Anival woke up sweaty and cold. It was the fifth night he hadn’t slept well. He kept having nightmares about the faithful day on Yosefin.

The day that ended his life. He got up and walked toward the showers, he stood under the shower for what seemed forever, letting the water clean away his worries, frustrations, and his past.

He had a new job now, and one in which he felt the most at home, it had given him a third chance. Anival laughed at his thoughts, many people said you only get a second chance or, there’s only once, yet Anival had gotten three chances, and he had taken full control of those chances. He contemplated the thought off taking a few weeks off, just to clear his head.

He got out of the showers, dried off, and got dressed, and headed towards the office. He had made up his mind, he was going to get a vacation, he needed one badly. As he headed towards the office he passed the new recruit, Alex.

Anival nodded to him, and the private smiled, and headed towards him.

“Where are you going?” he asked eagerly.

“Away” was all Anival said.

Alex looked puzzled and then smiled again.

“Away where?” he asked again cheerily.

“I don’t know” replied Anival, and strangely it was true he didn’t know were he was going, or for what, all he knew was he needed to get away from the barracks, the training, he needed to feel stronger gravity, like the one on his home world, he needed to smell different air, needed to eat a pili, or anything that got him away from the station.

“Can I go?” queried Alex

Anival was taken back.

“But you don’t know where I’m going” stated Anival .

“I still want to go.” replied Alex.

Anival sighed and said “if you get permission its ok.” Anival thought that he wouldn’t get any permission since he had been recently recruited.

Anival had been told that first he had to get a psychological evaluation. He sighed and went to the medical wing. Minutes later he came out, and Alex was waiting for him outside.

“So” asked Alex “are you crazy?”

Anival scoffed “everyone here is!”

The examiner came out and gave Alex some papers thinking he was an intern “make sure the head of the office gets those.” she said.

They walked back to the office keeping silent all the while.

When they arrived Alex handed the man the papers. The man opened them, read them, and looked at Anival. He raised an eyebrow.

“Are you going alone?” he asked

Before Anival could say anything Alex opened his mouth.

“I would like to go if I can have permission, sir.”

Anival was confident that it would be denied to him. But to his dismay the man said yes.
Alex smiled and said.

“I’ll be back!” and headed off somewhere, most likely the barracks.

Anival let out a sigh and said, “so I have permission too right?” The man just nodded and Anival headed off to pack.

Alex, thought Anival, the new recruit was incredibly curious, Anival didn’t know weather that was a good thing or a bad thing. All Anival could think of doing was getting away for a while.

They headed towards the hanger, he still hadn’t decided which ship to take. Anival thought about it then he thought of his shortage of personnel. He made his mind and activated his wristcom.

It beeped twice, and then a mechanized voice cam out of the wrist com.

“Sir”

“Prep the theta, and make sure we have fuel for the falcons.”

“Yes, sir anything else?”

“Board the other droid and your going with us.”

“Yes sir.”

Anival deactivated the wrist com, and sighed. He turned to Alex and Anival noticed he was bursting with questions. Anival suppressed a chuckle and said one word.

“Tattooine”  and he increased his pace.

When they got to the hangar a 3po series droid came up to them.

“The ship is ready master, and the droid is on the ship, weapons on it are inactive as you have prerequisite before a take off.” The droid nodded to Alex and walked into the ship.

“W-weapons?” stammered Alex, “the droid has weapons?”

“No!” replied Anival “of course not! Just the destroyer does.” 

Alex went wide eyed then regained his composure. “Just what kind of  “vacation” are we going on?”

“Better safe than sorry when you’re dealing with a hutt” replied Anival calmly then he nodded towards the ship.

They got onto the ship and Anival headed towards the cargo area. He tapped a code into a pad hanging on the wall, a door slid aside noiselessly. Anival waved his hand towards Alex, and they headed into the room. A destroyer droid came from a corner and walked towards them menacingly, Alex rolled and took out a blaster, the droids shield automatically went up.

“Don’t!” screamed Anival and Alex stopped before he let a volley from he gun bombard the droid.

“Don’t repeated” Anival, “it is unarmed” Alex nodded and got up. The droid dropped the shield an looked at Anival.

“Sleep” said Anival in a strong voice. “Voice recognition accepted powering down.” came from the droids mechanized vocabulator.

