Mother ~ The Sequel to Breeder

7

"Where did you get that necklace?" Larma asked.

I touched the red and silver pendant around my throat, hating the way my heart rate nearly doubled at her question. So many times, I debated throwing the thing away, but I knew I'd regret it, especially if I eventually told Ben about his birth father.

"Um, during our travels."

She cocked an eyebrow, visibly skeptical, but merely said, "It's lovely."

"Thank you."

After a beat, Larma pulled out a tablet, turning it on. "Do you mind if I take notes?"

"No, it's fine."

"Astrid, no last name, former Breeder on Starkiller Base for..." She looked up, as though expecting an answer, and, when she didn't get it, added, "Who were you a Breeder for, my dear?"

"Um, one of the commanders."

"Do you know which one?"

Sweat pooled on my upper lip, which I hastily wiped off. I don't know why it was so hard to say his name, especially when it might be information the Resistance needed, but the name he chose for himself hadn't passed my lips since I escaped, and the only 'Ben' I acknowledged the existence of was my son. I did my best to avoid even thinking his name. Sometimes I didn't have a choice- sometimes I had dreams.

"Let's move on," Larma said after half a minute of awkward silence. "How long were you there for?"

"Um, I think eight months, altogether. I'm sorry, it's hard for me to remember."

"You don't remember your time as a Breeder?"

"No, no, I remember everything that happened, but it was hard to track the days there, and when days became weeks and then months-"

A clanging sound made my head whip over my shoulder, squeaking involuntarily.

"It's just the engineers," Commander D'acy assured me. "You're safe here."

That's where you're wrong; I'm not safe anywhere.

"I'm sorry to ask all these questions of you, and I'll admit I don't have the most... soothing demeanor, but you're the first Breeder who's ever escaped. It would mean a lot to us if you'd share what you know."

"Is that why Commander Dameron asked Greyson to come to here? So you could interview me?"

She sighed, setting the tablet on her knee. "Yes, that was the main reason."

"He thought it was because of his skill as a soldier." I chuckled, relaxing slightly. "What other questions do you have?"

"How many other Breeders were there with you?"

"Um... altogether, 150, maybe more. We weren't all housed together at the same time."

"What do you mean?"

"When I first arrived, I lived in the Breeder Baraks, then, once I got pregnant, they moved me to the Gestation Suites. After Breeder's give birth, they're moved to a separate area for nursing mothers." I looked down at my hands, feeling an odd sense of vertigo. "I never went there, obviously."

"Would you like something to eat or drink?"

I shook my head. "I'll probably just puke it up."

Larma nodded, and though I could tell strong emotions didn't come easy to her, her brows pinched together with compassion. I felt guilty for causing her discomfort.

"How did they treat you?"

"Fine," I said immediately.

"You can tell me."

"I just did."

The commander set aside her tablet, folding her hands over her knee. "Do you think you could find the Breeder Baraks or Gestation Suites on a map of Starkiller Base?"

Shaking my head, I said, "It was so big, and I rarely went to different parts of the planet; I couldn't even tell you which hemisphere we were on. Sorry to be so useless."

"You're not useless, not at all."

"I can tell you they kept us deeper below the surface, close to the center."

The blonde woman nodded knowingly. "That's what we suspected."

"I promised myself I'd find a way to save them, but it's been so many years, it feels like it'll never happen. I know the Resistance probably doesn't care about a bunch of random girls-"

"We do care," she said immediately. "We care deeply for all the oppressed and downtrodden."

Words like that might have rung trite and hollow if not for the fire in her normally cool blue eyes. She said I was the only Breeder to ever escape, but situations like mine- women snatched from their homes and used for sex and procreation- couldn't be totally unique. Perhaps the commander had experienced or witnessed something similar and didn't want to see it happen again.

"One last thing, then we can take a break. Do you know why it's called 'Starkiller Base'?"

I cocked my head to the side curiously. "Because of the weapon."

"What weapon?"

"The weapon they used to destroy Evigilo. I'm sorry, I just thought everyone knew."

"Evigilo was an old planet with a nuclear core... their destruction was accidental."

I sat there in disbelief. I hadn't spoken to any Resistance officials or Senators of the Republic, but I assumed they all must know what the First Order was capable of. Did they really believe the propaganda about Evigilo, that sometimes old planets just blow up?

"That was an early test of their superweapon. I don't know how, but it can destroy entire planets, leaving no survivors."

Her mouth fell open in horror. "Then it's- it's another Death Star."

I remembered Anika saying the exact same thing to me when Lynx gave her speech to the intergalactic press, back when the Order still wanted to present itself as the logical alternative to the Republic.

"Yes, I believe so."

"This changes... everything."

Before I could ask what she meant, a woman burst into the room, her dark curls unkept and wild- something I could deeply relate to.

"Babe, I-" She stopped short when she saw me in the room as well, straightening up and taking on a more formal (but no less urgent) tone. "Commander D'acy, I apologize for interrupting you, but Commander Dameron is no longer responding to our communication, and we have reason to believe he's been captured by Stormtroopers."

"I knew it," I muttered under my breath.

Larma's head whipped from the curly-haired woman to me, brow furrowed. "You knew? How?"

My pulse thudded so hard in my throat, it nearly choked me. "I just- I know things sometimes."

Standing up, she offered me her hand. "I think it's time you met General Organa."