After taking heavy damage upon leaving Kamino, the Raven’s hull was compromised and continued to rattle. Furthermore, the hyperdrive intercooler was bypassed. Overheating is not a question of if, but when.
It was more than obvious that their visit to Kamino did not go at all as planned. However, that was not what was bothering Okha. What bothered her the most was that their captive Duro, Eeloh Ssaah might have known or was responsible for the attack. That question he posed to her as she sped through to the cockpit kept playing in her mind:
“...so, how did you like your little visit to Kamino?...not quite what you were expecting, huh?”
Why would he pose it in such a taunting fashion? She thought.
Okha gets up from the pilot’s chair and worked her way through the shuttering vessel’s hallway. Pensive, angry, she makes her way to the cargo hold where the prisoner lay.
“What did you mean by, not quite what you were expecting?”
He laughed, “Well, Kamino is not the most scenic of worlds…”
“This ship is falling apart! Answer truthfully, and I might help you survive. Stall or answer like the lying Bantha crap that you are, and I will leave you here to go down with with the ship… do you understand?”
Eeloh didn’t like making many expressions, but it was clear that he sobered up with the matter at hand. Eeloh nodded, “I see. However, I don’t think you do.” Okha took a few steps toward the prisoner and tried to maintain balance as the ship continued to shake and rattle. Eeloh continued, “ I don’t think you see a single thing of what is happening.” He got up and got as close to her as he could without the shackles tugging. They were almost face to face. Eeloh looked straight at her within inches of her, “we are all pieces in their Dejarik game. I am surprised you didn’t know better than to bring me to your home. Bring me to your ship. Lug me around. I guess they knew you better.”
Okha’s heart sank, “You had a tracker…?”
“What’s even more surprising, is that your man didn’t know any better.”
“HE IS NOT MY MAN.”
“Oh… I guess you don’t see that either… or… should I say, remember…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Afterall, it was your choice. It is what you wanted.”
“Stop talking like I am supposed to know something…” He assertively interrupted, “All because you couldn’t live with yourself.”
Okha was caught off guard. She was tempted to respond in kind and interrupt even louder, but decided to stay silent.
He continued at a lower, slower pace, “The only option was for you to forget. Forget what you did. To all of them. Forget what you did... to her.”
Okha’s face remained stone-cold, “What did I do… to her?”
“You abandoned her. You were so keen on obtaining your own freighter. Avenging your family. You gave her away.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The war. The need for clones. It never truly ended. However, it needed to shift. The advantage of gender was explored only by those with a true open mind.”
“Female Clonetrooper army? What’s the big deal about that?”
“Bigger than you know. You were... different. You were the only one capable of bearing children. Originally, you and your sisters were designed to be barren. But, there was something different about you. They either missed it, or made you that way… “
“So, I am a clone. It explains why Kamino felt so familiar. But I wasn't raised there. There must be another place. My sisters, they must be there.”
Eeloh began to show a hint of a smile, “see? Do you understand now?”“No, I do not. Although I can now assume my memories of my family were forged. But, Moon is very real. I would never abandon…”
“Your child? Well, it looked like you had your priorities. It doesn’t matter what you THINK you feel for her, you are not capable of loving her.”
Okha’s eyes began to water, “what about the father?”
Eeloh’s smile widened, “oh, you know who it is. You forced him to make you forget it all, so that you could live with yourself for giving her up.”
Suddenly, the ship dropped out of hyperspace. As it approached the planet’s atmosphere, the hull could be felt rattling uncontrollably. Alarms began to wail once more.
Okha remained calm staring at Eeloh Ssah, trying to hold back her tears.
Several of the ship’s panels could be felt rattling loose. A few dropped off, as the computer’s alarms confirmed:
HULL BREACH… HULL BREACH...
Eeloh began to show a level of nervousness, “So, are we getting out?” Keeping her balance despite the ship’s instability, Okha continued to stare in silence.
The nervousness turned to urgency, “We need to leave… NOW!… I… I told you everything I know.”
“But you lied…” “I DID NOT LIE!!!”
“I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!” Okha took a deep breath to calm herself, and continued, “Not someone so small and innocent…”
“That is because you don’t know WHO YOU ARE, ARLA!!”
The silence was deafening. She wanted nothing more than to strangle the truth out of him. However, if he was telling the truth, there were other throats to strangle.
Suddenly, the Raven began to shake violently. A large piece of the ship’s hull broke loose and the ship began to lose pressure.
HULL BREACH… HULL BREACH…
“You are lying. And I do not believe you can assess what I am capable of.”
Okha did an about-face and ran to the cockpit, grabbed her helmet and strapped it on. Alarms and lights continued to blare. She made sure the ship was still inroute to the mountains where her home resided, and headed back to the cargo area.
Eeloh’s face showed a sign of relief, “I thought… I thought you were going to leave me…”
Okha reached into one of her belt pouches and produced what looked like a key.
“Here”, she threw it onto the ground several feet from the chained prisoner. She pointed at the wall behind her, “There is a spare descent pack right behind that panel”, she closed the pouch on her belt, and proceeded out the cargo bay without looking back, “Happy Landings…”
With the rattling and ship's loss of stability, the key began hopping and sliding all around the cargo bay. Eeloh chased the key, trying to keep balance himself.
“ARLA!!”
Okha continued out the cargo area and headed to the main ramp. Despite the loss of air pressure and turbulent winds, she could still hear Eeloh’s screems as she opened the ramp.
“ARLAAAAA!!!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!”
“AAAARLAAAAA!!!!”
Without hesitation, Okha jumped and ignited her rocket pack.
Smoke from the ship made it difficult to see the pieces of debris scattering all around.
One such piece found its way to her rocket pack.
BAM!!!
Inside her helmet, alerts began blaring. Suddenly, her controlled descent became a free-fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment