Runaway

2. Chapter

We hid in a niche near the entrance of one of the mine shafts. I took a glance over at the ship of the slaves, who were now loading their freight.

"We have to inform the commander what happened and where we are", said Ace conscientiously.
Now or never, I thought.

"No", I said quietly, because I wasn't really sure if this was the right decision.

"What?"

"I said no!", I repeated, this time loud and clearly. 

"Why? What...", Ace stammered, obviously confused.

"Hear me out, okay?", without waiting for an answer I continued, "You know how I always talk about not being made for this? That I'm not a good enough soldier?"

Ace nodded his head, probably already suspecting what this would be about.

"And maybe I don't even wanna be a soldier", I went on. If he hasn't said anything so far, I thought, he must agree with me. "I mean we don't make a difference. No one would even notice if we died, let alone care. We are replaceable. This is our chance to leave it all behind."
I look at him in anticipation.

"How can you say those things?"
His voice sounded outraged but almost disappointed.
"You know we can't do that. It is our duty to serve the republic, we have a purpose!"

"Do we? I mean is this really for the greater good or aren't we just killing more innocent beings? Like those children, remember?", I tried to appease him. I could feel the adrenaline rushing into my bloodstream. I knew what decision I had just made. I knew that this was a turning point. There was no going back anymore. I had to move forward, and as Ace activated his comlink, to turn me in to the commander, I noticed that he was standing in my way.

"I'm sorry brother", I whispered.
And shot him.

What have I done? I just killed my only friend. But I couldn't get emotional now, I needed a plan.

Before we going on this mission I had studied the whole area thoroughly. I knew that I was in mine number three and that they're all connected with each other. Mine number one was were the smugglers were and were I had to get to. They were my way of getting out of here. The only way to get on board though would be to pretend to be a slave and then hide in the cargo space. At the entrance of each mine there was a little room where the workers would enter their shift. That was also where uniforms were stored. Luckily the mine I was at wasn't being used as of now so I would only have to break into that room.
For lack of any better ideas I threw a rock at the door that was made out of glass. A decision I immediately regretted because of the loud noise it made. However nobody seemed to have noticed it. With my chunky armor I did barely fit through the hole I created in that door. Inside it was dark and I didn't want to lose time searching for the light switch.
In the third cupboard I searched I finally found some uniforms. I looked for one that was big enough. Not easy, since most of the slaves weren't human and rather small. So I went with the next best option that there was. A little bit tight, my upper body muscles were definitely visible. That might've looked suspicious since slaves were usually rather lanky, even starved, but I didn't have time to change again. At least a helmet was part of the uniform, that way no one would see my face. Not that I was insecure about my looks, just to rule out that anyone could recognize who, or rather what, I was.
To find my way through the maze of corridors that had been dug into the dark grey rock I had to concentrate on the pieces of the map that I had memorized. It's not like had time, the smuggler were already loading the crates onto their ship. I was getting closer though, I could already hear voices. Suddenly I realized that there was a good chance the rest of the corps would prevent the smugglers ship from leaving the planet.
Now the voices got louder and behind the corner a could see dim  daylight shining into the corridor. Unerringly, as if I knew exactly what I was doing, I walked towards a little Lurmen that seemed to have his difficulties with the heave crate he was lifting. He looked a little surprised at first but he accepted me helping him. We carried the crate into the cargo space of the ship. I let the Lurmen walk out and acted as if I was checking something in the back of the room. I was hoping people walking in and only one of them coming out again would be less suspicious than one just not coming back.
It felt totally weird, arranging the boxes in a way that I could hide behind them. Once I got into that kind of cave I could barely move and barely see anything. I had to rely on my hearing. Five minutes I sat there in silence until footsteps approached. I could hear my heart beating faster. What would I say if someone discovered me?