Anival continued walking deeper into the cargo area, and they came upon two falcon speeders. Anival winked at Alex and started walking out.

“That’s the tour of the cargo” said Anival and led Alex to the crew quarters and Anival programmed a locker for Alex and for himself.

“You can input a password for yours” said Anival as he took the stuff out of his pack and organized it into his locker.

When they were done, Anival walked into the cockpit and screamed back, “I’m going to need a copilot”
After a while Alex walked into the cockpit.

“I’ve never flown a ship before.” said Alex in a small voice.

“It’s okay” replied Anival “you’ll learn”

“Ok Alex.” said Anival “I know you have questions so go ahead ask me anything and I’ll try my best to answer. It would be better to talk now then later.”

Anival was about to order the protocol droid to close the doors, when a slight beep started on the dash board. Anival turned on a camera, and saw RK boarding the ship, Anival turned of the screen just as Alex entered the room.

“Why Tattooine? Are we going to take on the Hutts?” Alex started with the questions.

“Not exactly” replied Anival “ I just need to get something from someone. Then we have another destination, don’t ask about the destination yet, I don’t know it till we go to Tattooine.”

Anival started the take off sequence seeing he was free to leave, Anival and Alex took off.

Anival was thinking about the welcomed stowaway when Alex brought him back to the ship.

“Why did you 'choose' the Wraith squad? Couldn't you have gone to any squad you wanted?"

“I didn’t choose Wraith” stated Anival “ my squad was , sort of disbanded. I started off my career in Iron Horse, how I miss the crimson uniform.” “However, I am glad I was transferred I met new people and made a new f….family.”

After the question Anival grew somber, then punched a series of buttons on the dash, then they jumped into hyperspace.

Anival got up and waved to Alex, “we have someone to attend to.”

Anival and Alex made there way to the crew quarters, when they got their they saw RK drinking something in a shot glass.

“I see you found the Corelian Ale” said Anival amused.

“I didn’t” said RK defensively, “the droid gave it to me.”

Anival nodded. Staring out a porthole he asked “why did you come?”

RK looked down then looked at Alex.

“Alex, could you go back to the cockpit?”

Alex nodded and walked off.

“What is it?” asked Anival now growing annoyed.

“They think your going unstable.” replied RK.

Anival sighed and sat down.

“I kind of guessed.”

RK hesitated then asked “are you?”

Anival laughed, “no!, of course not. I’m just,…..I just need a break.”

RK nodded “we all go through this stage at least once Anival.” RK put his glass down.

Anival was about to speak when the ship lurched. Anival slipped out of his seat, crashing to the floor.

“What was that?!” screamed Anival. Alex came running in.

“We dropped out of hyperspace!” shrieked Alex.

Anival and RK ran to the cockpit.”

“Pirates” said RK in a somber voice.

“A net” said Anival before Alex could say anything.

OOC:

Alex the falcons are speeder bikes, not ships :P, however I do have a fighter, its called the Hornet interceptor.I'll buy anotherone so it can fit in with your post.Just Edit it, by replacing falcons with hornets.

Anival wondered what to do for a while. Anival didn’t know much about ships but, he knew that they wouldn’t last long under the barrage of the pirate vessel.

"Should we fight them? They don't seem the negotiating type." Alex said.
Anival was thinking and then the ship shuddered again. Anival knew what  they had to do.

“Alex,” said Anival “take the controls. RK and I will board the hornets. We will try and disable them. At the very least we'll draw their fire." 

"What?!" Alex protested, "You guys wouldn't last two minutes out there!"

“You are so quick to judge, kid." RK said shaking his head, and walking ahead of Anival.

"Relax, this is going to be easy." Anival assured Alex before following RK out to the cockpit.

Anival was actually nervous he had a limited experience in space combat. Mostly what he had learned back home, and the little they had taught him as a trooper. He walked up to the hornet. It looked kind of weak, and pitiful. However Anival knew what was hiding underneath  the metal, he had along with some help, added a couple of new surprises to the fighters, he had also made them more user friendly, they were relatively incredibly easy to fly.

“Did you get these on sale?” scoffed RK.

“Actually” said Anival “I did.” and he climbed into the cockpit.

Anival felt queasy he hated being in a small confined place, especially if it wasn’t on ground. They launched from the ship, and into the battle.

