Runaway

4. Chapter

'The boss' was a tiny man of unclear age, he could have been 35 or 50. If I had seen him somewhere 'boss' would've been the last thing to come to my mind. But what he lacked in physique he made up for in his authoritarian behavior. As soon as we entered the room and he turned around to look at us, the previously so confident woman next to me suddenly humbly looked to the ground and waited for him to give her the invitation to speak.

"Who's that?"
His sharp voice cut through the air in the room like a whip.

"I found him in the cargo space sir, he was hiding behind the crates"

"Stupid slave"
He said that very dryly and I felt humiliated being seen as a slave, yet I couldn't give up my disguise.
"He really thought it was that easy to escape"

Coming from another person I might have mistaken this for humour, but now I was certain he was just going to execute me in the next second out of pure maliciousness.

"What are you going to do to him?", the woman asked.
Against all of my expectations 'the boss' just shrugged his shoulders.
"He looks buff, we might keep him to lift all the heavy stuff later"

I was more than relieved.

"Wait a minute".
That sentence was spoken in a creaky deep voice, belonging to the old man in the corner. I would've guessed him to be at least 70, what does an old guy like him do in a crew if smugglers.

"Have the young man take off the Mask", he ordered sternly.

The woman, without hesitation pulled the mask off my face. Only now I noticed, that she wasn't human. She had long black hair, fair skin and human face features with almond shaped eyes but she had two additional arms. She was a Codru-Ji, a species living on Munto-Codru, a planet in the outer rim.
Now there was shock in her humanlike face. And a satisfied grin on the withered face of the old man.

"A clone?", she shouted in disbelief and the old man chuckled.
"Interesting", murmured 'the boss'. He raised his eyebrows and wrinkled his forehead.
"I suppose that changes things up a bit. Lydiya", he turned to the woman, "call up the Republicans, let's see how much they're willing to pay for him".

"Will do, boss", the woman, apparently called Lydiya walked over to the com-station. But then she paused and said: "If I may object, boss, this may not actually be the best idea, I mean, we just stole their-"

The boss cut her off: "I hate to admit it but you may be right"
The old man chuckled again. He seemed to be very amused by everything going on.
"The Republic would just throw us in prison with him", he laughed. He confused me.
"Come here boy", he said to me.
"Sit down and tell me your story".

To my surprise neither the boss nor Lydiya said anything, they just let me walk over.

I took a deep breath, I had no idea what was going on. What did he expect to hear? That I killed my best friend and ran away? Probably not.

"You know I usually hate you guys", he started. What was he getting at?
He continued: "you bombed my village, destroyed the valley and took over the city. But as I see, you're different". He glared at me with his piercing grey eyes but the warmth in his voice somehow comforted me as he went on: "I think you know exactly, that this is not the way. Violence, destruction. You left that behind you, didn't you? And you probably took a great risk".

"Well... no... yes, actually, I don't know", I stammered. I was panicking. What the old man said sounded like I was some kind of hero, but I wasn't. I ran away like a coward because I couldn't handle the task I had been made for. Because I was too weak. "I wouldn't say it like that sir. But yes, I believe the Army of the Republic has become no better than the seps"
Did that sentence even make sense? But it was true, my thoughts started racing, images of houses burning, the sound of children crying in pain, crying for their mothers. He was right, this is not the right way.
"It's just, I don't believe it's right, the way they claim they're trying to make peace"

The old man nodded approvingly. "See, I knew you knew that".

"So what are we going to do with him now?", Lydiya asked.

"I suppose we'll let him travel with us and see what he can do to help us", the boss answered.