The Stowaway

[Michael Cline]

Michael Cline kicked his feet up on the back of the seats in the space port's terminal working on a voice comm message, ignoring the information coming across the booming station's comms. He was busy with an away message after all, had to be just right.

"You have reached Michael Cline. I am unable to take any calls at this time. I will be available to return calls on..." He checked the datapad for the date and picked out the following Friday for a return date, speaking it a moment later. "If this is an emergency please contact" He stopped again, looking up the help desk for the casino before then entering that number. "Thank you and safe journeys."

He turned off the recorder, double checking the written equivalent that had come across on the data pad as well. Nodding as he was satisfied he checked his chrono for the time. Shit had he really lost track of so much while just working on a simple vacation message? When word came across Cloud City was going to receive not just the new Moff's visit but the Empress herself? Yeah. Vacation requests were put in and fast. Mike had no intention of being anywhere with that much Imperial and potential Imperial Knight activity. Especially when he worked in so public a sector. The last thing he needed was the glorious lantern jawed blondey boy Baastian Cain to stroll into the casino while he was on the floor, or frelling forbid Matatek Sel Vissica. He wasn't interested in being all that he could be for the Empire, no thank you. Was it paranoid to assume he'd be made as an adept that easily? Sure, but he wasn't risking it.

So instead he sat, relaxed, on Molavar. There really wasn't much here, but intersected with several hyperspace routes, which made it a great place to transfer from one location to another. He doubted there was actually much of anything on this planet outside of this hub, though it certainly seemed lively. Local color and flare, food vendors, some weird tourist trap promising exploration of a so-called haunted crash site. What a bunch of tosh. Nah, this was just Cline stopping between one leg of his journey and the next. From here he'd pick up the cruiseliner Padme's Tears and it was off to 2 days on Tattooine and 4 on Ryleth. Long enough to do some race-track betting on a desert world and move on to some Twi'lek parlors. He smiled at the thought, he hadn't been to someplace like that since him and Wil on Coruscant. That felt like a lifetime ago now.

Now boarding O-5. Now boarding O-5

That was him. He grabbed his bag and ran off for the gate not noticing the flashing display signs that talked of a last-minute flight change. The shuttle for Padme's Tears had been redirected to C-3, an announcement having been made shortly after the change that had been missed by a busy Cline, intent on getting his voice mail just right.