"Rook, Bodhi. From Jedha City, Jedha, Sector Tarrabe-3," the official said, voice crisp and face blank as she tapped through his records. When he didn't say anything she glanced up, eyebrows raised. "This information is correct?"
"Oh!" If he straightened up any more, he was going to fall over as soon as she turned around. "Yes, it is. That's me." He tried for a smile, but in between his nerves and her stony expression, it fell flat immediately.
"It says here that you've had two marks on your record already. Gambling, and... unsafe operation of a speeder." Up her eyebrows went again, and the weight of her scrutiny doubled.
"Unsafe's a bit of an exaggeration, really... I just knocked over some crates, no one was hurt. It wasn't mine, either – I'd been repairing it, you know, for a client, and I'd started it up to make sure everything was working properly...." It dawned on him as his traitorous mouth kept talking that she didn't want an explanation, and Bodhi could already see his return to Jedha, out of a third of his savings from the shuttles to the Flight Academy and back, and his grandmother would be laughing bitterly in her grave –
"I was sixteen," he blurted out. "And it hasn't happened again. Er. Won't happen again, either."
"See that it doesn't. A third mark would disqualify you from our program."
"Yes, sir."
"You understand that completing the Imperial Flight Academy's program enlists you in the Imperial Military as a pilot?"
"Yes, sir. I want to fly – I always have." Why had he said that? Everyone probably said that. Pilots weren't just pressed into service off the streets, after all. But if she'd heard it a thousand times before, she gave no sign of it, just nodded and paged through a few more holographic displays. Bodhi shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hands clasped behind him. She hadn't said no yet, at least....
"Everything seems to be in order. Welcome to the Tarrabe Sector Flight Academy, Rook. Ensign Shan will brief you on the program's requirements and expectations, and show you to your assigned room and classes. Study hard, and you will go far." It was such a sudden approval that he was left blinking, not that she seemed to notice – she had a hand to her earpiece and was muttering orders.
"That's – that's it?" he asked, just to be sure. "I'm in?" The irate look he got was answer enough. "Thank you for your time," he said, and bolted for the door before she could reject him on the grounds of talking too much.
YOU ARE READING
Are You Brave?
Fanfiction"We can both get a chance to do the right thing." The days, months and years leading up to Bodhi Rook's defection from the Empire. Sometimes, you have to make a choice - or it will be made for you.
