A Lightyear Away
In a dark corner of a moldy freighter, two starved children huddled close together for warmth. Their dusty faces showed the trails of many tears, and dark circles from lack of sleep. They scooted their bare feet with tiny blue toes closer to themselves as the ship landed. The children may have shivered from cold, but now they trembled as the hard footsteps of a man walked past them.
"Don't stinge on the good stuff again!" a woman's voice slurred from the cockpit of the ship. There came no reply from the man who only stomped harder as he left. Soon the unseen woman could be heard snoring. Then, the clatter of a bottle hitting the floor.
It was hours before the man came back. In the time that he was gone the children dared not move. There were unspoken rules they knew well. Anything, any sound, any movement, was deserving of punishment. It was when they felt safe enough in their nest of rags in the corner to sleep that the main door slid open. They jumped in fright but dared not make a sound. A wave of anxiety came with each thud of a heavy foot in their direction. The only thing that crossed the children's minds was oh no… we did something wrong… we messed up something…
They kept their heads down as the steps got closer. Soon they could see two large shoes stop in front of them. A food pack and scraps of dry meat were chucked at their heads. It hurt, but they were glad to have some food. They tore into the pack and meat with an almost animal-like ferocity, not caring about preparing the food properly. It had been days. Their shrunken stomachs screamed in protest with each ravenous bite. The man simply glared at them until he barked "You two!" causing them freeze and look up with wide eyes. He got even angier at their reaction and continued
"a couple more days, you won't be our problem anymore".
Then he left the room. The children waited for the stomping to stop before continuing to eat. Licking the bag clean and whatever crumbs they could find off the floor. Later they found themselves too tired to keep awake. So they fell asleep to the sounds of creaking and humming of the ship, as well as the nightly drunken arguing.
-Two weeks later-
...A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…
In a dark corner of a space barge, one child huddled closer to the wall for warmth. She had eaten better in the past few days, was cleaner, but slept no better. Then, what was that? She lifted her head up and stared at the locked door. There was that sound again. This time, closer. Someone was firing blasters. She stared at the door in curiosity and fright as the sounds got closer, there was also, roars? Then it was quiet. The child yelped when the door suddenly slid open. Her eyes squinted as she lifted a hand to shield them from the light that came pouring in.
A tall brown haired man stepped into the room "anyb-oh, hey there kid".
The small child said nothing, but shook as she eyed the blaster in his hand. He glanced down at it, then quickly and sheepishly put it away.
He then crouched down to her eye level "I'm not going to hurt ya, the people I'm with are rescuing prisoners on this ship."
No response. But she did stop shaking. So the man continued speaking with a gentleness the child had never known an adult to have.
"You seem pretty young. I've got a son at home who's probably only a couple of years older than you. I know you're scared. But there's no need to be. Not anymore."
He extended his hand, and the girl considered for a moment before slowly crawling the short distance to him.
A roar made her freeze, and the man laughed "oh that's just my copilot, he may seem tough but he's a softy. He won't hurt you either".
Reassured, the girl got up on wobbly legs and completed the short distance. The man scooped her up in his arms and brushed the dark hair from her face. "Gotta name kid?" She looked at him blankly. Did she have a name? She didn't remember ever being called anything.
He started walking out the room, and down the hall still carrying the child securely in his arms.
"No name huh? Well I'll tell you mine. It's Han, Han Solo."
hi everybody! welcome to the first chapter of my first star wars fic!