Mid 962 ARR (38 BBY)
It was hard to say goodbye to Rana all over again. It had been a wonderful few days, but we both knew it was a temporary thing, before I returned to my life and my business on Naboo. I think Brihlalon had it worse though. He really didn't look like he wanted to get back on the yacht, the poor man just wasn't built for space travel.
As we cleared the atmosphere, I began thinking about the next steps for my business. One thing visiting Corellia had done is open my eyes to how big the 'world' in which I operated now was. Our rapidly growing business on Naboo was a grain of sand in the galactic economy. At full capacity the Corellian Engineering Corporation could build thousands of ships a year, and they weren't even the biggest out there. For Arakyd Industries, our massive order was a triviality, a matter of interest for petty political reasons rather than financial.
I truly believed that Theed Tech had the potential to match these giants, but I also believed we needed to do so as fast as possible. How long was it before one of them really noticed what we were doing and tried to muscle in on it? From the stories I'd heard, hostile takeovers in this galaxy frequently involved corpses rather than commerce.
We were entering a phase where we would be noticeable and frighteningly vulnerable. It was such an abrupt realisation, something I had not truly understood until now. I went to find very confused Kyla to ask for a hug. I needed my big sister, cause in that moment, I was just a scared geeky kid.
---
I had far more reason to be afraid three days later.
We were passing through the Kalinda system, the last place we had to drop out of hyperspace before the final jump to Naboo. I had grown used to the stops and starts of hyperspace travel by now, and I was sat losing a game of dejarik to Ona when the ship shook violently.
I staggered forwards to the cockpit as the Pride started manoeuvring rapidly, the extreme acceleration of tight turns. Captain Jestos's voice came through the intercom "We're under attack, strap yourselves in, this is going to be rough." I was already halfway to the cockpit, so carried on and buckled myself in behind the Captain as he barked instructions to the pilot.
I made a point not to interrupt, well no I was just too scared to say anything. Jestos noticed me and shouted "Pirates! I've never come across pirates in Kalinda before!" The ship shook again as it banked hard. "Four CloakShape fighters, Captain!" the comms officer reported.
CloakShapes, I was later told, were among the most common fighters in the galaxy. They are slow, ugly and have limited firepower, but they are cheap. They were so cheap that pretty much every pirate and lowlife I the Galaxy can get a hold of one. None of that really mattered when you were traveling in a small unarmed, unescorted yacht.
"How long till we can get back into hyperspace?" the Captain asked the navigator. "At least five minutes Captain!"
This was followed by the longest five minutes of my life. The Pride was a fast nimble ship, with decent shields and was weaving about to avoid giving clear shots for the pirates, while the CloakShape pilots kept attempting to take out our engines. We detected an approaching YT-1000 freighter which was clearly on its way to board us.
With flashing alarms and increasingly strained systems, it really didn't feel like we were going to make it. The captain's voice was tense as he barked out directions to his increasingly frantic crew.
Still, the hyperdrive computer finished its calculations and with a somewhat jerkier movement than was typical for previously pristine yacht, we jumped into hyperspace.
---
As if this trip hadn't already had enough lifechanging moments already.
My life had never been in danger before, not counting the possibility that I died before appearing in this galaxy. The UK is a fairly safe and peaceful country, even the police don't typically carry guns. Pirates had largely existed in fiction, stories of adventure and treasure. I vaguely remember hearing news stories about fishing boats filled with gunmen off the coast of Africa, but nothing I would ever have needed to worry about.
Theed had been even safer, sure the Security Forces had blasters, though I couldn't remember hearing of an incident of them using them in the time I'd lived there.
This was not a safe galaxy.
Given we were not a cargo ship, Captain Jestos had explained to me after that best-case scenario would have been they thought we were people they could ransom, it was a luxury yacht after all. It was just as likely that they were slavers. That would probably have been a short hard life in a spice mine for me, I couldn't help but think what it would have meant for Ona, Kyla and Asherré.
Panaka had made some good points about the security of our business. We had been trying to take these on board, but really he had just scratched the surface of the dangers we, and people I care about, might ultimately face.
Someone was going to come for us sooner or later, and I needed to be ready.