Garbage rattled noisily in the back alley dumpster as Cecilia rummaged through it for even an edible crumb. Her stomach howled in agony and she sighed. She'd been stranded for seven months, and was down to her last half of a ration bar. Cecilia had been able to stretch out her rations by stealing prepackaged food from the occasional cargo ships that came to Paneru Outpost, but it hadn't been nearly enough.
I'll never last long enough for the next one to arrive, Cecilia thought sadly to herself as she stared unhappily at the garbage through the fabric of her hood. And there's not enough game in the forest here for me to live off of either. But, at least I'll die out here instead of back at the lab with those bastards.
That thought wasn't especially comforting, but the sound of arguing voices beyond the alley caught her attention. Paneru Outpost was normally a very quiet place. Cecilia hesitated, but curiosity got the better of her and she peered around the corner. The source of the arguing turned out to be a group of three regarding a large crate sitting in the middle of the road.
"There is no way we're going to wait around for hours while you try to repair the damn repulsorlifts," a tall human man with blonde hair told his companions as he pushed on the crate.
"I didn't say it would take hours, just that it might take a couple hours," a tall, thin green humanoid with large blue eyes and black antennae replied as he gave the crate a shove. "It'd be a lot less backbreaking than trying to move this stupid crate anyways!"
"We're not going to do that in the middle of the street! We're going to get this back to the Hawk first, and then you can work on the repulsorlifts all you want."
"At the rate we're going it's going to take a week to get it back to the ship!" a woman with dirty blond hair and glasses grunted while throwing her weight against the crate. Cecilia heard the word "ship" and her mind started racing.
"No it's not," the man told her.
"Yes it is," the green humanoid agreed. "Just let me work on the repuslorlifts here!"
"NO! These people are going to be pissed enough as is if we don't get it to the side of the road."
"And they'll be even more pissed if we're still shoving this damn thing out of the way by nightfall!"
"I agree! You're going nowhere fast!" Cecilia called out to them laughing. The three of them jumped and whipped around; they were so focused on the crate they had no idea they were being watched. They stared at the ugly scrap cloth robe, clearly taken aback by the strange sight.
"Uh, okay. And you're a concerned citizen?" the man responded after a few seconds.
"No, I'm someone who can help you."
"You can."
"Pretty sure."
"So as long as we pay you enough credits, right?"
"I don't want credits. I'll do it for food, and free passage to the first star system you land at," Cecilia told the man. The three of them exchanged looks of surprise; it was obviously not the answer any of them were expecting to hear.
"Er, what?"
"I mean it. Please, I'll sleep on the floor if I have to. Just so long as I have something to eat and can get off of this stupid rock forever."
"Can we talk it over for a minute? Thanks," the man asked Cecilia before turning to huddle with the other two.
"That girl has got to be extremely desperate to ask to come with us. I'm not overly thrilled that she's rather obviously hiding something under there, but I can't blame her for wanting to get off of Pon at least," the humanoid told his companions. The woman nodded.
"Yes, and hungry, too, if she wants food as well. Come on, sweetie, don't we have more than enough room and rations to spare?"
"You know I can do a lot better than just a few ration bars," the man smiled. "But first, let's concentrate on getting this damn crate back to the Hawk, yeah?" His companions nodded, and the man turned back to Cecilia. "Alright miss, we'll let you come along with us."
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Cecilia grinned from ear to ear under the hood of her robe and walked over to the crate. She gave it a little shove and nodded; she had more than enough strength to move it so long as they helped her do so. "Yeah, I'll definitely be able to help you move this to your ship."
"Uh, won't it be easier if you roll up your sleeves first? Or at least push the hood out of your eyes?" the humanoid asked her. Cecilia shook her head.
"No, it's fine. You don't want to see what's under here, trust me. I got burned up in a fire, so I look real gross now," Cecilia quickly made up on the spot. "It's for your benefit I keep this on, not mine."
"We'll take your word for it," the man told Cecilia. "Alright team, on three. One, two, three!" The four of them pushed and the crate moved forward a third of a meter. The man smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere! One, two three!"
The four of them pushed again and again, and slowly the crate was pushed to the edge of Paneru Outpost. What Cecilia assumed to be their ship sat on the outskirts just outside of the outpost. It was a decent sized private freighter, designed for long journeys as evidenced by the two large fuel tanks on either side of the main ship body, but Cecilia didn't recognize the design. Probably came from Wild Space, Cecilia thought to herself as they shoved on the crate once more. When they got closer she could see a stylized hawk painted on the ship's nose along with the words "Crescent Hawk".
