-1-
The last light from Tatooine's twin suns slowly dwindled away as the red orbs disappeared behind the many small businesses and stock houses of the desert planet. It was almost time to move.
Harn quickly gathered his things together and shoved them into a thick backpack, most of the items were illegal, all were meant for one purpose: To get Harn off Tatooine before he rotted or just became so used to the slaves life he accepted it.
Pressing a tan colored button on his wall, Harn made sure the small room's door was locked before he quickly hauled off his greasy coveralls and began getting into his black shirt and pants, his special clothes for the little 'errands' he ran every night.
When he was ready, Harn pulled his coveralls back on and lifted one of the backpack's straps over his shoulder, giving his chronometer a quick glance to see if it was time. It was still a little early, but something seemed to tug at him, telling him he needed to leave now.
"Mom, I'm going to go check on some stuff! I'll be back by supper time!" Harn yelled as he sprinted down the hall, he had to be quick or she would stop him and inquire where exactly he was going, and he really did hate to lie to her.
There was no answer but Harn didn't notice as he jabbed the open button for the thick front door of his house and dodged outside, barely pressing the button to close the door again before grabbing a jut-out part of the balcony above him and swinging his body up.
Harn didn't look like much, he was only about 5' 7" and he was skinny, but almost every ounce of his wiry frame was muscle, thanks to all his 'errands', and he was used to lifting his own body weight plus whatever parts he had stolen.
That was his job, stealing parts from one wear house and getting them into another. A very illegal and very risky business, but it paid enough to keep him and his mother alive and to leave some for saving, although his mother didn't know about the saving either.
Without even having to think about it, Harn crouched down for a second and then jumped up, catching the edge of the roof almost ten feet over his head and then swinging up. It was exhilarating being up above streets and exhilarating running from the toughs that were hired to make sure he didn't get away; more than one person wanted him dead, or at least horribly mutilated.
"I think it's safe to get into gear." Harn said softly to himself and opened the backpack he wore.
Harn pulled some things out of the backpack and then quickly took off his coveralls, stuffing them into the backpack and tossing the pack aside before quickly taking up his gear and strapping it on, most importantly his visor and the strip of black cloth that went around the lower half of his face. The cloth was cheap but the visor had not been.
Standing, Harn began to go through some slow and careful stretches designed to limber up. People never thought about that part of thieving, always assuming thieves just sprinted in and sprinted out, or maybe other thieves didn't do this; either way Harn always made sure he was ready to move and move quickly without hurting himself.
When the first trickle of sweat ran down Harn's forehead, he stopped stretching and surveyed the surrounding rooftops carefully, even though he already knew what he would see. It was five feet to the next rooftop but Harn knew he could make it, even without the boosters attached to his legs.
Nodding to himself, Harn sprinted across the rooftop and kicked powerfully off the edge, engaging his boosters only for a split second to make just he didn't land too jarringly, and then he sprinted again, already knowing exactly how far it was to the next roof, and then the one after that, and the one after that. It was all the same night after night, unless it was like tonight and he had a special mission. Tonight he was supposed to get into one of the older wear houses and actually blow it up. The company that owned it refused to tear it down or sell it so another company that wanted to build a new store at that location decided a little nudge would be needed to convince the owner to sell.
The suns were both gone now and darkness covered everything, allowing Harn to be almost invisible in his black clothes. Be he was not totally invisible; some one else was also on the rooftops that night.
Harn had no idea anything was wrong until a flying side kick sent him sprawling across the rough stone building-top, scrapping some skin off the fingers that extended from his half-gloves and stunning him momentarily, the only thing that saved the side of his face from a bad skinning was the visor's edge and the cloth mask.
"Now what is a lad like you doing leaping from roof to roof after dark?" a cool and deep voice came from the shadows near Harn.
Harn rolled over onto the side that hadn't been kicked and peered about into the shadows, his visor was broken so he took it off carefully and casually tossed it aside; not quite so casually as he made it look, Harn was hoping he had tossed it at the voice and that might give the speaker away by bouncing off or something, but no luck.
"What I do after dark is no business of yours, and kicking me isn't a good way to get answers." Harn said, silently sliding backwards and crawling up onto his hands and knees, ignoring the pain that radiated from his unprotected and scraped fingers.
"So you were not planning to-." The voice began to question, but they had done exactly as Harn hoped, they had spoken; and Harn gave them no time to finish their sentence.
Harn pressed two buttons and grappling hooks shot out of the holders on his wrists, wrapping around something and causing a cry of shock as Harn yanked back and pulled whoever it was over. Then, swiftly cutting the ropes, Harn whirled and sprinted on again. He was curious to find out who his attacker was, but he would much rather get away intact.
Not using the boosters again created a few near misses on the larger jumps, and hard landings on the shorter ones, but at least Harn was fairly sure his attacker couldn't follow him without the tale-tell red flare of the boosters.
