"WHOOOEEE, that was some'in kid. I 'aven't seen flying like that since... well, 'ell guess I never seen flying like that. Ya oughta give this kid a permanent place on our crew, eh Cap'n."
"Diegel, if I wanted to hear anything from that ugly snout of yours I would have asked for it!" Captain Valcore was a hard man. He turned to the sandy haired boy sitting in the pilot chair. "Did I tell you to evacuate our cargo?" Valcore's hand came down swift and hard, slapping the young pilot across the face. The only sound was the sharp crack of leather on flesh. "Next time, you will ask permission before pulling anymore stunts on my ship."
The boy looked up at the Captain, defiance gleamed in his blue eyes. But he did not cry out nor make any apology. The two just stared at each other unflinching as seconds pasted into minutes.
"Uhh, Cap'n, I knows Anakin's a lit'l free spirited, but let's be 'onest. There ain't no way we wou'da lost that Republic Enforcer, or made it through that asteroid field th'out him at the controls, eh." Anakin didn't really know why Deigel was standing up for him, but he wasn't about to complain.
"Diegel, another word from you and I will send you out the airlock to join our lost shipment." Valcore yelled. Anakin knew the shipment wasn't worth anything. The Captain was clearly just attempting to exert his authority.
"Maybe you would have liked to explain to the Republic Officers why we had been traveling through the Roche Asteroid field. After you had detonated the navcomputer taking half of your precious ship with it. You owe me one." Anakin, though young, was not inexperienced at dealing with low life smugglers. He could tell Captain Valcore was wreathing with rage, his anger seemed to saturate the air. Anakin could almost see the red tendrils of hate emanating from the Devaronian. He was a formidable sight, deep yellow skin with two dark horns protruding about 6 cm from the top of his head and hard black eyes. His resemblance to the devils in the ancient myths was uncanny, but there was nothing he could do to Jabba the Hutt's star pilot. Anakin had successfully flown over a hundred smuggling vessels through the Asteroid field and evaded some thirty Republic pursuits. In fact he was the only pilot to have a never been boarded or for that matter killed.
Captain Valcore's hand came up again poised to strike. But he thought better of it. "Diegel, lock this slave down in the cargo bay. He can spend the rest of the flight reflecting on his insolence there." Pointing to Anakin, "too bad you blew the rations out with the other supplies, I guess you are going to go hungry. Believe me you would have gotten a lot worse if you weren't Jabba's favorite pet. Get him out of here!"
"Right ya'r boss. Com'on kid." The wings on Diegel's back stretch from where they were tucked away in the copilot's chair. Fluttering, they came to life as he took to the air. Toydarians were a stout species, with round bellies, short legs, and a protruding snout that hung over their mouths. How they were able to fly at all was a mystery to Anakin but they certainly flew better than they walked. Diegel grabbed Anakin's shoulder firmly and led him out of the cockpit into the connecting corridor.
The ship's hallways were dim, which almost masked the dirt and rust that caked the walls, almost. Wooosshh, the door closed behind them and Diegels grip loosened immediately. "I'm sorry 'bout the C'ptain kid. E's had a hard life. 'E was born in the slums of Nar Shaddaa where 'e learned what survival of the fittest really means, me thinks. But, 'e pays well and that's what matters to me, hahaha."
Anakin never did care much for Toydarians, but Diegel was alright. While he did talk a little funny, Anakin guessed that basic wasn't his first language. "I saved him, this ship and the entire crew. He's just jealous I can pilot his own ship better than him."
They passed by some other members of the crew, grim men bickering over a game of Sabacc.
"Haha, ya might be right 'bout that kid, where'd ya learn to fly like that, eh?" Diegel asked.
Turing to his left Anakin descended a latter which led to the lower levels of the ship. Of course Diegel just hovered down. It must be nice to have wings.
"I started off podracing. I won the races at Bunta Eve and Tallons Valley. They said I was the only human that could do it. But there were plenty of other human racers, what they meant was I was the only human that could win." Anakin said with pride. "Of course, I've of flown loads of ships after that. I..."
"Podracing, eh, that's very fast, very dangerous. But not as dangerous as evading a Republic Enforcer me thinks. Haha, what did yer parents think of t'is racing?"