"Almost there," the man told Cecilia once they were nearly to the ship. "Visse, can you lower the cargo lift for us?"
"You bet!" the green humanoid, Visse, said and went up the ramp while Cecilia waited with the other two outside. She took the opportunity to catch her breath while waiting; shoving the crate turned out to be a lot harder than she anticipated.
But it's worth it just to eat and get out of here before anyone tracks me down, she thought to herself as she watched the cargo lift descend from the ship with Visse. Once the lift reached the ground Visse rejoined his companions and Cecilia at the crate.
"There's not going to be a lot of room to get this thing off the lift once we get it onboard," the woman commented to her companions.
"We can just leave it there; I can work on the repulsorlifts right on there without a problem."
"You guys ready? We've only got a few more good pushes left," the man told them.
"Ready when you are, boss!"
"Same here, hon," the woman responded with a smile.
"I'm good to go, too," Cecilia told the others.
"Alright then; one, two, three!" The four of them pushed on the crate again, and again. Cecilia was so focused on getting the crate the last few meters she didn't notice one of her sleeves slip and fall back, exposing her clawed fingers and crimson scales. Visse, however, did notice, and wordlessly he nudged the man and discreetly gestured to Cecilia's exposed hand. The man's eyes widened in shock when he realized what he was looking at, as did the woman when she saw where he was looking.
The four of them together gave one final shove, at last getting the crate all the way onto the cargo lift. It was only then when Cecilia looked down and saw her hand was completely exposed. "Ah…!" She quickly whipped her hands back, but she saw it was too late; they'd already seen her hand and knew her identity.
"It's you, you're the half-dragon woman on the run," the man said to Cecilia. Cecilia shook her head, her mind racing as she backed up slightly, trying to think of a way to avoid capture when she had no ship to escape on. "No, it's okay, we're on your side, I promise," he told her.
"As an escaped lab experiment myself, you have my full sympathies and support," Visse told Cecilia.
"Yes, people have no right to treat you like a criminal just because you look different. You have the same rights as everyone else in the New Republic."
"You…you won't turn me in?" Cecilia quietly asked them; she kept her voice steady, but her heart pounded furiously.
"No, never," the man told Cecilia.
"Promise?"
"We promise."
Cecilia hesitated. A very strong voice in her head told her not to trust anybody. At the same time her stomach gave another agonizing howl. Trust them, and maybe I'll survive; stay here and I'll die. Or worse. "Will you still give me food and free passage to the next star system?" She finally asked him.
"It would be our pleasure to do so," the man smiled. Cecilia said nothing. Instead, with her back turned to Paneru Outpost, she reached up and pulled her hood back.
"That mugshot is a terrible likeness of you," the woman told Cecilia. "You don't look nearly so bad, or as mean."
Bullshit. Cecilia reddened slightly and refused to look at her. I can't even stand to look at myself in the mirror every day when I shower.
"How about we all ride up on the cargo lift?" the man suggested after a minute of awkward silence. "Then we can be on our way."
"Oh. I need to get back to my old ship first. There's a few things I'd like to take along with me," Cecilia explained.
"That's fine, which one is yours?"
"None of these. Mine crashed at the edge of the forest way over there," Cecilia gestured over her shoulder, in the opposite direction.
"That's quite a bit of a walk from Paneru Outpost. How about we fly you over in the Hawk? We'll be out of here a lot quicker if we do."
"Would you? Thanks," Cecilia smiled and joined the three of them on the cargo lift. Together they rode up to the ship's main cargo hold, which turned out to be a third full.
"As captain, let me be the first to welcome you aboard the Crescent Hawk. My name's Silver Thorn," the man introduced himself. "Over here is navigator and first mate Visse D'artanign."
"Hey," Visse nodded his head to Cecilia.
"And this is our computer specialist, and my girlfriend, Misty Ceru."
"Mystic Misty," the woman added and grinned.
"I'm Cecilia Crimsondragon. Thank you all again for giving me free passage out of here," Cecilia said as she followed the three of them out of the cargo hold and into a room with multiple hatches, and a large round table surrounded by circular couches. From there they went through the hatch directly opposite from the cargo hold into what turned out to be the cockpit.
"Picked your own name, huh? Me too," Visse said as he sat down in the navigators chair.
