Chapter 7:
It must have been hours later when the winds finally died down and the sand returned to its home on the dunes. We were buried up to our waist. Sand was embedded into our fur covering us in a sheet that cracked and broke apart like clay as we moved. There was no sign of the other speeder or the guard that was riding it.
"We better get this skiff out and working or we will be in real trouble." He was already tugging at the side of the sand-submerged vessel to turn it right side up as he spoke.
With our combined strength we were able to pull it free and set it upright. He went to the controls and tried to power up the cruiser. I scanned the dune sea stretching in all directions. The heat waves blurred the horizon, but I could see that the wall of sand that had overcome us was gone, as was any sign of the palace. The cruiser sputtered as he powered it up. One engine whined, coughed black smoke and died, the other screamed like a mynock desperate for food. The cruiser leaned on its side, the repulsor-lifts damaged, and a few inches-thick layer of sand covered the floor and seats.
"Well, it won't be stylish, but it'll work. Shall we?" The Wookiee said with a flourish of his arm inviting my back onboard. I got in, and he drove us further into the Dune Sea.
"Where are you taking us?" I asked as I sat down in the co-pilot's seat next to him, and then brushed the sand from my fur.
"To a little far out place. Anchorhead. I have friends there." A Wookiee on the planet with friends, the idea to me was laughable. I assumed there wasn't some Wookiee refuge in the desert, and it was hard for me to imagine what type of friends he could have on that scorched hellhole of a planet.
"What's your name?" he asked after a few moments, and then he looked at me. His gray eyes were piercing, and full of compassion and curiosity. I hesitated for a moment, trying not to make direct contact with my own tainted eyes, and was tempted to give him some false name. For whatever reason I decided not to.
"Makaashyya," I said.
He smiled and nodded in approval. "How did you manage to get yourself into Jabba's employ?"
"I was betrayed by a business partner, and I'll leave it at that," I answered, hoping to end our conversation.
He looked away from me and back to his driving. "Ok then. Well, my name is Echobe."
Echobe.
His name echoed in my mind. Pleasant warmth flowed through my veins, driven by my heart, to my entire body as he gave me his name. It was unexpected, comforting, and repulsive all at once. Memories of what once was started to bring to surface the horrid feelings of guilt within me. I just wished to be free of his company, or rather have him be free of mine, but I had to remain with him at the very least through the trip to Anchorhead, or so I convinced myself.
After some time of travel, the heat quickly became unbearable for me. Whatever had created all things certainly didn't intend for a Wookiee to live on Tatooine, I reasoned. The twin suns hung in the sky unforgiving, like the eyes of a fiery, angry god searing the landscape, bleaching it and anything else unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. The only abstract in color were the rocks that sporadically jutted from the surface like the skeletal fingers of the planet itself buried underneath the sands for all time, desperate for respite from the sands. I began to think that we would never reach Anchorhead before succumbing to the omnipresent, ineffable heat.
"There, you see it? We're almost there." Echobe pointed. I stood up and looked. Mercifully, but slowly coming into view were some buildings that barely stood out from the rest of the desert. The buildings barely stood over two stories tall, but even after the short time I had spent on the planet I knew the main part of the building was usually below the surface, away from the blazing heat.
The skiff nearly fell apart before we reached the small town. Its crippled side carved a trench into the ground as it began to drag. The smoke started to rise from both engines, metal panels and unknown parts that were once attached to wires started to fly off the cruiser as we pulled up to the town wall.
"Well, safe and sound, what'd I tell ya?" Echobe joked, then jumped from the cruiser and onto the ground not bothering to shut off the dilapidated vehicle. I followed reluctantly, softly treading as if the cruiser was about to explode. It looked like it was about to.
"Follow me and I'll get those binders off of you." Echobe gestured to me.
He led me to the largest building within the small town. As we walked in I immediately recognized the atmosphere, the familiar sounds, and smells that identified the place as yet another tavern. We walked to the back of the bar, and around a corner to a door. A human wearing a brown and tattered duster jacket stood in front of it. Echobe walked to him, and they exchanged hushed words. The human looked to me and sized me up while Echobe whispered to him. The human then stood aside to reveal a keypad next to the door that Echobe then entered a code to open it. Echobe then motioned for me to follow, and with caution, I did.
