IE III: RELIC ROBBER
Once again, the floor drops into the abyss. Eva looks up as she is lowered into The Well for another game. She feels light in her stomach; the usual feeling of dropping down into the pit, but she has experienced this so much already that the sensation only feels funny and negligible. While she waits for The Well to reach its lowest point, Eva remembers yesterday, when Ashara bailed out of the barracks in the middle of the night. She still wonders what she was doing and the question still lingers in her mind, but she tries to shove it aside. It's training time and she has to focus on herself. Aside from her squad, there's another one going down into The Well with her. Their helmets mask their faces, but Eva can hear they're boys. That's something new. She always competed against other girl squads. This is a first, but it shouldn't be any different. The rules, the strategy - everything remains the same.
Eva joins the squad and stands in a circle with her squad members as they prepare to climb The Well: Roslin, Peyton, Ashara, Ecklund, and her.
Roslin shifts her head to Peyton who immediately responds.
"54," Peyton replies.
Roslin nods. "54 times. Last time, we did very well."
Eva chuckles. "We aced it."
"Yeah, we did great," Roslin smiles. "I see we're fighting against a boy's squad this time, so that's new. Might feel different but they're the same as any other squad we've fought against; just a challenge, got it?"
"Yes sir."
Roslin reaches out for the center of the circle with her hand for a group huddle, and Eva and the squad follow.
"Challenges are our breakfast meals," Peyton smirks.
Eva and the others chuckle as she feels her heart speeding up in her chest with excitement to fight the enemy squad in The Well. Let's show them.
"For the Empire!" Roslin chants.
"FOR THE EMPIRE!"
Eva turns around and looks up, ready to climb The Well. It's all about the Top 3 now. Winners have a day off, the losers are taken hostage by a stack of hard drives to carry around. It's a boring task she doesn't want to do. But even when she tries to clear her mind to fight the competition, her thoughts keep drifting away to yesterday night. The question of why Ashara left the barracks and earlier said she'd be there wherever she needed to be, remains in her mind. And the thought of her being a Rebel sneaking away to pass through intel keeps gnawing at her. It's a burning suspicion she can't believe to be true but can't shove aside either. In the corner of her eye, she sees Ashara gazing at the boy's squad who intensively discuss their game plan as if their lives depended on it.
"Hey, Ashara," Eva reaches out.
Ashara shifts her head to her.
"Hey, uhm-, I heard you last night. What were you doing?"
Ashara shakes her head a little.
"I-, I just had to take a leak," she stammers. "Sorry that I woke you up."
Then to whom did you have to come?
Her helmet masks her face, but Eva can hear from the stutter at the beginning and the pronunciation of her words that something isn't right. She can hear she's hiding something. Her suspicions of Ashara being a Rebel in disguise creep in on her. The thought in the back of her mind grows and Eva can't keep it in.
Suddenly, a screech echoes through The Well. It's the go-sign cutting her off, and Ashara and the rest run off before Eva can ask further. She shoves away her thoughts and runs off too. Platforms move out of the walls and hover past and over her. The game is on.
Eva jumps onto a platform and starts climbing to the top. All that counts now is herself and the winning 3. She looks up and sees no one has reached the top yet. Everyone is still making their way up. Suddenly, as Eva moves upwards, a cadet of the boy's squad jumps onto her platform. It shakes a little and Eva shifts her head to him as the boy stabilises himself and gazes back at her.
"Hey, aren't you Eva?" he asks bewildered.
He probably noticed her name and that of Eline written on her helmet.
She clenches her jaws. "Yeah, I am."
"You're the one they say is the best Rebel scum killer at the Academy, right?"
Eva lets out a sigh. You're serious?
"I heard you took the most dangerous Rebel on Vaulent 6 by yourself. It's impressive," he remarks.
She rolls her eyes. "Thanks."
"You must be pretty good if you neutralised so many Rebel hounds by yourself."
Now's not the time to flirt, sleemo.
Eva misses a platform that's rising to the top. She smirks with annoyance growing in her chest as she looks around for another way up to the top. The boy is distracting her way too much and she clenches her fists with frustration.
"So, you're jealous now?" she asks, searching around.
"No, I mean it," smirks the boy. "The best Rebel scum killer - it's a badass title you hold. How did you even achieve that?"
