Short Story: Escape from Belsavis

Even as the first of the fighting broke out on Belsavis, charismatic leaders on each side pleaded with the populace to settle their disputes diplomatically. By the time each of those leaders had been assassinated, the entire planet was engulfed in a civil war. Adeena Dorn, weary of life ever since her husband, Shrav, died at the hands of Imperial Stormtroopers, had to have her father live with her and her son, Falin.

Presently she sat on a bench outside the starport, her father, Tigos, standing over her, hopeful for any word on an opening on any starfreighter. No luck, so far. Adeena cursed her decision to sell Shrav’s ship, the Stargazer, after he had died. Her life had been in shambles ever since his death and her father had been the only constant.

Adeena looked up, her eyes meeting those of a Duros reporter on the holoproj as he gave reports of the civil strife stirring up across the planet, roiling like a wave straight at her, Tigos, and her as-yet unborn son.

“Father,” she said, her eyes locked upon the holoproj “I get the feeling we won’t be out of here before this reaches us.”

Tigos looked down at her, his graceful aging apparent in his still-chiseled features and well-maintained appearance, and said “Don’t you worry about that, Adeena. Not a bit. I’ll figure something out.”

In truth, Tigos’s mind was racing in a thousand different directions, and none of them bode well for him or his family. Their best option, even though it wasn’t exactly avail—

Tigos was cut short from his reverie by the sound of distant blasterfire. His ears hadn’t atrophied at all in his sixty-two years of life, though beings all around stopped in their tracks and strained their ears as if they simply couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

Tigos looked again to Adeena, his eyes clearly distressed, and mouthed the words “No more time” to her. He gestured for her to get up as he stepped away from the bench on which she sat, and hurried down the duracrete steps leading up to the domed starport.

Already, massive freighters were streaking into the sky, ferrying those aboard to relative safety. A flight of outdated Toscan fighters streaked overhead, a bit too low for Tigos’s comfort, and they opened fire while still within the city’s limits.

Far too close. He hurried Adeena along, taking her gently by the arm, through the huddled masses of refugees huddled around the entrance to the starport. A hundred sentient species, representative of dozens of starsystems, stood waiting for their chance to escape the planet.