!AUTHOR NOTE! Work on IE2 is slowing down a little. Life's getting busier and I'm losing a bit of interest (?) in the fic, so I'm occasionally switching from IE2 to an original, sci-fi fic to keep me writing. Thought you might want to know.
IE VIII: A CONFRONTATION TOO FAR
As the hospital bed hovers into the Medroom at Malstrom Base with Ashara leading it, Eva can't get her eyes off of the Twi'lek castaway. Her exotic, lavender skin hypnotises her. Somehow, this alien tailhead has been hiding below Vaulent's soil for years, years, and years. And all that time, she's been kept alive, breathing and sleeping peacefully. How long has she really been sleeping? How has she been kept alive for so long?
In the Medroom of the bay, Eva stands in the corner of the room, half enshrouded in the shadow of a closet, looking at Ashara jabbing a hypospray into the Twi'lek's arm. Her questions continue to whisper to her from the dark corners. Eva tries to focus on the little beeps and whirs of the life support systems, but she can't drown out her questions. They keep whispering to her like magic spells from an old book.
"What are you doing here?" Ashara asks, breaking through the whispers, her eyes focused on the needle. "Your duty is over."
"I know," Eva responds. "I'm just-, exploding with questions. I can't keep them quiet."
Ashara hums. "She had a bag with her. It's on the counter behind me. Maybe you can search it for something interesting."
Eva nods. She sees the bag, made of rugged cotton, sitting on a clean counter behind Ashara. Eva walks towards it, detaches her blaster from her waist and puts it down on the counter, and tugs the bag's cotton. Each thread prickles gently in her fingers. It looks like something Eline would make at Scouting; crudely, yet carefully made, as if someone twisted the harmony of nature with their fingertips.
I should visit Eline again soon, Eva reminds herself. The Army hasn't been so generous yet at giving her a permitted leave.
As she looks at the content stashed away in the bag, Eva takes out some old, busted devices that look like they better belong at the trash incinerator. She also finds a small, shining cube. She fidgets it around in her hand a little. It doesn't seem to have controls or anything else that tells her what it does. It looks worthless, but at the same time, highly valuable. Eva follows the lines inscribed in the cube with her finger. They are drawn elegantly over the cube with precision. She's clueless about what it could be.
"Found anything?" Ashara asks, looking at her.
Eva turns around to her. "Only a worthless cube," and she throws it to Ashara.
The girl catches it with her hand and inspects it with her golden eyes. As her blue fingers swipe over the cube, Eva notices a glimmer on Ashara's throat. It's a necklace, shining in the light, one she's never seen Ashara wear before.
"You got a new necklace?" Eva asks, curious.
Ashara looks up from the cube with a little smile. "Yeah. You like it?"
"Yeah, where did you get it?" Eva asks.
Ashara blushes and her cheeks turn a little red. "They-, uh, found my old stuff in my apartment," Ashara stammers, stumbling over her words a little. "So, that's where I got it from."
Eva nods.
The stumble over her words hits Eva a little as something strange. Ashara doesn't seem so comfortable about telling it. It almost sounds like she's hiding behind her words. It raises a memory from the depths and Eva recalls when she asked Ashara about her bail-out in the middle of the night. It raised questions about her new free time rituals and her Rebel suspicions. She seems to have the same response; stumbling and seemingly searching for the right words, something Ashara wouldn't do when nothing is at play. Eva knows her all too well. Ashara is the complete opposite of Ecklund一always having the right words at any moment. Something whispers to Eva that there's a correlation hidden somewhere.
Intrigued, Eva approaches Ashara and walks around the hospital bed to face her. Looking at her, Ashara draws her finger over one of the lines inscribed in the cube.
"This reminds me of Ashkora'mi," Ashara mumbles. "At home, we used to pray to holy artefacts to worship the Empress of the Moons. We called her Ashkora'mi."
Ashara holds it out for Eva to take back.
"You were religious?" Eva asks, fidgeting the cube in her fingers.
