Suddenly thought up fic. I always wondered what would happen to the Jedi children during the Purges. This is one conjecture. Warnings: Death, violence, slightly disturbing situations.
Many thanks go to PulsarSkate for beta-ing and encouraging me to post this. You are wonderful.
We're going to die. We're all going to die.
That's the only thought in my head right now. I know the Code as well as anyone – there is no death, there is the Force – but that's just a saying in the face of reality. Dayni is crying again. She's losing so much water from it that I should get her to stop, but I can't. I've tried before. There must be over a hundred of us in this room: everyone from the Trader's Delight. Captain Tanner must really be regretting taking us. I'd feel kind of sorry for him, except I'm too worried for myself.
I'm hungry, thirsty, and I need a wash. They locked us in this room when we were captured two days ago, and they haven't given us much food or water since. There isn't any kind of waste disposal, either, so now there's a pile in the corner. It stinks so bad I don't know if I could eat if they gave me anything.
The door's opening: a stormtrooper is standing there, blaster carbine raised to shoot. The kids in front of him recoil. He scans the room, then apparently decides we're no threat.
"All right, you lot, get moving."
When we're slow to respond, he waves the blaster.
"Come on!"
I stand, along with some of the older kids. Dayni's arms are still clasped around my neck, and her weight makes it hard to get up.
"Will you let go?' I ask her as patiently as possible. She shakes her head.
There are more stormtroopers waiting in the corridor. They fall in next to us as we trail after their leader, weapons set off 'safe' and casting vigilant glances our way, as if we're going to run off. As if. The lead trooper punches in the combination for a large set of double doors and they hiss open. There's sunlight beyond them. Sunlight! I can't think how long it's been since I saw that. Our pace picks up, and soon I'm outside. The sky is overcast and the light is dull, but at least it's not artificial. We're standing in a courtyard with duracrete walls all around. The floor is duracrete, too. The lead trooper points at the far wall.
"Line up against the wall."
We shuffle over and stand – lean, really – against the wall. It's only when the troopers start lining up opposite us that we realize what's going to happen. A scream from farther down the line snaps my head around. Renn, a boy I knew from the Temple, runs at a trooper and grapples him to the ground. The trooper kicks him in the side and Renn jerks. I barely have time to cover Dayni's eyes before the trooper is up on his feet. He takes aim, and Renn is lying there with a smoking hole in his chest. That's when all hell breaks loose.
There are kids running everywhere, screaming, fighting to get past the line. The troopers open fire and the first wave go down in a pile of bodies and the smell of burnt flesh. More screams. More kids pushing every way. Someone next to me collapses. Dayni starts bawling outright.
More shots. I throw myself to the ground and – pan-pan-pan! – they hit the wall. And when I turn around the troopers are coming forward. Dayni's still crying. I curl up against the wall, tuck my head down and push her face into me. She's not going to see it. She's not going to see what comes next.
The Code may say there is no death, but that's not what it looks like now.
