Star Wars - When the Domino Falls Read Online Free PDF Page B

it’s a rough start, but that’s the one thing we all have in common.”
    Staring at Ancher, Ransom forced a breath through his wide nostrils. “You were right to put ole Ancher in his place. There is something different about Socorrans, something that separates them from the rest. If it’s heart, then go where your heart takes you. kid.” The smuggler retreated, starting back down the dune to his vehicle. “Don’t never regret what you’ve done or what you will do. And don’t never look back.” Ransom hesitated as he climbed into the landspeeder. “Clear skies, kid.” Revving the engine a few times, he sped into the badlands, leaving a billowed, black cloud in his wake.
    “He’s a good man,” Ancher whispered, moved by Ransom’s gesture. “Not much of a pilot, but one feisty fighter.” Cradling Drake against him. he asked. “How are you feeling?”
    “I don’t feel anymore, Ancher. There just doesn’t seem to be any reason,” he replied incredulously. “No cause.”
    “The only good cause is a dead cause, I’m afraid. It’s the only kind that brings people together.”
    Staring across the darkening horizon. Drake asked. “Will I know my cause?”
    “When the domino falls, it’s every man for himself,” Ancher replied. “When the time comes, you’ll know it, boy.”
    Drake sank weakly to his knees. “But what if I make a mistake? What if I don’t listen when I should? Take on a job that’s too big?”
    “Drake,” the old guard smuggler chuckled softly, “making choices is all about making mistakes. Everybody’s guaranteed to make a few. That’s why they call it living.” The smuggler shuffled away, leaving Drake and Nikaede alone with the coming night wind.
    Staring into the expansive badlands, Drake contemplated Socorran traditions, whose intricate ties with the tragically short lives of pirates and smugglers left no room for dramatic ceremony. There would be no savage wild fires or elaborate rituals to celebrate the death of Kaine Paulsen. No moment of silence, not even a scream in the night, to commemorate the spirit of a dead pirate. There would just be memories, offworld memories, and hushed whispers of fallen glory.
    Abruptly, the wind was still. For one tranquil moment, no grain of sand shifted. The ever-changing face of Socorro remained unchanged. Then, as abruptly as it had ceased, the breeze swept in-from the badlands, carrying a chill. “Nikaede, I need your help,” Drake whispered. “I have to do something,” he hesitated, “and I can’t do it alone.”
    Nikaede pounded a fist against her broad chest, bellowing a staunch oath of fealty to the young pirate. As if daring the waning glory of Socorro’s sun to challenge the integrity of her honor, she raised her bowcaster and uttered a tremendous war cry to the dimming skies. Intrigued, Drake grinned, whispering. “Was that a life debt?” His smile widened and a deep sense of completion began to swell within him. Shaking the sand from his leggings, the young Socorran stood up. “Come on,” he whispered and started walking into the ominous stretches of the Doaba Badlands.
    It was nearly dawn when they reached the hidden entrance to the dormant volcano. Filtered sunlight illuminated the volcanic crown, sifting down through the darkness. In the basement hollow, the delicate rays faintly sketched the silhouette of a Ghtroc freighter. Moored on a modified set of strut supports, the radiant visage of the Steadfast stirred Drake’s memories of late-night flight schedules with his father, prepping the ship for her first smuggling runs.
    Intrigued by the customized renovations, Nikaede examined the quiet, exterior lines of the freighter, impressed with the power boosters jutting from the tail section. “You can play with the engines another time,” Drake chuckled, guiding the mesmerized Wookiee toward the bridge. In the narrow corridor, he shivered as the cooler air aboard the ship blew over his bare skin. Pulling his