The last light from Tatooine's twin suns slowly dwindled away as the red orbs disappeared behind the many small businesses and stock houses of the desert planet. It was almost time to move.
Harn quickly gathered his things together and shoved them into a thick backpack, most of the items were illegal, all were meant for one purpose: To get Harn off Tatooine before he rotted or just became so used to the slaves life he accepted it.
Pressing a tan colored button on his wall, Harn made sure the small room's door was locked before he quickly hauled off his greasy coveralls and began getting into his black shirt and pants, his special clothes for the little 'errands' he ran every night.
When he was ready, Harn pulled his coveralls back on and lifted one of the backpack's straps over his shoulder, giving his chronometer a quick glance to see if it was time. It was still a little early, but something seemed to tug at him, telling him he needed to leave now.
"Mom, I'm going to go check on some stuff! I'll be back by supper time!" Harn yelled as he sprinted down the hall, he had to be quick or she would stop him and inquire where exactly he was going, and he really did hate to lie to her.
There was no answer but Harn didn't notice as he jabbed the open button for the thick front door of his house and dodged outside, barely pressing the button to close the door again before grabbing a jut-out part of the balcony above him and swinging his body up.
Harn didn't look like much, he was only about 5' 7" and he was skinny, but almost every ounce of his wiry frame was muscle, thanks to all his 'errands', and he was used to lifting his own body weight plus whatever parts he had stolen.
That was his job, stealing parts from one wear house and getting them into another. A very illegal and very risky business, but it paid enough to keep him and his mother alive and to leave some for saving, although his mother didn't know about the saving either.
Without even having to think about it, Harn crouched down for a second and then jumped up, catching the edge of the roof almost ten feet over his head and then swinging up. It was exhilarating being up above streets and exhilarating running from the toughs that were hired to make sure he didn't get away; more than one person wanted him dead, or at least horribly mutilated.
"I think it's safe to get into gear." Harn said softly to himself and opened the backpack he wore.
Harn pulled some things out of the backpack and then quickly took off his coveralls, stuffing them into the backpack and tossing the pack aside before quickly taking up his gear and strapping it on, most importantly his visor and the strip of black cloth that went around the lower half of his face. The cloth was cheap but the visor had not been.
Standing, Harn began to go through some slow and careful stretches designed to limber up. People never thought about that part of thieving, always assuming thieves just sprinted in and sprinted out, or maybe other thieves didn't do this; either way Harn always made sure he was ready to move and move quickly without hurting himself.
When the first trickle of sweat ran down Harn's forehead, he stopped stretching and surveyed the surrounding rooftops carefully, even though he already knew what he would see. It was five feet to the next rooftop but Harn knew he could make it, even without the boosters attached to his legs.
Nodding to himself, Harn sprinted across the rooftop and kicked powerfully off the edge, engaging his boosters only for a split second to make just he didn't land too jarringly, and then he sprinted again, already knowing exactly how far it was to the next roof, and then the one after that, and the one after that. It was all the same night after night, unless it was like tonight and he had a special mission. Tonight he was supposed to get into one of the older wear houses and actually blow it up. The company that owned it refused to tear it down or sell it so another company that wanted to build a new store at that location decided a little nudge would be needed to convince the owner to sell.
The suns were both gone now and darkness covered everything, allowing Harn to be almost invisible in his black clothes. Be he was not totally invisible; some one else was also on the rooftops that night.
Harn had no idea anything was wrong until a flying side kick sent him sprawling across the rough stone building-top, scrapping some skin off the fingers that extended from his half-gloves and stunning him momentarily, the only thing that saved the side of his face from a bad skinning was the visor's edge and the cloth mask.
"Now what is a lad like you doing leaping from roof to roof after dark?" a cool and deep voice came from the shadows near Harn.
Harn rolled over onto the side that hadn't been kicked and peered about into the shadows, his visor was broken so he took it off carefully and casually tossed it aside; not quite so casually as he made it look, Harn was hoping he had tossed it at the voice and that might give the speaker away by bouncing off or something, but no luck.
"What I do after dark is no business of yours, and kicking me isn't a good way to get answers." Harn said, silently sliding backwards and crawling up onto his hands and knees, ignoring the pain that radiated from his unprotected and scraped fingers.
"So you were not planning to-." The voice began to question, but they had done exactly as Harn hoped, they had spoken; and Harn gave them no time to finish their sentence.
Harn pressed two buttons and grappling hooks shot out of the holders on his wrists, wrapping around something and causing a cry of shock as Harn yanked back and pulled whoever it was over. Then, swiftly cutting the ropes, Harn whirled and sprinted on again. He was curious to find out who his attacker was, but he would much rather get away intact.
Not using the boosters again created a few near misses on the larger jumps, and hard landings on the shorter ones, but at least Harn was fairly sure his attacker couldn't follow him without the tale-tell red flare of the boosters.