章 6: Escape
I crawl over to my unconscious boy. These imperials really did a number on us. Nathan did even worse. Jorand is unconscious too, and I'm hoping that we'll live through this. I make it to my boy, and I bring him into my arms and hold him. He can use the force, and he is strong. I can barely see out my right eye. My face must be new levels of swelling. I run my fingers through his hair and enjoy the time I've had with him. I don't know if I'll live through this. I feel him shift in my grasp, and he escapes from my arms. I lay on my back, trying to breathe, but it's really hard.
I feel his small hands on my forehead, and I feel a sensation I've never felt before. Soon the pain fades, and my breathing gets better. My swollen face heals, and it's back to normal. My vision returns to normal as well. I sit up and see the tired face of Nathan. I look around and see all the blood. Did Nathan do this... Nathan gets up and walks over to Jorand. I try to get up, but I can't. He reaches him and heals his beaten and broken body too.
I watch Jorand sit up and Nathan fall. I try to get up and go to him, but my legs won't move. I crawl again and struggle with every fiber of my being to get there. Jorand stands up with a shaking body and picks up Nathan. He limps over to me and sits down. "We have to get out of here. We'll go to the spaceport and get a shuttle off-world." I nod my head weakly. He leaves Nathan with me, and I hold him as he sleeps. Not long, Jorand comes out and has our life savings with him. He loads them into our landspeeder and comes back to us. He picks up Nathan first and loads him in. He comes back to me and helps me up.
We walk slowly to the landspeeder as we both struggle to walk. He helps me in, and I lift Nathan and sit in his spot. I put him in my lap and hold him as I try to rest. Nathan can do incredible things. Where did he even learn how to do that? Jorand fires up the engines, and we take off. "Where are we going to go... Is there anywhere safe for us? As much as I don't want to, do you think your family on Alderaan can help..." Jorand comes from a house of small nobility. He doesn't have a great relationship with his family, but we are desperate.
He stays silent, and I don't worry about it. I close my eyes and sleep with Nathan in my arms. I sleep, and soon I'm awoken again by my husband. "We are here. Let's get off this plant and get a move on. Alderaan is our only option." I hand Nathan to Jorand and do my best to get out of the landspeeder. I look at the ship, and it's a smuggler's ship. "She has agreed to take us to Alderaan. We won't have to deal with the republic or imperials." I trust my husband. I follow him inside, and he takes us to the medical bay. He lays Nathan on the table and sits between us, holding our hands. The door opens, and a female twi'lek walks in.
She must be our pilot and captain of this ship. "Course is set, and we are prepared for take-off. Do you need any help with getting them comfortable?" Jorand shakes his head no. She leaves. A minute later, I feel the ship lift. It's been so long since I've been off-world. I came here with Jorand after he gave up his claim to his house on Alderaan. I close my eyes and sleep. I'll let Jorand handle the rest of this. As both mother and son sleep Jorand makes his way to the cockpit.
I look at the smuggler that is helping us. Her name is Kalcry. I sit next to her and take a deep breath. "Thank you for taking us. I know it's not much..." She flips some switches and smiles at me. "I can ask my family on Alderaan to pay you more if you want. If we wasted any time on Tatooine, we would have died." She looks at me and gives an understanding look. Twi'leks have suffered greatly at the hands of the empire. I'm glad I met her.
She inputs some commands, and we go into hyperspace. "I hate the empire with every fiber of my being. If helping you get to Alderaan makes things hard for them, I'm all for it. So which house do you belong to?" I explain house Opal and how we came to be on Tatooine. We are small nobility on Alderaan, and I hated the way people treated each other. I found Lillis and asked her to leave with me. My family won't be happy to see me, but this is the only option we have.
It should only take a few hours to get to Alderaan. I say my thanks again and get up. I head back to the med-bay and sit with my family. I look over at Nathan and wonder if he'll remember anything he did. The weight on my eyes gets heavy, and I find myself sleeping as well. I dream of what happened and how I allowed them to beat her near death. I don't know where I got the idea I could protect them from the empire.
I sleep for longer than I thought I would. I hear the door open, and Kalcry walks in. I open my eyes and see her leaning against the door. "Were at Alderaan. I've requested to land. It will be a few minutes till we reach the surface. You should make sure they are awake." She walks away, and I look at the two most important people in my life. I lightly shake Lillis, and she wakes up. She leans up and rubs her head. We've been through a lot the last few hours. Even though Nathan healed us, the exhaustion is still there.
Lillis stands up and looks at Nathan. I'm worried about him too. He shouldn't throw that kind of power around lightly. "Do you think that the Jedi and sith will come for him..." If they do, we have every right to refuse. At least refuse the Jedi. If the sith empire comes for him, then I don't know what to do. She probably wants to keep Nathan with us, and I agree too. However, his power could do more harm without someone to teach him. Grandfather keeps old Jedi texts in his personal collection. The order would throw a fit if they found out he had them.
I stand next to Lillis and look at Nathan with her. All I know for certain is we don't have the means to help him. I pick him up, and I make sure not to wake him. I walk to the cockpit with Lillis by my side, and we watch as the tractor beam pulls us in. We land, and many republic troopers begin to search through the ship. We exit as they search, and we sit on some crates waiting to be searched as well. Kalcry comes and stands next to us. She has a mad expression watching her ship be treated like that.
Lillis tugs on my sleeve, and I look at what she is looking at. We see two Jedi, a master and an apprentice. I hold Nathan closer to me and pray they don't sense him, but that's probably why they are here. Nathan looks similar to us despite not being our biological child. We both have jet black hair and deep blue eyes, just like Nathan. Lillis is much prettier than I deserve, but I'm not a pushover either. "Everything checks out. You are free to re-enter your ship." An officer walks up to Kalcry and lets her know everything is good.
I stop her as she starts walking back to her ship. "I can have my family pay you what you deserve. What I gave you wasn't close to enough." She just smiles and walks away silently. I'll be sure to help the next twi'lek that asks me. The officer walks away, and we take a sigh of relief. We made it off Tatooine and away from the empire. I hold both my wife and son in my arms. I look towards the Jedi and see them staring at us.
I stand up, and so does my wife. It's time to go and see the family after all this time. We walk off the landing bay and head into the city of Chianar. I haven't walked around this place in a very long time. We find my family's small estate, and I ring the intercom. "How may the Opals be of service to you?" A droid answers the door, and I notice it's a big upgrade to what used to be our service droid. Droids are both great and terrifying. "Oh my! If it isn't, master Jorand! Your family has been awaiting your return!" Now that doesn't sound right. The only ones that supported me leaving were my grandfather and big sis.
He welcomes us in and shows us to some rooms. He explains that my family is currently meeting with republic forces dealing with imperial attacks on Chianar. I lay Nathan on the bed and go straight to the sonic shower. My wife joins me, and we both undress for the quick cleaning process. While the Opal parents clean up, Nathan is waking up from his exhausted nap.
I flutter my eyes open. Then I remember what happened. I start to panic, thinking I'm still in danger and everything in this unfamiliar room begins to thrash around and float in circles around me in response to my feelings. I close my eyes and curl up into a ball. My panicking gets worse, and soon everything is shaking. What's wrong with me! I bury my face in my knees as I hear muffled voices calling out to me. I look up and see my father in his underwear. My fear goes away, and all the chaos stops. Everything that was being thrown around suspends in midair, no longer moving. They all drop a second later, but I hear huge crashing noises coming from all around and outside. I look at my father in fear, and mom rushes out of the bathroom in her underwear too.
[A/N: Mom has all the privates covered. Don't get any bright ideas.]
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