"Is it that obvious?"
"A little," Silver responded from the captain's seat as he started the ship's engines. "But there's nothing wrong with that. 'Misty' isn't her real name, she got the idea to choose her own name from a holodrama."
"I didn't make up 'Cecilia'. I only needed something to go with it," she explained as the Crescent Hawk lifted up into the late afternoon sky and flew low over Paneru Outpost, and then the surrounding forest. "There, that's Dragon Wing over there," Cecilia pointed out her crashed ship after a few minutes of flying. Silver skillfully braked and landed the Crescent Hawk a short distance away.
"Is that a Lambda Shuttle?" Visse asked Cecilia.
"I dunno, maybe? I've never bothered to look into what kind of ship it is. Or was, anyways."
"Is it true that you engaged in a dogfight with Slave I over Tatooine?" Misty asked Cecilia as Silver led them out of the cockpit and down the ramp. Visse followed close behind as well.
"Well, I wouldn't really call what happened a dogfight, but yeah, I did. He damaged the engines though, and when I tried to land here on Pon I wound up crashing instead."
"Wow, that's amazing! You're probably the first person to have ever evaded capture from Boba Fett!" Misty sounded awestruck. Cecilia wasn't sure how to respond to that either, but luckily she didn't have to; they had reached the bottom of the ramp and Visse burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of Dragon Wing.
"This is…that's a Lambda Shuttle with the wings lobbed off!" Visse managed to get out. "Why did you lob off the wings of a Lambda?"
"It was like that when I took it," Cecilia said with a twinge of annoyance. "I didn't know there was something wrong with it," she explained, but she wasn't sure Visse actually heard her as he was still cracking up at the lobbed off Lambda.
"Ah, don't worry about it," Silver told Cecilia; his own shoulders shook slightly as he tried not to laugh at the strange sight himself. "I'm more impressed that you're okay. It looks like you had a pretty nasty crash," he said as he eyed the crumpled and torn durasteel plating.
"Just a few bumps, nothing major," Cecilia pulled her robe off her head and unfurled her wings with a large stretch before folding them into their usual resting spot behind her back. "Alright, just give me a minute and I'll be good to go."
"Please take your time," said Silver. Visse was still laughing, but he managed to nod.
Cecilia went onboard Dragon Wing and grabbed the few clothes she had that she could wear, her datapad with the stick of information she'd stolen from her captors, spare ammunition for her blaster, and the last half a ration bar she had left. Afterwards Cecilia paused and looked around her ship one last time with a slight pang of sadness in her heart. Dragon Wing, you were a wonderful first home for me. I hope my next home is just as good.
"All set!" Cecilia smiled as she came down the ramp for the final time. She turned and gave one last look to her old home, her former ship, before turning and heading back into the Crescent Hawk with the others.
"This is our common area," Silver said to Cecilia when they were back in the room with the table. "We eat and spend most of our spare time here. You're welcome to join us out here as well. That hatch is mine and Misty's room, and Visse's is over there. You can have this one," he led Cecilia to the hatch next to Visse's. "The rooms aren't huge, but the beds are comfortable and they all have their own private fresher."
"I would've been just fine sleeping on the floor. Thank you again."
"If you need anything we'll be in the cockpit for a while."
Cecilia nodded. Once inside the room she set her few possessions down next to the bed and looked around. Although the room only had standard furnishings it felt a lot more welcoming than Dragon Wing ever did. There was a viewport, and as Cecilia watched the forest dropped away and the golden sunset was all around them before rapidly fading away as the ship left Pon. The fresher was the largest she had ever seen by far, complete with a tub-shower combo and small clothes washer.
Oh, this is fantastic! Cecilia grinned, the tip of her tail wagging a little. She stripped, throwing the clothes she was wearing into the washer before stepping into the shower. Unlike the shower stall she had been used to, this one was large enough to accommodate her wings and tail, and had running water, a real luxury. Cecilia eagerly enjoyed every drop of hot water, and had a feeling this wasn't the first time she'd been able to bathe using real water.
Eventually she finished washing, and after drying and changing into clean clothes Cecilia settled into a chair and absentmindedly read using her datapad. It wasn't until she could hardly keep her eyes open that she finally set down her datapad and snuggled up into bed. She found it was not only comfortable, but extremely comfortable, and sleep came quickly for Cecilia.
