A small gray room filled with war posters and school drawings on the walls was quite dull even with durasheet and cast-plast ships hanging from the ceiling over a small thin bed where a young pureblood child slept at. The only light that came inside wasn’t from the single bulb that acted as a star for the crafts up above. But the lightning that flashed into the room with every few minutes as rain pitter and patter against the windows.
The child slept soundly until the sounds of his mother pounding at his door and entered loudly as she flicked the light on. “Wake up, we’re going to miss our flight!” she snapped making the child jump in bed and shield his eyes as he nodded his head.
“yes ma’am.“ he answered back tiredly as he slowly sat up and nodded his head. “Be quick!” she shouted as she left the room as the sounds of baby crying came from the other room. She muttered something under her breath but left the room to tend to the young child leaving her oldest to get ready for the day. Bathing, changing and making himself look decent for a brisk walk in the slowly draining streets was easily done. Beating his mother into the kitchen he grinned and went to grab an extra slice of bread from the boxed loaf and hid it in his jacket before he started to prep himself a simple meal of bread, butter and jam.
“Do you wand bread mom?” he shouted as he gobbled down his meal quickly as he heard his mother’s foot steps coming towards him.
“No, and get your-” she said pausing as she spotted her son already ready to go. “Good put the bread up and lets get going.” she commented as she shifted the wrapped bundle a bit before walking towards the front door. “Come on come on.” she muttered as she held the door open for the boy to rush out nearly tripping on the drain step that kept the rain water from entering their home.
With the small family out the door they quickly blended in with the other families who rushed about to get through another hectic day of climbing up the ranks to their dream of one day escaping the lower ranks of the city and move past the clearance checks and ignored looks.
“Veint!” the mother shouted as she spotted that her son was going the wrong way. “Get back here!” she snapped as she stared at her son who ducked down his head and moved back to her side.
“Aren’t we going to school?” he asked as he looked at her confused only to have his hand snatched up and pulled along.
“Of course not we’re going to get the both of you tested again.” she said as she pulled her worried looking child behind her through the crowds.
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The lord was off planet and the trip was made in silent and with hoods drawn. Even the youngest child knew that it was best to remain silent on the trip even as someone tried to converse with them. Even once they touched down there was no ‘ohh’ or ‘ahh’ at the new colors or the plant life give on the planet. Sure a reaction was given when they had to stray into the front lines in their travels but upon reaching the camp they finally drew off their hoods.
“Back again I see?” Said the war hungry Sith who greeted the small family while he continued to look over his plans.
“Yes my lord,” The mother said bowing to the sith while making sure her oldest did the same. “I hope to see if my boys are worthy to carry on with our contract.” she smiled as she pushed her oldest ahead of her.
“Very well, Veint, you know the drill. Prove your worth.” the Sith said as he watched the child shivered lightly before stepping forward and pulling off the robe and setting it down. “As for the young one, hand him to me.” he said as he held his hand out.
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“You forsaken child, you couldn’t even do the simplest of things.” she snapped as she tugged Veint with her. “Your brother did better than you, your baby brother. The child who can’t even speak is better than you.” she ranted as her son just looked down at the ground as he was tugged along. “I’m better off cutting my losses with you.” she grumbled as she became quiet once they were in sight of others. Veint remained quiet as he rushed along keeping his head down and hoping that being in the public eye would keep him safe. But with two flights to get back into Imperial space he knew that alot could still happen.
Veint simply wanted to sleep after an exhausting day, he was tired and sore but his mother didn’t allow him to lean against her instead taking to talking to her youngest who seemed happy with the attention. Struggling to remain awake he eventually gave in and fell asleep sitting up in his spot.
But taking the simple nap was enough to confuse him as he was jostled awake when the ship was emptying and his mother was out of sight. “Mom?” he called out looking around worried before rushing through the crowds to search for her. Panic gripped tightly at him, he needed to find her he didn’t want to get lost out in Space. He heard stories, oh so many stories as to what happened to young Imperials who wandered out of the safety of Imperial guards.
To Veint the world seemed to start to spin around him as he could feel his fear coming up. He was scared of the feeling and he was sure that the hot tears in his eyes were going to become visible even under his hood. Grabbing his jacket tightly he tried to back up into a corner to hide, but before he could corner himself he spotted a familiar robe and rushed to it. He didn’t bother to ask why they were going a different way more or less why she wasn’t looking for him but he made sure to remain close to her and tried his best to remain silent.
He didn’t say a single word as he sat down next to her but he simply choose to remain close to her as he drifted asleep.
Slowly the sounds of beings moving and leaving the craft was enough to make Veint stir and look around before smiling at his mother. But instead of that harsh voice, there was a loud boom and Veint couldn’t help but jump as his golden orange eyes opened wide at the Ithorian that was wearing the same cloak as his mother.
“Mom?” he muttered frightened only to look around to find that no one on the ship looked familiar or anything of the sort that he was used to seeing in Imperial space. Once again panic started to rise up in Veint and instead of trying to calm down he rushed out of the ship and looked around worriedly hoping to find at least one Imperial officer on deck. But instead of an Imperial there was a Republic guard standing around the docking bay.
Veint’s mind went on lock down as he tried to think of what had happened for him to end up in such a place. Standing in place in the open though didn’t allow him to remain hidden from curious on lookers who took advantage of his lack of hood. And without even knowing it, the Ithorian had reported him to the guards and armed guards started to come up to him.
Like a young bantha caught in the wrong lair, it took him a while to focus on the new danger coming at him and darted away from it.
He had to remove his cloak to keep himself from being grabbed at but he was sure someone was just waiting for their chance to pounce on him. He didn’t know where he was going but he knew he needed to get out.
---- To be continued
