Star Wars: Darkness Falls/Chapter Five

Chapter V

After fighting with myself about where to sleep, I thought it would be fitting to go back to the old spot. It was a small crevice behind an old stone heap, a tight fitting, but cozy area that protected me from the harsh nights in the sector. Since the last time I slept here, I had grown tremendously and the spot was an even tighter fit. But it worked, I fell asleep and woke up for the most part, refreshed.

After hiding any signs of being there, I walked back to Rilek’s. I still was fearful of any more gangs seeing me alone, at least when Rilek was around people were too afraid to confront me. Upon arrival I knocked on his door, no answer. I knocked again, even louder. When he eventually opened the door his freshly cropped brown hair was a mess and his eyes were drooping and bloodshot. “Nice night?” I asked.

“Screw you,” he said as I walked in and he slammed the door in frustration. This seemed a mistake as upon doing so, he clutched his head and pain. I thought about mentioning his hair cut, but then decided otherwise.

I sat down on his couch as he offered some ale, he didn’t actually speak, which I’m wondering if it had anything to do with the supposed gallons of Maynian ale he consumed last night. I turned down the ale, knowing it would definitely be shitty, literally.

We sat in silence, I didn’t want to hurt the poor party animal more than I had to, but eventually I remembered that the bastard forced me to sleep outside again. “So have you thought over my idea?” I finally asked.

“Do I look like I’ve done much thinking recently?” he said, rubbing his head in an attempt to alleviate his headache.

“No,” I knew it was a rhetorical question, but I could care less. He was out having fantastic night while I could have frozen to death.

“What was your plan, again?” He asked. Man, how drunk was he?

“Sneak in using my cover as one of the servant’s sibling.” Truthfully, my faith in the plan was fading as I thought more into it. No one, other than Apul, would believe it and even he probably forgot my face. It really would be a leap of faith to go on with this plan, but it was all I had.

“Ah, that’s a great idea.” he said after several minutes of silence. I don’t think he had been paying attention to me, again. I never recall anyone suffering from something like this from Maynian ale, he must have been consuming several different types of booze. This man had a problem.

“When are we going to, you know, do the deed?” I eventually asked.

“I don’t know, how does tonight sound?”

“Tonight? Are you crazy?”

“No, but I’m still kind of drunk, why?”

“That leaves no prep time!” I was shocked at how unprepared he was.

“Prep time? All we’re doing it sneaking in and POP, he’s dead.” the loud popping sound triggered his headache once more.

“You seriously think it’s going to be that easy?” This shocked me, either he had forgotten everything due to the ale, or he had never been prepared. “You think this is some simple gang hit?”

“Pretty much, what will make it hard, we have the perfect plan.”

“The plan is shit, you’re just too messed up to realize it.”

“Fine, then let’s come up with another one.”

“There isn’t another way, but we need to work on our current one so we don’t screw up once we’re inside.” This conversation was driving me insane, it was like talking to a child. A child that could easily kill me if I pissed him off, but a child nonetheless.

“OK, then. Let me fix myself a remedy and will discuss this more.” He said getting off his ass as he walked into his kitchen and poured a thick red liquid into a glass and put in some herbs.

“Is that blood?” I’m pretty sure I didn’t want to know, but I had to ask.

“Yeah, don’t worry, its animal blood.” He then took a sip, the sticky, substance stuck to his upper lip. How anyone could drink animal blood confused me.

“Oh okay, that’s one strange remedy.” I said, trying to shake the urge to vomit all over his humble abode.

“You want to try some?”

“No thanks.” Did he think my answer would’ve been anything else?

“Suit yourself,” he said gulping down the last bit of the bloody concoction. “I’m about ready,” he said wiping the blood from his lips. He then walked over to the couch, reached down and picked up in pair of pants. When he was all ready, we headed out.

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash;

''It seemed Eshirca had pulled the short straw once more, for another day she was serving directly under the Grad. He wasn’t entirely a bad person, he occasionally asked her questions about herself. Though it aggravated her that she had been his head server about twice a week for three years and still every time they met he acted like she was a stranger.''