But the comfortable surroundings didn't stay with her. Instead she found herself back in the Genetic Infusion Lab, and much younger. Chrysalis led her out of the lab with one of his people, but instead of taking her to the usual training and testing room he brought Cecilia to a new room. This room was mostly empty; aside from some shackles on the far wall, there was a table set up with a box on top of it.
"No!" Cecilia had a sudden sense of dread and tried to run back out, but Chrysalis and the other man got hold of her and despite her kicking and screaming dragged her over to the shackles. They strapped her into the shackles, her arms held out away from her body. Cecilia tried to struggle, but was unable to move even a centimeter.
"Stop trying to move," Chrysalis told her as he marked a point on both of her upper arms. On her right arm, the mark was right in the midst of her scales, on the left, her human skin. "If you mess up these test results I'm going to be very pissed at you."
"No, I don't wanna do this test! I don't wanna!" Cecilia begged. She had no idea what this test was, but she had been in the facility more than long enough to know that it was going to be bad.
Chrysalis ignored her, and thoroughly scanned the marked points of her arms with one of his specialized datapads before going back to the far side of the room where the other man was waiting for him. Wordlessly he nodded to the other man. The man pulled out a blaster, aimed, and shot Cecilia on the left arm, where Chrysalis had marked it. Cecilia screamed and frantically tried to struggle. The man fired again, shooting Cecilia's right arm on the point marked. Cecilia screamed a second time, sobbing as she hung helplessly on the wall.
Chrysalis walked back over and started to scan her arms once more. "Stop your whining," he told her as he worked. "If your father was here he'd be disgusted by your tears, and tell you to suck it up. I'm going to put on bacta patches as soon as I'm done. But I'd be done a lot quicker if you didn't bitch and whine so much."
But Cecilia was unable to stop the steady stream of tears. In the bed of the Crescent Hawk tears streamed through her closed eyes and down her cheeks as she relived this terrible memory.
And then suddenly she was in the strange shadow place. She was in a dark room, curled up under the covers of a bed and sobbing frantically. Cecilia grabbed hold of something soft and held on tight as she quietly wept in the dark, her eyes tightly squeezed shut.
But not as quietly as she thought, because then the shadow man came into the room. He knelt beside her bed and quietly whispered to her. Cecilia couldn't quite understand everything he said, but thought one of the things he had said was her name. What she did understand was his tone; whatever he was saying, he was deeply concerned about her.
Cecilia opened her eyes and looked at him, tears still pouring down her cheeks. The shadow man lifted her out of bed and carried her into another room, the one with the window. Cecilia let go of whatever the soft thing was, choosing to cling onto the man instead as he carried her. It was pitch black outside, the rain as heavy as ever, and the room itself was dimly lit. The shadow man carried her over to the couch next to the window and sat down, holding Cecilia close in his lap. Cecilia buried her face in his chest and openly wept. The man gently rubbed her back as she cried, and whispered softly to her.
Cecilia started to feel better and gradually her tears slowed down to just a trickle. She looked up at the man, who tenderly dried her eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. In the bed of the Crescent Hawk Cecilia genuinely felt soothed, and her real tears ceased as well. Back in the shadow place the man gently kissed the top of her head, and Cecilia hugged him and smiled, grateful for the shadow man, and his comfort and love.
In the chilly predawn light Boba Fett and Fennec Shand silently approached the crumpled Lambda Shuttle with the lobbed-off wings. Boba used his helmet to scan the vicinity of the ship, first for heat signatures, then for life signs; both came back negative. Boba signaled to Fennec, and together they cautiously went up ship's ramp, blasters set for stun and ready to fire. An empty ship silently greeted them at the top.
"Damn," Fennec slung her rifle over her shoulder and took off her helmet. "It's her ship alright, but there's no sign of the girl."
"She can't have left too long ago," Boba holstered his own blaster and lifted away his distinct green and red dented helmet. "The source spotted her as recently as yesterday afternoon in Paneru Outpost," he said as his dark eyes looked around. There wasn't much to the interior of Dragon Wing; the beer cases and ration bar boxes and wrappers were stacked on one side of the cabin, on the opposite side of the bridge. The cut up remnants of clothes were strung around here and there, in a crude imitation of décor. "No signs of a struggle; if someone captured her, it wasn't in here."
