Phoenix - Ghosts of the Past

II

4th - 5th, Month Aurek, 6 AFGE

The Phoenix was in hyperspace, two days into the journey. I was sitting on my chair on the bridge, reading the history of the old Sith Empire. Surprisingly, the republic symbol post-Russan Reformation is almost the same as the Imperial Crest of the Sith Empire. Truly, it looks like the Sith had been influencing the republic for a long time, Sidious was only placing the final stones in place.

'How long until we reach Nal Hutta?' Ellis asked, walking into the bridge.

I glanced at the terminal, 'Around 17 hours.' I answered.

'Good, thanks.' He turned around and left.

A while later, I heard two sets of footsteps entering the bridge.

'What could I do for you?' I asked, as I heard another set of footsteps stop just outside the bridge.

'You could pass over your weapon, the codes for this ship and the droid.' Ellis growled; at the same time a barrel poked my head.

These people had just given me an excuse to kill them, they really have no clue how much time they had just shaved off their life. Oh well, I'll abide by their request. I slowly stood up and face my assailants, slowly passed over my blaster to the big man. Both relaxed when I was 'unarmed', fools. In the background, I saw that slave girl holding a vibroblade, attempting to sneak up on them. This one still has that fire in her, good. I thought. I like that.

'Pass over that decoration on your belt too, I want it.' Ellis said. Perfect.

I reached out with the sabre emitter first towards Ellis, and he eagerly reached out to take it from me. Now you will die. Ellis gave a choked gasp as a yellow blade tore through his chest and out the side; before the other guy could bring his blaster to bear on me, his head was rolling on the ground. The Twi'lek stood in shocked silence, only to be broken by the ping of her blade slipping from her hand and falling to the ground. I looted the bodies and found the deactivation codes for the girl's implant and collar, walked up to the girl and tilted her head up to look at me.

'What's your name?' I softly asked.

That snapped her out of her trance. 'What do you want with me?' She demanded.

I inputted the deactivation code to the remote and took off the collar. 'Nothing.' I smiled at her. 'You could take everything these two owned,' I gestured to the bodies, 'I just want my payment, as agreed.'

'Really?' She asked, her eyes shining, hope leaking into her force signature. Just as I hooked my sabre back on my belt, she tackled me in a hug. 'Thank you!'

My body stiffened, 'I could drop you off at whatever planet you want.' I said, swiftly disengaging myself from her.

'Could I stay? As your crew? I don't really have anywhere to go.'

'You sure? You just saw me kill two people in seconds.'

'Absolutely. About these two? They deserved it.' She said, 'Oh and are you a Jedi?'

'Nope.' I'm not going to spill my life story to some random person who I don't really know.

'Okay...' She glanced at me, obviously doesn't believe me, but was wise enough to not keep asking.

'Now you're my crew, your first duty is to clean up this place while I get rid of the bodies.' With that, I dragged the various body parts out with the force to the airlock, throw them in and blast them into the empty void of hyperspace, to be forever lost.

I knocked on the former slave's door. 'You still haven't told me your name yet, care to enlighten me?' I asked.

The girl squeaked, turned around, pressed her back to the wall, saw it's me, then relaxed. 'Kriffing hell! Don't scare me like that!'

I raised my eyebrows at her.

'Alright alright, I'm being dramatic. The name's Siny'aziveri, but just call me Sinya.'

'Sure.' I turned and started to leave.

'Er... I still don't know your name.'

'It's Aaliyah Rivera. By the way, do you know how to use a blaster?' I looked back at her.

'I've been a slave since birth, so no.'

'Alright, follow me, I'll teach you.' During the clone war, I asked one of the clones in my master's company to teach me the art of using blasters, out of sight of Cere, of course. Now those skills would be vital to keeping me under the Empire's scanners. After all, I can't just whip out my sabre anywhere if I want to keep the inquisitorius off my tail.

We waked to the main cargo hold, where there were some crates lying around. I pulled my blaster out and started teaching.

Hours later, Sinya had already grasped the basics of blaster maintenance and usage. For someone who had never touched a blaster before, she was a surprisingly good shot. That skill will come in handy.

The Phoenix dropped out of hyperspace near Nal Hutta. T7 plugged in as the navigator and Sinya sitting on the engineering console. I had also been teaching her a little bit about starships, but it's like trying to teach a bull to climb a tree: utterly improbable.

'Well,' I said, 'we'll be docking at Nar Shadda, instead of Nal Hutta. There're more jobs there.'

Nar Shadda was thriving as ever. No big surprise. Soon after the ship was docked, we set out to find a bite.

After lunch, we headed out to the market. We planned to at least find a blaster for Sinya and perhaps one that I could intergrade into T7's systems. After all, there was a blaster mount on T7, it would be a waste not to use it. The market district was a pretty good mishmash and there was all type of shops everywhere, from arms and armour to holocommunicators; from stims to food stalls. Hell, I even saw a stall selling paper books. I told Sinya to find herself a new blaster and some cloths while T7 and I went to find some offensive upgrades for the little droid. As we walked through the market, I saw a stall selling A-180 blasters. With how configurable that blaster was, I bet I could seamlessly intergrade it into T7's mount. It also packs a punch, nice. The stall also had durasteel lined vests that can go under normal clothing. Some extra protection was always welcomed.

T7 and I met up with Sinya back at the cantina. Sinya was now outfitted with a leather jacket and grey pants, with a bag of clothing in one hand. She had gotten herself an EE-4 carbine, clipped to her belt. All in all, she looks like your normal hauler, ready for the job. And a job we did get. It was a hauling job to Alderaan, accompanied by the cargo owner, a middle-aged human female that looks every bit the Alderaanian. So off we go after refuelling.

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Ali found a friend, how cute (don't tell her I said that, I would probably disappear in the midnight, never be seen again)

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Lucas H. Y. Tong, out.