SWG FanFic

Rain scudded off the flat rooftops, boiled into gutters and poured out onto the streets of Theed, as if the clouds were trying to fill the town to the brim, like some bizarre, ornate bathtub.

Running from the starport doors across to the arcaded buildings on the opposite side of the square, the young pilot was soaked to the skin before he was halfway. By the time he reached the comparative shelter of the brick archways his flightsuit hung shaplessly, making him look more like a stump legged shapaut than a man.

Sloshing his way along the pavement he could smell the cities dirt being rinsed off buildings, roads, people. The birds which normally sang in the trees dotted around the square huddled high up in the brickwork, spattering him with their compliments to man and all his works. At least the rain would rinse the mess out of his hair before he rounded the corner at the bank and entered the cantina by the back door.

Standing in the foyer he steamed as water ran out of his sodden garb, pooled on the floor around him and was vacuumed up by a modified MSE droid, the sludgy brown water filling a tank precariously mounted on it's back. As the miniature janitor tended to keeping the entrance to the cantina free, or mostly free of rainwater the pilots eyes adjusted to the dull misty lighting in the buildings interior picking out general shapes in the mass of bodies, then identifiying species, faces, individuals and finally... friends!

"Ath!! Where in the galaxy have you been?" a large, unshaven man boomed at him as he slid down into the seating are near the bar. "We've been watching for you for days..." Pale blue grey eyes scanned his features, eyes like his own, steady in their gaze, sharp and somehow seeing 'beyond' just what was in front of them.

"Father..." he began, his voice cracking, "Dad... it was terrible. I never want to see that again. They came to the vill..." his face turned down to the table, his voice trailed into a whisper. He seemed to be crying silently but his father knew the signs, felt the anger building in the young mans frame and, as his son's hands grapsed the edge of the table, the face turned up, white with rage, teeth set, eyes blazing he was already stepping into the line of sight of the two Imperial troopers who had just walked into the bar. "Quiet lad, now's not the time, nor the place... Quickly, put my robe over your suit, it'll raise too many questions..."

The boy seemed, for a moment, to be on the verge of yelling out then paused, grasped the heavy hooded robe from where it lay along the backs of the bar seating and quickly pulled it over his flightsuit, flicking the hood up so it hid his features in shadows. The light of the cantina caught his eyes, now narrowed and determined as the two men casually moved towards the exit of the cantina keeping their faces averted from the troopers while trying to act as casually as possible.

Up the two steps, into the short corridor, and straight into an Imperial non-com, a recruiting sergeant of all people. "Hah, young man, have you considered a career with the Imperial Navy? All loyal citisssssssss" There was a gurgle, then the sergeant slowly slumped against the wall, slid down till he was sitting on the floor, a puzzled look on his face, mouth moving as if to finish words which were being drowned out as blood bubbled up into his mouth and also out from the small slit in his throat just on the Adams apple.

"MOVE! NOW!" the younger man growled at his father and both figures bolted for the door. The MSE droid turned and, with barely a bleep of protest began clearing the spreading puddle of blood from the floor. The sergeants mouth, still now, formed a silent red scream, his eyes focused on the nevermore.

"You damn fool... they'll come after us, they'll clear the town looking for us..."

"Then I need to be seen somewhere else and you need to be away. Take mother, go to Talus, meet me at the old Ranger station in two days time. If I'm not there, well, if I'm not there I'm nowhere."

Father and son stood in the shadows, held each other, looked into each others faces, then, silently, both nodded, stepped apart and quickly moved through the arcades and backstreets, each heading in his own direction, mirror images of each other in so many ways.