"Maybe we missed something in-between here and Paneru Outpost," Fennec suggested as she picked up one of the many empty cases of beer. "'Corellia's Finest'," she read out loud, a small smile on her lips. "This girl knew how to have fun while on the run. Can't say I blame her; I'd want some nice beer too after eating nothing but ration bars, by the looks of it."
Boba picked up one of the empty wrappers and examined it. It wasn't just empty; it had been thoroughly licked clean. He felt something unusual; pity for this half-dragon girl. Stop that. Why the hell do I even feel pity for potential hard merchandise, anyways? Immediately he thought of those chocolate brown eyes. There was another thought that tried to come with it, but he quashed it before it could even properly form.
"I want to examine the surrounding area. All the way back to Paneru Outpost, if necessary. We're not leaving until I can confirm whether or not she's still here on Pon," he told Fennec. She nodded; outside it had gotten considerably brighter in the short time they had been aboard Dragon Wing. The imprints of the Crescent Hawk's landing gear, hidden in the dark, were now visible to both hunters.
"They're fresh," Fennec said as she knelt by the closest imprint and examined it. "Less than a day old for sure."
"Fresher than that, I'd said less than twelve standard hours," Boba replied as he examined the same imprint. Something else caught his eye; footprints. Taking great care not to disturb them he examined them carefully. "Four of them. Two men, a woman, and the half-dragon girl."
"There's no sign of a struggle here either," Fennec noted as she looked around the immediate area. "Whoever they are, she went with them willingly."
"And Paneru Outpost is so small they don't keep records of space traffic. Dammit," his eyes narrowed; he detested the rare occasion prey slipped through his gloves, and this girl had done so twice now. "Let's head back to Tatooine. There's nothing more we can do here."
The hunters began their long walk back to Paneru Outpost as dawn broke, bathing the top of the forest in golden light. A cool breeze stirred the treetops, creating a low whistle all throughout the forest. "What's our next course of action, boss?" Fennec turned to Boba as they walked; there were far more important things on her mind than the beauty of the sunrise.
"I want Chax Sannors brought to me as soon as we return. Since he gave me this tip as a way to pay off his debts and I'm unable to collect on the bounty, I'll have to find other means for him to pay his debts."
"It will be done."
As he walked Boba's thoughts turned back to the girl; despite what he had told himself, he still felt a great deal of pity for her. With it came a greater feeling of unease as he pictured her face, especially her dark eyes. The forbidden thought danced half-formed in the back of his mind once more. Damn clone troopers, having kids of their own, was the only acknowledgment Boba allowed that very specific thought.
Cecilia frantically licked the wrapper of her final ration bar for even the tiniest speck of crumb as her stomach wailed in agony. She had already eaten the last half of the bar, but she was so hungry it didn't make a difference in how she felt. Cecilia looked down at the empty wrapper and sighed; no matter how much she licked it, there just wasn't anything left for her to lick up.
As she sadly stared down at the wrapper there was a knock on the hatch. "Sorry if I'm waking you," Silver's voice came from the other side. "But we're about to have breakfast, and since food was part of the agreement I wanted you to know that you're more than welcome to come out and join us."
Yeah, no, no way that's going to happen, Cecilia crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the thought of joining them for breakfast. Asking for a lift off of Pon was bad enough. I'll just stick to being provided with ration bars at the end of the journey. Whenever that is. Her stomach gave off another agonizing wail and she sighed. Cecilia walked to the hatch and hesitated briefly before sliding it open. A wonderfully delicious smell hit her nose before she even shyly peeked out into the common area.
"Hey, good morning," Silver cheerfully greeted Cecilia when he saw her. Misty and Visse were smiling as well, but Cecilia only had eyes for the table. There were stacks of fresh made flatcakes, plates of fried meat strips and patties, and even a bowl of thawed fruit. "Want to join us for breakfast?"
"Yes, I'd love to!" Cecilia grinned from ear to ear, the tip of her tail wagging furiously as she walked over to the table. Feeling nervous and a bit shy she sat down with the group. Visse passed her a plate with several flatcakes stacked on it, as well as a couple meat strips and a piece of fruit. Cecilia didn't hesitate; she snatched up the top flatcake and stuffed the entire thing in her mouth. Cecilia felt eyes watching her and looked up; all three of them were staring at her.
"They're, uh, much better with butter and syrup on them," Misty suggested. Cecilia saw them holding utensils and blushed. She picked up fork and knife in front of her awkwardly; if she had ever held a pair, she certainly couldn't recall it.
