CHAPTER TWO- THE UNIVERSITY OF ONDERON DID IT
Disclaimer: Again, I don't own the Clone Wars. But I do own Sierra Bonteri and Hero.
LUX
The first clue we had that Dendup maybe wasn't all he seemed to be was during the final battle of the rebellion, on that cliff where Steela lost her life.
When the gunship struck the cliff, Ahsoka and I were knocked back by sheer force. When we fell, we were stunned.
Saw dropped his rocket launcher and ran for the path to get up to the cliff and rescue Steela. Everyone else was busy mopping up the last of the droids, and it would seem that no one witnessed our leader's deadly plunge.
No one, that is, except Hero.
Hero was one of the younger rebels: small, average with a gun, but she had an eagle eye. Whenever one of us lost something, we'd simply ask Hero to help us look for it and it would be found in seconds. She was the one who spotted the debacle on the cliff and shouted "Look!" to Saw. As he ran off to go save Steela, she stayed behind and watched in horror.
When the cliff started to crumble, Steela shoved King Dendup to stable ground, and grabbed the cliff. Then when I failed to rescue her and Ahsoka tried to lift her with the Force, only for Steela to be dropped to her doom. It was a freak accident, but Steela gave her life for Onderon. She was a martyr.
At least, that's what everybody thinks. After Steela's funeral, Hero pulled Saw and I aside and told us a very different story.
Eyes sparkling with fear, she whispered. "They're lying."
A grief-ridden Saw fixed her with a look. "What do you mean, they're lying?"
Hero peeked over her shoulder as if to check that the coast was clear, and then whispered. "I saw it. Steela didn't push the King. He pushed Steela."
She grabbed Saw by the front of his shirt. "Don't tell anybody. I'm the witness. And I'm scared."
Then she scurried away, leaving Saw and I standing there stunned.
We had been completely duped. Dendup wasn't in league with the Separatists, that's for certain. But his policy of neutrality was nothing but a conniving, cruel design to keep Onderon isolated from the rest of the galaxy…to make sure we couldn't scream for help in our darkest hour.
Only two weeks after the droid army was defeated, Dendup instilled the new curfews. For our own good, he said. The public works crews needed the streets clear for reconstruction. Nobody really questioned why they were going to rebuild in the middle of the night.
With everyone penned up in their homes by 2000 hours, putting in the new regulations was easy. There are no restrictions on who can be arrested and kept in jail. Force help anybody who writes a newspaper criticizing Dendup. Trials aren't even necessary anymore.
That was about the time I was booted as Senator. You don't need a Senator if you're not going to any Senate.
A policy of isolationism was drawn up to replace the Treaty of Iziz, and since then living on Onderon has reminded me of a book that's now banned. It's called 1984.
A few days ago, Sierra asked me a question.
"I don't get it," she said. "We just fought a rebellion. Onderon doesn't take crap very easily. Why isn't someone doing something?"
"Here's why: Steela."
"What?"
I snorted. "Steela was the heart and soul of our rebellion, sis. Without her, we were hopeless. And she's dead."
I didn't tell her what Hero saw for a few more weeks. When she found out, she freaked.
"Lux, that's murder! He could be dethroned for that."
"He's the King! He is the law."
Sierra crossed her arms. "I'm pretty sure if the people find out that he murdered Steela Gerrera, they might be forced to honor her memory with a-."
"Sierra, pipe down!" I hissed. "The walls in this building are paper thin. Do you want somebody turning us in to Dendup? Who might have pushed you-know-who off a you-know-what to her doom? Something make you think that he's above doing the same thing to you?"
Sierra looked sufficiently scared. Good. There's an old saying that fear is a great motivator. That's wrong.
Fear is the ultimate motivator.
SAW
Hutch and I turn our apartment upside down looking for something to make into dinner for Lux and Sierra.
"This is hopeless. We survive on bagels, Nutella, frozen waffles, canned soup, and frozen dinners." I mutter. "We don't have anything for company."
