Fear dripped from him so thickly that it permeated the air.
"Lyra. Put it down."
"Think very carefully," my mentor added.
A warning… But the woman clenched her jaw, giving her husband one long stare before she returned to Krennic.
"You will never win."
It all happened so fast that I had trouble reconvening what actually occurred. I know I just yelled 'no!', and that my cry was echoed by Galen Erso when Krennic gave the order. The order to shoot his wife. Baster lasers criss-crossed, two of them killing her instantly as one nicked my mentor across his shoulder, burning his uniform. But at the end of the exchange, he was still standing.
"Lyra!"
The agonised cry of Galen Erso, as he knelt beside his dead wife, caused goosebumps to run up my spine. I'd never heard so much emotion; it slammed into me like the shockwave of a sonic weapon. I could barely imagine what it felt to love like this, the concept too foreign for me to grasp. But his huddled form, hunched over his late wife, left me frozen. I could only stare as he wept, cradling the woman he loved.
Broken.
There it was. My first encounter with the famed scientist, the one I was supposed to second, the one that should have made my life brighter. A moment of death and heartache that left me numb.