The frustration bursts and Eva clenches her jaws.
"My god," she whispers, and she steps towards the boy with the frustration growing in her chest.
"I achieved it by focusing on my training," she hisses. "It's ingenious, you should try it too."
"Right, right. I'll focus," the boy smirks. "I'm Kuma by the way. VSRC012."
The urge to escape from the boy's fantasy rises in her chest and she looks away, too frustrated to answer. There, she sees another platform moving sideways into position. That's her way out. Without warning, Eva jumps off and onto the platform and moves away from the boy.
"Wait, Eva!" the boy shouts.
"Shut up!" Eva shouts back.
Focus on your blasted training.
The gap grows larger between them and it feels like a weight lifts from her shoulders. She will no longer be distracted and can finally focus again on what she's tasked to do.
So long, fierfek.
Leaving him behind, Eva climbs further up The Well until she makes it to the top. With both hands clenching the grips, Eva climbs over the edge with burning hands. She swings her legs over the edge first before the rest of her body and pushes herself up from the floor. She crossed the finish line, but Eva gazes around and sees she missed the Top 3. She crossed the finish line as 5th and Eva clenches her jaws with frustration.
"Blast it," she whispers.
That nerfherder slowed me down. Kriffin' hell.
As all the other cadets reach the top and finish The Well, the Taskmaster walks up with his arms crossed tightly behind his back.
"Cadets of VSRC006 and 012, the performance you have all shown is very impressive," he says. "However, an essential of warfare is locking out any distraction that can draw your attention away."
Eva sighs with frustration. She had no doubts that the boy had an interest in her, and she allowed herself to get distracted by it. The frustration rises all the more in her chest and she looks in the corner of her eye. She can barely see the boy who caused her to lose the match. He may have had no ill intentions, but the outcome was anything but. Behind her visor, she narrows her eyes with frustration. Thanks for the loss, dickhead.
The Taskmaster glances over the cadets standing in perfect line.
"It's a skill that cannot be learned in an instant. That's the advice I'm giving you. That's what you should focus on," he says, his voice echoing through the facility. "Cadets Somen, Daxan, and Ecklund, congratulations on your victory. For the rest, report to your ACY at the Trooper Armament Bay for duty. Squads, dismissed!"
"Sir yes sir!" the cadets chant.
After dismissal, the cadets of both squads disperse away from The Well, and Eva walks away too to head to the Trooper Armament Bay. She doesn't want to, but she accepts she lost. It's better to move forward than to be stuck in the past. Hopefully, she forgets the boy and what happened down The Well in an instant once she holds the heavy hard drives.
Then, she sees Roslin staring into oblivion with disappointment in her eyes, and Eva is struck with surprise. It seems like she lost. That's new. Eva may hold the most badass title, but Roslin holds the most victories of the squad. She's the one who won The Well most of the time and is seen as the most prestigious by Academy Command. Seeing her with the disappointment in her gaze into oblivion surprises her and she stops in her tracks.
"Roslin, you lost too?" Eva asks.
Roslin breaks her stare. "Yeah, I went through my ankle. You?"
Eva pulls off her helmet and holds it below her armpit. She scoffs with narrowed eyes. "Sleemo tried to flirt with me."
Roslin chuckles. "That's an annoying way to lose."
Eva sighs. Yeah, kriff you. Now I have to do labour because of you.
Walking through the corridors, Eva and Roslin are on their way to the Trooper Armament Bay to report for duty. Thinking back, Eva still can't believe she let herself get distracted by the fantasy of a boy. Maybe he wasn't trying to, but his chatter amidst an important part of her training was annoying. It drew her away from what mattered, and she lost the game because of it.
"Hey, ACY. Reporting for duty."
Roslin walks up front as they enter the Trooper Armament Bay and approach ACY-4 standing behind a counter. The shiny droid looks up from a stack of data cards on the desk and seeing the squad's droid again makes Eva smile.
"Hi, Acy," Eva greets.
"Hello, girls," ACY greets. "I see the match did not go as expected."
"You can say that again," Eva responds.
Roslin smirks. "Yeah, we're taking the loss, so how many hard drives do we have to carry now?"
"It will surprise you, but none," ACY responds with a nod. "Trooper Armament Bay has no hard drives for you to carry at the moment."
