A Beacon for Drifters

Chapter 4

A/N: Happy Wednesday. Please don't hate me. Enjoy!

The warm colours of the house were as familiar as my heartbeat.

"Mum?" I whispered, staring in shock at the figure in front of me.

"Hi Sweetie. What's wrong?"

I just stepped forward and hugged her.

"Holly what is it?" She whispered into my ear.

"This- this isn't real. This is just a dream," I sobbed, burying my face in her shoulder.

I open my eyes and stare at the dark ceiling, tears streaming down my face. Reaching over, I grab my bear stuffie and hug it tightly to my chest as I continue silently crying. I've named her "Kate". Short for Kathleen, which was one of Mom's middle names.

"Kriffing life," Throwing my sheets off, I slam my hand onto the light control panel before neatly making the bed, carefully seating Kate on top of the pillow.

Shuffling to the refresher, I brush my teeth and take a quick shower before dragging myself to the kitchen, where I know Dad and Reo will be.

"Morning," I mumble, grabbing a breakfast bar and a juice box from the cupboard.

Neither of them mention my puffy, reddened eyes. It's happened to all of us over the past month. 

One month.

One month exactly since Dad came home from the hospital and told us that Mom wouldn't be.

Ever.

Reo and I were running errands with Boo. When we got back to the FireHawk, there was a holorecording on the table where Dad told us that Mom was in the hospital, and that we had to wait on the ship.

I hate waiting normally. I have no patience. Birthday presents? Give me them now! Dessert? Let's eat it right now!

So waiting for news about my Mom, from the kriffing hospital, was hell.

 When Dad got back he pulled bot of us into a huge hug before sitting us down on the couch and telling us what had happened.

He said that Mom had had a brain aneurysm.

I will never, ever  forget the way Dad's voice cracked when he told she wasn't gonna make it.

"We're out of eggs," the simple statement snaps me out of my frozen reverie.

"I'll take Boo and get some- I need to get some wiring to fix that lighting panel anyways."

"Can I come?" Reo asks as I shove my breakfast into my jacket pockets.

"No. I am not dragging you around while you stop to look at every weird rock and stick," fumbling around in the Important Drawer for a handful of credits which I also stuff into my pockets.

"Rocks are interesting!" my little brother objects, holding his spoon like he's gonna launch some of his cereal at me.

"Whatever. Love you,"  I give Dad a quick hug and Reo a kiss on the forehead- which he promptly wipes off- before heading for the ramp.

 "See you in a bit!" I call over my shoulder as I hurry through the ship. Whistling loudly, I wait at the bottom of the ramp until my- the family's droid rolls over and latches onto my back.

I hurry through the market, eager to get back to the Firehawk and fix the panel so I can continue trying to convince my Dad to join the Resistance.

After purchasing some eggs from a kind-looking Twi'lek vendor, I follow Boo to where she said she found the wire we need.

For once she was right. I buy the amount we need and a bit extra because, well, we break things a lot. Like a lot, a lot.

I also grab a packet of those artificial 'fruit' gummies  for Reo. You know, the ones that come in the 'natural' flavors of Bright Blue, Pink #1, Pink #2, Possibly Some Kind Of Berry and A Terrifyingly Bright Orange?

As I'm heading back to the ship, a loud commotion comes from up ahead, so naturally I head towards it. The really weird thing is that its sounds kind of like...

I turn the corner just in time to see a group of stormtroopers shoot my Dad and Reo.

And everything went all weird.

My mouth opened but no sound came out. I was completely, one hundred percent numb. It was as if I was watching everything happening from under two meters of water.

My feet pounded against the ground and within what seemed like seconds I was fumbling with the FireHawk's ramp controls.

Once I'm inside everything catches up with me and I collapse against the wall, curling into myself. My already labored breath catches in my chest as I cover my head with my arms. It's only from the wetness dripping onto my hands that I know I'm crying. 

Why?

What in the galaxy did I do to deserve this? What did they do to deserve this?

And now I'm alone.

Dad and Reo were all I had, and now they're gone.

Gone.

No.

I'm not alone.

I still have Boo.

Where is Boo?

"Boo?" I yell, stumbling to my feet. 

I rush through the ship, frantically checking every nook and cranny of each room and hallway. I can't have lost her too.

When I open the door of the cockpit, there she is, plugged into the ship. Flying it actually- we're in hyperspace. I didn't even realize we'd taken off. As I watch we drop out of hyperspace into what looks like the absolute middle of nowhere. There's no systems, no asteroids, no nothing on the scanners or out the cockpit.

"Boo? Where are we?" I ask, pulling myself into the pilot's chair.

She burbles a set of random coordinates.

"So the middle of nowhere?"

More or less. What are we going to do?

"I don't know."

Where are we gonna go?

"Boo for the last time I don't..." a crazy, reckless idea pops into my head , "...know."

"Do you still have that data card I gave you?"

_____________________________

When I plug the card into the Hawk text appears on the main holo display.

You are accessing an encoded channel. Please enter your name to continue.

H O L L Y _ D O V A I A _

"Here goes," I press enter.

The display turns green and the sound of the universe (by which I mean the static of an empty communication channel) fills the cockpit.

I press Record Message before saying clearly "Vi? This is Holly Dovaia. I'm ready," and setting it to loop on the channel until a reply comes in.

After a few minutes of staring out the cockpit into the stars a reply crackles through, "Good to hear from you, Kid. Where are you?"

"Floating around in the middle of nowhere. I can at the Outpost by tomorrow evening," I'm smart enough not to say 'I can be in Black Spire' or 'be on Battu'. That would just be stupid.

"Copy that. Someone will meet you in the alley. The passcode is 'Long live Zade'."

"Got it. Over and out."