Working Class Hero
Star Wars: The Bergeron Chronicles, Part 1
A fanfic by Sisiutil
Chapter 7
In the cockpit of the Nomad, Axel's instrument panel indicated everything was ready. The engines were powered up, the coordinates were entered in the navicomputer, and the skies above him were clear. His fingers hovered over the touch-sensitive screen, right over the command that would launch the ship out of the hangar and into the atmosphere--away from B'Tel Four, away from Imperial space, and away from the brave young woman who was probably, at this very moment, giving her life so he could make good his escape.
His hand remained there, unmoving, for several heartbeats. Pressing that command was as good as sentencing Kilu to death. He knew that. So did she. In fact, she'd ordered him to do exactly what he was now about to do. It was her last wish, that he see her mission through to its conclusion because she could not. Even so, he hesitated.
It wasn't just that he loathed the idea of abandoning someone like that. It also wasn't just the fact that he'd developed feelings for her, feelings that had grown more powerful the more time he'd spent in her presence and appreciated her beauty, her idealism, and especially now, her bravery and selflessness. No, there was something else, a nagging feeling that had been growing at the back of his mind ever since that Sith had appeared.
The Sith. One man. Formidable, to be sure... but only one? Why not a whole squadron of Stormtroopers, as he'd been expecting? Axel checked the long-range sensors' readouts again. Yes, it was clear sailing all the way out of the system--not a single Imperial Destroyer, Cruiser, Corvette, or even a single lousy TIE Fighter in the vicinity to get in his way.
Which made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Unless...
Axel uttered an angry moan and slapped his forehead with one hand. His hand reached out to tap a control on his command console, leaving his ship in an idling state. He released his restraints and rose from the pilot's seat, marched down the cockpit corridor, then turned and followed the main corridor around to the boarding ramp. He tapped a command into a wall console, and the boarding ramp began to lower while he pulled his blaster out of its holster. As he did so, a questioning series of beeps and whistles sounded from behind him.
"Quiet, Arf," Axel said over his shoulder to the agromech droid. "I know what I'm doing," then added in a low, hesitant tone, "I hope."
"I'd sooner die," Kilu snarled at her Sith opponent, then spat in his face.
The Sith wiped the spittle from his cheek, his lip curling into an angry sneer. He opened his fist, releasing his Force-grip, and Kilu's exhausted, injured body fell to the hard floor of the hangar, where she lay in an exhausted heap.
"Then you shall," the Sith said. He drew his lightsaber from his belt and activated it. As Kilu watched in defeated resignation, he raised the lightsaber above his head. She closed her eyes and took a breath, trying to calm herself and accept death as a Jedi should, waiting for the blow that would end her short young life.
A blow which did not come. She heard the lightsaber hum through the air, then heard a sharp retort as the energy blade warded off a blaster bolt. She heard another blaster shot, and another, and each time the Sith's lightsaber swung to deflect the blaster's projectiles. Kilu lifted and turned her head in surprise, refusing to believe what her senses were reporting. But sure enough, there he was, emerging from the side of his ship: Axel Bergeron, freighter pilot, facing down a Sith warrior with nothing more than a blaster and some of the most poorly-considered bravado in galactic history.
"Wow!" Axel exclaimed. He had an insipidly excited expression on his face as he walked slowly towards Kilu and the Sith. "That was impressive! You mind if I..."
With that, Axel rattled off another series of blaster shots at the Sith. The red-colored lightsaber blade growled as it quickly swung through the air to ward off each shot. Axel was shooting wildly--a couple of the shots ricocheted off the concrete hangar floor rather than the Sith's lightsaber, and Kilu instinctively, though painfully, pushed herself out of the line of fire, relying on her uninjured arm and leg, rolling and putting distance between herself and the Sith. She came to rest against one of the hangar walls near the starboard side of the Corellian-built freighter.
"Very impressive!" Axel said again. He was creeping slowly towards the Sith, who was regarding him coolly, his lightsaber at the ready to ward off any more of those ineffectual blaster shots. The two men began to circle one another, like two wary predators--or, more accurately, one predator and its somewhat-troublesome prey.
"You know," Axel said, "I've always wanted to see one of you people do that. But the galaxy is an awfully big place, and there are so few of you, so I thought I never would."
"I am not here to amuse you, fool," the Sith snarled at him.
"Didn't mean to imply you were," Axel said, raising his right hand in apology. "Hey, I don't want us to get off on the wrong foot. I'm Axel Bergeron, captain of the Nomad," he said, gesturing at the rear of his ship, where the engines were still humming in their idling state. "And you are...?"
"Darth Makab," the Sith said, "a name you will take to your grave."
"Okay, and you've got the whole villainous banter thing down pat too," Axel said, smiling and nodding. "You're the real deal, yessiree."
"Axel!" Kilu exclaimed from where she was laying on the ground, "what do you think you're doing? I told you to get out of here!"
"Hey, it's my ship, sweetheart--I'm my own boss, I don't take orders from anybody."
"Axel..." Kilu growled at him angrily.