“Wow, you got mistletoes on this thing?” asked RK.

“Well, yes and no. I didn’t put them but I paid for them, seeing as these fighters would probably be an easy pick for others.”


Anival didn’t know an fancy maneuvers, so all he did was fire. No fighters came out of the other ship.
Odd thought Anival.

“Anival, RK!” came Alex’s voice “we are being hailed.” Anival noticed that the firing had stop.

“What do they want?” asked RK

Alex hesitated. “well, they want our ship, and cargo, that much would be obvious but they are also looking for any specialized weapons, they said if we have any and hand them over, we can go with the ship.”

Anival thought for a while then spoke. “Alex, what’s the nearest planet?”

“Umm, let me check”

Everything was silent for a while.

“Cathar is the nearest planet, not far, maybe fifty clicks from here, but there is an asteroid belt along the way.”

Anival thought for a while then said “tell, the pirates we do have these weapons they seek, but tell them to lower the net, then make a micro jump, try to go near the planet don’t worry if you overshoot it a little bit. We will head towards the planets, these fighters were originally independent.”

“RK, head towards the pirates ship, then, when Ale jumps head into the asteroid field,”

A ruffled static came through. And RK headed towards the ship. They were near the ship when Alex made the jump.

Anival and RK headed to the asteroid field, they were quickly pursued by three fighters, Anival pushed a button and a EMP came out the rear of the fighter, and they headed off.

After closing the link with Anival, Alex did tell the pirates what they wanted to hear, and they did in fact lower the net.

Within seconds everything was ready for the microjump, so mister Denton wasted no time in proceeding.

In no time however the jump was completed, and Alex found that he had indeed over shot his 'runway.'

However that turned out to be the least of his worries. 
In front of the ship there seemed to be a small war going on, between who Alex didn't know...nor did he want to know!

"What is it about today?" He muttered to himself as he kicked the engines in to reverse, however several small craft, about the size of Anival and RK's hornets broke off from the fight and began shooting at the Theta in ernest.

Deciding to play the 'they fired first' card if Anival asked, Alex charged weapons and fired.

He was actually surprised when he hit and destroyed one of the smaller craft, but that surprise was short lived when the men in the other craft upped the barrage on the Theta.

When one lucky shot managed to take down much of the shielding, Alex muttered, "If these guys don't kill me, Anival will."

Throwing caution to the wind, Alex charged weapons once more, and let the men in the small crafts have it, all the while slowly taking the Theta back towards Cathar.

However the larger ship, which Alex had ignored up until now fired up it's own engines and before to long a loud shreik came, announcing that someone had a target lock on them.

"Should'a stayed with the pirates!" Alex muttered to himself as he tried to decide what to do.

A small chirp from the com inturrupted his thoughts, so Alex reached over and tapped a button.

"Unknown ship, this is the Aduba.  Cease firing and lower your shields.  Prepare to be boarded or you will be destroyed."  The low voice said from the speaker overhead.

"Heard that before." Alex replied, increasing the speed of the Theta.

Soon he was at Cathar with his new 'friends' trailing close behind.

Anival, and RK stared at the three ships.

“Alex, me and RK are going back to the ship, I hate being in this accursed thing.”

“Agreed” replied RK.

The two fighters made their way to the Theta. Minutes later, as RK and Anival reached the cockpit they got a message.

“Open communications” said Anival, not entirely confident.

A man in a Navy uniform was sitting on a chair. Anival was puzzled, where had he come from?

“I am Lieutenant Rik”nof of the Bethil. We received a distress call from a Imperial ship, tracing came back as your ship as the origin if the call is this true?”

“Yes” stammered Anival, surprised that a VE ship would be there, or was it a VE ship? Wondered Anival.

“Why did you send the call?”

“We are being attacked by two ships, one is identified as a pirate ship the other we are not sure yet.”

“We will be there momentarily” He replied

“Thanks.” said Anival as he motioned to Alex to terminate the communication.

“Well” smiled Anival “we just need to hope the shields hold and the two ships blast at each other before until help arrives.”


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 minutes later, Above Cathar
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bethil had just arrived and as soon as it arrived it fired two shots, one if which quickly immobilized one of the ships.

