Saga The Criminal: OC's; a man is accused of a crime, though he doesn't know what; just post RotS

This was written for the OC dueling circle. An OC is to be accused of a crime, whether he'd done it or not.

Title: The Criminal
Characters: OC's (T. H. Forz)
Timeframe: A few months after RotS
Summary: A delivery man is accused of a crime, and goes over the past few days to try to find out what it was.
Disclaimer: George Lucas created Star Wars, and is very gracious for letting the likes of me twist his universe to the way I think it should be. Thank you Mr. Lucas!!!
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THE CRIMINAL

Why am I here? Can you tell me? Because I sure as the Force don?t know. All I know is that two days ago - was it only two days? It seems like forever - a group of Imperial police burst into my apartment and arrested me. Never explained why. Never read me any rights. (They?re supposed to do that though, aren?t they? My lawyer isn?t much help, so I don?t really know.)

They tossed me into a prison cell with a Quarren accused of spice smuggling, or so he said, and left me alone with him for a day and a half, until finally, they sent me that slimy little white-blond-haired, blue-eyed runt who calls himself my lawyer came in and told me there wasn?t much hope for an acquittal. Acquittal? Acquittal for what? I mean, seriously, they?ve all been asking me these completely irrelevant questions. (Who?s your mother? Your father? Any siblings? Ever been off of Coruscant? Come on! Even if I have committed some kind of crime, what does my little sister have to do with it?)

Meanwhile, my lawyer - Saer, he calls himself - sits there, his wide glasses low on his nose, shuffling through a stack of papers. I look closely at one of them, and see that it?s?the newspaper? Nothing I can do, though. And anyway, maybe there?s something in there that helps my case. I doubt it, though. Saer seems kind of uninterested in the whole thing. I wonder if he's got some great plan up his sleeve.

While the other lawyer drones on and on about?something, (I have no idea what) I decide to go over the last few days, starting three days before I was arrested. Maybe that?ll give me a clue as to why I?m here.
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Day One

It was a usual work day. I rolled out of bed at 6:30am and took Acki, my canine, out to the dog walk half a block away to relieve herself. Dik, and Kalve were there too, with their pets. We sat and chatted for a while. Mostly about business. While politics may be the hot topic for people higher up, what with Chancellor Palpatine taking over, and all, for the like of us, that?s nothing. It doesn?t matter whose in control of the galaxy. I?ll still roll out of bed at 6:30 in the morning, and take Acki to the dog walk.

At any rate, after Acki?d done her business, I headed inside for breakfast. Usually, a bowl of cereal, and a piece of fruit. Though that day, I had two eggs, instead, because I?d forgotten to buy milk the day before and was out.

I left for work at 8:30; got there at nine. My job?s nothing spectacular: I handle packages at a hub for Coruscant?s worldwide delivery service. Like I said, nothing special, but someone?s gotta do it, and it suits me just fine. I slipped into my cubicle a few minutes late, but not too bad, and I don?t think anyone noticed. No one said anything, at any rate.

The day was, as usual, long, and kind of boring. Since Palpatine proclaimed himself emperor last month, nothing much has been coming in.

Office closes at 5:00 pm. If you want something delivered after that, too bad. You?ll have to wait for tomorrow.

I took Acki out for her walk before dinner, and during and after dinner, surfed the holonet. Not much was on, so I went to bed at 11:00.

Certainly, nothing happened that day that could be called a crime.
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?Mr. Forz! Are you paying attention? What is your opinion of Emperor Palpatine?s ascent to his current status??

The judge?s query jerks me out of my reminisces. What? What kind of a question is that? Better answer it, though. The lawyers pounce on these kind of question

 

I mean, seriously, they?ve all been asking me these completely irrelevant questions. (Who?s your mother? Your father? Any siblings? Ever been off of Coruscant? Come on! Even if I have committed some kind of crime, what does my little sister have to do with it?)

Now that is creepy . . . those are the kinds of questions you'd expect doctors to ask a person who'd caught an epidemic disease, and might be spreading it--not the kind of questions you'd expect the government to be asking someone who was accused of a crime.