What are those hard drives doing on your desk then? Eva doesn't ask as ACY continues.
"Academy Command has issued a trip to Steel Crane Plaza for field training," says ACY.
"Field training?" Roslin asks, bewildered.
"Correct," ACY responds. "It's an assignment given by the Capital Police Department as part of your training."
"What are we going to do at Steel Crane Plaza?" Eva asks.
"You will hear your mission details from the CPD's chief commissioner on site," says ACY. "Your transport is standing by in Hangar 7B. They will bring you to Steel Crane Plaza. Good luck with the mission."
Roslin nods. "Alright, we'll be on our way."
"Thanks, Acy," Eva smiles.
In the hangar, Eva boards the ITT and later, after a trip through downtown Capital, the troop transporter comes to a halt and she grasps her blaster from the bench. She figures she won't need her helmet. It's just a day at the market of Steel Crane Plaza, so Eva leaves it behind in the cabin. The door swings open and Eva steps out, following her commander onto the pavement of the plaza. The sun shines brightly through the clouds of the spring season and the trees along the sidewalks are slowly getting their green leaves back. The old Steel Crane is towering over the market stalls, drawing a long shadow over the crowd of visitors. Before the plaza begins, the chief commissioner of the Capital Police Department stands on the sidewalk with some of his officers. Unlike the Stormtroopers of the garrison, they dress in metal grey jumpsuits and ocean blue armour plates on the chest. The golden Aetherwing eagle symbol twinkles on his chest plate like a little star and around his utility belt hangs a black blaster pistol, a comlink, and an electrobaton, ready to stun troublemakers.
Roslin shakes the commissioner's hand. "Commander Roslin Verin reporting for duty."
"Greetings," says the man with a smile.
After shaking his hand too Eva stands back and crosses her arms behind her back. She let's Roslin do all the formalities, and with patience, she listens to the chief commissioner.
"This little field training is just to get to know about the basics of patrol in civil areas," he starts. "You'll need it during your Stormtrooper training if you'll take that path, so a little foundation of the basics can be helpful later on. That's why we're giving this little training to you."
While the chief commissioner tells some of his experiences, particularly one during the Rebel air strike, Eva's eyes constantly draw away to the market stalls of the plaza. It's been months since she was here the last time and looking back, the memory of Oliva's market stall warms up her heart with fondness. It was a time of much simpler things and Eva misses it.
At the end of the chief commissioner's talks, Eva and Roslin walk through the market stalls. She glances over all the people visiting them, stopping by the vendors and buying the stuff they need. She's supposed to be on patrol, but she can't stop thinking back. The memories return. She helped her best friend sell all the corn she had and made a fortune out of it. It was fun and it makes a thin smile form on Eva's face. However, the fond memories of Oliva give back a sour aftertaste, left behind by the moment her world finally shattered and her smile vanishes. Even when the fond memories rush back, the dagger of Lu in her back burns among them. And still, she can tell no one about it. Not even to Oliva. Whatever really happened to her mother is still covered up. She can't help but think back.
Roslin notices her glassy gaze, seemingly distant from her duty. "Hey, something's on your mind?"
Eva breaks her gaze and glances at Roslin. She sighs.
"I had a friend who was always here at Market Day," says Eva. "She had her own stall and sold the crops her dad farmed."
She smirks with a smile as she recalls the memory. "You touch it, you buy it. On occasions, I helped out and together we sold so much."
Roslin nods as she listens with intrigue. "Sounds like she meant a lot to you."
Eva almost sheds a tear but she manages to hold it in. "Yeah. She did."
She leaves a stretch of silence behind and Roslin can sense something happened.
"Where is she now?" Roslin asks.
Eva swallows heavily with unease. "Her mother-, died in a speeder crash a couple of months ago. She moved away from Vaulent 6 and doesn't want to return to this damned place-,"
And she stops in her words and wraps her arms around herself with pain in her heart. It feels agonising to be tied to a conspiracy at the cost of the truth. No one, except for a few, knows that Oliva's mom hadn't crashed. She was arrested by Eva herself, but even when she was her best friend, she had no other choice. She still has no other choice than to accept what must be done, and though she chokes in her words about what really happened, it torments her with agony. She has to comply and accept the fabricated reality, and with pain, she withholds the truth from anyone and keeps the burden for herself.
