War Child--Rogue One

XVI

The snow cruiser takes us to one of the bases. I think they drive around for a while extra just to throw us off.

I have no clue where we are.

I try to keep my mind off of the situation. I can't look at Mother at all. Tears make rivers down her face, and I know that if I watch them, I'll start too.

They shove us into the same cell, with five other people.  Mother is the only woman.  A scruffy-looking man lifts his head and gives her a toothless smile.  With my hands still behind my back, I step in front of her protectively and glare at him.  Although, I don't know how I could fend off a man twice my size with my hands behind my back.

"I ain't gonna hurt 'er.  'E might though."  He tilts his chin towards a sleeping man in a dark corner.

My stomach flutters.  He I definitely can't fight.

"I'll keep him off of ya.  Besides, if anyone tries ta hurt yer ma, I'll just holla and one of them guards'll come runnin'."

A patrolling trooper hits the bars.  "Shut up."

The man raises an eyebrow mockingly as he passes.

"I'm Thornton."

"Cassian."

"What did they get ya fer?"

"Housing a fugitive.  The boy accused of starting that rebellion five years ago."

"Ya hid 'im this whole time?"

I nod.  "They...shot him.  Before they took us here."

He bobs his head silently, swallows, then says, "I'm surprised ya could hide 'im so long.  And I am much obliged to ya too."

"Why?"

There's a rustle of cloth as Mother slides down the wall behind me.

"Well, ya see, I'm 'is Pa."

I take a slight step back.  There are definitely many similarities.  The dark hair and complexion, but also his eyes.  They peer out at me nervously, despite his boisterous attitude.

"I'm sorry," I tell him.

He shakes his head.  "Nah, nah, Kai was a good'n, I don't recall much of 'im anyway.  Five years.  That means I been in here for, oh, a year 'n' a half."

"Why?"

"Why'm I here?"

I nod.

"Petty theft. At least, that's what they call it. I call it survivin'."

The stormtrooper comes back and hits the bars a few times. "Shut up in there."

Thornton gives me a nod and retreats to his original corner. I sit next to Mother. I spend the rest of the night trying not to cry.

The officer comes back with two stormtroopers for us. The huge man Thornton pointed out to me last night stands and walks over to the bars.

"You bastards gonna let me out now?"

The stormtroopers train their blasters on him.

"Unless you want to die before your trial, step back."

"What's the use?" he asks, stepping back with his hands up. "You'll just rule me guilty anyway."

"Everyone step back. You two, come with me." He points to Mother and I and opens the door.

I turn my head and look back at Thornton. He gives me a grim smile and mouths a good luck.

The stormtrooper holding my shackles kicks the back of my calf. My leg buckles and I stumble.

We walk for a while, then turn right into a hangar.  An Imperial ship stands by the door and we're pushed up the ramp into the cargo hold.

Apparently, we're dangerous criminals or something.  There are four stormtroopers sitting in the hold.  Three more prisoners are loaded and they close up the hold.

Two of the new prisoners are women, one, a Twi'lek, probably in her early twenties and the other, human, well over forty.  The third is a little Twi'lek boy with green skin. He sits on the floor with his legs and arms shackled and cries.

"Shut up," the Twi'lek woman says sternly.

He continues to cry.

"Bri'o," she says again.

Bri'o still cries.

I scoot to the edge of my seat. "May I?"

She looks at me with prison-hardened eyes and shrugs. "I can't get him to shut up. Maybe you can."

I slide to the ground. "Bri'o?"

He looks up at me, lip quivering and tears streaming down his cheeks.

"What's the matter?"

"What isn't the matter?"

I shift.  I actually don't know what to do to calm him down.  I don't have much experience with kids.

"Well, we're warm," I suggest.

"Not for long," he says bitterly.

"Hey, you.  Back on the bench."

I lift myself slowly.  With the rocking of the craft and my bound hands, it's hard to stand and shuffle backwards.  I slip and fall onto the bench.

That's going to bruise.

Mother looks over at me.  I shrug to tell her I'm alright.

Bri'o continues to sob on the floor. 

We all lean towards the stern as the craft jumps to lightspeed.

I don't remember the last time I flew interplanetary, but by how long we stay in hyperspace I'd assume we're a few systems over.

We land with a jolt and the stormtroopers go around, pulling all of us to our feet and lining us up. The door opens and I get my first glimpse at our new home.

It's not even a planet.

We step out into a huge loading bay and I can see through the gaping doorway that we're spinning, very quickly, around, facing a planet every now and then. We're split up from each other and led to different wings of the prison.

I never see Mother again.