Chapter 1: A Bit late

A sigh escaped my lips as I finally came up from the console, even though I was 15 years old it felt like my body was 80 with how sore it was. I wiped a small bit of sweat from my brow and shambled over to the main console, hopefully I haven't fucked this up again.

Quickly rebooting the system and running a diagnostic, finally, mercifully the familiar hum of the hyper drive came to life. "Hell yeah!" I had been stuck in the middle of nowhere and was already a day late for my pick-up and delivery.

Hopefully the party wouldn't dock my pay, or worse try and go back on the deal. My emotions got the better of me for a second as I slammed my hand into the struts above.

Shit that hurt.

I know I was new at this bloody gig, but Sith spit this was harder than I thought.

'Come on Jack, keep it together.'

Giving myself a small mental pick me up, I made my way back to the 'Captains chair', though it wasn't actually called that, it was what I liked to think of it as. All I actually needed now was a crew, actually let's just start with one other god damn person.

I rubbed my brows hoping to get rid of the fatigue I felt build up. I knew I wasn't the best engineer, but I didn't think it would take me this long to fix the old girl up. Just the thought of having it looked at properly at the cheapest stop I could find still brought a small amount of dread.

Credits where tight and I didn't have any more jobs lined up after this one. People still didn't trust one so young and…. I couldn't really blame them. Hopefully a few more jobs done right, nothing too illegal and I would be set, slowly making my way to a fortune and some place to retire, rich and pampered.

Setting the hyperspace route to go through the right lanes and imputing the co-ordinates given once again, I repressed a groan as I looked at the positioning. Why the heck was it in the middle of nowhere? The bloody contractor could have at least told me this and not just given me some co-ordinates, fuel was damn expensive.

'Well, it was my fault for not checking where the co-ordinates actually lead. This place was also so far from the central regions, it was almost as backwards as Tatooine, at least that place was a hive scum and villainy, wherever I was going I couldn't find any information on the planet, other than, 'green planet, nice weather, breathable air. Shit no species even inhabits the place, urgh whatever!'

I leaned back in my chair, taking the small solace that was given, I was still a few hours out from the destination and could grab some shut eye, the alarms would go off if something went wrong. I frowned for a second as a small pit of dread settled in bottom of my gut, the same 'spark' as always… that was never good.

My hand unconsciously lowered to my hip where my blaster usually sat, before remembering I had placed it next to my bed…it was probably nothing. Shaking the thought from my mind I closed my eyes and quickly felt the bliss of sleep envelop me.

**************

I stepped down from the ramp, hand firmly on my blaster, eyes scanning around. The place looked like bantha poodoo. As my eyes scanned around, I quickly picked up the littered bodies that were about.

I kept my cool though, growing up with smuggling parents I had already seen my fair share of what happens when pirates raid an outpost or ship. My parents did try and shield me from it for quite a while, but by 11 I had already seen my first body, now at 15...with my own parents gone.... sigh

Sometimes I wish the galaxy could be a nicer place, it wasn't. I wouldn't say it's the backside of a Bantha, but damn it's pretty close. Sometimes I wondered what I would do if I wasn't a smuggler, but honestly it was one of the better professions out there.

You get to go to multiple planets, maybe some action depending on what jobs you pick up, and you can be your own boss as long as you've got your own ship. Didn't stop me from dreaming of retirement, definitely some beach planet where it never gets cold... .A few Twi'leks servers on the side.... though I had met a Zeltron once...my god, very underrated species, a few of them attending to me.... yeah, that would be the dream.

As my mind drifted off into its puberty fuelled delusions, I snapped out of it quickly as the 'spark' kicked in. My eyes snapped to the right; hand steady. I'd had the 'spark' for years and there was one thing I knew. If it told you to look somewhere, or to duck. You should probably do it.

There was a small ping from my hip as the small transponder I was given from the contractor went off. I looked down at it for a second before confirming that yes this was what I had been sent to pick up and then deliver back.