Roslin nods. "That's horrible. I'm sorry about what happened."
Eva glances at her commander. "I've grown to accept it. I'm doing fine."
Her eyes drift away, and as she glances over the filled market stalls with visitors seeking to buy cheap fruit and vegetables, Eva starts longing for the good old times. The time when everything was still so innocent is gone and she misses it.
Then, her eyes land on a familiar face among the market stalls. She squints her eyes and recognises the man as she walks past his stall and stops in her tracks.
"Mr. Dane?" she asks, bewildered.
The man behind the stall looks up with his eyes behind his old glasses. It's an elderly man with grey hair and a dusty sweater he's probably been wearing for 30-plus years. As his old eyes see her, a smile forms on his face and his cheeks rimple.
"Miss Eva," he says with a frail voice. "That's been a long time."
Eva chuckles a little and nods. It's a face she hasn't seen in a very long time. "How long? 5 years or something?"
The old man nods. "6 years. I did not expect to see you around here after so long, and I see you've become a cadet in the meantime."
"Yeah. I've been a junior cadet at the Academy for almost a year now. I'm here at a field exercise as part of my training," Eva responds.
Mr Dane nods and his eyes shift to Roslin who stops by Eva's shoulder.
"And what is your name, mistress?" he asks, humbly, reaching out his hand.
Roslin shakes his hand. "I'm Roslin. I'm Eva's squad commander."
Mr Dane shifts his eyes to Eva, seemingly confused about what Roslin means, and Eva leans forward immediately.
"She's my boss," Eva responds.
He nods as he starts understanding it. "Oh right, your boss. Is she giving you enough days off or good bonuses?"
Eva chuckles and glances at Roslin standing next to her. There have been some days off that Roslin gave her, but never did she get bonuses. Though Eva has no idea what kind of bonus she could be given, she looks with narrowing eyes at Roslin. Her commander gazes back and she smirks as she jabs her elbow into Eva's side. Yeah, of course I'm not getting any bonus as a soldier.
Eva chuckles. "I'm joking."
She looks down at the table on which Mr Dane is displaying his stuff. It's antique, old equipment that are thousands of years old. One item in particular attracts her attention like a butterfly. It's a helmet that looks so weathered she doesn't dare even touch it.
"Anyway, what are you selling?" Eva asks.
"Not selling," Mr Dane snaps with a pointing finger. "I'm lecturing."
"Yeah, right, you're lecturing. Then what are you lecturing about?"
Mr Dane notices Eva's eyes being fixated on the helmet and the man leans a bit forward towards it.
"That, my young lady, is a war helmet of the Rakatan Infinite Empire. Presumably that of a field commander."
Eva blushes a little at being called a young lady, and she looks up with curiosity growing. "The Infinite Empire?"
Mr Dane hums with a nod.
"It was a regime so powerful it enslaved almost every species it came across," he explains. "They had a special, celestial power that was so powerful, it could move objects without physical contact. The Rakatan Empire used this power to travel across the galaxy and change worlds forever."
Eva nods with intrigue. "Sounds familiar."
Mr Dane smirks with a cackle. "30 millennia ago, the Infinite Empire stood for over 10.000 years. Our Empire hasn't even been standing for three decades yet."
10 millennia? Then we have a lot to do to break that number. With her eyes fixated on the old war helmet, her amazement about the galactic history peaks. An empire that stood for over 10.000 years is not a joke by far. It's a huge accomplishment for such an ancient empire. Only the Republic accomplished a longer time of rulership until it fell and let her beloved Empire rise out of its ashes. Eva feels sure the Empire will surpass the rulership of both the Republic and the Infinite Empire, and it's her task to keep it standing.
"I have something else in the back that's interesting, let me get it for you," says Mr Dane, and he walks away to the back of the stall.
As Mr Dane disappears behind a piece of cloth functioning as a door, Roslin leans a bit toward her. "Where the hell do you know that old dinosaur from?"
Eva chuckles.
"Mr Dane was my history teacher before he took retirement," she responds, glancing at her. "He was fascinated by old empires."
Roslin nods. "Where does he get all of this from?"
