Impossible Dreams

Tialya squinted her eyes at the large canvas in front of her, carefully she added the last few details to her latest painting; exhaling she placed her brush carefully down onto the edge of her easel. She lifted her head from her canvas and gazed along the vast skyline of Bespin, it was very nearly midnight and the sky was painted a deep purple, the clouds were carefully placed slightly obscuring her view of the stars which were lightly scattered behind them. The lights from the city reflected off of the clouds, lining them with pale blues mixing with soft pinks and yellows. Tialya loved to paint, her life revolved around the paint brush ever since she was a child, she was always told she had a very special talent but to her she never saw it as something special, just more like a creative outlet. Her favourite things to paint were landscapes, the natural world, the views she had from her balcony in Bespin were beautiful, but after many years she grew tired of the skies of Bespin. Tialya yearned to travel to far off planets and observe their landscapes, she wanted more than anything else to paint the oceans of Manaan, the forests of Endor, see the cities of Coruscant. As Tialya dreamed of the impossible, the more it dawned on her that it truly was impossible, a young girl on 17 with only enough credits to eat, no means of transport and certainly no knowledge of intergalactic travel would ever be able to leave her quaint home of Bespin.

A great wave of sadness rushed through Tialya as she picked up the small wooden box and traced its silver rims with her fingers; the small box was a gift from her father on his death bed three standard years ago. He had always believed her passion for art would take her to great places, he always told her to embrace that passion. The small box was made from a rare Tranti wood, its edges were lined with silver and her name was carved beneath its locks. That small art box, stained with many colours and inks, was the only link she had to her father, she had no photos or letters just that precious box and her many memories. Tialya never really had a close relationship with her mother due to her never being home, her mother had a job which took her all over the galaxy, Tialya was not too sure what her mother did because she never spoke about her work. But all she knew was that she was too busy to check in every so often or just that she didn't care, her mother Lyna never embraced her talent like her father did. She believed it was a waste of time, that painting pretty pictures had no real value to anyone. Lyna was a very harsh woman she tried to suppress Tialya's creativity as much as she could but her passion was far too strong.

Tialya placed her brushes into the precious box and carefully lifted the still wet canvas and placed it inside up against a wall to let it dry. Her apartment was full of paintings and empty canvases waiting to be filled, since her mother never really comes home, she took it upon herself to decorate. As she glanced around the living area she suddenly realized it had gone past midnight and into the early hours of the morning, hastily she made her way into the 'fresher and prepared herself of sleep.

-.-.-.-

The following morning Tialya was woken not by her alarm clock but by a call coming in through her comm. Sleepily Tialya stumbled her way to the blinking screen on her wall and pushed the transmission button. Tialya rubbed her eyes and looked at the screen; she was greeted by a familiar face. It was her close friend Kia; a usually happy and cheery face had a somewhat worried expression.

"What is it?" Tialya mumbled, trying to force of mind back to the land of the living.

"Sorry Tia did I wake you?" Kia asked, sounding slightly guilty to have disturbed her friend from rest.

"No, well yes but don't worry about it. Anyway what did you want?" Tialya said in between yawns.

"Oh right, well my mother came in this morning saying that she saw a bunch of Storm Troopers patrolling outside in the passageways. Apparently some guy has a large price on his head from Darth Vader himself, who also is apparently here in Bespin!" Kia's face suddenly dropped. "They have apparently been taking all the guys and forcing them to recruit to the Empire"

Tialya had heard that when they're looking for recruitments, they tend to take the more aggressive approach and forcing the men to joining with no real choice. Bespin had always been a seemingly safe place to live, there were no major crimes or criminals around, the thought of having chaos brought to their quiet status quo sent a mild rush of panic through Tialya's body. She looked at Kia through the screen, she looked worried, and Tialya knew that she had an older brother; she prayed for Kia that her brother would not be forced to join the Empire.

"Me and my mother were thinking, maybe it would be safer for you to some and stay with us. Since your mother never really seems to be home and well…" Kia paused not wanting to mention the death of Tialya's father, she wasn't entirely sure she had gotten over the pain she was in. "I-I just thought because those Troopers aren't exactly friendly"

Tialya smiled at her friend, she was thankful for her kindness but she didn't want to impose on her home, Kia's family were struggling with money as it was, with an extra person to care for it would put even more strain on their financial situation.

"Thank you for your kindness Kia, but I really don't want to impose. I'll be fine here, I'm on one of the quieter sectors of the unit, I'm sure there won't be many Troopers around. Plus I don't live with any men, so they won't come looking for recruitments here." Tialya smiled.

She was a very stubborn girl; once her mind was made up there was no changing it no matter what. Sometimes this got her into trouble, but Tialya won't change.

Kia looked at her slightly defeated. "Well alright… You usually seem to know what you're doing" Kia laughed. "But if anything happens I want to come here straight away!"

Tialya laughed. "Alright, I'll be sure too." And on that note, she closed the comm.

-.-.-.-

As Tialya made her way back to her room, as she walked she pondered about the life of a Storm Trooper, would it be exciting going to all those planets? Would they enjoy their work or their missions? Or were they just lonely men trying to get by? Despite all these questions she had, she felt some sort of envy of these Troopers, being able to travel the galaxies and planets and see the views of vast oceans and forests. She looked over to the long mirror in the corner of her room and tried to imagine herself in the white uniform of the Storm Troopers. Tialya's eyes widened as she suddenly realised what she was doing, how she could even allow such a thought to enter her mind was ridiculous. She shook the thoughts from her head and looked towards her clock. Panic surged through her body as she realised she was incredibly late for work.

"Lamarr is going to fire my for sure!" She whimpered to herself as she literally threw herself into the 'fresher to get ready.

Grabbing her tunic she pulled it over her head and ran out the door, down the passage ways and the flights of stairs the thoughts of the Storm Troopers patrolling the area had completely left her mind, her only thought was not to get fired, without this job she had nothing, no credits, no food, nothing. In her blind panic of running through the corridors she had completely lost regards for anyone else who happened to be walking through the passageways, until... Bang. Tialya was on the floor, on her back, dazed and confused to why she was staring at the ceiling. A tall helmeted man stood above her, in his stance, he was not happy about what had just happened. Tialya felt as if she had just ran into a brick wall, as the mysterious man came into her line of vision she froze. She saw the blaster pistol in a harness on his side. "Oh god, he's going to shoot me. I'm going to die. I thought getting fired this morning was bad, I'm going to get fired and going to die." As all these thoughts flew through her head she was sure she was going to die. As the man knelt down beside her she shut her eyes tight, but she did not feel the burn on being shot by a blaster, instead she felt two very strong hands grip her shoulders and in one swift movement she was placed back on her feet. Tialya's kneed were shaking, why wasn't she dead? She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the infamous T-shaped visor of the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett.

"Watch it kid." A deep gravelly voice echoed beneath his helmet. As he turned to walk away he spoke once again. "Next time I won't be so forgiving."

All Tialya could do was stand there, frozen, catatonic almost. She just ran into the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy. He did not kill her, or beat her, he picked her up. She still couldn't get her head around what had happened. It was bizarre. Although what he had said had been understandable.