»»---Echo---««

Chapter 4 - Questions

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My back had started to hurt from sitting upright under the bed for so long. I crawled under there so the light wasn't directly in my eyes as I tried to take a nap. I really didn't want to move. Was no one going to put me to sleep? At this point I just wanted to let the darkness consume me so I could get some actual rest so my aching muscles would heal. Eventually I did hear talking outside, and the door to the cell slid open as a SPD cadet walked in. His black and blue uniform looked sharp and clean.

He sat a tray of food down on the bed with me, "There you go. Now, what's your name?"

I stayed silent, not out of defiance but because I genuinely didn't know what he was talking about.

"Play the silent game huh? Can you at least come up here and sit."

His voice was gentle. I shrugged before climbing out from under the bed to sit on the edge, picking up a piece of food that was warm and flaky, "What's this?"

"Bread?" he said, looking at me confused.

"Bread..." I whispered, pulling it apart with my hands before sniffing it. Were they going to poison me? Wouldn't be the worst way to go out I guess.

"Listen, I got all the time in the world to sit here, but you'll need to answer some questions."

I looked at him confused, "Questions?"

"Yes. Who do you work for?"

I looked at him confused.

"Is it Gruumm?"

"Gruumm?" I tilted my head.

"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?" He huffed as I shrugged again, "You said when you were captured that the Emperor tried to kill you. Who is he?"

"I..."

"You can trust me," He looked at me as I paused to try and rack my brain for an answer, "We'll start off easy again, what's your name?"

"What's a name?"

This time he really looked at me confused, "Your name? Something that you're called. It's what your parents give you when you're born. Like... My name is Sky."

"Sky?"

"Yes. What's yours?"

"I... guess I don't have one."

This time he looked at me with a different look, I glanced down at the tray to pick another weird item up off of it.

"Where do you live?"

"On a ship."

He pulled out a notepad, "What was the name of the ship?"

"I think I heard him call it the Terror Spacecraft one time," I shrugged, "He was always ranting about how it was the 'crown jewel' of the Troobian Empire. Not sure what all it meant, he just sent me on missions with the collar."

"Troobian Empire?" he said, this time with a tremble of fear in his voice.

"Yeah. But now look at who's repeating stuff."

He didn't laugh, making me shrugg and put some of the bread in my mouth.

"The collar... what was that for?"

I hummed at the sensation of the bread melting into my mouth, "He said it would kill me if I ever disobeyed. It's also how he kept an eye on me when I was on missions."

"So you worked for the Emperor?"

"I guess in a way," I shrugged, "Didn't get much of a choice. Punishment was worse than just doing the mission and coming back."

He looked at me with a weird look, one of almost sadness, "What did the Emperor want with the proton accelerator?"

"Something about getting his ship through a web... the serious web?"

"Sirian?"

"Yeah that sounds right, he needed me to go to Earth cause I was the only one with human blood on the ship."

He looked at me curiously, "So you are human?"

"Whatever that means, you're the first person I've seen that kinda looks like me."

He nodded, scribbling some more notes down onto the paper. It was true, I had only ever seen my face a few times in the reflection of my sword. It was enough for me to realize I was different from the ones on the ship. I hated being different.

I looked back down at the tray of food, it was so much better than the mush the Krybots brought me whenever I was awake. For once I didn't feel my stomach rumbling.

"We're going to have a doctor come in and run some tests on you. Then maybe after you get some rest we can talk again, okay?"

I nodded. Sky grabbed the tray as the cell door slid open leaving me once again in the light and completely alone.

I ended up falling asleep, the food from the tray had made me feel so tired for some reason. When I finally woke back up I heard voices from outside the cell.

"I think Gruumm might have kidnapped her from somewhere," I heard Sky say, "Is there any way we could run a facial scan? Or even just check mission persons-"

"Sky, if she's been on that ship for as long as you think she has been there probably hasn't been anyone looking for her. If it truly is Gruumm he might've taken her from a planet before destroying it," a deep voice said.

I heard Sky sigh, "She didn't even have a name Commander. She lived her life on a ship being a hitman."

"I know," the voice said, "We'll get Kat in there to do some lab work, if she's healthy she might be a valuable informant for us. For now I'm putting you in charge of her case."

"Yes Commander Cruger."

I jolted up, running to the cell door and peering out, "Cruger?"

Both Sky and a giant creature turned to look at me in shock.

"Is your name Cruger?"

"Yes," he said, walking over to the cell door.

I gulped, "You're what Gruumm was trying to get through the web for. He kept ranting about getting revenge. Did you really chop off his horn?"

He nodded.

"You guys gotta leave," I said, becoming distressed, "Gruumm won't stop till he overwhelms the Earth with attacks-"

Cruger put a hand up to stop me, "We know all about Gruumm."

"He can destroy planets with a push of a button. He made me-" I stopped myself from letting a sob escape, crying is weakness, "He made me operate the weapon. No one is safe."

The Commander and Sky both looked at me in shock.

"We need to inform the others," Cruger said.

Sky came up to the cell door, "I'll be back soon. Just sit tight until the doctor comes in okay?"

I couldn't say anything. Instead I nodded at him and returned back to the cell bed.

I never reacted like this. Not even when I was in charge of destroying an entire planet and the people still left living on it. Why was I suddenly showing morality?

»——•——«
What's gonna happen to her??

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