Across the Stars [complete]

[Clive Solo]

Clive pursed his lips and picked his way over a large, broken beam.

He tried to reach her but his feet gave out from below him.

She screamed.

Her pain, he could almost feel it.

The small stone room was closing in.

It was unbearable.

“Mother I’m sorry!” He called out.

No use in fighting it, he couldn’t move, he was paralyzed.

She was dying and it was his fault……

The young stowaway jumped to a sitting position in his bed, his eyes popping open wide, sweat on his forehead and his breath coming in gasps. A dream. It was all a dream. He wasn’t in the small stone room and the screams had suddenly ceased.

In fact it wasn’t a room at all, but the cargo hold of a Class ERT Transportation shuttle, which he had boarded a few hours before. Cluttered with spare parts and countless luggage bags, Clive leaned back against the far corner.

He knew that he had to shake the dream away, and get back to sleep. He’d have to sneak off this shuttle once it landed wherever it was going, because he certainly didn’t have the money to pay the fare. Wonder where this heap is headed anyway? Hopefully somewhere with warm food. He leaned over to a luggage tag and spoke the word out loud.

“Onderon?”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She tapped her fingers on the arm of her seat, huddled inside a warm woolen cloak against the cold, recycled air of the transport. It was mostly empty, only a few wanderers from Onderon returning home with wares from the Core. She knew for a fact that there were metric tons of trade goods stored in the hold.

No seeds. The Onderonian people weren't the farming sort. Something to do with the lack of viable land. She'd read all she could on the subject before heading out. Lilaena twitched, and pulled her cloak closer, drawing her feet up onto the seat and hugging her knees.

She had been promoted to knight by her master, before the bounty hunter had caught up with them. IG-88 killed with stunning efficiency, and Master A'na Eldhil had seemed like a helpless babe in it's metal clutches. Lilaena shook her head slightly to rid herself of her master's last moments. That had been ten years ago. She had been nineteen.

Since then she'd hopped from place to place around the galaxy, keeping to her master's teaching and avoiding capture by the Empire. She stayed away from the Rebels - no need drawing attention to oneself. Now twenty-nine she fancied herself a master of the Force, perhaps as great a Jedi as Obi-Wan Kenobi had been, may the Force rest his soul.

All she knew of the Force she had learned from A'na Eldhil, a Jedi Knight who had heard the message from the Temple warning of a trap and the new Empire's intent on Jedi lives. She had gone into exile, taking her nine year old padawan with her. It had been many years ago.

Lilaena rubbed her forehead, wondering where her headache had come from. Perhaps she needed a walk. Stretching, the woman got to her feet, making her way through the seats to the cargo hold. There was a long hall there she could walk to her heart's content with no one bothering her.

[Clive Solo]

Clive leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes once more. He let out a deep sigh and tried to calm his nerves when suddenly he heard it – sounds of faint footsteps that continued to grow closer. He turned his head toward the cargo door and listened carefully.

Damn it.

Listening a few seconds more confirmed his suspicion,…someone was coming back to the cargo hold. He rose to his feet quickly, grabbing his bag. Ducking in behind a mass of luggage bags he crammed himself as far back into the corner as he could go. He listened as the steps grew closer and his young mind started to race. If shuttle security found him they’d turn him over to the Empire for sure. He’d probably end up in some low level security outpost digging ditches or repairing droids. The Empire didn’t take kindly to stowaways, especially on one of their sanctioned interplanetary shuttles.

The door to the cargo hold opened, and Clive took a deep breathe.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The soft boots on her feet made little noise on the deck plating as she entered the hold. There was a rustle of noise, and then silence, and she started to wonder if perhaps there were rodents in with the cargo.

Stretching her arms up towards the ceiling, Lilaena started walking briskly down the main aisle, trying to get her heart rate up. She started to whistle.

[Clive Solo]

Clive leaned around a luggage bag expecting the worst; however what he saw sent a feeling of strange emotion through him. It was indeed not security, or from what he could tell anyway, but a young passenger who appeared to be getting some fresh air.

She was, in all accounts, beautiful. In fact, Clive couldn’t remember seeing a more stunning woman than the one that now strolled around the cargo hold. She held a very simple elegance about her and a calming effect that made him completely forgot about the security scare a few moments earlier.

He tried to get a better look by leaning around a large grey duffle bag, but instead sent it crashing to the floor. He jumped back…but knew he was caught.

He took a step out from his hiding place and tried to muster a smirk. “Sorry if I scared you. I didn’t mean to bother you, please don’t tell security.” Clive nervously stammered.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The sound of the bag falling startled her, and Lilaena quickly skewered the source with her eyes. His stammering amused her, however, and she smiled, "And why, pray tell, should I not call security? Stowing away is a serious offense."

