It was early in the morning. Ezra wasn't up yet. The sun was rising. D'Elon sat up in the bed. Ezra was curled up on the floor, asleep. She quietly walked out onto the outer ring of the tower and looked out towards the city. It was quiet out a cool breeze blow-by. The city lights were starting to turn off. It was a very tranquil day. D'Elon Took in a Deep Breath, Taking in the Fresh air. she took her combadge out of her pocket and taped it. "D'Elon to Any Fed ... Any Starship in range. Respond." nothing but static came through. Sighing, she put the Badge back in her packet. She leaned on the railings. She just stared out towards the city. the sun continued to rise. Ezra walked up next to her and leaned against the fence. "how long have you been up?" D'Elon was silent for a few minutes. Then she responded, "since dawn." She continued to stare out to the city.
Ezra turned and looked out at the city. The early morning sight was beautiful. "So ... why don't I get some breakfast ready, and then we'll head out to the city for the grand tour." D'Elon nodded and headed back inside with Ezra. Ezra walked over to a crate and tossed D'Elon some fruit. She stared down at it. "What's this?" Ezra grabbed one for himself and inspected it. "It's called a jogan. They're grown throughout the Galaxy." He then took a bite out of it. D'Elon looked at her jogan then bit into it. It had a sweet and tangy flavor to it. She looked around the room as she ate and noticed on a
Desk a badge. It was unmistakably in the shape of the Starfleet Delta. There was no mistaking it. It was a Starfleet combadge. D'Elon stared at it for a moment. "Where did you get this?" Ezra turned in surprise. "Huh?" He stared down at the badge. D'Elon studied his face. It held a look of sadness. He rubbed the badge with his thumb. He continued to stare at it for some time, lost in thought. Eventually, D'Elon tapped his shoulder, snapping him out of his trance. She tilted her head slightly. A look of concern etched on her face. Ezra then put the badge back on the table and took D'Elon out the door. " let's get going, come on." He spoke to her with a smile as he led her into the city.
The stretch of road that sat in front of the old comm tower that Ezra called home went on for about a mile or two before reaching what appeared to be an unmanned
Checkpoint. 'I guess people don't come this way often?' The duo walked through the checkpoint and into town. Ezra led her through several streets into a vast marketplace. The stands stretched out to several different roads And into a central market square. "This is the primary market. Capital city gets a lot of traffic in the spaceport. So a lot of the off-world imports are found here. It's also where I typically "acquire" most of the food." Ezra and D'Elon walked through the market, and he showed her all the market stands. "There's the occasional stormtrooper patrol, but other than that, it's mostly quiet." D'Elon look around and pondered this a moment. A question burned in her mind. "Whys the empire here." Ezra sighed, "Our "gloriously and gracious" Empire is here primarily for two reasons. A: to strip mine for natural resources. And B: to collect and essentially rob Lothal of its food and other supplies." Ezra seemed to space out for a moment. "They basically come here and do whatever they want." Ezra looked at D'Elon with a blank expression before shrugging and saying
"Not much we can do about it though, we live in the world they created. They make the rules, and well," he smiled as he pulled D'Elon somewhere else. "We make our own rules."
The duo weaved through crowds of people and emerged near a large building. There were several screens displaying information. Though it was again in a language D'Elon didn't recognize. "This is the main Spaceport. You get passengers and cargo transports coming through here daily. The empire makes heavy use of it." D'Elon could see several squads of Stormtroopers milling about and Patroling the perimeter of the facility. Two me in green uniforms were standing in front of the entrance to the port. They appeared to be inspecting some cargo some of the troopers had brought. "I'm guessing those are Imperial Officers?" Ezra turned toward the two men. "Yea, most of them are jerks. They tend to have a "mightier than thou" attitude." Ezra paused for a moment, "speaking of Imperials, come on." Ezra led his Romulan companion towards a tall central building that appeared to be at the center of town.
"Behold, the Imperial Operations center!" He said with a dramatic flair as he gestured towards the large dull grey domed building. "You've got everything from the primary comms center to a military command center. Data storage is everything. You can command the entire Imperial garrison stationed on lethal from here." D'Elon looked upon the massive structure. It was impressive. Though she'd seen
More impressive facilities from the iconians and voth. 'Hell, even the borg's designs were more interesting than this, and they're not known for creativity.'
Ezra pulled his Romulan Companion around the enormous structure. There was a large opening. Inside were several stormtroopers and some teens in uniforms. "The Imperial Academy, the basic training center for Lothal." The cadets were going about different tasks and receiving instructions from some stormtroopers. D'elon looked at the facility. "So all stormtroopers are trained here on Lothal?" Ezra gave her a surprised looked. "What, No. There's academies all over the galaxy." D'elon
Paused at this revelation. "All over the Galaxy?" Ezra shrugged "yea." D'elon watched the cadets going about there tasks. "A little odd in my opinion, but makes sense. For a galaxy-spanning ing empire."
Ezra led her back towards his tower. After a while of walking in silence, he finally spoke. "Stay away from Imperial facilities. And try to stay out of the empire's way. Don't get their attention." He paused for a moment. "Trust me, that's the last thing you want." His newfound friend looked at him, a bit surprised. "What do you mean, you say that as if you have personal experience with that!?" Ezra didn't say anything for a moment. "Be sure to memorize everything I showed you today. I'll be quizzing you over the week. Come on, let's head home." He turned towards her with a smile.