The Life and Times of Jarik Solo

Chapter 11

Walking as briskly as he could without attracting attention, Jarik headed towards...well really, he wasn't sure where he was going. All he knew was that he needed to get  as far away from Xaver, Xista, and their armed friends as possible. 

 He was lost in his thoughts of betrayal and escape-that is, until he walked headfirst into a wall that felt suspiciously like durasteel.

Cursing himself for his inattentiveness, Jarik rubbed his throbbing head and prepared himself to keep walking, when sudden flashing lights above his head caused him to look up towards a holosign.It was a holosign that read 'Cargo Ships and Heavy Freighter Loading Dock'. There was even a convenient arrow pointing directly to the left of where Jarik was standing.

If it was a loading dock, then chances were that the pilot and any crew would be off the ship...and with their hands full. What better opportunity was there to grab a ship and hightail it off this dumb planet?

A wide grin split Jarik's face. If he was a Jedi, he might even have taken it as a sign from the Force. Right now, though, he was just thanking the gods of spaceport signage that he had gotten this lucky. 

Forgetting any notions of being inconspicuous, Jarik all but sprinted towards where the sign was pointing, once again pushing people and droids out of the way. 

As it turned out, it wasn't a very long run to the loading dock. Everywhere Jarik looked, there were ships, that in Jarik's opinion were ready to be grabbed. One in particular, though, caught his eye. Fairly small for a cargo ship, it was sleek silver with the name 'Sky Princess'  etched on the side in curlicue lettering. Even better, the crew, a pudgy middle aged human man and and a droid so old that Jarik couldn't even tell what kind of droid it was, stood quite far away from the ship, apparently having some kind of issue with the spaceport personnel. 

He couldn't believe his luck! Not for the first time today, Jarik wondered if he truly did have the Force with him. Quickly brushing away the thoughts, Jarik reprimanded himself for being so off track at such a crucial moment. He needed to formulate a plan before Xaver's guards caught up with him.

With a determined nod of his head, Jarik made up his mind...and ran as fast as he could towards the ship's ramp, and, with a deft leap, jumped over the boxes of cargo that were spilled in front of the ramp. 

Unfortunately, he didn't quite land on his feet. His knees and hands hit the platform first, creating a louder thump than he wanted to. Both the droid and the ship's captain snapped their heads towards him. Jarik gave them a somewhat guilty smile, before scrambling to his feet and making his way into the ship. Once inside, he frantically searched for the button that would close the ramp. He was nearing full-blown panic, when he finally saw the switch, placed inconveniently near the floor . He dove for it. 

As the ramp closed, the last view he saw of the spaceport was the pudgy man running-more like waddling-towards his ship, shouting some less than nice phrases while he did so. Jarik finally allowed himself to grin. He may have have succeeded here, but he still had work to do. 

Pushing himself off the ground, Jarik rushed into the cockpit. As he made all the necessary preparations for takeoff, Jarik wondered where he was going to go now. He obviously couldn't go straight to Imperial Center now, especially not with a stolen ship and no cargo. Jarik racked his brain for a solution. Another planet that was just as crime-filled as Nar Shaddaa...Tatooine! Any Hutt controlled planet was sure to be just as bad as the Hutt moon, and from what he'd heard about Tatooine, it was the perfect place one could go to disappear. 

 As he felt the Sky Princess rise into the air, he let himself relax for the first time in over a day. Goodbye Falleen Throne, he thought, and hello Tatooine! 

With that thought in mind, Jarik plotted Tatooine's hyperspace coordinates, and watched the sky around him fade to dark blue.