A Soldier's Secret

Part 17

I shuddered. This was getting strange, and creepy. I dashed out to the exit I came from and jumped on the speeder, racing back.

I passed every landmark, and I flew into the hangar at an incredibly unsafe speed. I hopped off it and raced to command

"Sir? The base you sent me to? It's not abandoned. It's been emptied. There are lightsaber marks over the walls and empty helmets" I said "The ventilation is still on too, and a backup generator" I huffed. Skywalker looked relatively shocked at my rapid-fire report, but he still comprehended it.

"Master, if the base was attacked and emptied, that means the Separatists are on Hoth," Ahsoka said

"Yes. Cedar, was there anything else?" Skywalker asked

"Nothing important" I lied

"Dismissed," he said, and I walked out.

"Hey!" It was Hardcase "Where did you go?"

"Scouting mission," I said

"Cool. Anyway, Kix is looking for you...and He doesn't seem happy..." Hardcase winced

"Dammit!" I cussed, then yanked open the vents "See you later!" I waved and crawled away

I watched the med bay from above, and it seemed like Kix only wanted to see me due to medical reasons with adjustment to the cold. But I wasn't going to risk the fact the Furn might have sent a report on my exposure to the poison. So I sat above the sterile white room, watching him work, until the chill from outside had cleared from my bones.

Sitting alone on a windowsill, I watched the cold exterior of the planet, waiting. I knew something was going to come of the base scouting I did, and I was rewarded with the sound of Rex bellowing orders to troops about heading there to reclaim it. A small squad was to stay behind as protection and to keep this place running while the main forces went to the base

I was part of the expedition to reclaim it since I was the most experienced with the layout. We marched there and cracked the door open again. I led Skywalker and Ahsoka to the command, as more troops swept the base.

"Here," I said, then gestured to the door. It was locked, and they cut it open, their sabres making quick work of the brittle metal. Cody and the Jedi got to work rebooting the system. It was fifteen minutes until Hardcase raced up to me

"Cedar" He panted "You're going to want to see this" He said. They must have found the hallway of horror. I followed, and true enough, it was the hallway filled with my name and replicas of my helmet. I shuddered, seeing it again, and I forced words from my mouth

"Which Separatist knows me by name?" I trembled, and Skywalker, followed by Ahsoka, came after

"What's going on..." They saw the horror show, and I noticed the bloodstains on the floor, conveniently surrounding the mimics of my helmet.

"Who...What?" Ahsoka asked

"Who turned this hallway into a shrine to Cedar?" Skywalker asked

"We don't know, sir," Hardcase said 

"It's like they're obsessed with him," Ahsoka said

"It's creepy" I kicked a mimic of my helmet, then picked it up, along with another "I'm going to get rid of them"

It took me fifteen minutes to find, gather, and bury all the creepy helmet mimics from the hallway. The lightsaber engravings of my name couldn't be fixed, but I could just avoid this hallway. Others in the base asked questions, but most were unanswerable.

Over the next few days, the base was functioning again. Skywalker had done some Jedi stuff, and more, specially trained troops for the cold, snowy atmosphere were going to occupy these places we moved back to the original base. The fact that others had seen the hallway of horror made me shudder, and the cold didn't help. When we returned to the original base, I curled up over the heaters and went to sleep.

I slinked into the barracks, finding an empty bunk and settling down. My head raced with possibilities about who made the hall of horrors, none of them good. It seemed that I was the first person in that base in months, and yet, there was still that hallway. It made me sick to think of it, that someone with a lightsaber was obsessed with me. And I couldn't tell if there were Jedi or Separatists.

"So, you're still awake," A soft voice said. I removed my finger from the button and let the recording play. It was a guard from back on Kamino, with a quiet voice. I was still a trainee then, and I spent lots of nights lying awake, waiting, listening to Benny sleep.

"I can't sleep," I said. My voice was high and sweet

"It's okay" He put a hand on my shoulder "If you head on up to the bunks, you'll probably have an easier time getting to sleep" He nodded toward the long, claustrophobic tubes, where my batch slept

"I don't like them. They smell" I whined. He grinned 

"Life sucks, kid. Get some sleep, or I'll tell Nala Se" He grinned. I nodded, then climbed the bare wall and into my bunk, closing it behind me. I removed my finger from the button and replayed it. Three times and my eyes didn't even droop. Normally, this put me right to sleep. I used it countless times after the gorge, and now it did nothing. I sighed and turned over in bed, waiting. I would fall asleep, sooner or later.

Sleep never came to me. It skittered around me, taunting me with the occasional droop of the eyes or a wave of exhaustion, bringing vague hope. 

A thought bit at the back of my head, nagging me, making it impossible to sit still. It bit at me, wriggling around in my head

Then I remebered