We walked down a flight of stairs, leaving footprints behind us. The hallway was dark, as the sunlight had no entry. Particles of sand hung in the air. There was no escape from the sands. We must have descended two stories underground before we reached the end. A small overhead light lit the anteroom that housed several other doors. Gray cargo crates were stacked up on both sides of the room, and a thick layer of dust covered everything, making it seem as if the area was abandoned. It was wholly unimpressive.
"What is this place, and who are you? Why have you brought me here?" I asked impatiently. I felt as if I was being toyed with.
"We are among friends." Echobe's voice was calm, and firm. "I brought you here so you'd have somewhere to go, and at the very least give you a place to catch your breath and gather your thoughts." Echobe opened one of the crates and pulled out a torch welder. "Let me gets those off you."
He cupped my bound wrists in his massive hand and lifted them up to his eye level. I seemed as a child to him. I had to stretch my arms a little to reach him. He then activated the tool and a bright blue flame ignited at the end with a sharp crack, and he melted the lock on the binders and removed them. I had to keep myself from shuddering as he gently pulled the binders from my wrists and tossed them inside the open crate. I felt almost queasy as I tried to hide my reaction from his touch, especially when he gently moved the fur from my neck to remove the collar. The fur covering his hands was like a sea at night reflecting the dim, overhead light. He removed the slaver collar from my neck with another blast from the torch. I stepped back away from him rubbing my sore neck and wrists.
"Is this your place?" I asked, averting my eyes from his curious gaze, and trying to smooth down the fur that had stood up on the back of my neck from the feeling of his close presence.
"This place is open to people in need. I live here for now, so to speak, but no I don't own it."
I looked up at him for a foolish brief moment, his gray eyes fixed on mine.
"Your eyes, they looked irritated. Did you injure them?" He asked and he approached me, concern on his face. He noticed the unnatural color of my eyes, the change that had overcome the green, an unfortunate side effect of the darkside that I regretted when he tried to look into them.
"My eyes are fine," I said sharply, and looked at the crates piled against the walls, anywhere but into his eyes, anything to dismiss his concern and gaze.
"Do you wish to go? You are not being forced to stay, Makaashyya. But I recommend you at least hideout for a few days for things to calm down. We have a jamming frequency so Jabba won't be able to track the collars here. And if you do decide to stay and help…"
I cut him off.
"So you come to your agenda finally. Help with what?" I asked with forced impatience. I was in fact deeply curious about what he was doing there.
"I was only giving you options, we all have an agenda, don't..."
I cut him off before he could go on. "So what is yours?" I asked accusingly. He tossed the tool back into the crate, and paused for a moment. He looked back to me and sighed.
"I belong to a group of people who wish to see the end of the Empire. I wish to end the suffering of our people. This place is one of our bases and part of my command. I brought you here for obvious reasons."
"Some command," I said sardonically. "Obvious reasons, such as?"
He looked at me in confusion.
"You know of the fate that has befallen Kashyyyk. It has been under siege for many years now. The Empire is exterminating our people with the help of the Trandoshans. It has to end or our people will die, and Kashyyyk will be plundered to a husk."
"And you seek to free them from a fate they willingly agreed to?" The anger began to build inside me because of Echobe's sympathy for my people who I had come to resent. He was undaunted.
"Not everyone had a choice, Makaashyya. I know that some of our people have been complicit, but these are terrible and confusing times for many peoples. We are not the only ones being oppressed and slaughtered I assure you."
Echobe was confident, resolute, and knew more than what he told me. The compassion flowed from him like a wellspring as he spoke, but the anger within me wrestled control over any sympathy I might have felt.
"What do you and your friends here intend to do? Give our people weapons? Help them fight a war against the Empire and the Trandoshans? It would take more than a small group of friends for that." I raised my voice. I wanted to argue with him, to tear his determination apart and crumble it to pacify my own guilt. He instead turned away from me and towards one of the steel doors directly opposite of the stairway. That angered me even more.
"If you wish to know more you can follow me, or you can just leave and go wherever you wish. I won't stop you."
