1

Solo

I hate the sand.
I absolutely hate every single thing that made that day miserable.

The wind was bad, it pretty much made the already hot air turn my surroundings into an oven. My tongue was already sandpaper without the air whipping around it a cracking my lips. The sun was equally hard going through.

It's rays beat down on my face and neck like a club. Those were difficult to bear on there one. If those two conditions were applied on a plain of grass or on the peak of a mountain then my day would have had a low place on my top ten day's list. But it wasn't a mountain that day.

On that burning morning I had the luck of bearing through the middle of a desert. That meant that when the wind lashed around it picked up the sand and hurled it at me like knife thrower casting his blade.

At that moment I would rather face one of those than the vast dunes of pure exertion and misery that lay before me. My tongue curled in yearning for water but I gave myself no such comfort.

I remembered leaving the Taxi driver 3 hours ago and not drinking a single drop since. I had a reasonably large cantine hanging from my belt but I doubted it would be enough for my long trek through the and then I swore that if I ever saw that driver again I would smack him upside the head.

"I will take you 150 miles into the desert right up to the porch of that ungodly place but as soon as you hop out I'm turning this speeder around and going back to Mos Eisley."

He had promised, and instead of going through with it as he said he had drive in two thirds of the way out into the desert and tricked me. I will never pay someone for a job before it is done. He told me to look of to the left and then pushed me over the side of the speeder and sped off in it. And then I was stuck with a fifty mile trek into the Great Dune Sea. I looked over my shoulder to see if there was anything there.

There wasn't just rank upon rank of sandy hill. As I looked up by neck screamed out in protest. My scalp was as red as a bloody nose and I had had my fair share of those. I gave a silent beating to myself over the stupid decision I had made back on Ajax.

Instead of buying a lightweight cloak with a hood. But no, I needed a good impression was more important. The one I was wearing was a blue leather jacket with chest pockets and little band like straps on the shoulders. Sure it scored an A in the mirror but now his multiple sunburns were shouting at him in deafening tones.

Along with that I was wearing a pair of denom pants and boots that came up two inches past my ankles. My shirt was white cotton with little flips at the color. My mouth was covered up by a blue piece of cloth. The last thing I needed was sand clogging my throat and scratching up my voice even more. At this thought I tryed to form a few words I had spoken many times before and was now very eager to point at my completely unfair predicament.

"Just damn wrong."

Well at least that was what was supposed to come out. Instead all I heard was a muffled rasp. Great, I thought to myself, now I can't even swear. I moved to the next dune and my foot hit a spot on the sand that was more loosely set. My leg plunged in and my body tipped over. I tumbled shoulder over shoulder until my body hit the bottom level of sand and my face plunged into the loose earth. I lay there panting and thinking about why I was going to all this trouble. Why was I here, lying in the desert. What did I hope to accomplish. My mind wandered back to the day back at home on the planet Ajax when my brother had been drafted.

Finch was a young boy only about 14 years old but, he had shown large promise in combat training. He was wasn't as buff as some of the other boys on Ajax but, he could figure out how to take you down in a matter of seconds. He'd use his opponent's weight against them and toppled them without even breaking a sweat. This was quite amusing to watch. And boys from all around would come to see him and to try and best him.

None ever did.

Unfortunately his skill and prowess attracted the eyes of the new galactic empire's raving eyes. Me and Finch always found the politics of the main galactic powers unimportant to our lives but then one day a man in a grey uniform had walked up to me and my brother as we were once again grappling. Finch didn't stop however he dealt me a rattling blow to the chin. I fell and blacked out.

When I woke It was late evening and Finch was gone.

The next morning I went to retrieve what mail I had gotten the night before. All I received was a small portable television with a single button in the upper right hand corner. I pressed it and watched as the same man I had seen yesterday popped up in the screen and informed me that Finch had be assigned to the storm trooper academy on the planet Fallog.

My brother became a member of the first wave of storm troopers to be trained by the new empire. I didn't know how to feel. Happy for my brother to have this so called 'great honor'. Frightened that my brother was a soldier now and he might die. Or should have felt angry at the new empire for taking my brother away for there own personal gain. Why him? I thought that the Emperor had extinguished all imperial enemies with his old set of soldiers.

Why couldn't he just keep using them. The man in the screen said that during the battle the planet Camino had been destroyed along with all the people who knew how to breed and manufacture clones. So the Emperor had sent out scouts all across the galaxy to find and recruit a grand total of 10 trillion troops.

I heard to my great astonishment a few seconds later that a whole planet had been deprived of all but one man. I turned off the screen and sat on my couch for an hour thinking about how I would get along without Finch. The next morning I woke up and tried to get over the fact that finch was gone. It too me at least a year to do so. I was finally getting along by myself when another mini-tv came in the mail.

This time it was Finch who popped up before me.

"FINCH!"

I shouted. I was so happy to see him I didn't care If I scared my neighbors. He didn't seem to note my excitement he just talked like he was being... that's when I realized he was just a recording. Still just to see that after a year of service to the empire he was still alive and well made me ecstatic. Well handover was not the appropriate word for Finch.

Before he was strong, even without a massive physic. But when he appeared on the screen he was buff enough to have his hands classify as weapons. He had said that he was only allowed to talk to me once every year and now he was excited to tell me that he had been in a battle and come out victorious.

He was now stationed on a planet called Tatooine. He had quarters in a town called Mos Eisley. I knew then exactly what I was going to do. After the recording was over and the imperial seal flashed on the screen I bolted down the hallway and grabbed a small box out of the closet on the left. I removed the lid and pulled out my savings.

