Heated

2

Day 1 on StarFighter:

Dread creeped down my spine as I felt the vibrations of the space shuttle slow down and come to a halt. We have landed on the docking bay of Starfighter. My new life starts here.

Anxious thoughts ran through my mind. What if Lord Vader kills me just based on first glance or what if life on the spacecraft is worse than life on Tatooine.

"Welcome to the Starfighter," A clone trooper said, breaking me from my thoughts. The door slowly opened and a ramp lowered, revealing a large open hanger with other space shuttles lining the walls. How big was Starfighter if this was only the hangar?

Following the trooper, we step out of the shuttle. He grabs my wrist and slaps a black device into the palm of my hand. 

What is it? I look up at him in confusion. 

"This is your commlink, we use it to communicate with each other," He informs me.

Too scared to speak, I just nod my head in response. 

The same trooper gripped my arm again and I let him, not wanting a repeat of earlier. The pain of his slap earlier, still stings my cheek.

He drags me to a station with a large screen displayed, then picks up a metal syringe, without warning he plunges it into my forearm and draws blood with it and I flinch and pull back.

"Ouch, a warning would've been nice."

He just scoffs and hands me a tablet.

"Write down your name, height, weight, and birthday," then step on that scanner.

With shaky hands, I do as he says and put down my information then allow my body to be scanned.

"Staff quarters are this way, and I'm only telling you this once so hopefully that brain of yours can remember," I mentally scoff at that rude comment. Is everyone on this ship a dickhead like this guy?

After going through a maze of corridors, we approach a metal door and he taps a red button to the left of it, and it slides open, revealing a dark room with a metal clothing rack, a twin-sized bed with one blanket and one pillow, a mirror, and one small circular window looking out at the black void of space.

Well, it's definitely... a room. Only slightly better than my hut at home. Wait- no. This was my home now. I walk in and flip the switch on and a small faint light flickers illuminating only 50% of the room, leaving the rest to the shadows.

"Someone will be here in ten minutes to retrieve you and give you your first objective."

Anxiety pricks at my brain overcoming a wave of nausea, I feel like I need to throw-up.

"Wait! Where's my bathroom," I ask with panic, as my stomach churns.

He chuckles as if I said something funny, "Everyone on this wing shares the bathroom down the hall," and with that he stomps away, leaving me a shaking ball of nerves.

I walk down the dimly lit hallway covered by metal walls, lit by sconces, into the bathroom.

Oh gods.

Two stalls. A row of sinks. And a row of showers barely hidden behind curtains. I really hope this is the female wing.

As if the universe had comedic timing, cue the laughter right now.

A tall older man, in an all black uniform walked in. His eyes landed on me and his eyebrows raised at the sight of me.

"Now who might you be?" There was no malice in his voice, but the way his gaze eyed me up and down like I was meat, made me want to cower away.