Ashara hums with a nod. "Mother and I prayed at sacred places since I was four. We worshipped Ashkora'mi almost every day." Her voice becomes a bit dreamy as her glassy eyes stare into oblivion. "We prayed whenever Pantora was in crisis. In those times, we asked for advice from the Moons to light the way ahead through dark nights. Through dark nights to better times."
"Really?" Eva responds. "I can't imagine myself worshipping a space rock in the sky."
Ashara presses her lips and looks down, almost as if she didn't like Eva's comment. Kriff me. Shouldn't have said that.
Eva looks at the cube in her hands, quickly redirecting the conversation. "What should we do with it?"
Ashara shrugs. "I don't know. I think we should just store it until she wakes up," and she points at the unconscious Twi'lek. "She probably knows what it's for."
Eva nods. She aims for the counter and throws the cube onto it with a bang. It flips a few times until it comes to a stop.
"You still worship the moons?" Eva asks.
Ashara shakes her head. "Not anymore. Can't do that these days."
"Why not?" Eva asks. "Too far from home?"
"No. Ashkora'mi is always looking, no matter where I am," Ashara responds.
"Then what is it?" Eva asks.
Ashara sighs, her eyes drifting away. "You wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
Ashara presses her lips and twists her finger on the railing of the hospital bed. "The Empire isn't really happy with us being around," she says, slowly. "The Empire regards your species as the number one of the galaxy. Humans first. But… I'm a Pantoran. I'm not like you."
"Why not?" Eva asks.
Ashara shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe they don't take alien religions very well."
Eva nods. "Okay. I'd get why. I mean, religion shouldn't lead a government or a galaxy. Superstition limits our capabilities."
Ashara's eyes twinkle with discomfort. "Yeah, I get that, but it's not like we let it lead millions of other lives. Sure, there are some people who take religion and Ashkora'mi very seriously, but not everyone does. Most people use it as an extra beacon of light."
Eva nods. "Okay."
"And it's not just religion," adds Ashara. "It's not that I hate or stand against the Empire, but sometimes, it's hard to work with superiors or colleagues who view me as a pet. They just think I'm inferior, as if I'm stupid. I never tell these things, but sometimes, when I have to report to Command with other squad medics, they just look down on me when I'm praised or propose something," and she scoffs. "Sharp eyes at me, sighs, chuckles behind my back, annoying comments… Sometimes, it's really frustrating."
"Really?" Eva asks. "I'm-, I'm sorry that it happens to you."
Ashara shakes her head. "It's just the rotten meilooruns. They're rare, but when I meet them, they're really rotten. Sour and disgusting."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Can't read their minds. They probably don't like it when I take the praise that they think doesn't belong to me. They don't like it when I, a second-rank alien, do it better than them. And we're all unranked. We're still cadets. I'm not sure how bad it will be once we all have to climb the ranks. And it's not just teens like us. It's the officers too. The taskmasters at the Academy and Lieutenant Amitash for example, they keep calling me alien or bluehead. Gratefully, the adults just keep it at that and don't go further, but it's still annoying."
Eva nods, looking away with unease. That's not fun.
Ashara smirks. "Fun to be restricted from some of my freedom, right?"
Eva hums. "Right. How are you able to work like that?"
Ashara shrugs with a sigh. "I don't know. I've grown immune to them, I guess."
Eva's eyes drift away. The Empire doesn't seem so soft for her as it is for Ashara. She understands why the Empire doesn't want religion to lead their way. It sometimes make people believe in things that blur the line between reality and fiction. At times, the Empire needs to draw a straight line with an iron hand, something holding onto superstitions might hinder. This is reflected onto its citizens. Eva doesn't care much about it, but the direction of the Empire is something she can stand behind.
The condescending behaviour of some cadets and superiors… well, that's just bad, and Eva can't understand why they're so sour. At the end, they're all loyal, aspiring soldiers, fighting for a common cause. Luckily, they're rare, but it seems like they shout the loudest, particularly at Ashara.
