Damn it!
Damn it all!
The battered panel, riddled with dents and cracks, tore loose from the rest of the console with a mournful screech and hit the floor.
Blood ran down my knuckles, pooling into small dark puddles beneath me.
I barely felt the pain, though.
I was that furious.
Rage hammered at my skull, demanding I do something, anything, right now.
Today I’d had to collapse the ceilings in several of the tunnels leading to my home.
The Hutt-damned clones kept creeping closer and closer to the entrance.
It was only a matter of days before they found their way in.
Breathing hard, I dropped into a chair and tried to calm down.
What kind of curse hung over my head?
The moment I let myself believe things might actually turn out fine, everything went sliding downhill at breakneck speed.
We were in the second week since the Galactic Empire’s founding.
Every system in the galaxy was churning — mopping up Separatist stragglers, rolling out new laws, launching new projects.
But all of that was nothing compared to the fact that the number of goddamn clone squads out here was growing exponentially.
The valley was crawling with them now.
These bastards were setting up camps, hauling in equipment — all of it, I was now certain, because of my lab.
I needed to get off this planet, and fast, before they rolled out a full-scale inspection of everyone and everything.
Lying low somewhere in the city was a terrible option.
Stories were spreading fast across the HoloNet about how the new government had started wiping out anyone who opposed it — and that included criminals.
One more punitive raid, and I could easily get swept up in it.
And if I stayed holed up here, they’d find me sooner or later regardless.
Selling off my stashed tech wasn’t going to work either.
Nobody on this planet had money before, and nobody had any now.
I certainly couldn’t sell it to the military.
That would get me charged with looting on the spot and shipped off to build mines or factories.
Which meant I had to unload the Jedi sword, and fast.
My base probably had less than a month left before someone found it.
“Master.” Han’s metal head poked around the doorway.
“Is it safe to talk to you yet?
Without risking my life, I mean.”
“Talk.
I promise I won’t throw any more hardware at you.”
The Bodyguard felt at a fresh dent in his chassis and edged toward me sideways, ready to leap out of the way at any second.
“May I continue my report, then?” He waited for my nod before going on.
“And what’s your point?”
“My algorithms recommend abandoning the base as soon as possible with our most valuable assets, then leaving the planet on the nearest available ship.”
“Right, and it doesn’t bother you that everyone knows exactly what a Separatist droid looks like?
Walk through a scanner and you’ll light up like a supernova.
Then they’ll melt you down for scrap.
Brilliant plan, my dear friend.”
“We would fly aboard a private ship.
They only inspect cargo, never passengers, and nobody’s paying much attention to either right now.”
“Well, that’s more sensible than your last idea.”
“As always, Master.
As always.”
“Fine.
Then let’s pack up and clear out of the base tonight.”
Packing didn’t take long.
I threw weapons, my most valuable instruments, a few ration packs, and the Jedi sword into a bag, and I was ready to go.
My droid loaded up the most valuable joints, memory cards, and other expensive droid parts he could carry.
Night had already claimed the surface, so nobody noticed two dark shapes slipping through the tall grass.
We reached the cache where the speeders were stored and finally set off.
Thick clouds hid the moon well enough; only the faint hum of the bikes could have given us away.
I stopped at the crest of a hill and looked back at the cave that led to our home.
The clouds parted for a moment, and the entrance lit up in bright white light.
I don’t know why, but I raised a hand, as if saying goodbye to the place.
It had genuinely become home over this stretch of time.
I hoped I’d get the chance to come back someday.
I turned and we sped off toward the city.
The moon slipped free of the clouds again and it turned bright as day.
A pleasant light washed over the whole valley for kilometers around.
The grass turned a deep blue, and it felt like we were skimming over some vast ocean, hiding something, luring something, drawing us in.
Stars glimmered overhead like fireflies.
If not for the tall grass, endlessly stirring in the light breeze playing between the hills, it could have passed for some gorgeous painting by an unknown artist.
Only the two dark shapes cutting across it disturbed the night’s calm.
Clone squads flickered into view on distant hilltops a few times, but luckily they never spotted us.
Once we reached the forest, we slowed down — dying because you rammed a tree at full speed wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to go.
Riding in this odd little convoy, we made it to the city without a hitch.
Low City sparkled with a thousand lights, turning night into day.
It had changed a lot since my last visit.
The rubble had vanished, replaced by rows of brand-new buildings.
Bars and dive joints had turned into proper restaurants and cafés.
People were strolling around calmly at night!
Nobody rushed anywhere, and cheerful laughter drifted through the air now and then.
Everyone was dressed modestly but clean and neat.
The homeless in their rags and tatters were gone, and I didn’t spot a single blaster barrel anywhere.
My home planet had changed so much under the Empire.
If Mom and I had lived in a city like this, she never would’ve had to sell herself to put food on the table.
I would’ve gone to school like every other kid, maybe even turned out to be some kind of genius.
I doubted the local curriculum was any harder than what I remembered from my old world.
Mom could’ve worked as a doctor, or a nurse.
We could’ve been happy.
My fists clenched on their own at the thought.
When I found Malik, I was going to cut him into pieces.
A couple of passersby flinched away from me, and then a cold hand landed on my shoulder — Han’s.
“Easy, Master.
You don’t want to draw unnecessary attention.”
“You’re right.
Thanks.
Although, you know what?”
“What?”
“You’re the one drawing a lot more attention than I am.”
“Can’t argue with that one.”
If I had to describe him in one word, he looked like a mummy.
A figure wrapped head to toe in a pile of rags, with a sack pulled over the top of it all to hide the shine of his metal chassis.
It worked, sort of, but honestly he probably drew more stares dressed like that than he would have bare.
Which meant we needed to move, and fast.
Not that I was any better off.
The only decent piece of clothing I had left was my pants — my shirt and jacket were worn through with holes.
When you basically live alone, you tend to forget you’re supposed to own proper clothes.
Warm enough, good enough.
So next to the clean, well-dressed city folk, I stood out just as much as he did.
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