Chapter Two: Alderaan Places
Kai waited for the transport ship on Coruscant. He was finally getting off that damned planet, and he'd never look back!
"Where am I taking you, kid?" The pilot asked, sauntering toward him. The pilot was only a few years older than he was. He motioned for Kai to follow him onto the ship. The ship was a cargo ship; Kai had a feeling the pilot wasn't used to transporting living cargo.
"Where will 1,000 credits take me?" He asked. The pilot looked from the kid to the map on his navigation panel.
"You running from something?" The pilot asked.
"No. I just need to get out of Coruscant. I can't stand living in a city that never stops. No matter what time of the day, no matter where in the world, there's constant noise and energy. I hate it." Kai admitted. "I've lived here all my life. I was born here, and I don't know what it's like to sleep through the whole night. I've never seen real mountains or freshwater. I've never seen what the sky looks like beyond a simulation."
"I have a cargo load going to Alderaan. It'll only cost you 500 credits if you help me unload when we get there." The pilot offered. "That's the best I can do right now. If you wait a week, I can get you as far as Naboo." Kai pretended to think about it for a second. 500 credits was plenty to start a life elsewhere. The pilot was more than generous.
"Alderaan, let's go." Kai agreed.
"Alright."
Kai was quiet for the entire trip. The pilot didn't want to use hyperdrive, so the trip took just over an hour. So instead, Kai spent his time looking out the viewport, taking in sites he could only dream about until today. The pilot respected Kai's silence and didn't say a word. There was no small talk, no awkward attempt to fill the silence. There was just silence.
The pilot didn't say anything until it was time to land. He reminded Kai that sitting down and buckling up would be best because sometimes Alderaan had a rough atmosphere. He also reminded Kai that he was a professional cargo pilot and that anything he heard on the communication system was totally normal. Kai felt that the pilot was probably a smuggler and the load he was transporting was illegal goods, but he didn't care. He was finally off Coruscant.
"You're just gonna help me unload those boxes, and then you're free to go," the pilot reminded him when they landed. So Kai prepared himself for manual labor. It wasn't anything he wasn't used to. On Coruscant, young men often worked on the surface loading and unloading cargo ships that would come in.
Kai moved boxes from the cargo hold to the loading ramp, one or two at a time until about one hundred boxes were on the loading ramp. The pilot moved around them to thank Kai for his help.
"Have a nice life, kid." The pilot shook his hand. "If I ever need help unloading, I'll find you."
"My name's Kai," he answered. "Thanks for the ride."
Kai turned his back and walked away toward the interior entrance of the landing bay. Just as he was about to open the door and start his new life, the sky turned green, the air turned hot, and Alderaan blinked out of existence. The planet was blown into millions of pieces in an instant. If anyone had a chance to look up at the sky, they might have noticed a new moon-sized object appear above the cloud banks rolling in across the mountain range, a faded grey color compared to the brilliant blue sky. They might have even seen the beam of bright green light as it sliced through the atmosphere, killing their homeworld.
The Death Star was fully functional and ready for action.