I was now in the hanger bay, it was partially destroyed like the rest of the base, though I guess a bit more intact that the other areas. Lots of the crates of goods had been kicked over and spilled, though some were just shot through. Whatever ships had been here long gone.

I frowned for a second as I took in the metal slab of steel that hummed with power. Though there were dead bodies littered about and I should have been concentrating on that, the 'spark' was once again kicking in.

It was like it was telling me there was nothing to worry about, that I only had to focus on what was in the box. At first, I thought it was just another crate of goods but the shape was wrong. Before I knew it, I was already making my way over.

My frown only got worse as I got closer. I had seen one of these 'things' before...what was it?....It was.... OH Sith spit.

My blaster finally dropped downwards as a disgusted look flashed across my face, I was angry, really angry. I finally started to take in the details of the rest of the base my mind going a mile a minute. The co-ordinates had led me to the planet designated and as I thought, it was a planet with nothing on it, well except for the base I now stood in. It wasn't a cheap base either, it was high tech, quite a few creds were dropped on it from what I could tell.

Bases weren't very usual when you got further into the outer rim, it was a stupid idea with the number of pirates that were going about, but it was well outside of the usual hyperspace lanes. That's what took me soo long to get there. I was already 8 days away from Ryloth, with minimal stops. Of course, I could have made it 7 if my engines hadn't kicked out, it was a long trip.

Though it was stupid, I did have a few suspicions and now they had been confirmed. What was sitting in front of me was an old time cryo-square. I know stupid name, not very original if one thought about it a bit longer, but there was a reason they were old as hell and also not used anymore.

Carbonite was just a better solution. Sure, it might send you blind and leave you with the shakes, and a few more side effects, cryo-squares were worse. Used explicitly to transport people, the process wasn't anywhere near as perfected, actually flash freezing the body before rapidly waking them up later.

I didn't know the ins and outs of the stupid product but I knew that it would leave anyone subjected to one with joint and bone pains for days, if not forever, along with temperary blindness, nervous system problems for a few hours and in worse cases brain damage.

They were flat banned in most sectors, though some places still used them to transport critically injured patients, one thing that carbonite didn't interact well with, open wounds.

But that wasn't the main bloody problem. It was the fact it was in use!

There was a person inside!

This meant I was being used to traffic someone to Ryloth, one of the biggest slave planets in the galaxy. I felt disgusted. I may have been a smuggler but I had some damn ground rules, no killing, no trafficking, no weapons.

Sure I cut out quite a bit of profit, but I could morally live with myself later, especially when I retire.

The energy was almost sapped out of me as I looked once more down at the transponder on my waist.

That piece of Sith spit, he seemed so nice as well....

Throwing the transponder to the side I walked over to one of the crates in the room, idly noticing that it contained weapons, before finally sitting down, maybe this damn place was a trafficking ring operation base, and they let the 'goods' sit here before shipping them out.

Even the idea got me mad.

I dwelled in my thoughts for a while as I thought of my next move. I had already been paid half, and would get the other half when I delivered the 'goods'. Well, that wasn't happening anymore. I banged my hand against the crate to let out a bit of frustration but only wound up with a sore hand for my efforts.

*Sigh*

Getting back up I made my way back over to the cryo-square. My hand hovered over the buttons for a second as I quickly found the eject button. I really shouldn't open it, but the 'spark' was still whispering in my ear.

This was important.

I just had to tell whoever was inside what was happening and then maybe give them a ride back into the core worlds. After this job I think I might stick around there for a while. The outer rim wears on a person.

Just a type of dirtiness.... tiredness that grinds on a person mentally. I needed a break.

Pressing down slowly and stepped back as the square opened and steam poured out.

I strapped my blaster back on my hip ready to leave this stupid base before finally looking back up, the steam clearing.

I stopped as I caught sight of the occupant inside.

"Huh."