Now that Ashara indicated her position, Eva suddenly starts feeling something in her head. It's a burning sensation of a scorching question she put away not long ago. Eva's suspicion of Ashara being a Rebel spy starts burning, and now, the girl has even given her a motive一being treated differently by those who stand next to her or have more power within the Empire. The Rebel Alliance is full of people who experience this. They're not all blood-hungry terrorists, murderers, hijackers and robbers. Some of them have a rightful motive to fight. The only thing that makes Ashara distinct is her sour view of the Rebels ever since their air raid on the Capital that made her an orphan, like her and most others at the Academy. However, even with flaws, her Rebel theory is now shouting at her, having ceased whispering.
While Ashara moves on, tilting the screen of the life support systems towards her with a single, soft tap of her fingers, Eva starts biting her lips with anxiety. Her heart starts pounding in her chest and she inhales deeply through her nose, trying to calm herself down.
"Ashara. You got any free time rituals?" Eva stammers.
Ashara looks up. "Free time rituals? Well, usually, I resort to reading some books I borrow from the library, if homework allows me to."
"What are you reading?" Eva asks.
"I just finished Dead Hyperspace," Ashara responds. "Great story. If it didn't have such a tragic ending."
Dead Hyperspace, a name Eva hasn't heard in a long time. That novel was the key to finding the identity of the Spy. Its last passage gave her enough hints that it led her directly to the Rebel hide-out where she discovered the Spy was Lu all along. Her search was the same story with a tragic ending. It almost makes Eva shed a tear but she holds it in, just barely.
"I know," Eva responds. "I've read it in some other perspective," and she sighs. "Tragic indeed."
Ashara nods. "Yeah. Quite cool to see how the hyperdrive was invented in the story though. It's such a common device that we rarely think about its story. Other times, I draw Pantora from memory. I'm not great at it, but it can pass. You?"
"Beat the shit out of a punching bag," Eva smirks. "Nah, sometimes I do that. Usually, I do stretching exercises. It really clears my mind before and after our training sessions down the Well or the SimArena. Other times, it's blaster training."
Ashara tilts her head with a smile. "Always preparing for the big war, huh?"
Eva hums with a nod. "Always… What do you do outside the Academy? I noticed you were gone from time to time."
Ashara's eyes twinkle and she presses her lips. "Yeah, okay?"
"Your new free time ritual interests me," Eva responds. "I walked down the corridors when I overheard something you said at the Academy. You said you were going to meet someone. Same night, you were gone. Two days later, you left us at combat training feeling ill."
"Yeah," Ashara responds. "I was sick, yeah."
"But it was something even ACY didn't know about," Eva replies. "You told none of us. And Roslin punched her fist into my jaws so I needed you to check it out. I went searching and heard from Ecklund and someone else that you left the Academy on a speederbike."
Eva sees Ashara's eyes drifting away. There, in the corners of Ashara's golden eyes, Eva sees a twinkle of discomfort.
Ashara sighs with a shiver. "Yes. I left the Academy. Sometimes I need some time on my own. You don't need to spy on me to figure that out."
"Time on your own on a speederbike?" Eva asks. "Who's so willing to drive for you? Academy Command might think you've gone AWOL."
"No, they don't-, why does this actually matter so much to you?" Ashara asks. "Did I swear at Empire Day?"
"No," Eva sighs. "It's not that bad. It just hit me as something strange because you kept hiding it. You lied when I asked you why you got up in the middle of the night. All that made me think you could be a Rebel spy-, you know, bailing out."
Ashara's eyes widen. "You suspected me of treason?"
"I didn't," Eva stammers. "It was just some thought. I never believed you were,"
"Eva, how paranoid are you?" Ashara snaps. "I'm not a Rebel. I left because I have a boyfriend."
You-, what?
Eva tilts her head in surprise. Her heart stops."A boyfriend?" she stammers.
She never considered that option as a possibility. Now it makes sense, escaping the rigid Academy to feel comfortable in the presence of someone who loves her. Deep within, Eva feels grateful for Ashara to have found a soulmate. It's lovely, but Eva feels it's not right when there's a duty that calls for her full attention. Ashara left the squad alone during training to be with her lover while Eva needed her and that hits her badly in her stomach.
