Hello! Yes I know that some of you have been waiting for this with baited breath and heh given the amount of time it has taken me to publish it... Well I'm hoping that you haven't turned blue haha XD
So there will be a lot of differences for this book as I am doing a complete rewrite and I hope that you like this more than Rogue Runner. Now please read on, here's the first chapter!
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Alexa POV
"Alexa!"
I laughed as I heard Rendal call my name from far behind me. I knew he thought I was crazy for trying this and to be honest he's not far wrong! Grinning, I looked back over my shoulder at my friend and winked at him though he likely couldn't see it.
"Try and catch me!" I yelled back to him.
Earlier Rendal had challenged me to try and fly a speeder little did he know that as soon as he said it I became determined to do it right away, so I went to the hangar and 'borrowed' one. This was the first time I'd flown one through the crowded skylanes of Coruscant, but surely it couldn't be that hard.
"Hey!"
Oops.
I grinned sheepishly as someone else shouted at me for nearly crashing into them. "Sorry!" I hadn't meant to do that. It looked like this might be a little harder than I thought, but just because something was tricky didn't mean I was going to quit. After all it had never stopped me before, right?
The skylanes were always chaotic, but when driving through them for the first time they seemed impossible to navigate. Speeders were flying every which way and here I was, not knowing anything about how to fly this thing except how to turn it on and how to steer it. I couldn't even manage to steer it everywhere as I moved it erratically through the city.
I wondered what Rendal was thinking about all of this when I suddenly had to make a sharp turn an object came hurtling toward me. I managed to avoid it, but when I looked back to where it was flying off to I saw it was some kind of droid. I rolled my eyes.
You'd think a droid would be more careful... But then again it could have been programmed to be reckless. Heh, that sounds like something I would do.
I smirked at the thought of that and was reminded that sometimes it didn't matter how the droid was programmed, sometimes they took on their own personalities. Like my little friend R2-D2. Now he was a special droid. He had more spunk than many of the padawans and more personality than a lot of the Jedi Master's I had seen around the Jedi Temple. It was funny to watch the astromech droid, especially when he was with Anakin. Those two got on like a house on fire, everyone knew it, and it seemed that R2 and I got along almost as well.
A lot had happened since I first met Anakin here on Coruscant. I had become a padawan, made friends, gone on missions and fought in battles. Even after all of that Rendal, Jenifire, Lorryn and I were still making our own fun some way or another. So I couldn't exactly say that life has been boring, and at the moment it was only getting more exciting as I raced through the sky in the speeder.
"Whoo hoo!" I whooped as I soared. It was moments like this when I almost wished I had hair so that I could feel the wind rushing through it. Still it was exhilarating and my heart pumped adrenaline through my body, making my already fine tuned senses even sharper as I flew upwards into the bright sky. It was so freeing, even when I was constantly having to duck and dive as other speeders raced around me. It was the best feeling.
I had a grin on my face as I decided to do something crazy and tried to do a loop the loop, however before I could actually go upside down I was stopped by a familiar voice.
"Alexa!" I turned and saw a speeder coming straight toward me from behind me with Anakin piloting it.
"Hi! Um... I can explain?" I shrugged, flashing him a grin.
"Yeah you can explain later, but first you're coming back to the Temple before you get yourself killed!" He demanded.
"Ok, ok, fine! But I don't really know how to do this very well..."
I heard him groan as our two speeders flew beside each other. "Somehow I knew you'd say that. I guess I'll have to tell you how to do it then, alright, lesson number one, watch where you're going!" He said after I had turned to look at him.
"Sorry!" I quickly apologised and looked straight ahead once again.
"Ok now I'll get you back to the Temple, but after that you are in some serious trouble, young lady!"
Nah, he'd change his mind by the time we got back.
Rendal POV
I stood in the hangar as I watched Alexa fly a speeder out into the sky, feeling my heart leap into my throat. "Alexa!" I shouted, only to hear her laugh. Clearly she didn't realise the trouble she was going to be in from her master, and what if she got hurt? I mean, she barely even knew how to pilot that thing!
"Try and catch me!"
Oh what have I gotten her into? This is all my fault! I should have known that she would do my dare.
I had to do something so my first instinct was to go and find Alexa's master; Anakin Skywalker.
So I ran back into the Temple, my imagination was running wild with all the things that might be happening to her, she could have a collision with someone or crash the speeder into a building, or get lost or... There were just too many things that could go wrong. My heart beat grew faster and louder as I heard blood rushing in my ears, if something happened I wouldn't forgive myself!
But... She had done crazier things than this and managed to get out of it... With some help, that is. Which was why I needed to hurry up and get her that help! So I told my brain to just shut up and kept running.
The first place I went to check for him was his room where I knocked on the door, hoping that he would be there. I can hardly describe the relief I felt when the door opened to reveal him standing there. I started talking before he even had the chance to ask why I was there.
"Master Skywalker, Alexa's flying a speeder through the city."
"What?!"
I was going to explain but with a look we both agreed that could wait, he needed to go and make sure she didn't get herself hurt... Or worse.
Turning on my heel I ran back to the hangar, with Skywalker right behind me, then when we got there I stopped and watched as he took another speeder and went out after her. Then all I could do was wait for him to bring her back, though exactly how he was going to manage that by himself I didn't know. One thing I knew for certain; we were going to be in huge trouble for this one.
I just hoped that Master Kenobi and Skywalker weren't too angry with me for this... I'm too young to die!
Anakin POV
I couldn't believe that Alexa had thought this was a good idea, she could have gotten herself killed! But... I had to admit that trying to lead her back to the Temple was a bit of an adventure, trying to guide her through the lanes of traffic, telling her what buttons to press and how to steer it so that she didn't look like a lunatic was actually sort of fun.
That still didn't excuse what she did. So when we finally pulled into the hangar, and by some miracle she managed to land her speeder without crashing, it broke my heart a little to have to walk over to her and give her the harshest glare I could muster even though I was angry with her.
"Alexa what in the galaxy possessed you to even think of trying that?!"
She got out of the speeder and fidgeted awkwardly. "It was um... Well..." I saw her share a glance with Rendal, who looked relieved to have her back. "It was just a dumb idea I had."
"Uh huh.." I didn't believe it, there had to be more to it from the guilty appearance of the two of them, but I didn't press it. "Well never do that again or I will have to punish you. Even now you leave me no choice but to double our training this week."
"What?" The look on her face was priceless and I could tell she was wondering just how that was a punishment, but she had no idea what was coming for her. The sessions would be brutal.
"You heard. We start tomorrow. Now I want you out of here and you're not to come back to the hangar without me with you. I mean it." I narrowed my eyes at her, pointedly.
"Alright, alright." She nodded then looked at Rendal. "Let's get out of here."
Now if I wanted to be really mean I could have told her that she wasn't allowed to hang out with Rendal for the next week either, but I didn't want to punish her too much. If I did then she would only rebel and I didn't want that.
"Go on you two, get out of here before I increase the punishment."
"Yes, Master Skywalker. Come on." Rendal grabbed Alexa's hand and they ran out of the hangar, making me chuckle. That pair was trouble.
