Chapter 7 – Realizations

Luke tossed the dirty rag into the cleaner. This was not fair! He was now two months on board and they were still somewhere in this galaxy and they had not even taken him outside. They said that the air outside was not good for kids and that they had no proper breathing mask. On board he felt far from comfortable. Sekar was constantly watching him and his eyes felt slimy on his back. He could not think of a better term to describe it.

He entered the cockpit. "The coffee, captain."

Goresh grunted and took a sip of the hot beverage.

Obviously, the captain was no mood to talk. But, Luke could not stand it anymore. "Sir, when are we reaching Mustafar?"

Goresh turned and stared at the boy. "Sith! Just tell me why you want on that slap of molten lava and stone?"

Luke winced because the captain had grabbed his arm and squeezed too strongly. "I need to go there, it is important! Really, really important!"

Sekar entered the cockpit and laughed. "Hey, has the little shit finally put some acid in your coffee?"

Goresh growled lowly. "Shut up, Sekar. Check the bag of the boy. I wanna know why this pest wants to get to Mustafar so badly!"

Sekar disappeared for some time and came back laughing loudly. "Hey, Goresh, the little pest is even more interesting than we thought. Look at this!" Luke struggled against Goresh but the captain was much too strong. He tried to reach for his precious letter but they held it out of his reach.

"Hey, hey...what is this? MIA, Commander Anakin Skywalker, on Mustafar? A JP number even!"

He laughed even harder. "The daddy of this little pest had a JP number! Could not even keep his pants up, this daddy dear? A JP with a kiddo, whom did he knock up? A servant girl? Got rid of you both, did he?"

Luke did not understand a word. He looked confused, lowering his hands.

Goresh saw that blank on his face and was amused enough to give the boy an explanation. "A JP is a person with a personnel number starting with JP, meaning Jedi Padawan. Your daddy was a bloody Jedi!" He laughed even harder. "Jedi are not supposed to have kiddos, he would have ended up in a whole lot of trouble cause of you. Probably he got rid of you and your mom."

Luke's face turned pale as the captain continued. "Kiddo, from what I see, nobody wants you. You said your uncle was a meanie. Well, your daddy does not want you either! He dumped you on this dust ball of a planet to get rid of you. You think he's on Mustafar. Well, the prison colony on Mustafar is a hellhole and even if he is there. Do you think your daddy would be happy to see that little secret crawling up from where he's buried it? And kiddo, your chances are slim anyway. Darth Vader made that quite clear!"

Luke had heard that name before but he could not quite place it. "Vader?"

"Stars! Kid, do you know anything? Vader, Darth Vader of the Sith. Guy is so mean, even the greatest meanie could take lessons from him! He slices everybody up that gets in his way, and every blooming Jedi is minced meat quicker than that mighty Jedi Knight can utter "Sithspawn". And I tell you, he has fun slicing up Jedi Kids too. He has killed a whole bunch of little kids, just like you are, just for fun. Only because they were Jedi Kids; so no help there either. Damn kiddo, you should be grateful being here. We are the best friends you can probably get in this blasted universe!"

Luke trembled terribly. It was as if the whole universe came crashing down on him. His dad did not want him? Was that the reason why Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru took him in? However, they did not want him either. Anger rose in the little boy. Goresh became nervous. Various loose parts on board started to rattle and shake. A small earthquake went though the ship. A slap in the face brought Luke back to his senses. "Cut the crap, boy! Go back into the kitchen and do your work!"

A slight sheen of sweat was on Goresh's forehead. When Luke left, he turned towards Sekar and hissed, "We have to get rid of that kid, soon. He's bloody dangerous!"

Sekar did not quite understand. "Why?" He looked confused.

"Didn't you feel the rattling?" He looked around nervously to make sure the boy was not around.

"Well, a small space anomaly. Our hyperdrive is not that great. It happens all the time!"

"No, Sekar that was not an anomaly. The boy's father was a Jedi! That boy did it with that weird thing the Jedi use, Jedi magic. I've seen during the war what Jedi can do; it's very freaky. We have to get rid of him. Set course to the Free Systems. I want to get him off board as soon as possible. I sell him even for half price, just to have that little snot off my ship!"

Luke did not hear anything of that. He ran into the kitchen and hid in a corner. Burying his head on his knees, he started to cry.

After a while, Sekar entered the kitchen, grinning broadly. "Hey, kiddo, no reason to sulk; we are heading for a planet and this time you even get off board. We do a little sightseeing. You gonna like it!" Luke looked up, frowning. He was not sure what to make out of this.

Sekar nodded towards him. "We just enter one of the Free Systems. We are going to Maranash, one of the most interesting trading posts in all the Frees!"

Luke nodded but the hole in his chest ached. He felt lonely and lost. If his dad did not want him, where should he go, what should he do? When Sekar left, Luke buried his face again and some time later he fell asleep, emotionally and physically drained.

On Coruscant, Lord Vader woke up startled. Something had woken him, a tremor in the Force. Someone had reached out to him. He activated the med droid and gave orders to disconnect him from the tubes. Maybe he should have stayed in his chair instead of lying down on the stretcher. He glanced at his armor, propped up on the rack. His heart was still pounding. Something had lashed out to him. He experienced a profound feeling of abandonment. As if, the whole universe had let him down and walked all over him. He knew that feeling but his experience told him that this time it was not his own. But why would he feel the emotions of somebody else? He was not empathic, far from it. Otherwise, he would have gone mad long ago.

It took him hours to fall back to sleep.