It was in the quiet moments that Jaden Korr dwelled in with fondness.

In the darkness of her hovel home in the lower reaches of Coruscant, where light was scarcer than it was on the upper levels and darkness was far more plentiful -along with basic amenities-, she cherished the times where the noisy residential block was far more devoid of sound. It was why she made her personal bedroom, a plasteel dome within a haphazardly constructed slab of permacrete and ferrocrete that housed three dozen more residents of various backgrounds and races, as sound proof as possible. Here she did everything apart from using the bathroom and washing up: Eating, reading, writing, sketching, tinkering, thinking and fixing.

Beyond what people knew of her, she was a fixer-upper. Always had, for as long as she could remember, been fluent in finding the root of a problem in machines and finding new ways to repair them better than before. Even when she was cared for by something that passed as a paternal guardian she was able to take apart a holo-recorder and fathom its make-up before putting it back together, better than it once was. She didn't show off this talent of mechanical fidgeting until she became alone at the age of twelve, and then, anyone who'd want to cut back on an expensive tune-up or wish to have an affordable mechanic, would call her up.

Jaden soon became a name of familiarity and adoration among her tightly knit community. It was thanks to her that living conditions improved, even by a little, where it was just barely passable. The Empire never noticed people down this far in the planet and even when the rumbling of rebellion had occurred, she and her community continued to prosper more and more as time went on.

Her jobs soon became more and more complex as she got older. The human machinist would soon be asked to do more distant tasks and deliver items of important worth farther and farther from the complex. By the age of fifteen, she was starting to go just about the second and third levels of the planet, marketing herself off as a mechanical savant, capable of fathoming machines of all kinds, even those she never seen before. Taught by those in the community to avoid saying this to those of Imperial interest, she kept from taking too many risks that'd get her or her home in trouble over the course of time.

Then, one day, something changed.

It started, long ago, with the destruction of the hierarchy ruling over her head, the Emperor, and his shadowy enforcer known simply as Vader. Warlords, strategists and the like struggled to maintain power but an all-out revolt was happening in the upper levels against the ruling class of the skylines. Beyond an influx of business, this meant she'd stick to the lower areas, and keep to herself along with the community. They'd have to board up, and hold out for weeks at one point, scrounging for supplies and resorting to stealing just to ensure they wouldn't starve or go without proper water.

The most miserable month ended when, on her sixteenth birthday, the battle to end all battles took place.

A fierce shaking had taken place above her head, a partition of another level lacerated through their own, cutting apart the majority of it along with what seemed to be layers of durasteel that had held up part of a superstructure at the top level. Among those that lived near her miraculously unscathed community, thousands had perished in the residential block and hundreds of thousands more from the carnage wreaked from above. She'd later find out much later that the death toll was in the millions in the crossfire, as the Empire had begun bombing its own planet to delay an enemy she'd remember as the New Republic.

The lower levels was wreathed in a near permanent bog of smoke, with some areas becoming completely inhospitable. The need for respirators was great in her own community and she crafted as many as she could, teaching anybody that could understand it to lessen the burden. People still died of smoke inhalation, and with a lack of medical supplies, it was impossible to care for those that suffered.

Shrapnel rain became a common problem they couldn't hope to counter. Nearly a dozen people she knew for years were torn apart by wearing and tearing spikes of the metal overhanging ceiling they lived under. Annihilation seemed to be her future and she couldn't help but become more attached to her ineffective cocoon of plasteel within her home. Anxiety was a common state of being, as Jaden feared leaving both her place of living or those she knew in effect dooming them to die without even seeing it herself.

Weeks later, the shrapnel ceased coming down, and a brave ensemble of rescuers came from above to the effected places. They wore the banners of the New Republic, explaining the overthrow to those who had no idea a change of factions had occurred. As a prerogative of the new leaders, as per commission by Leia Organa herself, the Republic's efforts to lend aid to the affected Coruscanti citizens and salvage anything that could be used to remodel the less well off people that were now of the Republic.