Cecilia watched the others before awkwardly applying butter to her own flatcakes, followed by a generous squeeze of ice cold syrup. She then wolfed down the stack, enjoying every bite down to the last. When she finished, she picked up the plate and started licking it. Cecilia looked up, and once more all three were staring at her.
"Would you like seconds?" Silver asked her.
"You mean I can have more?! Yeah!"
"And you were worried about leftovers," Visse said to Silver. Silver just smiled and piled more food on Cecilia's plate for her.
"I guess it's been a while since you've eaten real food, huh?" He asked Cecilia as she quickly slapped butter onto the flatcakes.
"Oh. Actually, this is the first time I can recall having real food," Cecilia said softly. She smiled. "It's really, really good! I'm going to miss this when I have to go back to just ration bars. I hope you have a lot of them; I have high metabolism and require extra food," Misty and Silver exchanged looks of concern that she had never eaten real food before as Cecilia started wolfing down her second serving. Visse however seemed unsurprised by that revelation.
"If you don't mind my asking, just how old are you, anyways?" Misty asked her.
"What? Oh, er, right. My age," Cecilia swallowed another mouthful of food and frowned slightly. Aw shit. I've only been asked this once, and that was so damn long ago. "Yes, I'm seventeen. …Or is it sixteen? Er, fourteen maybe? …Thirteen?" Cecilia grinned awkwardly at the crew.
"You have no idea, do you?" Silver said to Cecilia.
"Well, no, I guess I don't," Cecilia felt her cheeks burn. "I don't know how long was in the facility. I only know that I've been on the run for a little over one standard year now."
"Well, you look like you could be about seventeen, so we'll go with that one."
There was an awkward silence, slightly disguised by everyone eating. Cecilia finished her second helping and eagerly accepted thirds. The pit in her stomach was already feeling so much better.
"This may be a longshot, but I don't suppose you know any trade languages, do you?" Visse asked after several minutes of silence.
"No, sorry, I only speak Basic. Well, and Dragon, but that's not exactly useful," she added. The crew burst into laughter, and Cecilia couldn't help but to join them.
"Hey, good sense of humor, I like that," Visse grinned at Cecilia.
Too bad that wasn't a joke, though. But hell, I don't have the heart to tell them that. Instead Cecilia just smiled back.
"So, what was Concord Dawn like?" Silver asked after another few minutes of silence.
"Huh?" She blinked at this seemingly random question. Concord what now?
"Concord Dawn, that's where you're from, isn't it? You share their very distinct accent," he explained to Cecilia.
"I have an accent?" she asked them, and as she spoke she realized there was a distinct sound to her speech that the other three lacked. "I never noticed before. This is the most I've ever spoken to anyone," Cecilia admitted to them. Silver and Misty exchanged another concerned glance with each other. Cecilia however didn't notice. A distinct accent…just like the voice that commanded me to shut down my engines! I should've known.
"Anyways I think I come from some place called Kamino," Cecilia explained. "I don't really know anything about it, though. If anyone came from Concord Dawn I guess it'd be my father."
"Wouldn't you rather go to Kamino instead, then? Your family might still be there, it'd be easy enough to look up the coordinates, what d'you say?" Misty asked Cecilia.
"No way," Cecilia snorted. "The only family I have is my father, and there's no going back to him, ever."
"Why not?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try us," Visse said to her.
"Alright, why not? If word gets out it'll shame the hell out of him, and he deserves that much at least. My father is Boba Fett." There was a pause before the crew cracked up a second time. Cecilia joined them; she found their laughter to be extremely infectious, and that she loved to laugh to boot.
"Cecilia, you are just too funny! But, for real, who is your father?" Visse asked her in-between bursts of laughter.
"I just told you. I did say you wouldn't believe me," she said to Visse. At once the laughter ceased, and instead they stared at her in horror. "What?"
"You?! You're the daughter of that notorious bounty hunter and crime lord?!"
"Unfortunately, yes," Cecilia frowned. The others continued to stare at her in shock and horror. "What? I don't love him, I go by Crimsondragon, remember? Hell, he doesn't even care for me; he tried to capture me so he could turn me in! The only thing I'm worth to him is credits, apparently," she didn't bother to keep the disgust out of her voice as she spoke.
"I'm almost afraid to ask, but, who's your mother?" Misty asked Cecilia.
"Don't have one."
"That's not true, everyone has a mother."
"I don't. I'm a clone."
