Chapter 5 : Plans of Fire

It's been a few months since their first meeting together, and a plan of escape was slowly but surely building itself more each day. Zarya, Tarrik, Hostias and Novi could often be found together, most of the time getting themselves in trouble.
If they had been any older, the way they got together, sitting in a circle and whispering to each other would have been highly suspicious. Fortunately, no one thought they were up to anything more than some mischief.

It was now a common occurrence for the children in the refuge to see the four of them disappearing for hours at a time, hide themselves from everyone in an empty room to do who knows what, and even to get dragged by the keepers to the Dark Room. Needless to say, the boys now had a very similar reputation to Zarya.

The keepers, for their part, were very annoyed by their shenanigans. They had even added another round of surveillance, specifically to catch them in places they aren't exactly supposed to be at. Now that Zarya thought about it, they were very lucky that the adults were so confident in their security systems and contingency means, because they would've been in a lot more trouble than they are.

"So. Where were we?"

"Seriously, Hostias, weren't you paying any attention at all?"

"Shut up, Tarrik, I only meant that it would be good to go over what information we have, to make sure we don't miss anything."

"He's right, you know. Zarya, do you want to start?"

She looked up from her sheet, the small lamp torch behind her ear illuminating softly her companion's faces.

That night, they had crept out of their respective rooms to complete their latest task necessary to plan their escape. Novi, Tarrik and her went to three of the building's alarm panel, which contained a dozen buttons you could press under a glass panel that only needed to be lifted. Each button had a specific use, and only the keepers knew what each of them did. If she had to guess, they were all alarms for different situations.

Meanwhile, Hostias was in the cafeteria, if you could call it that, situated near the middle of the orphanage, where he needed to do something that would trigger an alarm.

After he was done, Zarya wished she hadn't trusted him when he told them to leave this part to him. The little maniac started a fire. Inside a building. Controlled, he insisted, but still. When Tarrik asked how he did that in a child proofed orphanage, she heard something about dry rations and batteries.

She didn't want to know more after that.

As soon as the security system detected the fire, a loud alarm sounded, waking up everyone and the nearest neighbours. This, as she had predicted, lit up the alarm panels she and the others stood near from. More specifically, it lit up the button that was most likely meant to be pressed should there be a fire that the system hadn't sensed yet.

Obviously, when they tried to get lost in the crowd of children leaving the building, one of them just had to be caught near the fire (she wasn't pointing fingers at anybody). And by now, when one of them got caught doing something unsavoury, it was immediately assumed that they were all involved in said unsavoury activity.

It wasn't exactly false, but the boys and her still protested loudly every time.

This brings them to now, sitting in the dark, a fem lamp torches and data pads they successfully stole a few weeks ago as their only sources of light. Luckily, the keepers didn't think children could steal their stuff and hide it from them for very long. The fact Novi was able to modify the two data pads they acquired so they couldn't be retraced helped a lot, too.

One day, she would have to ask the seven years old Rodian how he knows so much about technology.

"Right, to sum up.", Zarya sighed, sitting up straighter and picking up one of the data pads. When she felt a spike of fear from the absence of light source in his direction, Zarya took her lamp torch and handed it to Hostias, who seemed to want to refuse it before accepting it when she made a gesture to throw it at his face. He did scowl, but his fear muted slightly, which she took as his silent thank you. It was completely natural to be wary of the dark, especially at their age. Only Novi had no problem in the dark, having once mentioned something about seeing heat signatures with his eyes anyway. As for Tarrik… well. For a kid, he was pretty unshakable.

"So.", She started, looking through their notes. "Right now, we know each of us possess chips implanted in our heads, which means that the keepers, or our future owners, can decide to make us do practically anything at any time. However, from the files we stole the other month; it has chances of being detrimental to brains in development, so it's safe to assume that they won't be used until we are older if they don't want to harm us permanently."

"Can't have us lose any value, right?", interrupted Hostias sarcastically.

"Shh!", Tarrik interfered.

Honestly, she had no idea how those two ever became friends. They were always clashing with each other, but she was pretty sure Novi was the one keeping them from arguing for too long.

She and her stubbornness weren't really helping those clashes either when they dragged her into the fray.

"Anyway, that's a problem that, I think, can be solved when we are out of here, especially when we consider that they have to be triggered by some kind of program in their computers and a verbal order by someone specific. So, as long as we don't have any contact with anyone here while the program is activated, we should be fine." At least, she hoped. Even after a few months, she still wasn't okay with the idea of a chip in her brain. There were many instances where she caught herself touching the back of her head subconsciously.

"Next, escaping the orphanage. Activating the fire alarm might be enough for a distraction, as long as no one gets caught that time around", She glared at Hostias, who cringed a bit with a nervous laugh. "An advantage we have is the slight freedom they allow us, which means we can go as far as the other end of the local market without activating any alarms. That's… not quite enough to outrun the keepers, even if they have a urgency to take care of."

"And as we discovered the other night, they have no problem finding us during the day or the night, so no luck there." Tarrik added.