“Ok,” came a message from the Bethil. “You are free to land on Cathar,”

“Heard and understood, thanks for the assistance.” replied Alex courteously.


And they made their way to the planet.

“Either of you ever been to Cathar?” asked Anival.

“No” replied Alex and RK at the same time.

“Neither have I” said Anival as the planet loomed before them.

“No” replied the figure, however the person I work for does.”

“mhmm” said Anival “ and who might that be?”

“I can’t tell you, however they told me it was vital for you not to go back to Yosefin.”

“I wasn’t planning on going back.” responded Anival.

The creature looked disturbed.

“I should go in that case.”

The creature was leaving and leaned closer to Anival.

“Slake isn’t dead” it whispered and walked off.

Anival stood there motionless, mouth gaping.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What are you doing?”

“Getting this imperial filth of our planet!”

Slake threw a grenade towards the trooper.

Anival saw that this could mean trouble for the survivors. He looked at each fellow soldier, and jumped on the grenade, his armor took most of the blast, and miraculously he had survived but the last thing he saw was slake hunched over the other part of the grenade, his face contorted, an arm and leg missing. Then blackness.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Anival snap out of it” Anival was brought back to the moment, and looked around, momentarily disoriented.

“Sorry” he said “we better get out of here”

RK nodded in agreement, and headed towards the cockpit.

Anival wondered again, what if Slake really was alive? Anival knew slake was a threat. He shrugged off the feeling and headed joined RK in the cockpit.

“Alex we are leaving so buckle up, or at least brace yourself.”

At that moment there was a pounding on the hull. Anival sighed, and went to see. It was a Catharan.

Anival felt like heaving, then he noticed the blaster in his hand.

“Come with me” it said in a menacing growl.

Anival looked back into the ship.

“With pleasure” he said smiling.

Anival let the water pour over him, letting it was away all his fears and doubts.

Why was he going back?

Anival sighed, what the Catharan had said had struck a chord deep in Anival’s mind, and it was slowly dissolving his grip on reality.

He had barely survived, he had barely been kept alive by a generous few, was it possible then, that if he had survived so had Slake?

With a sigh, Anival turned of the water, and watched as it went down the drain, only to be recycled.
Walking into his room, Anival spotted something in the far corner, he walked over and picked it up, it was an old photo he had, but what was it doing all the way here, on the ship?

He got dressed, then went outside.

“RK.”

“Yes?” asked RK not looking up.

“Did, anybody get one without us knowing?”

“Not, that I saw, and I’m pretty sure you droid would have said something.”

Anival bit his lip, something he did when he was a child.

“Alright, thanks.”

RK grunted.

Anival walked to were the speeders were, and inspected the room. Walking over to the droideka, Anival touched a couple of buttons on his wristpad, and activated the droid, but programmed it so it couldn’t do any damage to RK, Anival, or Alex, but to shoot anything else that tried to hurt them, unless ordered not to.

“What are you doing?” asked Alex.

Anival nearly jumped.

“What the hell!” screamed Anival, more of embarrassment of being scared than from anything else.

“Sorry” blushed Alex, “did you activate the droid?”

“Yes, and you have nothing to be sorry about” muttered Anival, and shouldered past Alex, into his own room, and lay down, nodding into sleep.

----------------Day 2, 19:21 hrs till approach of tattoine-------------

Anival awoke feeling better than he had last night, he stood up, went into the cockpit, and started to eat a ration bar. Ever since he had left his home planet, nothing had taste, well nothing that is besides alcohol.

“Just a bit longer.” said Anival aloud.

“Yes, but what are your plans for when we get there?” asked RK

“Well, I’m not sure, I want to see an informant, and maybe, I don’t know, maybe spend a few relaxing days on the beach.” Anival managed without laughing.

“You know it’s a sand planet right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Oh, alright, I thought you were being serious”

Anival laughed.

“What a really want to know” said Anival in-between bites, “is if slake is still alive and there is someone who can tell us. Only problem is, he’s a ghost.” Anival walked off, the rest of the day went by with a relative few words exchanged.

“Tattoine just ahead” shouted Alex gleefully.

They all smiled, they would be glad to get out of the ship.


--------2 day, 02:26 hours till planetary touchdown-----------------

OOC:

And I will end this part of the story here. If you would like to be part of the second part please PM me. I will have it up after the end of the compitition.