The Children of the Stars

The Hapes Cluster

"Of course it's the vents," Danni groaned. "Why is it always the vents?"

"Shh," Sam hissed. "We're getting close to the hangar. We don't want them to hear us!"

"Like they can hear anything over the sirens." He could practically hear her eyes roll.

He rolled his eyes back at her, before looking down through the slits. The new and improved chrome TIE-fighters were inside of the hangar, the stormtrooper-armored soldiers disembarking. But they were not the smiling helmets like the ones Sam's father had once worn. They had new scarlet markings in the shape that had become a cornerstone of post-Death Star Alderaanian culture— the crescent of an exploding planet.

Sam pulled out his multi-tool out of his pocket, and started on the bolts. Danni instantly reached out, grabbing the slats so that it wouldn't fall out of place until they were ready.

"We wait till they've left," he said. "Till they make their way to the bridge."

"That leaves their TIEs exposed—"

"—and we can jump in, I have one of those harnesses on my uniform—"

"—that's right, you do, for maintenance—"

"—and we can get down to safety—"

"—and escape to Silvanus!" Danni's eyes shined with excitement, like they did in the lab most of the time. "You're brilliant, Sam! I should kiss you!"

"Maybe let's save it till this is all over," Sam said, ignoring the rising heat in his cheeks. He looked down. They were almost out— the troopers, that is, although it would all most certainly lead to them being out, too.

"All right, they're gone," Danni said. She then dropped the grate with great force.

Sam pushed the crate after it, and it stopped its descent exactly two feet above the smooth durocrete floor.

Sam pocketed his multi-tool and handed her the end of the rope that came from a hidden compartment in his flightsuit. He then dropped down to the ground, landing solidly on his feet as Danni stuck the rope around a pipe.

She then started the drop down, Sam keeping a tight grip on the line, until he heard the sound of a stormtrooper's footsteps. In a lightning-fast gesture, he whirled out his standard-issue pistol, and fired— straight for the head.

Down the buckethead went.

Sam felt a surge of guilt— his father had been a stormtrooper, once. Even if the stormtroopers now willingly followed Darth Keera, weren't they still the same?

He didn't have time to think on that guilt for long, however, and heard a scream. He turned to see that he'd let go of the rope in his confusion, and Danni was plummeting.

There was no time for hesitations, for facades.

He reached a hand out, willing the molecules of air surrounding Danni to condense, to catch her. For the very nature of time to stop and bend to his will.

She was frozen, hovering about halfway from the floor to the ceiling shaft.

Before Sam could explain, there were more footsteps. Danni cried out a moment before Sam caught her again, straining to keep time itself and gravity at bay. He looked back to the open doors. There was a man in a silver and black uniform— merging the aesthetics of Alderaan and the First Order.

He felt an inexplicable drop in the temperature, as if he'd been dropped in an ice bath.

"So there is a Jedi on board," the man drawled. "My lady will be interested in this."