Chapter 3

The body is a machine, and like all machines needs an occasional stoppage. Grall had quickly drifted off to sleep in a bunk that he had not slept in for at least ten cycles. His mind was full of memories and those memories quickly entered his dreams. He was nine cycles younger, his father's body was still warm from the blaster fire that had just ended his life. His mother and he were separated, she was on the command shuttle, Grall was on a landing craft.

Grall was silent on the whole journey from the surface to the Imperial Star Destroyer. The empire was just now starting to gain control in the Outer Rim. The landing craft docked with destroyer only minutes after entering space. When Grall was marched down the ramp of the ship he looked around for the shuttle his mother had been on. It was no where to be seen. He asked the Strom Trooper that was next to him, "Where is the command shuttle?"

"It has another destination, your mother is to be relocated with other refugees", the Strom Trooper answered, "you are now a conscript in the Imperial Army."

Grall tried to be strong, but a small part of him knew he would never see his mother again. He was led by two Strom Troopers to a holding tank in the bowels of the ship. The door slid open with a pronounced 'whoosh', he was pushed inside. His eyes quickly adjusted to the dimness that filled the room, every race imaginable was there. He found a small space of unoccupied wall and pressed his back against it and slid down till he was seated. No one made any sounds or attempts to talk with one another.

He felt the ship come to life, they were preparing to leave the orbit of his world, where he was going he would not know till the ship arrived. Grall knew the second they achieved light speed.

Time had come to a stop for him. There was no way to track it. Rations were dumped in with no rhythm. The lighting never changed, no one could see all the way across the forty meter by forty meter jail. Grall had made every attempt to try making a system to keep track of time, but with no luck. Growing frustrated with the deprivation that his captors had put him in he did the only he could do, meditate.

Grall in his meditative state, was unaware of anything. That was until the Star Destroyer came out of hyper space. The two men seated next to him were startled when he awoke. The blonde one to his left exclaimed "I thought you were dead!" Grall never responded.

In a matter of seconds the dim state the conscripts had become accustomed to, was shattered, when the lights awoke to their full power. Grall, as well as everyone in the room, was blind. "Whoosh", he heard the cell door open, shouting quickly followed. He could here kicks and bodies being thrown about the large cell. His sight back, Grall had come to see what had happened. The wall to his right, was now blocked by several Strom Troopers. A gray suited officer came in, he stood no more than a meter or two from where the troopers stood. "All of you worthless scum on your feet!" the officer yelled. "Form two rows," he said , now in a calmer voice, "humans to the front, the rest of you in the back." The group did as they were told, everyone was ready to fight against their captors, but with sixteen armed troopers, blasters in hand, pointing at them it would have been a lost cause.

Eight Imperial Navy Troopers entered the cell, and started the process of shacking the groups of conscripts to each other. The officer turned to the lead trooper, "Get them aboard the landing craft and to the surface as quickly as possible."

"Yes sir." the trooper replied with the discipline that was instilled within him. Within a few moments the shackled group were headed to the landing craft.

As they were moving Grall's muscle were sending him the signals that they had been dormant too long, but he pushed on none the less. He was back in the hanger where he had first arrived aboard the ship. The landing craft was parked right where it had been when he left. He kept going until the group was aboard and seated for the next portion of the journey the empire had deemed for them. Grall watched out the porthole as the landing craft dropped from the belly of the Star Destroyer.