"Before he got to work at my school, he worked at a museum of the Galactic Society of Historians on Chandrilla. He was trusted to take some ancient stuff with him to teach people about history."
Glancing back at the ancient items Mr Dane has spread out over the tablecloth, Eva thinks back to the old times of school. Mr Dane was so excited about ancient empires that he couldn't stop talking about them. Even when his classes crawled closer to their ends, Mr Dane used every second he had to talk. Every bit of time he had was precious to him because every second, history mattered. He knew what he was talking about, and even when the history of the Republic bored her out, his knowledge of empires always caught her attention in some way or another. It was because she felt their details were familiar. They shared a world that sounded almost the same as the Empire she loved and now serves. The fond memories she recalls make a smile form on her face as she glances at items spread across the table.
Suddenly, Eva hears a frail scream erupting from behind the market stall and a thud on the pavement. Her eyes dart to the back of the stall and she leans forward. Did he stumble?
"Mr Dane, are you alright?" Eva asks, concerned.
For old people, as little as a stumble can be fatal, but no answer. Eva and Roslin glance at each other and immediately, Eva walks around the table to the back of the old man's market stall. She lifts the cloth up and there, she sees Mr Dane lying on the pavement grasping his knee. His old glasses lie on the pavement. He instantly looks up with shuddering lungs, gasping for air.
"A man robbed me!" Mr Dane shouts.
Dank Ferrik.
Eva drops herself immediately to the ground. "Where did he go?"
"He went that way!" and he points in a direction with a shaking hand.
Instantly, Eva stands up and runs out of the market stall through the back.
"Eva," Roslin nearly shouts. "I'll stay with him."
"Copy, commander!"
She runs further and stumbles into an alley between market stalls. She looks in both directions, but all she sees is a wall of visitors walking, talking, and carrying bags. Her heart starts pounding in her chest as her eyes dart around, trying to find a glimpse of the robber.
Blast it, where did he go?
A gap forms in the crowd, and in the distance, Eva sees a man fleeing from the plaza. It's him, she has no doubt it's him. No one runs away from a market like that. Eva speeds up and runs through the alley, dashing past the people until she arrives at the border of the plaza. She looks around and sees the robber crossing the street and running behind speeders parked along the sidewalk. Eva speeds up.
"Hey, stop there!" she shouts.
Then, as she approaches the parked speeders, the robber lashes out a pistol and opens fire. Eva drops herself and takes cover behind the speeder. The sparks fly off the speeder as the thief hits it. Eva raises from her cover, aims her blaster and runs past the other parked speeders, trying to catch up with him. Her crosshair lands on the robber and shoots, but within a second, the robber turns around the corner of a building and she misses him. Eva runs further and turns around the corner. The robber runs over the sidewalk and Eva notices he's hiding something in his jacket.
Eva raises her blaster and pulls the trigger, but her blaster sways too much and she misses the target. She curses under her breath, but before she can aim better, the robber glances over his shoulder, raises his pistol and fires at her. The blaster bolts hurdle towards her and Eva throws herself against the wall of a building, dodging the fire. Her back aches from the impact she made, and getting up, Eva sees the robber fleeing. He's much faster than she is, and he's getting away, but Eva raises her blaster. She can't allow criminal scum to escape. Raising her blaster, the crosshair lands on the robber's back and Eva pulls the trigger. She hits him and the robber lets out a scream. He stumbles over the sidewalk and onto the street, but in the corner of her eye, Eva sees a speeder truck shrieking over the road and slamming the brakes, but it's too late. The robber screams with panic as the speeder truck races towards him and smashes into him. Her heart skips a beat and Eva looks away with shock, frozen on the sidewalk. Closing her eyes with disbelief, she can't comprehend she just witnessed the horrible death of a robber. Being crushed by an oncoming truck on the road - what a horrible way to die.
She hears the shout of the truck driver with panic as he jumps out of the cabin, echoing through the air. Eva dares to look, and her eyes immediately land on the driver grasping his head with his hands, gazing at the lifeless body in front of his truck. It left behind a long trail of blood on the black road. With racing lungs, Eva wanders towards the truck in silence. The trail of blood hypnotises her with shock until her eyes land on the robber's body. She doesn't dare to look at his face, but she sees the truck's grille hit the robber's face first. The grille is covered in his blood. Damn.
