A Life Without Meaning

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕚𝕖𝕘𝕖 (𝕀𝕀)

The next thing Ellia knew, the entire crew was crammed into a single land speeder, and Mythrol was driving them towards a tall, dark cavern a few leagues away from the city.

"The whole base is powered by a reactor." Greef explained, talking above the wind.

"We sneak in, overload the reactor, and get the hell outta there." Cara said pretty matter-of-factly.

"Let's be fast." Din said, "And keep the speeder running." he ordered the already nervous driver.

"There it is, right there." Greef said, pointing forward. "You see it?"

"How close you want me to drop you off?" Mythrol asked.

"How 'bout the front door?" Greef responded.

"It's a little close for a civilian, don't you think?"

"I got two choices for you. You take us in, and I knock a hundred years off your debt."

"Or?"

"Or I leave ya out here in the lava flats to walk home with whatever's left in your humidity vest."

"That's not much of a choice, is it?" Mythrol mumbled dejectedly.

The speeder pressed on regardless.

Ellia's eyes glanced upwards at the looming base, and a rush of memories broke through her skull. She often tried not to think of the fifteen years that she had lived with her parents, it was a period in her life that she was making a conscious effort to forget with every passing day. But seeing a base like this one up close, it managed to stir them back up vividly.

Mythrol suddenly brought them to a crawl, stopping just in front of the small door of a lift built right into the rocky cavern wall.

"All right. We can't go any further than this."

"Let's go." Greef ordered.

Everyone pushed themselves out of the speeder, and Ellia again found herself glancing at the structure above them.

"You good?" she heard someone ask.

Ellia looked forward to find Cara staring back at her. Din had also turned around, hearing the sound of her voice.

Quickly, Ellia swallowed, reclaiming her resolve.

"Just...haven't been in a place like this for a long time." she noted quietly.

An uneasy silence fell over them as they walked over the lift. Din approached the control panel at the side of the door, pressing a few of the buttons, but to no avail.

"Controls are useless. They're melted."

"Well, it's probably not rated for lava." Greef noted.

"Imperial trash." Cara mumbled underneath her breath.

Ellia had to agree.

"All right. I'm headed back. Hit me up on the comm, we could set up a rendezvous time.' Mythrol said nervously from inside the speeder.

"You park your gills right there until I say otherwise." Greef threatened.

"I'm startin' to dehydrate, boss.' Mythrol complained.

"Okay, how does 30 more years off your debt sound?"

There was a brief pause, before Mythrol heaved a sigh.

"Can you at least be quick about it?"

"You wanna be quick?" Greef sounded, "Grab the flange cutter and help us out."