700 credit standards lay in wait. I took a taxi too Reedman Spaceport and rented a ship to take me to Tatooine. I thought it would be closer to Ajax which lay in the quadro belt near the inner ring of the galaxy. Tatooine was located in the outer ring, 5 days at light speed.

I had to pay 500 credit standards to be shipped there. I did and when I arrived at Mos Eisley I decided it was a reasonable price to pay to see my brother after a whole year. I spent the night at an inn and forgot what the ship pilot had told me. "Don't let your guard down kid you're likely not to get of this ship with out being set upon by several dozen scum bags.

It's dangerous so get yourself a blaster okay kid." I agreed and proceeded to forget every word the he said. That night an odd looking man with the head of a snail woke me with a blaster to my chest.

"Scoth...eeth...en...te...coo."

I didn't understand what he was saying but the meaning was clear. Get agaist the wall or I'll put a unnatural hole in your head. I moved back against the wall and waited patiently for what would come next. The snail-man stepped closer to me and patted my pockets looking for my money. He didn't find it since it was still in the box which was now under my bed. I stayed completely still as he patted me down. I looked over his shoulder as if I saw someone else there.

"Thank God you're here."

I said in a relieved tone. The snail-man whipped his head around and fired a blaster bolt at absolutely nothing. I took the opening, and brought my fist down on the back of his neck as hard as I could. My hand came away slimy from the snail head but my adversary crumpled to the ground dazed. As he fell his leg hit mine and I went down to. He Tried to reach his gun but I had not just been punched so I had the upper hand. I grabbed his arm and pulled away from the gun.

That bit backfired on me and the arm i had seized came thudding into my gut. He looked triumphant as he went once again for the blaster. He may be reasonably strong but I had spent most of my free time wrestling with the strongest boy on Ajax.

I knelt up, grabbed that same arm and rested it on my shoulder. Turning around I pulled down on the limb and the snail-man was catapulted up and over my head. I turned and reached for the gun. It was a unique model that I had never seen before. The grip was metal with tiny indentations for better grip, There was a large square of metal surrounding the trigger, that I guessed was where one would insert the bolt magazine. There was a small scope that stretched from about halfway across the nozzle to about one inch passed the back of the gun.

The nozzle itself was about 10 inches long and it curved out at the end like a cone to allow larger bolts to pass through. While I was sitting there studying the interesting design the snail-man had recovered enough to sneak up behind me and try another punch. The floor board under his foot squeaked a split second before the blow came. I ducked and he lost his balance teetering on one foot. I retreated a few steps and raised the gun. The snail-man grinned and said

"Ooze… arget...cal."

To my horror he drew another blaster, smaller but still deadly. We stood for a few seconds waiting for the other to make a move. I figured it wasn't long until he shot so I squeezed on the trigger. Red light filled the room and the snail-man crumpled to the floor dead. I stood there for a few seconds before saying

"You should have shot first man."

I didn't know what to do with the remains of the snail-man so I went to the owner and handed him a few credit standards and said

"Room 173, have a look. And sorry about the mess."

I walked out into the early morning air and sat down. I stared at the blaster in my hand. I had just killed. I felt a little queasy at the thought and knew if I had heeded the pilot's warning That man would be alive. But if he was alive then he would go on to rob and even kill others. I knew it was better this way. But still it felt a little weird.

When morning came I set out for the barracks on the east side of town. I received many greedy looks but the blaster now fastened to my belt discouraged any thought of robbery or assault. I trudged through the hot weather in search of my year gone brother.

And I felt excited that that day I'd get to talk to Finch not listen to a recording he'd made.

I'd see my brother again.

I saw the barracks from a good distance away. It made sense that they'd be tall since they hoses the forces that kept watch over almost an entire planet. Well not an entire planet more like a number of islands in a vast planet wide ocean. I made my way to the gate where two guards were standing. The were clad in white armor from head to toe. There helmet has black eye holes and there mouths were covered by a downward slanting triangular mouth guard.

Two respirators were laid on each side of the helmet to allow speech to emanate along with air. As they saw me coming they striated up and crossed her rifle blasters across my path.

"Hello,"

I said with a nod of my head.

"No civilian admittance."

There masks were unnerving as words came out but there mouths didn't move.

"Ah yes, but I was summoned here by your supervisor."

I said with a frown. The two storm troopers looked at each other and the one on the left went inside. I waited hoping that the lie would pass and I'd get to see Finch. The trooper emerged,

"You were not summoned, try that trick on any on else and you'll be arrested under imperial law. It is my obligation under such law to ask your name and business."

I was reluctant to give up such information to people I didn't even know. I frowned at the ground.

"All I want to know is the whereabouts of one of another storm trooper, can you tell me that."

The trooper stared ahead and said

"No one is allowed such information."

He stepped closer to me.

"Why are you looking for a member of our platoon?"

I turned around and began to walk away. I figured that I would come back that night and sneak into the barracks through one of the many windows. I was walking away when the trooper called after me again.

"I told you already civilian I need your name and business? You can't just ask a question like that and walk away."

I knew that I would not be allowed to walk away so I might as well oblige.

Beside maybe they will let me know one the know who I am, I thought.

I was sure they'd let me see Finch, as soon as they heard my name.

Finch no doubt told many stories about me.

"My name is Han Solo and I'm looking for my brother."