Chapter 7

Luke stopped in the doorway of the bridge, contemplating what exactly he was going to say. Dankin was carefully picking broken glass off the floor and placing the tiny pieces in a refuse container. He jerked his hand back as a glass shard sliced his palm. For several seconds Dankin stared at the wound, watching as blood gathered in it.

She doesn't come running when I bleed.

Luke looked away, suddenly aware that he was eavesdropping on private thoughts. He took a few moments to refocus through the Force, to narrow his awareness so he wouldn't overhear any more stray thoughts. But he couldn't unhear what he'd already heard. Or unfeel the emotions bubbling beneath the words. Luke realized for the first time that he was not the only person on this ship who was in pain.

Then Luke shuffled onto the bridge, being sure to make noise so he wouldn't startle Dankin. Dankin looked up and smiled at Luke, all negative emotions seeming to evaporate in an instant. "That was some impressive gunning."

"And some impressive flying. Do you guys always like to cut it that close?" Luke asked.

"We just wanted to keep things interesting for our Jedi warriors," Dankin replied with a wry grin. He quickly wrapped a bit of cloth around his hand to stop the bleeding and went back to collecting glass.

"Let me help," Luke offered. He reached out his hand and all the bits of glass rose into the air. He waved his hand slightly and all the glass flew through the air and landed neatly in the container beside Dankin.

"That's a pretty handy trick," Dankin observed, nodding his approval. "But I bet you got all kinds of handy tricks up your sleeve."

Luke nodded vaguely and waved his hand again; this time all the scraps of metal and tiny parts from the sensors gathered in a pile beside the sensor station. "Do you think you can repair the sensors?"

"I'm going to try," Dankin replied. The smuggler set to work sorting through the parts and Luke did his best to assist him.

After a few minutes Luke asked, "Are they really going to leave?"

"I don't know. They did seem pretty serious, didn't they?" Dankin looked thoughtful for a moment, but then continued untangling wires. If he wondered how Luke knew about the earlier conversation he didn't show it.

"That doesn't bother you?"

Dankin shrugged. "They will or they won't; I can't control it, so there's no point in worrying about it. Reach me that multitool, will you?"

Luke reached for the tool.

"I'm sorry about Benji," Dankin said.

"It wasn't your fault," Luke replied. "Benji was supposed to have stayed in his room." Luke was silent for a moment before adding, "And maybe he would be a little better at following orders if his father tried it once in a while."

Dankin chuckled. "He just might."

Shortly thereafter Pormfil appeared. "I'll take over here," the Kerestian said. "You get some sleep, Dankin." Dankin started to object, but Pormfil cut him off. "Everything is under control. This may be the last chance for you to sleep before we get to Corellia."

Dankin sighed. "Alright." He retreated off the bridge.

Pormfil crouched next to the sensor station and went to work. Luke sat nearby, wanting to be available to lend a hand without getting in the way.

Odonnl's frustration quickly fizzled. By the time he was back at his room he'd forgiven Mara. He sent Pormfil to relieve Dankin and sat down to try and clear his head. Leaving the company was never really an option for him anyway. Not since Talon Karrde had saved his life.

Odonnl was just shy of sixteen and stranded on Coruscant when Karrde found him. He grew up in an orphanage and spent most of his childhood learning all he could about starships. About six months before his sixteenth life day he was hired by a group of rich kids, not much older than him, to help out on their first flight without adults. They were going to visit the tourist hotspots of the galaxy, starting with Coruscant. They got in trouble—something about a party that got out of control, Odonnl didn't know the details—and had to run home with their tails between their legs. No one bothered to tell him.

He didn't miss Corellia, he'd just hoped to see a little more of the galaxy before being grounded again. Odonnl had always prided himself on being raised on the mean streets of Corellia. But he was about to find out the mean streets of Corellia didn't hold a candle to the downright wicked streets of Coruscant.

