Caught In Between

Chapter Four

Ahsoka slumped in her chair, her hood over her eyes. It was taking forever to reach Tatooine, it was last on the list, and there were too many stops in between. And, they had to be careful using hyperspeed so they wouldn't be detected by any Imperial Forces. If the Empire tracked the ship, the entire Pulsarflight business would be burned to the ground. Tem Pulsarflight had worked for years perfecting his smuggling routine, and had only been shot down twenty times in the early days, which was considerably less than other smugglers. Now, he had greatly lowered the risk, being shot down only once in the past six years.

But Ahsoka didn't care how good of a smuggler Pulsarflight was, she just wanted to get to Tatooine. A Twi'leck boy sat behind her, playing some sort of game that made a lot of noise. Ahsoka sighed, leaning against the wall, and her head resting on the seat. She tried to block it out, but the noise was overbearing. She turned to him. "Hey, mind turning that down?"

He glared at her. "You're not the only one on this junk heap you know!"

"Neither are you."

"Hey, I'm just trying to pass the time with a little game!"

"I didn't say to stop playing, I asked if you could turn it down. It's a little loud."

He was going to object, but relaxed. "Yeah, sorry, you're right." He turned down the volume, only to turn off the game altogether. "It's just been a really tough year."

"You've been trying to get off Coruscant for a year?" Ahsoka asked.

"More than a year, but the process took longer than expected." He nodded towards her. "How long it take you?"

She wondered whether or not to say. "Not that long, but I had some influence."

He grunted. "I wish I had your influence, I would've done anything to get out of there earlier."

"What's your name?"

"Kuma Gullvi, and you are?"

"Ahsoka, Ahsoka Tano. So, where you headed, Kuma?"

"Ryloth, my parents have been trying to get me there for ages."

"And where are they?"

"Back on Coruscant, there wasn't enough credits for the three of us."

"So, they sent you alone?"

Kuma shrugged. "It was the only way. What about you? Where are you headed?"

"Tatooine, I'm meeting someone there."

"And where are your parents? You don't seem that much older than me."

Oh boy, guess it's time to lie a little. "Hard to say, really, they could be on Shili or some other planet, but definitely not on Coruscant."

"Why? D'they abandon you or something?"

"No, they sent me to Coruscant to live with my aunt before the Rise of the Empire. After that, we lost contact. My aunt's been trying to send me back to them for a while now, but then we found Pulsarflight, and everything was smooth sailing after that."

Kuma smirked. "Lucky girl."

***

Groups started to leave the ship. At first, huge masses would leave, and slowly, the groups got smaller and smaller. Kuma left with a group of Twi'lecks, and Ahsoka was on her own again. She looked out the plasma window, but there wasn't much to look at, just passing stars and the planets of whatever system they were in. Ahsoka lay across her row of seats, closing her eyes. Hopefully, the crew would be courteous enough to wake her up when they landed.