Oh how he missed the sandy beaches of Tatooine. Despite all of Torin's negative past experiences, he had grown to yearn for just one more day on Tatooine . The beautiful sunset of the third sun at the very end of the day, his mother and father, Maksul and Jenn Nartano, and his brother, baby Je-Nartano. He even missed his wretch of a boss, Je-Manta, who'd once made him spend an extra three hours harvesting scrap metal for calling him a heaving pile of bantha fodder after Torin watched him strike his mother across the back with his ever so sharp whip, a whip which Torin himself had had too many close encounters with.
One would grow to wonder why would anyone miss that kind of life, an enslaved scrap metal harvester with no chance of freedom. However, nothing compared to hiding from stormtroopers on Mos Espo, a city known for its criminals, in a secret room inside of the Hutt family's vacation home. He then reflected on everything that had happened in the last thirty-six hours. How had he of all people, a common slave boy, ended up cooped up next to rebels, "notorious" government criminals?
It had all started like a normal beginning of a work day. Torin had gotten up, taken a bite of his protein bar, before heading out into a gigantic crashed star cruiser. (The "fields" as the scrap metal workers called them.) He gave his mother and father a kiss before heading into the inner workings of the "safe zone" like always. The young boys always worked in the less hazardous work area known as the "safe zone", which was quite surprising considering how little Je-Manta cared. After a long day's work his family took a trip into town along with the other scrap collectors to trade in the metal for credits, a process that was strictly monitored by Je-Manta. As all of the families piled on to the speed cruiser, he had felt a strange force, or feeling in his gut. He ignored the feeling thinking that maybe he had taken too big of a bite from his protein bar earlier that morning and was suffering from the repercussions. After they had all stepped off of the cruiser and lined up at the scrap metal trading post, he and his family lingered behind the rest, counting up their credits before turning them in. They all knew Je-Manta divided up food portions based on daily credits earned. Collectively they earned eighteen pounds, enough for two Shuura fruits.
As they scattered to the back of the line, suddenly, the thundering roar of an engine shook the ground, and those on it. The sound echoed through the air. Then a group of two imperial shuttles landed. Four stormtroopers climbed out of each cockpit. Little did Torin know, there was much more than four troopers in each ship. If anything, they were trying to surprise these "rebels".
"Where are the rebel scum?" demanded one of them. They frantically began searching the place. They grabbed one women by the shirt and started screaming at her, asking if she had seen the rebels. One of them took out his blaster rifle and pointed it at people in the crowd. "If someone doesn't reveal the location of the rebels everyone here will -" he said being cut short by a blaster bullet penetrating through his armor, killing him instantly.
"What the...?" One of his comrades said as he bent over only to see what had happened to his friend. He immediately saw the bullet wound and screamed, " The rebels are here, commence fire!" Four men in the crowd threw off leather robes revealing shiny rebel fighting badges and blasters. Torin and his family retreated into the crowd trying to get as far away from the Stormtroopers as possible.
Luckily, the streets cleared out very quickly, allowing them passage through. Torin quickly dove into an alleyway avoiding a poorly coordinated blaster shot from one of the Stormtroopers. His family was corralled into a group with the other scrap metal workers. The shooting went on for awhile, even though no one could see because of all of the dust from the poorly placed bullets lacing the ground.
One thing Torin was sure that he saw, was a bleeding rebel fighter crawl into the alleyway next to him. With his dying breath he handed Torin what looked like a metal cylinder. As soon as Torin picked it up he felt the same feeling he had gotten on the speed cruiser on the way to the town. He felt as if he were holding the very universe itself in his very hands. As he clicked the button on the side of the cylinder, a beam of light erupted from the end of it. He struck a nearby building and sure enough it cut straight through.
"Drop that saber kid," he heard a deep voice say next to him. Much to his horror he turned to see a fully armored stormtrooper with a flame gun pointed right at his forehead. "Put it down nice and slowly," the Trooper said. Too scared to move, Torin remained frozen. The Trooper then turned the gun's safety off. "They never do listen." But before he could pull the trigger, a bullet flew straight by Torin's ear landing directly in the center of the Stormtrooper's chest. He turned around to see a rebel soldier, who limped over to him and then clicked the off switch on his "saber" as the Stormtrooper had called it. "Listen to me very closely kid, I'm not going to make it out of here," he said, gesturing towards his leg gushing blood from the blaster wound. "That thing that you are holding is one of the most powerful weapons ever created. If you want to save the lives of millions, I need you to take it to that fighter jet over there. There is already a pilot, and if you care enough to save yourself, I recommend you get in too."
"But what about my fam-" "There's no time!" Torin then saw that the dust had cleared, which meant the shooting had subsided, the stormtroopers had won. "Go run to the ship, I'll give you cover." With one final burst of energy the rebel crawled out of the alleyway and began shooting stormtroopers left and right. Torin quickly maneuvered past the stormtroopers, clutching the saber tightly in his hand, careful not to drop it. He took one final glance at his home. He had a feeling this would be the last time he saw this place, or his family for a while. While looking back he saw his rebel friend was cornered by stormtroopers he knew it was too late. He looked away before they pulled the trigger, ending his friend's life.
As he climbed into the fighter jet, no words were exchanged, he flashed the saber at the pilot and without hesitation the pilot took off. Torin did in fact mention his rebel friend. To which the pilot responded with a salute. Torin didn't know where they were going, or when they would get there but he did know one thing, he would be okay. He did not know how, but he knew he would be okay.