Poor old Forz isn't a "criminal," he's *contaminated," and that's much worse. You can be rehabilitated from being a criminal. Once your very existence makes you something dangerous, your odds on life aren't very long.

shuffling through a stack of papers. I look closely at one of them, and see that it?s?the newspaper?

I loved this little hopeless detail . . . even the guy's lawyer isn't really bothering with him. It's all a formality . . . the lawyer shows up, shuffles some papers to look busy and important, and then he leaves. He's not even trying very hard to hide his uselessness from his "client."

Mr. Saer rises with a smile, and drags me up with him.

The lawyer probably feels like he "won," since there are so many worse things that Forz could have been sentenced to.

Thus was T. H. Forz, accused, and sentenced for, plotting against the Galactic Empire by delivering smuggled goods to its enemies.

Yikes . . . that would be the way to alienate the public from the Rebellion, wouldn't it? Don't stop at punishing Rebels and their families; punish every. single. person. who ever stood next to them in the last five years, and all of *their* families, too. People would be terrified to say "hello" to the mailman, much less talk to a Rebel sympathizer.

A very chilling vision of what life after the Emperor's ascendancy would be like. Nice job!

 

Oh man. Talk about injustice! That was his job! How was he to know?! Man. That poor dude. Hopefully not too many other of Coruscant?s worldwide delivery service guys will have such bad fortune.

All hail the Emperor, the bringer of justice and peace and all that bull! hooray!

Anyways, good job on this fic!

 

Ophelia: Thanks! I need to clear something up, though. The lawyer was assigned to Forz by them Empire. Naturally, being an Imperial, he wants the 'criminals' to be sentenced, even if he's supposed to be defending them. He's reading the newspaper because he doesn't care, and he's smiling at the end because the outcome of this case is quite acceptable to him... I'll make that more clear in the story.

Meredith_Kenobi: Yeah. The Empire, in all it's glory, huh? Thanks.

 

This is a great view of what must've happened to the "little people" while the events of the movie were taking place. Very interesting!

This really stuck out to me:

While politics may be the hot topic for people higher up, what with Chancellor Palpatine taking over, and all, for the like of us, that?s nothing. It doesn?t matter whose in control of the galaxy. I?ll still roll out of bed at 6:30 in the morning, and take Acki to the dog walk.

I like how much he just doesn't care about the Republic becoming the Empire: life goes on, no matter who's in control at the top.

It's also kind of scary, the apathy - if all of the little people had cared, the Empire wouldn't have happened.

Great job!

 

Yikes, Imperial justice is scary. Poor Forz. I really felt for him, especially when he notices that his attorney is just shuffling around the newspaper instead of trying to help. Great response to the challenge.

 

talkingbanana: Yeah, I've always been interested in what the 'normal' people (they being the one's who aren't always rushing off to save the galaxy) did during the whole problem with the Empire. I've got a theory that a lot of them were like that, or, if they supported one side or the other, only a little bit, like cheering when they heard of their side winning something, or subscribing to patriotic magazines, and that type of thing.

Lovely-in-Orange: Yeah. Really scary. I hope I never have to go to court with a lawyer like that. Thanks.

 

It doesn?t matter whose in control of the galaxy. I?ll still roll out of bed at 6:30 in the morning, and take Acki to the dog walk.

Unlucky mate, but with the Empire things do change for the worse. As he finds out. imperial justice is very unjust, it seems. I love the judge's last line. They're so arrogant that they simply assume the 'criminal' will keep his mouth shut and have the decency to know what he's being charged with.

Though obviously we've seen how unfair the Empire was, I'd also criticize the people who dropped off the mysterious 'package' (I assume they were rebels, and their business had something to do with why Forz was arrested). I mean, they should have thought harder about the consequences for innocents who get caught up in their work. They've got to take some of the blame for this injustice too.

 

Hm, his lawyer's reading the newspaper? Doesn't look very good for him. I like the way you actually write the way this man would talk. Very nice. Guilty. I knew it. And he didn't even know what he did! That's too bad . . . What a way to use some poor guy as the image of an "evil ally of the Rebellion."

Great story!

 

Wow, great lawyer. *sarcasm*

See you do a good deed, and look what happens.

Good response R_P!