I have been a slave for most of my life, but it was not always so.
I was born on Nahtanoj, the first planet of the Lalande 4141 system. My memories of it are vague: just images of fields and trees and water. Almost everyone there was a farmer of some kind. My father grew up on a farm, but he had always dreamed bigger; he always looked to the sky.
Later he would tell me about the hard life of the farm, and about how he met mother in the city when delivering the grain. There was a star port in the city, and he would watch the ships coming and going. They would appear as shooting stars that would glow bright blue and stop abruptly as they came out of supercruise, and then gently fall into the lights of the city. My father told me that it was his destiny to fly in those ships and see things that he had only dreamed about.
He worked hard, selling grain and vegetables for the ships to take to other systems. By the time I was born he had managed to save enough credits to study Astro Navigation, and was halfway to buying an old Hauler.
One of my earliest memories is lying on a back seat in the cabin of the Hauler with my mother and father sat up front. There were lights of every colour flashing past the spacesheild. I remember wanting to look up at the pretty lights, but also wanting to lie down in the warm amber glow of the ship. I wanted to do both. Everything seemed magical to me back then.
But this soon became normal to me. We practically lived on the ship, trading all kinds of foods to the nearby system of Momus Reach. Momus Reach was a very different place to Nahtanoj. There were almost no green places there at all. The planet looked like a million candles as it emerged from the darkness of space. One endless city sprawled across its surface. I was always amazed at the sight as we came down through the brown clouds: sleek buildings of all shapes and sizes protruded from the neon smog, and transports flashed and glistened as they buzzed in a thousand directions.
We sold the foods for a decent profit, and loaded up with Hi-tech goods to ship back to Nahtanoj. That shiny stuff was always in demand back home. It was a good run, but our old hauler could only carry so much. My father always talked about getting a bigger ship. A few more runs and we would be there, he would say. Then we would hit the big time! Everything seemed perfect.
But things were about to change.
It happened on a return journey from Momus Reach. There was nothing unusual about the trip. We had done it a hundred times. But things were happening elsewhere that I was too young to understand. Sometimes I overheard my parents talking about politics - about the Empire. I didn’t really know what it was, but the way they spoke about it scared me. And you heard things from the kids at the spaceports: there had been stories of other haulers heading out and not coming back. But I never thought it would happen to us.
The first thing was the thud of something hitting the ship, and my mother calling to me to get into the cargo hold. ‘You’ll be safe there Leon. You’ll be safe. Stay there until I say. Now!’ So I did. I sat in the dark next to the stock, the ship rocking and reeling from more impacts, not knowing what was happening outside. Then there was a deafening bang followed by a whoosh, and I fell to the floor and felt the world spinning out of control.
I never saw my parents again.
All of that was a very long time ago. In my new life I was a slave. I was taken to many places, to many ships. All of it seemed the same to me. I slept in cramped cells and ate little, and I did whatever I was told or they hurt me. After some time - who knew how long - I ended up on an Empire Capital ship with no hope of escape. I cleaned and served drinks to fat well dressed men and women who would hit me for the slightest thing, or for nothing at all. I grew up like this. Keeping my head down; keeping my eyes open; but inside I burned to avenge my family. I learned bits of information as time went on. I learned the name of the ship and the commander that killed them. I kept the information deep inside, and waited, and waited. For ten years I waited for my chance.
Then one day the Federation arrived.
It was a tremendous battle. Thousands of ships swept around us in a chaotic maelstrom. The hull was breached in many places and many died about me. A huge blast came from the starboard, and the lights went out. As the emergency lighting flickered and stuttered, I took my chance. I knew the corridors of the entire ship as I knew my own face. Long years of forced service had ingrained it into me. But all of that hate turned into hope as I raced through the ship, sure footed, no guard able to stop me.
I found myself at the nearest hanger. It was half-smashed to bits, with the debris of ships scattered across the floor. Everyone there was dead or dying. Amongst the carnage I saw a Sidewinder that looked mostly undamaged. I climbed up to the cockpit and found a dead pilot slumped over the controls. As I pulled him out of the seat and dropped him to the floor of the hangar, a one hundred credit note slipped from his jacket. I caught it, and stuffed it into my pocket.
I stared at the dashboard. I didn’t understand half of the blinking lights and controls, but I could work out the basics from my distant memories of the Hauler. I fired her up, and put my hand around the flight stick for the first time. First priority was to get the hell out of there. My initial effort sent the ship strafing at high speed into the remains of a Cobra. Gently, gently, I said. This is your chance. Concentrate, commander.
The Sidewinder lifted into the air and hovered, facing the hangar entrance. Through it I could see beam lasers flashing and the curdling smoke trails of ships. Where was the forward thrust? Maybe the red button on the stick? I pressed it (what I now know as the boost button) and shot forward at a terrifying rate. Whaooa!! The ship began to veer towards the wall of the docking bay, I fought the stick to centre her, and just managed to slip though.
The battle raged about me. There were several Federation Capital ships and thousands of fighters. It looked like they were winning. Thanks for helping me fellas, but I was going my own way now. I turned the unfamiliar ship away from the battle and hit boost again. This time it felt good as I was pressed into the back of the seat. Through the space shield I could see a planet drift by, blocking out the spine of the Milky Way and the bright stars, and all around me the blackness of space.
I was free.
I had a ship and I had 100 credits, and I knew almost nothing of the Galaxy, or even of my ship. But I had a name. I was commander Leontocephaline. And another name that I had thought about for so many years was calling me. Somewhere out there in the galaxy I knew I would find him, and kill him.
Marcadores