It was a relief to the community, but Jaden was shaken from the horrible events. She'd have that innate fear of a sudden death to loved ones or herself by an inexplicable, unpredictable action outside of her control. Her eagerness to explore was suppressed by this morbid cloud that hung over her, like a black cloth that was wet of blood on her shoulders, reminding her of that horrible month of the Siege of Coruscant.

Then, something whispered to her in her hovel. She couldn't quite place it, like an undecipherable language that was breathing along her scalp. It breathed over her when she awoke and she'd feel goosebumps. It was calling her somewhere, and she didn't know why, but she felt compelled to find out the source.

In the middle of the night, she finally ventured out, equipping a respirator when she left outside. While her community's home was reinforced and in far better shape than it had been in years, it still had problems with smoke-filled winds occasionally blowing over their area. Treading carefully, she'd find it emanated from the sunken pit, where the upper level had dragged a larger building down below. With hesitation, she scaled below as far as she could, then finding the voice stop at what looked like a tunnel that was adjoined with the severing void that constantly churned a thick smoke upwards.

Crawling in what she assumed was a ventilation shaft, she saw something glow at the end. Scurrying quickly, she found what she could only describe as the most rare thing she had ever encountered. The whispers quieted in her mind as her hands delicately picked it out of the groove of metal it had sunk into, retrieving it to shine with an ethereal shine of white light before her enamored eyes.

"Beautiful," She whispered, and as if in a trance, she rubbed her fingers over it as it gave off a gentle warmth that was beyond that what machines could produce.

Returning to her home, she began to take what parts she had in her private shell of a resting place to produce a casing worthy of containing this luminous gem. As her hands busied with a feverish intensity, the jewel itself seemed all she could think about. Dreaming of its voice as it soothed her scarred mind and tenderly washed over her scarred spirit, her vigor was renewed with every waking day.

It was something that the neighbors began to notice. First, they reported some strange things happening around the complex, like objects moving at random in the middle of the night, or seeing her leave in what they described as sleep walking. When one of her closest friends, a Rodian boy named Meelik, tried his best to prod her out she told him he was busy.

"On what?" He asked, when suddenly a brilliant shine radiated from the cracks of her plasteel dome.

"Meelik! Come see this!" She squealed with giddy joy.

As one part of the dome folded down, the ten by ten meter dome revealed a glow not by the natural battery powered lights she usually stored within. There, before his bug-like eyes, was a rod of light that thrummed with a buzzing intensity from a cylinder crafted by materials she no doubt had possessed or had gathered during the nights he and the others recalled her leaving in a trance before returning hours later. It was a beautiful design, and shined with a brilliant silver light that was peerless in both its rays as its integrity of shape.

"What is it?" Meelik asked, never seeing something of its kind before in his life.

"I think its...a lightsaber," She spoke slowly, as if dredging up memories she had read about. "It's probably one of those laser swords that the Jedi up top used to have. Back when they were, well, around."

"Maybe the New Republic has some of those," Meelik mumbled out, still captivated by the light-wielding weapon. Then, as if a thought just occurred to him, he shook his head and stared with an oblong expression. "Wait a minute, Jaden! How did you build one?!"

"Build this?" Jaden inquired back, waving it offhandedly, much to Meelik's dismay.

"Yes, that! Are you secretly a Jedi?"

"Pfffft, no!" She sputtered out, snorting out a laugh as she looked back at her majestic new creation. "I just made this on my own. I think I'd know if I was a Jedi before this."

"Really? Was there a blueprint you pawned off somebody? Exchanged it for a trade?" He interrogated.

"No-No-No!" Jaden insisted with an urging stroke of her weapon, accidentally gouging a hole in her dome. "Ah, holo-dust!"

