The sun broke over the horizon, sending beams of red and orange through the morning fog. He was already awake, in fact he had just finished his five mile run. He sat on the park bench near a monument for some fighter jockey, whom must have done something, somewhere to get a monument in some park where no one rarely came. His eyes affixed  upon the writing...

“... giving his life to protect the lives of millions of others ... “

A smirk crossed his lips as his hand pushed his sweat soaked thick black hair out of his eyes. He wanted to be that fighter jockey; but he was good enough to not get killed; while at the same time saving millions of lives. Shrugging to himself he stood, and watched as fog lifted from the ground.

Anaxes was where he called home. Nineteen years to be exact. It was nothing special; a temperate world in the Core Sector.  It was a center for training schools, research labs, intelligence centers; all of which were located in the Anaxes Citadel. Most of his classmates had already been seen off to Naval Academy; that was almost a requirement upon graduation from grade school. It was something with his culture; a naval pride... he had it, it was just that.... his father felt that he should follow in his footsteps, and begin working for some off the wall research company making data chip sets for Holodramas.

He hated it. His eyes watched a pair of TIE fighters streak across the sky towards the Citadel, that stuck out like a gem, set into the mountain scape.  They jockied back and forth; as almost one felt he needed to be in the lead.

He was just as good as them; if not better. He spent hours upon hours training with Z-95's, TIE Simulators, and even a few YT frigates. Why his father hated it, was beyond him.

“Signing up for the Navy is like signing your death certificate son.....”

He shook his head and began to finish the last mile of his jog back to his parents estate.


--- Later that afternoon ----

The holodrama flicked off as Cole tossed the remote onto the coffee table.

“Mother, I don't want to sound condinsending, but...” he trailed off as she gave him the look of 'shut up'.

He chuckled. “Not my fault that you got lost about 20 minutes into it.”

“Go suck on a bantha” K'Kia Silver, his mother proclaimed as she walked towards the kitchen.

“Just to let you know mother, I am going to be leaving tonight for a few days. I have a meeting planned with a few business contacts. You know the normal; maybe I'll get some more Holodrama's from it!” He placed the holodisk into the wall cabinet, that was one benefit of his job; lots of holos.

“Awesome. You will miss your father again...”

“I know, but ... who cares! I'm going to go up and pack, I've got a taxi lined up to pick me up around 1700 hours. I've got a bit, but if I don't see you before I leave I'll get in touch with you when I arrive at my destination. You know its one of those secret things.”

--- 2 standard hours later ---

Cole stepped onto the duracrete landing pad at the Spaceport. He glanced around for the associates he was supposed to meet.  This wasn't his normal meeting. He was actually going to audition for a part in a Galatic Civil War drama, in which he would play a young TIE jockey fighting the Rebel Alliance. His mind flashed to this morning.

“... giving his life to protect the lives of millions of others ..."

Could his destiny be telling him something? He pushed it aside when he saw the two associates walking across the plain grey steel duracrete landing pad.

“Cole.”

“Good afternoon gentleman, I hope your flight was well”

“It was, now it's time to discuss business.. and unfortunately board another flight.” The gentleman to the right said, his face void of any features that would showcase his wealth. Maybe that was a good thing.

Cole on the other hand stood six foot tall. His face had smooth features, many people thought he was three years younger then he really was. His upper body was built, and his shoulders square. His workout every morning could wear even the toughest of soldiers out.

“Lets get going” the man on the left stated, pointing towards a modified Lambda shuttle sitting a few slips away.

To Be Continued....