Chapter 1 - Prologue

“Caye! Let her go! The Empire is on to us…we have to get out of here now!”
Her scream was barely a whisper to him, just a nagging voice at the farthest range of his hearing. All his attention was focused on the girl lying on his lap, barely conscious and slowly dying. Another explosion rocked the floor below him, sending little pieces of broken glass and metal scraping across the floor.
“No!” he screamed back at the nagging voice, not looking away from the fading life beneath him. “I’m not leaving her here to die!” Softly he whispered to himself while stroking the girls’ blood-spattered cheek, “I can’t lose her. Not here, not now. I can’t live without her…”
“Look Caye, she’s close to dead. You have a broken arm and leg and I’m already trying to limp out of here. We have no weapons and the explosions are coming at quicker intervals. We have to get out of here! There’s no way we can get her out of here without killing ourselves in the process. Let. Her. Go,” the nagging voice said, which Caye now remembered was Kelsey, the bright red-headed beauty they had taken into their company in the past year. Although she was an excellent shot and a quick learner, Caye felt as if he was going to punch her at that moment.
His emotions barely under control, hands shaking and breath coming in ragged pulses, Caye Xinnex looked from his wife Camille who lay dying on his lap, her chest barely moving at all, back to Kelsey who stood about 10 feet away, fingers tapping anxiously against her legs, and then back to his wife. Blood ran down the side of her face and down her neck from an open wound that couldn’t be closed with the very little amount of medical equipment he had available to him at the time; basically, none. Her clothes were basically falling off her body; torn apart in an explosion only minutes ago. Her right arm was turning a soft shade of purple, indicating that there was internal damage and her heart rate was falling fast. Dark shadows were forming under her eyes, making her sharp, bright platinum blonde hair seem even whiter in the flames; almost as if a halo was glowing around her dying features. Red blood stained her hair, casting pink streaks through it as it whipped in the growing wind. Caye had never been more scared in his life than this very moment.
It wasn’t long ago that they had learned the Empire knew of their location. They had been on the run for months now ever since the disaster on Tatooine and the death of Kinn’hah Frayyal, the Jedi Knight Camille had taken in when the Jedi Purge had first begun. Since then, nothing seemed to work out the way it was suppose too…and now the Empire was breathing down their necks, throwing grenades at their feet and watching them dance like kowakian monkey lizards. If Caye hadn’t allowed Camille to convince him that they needed to be fighting the Empire, there’d be a good chance they wouldn’t be in this situation right now. Over the past few years, Caye and Camille had gotten involved into a difference type of smuggling.
Smuggling information.
To the Rebel Alliance.
Once the Empire discovered them, they had been running ever since.
“Kelsey, nothing is stopping you from leaving!” Caye yelled in her direction, never looking away from Cam. “Take the X-Wing and get out of here! I’m tired of your mouth anyway!”
“Darn it, Caye, there is something stopping me from leaving!” she said, anxiety clearly growing in her voice. Caye turned around to look at her. Her hands were slapped down against her side, fingers tapping anxiously against her lizard-hide pants.
“Well whatever it is, grab it and go,” he said, looking back to Camille and trying once again to stop the rush of blood flowing from her forehead.
“I’ve been trying too, but he won’t let me.”
Caye stopped for a second, momentarily taken aback by her words.
“What did you just say?”
“You, Caye. Kark it, you’re whats stopping me! I…I love you, alright?” Kelsey almost spat out the words like they stung her mouth saying them. She slapped her hands against her side once again, only getting more and more anxious. Caye just continued to stare at her as another explosion rocked the floor beneath them.
“Kelsey, I’m a married man…and besides that point, now is really not the best time to bring this up! What do you expect me to say?”
“I expect you to leave that girl on your lap and save your own skin and mine! Is her life really worth ours too?”
“Yes,” Caye answered without hesitating. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this. Somehow though, he was remarkably calm.
Kelsey’s lips began to quiver and she screamed, her feet pounding against the floor.
“Caye, I don’t CARE about Camille. I care about you…and I’m not going to leave you to your death or something worse at the hands of the Empire!” Kelsey screamed, losing all control over her voice. She walked directly up to Caye and physically tried to grab him to his feet, but he refused to budge. Caye shook her off him and stared into her eyes. Again he was consumed with the almost uncontrollable urge to punch her out cold, but he had never punched a girl in his life and wasn’t about to start now.
“Kelsey, listen to me,” he started in his most serious voice. “I’m going to make this very clear. I’m not leaving here without Cam. If I die, them I’m dying with her. I’ve already made up my mind.” I made up my mind the day I met her, he thought to himself.
Another explosion rocked the building, wind from the outside air flowing into the building. Kelsey’s fire-red hair whipped around her head, making the angry snarl on her face seemed even more consumed with blood-thirsty hate.
“You can either help me get Cam out of here or leave. I really don’t care what you do…just do something.”
With that, he was done talking. He had no interest in wasting his time, and Camille’s, in a worthless conversation that wasn’t going to change the fact that they could all die any second. With a broken arm and leg, he pushed through the pain and tried his hardest to pull an unconscious Camille onto his shoulders. He could feel the tension in the air; could almost taste it. Or was that the smell of smoke surrounding them? He couldn’t tell anymore. All his attention was focused on getting Camille and himself out of here alive.
After a few awkward seconds of struggling to get Camille on his shoulders, Kelsey walked over and slid Camille’s other arm around her shoulder, pulling them all of them to their feet. Caye looked over and say her eyes were red, crystal tears slowly sliding down her face. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her free hand and started to pull them all forward. Caye followed in step; with each step they took, he was more certain that they would make it out alive.
“Thank you,” he said as they slowly made their way to the small hangar bay on the floor below them. A trail of blood followed behind them, painting the floor in a deep red.
“Echuta. You’re dead to me, Caye…just like Camille always has been.”

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