While some civilians gather around and calm down the frantic driver, Eva's eyes land on a bump in the man's jacket. It's drenched in blood. She lowers herself to the road and uncovers what the robber is hiding. What she reveals leaves her with more questions than answers. The robber stole a piece of stone with inscriptions all over it. It's like a rock of an ancient temple of some sort, an artefact, and in his inner pocket shines something brightly in the sun. She slides it out of his pocket and notices it's the insignia of the Rebel Alliance. This was no robber. It was a Rebel operative, and her eyes dart back to the piece of stone. What was a Rebel doing with a piece of antique? Why did he steal it?
Slowly, Eva picks the stone up and holds it in her hands. Carefully, she inspects it. Just a rock with inscriptions. What the hell were you going to do with this?
Puzzled, Eva steps back onto the sidewalk, and her eyes dart all over the place. From the blood trail to the dead Rebel to the rock she's holding against her chest. Why did a Rebel need a rock from an antique dealer? Nothing makes sense and Eva can't connect the dots.
Eva glances over her shoulder and sees Roslin catching up with her, running towards her.
"Dank Ferrik, what happened here?" Roslin asks, her eyes fixated on the blood on the road.
Eva gasps for air. "I neutralised him. I didn't know he'd be finished off by a truck though."
Roslin nods. "Mr Dane is doing fine. Just a wound on his knee. Did you retrieve what he stole?"
"Yeah," and Eva shows her commander the stone with inscriptions. "I found a Rebel insignia in his pockets as well."
Roslin scoffs with a hint of disgust in her voice. "Rebel scum. I'll contact Capital Police to clean up his body," and she grasps the comlink from her utility belt.
With a nod, Eva gazes back at the blood seeping out of the robber's body. She can't imagine what the Rebel saw when the truck sped towards him. He must've seen his whole life flashing past him. Even when the dead robber is a Rebel, Eva can't wish such a horrible death to even her worst enemies. This Rebel deserved any blaster more than the grille of this truck. She feels a knot forming in her stomach as she gazes longer at it. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve this, and Eva looks away, unable to look at it any longer.
As Eva walks back through the market alley at Steel Crane Plaza, she stumbles upon a group of cops taking a police report. A nurse droid is treating Mr Dane's knee wound in his market stall. Eva walks past the officers towards the old man. Seeing he's doing fine - just as good as before he was robbed, Eva feels grateful for his wellbeing. However, the blood she just witnessed makes her unable to form a smile on her face. Not even a fake smile.
"Mr Dane, I got you the-, whatever he stole from you," and Eva lowers herself to the ground and shows him the stone.
Mr Dane smiles and on his chair, he leans forward towards her to inspect it.
"It's fine," says Eva.
"Perfectly fine, Miss Eva," adds Mr Dane. "Excellent. Thanks to you, this robber had no chance, thank you."
Even then, Eva can't get herself to smile.
"It's my duty, Mr Dane," she responds with a nod. "Where should I put it?"
Mr Dane smiles as he strokes Eva's hair. It feels gentle and her heart calms down from the atrocity she just witnessed.
"Put it on your nightstand, Miss Eva," Mr Dane responds. "Keep it. As you can see, I'm far too old to catch some thieves. It's safer with you than it is with me."
"But, it's a relic," Eva stammers. "It's better in the hands of a slow historian rather than a soldier. I'm not sure if that's a good plan. I don't think I can keep it intact."
"But I believe you can," Mr Dane responds, "and I entrust you this reward for your service. My young lady, keep it as a reminder of how grateful I, as a civilian of Vaulent 6, am for your act of service."
Eva sighs and she glances at the stone. The lines are elegantly inscribed, forming circles and triangles of absolute precision. It's a beautiful piece of art, and Eva accepts the reward and holds it closer to her chest to protect it. Even when she has no idea what it exactly is, she takes it. But the fact a Rebel died for this piece of rock remains in her mind, and now getting to keep it as a reward puzzles her even more. Apparently, it held no value before the Rebel stole it. Why did he steal it? It's just a worthless slab of stone. Her thoughts keep drifting away to the unanswered questions and her mind keeps running off to the trail of blood the truck left behind.
Something is going on, but Eva can't put her finger on it.