Part Two: Passage, and Tragedy

We arrived at the Spaceport to be greeted by a very old and decrepit freighter that my father told us, was our ride to our new home. Something my father was very elusive to telling us. We boarded and were shown our berthing compartments. While my mother and father busied themselves with getting settled in, I took the time to do a little exploring of our home for the next few weeks.
This ship was huge, at least as far as I was concerned. There were endless corridors that lead up, down, and every direction of the compass. I must have wandered to close to the crew and piloting station, as a very gruff uniformed man told me I was in an unauthorized section of the ship and I needed to leave and get back to the passenger area immediately. It was while I was heading back that I got a bit confused and ended up in one of the cargo holds. In this particular hold, were many crates of undeterminable contents, but many bore a small, almost unnoticeable emblem shaped like a crescent, with what looked like a lighted torch in its center. At the time I didn’t think to much about these curious crates, but would find out soon enough the implications and consequences they would have on my life.

One night, our family was invited to sit with the captain at his table for dinner. All during the course of the meal, my father went on and on. He talked about my mother being the finest crafter of fine goods on Aleen, and how he and my brothers were the best hunters this side of the mid rim, My father also made it a point to tell him how I was learning the trade and becoming quite the hunter and tracker in my own rite. The captain was a very gracious host, and after hearing my fathers worry about not keeping up our skills, allowed us a corner of one of the cargo holds to practice in. This was where I was to be found. I loved the solitude of the hold when we were not all down there practicing. I could create my traps and camps in peace.

I was comfortably sitting down in the cargo hold passing the time, crafting, when over the public ship comm., I heard the captain announce “All Hands!, All Hands!! This is the Captain, Report to assigned duty stations, prepare for possible boarders�, “All passengers are to report to their birthing compartment immediately!�
I started to get up and go, when the cargo hold door slammed shut and sealed. I ran to the door and started banging on it, I looked for a way to get the blasted door open, but it had sealed tight and there were no interior access controls. Blast!!, I was trapped!.
A loud noise, like an explosion, shook the ship, knocking me to my knees, followed by a scraping sound that echoed through the hold. I could hear muffled sounds, voices emanating through the closed door. I was about to shout for someone to help me, when the door let out a hissing sound, and slowly started to open. I cautiously backed away and crouched down next to some empty containers. Waiting to see what happened next.

As the door opened fully, I pressed tighter into the space I was hiding. I felt for my pistol that I carried in a concealment pouch, but…damn…I had left it in the room of our compartment, thinking I would only be down here crafting. I ventured a peek around the corner of the container, and watched as a tall man in scruffy looking clothing, and carrying a light laser rifle strode into the hold. A pirate was my first though. My father had said that they were plying the trade routes more then usual, taking advantage of some conflict that had erupted. As he turned to survey the hold, I noticed on his shirt, the same curious emblem that I had first seen on the containers down in another hold of the ship. I was pondering what this meant, when his comm chirped. He answered it “Zass here�. I heard a voice say “Zass? Better come up here quick, we have more trouble on the way� with that, he took one last look around the hold, and ran up the corridor.

I made my way from my hiding spot and started up the corridor in the direction the tall man had headed. I was not following him, I was anxious to get to my family in out compartment. Another explosion rocked the ship, and I feared that it was going to come apart. I rounded a corner of the corridor at a dead run, and ran right in to the middle of a firefight. Blaster fire was coming from every direction. I dived instinctively, and slid on my belly right up to a utility closet. Hurriedly I worked the door and slipped in, I hoped unnoticed by the people shooting at each other in the corridor. The noise was deafening. I wanted to scream at the top of my voice, that it was so loud.

