45 ABY, Corellia

The weather in Coronet City was trending warm this year and the rain of the previous week had rolled away from the bay, leaving the city to enjoy a carefree day in the sun. Glitz music could be heard echoing out of the more energetic cantinas into the streets. The Durasteel Blade was not that kind of cantina.

A young, blond woman sat in the corner of the dimly lit bar, watching the holofeed above the bartender's head, obviously waiting for something or someone. She wore casual clothing, but something about her told of a military life. She drummed her fingers impatiently against her empty glass as she looked around. The cantina was quite slow during this time of day. An elderly couple sat in one of the booths chatting, while a few businessmen at the bar boasted loudly about their latest deal.

A silver serving droid wandered over. "Another Elder Brother Ale?" asked the droid, primly.
"Sure, and bring me two more while you're at it. Maybe they'll sense the ale getting warm and hurry their butts up," she replied.
"I find that quite unlikely," the droid responded, "but I'll have those right up."
The silver droid turned stiffly and walked away, no doubt already transmitting the order to the bar.

The bartender, a dark green Rodian with a golden suit and a grumpy demeanor, switched the holofeed from the droning financial reports through several channels. An old holodrama flickered by, starring the blonde bombshell Wynessa Starflare, before the bartender settled on the newsfeed broadcasting direct from Coruscant.

"… lower levels have been targeted. We suspect that the attacks are a minor, gang-related, issue, and that activity will abate after the recent Black Sun arrests. … Moving on to the Senate …"

"Syal!" a lanky man with close-cropped black hair shouted from across the bar as he walked towards her table, trailing a female, cream-colored, Bothan close behind.
"Took the two of you long enough," Syal Antilles replied as they sat down. "Looks like you made it just in time," she said, nodding towards the droid heading their way with three dark red drinks perched on a tray.
"Looks like it," Brand replied. He picked up one of the glasses, holding it up. "Seems like a toast is in order."
The others held their glasses up in acknowledgement.
"To good ale and moments of peace," he said.
"And to not hating the people you work with," Chandra added.

Their glasses clinked together just as an explosion went off outside the bar, flinging black stone into the transparisteel windows that looked out into the square and shaking the walls of the cantina.

"What in chaos?" Brand exclaimed, dropping his glass, ducking to the floor, and pulling out his blaster as his colleagues did the same. The other patrons hid behind the bar as the waiting droid frantically cried out "We're doomed! All doomed!"

The three soldiers waited, watching the front for any sign of attack.

When it became clear that none was coming, Syal quickly motioned the other patrons into the basement, while Brand convinced the bartender to switch to the Coronet City news holofeed.

A sleek woman with brown hair appeared on the display, speaking calmly and professionally.

"Sita Lang here with breaking news in Coronet City. A large explosion has rocked the outskirts of the city. It appears to have been targeted at the CorSec office in the old town district. We are awaiting word on the casualty count and motive. It looks like our correspondent Kell Colton is on the scene now. Kell, what are we seeing out there?"

The display shifted to a young, somewhat disheveled man looking out from a balcony towards the square where a large section of the block is now nothing more than rubble. Black scorch marks streak surrounding buildings, and transparisteel shards litter the street. A copper Hologlide K16 cam droid hovered behind him for a moment, then flew closer to wreckage.

"We're looking at what used to be CorSec's office here in this district. You can see that the explosion appears to have originated from somewhere in the central portion of the building. We're still awaiting word from CorSec on how many officers may have been inside."

Sita's voice cut in. "And Kell, has there been any indication of who might be responsible for this attack?" she asked.

"There has not, as of right now the only word we've received is that the attackers are currently nameless," he replied.

The display cut to overhead footage from the cam droid, viewing the emergency workers digging through the rubble as they searched for survivors.

"We advise all citizens to stay indoors until we receive more information," Sita said. She began to repeat the message for those just tuning in.

"We should report back to the base," Syal said "If this is something larger we might be back on duty quicker than we thought."

The break room at the base was busy, filled with Galactic Alliance pilots and soldiers of all species grabbing caf and chatting between shifts. The white walls and bright lights offered little relief for the headache Brand was dealing with. Too much peace was not necessarily a good thing. He was only recently getting experience in that area.

The wall display cycled through news updates. The voiceover could barely be heard in the cacophony of the soldiers. Brand overheard a reference to the CorSec attack the previous month. "… still no word on the persons or group involved in the attack. Ten died in the explosion, thirty-two were injured. One officer is still in critical condition …"

He saw Syal enter the room out of the corner of his eye. That was not a happy expression on her face. He rubbed his eyes and looked up as his wing mate sat down at the table.

"Still no updates on that attack a month ago, huh?" he asked Syal.

Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail now, and she still wore her flight suit from a training mission earlier that day. "Nothing," she said, sighing and leaning back in her chair. "I've checked with my mother and sister. Intelligence has almost nothing to go on. CorSec assumes at this point that it was an inside job, but they still have no clue which officer perpetrated the attack, if it was actually an officer. No one had aired any grievances, no statement was issued, no names put forward for infamy's sake. It's definitely not your typical terrorist attack."

"Knowing the commander, I bet that has her more worried than if it were the Imperials or Chiss laying claim to the whole thing," Brand replied.

Syal looked around the room slowly. When she spoke, it was hushed and careful. "I'll be honest. I think it has my sister worried. And if it worries her, then it's worrying the Director of Galactic Alliance Intelligence, because things just don't bother Myri that easily."

"Great," Brand said wryly. He chugged his cup of caf and stood up. "So, training time?"

"Training time," Syal replied.