LONELY STARS | A Star Wars Story

S E V E N

    "My arm is cramping," Rela mumbles.
     "The Tie is right up here," I assure her.
     This prisoner is still passed out from the stun. But, the trouble is, we have to carry him all the way back to the ship. I'm in front, rapping my arms around his chest, struggling. Rela is behind me to the left, carrying his legs.
After we stunned him, we took a good look at him. Dark black, ruffled hair, a loose tan jumpsuit, and a blue long sleeved jacket. There was also a cut in the corner of his forehead, and I lifted his hair up. There were two scars, the smaller one hidden by his hair. I wondered what they were from.

Once we get by where the fight occurred with the Stormtrooper Captain, BD is behind a crate, waiting.
     "There ya are, buddy," I smile at him.
     He beeps and boops profanities back.
     I reach down and pat his head, still struggling with the weight.
     Well, he looks rough, BD remarks, climbing onto my shoulder.
     "So, what are you going to do with this guy? Just turn him into Keeda?" I ask Rela. She's been quiet walking back to the Tie Fighter.
"I guess. That's how I get paid," she laughs.
"Well, Yeah.. what do you think he meant by 'Utap wants to kill me?'"
     "Utap is a crime lord. Pretty much like the Hutts, but thinner. He wants a lot of people dead. But it's not our problem- worrying about these people's personal issues with him."
     I nod. But still- I sense something about him. As Jedi, sure, that's all we say, but it's true. In the pit of our stomach, we get a feeling. It grows stronger as if something bad is about to happen. We can just feel it.
     We know.

"How are we all going to fit in the Tie?" Rela points out once we are standing back in front of it. The snow is pelting down harder this time. The top of BD's head is covered in a layer of it.
"I don't know. Can Utap send a ship to pick us up?" I ask her, again shifting the weight of the prisoner.
"He wouldn't do that in a million years."
BD beeps from on my back.
"What is it?"
A blizzard is possible in about four hours. "Of course it is,"
"Why don't we set up camp for a little while? Then we can figure out what to do." Rela suggests.
And that's what we decide, for now. BD hops into the Tie Fighter, afraid his joints might freeze. If me or Rela got cold, we would go in the Tie to warm up. Other than that, Rela, the prisoner and I were out in the snow. We dug though some snow and made a make-shift tent. It was a wall of snow and a slight covering over the top made of more packed snow. We set the prisoners' body (still recovering from the stun) laying against the back of the wall. I sat with my back against it, and Rela said she could stand watch, and didn't mind if I shut my eyes for a little while.
At first I had too much on my mind- who was this prisoner? How will we get off of this planet? Will we get off of this planet? And what was going to happen once we turn him into Utap? What will Rela do? Where will I go?

I calmed myself, patted my lightsaber, and closed my eyes.

Whirr. Whirr. WHIRR.

I turned left, then right, trying to get comfortable against the back of the snow wall.

WOOSH.

The sound got louder. And louder.

My eyes flutter open.
Rela- is that Rela?- someone runs up to me, gets closer and closer-
"I'm gonna need this," it is Rela. She points at my lightsaber.
"Why-"
She looks up at the sky, now dark, snow still bucketing down on us. Her face shows concern.
"No time to explain." She grabs it and runs away from me. I stand up, and run after her, but she stops ten feet ahead of me. I stop too.
I hear the whirr sound again, getting louder and louder. Rela, still staring up at the sky, ignites the saber and points it up as high as she can.
I run up beside her. "What are you do-"
"Look!" She exclaims, pointing upward. A large starship is flying across the sky. Rela waves the lightsaber around in the air. The ship slows down, right overhead of us.
"You're using it as a beacon,"
     "Of course I am! What- you thought I would take your lightsaber and run off?" She smiles and starts laughing. I, on the other hand, am not amused. I grab the lightsaber from her and switch it off, putting it back in my belt.
     "What the hell? You can't just point a lightsaber in the sky for everyone to see!" I angrily walk back to camp.
     Rela runs up behind me. "I was trying to help, okay? I just-"

The ship overhead makes an ear-piercing SCREECH! as it lands on the snowy ground. It was large, bigger than most ships I had seen, but it must've been old. BD, hearing all the noise, hops out of the top of the Tie and scurries up my shoulder. Rela and I stand in front of the ship, awaiting whoever would emerge from the inside. Let me say this- it was not what I expected at all.
The first people to walk out were two soldiers, dressed in earthy tones, with helmets and masks covering their faces. They were aiming at us with assault rifles, slowly coming down from a ramp that stretched out of the starship. We stepped back too, and placed our hands on our weapons.
The soldiers were anxious- ready to fire-
"That will be unnecessary!" A deep, male voice says from the inside of the ship. A younger Mon Calamari with dark scaly skin and large eyes bulging from the sides of his head trudges down the ramp and stops in between the two soldiers. He waves a hand to them, and they lower their weapons to their sides. The Mon Calamari clears his throat. "We are here to save you."
"Who is we, exactly?" Rela asks. There is a lot of confidence in her voice.
"Admiral Raddus of the Rebellion, here to help," he says with his raspy voice.
The Rebellion.
"How do you know we need saving? And why would anyone come to this planet?" Rela asks.
"I could say the same to you about why you are here," the Admiral remarks. "And, as to why we know you'd be here, and need saving: I don't know much about religions in this galaxy, about peacekeepers or other things. But I do know we have a mission to search for Jedi, and I believe there's one right... there," he points his webbed finger at me.
Mission? Why would they want to find Jedi at all? No one believes we're peacekeepers anymore.
"There's no hope for a lost Jedi," I say to him, a sad tone in my voice.
"Yes, but you are not lost. You aren't alone."
"There are more?" I say, breathless. More Jedi. Some of them survived.
"Of course there are. Now, it was said there would be a Galactic War sometime in the future, and the future is dawning on us. Let us get to Base before we start to rot on this filthy planet," Raddus suggests, walking up the ramp, his soldiers following.
I stop. This old ship was supposed to save us? Save me? Galactic War?
     Rela started towards the ramp. She turned to see I hadn't moved. "Coming, Jedi?"
     "No." I answered without hesitation. "No. I don't know who those people are."
     "I don't either," Rela says, "but riding in that thing would be way better than trying to fit three people and a droid in a Tie Fighter."
     I sigh, but decide maybe she is right.
     Maybe this is how my new life starts.

We grab the prisoner and lug him up the ramp, but Rela thought it would be wise to not tell them about Utap Keeda. I thought she was probably right, so when Raddus and twenty other Rebels saw us setting down a man who looked dead onto their floor- we said we found him just laying out in the open, and didn't want him eaten by Wampas.
"He's probably some random guy," Rela points out to the other Rebels, watching us.
"He's not," a man speaks out. "That's Vex's brother, right Kiip?"
A towering Wookiee roars and nods his head.
"Well, Vex'll be happy," a woman smiles. "Thank you for your kindness." She nods at me and Rela. Guilt washes upon us. We nervously smile.
"So much for your job," I whisper to Rela when no one is paying attention.