It was several days after the ship had left without him and Odonnl was hungry. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten. On Corellia, people always had odd jobs for him to do; if nothing else he could wash dishes in a restaurant to cover a meal. Coruscant was different. First, he tried the shipyards, hoping to earn a few credits working on ships. They said he was too young and inexperienced. The diners and cantinas on the upper levels threw him out, citing rules about homeless beings loitering. So he'd tried his luck down a few levels. And then down a few more. And a few more. He found himself on a level with no eateries, no stores, no legitimate commercial activity at all. He was lost and starving.

He kicked a broken bottle lying in the middle of the street in frustration. The bottle glanced off a nearby building, eliciting movement from a huddled form.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," Odonnl said. He saw the form was human, a child a few years younger than himself. When the boy didn't respond Odonnl walked over to him. "I didn't hit you, did I?" The boy shook his head. "Hey, maybe you can help me. How do get I get to . . . somewhere less dark and creepy?" The boy said nothing, instead taking a bite of something in his hand. Food! "Or you could tell me where you got the food," Odonnl suggested.

"Have some." The boy offered him what proved to be the remains of a very stale ration bar.

In his mind Odonnl knew he ought to decline. But in the end his stomach won out. "Thank you," he said, tearing off a good-sized chunk and handing the rest back to the boy.

"Dankin!" boomed across the empty street as a door in the building opened behind the boys. Odonnl leapt to his feet and started to run. His new friend didn't get up, but rather shrank away, hugging closer to the building. "What do you think you're doing? Get back in here now!" The words were slurred but the tone sent shivers down Odonnl's back. Odonnl paused to look back and saw the voice belonged to a ronto of a human, whose face was crisscrossed with scars and tattoos. The man grabbed Dankin by his shirt with one hand and struck him across the face with the other. "Now!" he screamed releasing Dankin's shirt and then kicking his legs out from under him as he scrambled away. Odonnl could do nothing but stand and watch, stunned by the needless cruelty. He didn't move until the door was shut, with the horrible man inside. Then he sprinted away, swearing to himself that once he had found his way back up he would never come down this low again.

Odonnl eventually found a diner on an upper level willing to exchange food for work. He renewed his quest to find work at the shipyards, determined to get off the city planet as soon as possible. While wandering amongst a group of light freighters, a man pulled him aside and gave him a note, telling Odonnl he may have an opportunity for him. The note contained a time and an address. The address was at a midlevel, lower than Odonnl really wanted to go, but he could hardly ignore his first lead for something that might get him off the planet.

It was a strange restaurant. It was very quiet, sparsely decorated with the tables spread far apart. The dress of the clientele indicated a range from the upper crust to common street thugs. Odonnl tried to focus on what his contact was saying, but aside from catching that his name was Chin, Odonnl heard very little. He was trying to figure out what kind of place this was when his eyes caught a familiar face—the child from the lower levels. Dankin.

Dankin was sitting beside the tattooed man who had hit him before. Across the table was a very well- dressed man. There was something unsettling about the way the well-dressed man eyed Dankin. "What's going on there?" Odonnl asked Chin.

"Once you turn sixteen—What?" Chin glanced over his shoulder. "Best to just ignore them." Then he added, under his breath, "Nothing you can do about recreation slaves." Just then the well-dressed man slid a credstick across the table and reached for Dankin, a look of eager anticipation in his eyes.

Odonnl had heard of recreation slaves. He'd just never believed that they existed until that moment. Back in the orphanage, when a child would complain about the quality of the food or the cramped sleeping areas, the guardians would tell him he ought to just be grateful he wasn't a recreation slave.

Recreation slaves, always young children, were rented out to anyone willing to pay, for any purpose. If they were returned injured or even dead, the renter was simply charged an additional fee, as though he had damaged a rented speeder. Odonnl had always thought the stories were made up to keep the orphans in line. But now he saw all too clearly that the stories were true.

He didn't know if it was guilt over taking food from someone who clearly needed it so much more, or frustration over his current situation, or outrage that the galaxy had suddenly become a place of unthinkable torment, but Odonnl did the bravest thing of his whole life. And the stupidest.

