Phantom

Portalkeeper87

A/N: Sorry for the long gap between updates! But this purgatory called 'school' opened and I got sunk under. It might be a while before my next update, 'cause I'm just a little busy as of now. This is a short update, but I just wanted to add a few plot twists and tell everyone that "Phantom" is far from over.

Dedicated to all the nice people who took the time to e-mail me until I posted the next section. Thanks!

The prisoners were missing. Their escape was blared through the sparse halls, echoing harshly in a standard Republic dialect. Storm troopers rushed through the halls, searching for any sign of rebels. There were too many, and my cloak could only last so long.

At last the throng thinned, down to about one or two guards passing by every minute. I took a chance, shed off the Force just as the latest guard brushed past me. He turned to shout a warning.

Too late. The words never passed from his lips. I yanked off his helmet and clubbed him hard. He tumbled into a heap at my feet. Quickly, I removed his uniform and put it on. A little big, a lot awkward. But it would certainly be less exhausting than using the Force.

I peeked around the corner, seeing if anyone was nearby. Nope, the coast was clear.

Now, what to do with his body? The guard could still wake up any moment.

My eyes fell onto a small latch protruding from the smooth wall. Garbage disposal. Hmm…

Blaster fire. Close by. I could almost smell the smoke of seared metal alloy already. I had to do this fast.

Wrapping the storm trooper in my cloak, I eased open the hatch. Slid him into the muck. The guard moaned, nearing consciousness. Not if I could help it.

A wave of shock hit me as I realized what I meant to do. Kill the man. No, kill the mindless, obedient clone. Don't think of him as a man. He's just a clone, dispensable.

I pressed the button. The one for the trash compactor. I would squeeze him to death, hear his very bones pop through his skin, hear his brains explode as his skull shattered.

But in my cold ruthlessness, I pushed the wrong button. Not the "compact" button for this specific dump, by the master compactor. All the garbage disposals in this entire space station would compact.

Oh well. It wasn't like anyone else would happen to be in a trash heap, right?

As I turned to leave, a part of me felt the slightest alarm, as if someone I cared about was in mortal danger. But that couldn't be. Everyone I cared for was gone.

Then the rumbling stopped and the moment passed. Who had turned it off? I turned back to the chute and leaned my head close to the wall. Echoing from far away I could barely make out human voices. And then the beeps and whistles of a droid. A familiar voice.

Funny to think that after all these years, one of the only voices I recognized belonged to a droid. But I knew him, knew the particular rhythms and patterns of his speech almost as well as I knew my one. He had saved me many times, fought side by side with me at others. But why was he here, now?

"Artoo Detoo," I whispered, the helmet muffling my voice, "Where are you?"