I felt as if he was purposely trying my patience. He somehow knew I wished to see more, his mind echoed as much intentionally. I determined then that the Force was playing its own subtle role.
"Suppose I just inform the Empire of what you've told me," I said with a sneer.
"A Wookiee Imperial?" Echobe laughed until he felt me staring at him. I could feel the Force welling up inside of my being. I think he felt it too. He reclaimed his serious tone.
"It's up to you, Makaashyya." And with that he walked to the door, and it slid open as he passed through, and shut on its own behind him leaving me there in the dust-filled anteroom. I stood there for several moments. Again I had found myself thrust into a situation with few options, left to weigh all of them. I looked back and forth between the stairs and the door Echobe had passed through. After thinking of my options for several minutes I decided to walk through the door.
Echobe greeted me with a smile on his face.
"I knew I'd be seeing you again."
The room we stood in was large, and spanned beyond the footprint of the tavern above. It bustled with people of many different races and cultures. The tavern above provided excellent cover for the large operation underneath it. Several other sealed doors branched off to other rooms. People sat at computer terminals; some worked on repairing various pieces of equipment, others were cleaning blasters. Droids rolled on wheels or on tracks, or walked about on spidery, and human-like legs as they went about completing assigned tasks. Computer terminals hummed and displayed information that I could not comprehend.
"So you wish to join our cause, Makaashyya?" Echobe asked after giving me a few moments to look around.
"I don't have much choice do I?" I responded with defeat. As if sensing my frustration, Echobe reached his hand out to me with a smile. Foolishly, I put my hand into his and did my best to ignore the feelings shooting through my skin like cold needles from his touch.
"We are the remnants of the Old Republic," Echobe began, "the Alliance against the Empire, and we could always use help from like-minded people. It's a desperate situation since the Empire has been clamping down on open society. First was Kashyyyk, then Alderaan. Soon they'll be taking over all private production, and will continue to blockade systems, rounding people up as slaves. Our people are set for extermination."
"I'm aware of that." I released my hand from his and crossed my arms.
He looked at me with worry-filled eyes.
"You must be tired and hungry. I'll show you where you can get cleaned up and will I have a room made up for you. I'll bring you some food as well. Our droids have gotten pretty good at cooking." He chuckled, and then he led me around the base, giving me a brief tour of the place to show me the necessities. Afterwards, he left me in a room that was hastily set up during the brief tour. It was scattershot, and makeshift, but it was the first safe bed I had seen in years. After showering and eating I went to my temporary room. All at once the exhaustion hit me, the energy ebbed from my body and I was overcome with weakness. I lay down and slept, and dreamt. Glad to be free from Jabba's grasp, and a slave no more
**********
A gentle knocking on the door jolting me from my sleep. I could feel Echobe's presence on the other side. How I wished I could have avoided him. It was difficult enough being near to him, and more so trying to avoid his touch or from looking into his eyes so he wouldn't look too deeply at what was in mine. I liked him I admitted to myself, but as quick as that admission came I pushed the feelings to a dark corner of my being to be consumed by shadows so they wouldn't get in the way.
"Come in," I said casually after I righted myself on the bed. The door slid open with a sharp whir of the aging door servo. Echobe stood there, his binders had been removed and he was dressed in a long dark brown coat with a belt around his waist with a blaster holstered on it. Strapped to his leg and connected to his belt on the other side was a large Ryyk Blade, the traditional hand constructed swords from Kashyyyk. It was fit for two hands, the blade tapered from the hilt and then bent into a crescent curve at the tip.
"Did you come for a fight?" I said with a smile. A part of me wanted to instigate him to pick a fight, another part of me wanted to shoot myself for being flirtatious like a childish, Wookiee-girl.
"It wouldn't do for me to surrender to an unarmed Wookiee now would it?" Echobe smiled at me, and stepped inside the room. The door slid shut behind him as he passed over the door's sensors. "Actually, an Imperial patrol has been spotted too close to the city. Imperials hardly come out here unless they have reason, and considering recent events, I think they may have caught our scent. I came to see if you wanted to join us on this run, get your feet wet. Otherwise, it would be safer for you to be on your way if that's your choice. We can keep them distracted while you make your escape. I apologize for ruining your night's sleep, but now is the best time to decide."
