"You little- Ow! Stop kicking, damnit!"

Tember obliged, only to swing a few clumsy punches at the Zabrak holding her by the collar of her jacket. He shook her once – not too hard, little thing was only a kid, what maybe twelve or thirteen? – and she stilled with a glare.

"You put me kriffing down!" she demanded, huffing indignantly. "My sister's a Jedi you know! You're gonna be in huge trouble!"

Her captor rolled his eyes and dropped her unceremoniously to the floor of the freighter. "Right," he replied dryly. "And I'm a Sith lord. What's your name, kid?"

The girl yanked her jacket black into place and scowled as he dropped to one knee. "None of your business."

"Oh, I see." She wilted a little seeing his droll expression and arched brow. "I guess I'll be handing you over to the Coruscant Spaceport Authority then."

A flash of panic crossed her face. "Don't, please." She looked down at the durasteel grate and scraped at a smudge of grease before responding. "It's Tember."

"Tember." He nodded and stuck out a hand. "Granax. Captain, mind you."

She looked up at him doubtfully before gripping his hand with her small one and giving a firm shake. "Captain. Sir."

Granax pulled them both to their feet. "How old are you, kid?"

Tember squared her shoulders. "Fifteen."

"Poodoo," he retorted, narrowing his eyes. "Come on."

The kid sighed theatrically and rolled her eyes. "Thirteen."

"That's an interesting vocabulary for a thirteen-year-old kid."

Tember put her fists on her hips and glared fiercely. "I'm not a kid, I told you. I'm a pirate."

The Zabrak chuckled and gave her a mocking nod. "Right. Forgot about that. Now, how the hell'd you get on my ship?"

The kid smiled impishly, a playful glitter in her gold eyes. "I know where all the holorecorders in the spaceport are. There are plenty of blind spots to sneak through. Then once I'm in the hangar…" She shrugged, nonchalant, and examined her nails as if bored. "I can pick any ship I want."

"Are you actual-"

"Or," Tember interrupted, holding up a finger, "if you pick something up and look like you really need to get somewhere, everyone just assumes you're a crew member or a courier or something. Or, you could get a-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Granax pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, kid, it's nice that you're smart and all, but you can't just stowaway on a freighter."

"I didn't stowaway." The girl's grin got even more mischievous. "I flew away. I piloted this ship. Out of Coruscant airspace and into hyperspace."

Granax marveled at Tember, standing two heads shorter than him, with all the confidence of a veteran smuggler, and just shook his head. "You thought you could get away with that, didn't you?"

"I did get away with it." Tember stepped to the side so she could lean a shoulder against a bulkhead, using far more swagger than she had any right to. "We're in hyperspace, aren't we?"

"You could have hurt people, kid!"

"But I didn't. And I'm not a kid. I'm thirteen."

"Alright, alright," he said, scrubbing his hands over his face, utterly exasperated. "Force save me from teenaged pilots."

Tember tried to suppress a grin at hearing the word 'pilot' and failed.

"Look." Granax folded his arms over his chest and summoned up as much parental authority he could muster – for someone without kids, anyway. "I'm not going to report you or press charges." Tember paled a little at the phrase 'press charges.' "But you've gotta go back to Coruscant. You've got parents, right? Or at least that Jedi sister?"

Tember looked aside and kicked a boot against the floor. "Well, she's still technically an initiate, but she's going to be a Jedi." She heaved a disappointed sigh. "And I guess Mom and Dad would worry if I didn't come home by dinner time."

"Well, you're out of luck there, Tember," he drawled. "We won't make it back until tomorrow morning."

Any color that was left in the girl's cheeks drained away. "Are you kidding?"

"Nope."

Her proud stance melted into clutching the bulkhead for support. "They're going to kill me."

Granax shrugged. "I assume you'll be grounded – both kinds of grounded – but we can send them a holo in the meantime to let them know you're safe." He gave her a hard look. "You know you were lucky to run into me, right? Even the Coruscant spaceport harbors some dangerous people. Someone else might have just tossed you out the airlock. Others might have done worse."

Suddenly struck by the magnitude of her gamble, Tember's eyes shone with frightened tears. She blinked them back hurriedly. "Oh."

"But, I have to admit," he said, feeling a little guilty for upsetting her, "I've rarely met an adult with enough guts to steal a starship from a Core World."

Charmed, Tember straightened up a little, a spark coming back into her eyes. "Mom says I'm crazier than a Talasean bantha."

Granax chuckled. "She's not wrong." His lips quirked into a smile. "You manage to survive the next few years, kid, and I might have a job for you."

Tember broke into a broad smile. "Really?"

"Eh. No promises, but I'll see what I can do."