Star Wars: Starkiller

From the battered hut I emerged as a misaligned figure, my eyes wild and my jaw unhinged. I felt I had lost my will to fight, having seen my father's spirit speaking to me, it made me take a new perspective on my situation.

So I began to wander aimlessly through the forest, I left the ground and climbed trees to jump from branch to branch without any particular goal, just wanting to get away from everything. I don't know how long I was like that, maybe an hour, the only thing I know is that I was like that until at one point I noticed that I had no branches left to jump, this quickly opened an incognita in my mind, so I got down from the tree where I was and descended to the ground.

Soon my doubts became clear.

The forest ended as if it had been cut with a knife and the trees had been uprooted. The coarse, rough earth looked like it had been exposed to the sun's rays for the first time in millennia, full of twisted dead roots and mixed with angular wood chips. The terrain descended in a long valley to a dry riverbed, then rose again to form a hill that on other planets would have seemed majestic, but was dwarfed there by the trees that crowded grudgingly around the cleared area.

On the hill at the bottom of the valley was a dwelling, probably occupied by someone important. It looked like an imperial base, with points to place weapons and satellite antennas, located above the forest. On one side protruded a launching pad for shuttles.

I soon crouched down, hiding from view of the base. At that moment I wanted to leave there, I wanted to leave the planet with Sabine but there was something that did not allow me to do it, just as the force had guided me to the cabin, now it was guiding me to the Imperial base, as if the force was asking me to protect something or someone...

From the place where I was crouched, I saw a staircase leading to the main entrance. On the platform was a single shuttle with its wings folded coyly over its body. A few AT-STs strutted around the lower area with an unassailable air, accompanied by droids of all shapes and sizes. There were Imperial soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the house with their blaster rifles at the ready. Some guarded groups of three or four Wookiees. The tall, hairy natives of the planet looked chained, though from this far away it was very difficult to figure out why.

'Maybe it wants me to release the wookies? Na I don't think so and being honest I don't think I have enough conscience left for me to be interested in that, it must be something else. But the only way to find out will be to infiltrate there.'

I sighed deeply, the force was hard to ignore, so almost against my will I started moving around to look at the different entrances to the dwelling.

I couldn't see a way into the residence. Maybe with a little more information I could come up with a plan.

The sound of a clicking sound interrupted my thoughts: the distinctive noise of an Imperial soldier's communicator. My gaze strayed downstairs, where two Troopers were conversing, seemingly distracted.

"Great," I thought sarcastically as I began to carefully descend through the branches, moving like a predator on the prowl. In one fluid motion, I dropped to the ground, landing in the middle of the pair of soldiers.

Before they could react or reach for their blasters, I raised my left hand, channeling the Force. "Go to sleep," I ordered the first, who instantly collapsed to the ground, as if his legs had given way under his weight.

The second soldier barely had time to process what was happening before my attention was fixed on him. His rigid posture wavered as he met my gaze. "You are not alarmed," I stated in a firm voice, reinforcing my words with a subtle wave of my hand. "I have permission to be here. Actually, you were expecting me."

The white helmet bowed his head slightly, nodding as if that made all the sense in the world.

"All is well, sir," he replied mechanically. "I don't know what's wrong with Britt, though."

With an almost nonchalant gesture, the soldier kicked the fellow soldier who lay unconscious on the ground.

"Britt doesn't worry you," I insisted, reinforcing my grip on him. "You just want to help me."

"Yes, sir. I'm at your disposal, what can I do for you?"

For a moment, I watched the soldier closely, almost fascinated by the simplicity of his mind. Most Imperial soldiers were nothing more than cogs in the machine, with no ability to question or think critically.

"Tell me who's in command here."

"Captain Sturn, sir." He replied without hesitation.

"And where can I find him?"

"If he's not out hunting, he'll be in the house with his guest."

My eyes narrowed as I caught the mention of a guest. "Who is his guest?"

"I don't know, sir, but we have strict orders to protect them. Those Wookiees are stupid savages."

I ignored the remark; this was not the time to debate his xenophobia. Instead, I pressed further. "Can you show me the guest quarters?"

The soldier hesitated. "I'm not authorized to enter that area, sir."

I took a step toward him, raising my hand again, modulating my tone with the force of persuasion. "You want to show me the guest quarters."

The soldier nodded after a brief silence, as if fighting something inside him. "Yes, I'm going to show you the guest rooms."

He motioned for me to follow him. My eyes strayed to the companion still unconscious on the floor. An Imperial uniform would be useful to go unnoticed.

"I'm going to borrow your partner's uniform. You're fine with that."

The trooper didn't hesitate, "I'm fine with that."

As I bent down to begin removing the sleeping trooper's uniform, a flash of humor crossed my mind. Ironically, the order was literal: borrow the uniform. It didn't matter if returning it wasn't exactly in my plans.

The soldier, now under my control, would lead me into the heart of the facility. But after that, I would be on my own. Still I wasn't worried, I knew deep down that I was capable of beating my way through, but this time I preferred to do it the subtle and least outrageous way possible.

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