"I never told it to anyone because I'm not sure how the rest would respond to me bailing out," Ashara responds, "but is it so, so wrong?"
"No," Eva responds, "but don't you think it's distracting?"
"It isn't bad," Ashara responds.
"It is bad if it goes against your duty," Eva asks. "You evaded the combat training to be with your lover. I was punched in the jaw and I needed you, even if I simply needed some meds to take or some eyes. Your boyfriend distracts you from the things that matter."
"Eva," Ashara snaps. "My feelings matter. I know it sounds selfish, but you don't know how I'm feeling. I feel like the Academy has trapped me. They are forcing me to constantly be on duty, but I can't. Some look down on me. I can't take that. I want to feel like I'm still alive. I want to make mistakes where it doesn't matter. I want to feel my heart rushing without having to fight for my life. My boyfriend truly understands what I'm feeling and he's someone to whom I can vent my frustrations. I yearn for a bit of freedom, and I feel like that's not possible here. I can worship Ashkora'mi without some eyes looking down on me like you."
"Like me?" Eva blurts out. "I wasn't condescending to you!"
"You called Ashkora'mi a religion that prays to a space rock," Ashara snaps.
"That-, okay, I'm sorry for that comment. I didn't mean to be rude, I'm not like them."
"It's fine," Ashara responds. "I get that it was a joke. Sometimes, jokes don't land well and that's fine. Joke about anything you want and I won't judge, but sometimes, they're so, so rude that it hurts me. And they all know it. They do it because it hurts me."
She sees Ashara nearly burst into tears, barely holding them in. Her frustration strikes her heart like a dagger, feeling her pain. Yet, even when it seems to strike a friend, it still seems so distant. It's believable, but Eva has never felt that her own comrades speak so hostile towards her. She just can't put herself in the position of Ashara. It's just too strange to her.
Eva glances down at the hospital bed, pressing her lips with pity ."I'm really sorry."
Ashara reaches out to her and runs her cold knuckle down Eva's cheek. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there at combat training. I understand you needed me there, but I just needed to escape this world and live my life."
"I get it, but it's not an excuse to evade your duty," Eva barely whispers.
"Maybe not for you," Ashara responds, "but I'm not a senseless tool. You aren't either."
"You're wrong," Eva snaps. "We're no soldiers if we're no tools. We're the setpieces on a boardgame so the Emperor doesn't fall. We're here to be made into tools to be put forward to defend home."
Ashara looks away and shakes her head, recognising there's no point in arguing. "Never mind, then," and she retracts her knuckle from Eva's cheek, grasps her datapad and prepares to leave. "I have to report my findings to the top. The Lieutenant is waiting for me. You can stay here and think about what you said."
After a last glance, Ashara opens the door and walks out of the Medroom, closing the door behind her. She leaves Eva behind amidst the constant beeps of the life support.
Eva sighs with unease and regret making her lungs shiver. I didn't mean to be rude. I'm sorry. I just wanted to know what you were hiding.
Even when Ashara's words echo through her mind, Eva still can't find common ground. Love is distracting. It has no place in a world where everything depends on a perfectly, empty and undistraught mindset. Soldiers are tools. They align with each other perfectly as the gears of the Imperial war machine. A little distraction can make everything fall.
However, Eva recognises it might be better to apologise for her carelessly chosen words. Perhaps she should've sounded a bit more open-minded or tolerant, even if it went against her belief.
Waiting for Ashara to return from her debriefing, Eva continues to search the Twi'lek's belongings. While her hands rummage through the bag, she thinks of what to say when Ashara comes back. Just a sorry? Maybe she'll have to explain her wrongdoings? Her side of the story? She isn't sure. Meanwhile, her hands clasp various objects that seem to hold no correlation with each other. She shoves her blaster away to make some space for the strange items: a heavily weathered flask, a busted holoprojector, and an old beacon transceiver, broken beyond use. Who needs these things?
