the platform you’re stood on jolts, and you’re lowered down towards the other prisoners. there are tables, tables full of men and women, all hard at work

the lift stops with a hydraulic hiss, and shifts yet again, your balance wavering. you’d never seen anything like this, everyone was moving systematically, as if every motion was engraved into their minds at birth. it’s threatening, in a bizarre way

kino loy — the floor supervisor and fellow prisoner — approaches you, face stern. he means business. as the imperial guard pushes you forward with the butt of his blaster, and you stumble, loy clears his throat

the longer you stand here, the more you feel your identity being stripped. these prisoners don’t act like people, they act like droids, and to think you’ll become just like them, it’s scary

”did you get that?” loy says. the truth is, no. you’d been too busy letting your mind wander to care about what he was telling you. but you can’t lie, especially not to someone with such a cynical aura to them, so instead you nod

”table 5” he says, seeming uninterested. you make your way over, taking place on one of the sides. no one even bothered to glance at you, not a single inmate. apart from one. that was cassian, you didn’t know him yet but you could tell he was intrigued

the work day finishes, and you make your way to the sleeping quarters — after completing 2 rounds of protocol that is. the ‘room’ — if you can even call it that — is just a bunk bed, and some form of deranged food that you daren’t try

it’s quiet in the large expanse of sleeping quarters, until you hear a whisper from the bunk below you. it’s the guy from before, the one at your table, the one that felt like the only other human here “hey… are you awake?”