''She knew it wasn’t his fault, he had the busiest and most stressful job in the Gevorian empire. So she walked in once more, introduced herself and Noover said, “Well you know who I am,” and then laughed the most blatant fake laugh she had ever heard. He had said the same thing for three years and she never thought it was funny. But she had to laugh, it was her job.''

“Is there anything I can get you, sir?” She asked, expecting the same command as usual, a large order of bread rolls with the chef’s special sauce.

''“Ah yes, could you please find my father. He must be wandering around somewhere. That would be great, thanks,” he said. She was shocked, it was far from the normal request.''

''“Yes, sir.” She scurried off having no clue where to find the Grad’s father. She looked in every nook and cranny, not being able to spot him. She knew it shouldn’t have been any trouble, the man was old and there was a rumor that he was dying of sickness. Palace rumors were common though, it seemed there was a new affair happening daily, she didn’t believe half of them. However, she did believe this one. Maybe it was his sickly yellow skin or the bloody handkerchiefs that other servant girls had been talking about that increased its plausibility.''

''She eventually found the old man hiding between a potted shrub and a wall. “Excuse me, Mr. Gevorian?” she asked as she noticed the man was standing as still as possible. It was a tight fit, but his thin frame fit in almost like a puzzle piece.''

''“Grandpapa!” she heard a young girl’s voice call out. She then heard the sound of steps coming closer. Eshirca looked down do see a little girl tugging on her servant dress. The little girl had big eyes, and they were now staring up at her. “Have you seen grandpapa?” the young girl asked still tugging gently on Eshirca’s garb.''

''“Err, no, I’m sorry.” The games of hide and seek were legendary stories around the palace. They would go on to upwards of hours, usually starting mid-day and continuing to the wee hours of the night. They had been growing in frequency, which Eshrica guessed was due to the old man’s waning health. The girl ran off yelling for her grandfather once more, now that they were alone, Eshirca looked back at Kyp.''

“Your father is looking for you, Mr. Gevorian.”

''“Oh, please, call me Kyp,” he said exiting his hiding spot. “What does my son want?” he added brushing dirt from his knees.''

“He just told me to fetch you, Mr. Kyp.”

''“I see,” he said, crossing his arms and in an appearance of deep thought. “Do you think it cruel to have my granddaughter search for me even though I’ll be in a room she is forbidden to enter?”''

“I’m not here to judge, sir.”

“Okay then, walk with me,” The two walked back to the Gevorian throne room.

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash;

“So, when do you think we should infiltrate?” Rilek asked rubbing his eyes. I’m not sure if he purposefully forgot to shave.

“When the time is right, we’ll know,” it was odd, it felt like for the first time ever, I was in charge.

“What about if we’re made? We will be executed with no time to explain.”

“Let’s be careful then. We’ll keep our heads down, arrive during tour hours and stay till after closing.”

“OK, I hope your right about this.”

“Trust me, I hope I’m right too.” I said, I wanted more than anything to live at this point.

Over the next few hours we discussed costumes, the exact time of arrival and most of all, our escape. We knew that we would kill the bastard after sundown, which would mean traveling down the tunnel mostly at night. Rilek even thought about sleeping in shifts if the travel became too taxing. The shifts would allow us to ensure that the palace guards wouldn’t sneak up on us.

In the end, the plan had become dressing up as monks, walking through the front door during tour hours, hide till night and then kill the bastard. We had done it, figured out everything we needed. All we now needed were the supplies. We knew we could get most of the essentials at Crowe’s Supplies, the only problem with that was we would have to get into the Laronitis sector. This task would be a challenge as the sector was home to SecPol headquarters, which has always been picky on who they let inside. They really don’t want us scum to cause any harm to their precious citizens. So we decided to go get those supplies last.

First, we would get all we could the rear sector and then clean up and head out to Crowe’s.

We worked efficiently, traveling to only shops where the name Rilek Nalmof instilled fear. We received many gifts in exchange for their lives, though Rilek assured me he would never kill any of them. Though I’m not quite sure I believed him. In no time we were ready, we had our disguises and our stench was at a minimum, we were ready for Mr. Crowe and his warehouse of goods.

We were dressed in long, velvet robes, obtained by a shop owner who was only too glad to give them to us. The hoods to the robes concealed our face as we passed into the Gevorian sector. All we had to do was keep our heads down and avoid SecPol and the Palace guards who were lined up along the palace walls.

