WPRT CH. 8 (Updated 2021)
We're Going on a What?
Jo:
Bossk, Jango Fett, and I all ran outside to see my brother and a boy standing on one side, an empty patch of ground in the middle, and a crew of people on the other side. They were in the middle of the street.
"Boba!" Jango shouted.
Boba looked.
Aaron put his arm out to try and ease Boba behind him, acting like a shield.
I stepped out with my hands up. Jango Fett followed me, as did Bossk. We walked up to Aaron, and I outstretched my arms to the kid.
"Boba, my name is Jo. You and I are going to go back into the bar for Aaron's and my stuff, okay?"
Boba looked at his father who nodded his permission and gave a hand-signal. He then came into my embrace and cowered there, innocently..
"You two aren't going anywhere!" the leader of the other crew shouted.
"He's just a kid," I argued, shooting the iciest stare I could manage.
Do not mess this up, Jo. Do not mess this up.
I maintained eye contact with their de facto leader.
"Fine," he finally said, "get the kid into that cantina."
With pleasure.
Once inside the cantina, I steered Boba back to the corner booth.
"Owen, it's been a pleasure, but we gotta go," I said quickly as I threw on my backpack.
Boba slung on Aaron's bag.
"This is heavy," he commented.
"Well, it was supposed to be a four day camping trip," I explained. "There were a lot of supplies...and two more people. Come on. Let's go back out there. We don't have much time."
I decided to take the long-rifle from the Sand People, in my left hand, and the double-barrel in my right.
"Will we see each other again?" Owen asked after me.
"We'll meet again. Don't know where, don't know when. But I know we'll meet again some sunny day."
Owen looked at me funny.
"Never mind. If you and Beru get married, get word to us. She's a wonderful lady, Owen. Goodbye. And thanks for the drinks and lodging."
"You're welcome," he called after us as we walked out.
I poked my head around the corner. They were gone.
"Okay, Boba, think you can keep a steady jog with that heavy pack on?"
"I think so."
"Good, because we are going to have to find them."
We took off turning right at a slow, steady jog. It was hard to maintain in the blistering heat, but we really had no choice. If we took a leisurely walk, there was a possibility of being separated forever, which was unacceptable.
We found them, trapped in a corner in an alley.
"Boba, crouch in that doorway," I mouthed.
He did as he was told.
The building had stairs to climb up.
I did my best to climb the stairs silently.
I put my pack down on the roof and held the shotgun in my right hand. The long-rifle would have been useless.
I aimed the shotgun at the leader.
"Hey! Let my people go!" I shouted as loudly as I could. Luckily for me, I had a deepish voice for a female. Not as deep as Bea Arthur's, but definitely a more mature voice for my 24 years of age.
The new set of enemies turned to look at me.
Aaron facepalmed.
"Or what? You'll kill us?"
"Yes," I said firmly. I didn't want to use the gun on anyone or anything, but I would defend myself and my family.
"You're bluffing," the guy spat.
"Am I?" I furrowed my brow and scrunched my lips to make them white like Dad did when he lost his temper.
Jango activated his jet pack and drew his guns. The attackers turned to fire at Aaron, Jango, and Bossk, so I shot their leader while Jango shot the others.
My stomach twisted and I felt terrible. I had been lucky in the Tusken Camp, when I tripped the raider and he fell on my arm, leading me to pull the trigger. It had not been intentional. This had been.
I tried to shake the feeling.
Aaron climbed into the airship with Bossk, and Jango Fett landed.
"Boba!" he called.
The boy jumped out from the doorway and hopped aboard.
Jango raised the ship enough that even with the heavy pack on, I jumped the gap from the roof to the ship and had a gentle fall.
"Who were those people?" I asked Jango Fett.
"Some of Jabba the Hutt's goons. They wanted something. What did they want?" he asked, turning to Aaron.
"I may have sprung some slaves…"
"You sprang some slaves?" I asked.
"Yes. I recognized one of them. He was a farmer from last night… The father of the boy who was killed while trying to run. Then, they tried to take Boba. I couldn't see anything bad happen to another kid. So, I sprung them. Those people didn't like it. At all."