Hutch sighs and reaches into our freezer. "Look, Saw. Dinner!" he says melodramatically, brandishing four TV dinners.
"TV dinners." I stare at them. Oh, what the heck. It's Bonteri. I don't even care.
Hutch shells them out of their wrappers and places them in the oven.
"It's not like we can cook, anyway." He points out, covering the potato and dessert with a piece of tinfoil.
"True enough." I grumble, setting out forks on the table.
Lux and Sierra arrive a few minutes later, toting a jar of instant iced tea.
We settle down to out TV dinners and pleasant conversation. Lux talks about his job interview. I talk about working in the palace. Hutch tells us a story about a dumb customer he had while working as a cashier at the Reddy Mart.
It's all very polite and pleasant, which makes it completely weird.
When the dishes are cleared we sit down to watch TV.
"Can we watch the news?" Sierra asks, reaching for the remote.
"No way." Hutch interrupts. "The University of Onderon game is on. There's no way in heck I'm missing that."
Nobody argues with him. One of the first things I learned when living with Hutch is that when the U of Onderon is playing, you do not speak to him. He's probably their biggest fan. Sure, so what if he screams at the ref at ear-bleeding volume for every call against the players?
Just as we find the channel, one of the U of Onderon players is fouled out.
"Oh, come on. COME ON!" Hutch roars.
The game progresses. Lux, Sierra, and I cheer for the team while Hutch becomes all the more radical, pulling out his cap, his jersey, and his foam finger.
At the end of the fourth quarter, I get the idea to check my chrono.
"Crap." I swear. "It's after curfew. Lux and Sierra, looks like you're spending the-."
"No, no, no, no, no, NO!" Hutch screams.
My head snaps up just in time to see one of the players on the opposing team tuck the ball under his arm and run like his life depends on it. The U of Onderon players launch themselves at him but he gracefully sidesteps all of their tackles.
And makes a touchdown.
The University of Onderon has lost. By three points, in the final minute of the game.
The other team doesn't even get a chance to start their victory song before they're drowned out by Hutch's screaming.
"NO! They cheated! That was a foul! He didn't make it into the end zone!"
I jump up and grab Lux and Sierra. "On second thought, can I stay at your place?"
"But curfew-." Sierra protests.
"Sierra. Look at Hutch's face. Do you want to be under the same roof with him right now?"
Lux looks at his little sister. "When the U of Onderon lost during the rebellion, Hutch yelled so loud for so long, Dono had to slap him."
"Look," I propose. "It's only a few minutes' trip. Who's going to be looking for us?"
"Right." Lux goads.
Sierra sighs, and pushes open the door. "Fine," she whispers when we're out on the street. "It's not like I want to be with Hutch anyway. I don't even like sports."
"Don't say that too loudly." Lux advises. "We don't have Dono around to slap some sense into Hutch."
"Hey, you kids!"
All three of us stop in our tracks.
Crap…
"Play it cool. I think they're just rent-a-cops." I whisper.
"Uh, doesn't look like it." Sierra replies.
Lux fixes his sister with a glare. "You don't happen to have anything I don't know?"
Sierra rolls her eyes at him. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
I resist the extremely strong urge to kill both of them and shut up their bickering. Force, I have newfound respect for my parents when Steela and I were kids and called each other names fifty times a day.
"Um, is there a problem, officer?" I call out to the cop blocking the sidewalk.
Instead of answering me, the cop peppers us with questions.
Who are we?
What are we doing out after curfew?
We might have gotten off clean, if I didn't have such a huge mouth.
"The real question is, officer." I say. "Why are you out after curfew?"
If Steela was alive right now, she would have kicked me across Iziz for saying that. Even with the circumstances as they are, I wouldn't be surprised if her ghost possessed Lux or Sierra and kicked me that way.
But no possessions have to take place, because the cop turns cherry red.
"Well, Smart Aleck, you'll have plenty of time to answer that question down at the station."
LUX
The cop leads us to an interrogation room. After we sit down on one side of the table, he shoves a datapad toward us.
