Empire's Child

Chapter 31

Ugh. I press the handles of the speederbike forward and it speeds up. I turn off of the main road, speeding across the yellow grass. My forearm burns. The red skin that lines my arm sends pain through my arm whenever I move it. Stupid Inquisitor. Why did he need to test my fighting skills? I've been training with my father for the past three years, of course I've improved. He probably just wanted to hurt me. My arm throbs again.

Well, his mission succeeded, I guess.

But screw him, I have my first meeting with the rebels today and a small burn isn't going to stop me. Hopefully they'll let me stay for a few days while I'm supposed to be out looking for the Imperial spy.

Me, in other words. I'm hunting myself.

It was slightly funny to see them raging about how Fulcrum must be some kind of mastermind or something. They really have no idea that Fulcrum is the fourteen-year-old nodding along beside them. I halt the speederbike and pull out my hidden comlink. It's easier to just have two separate ones, one for the Empire and one for the rebels. But plus, no one looks in my boot for hidden comlink. I turn it on. A second of static.

"Yes?" The voice is heavily modulated.

"It's, uh, it's Luea. I gave you the information about the kyber crystal." I might not have needed to remind them, but it won't do any harm. Probably. "Do you have room on your ship for one more? Just for a few days," I ask, leaning back. My back is sore, and I'd like to crack it.

"Yes. What happened?" I sit up straight and chuckle.

"I'm supposed to be hunting myself," I say, "and I can't really do that." There's a moment of silence. They're either rolling their eyes or chuckling.

"Well, that should be interesting," they say.

"Yeah," I agree, "Interesting. Anyway, I'm coming up on your position. ETA an hour. Just wanted to let you know." I hang up and start the engine. The bike is just picking up speed when a Loth-cat jumps out of the grasses, landing right between the two blasters on the bike. It hisses, puffing up, and jumps off, sending the bike spinning out of my control. I slam on my brakes, trying to stop before it explodes. "No, no, no!" I mutter as the bike's front slams into the ground. I realize it's a lost cause just in time to leap away before the bike is engulfed in a fireball. If my hair hadn't been in a tight braid, I probably wouldn't have much left.

I can't catch myself and I crash onto the hard ground. I land on my burnt arm (of course) and have to bit my lip to keep from screaming. Dirt and rocks and bits of spiky grass rub against the skin, getting inside the cracked skin.

After I finally stop rolling, I turn onto my back and lay on the ground for a second, fighting the urge to scream. In anger, not pain. My burn isn't hurting at this moment. Ugh, the cosmic Force is probably laughing at me right now. I roll to my right side and sit up. My bike is in ruins, smoldering in the grass. It hasn't started a fire yet, by some miracle, but it probably will soon. The flames are small enough I can stomp them out. Wait, no, I have water. I can just use that. I keep my left arm pressed against my chest as I stand. Using my right hand I unclip my canteen from my belt and pour a bit over each tiny fire. It ends up using the entire bottle.

I look around. The Ghost isn't anywhere in sight and the sun is nearly setting. I groan and start to walk. An hour and a half on speederbike is nearly seven hours on foot, possible more when every step sends a jarring pain through my arm, even when I keep my steps as smooth as possible. I grit my teeth and keep walking toward the meeting coordinates. I think I'm going in the right direction. At least the burn is cauterized. At least I'm not losing any blood.

Much later, after the sun has gone down and the stars are out, I have to sit. I ran most of the time, and it's been long enough that I should be able to at least see the peaks the ship is hidden in, but there's nothing in any direction.