In defense of liberty: Confrontation

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“How could you do this?” Karel Valtos screamed at the top of his lungs. His tie pilot helmet masked the pain in his voice, making it sound cold and emotionless. He watched as his friend was lifted by his respirator and slammed against the wall. “How could you betray the empire, side with the terrorists who want to extinguish the guiding light of this galactic power?”

Noathi, his friend, was struggling for breath, the tube giving him life, being yanked out of his lungs, as he was lifted off the ground by Shaw, his bunk mate. Karel watched, he didn’t know what to do. They had been on the trail of a New Republic extremist, who was sabotaging vital imperial communications operations. Their opponent had always been one step ahead of them, everywhere they went. Until they followed the trail to Bestine, where their extremist got sloppy. They were horrified to discover that the person they were following was none other than Noathi Zarajh, the tech expert of their squad.

“I can be reasonable,” Karel choked back tears. Despite his helmet’s voice modulater, he didn’t want any hint of his emotion to show in his voice, it was unprofessional. “We’ll take you to Hosen Prime, hopefully your based on reputation, the court marital will be a little more lenient then normal. It been a pleasure serving with you. “Shaw put him down.”

With that, Karel let out a sob. As Shaw dropped him, Noathi readjusted his mask and felt the sweet relief of air rush into his damaged lungs. He let them lead him to the ship, and prepared to accept his fate, because, no matter what happened, he knew that there was something watching over him, he just didn’t know what.