"Don't touch him!" Odonnl screamed, charging toward Dankin's table. The tattooed man was a quickdraw. Luckily, Chin was equally nimble and hurled a chair into a glass divider nearby, providing just enough of a distraction that the blaster shot whizzed over Odonnl's shoulder. Odonnl dropped his shoulder and slammed into the tattooed man. They both fell to the floor, the blaster sliding out of reach. Odonnl wrestled with the man, trying desperately to pin his arms so he couldn't grab for any more weapons, until the security officers arrived and pulled them apart. As they were putting handcuffs on Odonnl he saw the well-dressed man slipping out a back door, Dankin in tow.

The tattooed man pointed at Chin and snarled that he was with Odonnl. When the security officers asked him, Chin glanced at Odonnl and declared he'd never seen him before in his life. They hauled Odonnl away.

Odonnl spent the worst night of his life in jail. He'd been in plenty of jails before—when he was a preteen he'd learned to pick pockets and had been picked up by CorSec on more than one occasion— and this jail was unremarkable. But Odonnl was tormented by thoughts of what was happening to Dankin, of whether he had made it worse, of what he could have done differently to save the younger boy.

The next morning an older woman arrived at the jail and bailed Odonnl out. She told him she worked for Talon Karrde and that he was to report for duty. Odonnl vaguely recalled Chin having mentioned the name Karrde, but he had no intention of going anywhere but to find Dankin and somehow or another rescue him. Once away from the jail, Odonnl started to walk away. The woman grabbed himby the arm, her grip tight enough to bruise. "You aren't going anywhere but with me. You already owe Karrde your first four of five paychecks to cover the bail I just paid."

Odonnl tried to twist away, but the woman's grip was firm. She half-led, half-dragged Odonnl onto an action transport parked at a nearby landing strip. She didn't let go until they entered a large room near the center of the ship. In the center of the room was a large, ornate desk. Sitting behind the desk was a man with sharp features and black hair who looked down appraisingly at the new recruit.

"Let me go! This is kidnapping! You'll be sorry!" Odonnl had been letting loose a steady stream of indignant retorts since being grabbed and he didn't let up after entering the room. He was fighting mad and his attempts to free himself caused him to sprawl forward onto the floor when the woman finally released him.

"You must be Odonnl," the man behind the desk said.

Odonnl ignored him, choosing instead to spin around toward the woman who was now blocking the exit, a fresh set of invectives on his lips. But he stopped short, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Chin was seated on the other side of the room. And beside him was Dankin.

"He's safe for now. And so are you." Odonnl turned toward the desk and got his first good look at the man who had altered the course of his life forever—Talon Karrde. "Chin tells me you never gave him a response to my offer," Karrde continued.

"What offer?" Odonnl asked.

Karrde glanced to Chin then back to Odonnl. "An offer of employment. You work on my ship, you follow my orders and in exchange I'll provide you with a place to sleep, meals, and all other necessities. Not to mention training in a variety of fields. If you decide you don't like our arrangement, you are free to leave at any time."

"What about Dankin?" Odonnl asked.

Karrde looked very seriously at Odonnl. "He's your brother, right?" Odonnl didn't respond right away and Karrde continued quickly. "I do not hire anyone under the age of sixteen. But I could hardly split up orphan siblings. If you will take responsibility for him and work extra shifts to cover his expenses, I suppose there's no reason why your little brother can't come along."

For several seconds, Odonnl pretended to consider the offer. But in truth he'd already made up his mind.

Whenever Odonnl felt like things were tough, when he was tired and frustrated and angry, he thought back to that day. The day his life changed. He had no idea what it was Karrde saw in him, why Karrde thought he was worth rescuing off the streets. But every day he was grateful that he had.

He'd never learned exactly how Dankin had ended up on Karrde's ship that day, all he knew was that it must have been Chin's idea. But Chin couldn't have pulled it off without Karrde's help.

It didn't matter what Mara said or did, it didn't matter how bad things got. Odonnl could never abandon Dankin. And he could never turn his back on the company.