Then, her hands brush against something smooth and cylindrical. It feels different from all the other rusty and busted items. Eva takes it out of the bag and reveals a slender, cylindrical hilt. The soft shine mesmerises her as Eva draws her finger over the hilt. She can feel it's a cold, polished metal until her fingers draw over a tactile grip in the middle. Its simple, yet magical-seeming design gives Eva the feeling as if it comes out of some sort of fairytale. Eva can't understand why this metal hilt feels like that. Perhaps Peyton knows more about this piece of tech.
Eva moves her wristlink to her chin. "Peyt, you copy?"
"Loud and clear," Peyton's voice crackles.
"Hey. I found some tech you might find interesting," says Eva, fidgeting with the hilt in her other hand. "I can't really describe it, so could you come to Medroom six and help me identify it?"
"Yeah," Peyton responds. "I'll be on my way."
"Alright, see you soon," and Eva disables her wristlink.
She looks back at the hilt, nearly hypnotised by its magical look. Just what is this?
"Give back my lightsaber."
Eva's heart plummets in her chest and she turns around. Her eyes land on the Twi'lek girl, now standing right in front of her with steady, bright pink eyes. Her brown-white robes hang down, almost like a heroic cape or a villainous cloak. She holds her oxygen mask in her lavender-purple hand with the tube hanging down, dragging over the floor like a snake. Eva grasps her blaster from the counter and points it at the Twi'lek with the hilt in her other hand.
"Dank Ferrik, what are you doing?" Eva stammers, her voice shaking.
The Twi'lek doesn't answer. Eva can feel her eyes staring straight into her soul and she feels a shiver down her spine.
"Get back," Eva demands, pointing with her blaster at the empty hospital bed. "The doctor is on the way."
The Twi'lek inhales deeply through her nose. "Give back my lightsaber."
"Lightsaber?" Eva asks. She then makes the connection and fidgets the hilt a little in her hand. "You mean this?"
The Twi'lek reaches out with her hand. "Yes. It's mine. I want it back."
The girl's voice sounds so calming, so soothing that it cuts through the air between her and Eva. The Twi'lek's voice moves mountains and calms hurricanes.
Eva shakes her head. "No. We just freed you from a carbonite chamber. You should be checked by a doctor."
Eva sticks the hilt into her trousers and brushes against her underpants as she keeps the Twi'lek at gunshot, ensuring she won't get it. The Twi'lek narrows her pink eyes and steps towards her.
"Stay back or I-,"
"I'm demanding from you nicely, one last time," the Twi'lek snaps. "Give back my lightsaber,"
"No," Eva responds. "I'm serious, you really need to be checked. It's safe here. It's an Army base. If there's anything you fear, we will protect you from it. You're safe, I promise. Now, get back to the bed. As I said, the doctor is coming."
However, the Twi'lek doesn't comply with her orders. The tailhead steps towards her as Eva's blaster shakes in her hand. She doesn't want to shoot the girl, but in a flashing second, she knows she has to do it for her own safety and that of the Twi'lek. She can't leave without a medical check first. She can have something like internal wounds or an infection that, if left unchecked, can result in death. This Twi'lek has to stay here, no matter what. Slowly, Eva's finger crawls closer to the trigger, getting ready to stun the Twi'lek.
Okay, okay. Blasted hell. I'm doing it-
But before she can, the Twi'lek sweeps with her hand and Eva's blaster is yanked out of her hand. It clatters against the wall and vanishes into the dark corner of the room and Eva gasps. Disarmed, Eva focuses her eyes on the Twi'lek. She can't believe what happened. First, she had her blaster, peeled in her hand, a second later, gone, yanked out of her hand by an invisible force. There is no time to dwell on it though. Eva clenches her fists and lashes out. The Twi'lek blocks Eva's first blow. In a swift move, the Twi'lek snatches Eva's arm and throws her to the other side of the room as if she's as light as a pillow. Eva smacks into the hospital bed and her back is rippled with pain. She groans and gets up. The Twi'lek gets closer.
She has to get her under control. What did Capital Police teach her that one day at Steel Crane Plaza? Dank Ferrik, only patrolling duty. It was just a chore that day and less of a lecture.