"That's their livelihood. Jo said you didn't have any training. How are you managing with no training?" Jango asked.
I didn't want to go into details.
"We just are. How are we going to get out of here?" I cut in.
"Where do you need to go?"
"Dude, we don't even know where we are," Aaron said.
"Then you can go with me back to Geonosis. Count Dooku will have to decide what is to become of you."
"Count Dooku? What's he? Some sort of Bureaucrat in this dump?" I asked.
"Uhhhh…...he's more than a Bureaucrat. He's in charge of a committee right now and I'm currently on his payroll."
"Well, I suppose that if we ask you no questions, you'll tell us no lies. So, we will go with you to Geonosis and meet with this Dooku," I agreed.
The ship was massive, and I was unsure if I wanted to get on it. I hated flying in airplanes, and this was at least twice the size of a transcontinental jumbo jet.
I swallowed hard.
"So, how long is this flight going to be? Two hours? The longest I've ever been on a flight is four hours, from Indianapolis to LAX," I said.
"At least a day."
"Surely this planet isn't that large that Geonosis couldn't be that far," I groaned.
"What?"
"Another city, right?"
"No. We are on Tatooine. Geonosis is another planet entirely."
"Another planet?"
"This is an intergalactic craft," Jango said.
"A what?"
"Jo, it's a spaceship," Aaron said.
"She's a Firespray-31-class. I call her Slave I, though now that Boba was almost a slave, I should change that name."
"Probably," I agreed.
"Anyway, Jabba likes me, but he won't like us killing his goons."
I didn't say anything. I also didn't move.
"Get on board. We need to go now."
I did as he said and followed Aaron up the ramp.
Boba shoved his way past me. I was slightly offended. I didn't have to try and help him. But, any kid living this kind of life would have to have suffered somewhat.
"Son, apologize to Jo, and then show them to the bunks. After they've secured their belongings, bring them back to the cockpit for take-off."
"Yes, sir," Boba grumbled.
The bunks were a little smaller than my twin bed back home, but I always slept on the edge of the bed anyway.
Boba showed us how to lash our packs to the legs of the bunk, and walked us back to the cockpit, per Jango's orders.
There were six seats in the cockpit. Bossk and Jango sat the controls. Aaron and I sat behind them, and Boba sat at a radar panel of some sort against the wall.
Thankfully, the seatbelts were not that different than one in a car, and I was able to strap myself in.
Even though Boba was behind us, I could feel his eyes boring into my soul, like when you sit up front at church.
"Boba, please stop staring at me," I said.
Jango and Bossk started fiddling with the controls, and I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held it.
I hate flying. I hate flying. I hate flying.
(Honestly, this is sort of ironic. I hate flying in airplanes; however, if you were to ask me what superpower I would want, my chosen superpower would be flight. But then, I'd be in control of how high, far, and fast. In an airplane, it'd be out of my control, and it freaks me the frick out).
The engines roared and my gut suddenly jerked back like on a roller coaster (I hate those, too). I let out a deep breath and took a second one, my eyes still closed.
Aaron slapped my arm after another couple of minutes. I opened my eyes, and in front of us was a black void, sprinkled with tiny lights. It was dazzling.
I briefly forgot Boba was giving me the death-stare, and was caught up in the majesty of the expanse.
Growing up, I once said to my mother I had wanted to be an astronaut. Unskilled in math and science, she basically told me it would never happen. Of course, when I had my first roller coaster experience and was completely freaked out, I realized it was a bad idea. But now that I was here in space, I was in awe. Now, I assure you I had no desire to go on a space-walk or anything, but it was an amazing sight to see.
We stayed like this for a few minutes, sitting in the quiet.
When my thoughts came back into focus, I realized my energy was gone. The heat can do that to you.
I unstrapped my restraints and went back to the bunks.
I took off my shoes and pants, sneezed, brushed my hair, took out my teddy bear (it was small enough that Aaron didn't know I had it. If he could hide a coke, I could hide a teddy bear. Ha). I laid down and put the sheet/blanket/thing from the bunk over my legs.
He said a day, and I was determined to spend that sleeping, so as to avoid thinking about possibly dying in the cold vacuum of space.
End Chapter