FAOV Chapter 10: Theed burns!

"The Republic shall burn!", the man chanted happily. "Purge the scum! Stop the Senate!", he yelled as he saw the Separatist ships arriving. He ignored the warning messages from the radio and raced out of his comfortable living room downstairs towards the bulky, white door. He stopped only once to tighten his boots before he pulled the door open and jumped outside. "The liberators are coming!", he shouted and lifted his arms. His neighbours looked out of their windows, saw that it was him, and quickly hid again. The large drop ships arrived at the outskirts of the city and disappeared from the Separatist's eye. He smiled. They finally came! After all these years of waiting, after all the years of neglect and tyranny, tithes and taxes, it was over! No more shall the damned Republic rule this planet. No more shall a queen stay on top of the hierarchy!

"We are free now! The liberators will arrive any moments now! Rejoice, fellows!"

He ran down the sober, almost empty street and began to hear the metal steps of the battle droids, ed by the deep humming of the Armoured Assault Tanks. He stopped and turned around again. The man jumped down the street and was soon ed by several other Separatist sympathisers, two women and another man, who danced on the street with him. The uncanny sound of the marching battle droids followed them menacingly. It looked rather surreal, dancing men followed by battle droids and tanks. Suddenly, a group of militia fighters appeared in front of them and opened fire. The man ducked but both women were hit. They screamed as they fell on the ground. Blood dripped out of their chest wounds. The two men screamed in horror. "They were unarmed!", he yelled. "They did nothing to you!"

The three boys looked scared and could not answer. Then suddenly, concentrated blaster fire stopped their statis and two dropped dead immediately. The third was able to flee into a narrow corridor. The separatist er's joy was gone in a moment. He felt sorrow for his two dying acquaintances, but he could not help them at all. So he saw down. Tears ran down his face. When he looked up, the battle droids ed him without bothering to look down on him. When a group of prisoners ed, they spat on him. He didnt even bother to wipe. His mind was empty. The adrenaline rush was gone. He looked up. A weird smell played around his nose. It smelled...unnatural. Oh..., he said to himself. The house next to him stood ablaze. The man turned around. Not only that...more houses were burning or only smoldering. His mouth fell south. This should not have happened...no..no!

He ran up the long street. His house! What about his home!? His breath was only a whistle when he came to a stop at his own home. He went to his knees to get enough air and when he looked up, his smell had deceived him. It still stood high, not a single thing unchanged. A sigh of relief fell over him. "Praised be Theed!", he murmured and lifted himself to his feet again. While his breath was still short, he convinced himself to look after the palace. Surely, the queen must by now have been captured and imprisoned! He wanted to see her pretty face smashed and bloody.

Debris covered the streets the closer he came to the palace. He heard gunshots far and close. A tank blew up in a neighbouring street. Its barrel landed not two meters away from the er. It crushed a body of a guard. More and more bodies appeared on the street and when he turned to the entrance park, it looked like a massacre. The sun stood high and its rays shone strongly onto the pavement. The amount of blood seemed unnatural. The area was drenched in it. But the worst was not the blood or the flies...no...the worst part was the smell. It was a sweet smell with a hint of something bitter. It was death. The smell of dead people.

The man choked. He leaned at a destroyed pillar and vomited. While his body resisted, his mind told him that this was the price of peace. When he was done, the sound of approaching battle droids raised his attention. They had their weapons drawn and came closer in a direct line. The man looked up in a puzzled way, tried to lift his hands and lowered them again. He knew he could not argue with toasters, despite ing their cause...and partly the methods. With a sigh, he turned around and walked down the same street once more. At a corner, he stopped. He saw a girl crying. She had a teddy with her that the was hugging tightly. The man looked to the ground and then up in the air.

You're not alone kiddo, he thought. The end justifies the means. Peace and prosperity deserved a small wake-up call. Life is unfair. Give it the lemons back! Cakes are lies! Work for it! Achieve it! He moved on.

Coincidentally, he stopped again at the bodies of his colleagues. He sat down, looked up and suddenly felt relief. Or was it the lonely hand on his shoulder? The man from the dancing had appeared next to him. Without a word he sat down, his hand gently resting on the other man's shoulder. It meant that you are not alone. It said that I am here for you. It showed that they were worth of gratitude. Theed had achieved peace for a small price. That, the man said to himself, was worth the death of the two women. Even if it was unnecessary.

After a while he stood up and his colleague with him. It was weird for him to walk again after such a long time. His ts ached when he walked towards his still intact home. When he opened the door, the radio just said: "...Dala has been captured, together with her entire entourage. Right now, they are about to sign a peace treaty between the guards and the droids! Fights in the city have mostly died down to short skirmishes. Most parts of the beautiful city have survived the onslaught. Onto the weather..."

The man grinned tiredly. He walked over to his couch and planted himself face-first into it. They had won! The queen's been captured after all! Revenge for my family. Revenge for my wife and son, he said to himself as he fell into a deep, dark and dreamless sleep.

#OperationPallieSmoothie