"I need your names and the phone numbers for your emergency contacts." He says.
"Emergency contacts?" Saw asks.
"Your parents," the cop clarifies. "Or neighbors, whoever."
It takes all my willpower not to say Whatever you do, don't write down Hutch's number! If they figure out who we are, we're all so dead I don't even want to think about it.
Saw takes the datapad and when he was finished, hands it to Sierra, who passes it to me. I look down at the display.
Saw said he was Shaquille O'Neal.
Sierra identified herself as Taylor Swift.
I kind of hesitate. See, I'm not a creative person.
"You don't know your own name?" the cop says.
"Yeah! Of course I do. It's…George Washington." Then I jot down my parents' old phone number. The cop leaves the room.
"Are you nuts?" Saw demands. "Every guy in the galaxy knows who George Washington is!"
"Yeah, and everybody knows who Shaquille O'Neal and Taylor Swift are, too!"
"Guys! We've got to get out of here." Sierra pipes up. "I just gave him the number for HoloNet Helpline."
"And I gave him the number for Dex's Diner." Saw says.
"And I actually gave him our old phone number." I lament.
"What?" Sierra cries. "Lux, that might still have our old answering machine hooked up to it. If they call it, they could figure out who we are."
"Well sorry for not being the phone expert!"
"Nice going, George." Saw snaps.
"Shut it, Shaq."
"Was it like this back at the rebellion?" Sierra hisses. "Did you two fight all the time? Is that why Steela had to do everything?"
I give her a look. "No!"
"You two fight like tookas and dogs!"
"How about we save the sibling bickering for later, and get ourselves OUT OF HERE!" Saw cries.
"Oh, yeah? How do you plan on doing that?" I snap.
Saw points up.
At least ten feet above us hangs a small skylight, about a foot and a half square.
"No. Way." I say. "Saw, we're never going to get up there."
Saw shrugs, and grabs Sierra around the waist. She yelps.
"What are you doing?"
Saw ignores her, and instead boosts her up and onto his shoulders. "Reach up there and see how tightly that thing's in place."
Sierra shakily gets to her feet, precariously balanced on Saw's shoulders. I get up on a chair to hold her waist.
"O-Okay," she says. "It's not hinged, but I don't think it's nailed down."
"Could you knock it out? Like with a tool or something?"
"Probably. But we don't have any-."
"Bonteri, give her the other chair." Saw orders.
I grab the chair the cop was sitting in and pass it up to Sierra. She turns it upside down, and smashes one of the legs at the window.
Suddenly, there's a ruckus in the hallway. Something about "Those brats". Something about "Dex's Diner."
"Guys…"
"I'm working on it!" Sierra cries, slamming the chair into the window again. This time, the glass creaks. One more blow does the trick.
Sierra uses the chair to clear out the remaining glass, passes it down to me, and pulls herself up through the window with a boost from Saw.
Saw goes next. While he's climbing up, I shove the chair under the door. Not a second later, the doorknob starts shaking.
"Hurry, Saw!"
"I'm hurrying!"
I grab his legs, and give them a good hard push. Saw disappears onto the roof. Standing on the chair, I reach up for Saw and Sierra to pull me out of the room.
As we take off across the roof, the cop's voice filters out of the window.
"You kids better get back here, and I'll show you some 'Dex's Diner'!"
(A/N. About Hero: I own her in the way ItsATrap101 owns his character Cello. Hero is the rebel who yells "Look!" at the end of Tipping Points, the one wearing a hat with ear flaps. She is named after the character in "Much Ado About Nothing".
About the cop who arrests Lux, Saw, and Sierra, just picture Kevin James in "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and you've got him.
A big thank you goes out to Lost Lauren, StarwarsRulz, and starwarshobbitfics for their reviews. Three reviews! That's a record for a single chapter. I'm glad you're all enjoying this story. And just as big a thank you goes to all my readers, for checking this out. Thank you all very much.
How did you like this chapter? Please drop a review, they are always appreciated. Flames, however, are only good for lighting Tiki Torches.)