As suddenly as I happened upon the fray, it stopped, no noise what so ever. It was deathly quiet. I climbed from the closet, and was immediately surrounded by mayhem, there were bodies everywhere. Crew, pirates, and other uniformed men and women I had not seen before. I needed to get to my families compartment, if this corridor was any indication of how the rest of the ship looked…

I had made it to the passenger quarter of the ship. It was as I feared, hardly recognizable from all the fighting that had taken place here. I turned towards where the corridor leading to my family should have been, but a low-pressure door that had closed blocked it. This could only mean one thing. They only close when the pressure drops below half-normal atmosphere. There was a viewing port within the door; I had a bad feeling about what I was going to see. I looked through the port. I staggered back away from what my eyes had just beheld. I was shocked!. What I saw was far worse then I would have imagined. I now knew why the pressure door had closed. The whole section beyond it was completely gone.

Part One: From the Beginning, who I am.

Before departing Theed, Naboo, I was given this journal by a dear friend, who told me that this is to write my thoughts and experiences in while I journey around the galaxy in search of what ever rangers are in search of. I guess he felt I had a story to tell, and that I should record the events of my life so others may come to understand what it was like to live during the time of the galactic civil war, and as a Ranger. I was very thankful that he gave me a bound writing tablet and pencils instead of the usual data pad. I must have mentioned to him somewhere in the past that all the data pads I’ve owned over the course of my life soon become inoperable due to the extreme environments I find myself in, and the fact that I’m just not all that careful with the dang things. I still have and use a one, just not for anything I want to keep on a permanent basis.

After a long couple of days and nights hunting on Naboo that encompassed trekking from Kintan, south, down to the Gungan Scared temple, then east to New Aldera in search for wild lairs of Gualamas, Peko Pekos, and Kaadues, I find myself with some time on my hands. So while I sit here enjoying the moonlight and fire in a small one-person camp I might as well write.

Ok, so where do I start?. I guess I should begin with some background as to who I am, and from where I came. My name is Ebe Lightcloud, and I am a Master Ranger. I also hold a masters certificate in rifle proficiency and am human, a human female. I was born the third child to Ida and Ernest Lightcloud on the planet Aleen. This is the sister planet to Azartare, located within the inner rim of the galaxy just off the Hydian trade route. I had two older brothers, Kyle, and Zack, that were both my mentors, and at other times, two I just wanted to turn my rifle on and be done with them.

My mother was a very gifted artisan, my father a very skilled hunter. I was taught by my mother the art of crafting, fashioning commodities our towns citizens needed from the resources my father and brothers would bring home from extended hunting trips into the wilds of Aleen. I was to follow in the traditions of my mother and would have done so, but my heart was not in crafting. I wanted to explore and see the world, like my father and brothers did while hunting. I constantly hounded my father to learn how to hunt, and after many months, he finally relented, and started me on the path to scouting.

I believe this was the happiest time of my life. I finally got the chance to get out of our house, and go with my father to learn everything a person needed to know about living off the land. I learned from him, not only to hunt, but to survive in the wild frontier. My father and brothers taught me how to make simple traps, construct shelters, rudimentary tracking, and basic medicine crafting. My brothers taught me in the use and care of firearms. I leaned from them pistol and carbine skills, while my father taught me rifles. I remember my father telling me, “Ebe, you’re a natural with the rifle, if you keep practicing with it you’ll do just fine, *smile, as a matter of fact, I don’t remember ever seeing anyone take to a rifle the way that you have�. Just this one statement by my father was to guild me in the years to come.

Times changed, with the galaxy embroiled in a civil war, my family was having a harder and harder time selling the goods my mother made, my father and I were having a even harder time finding quality game for us to hunt and craft with. My father decided it was time to make a move, move away from the inner rim and hopefully find better hunting, less competition, and the possibility of finding things more profitable around the mid rim. While my mother and father were making preparations to travel, I spent all my free time out in the wilderness, more often the not, by myself, honing the skills my father and brothers had taught me. I worked very hard perfecting my trapping, tracking, and camp building skills. Finally the day came we were to leave for the spaceport, and board the transport to the mid rim. I said good-by to my friends, and took one last jaunt into the wilds to place within my mind all that was soon to be left behind. Aleen.