"My father didn't know, I would sneak off of the farm at night. I never was good at much. My dad was always disappointed in me. 'Why don't you get your head out of the sky and do your chores like your brother' he'd say. But flying, that was different. Flying to me is as easy as walking." Anakin wasn't really sure why he said all that. He hadn't talked about his family since he had been sold into slavery. It felt good, even though it hurt.
From his side, Diegel was looking down intently at him. " p'haps that's why they call ya Skywalker, eh?" He sped up and took the lead.
"No." Anakin said shaking his head "that was my... I mean, yeah, haha, that must be it." He couldn't speak any more about his past life, it was too painful.
"Haha, well one t'ings for sure kid, ya can fly better 'an me and anyone else I'ver saw. Ur pop would be proud!" Diegel said from in front. He had a kind heart Anakin thought. Just then Anakin got shoved into the wall by another member of the crew that was passing by.
"Watch where you're going slave." The man wore an oiled Bantha skin coat. Anakin had spent the entirety of the journey, thus far, locked in the cockpit, so he didn't know the other members of the crew. It was too bad that more smugglers didn't share Diegel's redeeming qualities.
"Well 'ere we are kid." Diegel exclaimed as they reached the cargo hold. Anakin stepped inside, the room was freezing. The residual effects of being open to the vacuum of space no doubt. "Take 'is" Diegel said handing Anakin a few ration bars from a pack strapped to his side. "We need ya ta be strong cas' the republic show up again, eh. By t'e way, t'e lock on t'e cargo bay doors 'asn't worked for years, eh, haha." With that Diegel, pressed the controls to close the door, rotated in mid-air and flew back up the corridor.
Voooom, the door slid shut in front of Anakin. But he wasn't about to spend the rest of hyperspace flight in the cargo bay. He unwrapped one of the ration bars and attacked it viciously, he was starving. Once he was finished he stuffed the rest in his hip pocket. It sure was nice of Diegel to give him some food, Anakin thought. He then looked at the controls. The door showed that it was locked, but something felt off about it. Anakin placed his hand on the control panel and closed his eyes. Sometimes when he concentrated he could feel the connections in machines, follow the pathways of electricity and see what they did. It was a game he liked to play. Sometimes he would change the pathways. How? He had no idea, but it seemed to work and it was fun to play.
There... the lock indicator light was displayed, but the mechanism was never engaged which means the door wasn't even locked. Anakin pressed the button to open it, but nothing happened. He concentrated harder. It seemed the circuit connected to this button was blocked by the a fail safe system on the lock. The button on the other side of the door was a different story, however. Anakin tried to visual it. Electronically, a button was just a switch, he imagined the switch being closed and the energy surging through the circuit. Woosh, the door opened. How about that, Anakin thought, it actually worked. He looked down the corridor to make sure no one had heard, but the halls were empty. The cargo doors were located near the bowels of the ship. No one stayed down here unless they had to. As stealthily as he could Anakin crept out of the hold and shut the door behind him. It would be pointless to go back towards the cockpit. He would be sure to run into someone. So his only option was to go deeper into the ship, maybe he could find some more circuits to play with.
The corridors here were even darker than the ones on the upper level. Anakin could barely see where he was going, so he moved slowly. The hall turned sharply to the left. But Anakin's eyes were drawn to the right where an open escape pod lay waiting. All of a sudden, a moment of clarity rushed over him. In his mind's eye, he saw himself entering the pod and blasting away from the ship, breaking the chains of his servitude, and flying into a life of freedom and adventure. Just as quickly as it had come, the feeling vanished and his senses returned to him. Even if he could override the safety mechanisms that prevented the escape pod from ejecting in hyperspace, the journey would be suicide. As soon as he left the negative energy barrier produced by the ship the pod would either be torn apart by unimaginable forces, or be thrust into real space light seconds form a star or parsecs away from the nearest system. None of those scenarios ended with freedom and they all would amount to a very short adventure. No, the escape pod, could not help him. But he made a mental note of its location just the same. He turned to the left and started down the corridor.