"You're not going to stop are you? Why do you do this? Are you willing to die for what you believe in?" I doubted his valor and his reasons for what he did. I didn't wantto believe that there was a Wookiee, one that I liked, that defied my assumptions of the weakness I had convinced myself had overcome the Wookiees.
He pushed himself away from the wall where he was leaning and stepped closer to me.
"Yes I am, and I will not be alone. As the Elders say, you are judged by what you do in life. For too long have our people been enslaved, and now we face extinction, as do many other races from countless worlds. The Emperor's power stretches from one end of the galaxy to the other laying ruin to everything. You are a part of this, just like anyone else, whether you like it or not. What happened to Alderaan will happen to other worlds if the Empire is not stopped."
Despite the years of my separation from the rest galaxy on blockaded Kashyyyk, the destruction of Alderaan sent shockwaves that rippled through people's very souls, from planet to planet. There wasn't a creature in the galaxy that didn't know what the Empire had done, and amazingly there were still those that supported what the Empire had done. The pain of the day Alderaan died hurt as new when Echobe mentioned it.
"Alright, I'll go with you, but I make no promises. I am still free to leave when I want," I said. Echobe nodded in approval.
"Everyone here is free to come and go as they please, but we still maintain a chain of command. I do understand you have no commitment to us though. So."
"So?"
"So, shall we then?" Echobe opened his hand to me again, palm up, inviting, and with that smile of his. I let him lead me to the armory. I was given a small blaster, and a hooded robe that was unmistakably from Kashyyyk, a traditional traveling robe. Somehow Echobe had managed to salvage pieces of home. I didn't ask how, though he looked at me as if hoping I would.
I ignored him.
Echobe, me, and three other soldiers went up the stairs back to the tavern with our cloaks drawn over our heads and out into the small town to look for the patrol.
After a quick search of the city and finding nothing, we traveled by foot far out of the city. The desert took on a whole new look at night. The lambent, blue moon of Tatooine cast a gentle light on the sands. At night, the desert looked almost serene. Like a placid, glimmering ocean that twinkled as the light shone on the sand that seemed more like an enemy just hours before when under the suns.
After we searched the perimeter of the city for a few hours we finally caught site of the patrol miles outside the town wall. Echobe sent a scout, Rikot, to the patrol while we waited. After a short time the scout crawled his way back up the dune we were resting on. He took a few moments to catch his breath, and then he gave his report.
"There are six of them; four whites, a gray and a civilian." The scout's breath came in ragged gasps. "Setting up communications it seems, and some shelters, their mounts are tethered. Looks like they are settling in for the night. Possible staging point."
Rikot slumped to the ground. Echobe patted the scout on his back.
"Good, you rest a minute. Can we intercept their radio signals?" Echobe said over his shoulder to one of his subordinates named Scious. Echobe grabbed the long-range viewers off of the back of the prone Rikot and looked at the distant camp.
"No sir," said Scious. "We never received the remote jammers we were promised." Echobe shook his head in disappointment, and then handed me the viewers, and pointed to the camp. I saw four Stormtroopers wearing their usual armor, the four whites as the scout called them, one commanding officer – the gray. I almost choked when I saw the civilian. Nes was with them.
What the hell is he doing? I thought. This can't be some coincidence that he is here with Imperials. I decided not to tell Echobe, but getting to Nes had to be done one way or another I decided. I handed the viewers back.
"Contact central, inform them of the situation, we may have to abandon sooner than planned," ordered Echobe, seemingly to no one in particular. Yet, one of the Alliance soldiers started whispering into the radio he had strapped to his back. Echobe then looked to me. "We're going to capture these six, hopefully before they contact others. Our escape may have attracted them here, but the civilian has me curious though. He may be an informant. Imperials don't take civilians on a scouting mission for fun. He knows something we need to know."
I then decided it was as good a time as any to tell some of the truth.
"I know him," I said. Echobe and his three subordinates looked at me with cocked eyebrows.
"A little hesitant with information I see, Makaashyya? Who is he?" Echobe asked, with a skeptical grin.
