Chapter 4: Shatter

With Melody still on my mind, I decided to have Kryss stay with her and Tricia aboveground. Even without the incident after Tricia's award ceremony, I still had planned on having Kryss rejoin society more often since I figured it'd do him some good to live a life that was a bit more normal, and having him up there with the girls let me hear about my family more often.

With all I was doing with the rebellion, my worries about Melody faded as time passed, but I could never really get it out of my head. It seemed that whenever I'd come close to forgetting the idea completely, some little thing I'd hear from Kryss's reports would point back to it.

He'd report a broken appliance once and a while, and strangely, almost every time he did, he'd also mention Melody being a bit moody the same day. Both of which he'd dismiss as normal, especially since mood-swings are so common in adolescents, but such instances were enough to make me lose sleep.

As the reports steadily became more frequent, Kryss started noting the strange coincidences, and I would think back to some similar occurrences I'd witnessed when she was younger. I remembered in particular one time when she was still small, she came to my room in the middle of the night saying that she had a bad dream, and the following morning, when I checked her room, I found that the room's temperature-control system went on the fritz.

Finally, about a year after I last saw Melody, all this came to a head.

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"...We have no choice to cease our transport operations, Roe. The new travel policies have made it practically impossible to keep smuggling Lex;s political criminals off-world. Getting them out would mean nothing short of hijacking a government shuttle."

"But it's a service people need, Brett. You know how many Lex has jailed on trumped-up charges. Escaping the planet's the only hope for justice for them and their families."

"Even if they manage to make it off-world, their chances of evading the Kaiburr Imperial forces are pretty slim. Either way, they'll end up rotting in Lex's cells. The best we can do is to provide them sanctuary here with us."

Roe was going to continue, but my comlink's beating interrupted him.

"Master, it's urgent. Dr. Spade and your daughter have been arrested," said Kryss's voice over the comlink.

"Under what charges?" I asked, trying to keep my cool as I pondered why I was always happened to be told of bad news via comlink.

"Melody had an... incident in her school. She took some pretty deep offense to something her teacher said in class about the rebellion. Things were flying everywhere; people saw her connection to the Force in plain sight. The police came soon after, but Melody and I were able to escape. We tried to meet with Tricia, but they got to her first. They took custody of us when we got to the rendezvous point, but I was barely able to escape. I won't be able to help them alone, master; I'm sorry."

"Return to HQ, Kryss. I'll deal with this alone."

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I never really wanted to join the rebellion, but I did. As much as I wanted to put down the sword and stop fighting, after that night at the press, I wanted to let Lex know that he wouldn't win. Just about everything I had done as part of the rebellion had been directed towards that desire, but none were so aligned to that direction as the actions I committed in the detention center they had taken Mel and Tricia to.

The detention center was small, no bigger than a primary school building. Lex had about half of the cells in these municipal stations converted into cells capable of holding Force-users, leaving the regular prisoners pretty tightly packed. The special cells were also usually the hardest to access in these facilities, so I knew I had a bit of a way to go to get to the two girls. I dodged the guards whenever I could, but the narrow corridors made that difficult; confrontation was inevitable.

I tried not to kill that night. Shii-Cho wasn't my preferred form, but it was what I fell back on when facing multiple enemies with projectile weapons. It was the simplest of the lightsaber forms and it emphasized disarming one's opponents. Most of the cuts and slashes I made connected with the muzzles of slugthrowers or blasters, but I wasn't perfect. Sometimes, a hand or limb would get lopped off along with the weapon it was grasping, and sometimes, a more vital body part would be severed.

Perfection wasn't my goal, saving my family was.

I finally found Mel and Tricia in one the bigger cells, the ones usually used for "VIPs."

He meant it when he said he'd treat them well, I thought as I opened the cell door.

Inside, I found Tricia sleeping soundly (Somehow, that didn't surprise me.) and Mel sitting near her.

"They drugged her," Mel explained.

Mel didn't seem hurt physically, not a scratch or bruise in plain sight, but for some reason, she still looked terrible.

"Try to wake her up," I told her, "I'll need her help getting out of here."

"You knew, didn't you?"

I sighed.

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Mel, please, we don't have much time. Can we-"

"NO!" she said, raising her voice.

I stepped back, pushed by both her voice and the ripple she sent through the Force.

"Why didn't you tell me, Brett? You could've trained me! If you'd told me, I would've been able to watch myself, and this whole thing could've been avoided!"

I couldn't speak. I knew she was right, but I couldn't put together an answer for her in words, much less one that would please her, and my silence, however, simply ended up agitating her even more. In her rage, she found enough power to summon Tricia's lightsaber through the Force. She ignited it and with the blinding yellow blade, charged at me.

Though I didn't expect Melody's attack, my senses were still fast enough to block her strike with my own lightsaber. She charged again, and I blocked three more of her clumsy strikes before jumping back and switching my weapon off.

"I was afraid," I finally answered her, "I never wanted you to have this kind of life, and I knew that if you really were Force-sensitive, this life is what you'd be doomed to live. I didn't let myself accept that you were until now. I've failed you, Mel, and I deserve to be punished for that, but please don't do this. Your anger will lead you to an even more difficult life.

Tears formed in her eyes, and the yellow blade disappeared. She cried, and I took her in my arms.

"Brett," she said between sobs, "I'm so sorry."

"I am too."

I held her for a few more moments before finally pushing her back.

"Listen," I said, "We can talk more about this later if you want, but right now, we have to hurry."

She did so but not before embracing me again.

That time, I almost couldn't let go.

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We couldn't wake Tricia, so I carried her on my back as we ran. I tried to deflect a few shots with my lightsaber, but a few bolts skidded dangerously near us. Finally, with the exit in sight and half the facility chasing us, I put Tricia down.

"Mel, take her and run. I'll follow."

"I won't le-"

"You won't. Just go!"

She hesitated for a moment but did as I said.

I took a deep breath. Channeling as much of the Force as I could, I sent a huge wave of energy at our pursuers, knocking several of them back. That gave me enough time to turn my attention to the ceiling. I pulled hard and dropped a pile rubble, just enough to block the narrow walkway. With the pursuers at bay, I turned towards the exit, Melody already at the other side, and ran.