Eva's eyes land on the hovering hospital bed. In a split second, she figures that immobilising her with a heavy blow of steel in her knees might do the trick. She reaches out for the bed's control panel, releases the brakes and kicks it towards the Twi'lek with her foot. But instead, as the bed races towards her, the Twi'lek sweeps her hand up. The bed is blown up and crashes into the ceiling. Eva's heart sinks and she stumbles backwards onto the floor, shocked. The lights flicker as the bed crashes down and ceiling plates clatter on the floor, sending shockwaves all across the room.
On the floor with shock, Eva looks at the Twi'lek standing before her as if she's waiting for her to surrender. Eva can't yet believe what she just witnessed and freezes. The Twi'lek obliterated the bed with a single sweep of her hand without even touching it. With a shiver down her spine, Eva's pupils widen with fear as she slowly gets up.
"What-, what power do you have?" Eva stammers, her voice shivering.
The Twi'lek sighs. "Just give back my lightsaber and we're done."
"You'll get it back later," Eva responds. "Not to be rude, but you need help."
The Twi'lek inhales deeply through her nose. "You are really, really playing with my patience here."
"I just can't let you go freely with a possible sickness of some sort," says Eva. "Don't you get me?"
The girl steps towards her and Eva clenches her hands into fists. She can't allow this alien girl to get away without Ashara's check first. But the Twi'lek is unyieldingly stubborn and hostile. Even if it means a fight, Eva can't let the Twi'lek go. She takes a deep breath, steps towards her and lashes out. The Twi'lek dashes away and dodges her fist. Before Eva can react, the girl dashes towards her and kicks her kneecap. Eva screams. She drops to her knees and feels a pound in her jaw. Eva flies off of her knees and crashes into a cabinet. The meds inside it rattle as Eva collapses to the floor and grasps her jaw. It's burning with agony and Eva can barely hold it in.
"Just give up already," says the Twi'lek. "That would make this so much easier for you and me."
As the Twi'lek steps closer, Eva notices an open canister in the corner of her eye, lying below the busted bed. The label says anaesthesia with a hypospray inside of it. It has a needle to inject a substance into the veins of a person to tranquilise one. Eva realises she can immobilise the girl without having to pound a fist into her skull. All it takes is a single jab of that needle into her blood vessels. She sees the Twi'lek is coming close enough to punch that hypospray into her and get her back under control. For a moment, she questions whether it will work, but she goes for it.
Eva reaches out and grasps the needle. The Twi'lek drops to her knees and Eva sweeps the hypospray towards her. But in a swift movement, the Twi'lek blocks Eva's hand, twists it around, and punches the needle into Eva's chest before she can react. Her heart freezes. Time stops. The substance is slowly seeping into her body. Horrified, her pupils widen as Eva shifts her eyes to the Twi'lek. Her hands clasp the syringe and she pulls it out of her body.
"No," Eva gasps, her lungs burning. "What have you done?"
The substance starts kicking in and Eva feels like she's falling into the abyss. The dark void dances around the edges of her vision as her legs can barely hold her upright. Eva's lungs burn with each gasp she takes, and as the darkness sweeps around her, she collapses to the floor with a bang.
The Twi'lek grasps Eva's collar and lifts her up. She looks straight into her soul. "There's no time for checks. The Council needs to be informed about my mission. There's no time to be wasted."
The Twi'lek sweeps with her hand and Eva feels the cold hilt sliding out of her trousers. The lightsaber flies into the Twi'lek's hand in a flash.
"Your concern is unwarranted," says the Twi'lek. "But thank you nonetheless. I would have taken your medical service with pleasure if this mission wasn't so urgent."
The Twi'lek lets go of her collar and Eva collapses back onto the floor. The dark void entangles her and she can no longer feel her muscles. The ceiling lights above her blur and turn into faint rings. Before she loses her touch with reality, Eva sees the blast door sliding open with Ashara standing in the doorway. She feels a spark inside of her.
"Ashara," Eva wheezes, but her eyelids close and she passes out before she can warn her…
