Dear Stranger,
There was no concept of boundaries anymore. Personal lives did not exist. It was a Sunday and it was supposed to start at six effing am. I sleep at 6 am because saturday night is movie night! And these days, I do not sleep too well, anyway, thanks to Kylo effing Ren who was now in charge of one of my zones and two of my troops.
I exited my spaceship and made my way to the park where it had just rained. A deep puddle existed in the middle and the soldiers stood around it. These were the soldiers who were now leaderless since Troop LTA had left; I was handling them directly. I looked at all the masked faces and waited. Waited for the hubbub to die down so I could get a word in.
“Team-” my voice was a bit feeble so it got drowned in the chaos of their words. I waited some more.
“Team-” One of the soldiers was a bit furious about not having received his share for the month, or something like that.
“TEAM!”
It took a higher pitch and a frown on my face to get their attention.
“Let me make something very clear today.” I lowered my pitch as soon as there was the kind of silence where the only sound was that of the birds chittering at me from the trees. “Either get the Martians to buy the weapons or LEAVE. Because I am planning to shut this unit down and start the inhuman project RIGHT FROM THIS ZONE. I won’t need your stupid conscious selves anymore. You can bid your families goodbye.”
I have never commanded more attention than this before. This time, I put on my sweetest smile and waited patiently for them to answer.
“You will get it, My Lady.”
“Aye aye, Your Majesty.”
“My Lady.”
“YES, MY LADY!”
So easy. Fear is truly the easiest weapon there is. The Dark Lord was right.
“They should be scared of you.” His words ran reels in my head. “That’s all I want. The Death Star runs on fear.”
That part was true. This enterprise definitely runs on fear. But there was something far more fiery and fearful that I had in mind.
*
It had been a week since my new avatar and almost all my troops had fallen in line. None of them gave me reasons for things not happening. They bowed to me and sugarcoated their findings. Hmmm…I could get used to this. To not understanding my subordinates’ issues and employing the brute force algorithm that the biggies of the Death Star have employed since forever. It was possible. I had just tested it.
“RG1, I hear good tidings from your team. Seems you are turning a new leaf.” A cruel sneer would have framed the Dark Lord’s lips if he had lips.
“Thank you, My Lord. I took a page out of your own book.”
“Glad to hear that.” I could feel genuine gladness in his voice.
Fear. Flattery. Force.
The three weapons of the Dark Lord; the three rules of the Death Star.
I cleared my throat and put on the fake smile that I had almost perfected over time.
“My Lord, I wanted to discuss something about Lord Snoke’s visit.”
That sure made him prick his ears in attention, not that I could see his ears. No one could. Thank heavens.
“Go ahead, Gina.”
“Lord Snoke expressed some…uh…reservations.” I faltered carefully. Decisively. Knowingly.
“Regarding?” I could feel the Dark Lord’s full attention. Well, this was my week to grab attention.
“Regarding Kylo Ren, My Lord.”
I could imagine his eyebrows furrowing, his mind wheels churning dangerously on overdrive.
“Elaborate, RG1.”
“That…uh…I am not sure if I should tell you, but I reckoned if there is something that Lord Snoke tells me, you surely ought to know.”
“Hmmm…”
“And what he said was that Kylo Ren is not to be trusted.”
Which was a perfect truth, although there had been no need for me to have informed on Snoke.
“And…” I continued, this time adding something of my own. “that puts you under the scanner…I am afraid to give you the bad news, My Lord…”
“Continue, Gina.” he thundered.
“I mean, Lord Snoke seemed to think that something was amiss. Either Kylo was…was hoodwinking you…or perhaps…very unlikely of course, but perhaps, you too were in on with him.” I made my voice go all timid and watery.
“In on what, RG1??” He seemed to be gnashing his teeth.
“The…the Resistance, My Lord. What else…” I stammered. Successfully so.
For a second, none of us said a word. And then, the Dark Lord stormed out.
I smiled to myself. Your knight is out of the game, Kylo effing Ren. Come on, make your move now.
Winning with fear, flattery and force,
Yours truly
The Rogue Stormtrooper