It was going good too, exited the rear sector without much trouble and everyone let us be. Well that was until we heard an authoritive voice call out in our direction. At first we walked on, hoping he was talking to someone else, but he kept calling. He kept following us. It was then that I saw Rilek reach into his robe, grabbing what I knew to be his blaster.

Rilek’s quick draw was just that, quick. He pulled his weapon, turned around and fired before the officer could even blink. The officer looked down at his torso, horror and pain stretched across his face. Rilek hadn’t just shot him, he had shot him for maximum pain and for a slow, inoperable death. I was too far away too see, but I pretty sure I saw a tear run down his cheek. His screams pierced my ear, leaving me deaf to the oncoming shots that rained down around us. Rilek grabbed my arm and pulled me along as he ran for cover. We were close to the entrance of the Laronitis sector, but the waves of guards made it practically impossible to reach it without a thousand shots in our backs.

“On the count of three, run.” Rilek said, I couldn’t speak. I was frozen by my surrounding. It was like they had put me in a freezing chamber. “One,” I was silent.

“Two,” My heartbeat slowed, my senses were returning, or at least some sort of them.

“THREE!” I ran as fast as I could, pointing my gun behind me as I blindly fired at the guards and officers. I reached the large wooden door that led to the sector. I pushed on it frantically, but it wouldn’t budge. I could see blaster bolts burning the door around me. I knew it, this was the end. The end of life.

“It’s stuck!” I yelled hoping Rilek was still alive to hear me.

“Wait for it!” I heard him yell back. I couldn’t believe him, he was just standing by letting people clearly out of range shoot at me. “Push on it now,” he said as he began returning fire to the officers.

I listened and pushed harder. The door collapsed from all the blaster burns. When the door fell, I saw freedom. No one was ahead of me. It seemed as if SecPol hadn’t alerted the other sectors of their little problem. Which didn’t surprise me, the different sectors were almost like different cities, each having more sector pride than the other.

I ran forward, hoping to escape the scene before the other sectors ended up finding out. I looked back after a few paces and saw Rilek was right behind be. “Ditch the costume,” he told me. I listened and removed the garbs and tossed them in the mud as we ran.

We then traveled onward, I was so cautious and nervous that my heartbeat sounded like oncoming footsteps. Which just made me more nervous, I just needed to calm down. “Breathe,” I muttered to myself.

I found an alleyway after a few minutes of sprinting. We turned into it and hid once again, in the shadows. I watched as a large group of officers ran past, it looked like we were clear. After a couple more minutes of waiting, Rilek tapped my shoulder and signaled me to go on. I followed his order and headed on. I saw no one in sight and waved for him to follow. I then followed Rilek to Crowe’s.

Entering Crowe’s was like entering an oasis for criminals. Different kinds of hooks and rifles meant for “mountain climbing and hunting”, more like “breaching and murdering”. Though I couldn’t complain, this made my job easier. They even had explosives for “clearing stone”, whatever that meant. We ended up getting what we needed fairly fast, two smaller blasters that were easier to conceal, hooks and ropes that would help us repel, and gloves, though Rilek assured me we would need them. I guess it was just for if things went sour. We also purchased bright green robes, ones that resembled the monks that commonly enter the palace.

Crowe bagged the items in an ominous black bag and we exited the store. He walked to the entrance to the Gevorian sector and acted shocked when they told us about two known smugglers who were trying to sneak something in, well at least they didn’t think it was us. We were then escorted to the Gevorian Inn, a much nicer place than I’ve ever been. Rilek and I shared a room with two twin beds, but the separate beds didn’t stop strange glances from other patrons when we were seeing walking around.

I ended up not sleeping much, there is something about knowing your going kill the planet’s leader that gives a man a sick feeling, or is it just me?

I’m not going to lie, I was arguing with my morality. I mean, I feared the Dalemon as much as the next guy, but I need the money. I just couldn’t see how it didn’t affect Rilek, or even Mr. Man. Well someone who goes by the name Mr. Man, probably has killed many men. Probably even women and children. A man is willing to kill anyone if its “just” business