"But we did discover that, with the trackers, they don't know the exact spot we are at exactly when we hide from them, only the general position.", Novi said.

Yeah, that specific test did land them in more trouble than usual. Turns out, even she could be quite unsettled when left too long in the dark, without any food.

"Maybe if we had a transport? That would buy us a lot of time, since we would go farther.", Hostias added.

"Yeah, like a random stranger would accept to give a ride to five random kids with no guardian or money.", interjected Tarrik.

"We could steal a transport. Oh, we could get a space ship!"

"And which one of us knows how to fly one of those, you?"

"Boys, please."

Zarya sighed again, dragging a hand through her reddish hair. "First, escaping the city without being brainwashed, then escaping the planet. One thing at a time."

"What if we just… went aboard a merchant's ship? There's a lot of those each week coming and going, and many crates and barrels to hide in.", offered Hostias.

The other three looked at him, surprise painted on their faces along with the air around them (only known to Zarya). Hostias scowled.

"Hey, I do come up with good ideas sometimes, you know! Or if you find it stupid, just say it!"

"No, no, that's not it! I'm just… surprised I didn't think of that sooner. It's a great plan, actually.", said Zarya. "The only thing is, this requires a ship that leaves as soon as we're in it. Any more time, and we risk the keepers finding us pretty fast."

"No, no, I was actually surprised you could come up with that plan."

The Chiss boy only succeeded in getting punched on the arm by Hostias.

Novi sat up from his laid back position, taking one of the data pads and searching something. "Another thing to consider would be which merchant ship to take, and where it would lead us. Any destination in mind?"

No one answered. Since they were all children, none of them had any idea where they should go, how they will proceed in this universe without any guidance. Even Zarya who, despite looking like a child, was actually older had no idea what they should do once they would be free. The best scenario she could think of was to find a true orphanage, where they would get adopted by legal means in good families. Considering they were in the outer rims, she doubted any travelling merchant would transport them in this kind of place.

"I say we take the one we think is the best choice, and we figure out our next move from there. Wherever we end up going, it can hardly be worse than this ball of dust."

At Tarrik's words, Zarya felt determination calming the anxiousness plaguing their aura. Contrary to most times since her sensitivity to other's emotions, this didn't make her feel calmer too. Instead, when she watched the boys, sadness surrounded her thoughts. Since when did children need to do…all of this? Since when did they need to gain their freedom, alone, and risk their life for it? Heck, she was biologically six years old, and just because she was actively trying to find a way to get out of here, older kids are ready to put their trust in her to bring them along.

Granted, by now they were most likely convinced she was a genius, but still!

As the discussion derived in less important details, she let her own thoughts drift to another problem only she knew of, unaware of the blue boy observing her curiously with a hint of frustration.

Darth Sidious. In all the months since she learned of his involvement with this establishment, she didn't learn anything new. After hours spying on the keepers, she did not hear his name or anything that could be linked to him, but despite that, a constant fear lingered in the back of her mind. This part, the part where she doesn't know is the one she is the most terrified of, more than a war or a death star. At least then, she would know what was coming. Who knew what his plans were at this time?

Or was he even the one in charge right now? If the chips were some kind of test run before the clones are created, that would mean she was somewhere near the clone wars. That meant he could still be an apprentice. She knew even less about the other Sith, his master. Darth Plagueis, was it?

Or maybe the chips were now a product on some shady market to sell for whoever wanted them, so she could be in the Empire era too, though the more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed.

"Zarya, do you want to help choose a planet to get to?"

Looking up from the cement floor, she quickly took her hand away from the back of her skull and gazed into Hostias' questioning eyes. She could feel the hope, fear and excitement he held, as well as some of his thoughts. Wishes of planets filled with endless water he'd only heard of, brimming with life and colors crossed his mind, and Zarya averted her gaze, a lump in her throat.

It was no use thinking about the Siths right now. Her only goal was to get out of here and, hopefully, build herself a life away from all this wreck.

"No, you guys go ahead and choose. I'll be fine with whatever."

With a shrug, he turned back to the others, chatting about the different merchant ships scheduled to leave in the next weeks, unaware of her inner turmoil.

She really had to ask Nova how he hacked his way to this kind of data, when he would be ready to open up to them. She couldn't really blame him, they all seemed to have secrets, and since they didn't ask about hers, she wouldn't ask about theirs either.

Although, with the way Tarrik was staring at her, she was beginning to think that conversation would be sooner than she believed.

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Hello!

Not much in this chapter, mostly a time jump and explaining the basics of their escape plan.

Still, I do hope I didn't bore you and if I did, fret not! The next chapters are bound to be filled with more excitement!

By the way, who do you think Zarya will meet first? Sidious was mentioned first, but no Star Wars character has yet to show their face…

For the comments, I want to thank mothedman (you made me laugh, by the way), OldWorldVulture (And that was one long, constructive comment, thank you!), thatfanboi, The Jingo and Mads-Chikistorm (I love your theories!)

Until next time!

-Maginary

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*Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Wars related, only my OC's*