"You should have heeded the girl's order, fool," Darth Makab said to Axel. "Now you will both die..."
The Sith reached out towards Axel, and the pilot's blaster hand suddenly shot out in front of him. But then the pilot pulled it back and laughed softly.
"Nice try, pal," Axel said, then turned his right hand so Darth Makab could see the strap that fastened the blaster's handle to his wrist. "But dad always told me: try to keep your blaster in its holster, but once it's out, don't ever lose your grip on it."
Axel pointed the blaster at Makab and fired several shots, which the Sith ably blocked with his lightsaber. Again, some of the shots struck the ground near Makab's feet, which had the negligible effect of making the Sith move back a few steps. Darth Makab stopped moving when Axel stopped firing and glared at the pilot with undisguised contempt.
"You think you can save her?" he demanded. "You? A mere pilot, with as much command over the Force as a rock?"
"Probably not," Axel admitted with a shrug, maintaining his aim at the Sith. "But that's another thing dad taught me: Never abandon a paying customer. Especially when they still owe you money."
"I grow weary of this," Darth Makab said with a sneer, and quickly gestured with his open hand towards Axel.
It was the second time that day that the freighter pilot had been Force-thrown, and he didn't like it any better. He flew backwards through the air and felt the breath leave his lungs when his back suddenly slammed into one of his ship's landing gear struts. He flopped to the ground like a rag doll.
"AXEL!" Kilu cried out.
"Nice to know you care..." Axel groaned as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He gave his head a shake and then raised his blaster at the Sith again. He had to hold the weapon with two hands and even then was unable to keep it steady. "Oh, what's the point," he said, and dropped his gun hand to the ground.
"Axel, no..." Kilu groaned from several meters away as she saw him give up.
A low, triumphant laugh rumbled in Darth Makab's chest. He pointed his lightsaber at Axel. "Now you die," he said.
Axel raised his eyes to look at the Sith, who was standing a few paces in front of him, well to the rear of his ship. He then looked over at Kilu, who was off to his left, several meters away on the starboard side of the spacecraft. Finally, he stole a quick glance at the stern of his ship, which was directly above and in front of him.
"Normally, I'd agree with you," Axel said to the tattooed Sith, "but not today."
As Darth Makab frowned at this statement, Axel reached towards his belt buckle with his right hand. He flicked one of the fake jewels on the buckle, then pressed another. Above him, his ship's idling engines suddenly came to life. The roar of the YT-1300's sub-light engines filled the hangar bay, and the engine's rear exhaust ports flared, ejecting their white-hot vapor behind the ship--and directly at the surprised Sith. Instinctively, Darth Makab pushed his body upwards into a life-saving Force-jump. But that instinct kicked in a split-second too late, and all he succeeded in doing was launching his body more directly into the path of the searing engine exhaust. In less time than it took to blink, he was vaporized.
Axel pressed another of the cheap imitation jewels on his belt buckle, and the engines whined back down to an idling state before they could launch the ship out of the hangar. Gingerly, he pushed himself back to his feet. He looked warily around for any sign that the Sith had survived his close encounter with the freighter's engine exhaust. Seeing none, he sighed with relief, shoved his blaster back into its holster, and then slowly stumbled over to where Kilu was laying on the ground off to the starboard side of the ship.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Oh yeah, I'm just peachy," she said through clenched teeth as she slowly forced herself to her feet. She inhaled sharply when she tried to put some weight on her wounded left leg.
"Here, let me help you," Axel said, reaching out towards her, an action that made him wince when it made him use his sore back muscles.
"I think you need as much help as I do," she said as she threw her left arm over his shoulder, soliciting another pained wince from him.
"It's nothing," Axel said in a strained voice. "Some bruises... maybe a cracked rib or two... I've had worse."
"Really?" she asked him as they both started move slowly back to the boarding ramp.
"No, I'm lying," he said as his teeth ground together.
That managed to solicit a smile from her, however strained, and the sight immediately made Axel feel better. Sort of.
"What you did was... extraordinarily clever," Kilu said to him. "And brave."
"My ego would be greatly assuaged," Axel replied as he helped her limp up the boarding ramp, "if you hadn't sounded so surprised when you said that."
She laughed softly at that, and the sound made Axel feel like he'd just been injected with a powerful painkilling hypospray. He reached out and tapped the wall console to close the boarding ramp.
"You saved my life," she said, suddenly serious.
She was standing right beside him. Her left arm was over his shoulder, his right hand was upon her waist. The side of her body was pressed against his, leaving an impression of pleasant warmth. And she was looking up at him with those eyes of hers, those big, lovely brown eyes, and they were filled with gratitude, and admiration, and... well, he didn't want to read too much into it.
Still. He'd never thought of himself as a hero. He'd never wanted to be one, not since he was a kid; he thought he'd grown out of it. His father had warned him, several times: heroes live hard and die young. But if this is what it felt like to be a hero, even if it was just for one brief moment in one other person's eyes... well, it wasn't half bad. Not bad at all.
Axel shrugged. "I'll add it to your tab," he said, earning another one of those brief little eruptions of laughter from her that made his head swim.