"He is the reason I was enslaved to Jabba. He traded me for a debt." Echobe's stare penetrated my eyes searching in vain for the truth that I hid from his prying mind. He was clearly angry with me, and he was using his intentional or unintentional telepathic ability to find the answer.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" There was a twinge of concern and an overtone of doubt to Echobe's voice. I matched his look with one of indifference.
"I don't trust your rebellion, and I don't trust you, I have no reason to. I do things as I see fit." I didn't leave room for a debate on my motives. Echobe gave me a wry smile conceding defeat. He then looked to his subordinates and nodded.
"The plan still stands. We capture these six, alive if possible. The civilian, whose name is?" Echobe looked at me with piercing, annoyed eyes and waited for me to speak.
"Nes," I answered.
"Nes and the commanding officer must be captured alive."
"Makaashyya, Hase, you stay here. Scious, Rikot, you come with me. Use your inhibitors. Kill only if you have to. Keep them off the radio. Let's move." Echobe stood and started wading through the sand towards the camp, the others followed. Radioman Hase and I, from the small hill overlooking the Imperial encampment, watched as Echobe, Scious, and Rikot crouched their way towards the camp. It took about twenty minutes for them reach their destination on the outskirts of the small campsite hidden in the shadows of the endlessly rolling dunes. I looked through the viewers and saw that Nes and the commanding Imperial officer were both looking at a data pad and talking to each other, and the others were tending to their mounts, or their firearms. Echobe, Scious and Rikot encircled the camp slowly coming to bear on their targets. Those inside the camp were totally unaware.
Echobe then stood up and threw something into the center of the camp, and a second later a bright flash of light lit up the desert like a brief moment of sunlight had been summoned to scare away the night, blinding the Imperials. It just as quickly disappeared. When my vision cleared, I saw Nes and the Imperial officer on the ground motionless, but the fight continued. Echobe grabbed one Stormtrooper by the arm and punched him in the face cracking the frowning, skull-like helmet in two. Echobe dropped the Stormtrooper into a heap on the ground. Scious and Rikot took out the two other Stormtroopers with hits to the head from the stocks of their rifles. The last Stormtrooper made it to his blaster and started firing in a wild panic pinning Echobe and the others behind cargo supply crates, and rocks.
Hase beside me then pulled his rifle from his side and took aim. I watched through the viewers as a single bolt left Hase's blaster rifle and entered the head of the Stormtrooper, dropping him dead. Echobe and the other two came out from behind their cover and started scouring the camp. Echobe gave a hand signal in our direction, and Hase started walking towards the camp. I followed. When we reached the camp, the radio had already been smashed. The dewbacks, stripped of their saddles and bags, were sent scurrying off into the desert. Echobe was fixing binders onto the unconscious Imperial officer's wrists. Nes was already bound and lying facedown in the sand. His weapons had been stripped from him the same as the others and thrown into a pile in the middle of the camp. I went to the pile and rummaged through it. I started to get frustrated as I tossed things out of my way looking for it. I almost scattered the pile all over the camp before Echobe walked up behind me.
"A lightsaber? It's yours I assume? It seems you have many secrets, Makaashyya." I stood and spun on my heel to face Echobe. He had the lightsaber hanging loosely from his hand, and dangling it in front of me tauntingly. I snatched it from him before he could blink.
"I'm not required to tell you anything." I was angry that he had found out. I wanted to keep my dealings in the darkside secret from him. "The less you know about me the better." I walked away, reassuringly grasping the lightsaber in my hand, its presence made me feel whole and safe again. Echobe had already discovered too much and was closer to me than I wanted anyone to be ever again.
"Better for whom?" I heard Echobe add under his breath as I walked away, thinking I wouldn't hear.
**********
It was late by the time we arrived back at Anchorhead. The Imperials we had captured remained unconscious the entire time and only started to come-to sometime after we had arrived back at the base. We took them into an interrogation room sequestered away from the main control room furthest away from the exit. Echobe, Scious and I were in the room with the five of them. The Stormtroopers, who were bound about the ankles, and wrists, sat in chairs. The Officer and Nes were strapped to standing platforms. When Nes had awoken, the surprise and fear on his face was apparent. I had expected him to start begging and sniveling.
