A Soldier's Secret

Part 16

I'm sure that Furn noted my absence from the mess hall all day today and yesterday because he's been slinking around my usual hiding spots. The only place he hasn't tried yet is the vents, and that's because he can't fit through the gaps. I watched him fume, and I dropped into a hallway that he had already patrolled, and I came across a passed-out Rex.

I didn't know what to do, but he was my Captain, so I picked him up and put him in a supply closet. He could get himself out when he woke up. I saw Furn doing a double back and I jumped into the vents again.

We played cat and mouse for a few more days, and we finally got moving again. We were going to Hoth for another relief effort, and I was ready to move.

We raced through hyperspace, and I sat in the vents, watching Furn work. He was clearly stressed about something, and I hoped it wasn't me not eating. I didn't have an appetite since the gorge, and I didn't even want to eat. Thirst was the only personal indulgence I allowed.

Laying in the vents, I waited. And waited. And waited. No one was in sight, so I ripped off my helmet and gasped to swallow unfiltered air. I thought about the gorge for the first time in months. I played the recording that my General had sent me while I was scouting ahead. He and Benny hated each other, and I had to keep the peace between them

"Hey Cedar! Just letting you know that base camp has been moved to 52-67-91 while you were out scouting. See you in a bit" His voice said, then an echo of a song played in the background, because he forgot to stop recording and he had started humming. I listened, and it got to the point where he had hummed for a full minute before he mumbled words. I had never heard this part before "There's something in the air you can't deny" He whispered "When can I see you again?"

What did he mean?

"This is confusing" I picked a different recording, of Benny

"Cedar! Help me please" he begged

"What's going on?" Recorded me said

"I don't know how to bake" He whined and held a tray of burnt biscuits

The real me, me in the present, laughed. I remembered that, and how we had fixed his mistakes and made another batch of his biscuits. The general was peeved about it. Not sure why, though. Wrapped in my memories, I fell asleep.

I woke up to everyone getting ready to land. I jumped down from the vents, received orders from Rex and got ready. Since Hoth was a frozen planet, we had to get winter gear from the base before we got our guard postings.

"I hate the cold" I scowled, then joined the rest of the troops in the quick walk to the base, where I immediately found myself a set of winter gear. It was warmer inside the base and even better where I got my winter gear on. Bliss. Some of the clones who had been here for longer gave tidbits of advice, and I ignored them until I saw a vent shaft, and climbed in to find the source of the warmth. When I did, I sat above the heater and smiled, waiting.

And the inevitable happened.

I was called on to scout. I'm not sure why since I specialize in trees, but an order is an order. Wow, when did I start obeying orders? I climbed from the vent toward the command station and dropped a few steps away from the door.

"You wanted to see me?" I said

"Cedar, I know your speciality is trees, but you're the only scout available right now. We have intel that there's an abandoned base a little ways away from here." Skywalker said, and he pulled up a photo "We know that a pair of doors is set in a mountainside at these coordinates. Check it out" he said

"Yes sir," I said, then went to the hangar. Snowspeeder it was then.

I raced across the snowy landscape, the wind howling alongside me. These doors were another minute away, and I wanted to maximise my time away from the base, so I did a loopy loop around an ice formation and got back on track.

The doors were frozen shut, and it looked like they hadn't been opened for a long while. I shot the thinnest part of the ice, and the structure began to collapse, leaving the doors exposed. I pried it open by the minuscule crack and crept inside.

Not a speck of dust was present. Nothing was frozen either, and some lights still blinked. I slipped through door after door, to see nothing. There was strange art on the walls, and when I reached the generator room, I knew why.

Ventilation was still active, blowing semi-warm air into the rooms and stopping dust from settling. I checked how, and the vents were connected to an emergency generator, which ran off a temperature gauge. Not sure how previous inhabitants pulled that one off. I examined everything I could find, and I came across the creepiest thing yet

My name

Engraved into a metal wall, by a lightsaber.

I moved further down the hall, and my name was everywhere. Some of the carvings were still warm, even.

I saw it after, the helmets.

The clones' helmets are empty and dust-free. Each one was sloppily painted with the same motif as mine.

My name was everywhere.

Replicas of my helmet were everywhere.

In this abandoned Republic base.

Not abandoned.

Emptied.