The Renegade: Episode I: The Compliant

Chapter Seven: The Escape

"This is pretty impressive," Civa said, watching the base assemble for the Imperial Parade.

"You're easily impressed," Besa said, lining up behind him and swatting him playfully with her blaster.

"Hey!" Civa reacted. He was in no mood to fight with her today. Imperial Parades were fun. It was one of the few times he felt praised for being a stormtrooper.

"Where is Harillo and Lenore?" Rol asked. He was still in pain from his injury but had been given permission to participate in the procession. "They usually are the first ones here."

"Maybe they finally decided to make a go at it," Civa joked. Besa smacked him again with her blaster.

"Ouch! I swear you do that one more time Be-"

"You'll what?"Besa butted her helmet up against his.

"Officers," Rol alerted them to stop. "Best relax TK-345 and TK-454."

"I'm just saying they'd make a cute couple," Civa continued.

"They're in the same unit laser brain," Besa lectured. "It'd be like dating your brother."

"So I guess I know where I stand," Civa reached his arm around Besa who raised her blaster again to strike.

"TK-345, fall in line," Harillo said sternly as he approached his unit. "TK-454 enough chatter from you."

"Where's TK-932?" Rol asked.

"In the infirmary." Harillo responded.

"Rebel scum. If I see them I'm going to take them out for shooting TK-932." Civa said. Harillo turned around and he finally fell silent. The unit could sense something was not right with Harillo.

"I didn't see her in the infirmary." Rol stated. Harillo turned his attention to Rol. He didn't want to tell the unit what had happened. He figured the less people knew the better. It would give Lenore a fighting chance.

"Are you questioning me, TK-888?" Harillo asked. "Perhaps you'd like to take point and be captain for a change."

"Relax," Roll stepped into formation. "I was just saying Harillo-"

"That's another thing." Harillo stepped at the front of his unit. "We just made the transfer list to the new battle station but we aren't there yet. We could easily be demoted with all this chatter and lack of protocol. From now on I don't want anyone to refer to each other by their name. Only your TK numbers. Understood?"

"Yes Sir," the three responded. They waited for Harillo to turn back around before exchanging looks. But he did have a point. They were moving up in ranks and they needed to act like it.

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Lenore had made her way out of the medic ward last night and packed a backpack full of supplies from the utility room and some rations from the canteen's storage unit. There was no way to take any armor, but she took her favorite jacket. She would rip the imperial patches off once she was off Coruscant.

She'd slept in one of the cargo freighters Unit 56 had inspected. It was the only place she knew no one would look for her. It also helped that they were being transported during the parade. Once they were off base she could slip out and get off the planet.

For the second time in her life she would be homeless and without a family. Unit 56 had become her family. They had watched out for her, helped her, gone through the same training and reticule from officers, and they all had the same goal: to defend the Empire. She wished she could say goodbye but that's not how it works.

Is this how you felt Prisa?, Lenore thought. No. This is not the same thing.

Her mother gave up. Lenore was surviving. She was nothing like that woman who abandoned her own flesh and blood. Lenore had once thought about looking for Prisa using the Imperial Surveillance Databases. But she never did. She was afraid of what she would find. If she were alive she would have nothing to say to her, and if she were dead she would be relieved. Some things are better left unknown.

The freighter jerked forward. They were moving. She waited until she felt the freighter make three turns and then exited. She jumped off the side of the freighter and headed down an alley. She found a parking lane where some patrol troopers had parked their speeders. There were five for the taking. The troopers had their backs turned as they watched the parade. She quietly hopped on one and took off.

"Hey you! Stop!" She heard. She knew they would pursue her for a few blocks but most likely would give up due to the crowds.

"She went down toward the shipping yard." She heard over the speeder's radio.

She glanced behind her. Four troopers were on her tail. She sped up as much as she could, taking the turns dangerously close. One was gaining on her. She pulled out her blaster and shot down a storefront's oning which swung toward the speeder, knocking the rider off. The other three dodged the wreck and continued to pursue her.

"You two go down the west side and cut her off at the point." the leader commanded.

She knew she would have to use all her skills to escape this one. She shot back at the leader and hit his engine causing him to pull off to the side.

As she approached the point of the city block one of the troopers cut her off. He turned around and fired at her. She sped up and rear ended his bike causing the two bikes to couple together. She was able to control the movement of his bike. She jerked the bike violently left to ride until he fell off. She blasted the front part of her speeder to release it.

One bogey left, she thought. Where are you?

Suddenly the third trooper appeared and rammed into the side of her speeder. She was able to hang on. The trooper reached over and punched her. She moved but the trooper hit her shoulder. She winced in pain as the wound opened up and she began to bleed again. The trooper took note and repeatedly hit her in the same spot. Lenore tried to turn the speeder but it didn't matter. The two were headed toward a wall. Lenore jumped off in time, but the trooper didn't. She watched the speeders and him crash into the wall and explode.

She staggered to stand up. She was out of breath and in pain. She felt weak as she noticed her shirt and jacket became wet with blood. She needed to find a place to patch it up.

"Hold it!" It was the lead trooper. He had caught up and pointed his blaster at her. She raised her hands. "You're under arrest." The trooper approached to put binders on her wrist.

PEW! PEW!

He fell to the floor. He was dead. She looked up, keeping her hands up. Out from the shadows stepped a brown hair man wearing brown military fatigues wielding a . On his jacket read the name ANDOR.