Escape From Your Own

Everything seemed to be quiet outside of the New Republic's Prison Colony. It was a nice day with the sun shining in the purple sky and the desert looking as beautiful as ever. The huge, ugly prison could not even take your eyes off the magnificent landscape, but the growing dots floating in the distance could. In the sky you could make out four shapes coming closer and closer towards the colony. Suddenly, the prison's laser turrets span into action, as the approaching crafts became more obviously TIE shaped.

"BOOM!"

The first shots are fired and the prison takes the brunt of it, shaking the place to its foundations. As the lights flicker inside the prison, one of the occupants sees that his chance for escape has arrived. Emon Kaaren was not going to stick round. As all of the other prisoners broke into a cheer, Emon knew that he had to escape now, as the attack was not a rescue mission, but an assassination.

The pounding against the Prison got harder and harder and when the electricity finally went off, Emon was able to open his cell door. He ran in the massive crowd of prisoners heading towards the exit. Lasers were being fired around him as the guards attempted to control the crowd and the prison was beginning to cave in around him. Emon was able to find a hole that had just been blown through the wall and he crawled through into the bright daylight.

The prisoners were all congregating outside of the prison to await their rescue, but Emon could not join them as he was wanted dead by the Empire. He wasn't a traitor, or even an enemy of the Empire, but he did know something that he should not. That alone was reason enough for the Empire to murder him.

Emon stopped for a moment and watched a TIE Fighter fly low over the crowd of prisoners in an attempt to locate Emon. The prisoners were still cheering when the starfighter took another sweep over the crowd. Suddenly, green lights flashed as it opened fire on the crowd. The prisoners didn't stand a chance and were killed in only a couple of sweeps by the TIE Fighter.

Emon desperately looked around for somewhere to hide until he decided to bury himself in the sand. He jumped into a small hill of sand. It was lucky for Emon that every prisoner was given a small respirator because of the thin air on the planet. It was only supposed to be used occasionally when he had problems breathing but he didn't know how long they could last for a long period of time.

Even under the sand, Emon could still hear the explosions as the Prison colony was being blown apart. How many people had died, Rebel and Imperial, just so he could be killed? Is the information that he knows so important to the Empire that they don't mind what the costs are? Only three people in the galaxy know what he knows, of which he is the only one alive.

Emon used to be a great pilot, one of the best in fact. Even the Emperor was impressed by his skills. It was the Hoth mission that got Emon noticed. It was his job to take out the starfighters that were defending the Rebel base and he did, a little too well. He took out three times as many ships as the other pilots had and was honoured by being awarded a medal by Lord Vader himself.

He was so awe-struck by Lord Vader that he didn't realise that there was no one else in the room as he was awarded the medal. He was very surprised when Lord Vader ordered him to take on a very important mission that only he and the Emperor knew about. It was to investigate something that could have the power to destroy the entire Empire but when the mission was completed Emon found out that Lord Vader and the Emperor had been killed, so he went into hiding. There had been rumours about the mission flying around and when Emon went AWOL it was decided that he would have to be killed to protect what was left of the Empire.

Emon then decided to become a Bounty Hunter but was eventually captured by the New Republic for the many people he had killed during his career. Emon didn't mind, he felt safe in the prison where he could not be touched by Imperial hands. That peace of mind had gone now and he had to wonder what he would do now his sanctuary had gone, but first he had to get out of this scrape alive.

The firing had now stopped and there was no sound on the surface. Emon could barely breath now as his oxygen was running low. He gets out of the sand, dusts himself down and looks around to evaluate the devastation. There was barely anything standing where the prison used to be and there seemed to be little sign of any other survivors.

He looked at what was left of the colony to see if he could salvage anything. There was little chance of being caught in a fire due to the lack of oxygen so he entered the damaged structure of the prison. There was nothing of use in the prison as everything had been blown apart. The sun was making Emon very hot so he lied down in a shadow made by one of the walls still standing and decided to get some sleep.

"Is anyone still alive?"

Emon woke up startled. He peered around his wall and saw a Rebel pilot looking for survivors. Emon tried to keep out of sight but the pilot caught a glimpse of him and started to wander over in his direction.

"Hello?" The pilot looked around the wall, but no one was there. "I'm sure I saw..."

Emon jumped on the pilot from behind and he grabbed his head. Emon was thrown off as the pilot fought back. Emon cracked the pilot around the head a few times. The pilot was still a bit shocked and barely fought back. The pilot’s helmet fell to the ground letting Emon's blows to his head become even harder. The pilot tried to back away so he could get his laser out. As his back was turned Emon struck the pilot sharply in the back of the neck. The pilot went down in a heap. Emon took his laser and helmet and went looking for the pilot's ship.

He walked out of the prison and towards the pilot’s supply ship. It seemed to be a decent craft and the supply ships that usually come to the colony had food, cloth, water and other things that could easily be sold for a good price. The weapons were a bit weak with only a couple of lasers but they could be modified fairly easily. The ship seemed to be old but well kept, just the way Emon liked them. He found the Imperial ships he flew in were a bit boring and sterile, unlike other ships in the galaxy that were run down and full of character.

As Emon boarded the ship he noticed the name of the ship on a plaque. It was called Oasis and it certainly was on this hellhole. Emon laughed to himself thinking about how well things had turned out. Sure, he had an attempt on his life but he was free, had plenty of supplies for his trip and the Empire thought that he had been killed with every one else.

Emon sat back in the pilot chair and thought of what he could do with his new found freedom. He could offer himself back to the Imperials, but there would be to high a chance of them firing at him as soon as he came in range of any of their ships. Trading passed his mind but he knew he could put his skills to better use, and for better money. He had been a Bounty Hunter before, and a good one at that, but it's hard to get a contract if you can't work for the Empire or the Rebels. Emon also knew that he could do better than just a Warlord or Kingpin's lackey. He just couldn't make his mind up so he eventually decided to take whatever job came along.

As the craft took off Emon thought about giving away the secrets of his mission to the New Republic but decided that he could not do that to the Empire. Fair enough, they want him dead but Emon would always be Imperial through and through. He wasn't a big fan of the Empire but he preferred it to the Rebels.

Emon didn't know where he was going, didn't really care. He was just happy to be free, if a little wary of what the Empire would do to him if he were caught. The New Republic wouldn't be to pleased about him escaping either, but that's just what adventures are made of.

by CPT Werdna Elbee