Midway down the hall, he came across a doorway. As he approached it opened automatically with the characteristic woosh. Anakin figured it was as good a destination as any, so he stepped through the door. Here the corridor narrowed, so that only one person could fit through. The door closed behind him and the room was thrust into darkness. He continued forward, strangely not the least bit apprehensive. At the end of the corridor, another door opened with an pressure wave of heat. The entire passageway immediately filled with a fluorescent blue light. Sweat prickled Anakin's brow, as a loud humming permeated the air. He passed through the doorway into what could only be the lower level of the engine room. Loose wires and tubes up to six centimeters in diameter hung from the ceilings and walls. His steps made loud clanking sounds on the grated floor. But it was the center of the room that attracted his attentions. Standing about one and a half meters tall and two meters long was a beautiful machine, streams of light striped its side and the whirring sound grew louder as he approached. It seemed to pulsate with energy. Anakin placed his hand on top of it and again closed his eyes. The machine was immensely complex, it's circuitry was unlike anything Anakin had witnessed before. It was making computations faster than he could keep track of and produced a novel field of repulsive energy. This must be the hyperdrive Anakin thought, he had never seen one up close before, at least never when it was turned on. He tried to concentrated on the calculations it was making, most of it was chaotic nonsense to him. It seemed to be constantly indexing their point in hyperspace with the equivalent point in real space. From the trillions of computations emerged an image that filled Anakin both with relief and disappointment. The desert planet of Tatooine, his home.
"HEY what are you doing?"
The shout pulled Anakin immediately back to himself. Where was he? Images and memories of the YG-4210 freighter's engine room rushed back to him. He felt the warm metal of the hyperdrive under his hand and the radiant heat that emanated from it. Finally, he remembered. That was weird, he thought, he had rarely gone deep enough into a machine that he forgot where he really was. Just then he felt someone grab his coarse tunic and throw him against the far wall.
"So you were trying to sabotage the hyperdrive. I'll teach you a thing or too about meddling with things, slave!"
Anakin was sprawled out on the floor where he had unceremoniously landed after impacting the wall. He turned his head to see a familiar oiled Bantha skin coat. It was the same man that had pushed him in the hallway. He must be the engineer, which is why he passed by Diegel and Anakin on their way to the cargo hold. He was returning from the engine room. Apparently he decided to come back. The man came forward and grabbed Anakin by the neck slamming him into the wall, hard. Tubes and wires clanged against each other and pressed on Anakin's back.
"Do you remember me slave? Let me help you out." The man turned his head revealing an ugly burn scar that ran from his right eye across his head, where half his hair was missing and his right ear was little more than a decrepit hole. Anakin hadn't notice that before, but besides their little skirmish in the corridor, the man didn't look familiar. "This was the prize you gave me for winning second place at Bunta Eve. Do you remember when you pulled that stunt jumping over my podracer? I remember every time I look in the mirror." His grip around Anakin's neck tightened. Breathing became difficult as Anakin's esophagus closed and he began to gasp for air.
"By the Krayt gods, how I have dreamt of getting my hands on you. Imagine my luck when I ran into you in the hallway. Of all the smuggling ships leaving Tatooine, I must be the luckiest guy in the galaxy, or you are the unluckiest." His grip tightened more and Anakin's lung began to spasm, his vision blurred. What could he do, how could he get out of this? His hands clawed at the man's arms trying desperately to break his grip.
"I overheard you and Diegel talking, you used to live on a moisture farm, huh? Well perhaps once I'm done with you, I'll pay a visit to your family and...."
Anakin's hands tightened into fists as rage boiled inside of him poised to overflow. "NOOOOO!!" The man shot across the room and collided with the hyperdrive, with an audible crack. Anakin crumbled to the floor holding his throat and gasping for air. Where he found the breath to scream he did not know.
Once he had recovered Anakin looked up to where his attacker hit the hyperdrive. The mans body lay limp beside it, a large dent where he had impacted the machine. Suddenly the constant whirring and lights of the hyperdrive began to sputter and fade. The ship shook as it was thrown back into real space. Anakin could hear muffled shouting from above. A million thoughts raced through his mind: "What have I done? It was self-defense. The man deserved it anyway. Was he dead? I'm a murderer? I had no choice. What am I going to do know? The Captain's going to find out and kill me. I need to escape. But where?"
Then the image of the escape pod flashed before his eyes. It was the only way. He immediately, got up and sprinted towards the door. His body seemed to be running on autopilot, it knew where it had to go. Within seconds he was inside the escape pod. Now that they were out of hyperspace he didn't have to worry about being torn to shreds by the dimensional flux, but he still had no idea where he was. At this point none of that mattered. If he stayed on this ship he would surely be dead. He just hoped there was a nearby planet to land on. He pressed the emergency release button. The doors slammed shut behind him and the pod accelerated away from the ship with a burst of lightening speed. He never looked back.