"I knew you'd be here, Makaashyya," he said, trying to sound confident, and on the offensive. "You made a serious mistake leaving. He's not too happy about it and not too happy with me. I had to make some unruly friends to avoid his wrath."
"What did you hope to accomplish by finding me?" I asked. Nes looked around the room. His eyes passed the saber on my waist. The Stormtroopers remained silent, and expressionless.
"I knew you had help escaping from Jabba's palace, so I did some digging with the help of my friends here and found something out about your Wookiee friend."
Nes flicked his head in Echobe's direction.
"We found out that he had been seen in attacks on Imperial bases. He's killed a lot of Imperial citizens, people with families." The Imperial officer shot Nes a threatening glance, hinting to keep his mouth shut. Nes didn't take notice. "He's a terrorist escapee from Kashyyyk." Nes looked around the room to each of us expecting anger, or denials from Echobe - as I did myself – and then he looked to me as if expecting me to be his defender. Nes cleared his throat, and then continued. "He came into Jabba's employ under some strange circumstances. So I watched, and waited, and sure enough he helped you escape. Its just business, Makaashyya." Nes shrugged against his bonds.
I stepped closer to Nes. Echobe and Scious took a step forward ready to intercept. I wanted to kill the betraying coward right then and there, sever his head from his body and feed it to the creatures in the desert. I grabbed Nes' face and squeezed it between my fingers, puckering his lips in a ridiculous position grinding his teeth into his cheek. He winced.
"What do you mean strange circumstances?" I yelled, seething with anger. Echobe gently forced me away from Nes, and pried my hand from his face.
"I had my reasons, Makaashyya," said Echobe. I jerked my head around to face him. He continued to explain.
"I went to find whoever had killed Imperial officers at the starport in Mos Eisley. We suspected a possible breach in Imperial security and decided that we had to exploit it. After we found out that someone had left the starport at around the time the shuttle had landed, I had an informant trace Nes the next day when we found out those same Imperials were in business with him. Nes tends to talk too much when he's drunk apparently."
Nes scoffed at Echobe.
"I set myself up as a decoy, and was sold to Jabba by one of my men posing as an Imperial trying to fund his spice addiction."
I was infuriated at Echobe's admission. I despised being used and toyed with as a pawn in someone else's dealings as had gone on for so long.
"So, you allowed me to be sold to Jabba as a fresh, Wookiee slave?" My hands clenched into fists, my claws dug into my palms. Remembering the forbidden act I had committed did nothing to staunch the flow of hate. I wasn't thinking clearly. I wanted to hurt, and kill, to get revenge, a feeling that was coming all too easily and quickly.
Madclaw, I repeated in my mind, the name given to a Wookiee who used their claws in violence.
Echobe approached me
"I had to wait for the right moment, Makaashyya. I'm sorry that you suffered. I would have stopped it if I could, but there was nothing I could do. We just couldn't storm into the palace with blasters firing. Many would have died. Besides, you weren't the only one who was beaten repeatedly." He gently grabbed my arms, and looked at me with all of the compassion and caring I had once known in Syymbacca. I couldn't stand Echobe looking at me that way. I refused to let him replace the memory of my brother. I pushed Echobe away from me and into the wall with the Force. Everyone in the room looked at me dumbfounded, trying to figure out what I had done and how. They then looked at me with distain after they reconciled it in their minds, like I was some kind of freak. Only Echobe was different. The look of concern deepened in his eyes. He wasn't afraid, or surprised, only worried. It made me want to hate him even more.
Again and again I am caught up in people's games, from the Emperor to Gethzerion, from Nes to Echobe, I thought. I was beginning to believe they were all no better than the traitors at the prison, no better than the Empire. I wanted to kill them all. I thought they all deserved to die and anyone else who would stand in my way, or try to force me against my will. I turned away from Echobe, and went to walk out and back to my room. Echobe put his hand on my shoulder to stop me.
"I know you've suffered, Makaashyya, I know what you've been through. You can't let your hatred guide you. Hate is what has started this war." I swatted his hand off of me.
"Hate has been my greatest ally," I said, and walked through the automated door. It closed silently behind me, but I could hear Echobe's mind calling to me as I walked through the control room and back to my quarters.