[Clive Solo]

Even though her words were somewhat serious, her smile made Clive return a boyish one of his own. “Look, I know I’m not supposed to be back here, but I’m getting off at the next stop. I’m not going to bother anyone…” He let his words trail off.

“My name is Clive Solo.” He took a few steps toward her and extended his hand. “I’m from Bandomeer.”

What a gorgeous smile.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She chuckled. "Getting off at the next stop, eh? Good thing, because it's the only stop."

Lilaena walked closer to the young man, and extended her feelings through the Force. There was something... about him. "What are you planning to do on Onderon?"

[Clive Solo]

"Finding a hot meal would be nice." Clive blushed slightly, pulling his cloak around him tighter.

He looked up at her, meeting her glare. His cerulean blue eyes cast with a timid shadow, a shadow of anticipation, of longing and of adventure. His features made it clear that he is no longer a boy, but barely a man.

“I’ve never been to Onderon before. Tell me, do you live there?”

Clive took another step closer and noted, “By the way, you never told me your name.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"I have not been to Onderon before, no." Lilaena cocked her head to the side, looking up at him as he walked closer. The stowaway was taller than her five foot eight inch frame, but she was not afraid of him. "My name is Lilaena." She pronounced it Lil-lay-nah.

He had a mix of emotions emanating from him - a tinge of fear coated with boyish abrasiveness. Her green eyes locked onto his blue ones. "I feel that more than chance has brought us onto the same ship, headed towards the ancient city of Onderon."

[Clive Solo]

Lil-lay-nah.

It was beautiful, fitting name.

"I feel that more than chance has brought us onto the same ship, headed towards the ancient city of Onderon."

"Perhaps." Clive replied softly.

"But chance Lilaena, is only as good as what you make of it." He smiled at her.

Since talking with his comforting stranger Clive had forgotten all about his troubles. Running away from his mother, his brothers and the slavery that still had hold of their lives. He even forgot about the tiny, cramped Imperial shuttle that was overrun with people.

Suddenly a jolt shook him back to reality, as the tiny ship shook violently for a brief moment, passing into the atmosphere of the Onderon system. Lilaena almost fell into his arms, bracing herself on him.

For a split second they stood in the position, Clive blushed. He helped her regain her balance. “We must be near Onderon.” He said at last.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The fall wasn't an accident, but she made a show of blushing slightly as she straightened her robes. Her eyes, sharp once more, looked briefly over his shoulder at the bulkhead, and then through the skin of the transport in her minds eye. She nodded. "Yes, we should be there in about half a time part."

Lilaena looked back at him, "You should get back into hiding. If you can make it out of here without being seen after we land, I'll buy you that hot meal you want." Her green eyes glittered in the dim light of the hold. "A bet, if you will."

[Clive Solo]

“I’ll take that bet.” Clive managed to get out before being interrupted.

The Gogorian captain came over the speakercom. His dialect was thick and his voice held a tone similar to the Hutt species. ”Rety wessern ty jok retuky qu Iziz City; eror tryus que nem.”

Seconds later a droid translated, “The shuttle is now docking in Iziz City; please remain seated until further notice.”

He smiled at her and nodded as he threw his hood back over his head.

“Until we meet again Lilaena.” He headed back toward the heaping piles of luggage bags, ducking into safety once more.

Minutes passed as the backing hull to the cargo room opened, Clive heard the footsteps and mumbles of a small alien species he could not make out. They began their grunt work, loading bags to one another, eventually tossing them onto the landing platform. There were several of them, and the size of the cargo hold was quite small, to some escape would have been a most difficult task, but Clive had been doing it all his life. He could never explain it, but he had a knack for such things.

As the creature lifted up the luggage bag where Clive was hiding, it revealed an empty floor space.

**

The spaceport of Iziz City was small and not like any other Clive had seen. While the passengers of the shuttle and a few crew hurried their way through, Clive strolled along casually, taking in all he could. From the looks of it, this was a very old landing dock, certainly amongst the oldest Clive had seen in his travels.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena stretched her legs on the landing pad, walking briskly to where she could claim her luggage inside the adjacent building. The spaceport was small, and a squat, rectangular building, unlike the familiar domed structures that were popular throughout the galaxy. Iziz City was old, and outdated.

Behind her a small cluster of short aliens were unloading the transport. She didn't look, she knew that Solo would figure out a way around his situation.

If he did not - it really didn't bother her. She had more important things to do, but if a new learner could be found... she would again have a chance to pass on her master's knowledge and allow Master Eldhil to live on through her teachings.

Lilaena ignored the few other passengers, and wrinkled her nose at the smell of the old duracrete that comprised the majority of the spaceport. It didn't take long to find her case - their's had been the only transport scheduled for that week. Lilaena lifted it up, and smiled as she turned around to face the young man from the hold.

"It appears I owe you dinner."