"Which would be the one way you wouldn't have a mother," Silver said. "But, damn, Cecilia I'm so sorry."
"Yeah, same here," Misty added.
"Makes three of us," Visse nodded.
Cecilia nodded; she barely heard any of them, however. She stared at her empty plate, but without really seeing it. The pit in her stomach was finally satisfied, but the one in her heart remained. I don't understand. Why doesn't he care? Why do I even exist if he doesn't care? Cecilia's wings started to droop as she stared down at the plate.
"Juice?" Silver's voice broke into her thoughts.
"Huh?" Cecilia blinked and looked up.
"D'you want some juice?" Silver asked again, holding up a glass with a cloudy pink liquid inside.
"Yeah, sure," Cecilia took the offered glass and took a ship. "Not too bad. I used to wash down my ration bars with beer, but this is pretty good too," she told them before taking a bigger drink from the glass. She would've drained it, but giggles from the other three caused her to look up.
"Ah, Cecilia, you know it's technically illegal for seventeen year olds to drink alcohol, right?" Visse told her as he snickered. Cecilia's eyes genuinely widened slightly; she had no idea she wasn't legally allowed to have beer, and there had been so many cases of the stuff on Dragon Wing. "No, it's okay, you won't get in trouble with us. But I wouldn't go advertising it around, y'know?"
"Right," Cecilia gave a small smile before draining the glass. "Thank you again for the wonderful food. I should probably let you get back to your regular duties, though."
"No, it's okay, you can hang out here all you want," Silver said to her, but Cecilia was already up and halfway back through the bedroom hatch. "Alright, but don't be a stranger!" he called out as the hatch slid close.
"Eh, my gut tells me she'll be out again for the next meal. Want some help taking all this stuff back up to the galley?" Visse asked Silver.
"Please?"
Silver and Visse along with Misty stacked all the dirty breakfast dishes onto a repulsorlift tray, before taking it up to the upper deck. Halfway to the galley however Misty broke out into a fit of giggles.
"What?" Silver turned and looked at his girlfriend.
"Cecilia is Boba Fett's clone!" Misty giggled.
"Yeah, and why is that so funny?"
"Because that means that's what he looks like under all that armor! Those big, brown eyes, that dark, curly hair, and that sweet smile," Misty giggled again. "No wonder he leaves that helmet on all the time."
"I can't imagine that's what he actually looks like," Silver replied. But now that Misty had planted the image in his mind he almost started laughing himself; it was a pretty funny image. "Well, not anymore anyways. Just don't let Cecilia hear you say shit like that, she hates him. Can't say I blame her, either; she freely admits he tried to capture her on Tatooine. What an utter scumbag."
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Cecilia."
"Same here," Visse added.
"I don't think there's much to discuss," Silver turned and looked at both of them.
A few days later Cecilia was laying in the comfortable bed, thinking about the dream she had just woken up from seconds earlier. She had been in the strange shadow place eating fresh flatcakes prepared by the mysterious shadow man. They were lopsided, and some were even slightly burnt, but she hadn't minded one bit. They had eaten together at a table that faced a different, but equally dark and rainy window.
I guess that rainy place must be somewhere on Kamino. Cecilia yawned, sat up, and rubbed her eyes. But hell, does it really matter where it is? There's nothing for me back there. I have exactly one family member, and he doesn't love me anyways. She sighed and took a step in the direction of the fresher when someone knocked on the hatch. Cecilia turned and slid open the hatch.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Silver apologized when he saw the sleepy look on Cecilia's face.
"No, I've been up for a few minutes. Is something up?"
"Yes, we'll be dropping out of hyperspace in an hour and landing on Vail. Visse got the cargo repulsorlift repaired so unloading will be a snap compared to last time, at least," Silver smiled.
"Right," Cecilia nodded. "Thank you again for the lift. I'll help you unload the cargo and then I'll collect my rations and be on my way."
"Well, I mean, sure you could get off here, but Vail is about as populous as Pon. You might not be lucky enough to last as long without getting caught, y'know? I know we agreed to the next star system, but I'll let you stay on board until we land someplace a lot more populous. You'd still receive free food and wouldn't have to pay us for room and board, of course."
"I've been so focused on getting off of Pon that I never thought much about where I'd be going," Cecilia admitted. "But if you're willing to put up with me a little longer, then I can wait for the next planet. But only until the next planet; after that I'll be getting off no matter what it's like."