Switching the saber off, she reached into a proximate box and pulled out what looked like a propellant of sorts, spraying it over the hole and doused it with small ice crystals of sorts to put out the embers of flames she made in her hovel. Putting on a respirator, she began to fix the hole with a groan, noticing her friend hadn't left yet. He put his arms over his chest and gave her a look, causing her to roll her eyes, pulling off the respirator from her face and tossing it over her shoulder into the tool box.

"Don't laugh," She urged.

"After what I've seen, I doubt what you'd say would make me laugh," Meelik deadpanned, gesturing with his spindly fingers. "Go on. Tell me how you did it."

Sighing, she held the saber in hand and admired her handiwork. Its handle was made out of a blaster pistol that had worn out its use, with a ovular flare to the bottom where the power cell was injected, the pommel capped by a reinforcement cap found in a downed air taxi's engine. Up the handle was leather she had found in her tool box, smoothing and refining it so it was comfortable to hold with ridges to make it easier for her fingers or palm to hold. The blade's emitter was made of a trio of focusing discs, the third of which bowled out by several inches, enabling the rod of light to be altered in size and composition to her liking.

"In my dreams," She almost muttered out, her eyes averting from looking at Meelik.

"No, seriously," The Rodian boy snarked. "Did you do Death Sticks or something?"

"I told you don't laugh!" Jaden blurted out, her face a beet red as she looked over at Meelik with indignation. "And I AM serious!"

"Oh," Meelik stopped short, seeing her friend look almost angry at him in a way he hadn't seen in awhile. Lamely reaching behind his head, his attennae twitched around as he thought a little; mostly out loud, as he tended to do. "I mean, it makes sense, I suppose. In a weird way this makes all those weird night walks you've been doing add up. That and you've been cooped up in your safety bubble-"

"It's my Peace Dome, thank you," Jaden insisted with an indignant tut of her tongue.

"And things were starting to move in and around the complex, so people were getting spooked."

"They were?!" The teenager asked with mortification, her face paling and her eyes widening at the implication of being somehow responsible.

"Jaden," Meelik intoned levelly, his obtuse lips speaking as succinctly as he could. "I think you should go get trained."

"What? Be a Jedi?" Jaden smiled wryly, almost looking doubtfully at Meelik with a tilt of her head.

"Why not? I mean, for the longest time I remember you wanting to find out how the big starships work, let alone just get out of a worn down place like this," He implored, his hands waving with emphasis. "It'll be good for you, trust me."

"But," She bit her lip, her eyes looking away as her hands now grasped her saber in hand, letting it rattle nervously in her shaking grip. "I'm still...scared. What if something happens to me out there? What if something happens to you, or-"

"Jaden Korr," Meelik spoke seriously, his spindly fingers now wrapped around her shoulders, gently shaking her to bring her eyes to look back at him. There, she saw her silver eyes and her dirtied platinum hair reflected off his nearly opaque, lidless orbs. Even as her eyes watered, her own lips quivering, she heard his words encourage her even as sadness was gripping her from the inside. "You don't belong in this little place, when there is a big world out there waiting for you. I'm thankful to have known you, being one of the only people my age I can talk to, let alone share my own passions with and your weird little tinkering. I promise you, I'll stay here, regardless if you leave or not; but I'll be sad if you never do anything with your life when you've got such a great gift just waiting to be shared with the galaxy."

Jaden felt her heart pang. This was the most considerate that her friend has been. While she always considered the community family, it was only in the harmony in how she shared her talents so freely and deliberately to those who saw her as useful or gifted in how she helped them out. Meelik never asked for anything other than her time and company, her feelings and thoughts, with her emotions shared between the Rodian and herself. He was a true friend, in every sense of the word, and she loved that he was telling her to go.

It still didn't make it any less painful to leave the only place she called home behind.

Reaching out with her arms, she embraced her friend in a tight hug, blinking back tears as a sad smile spread on her face. Lightsaber still in hand, she pulled away reluctantly, she sniffled as she looked Meelik in the eyes and whispered lowly, "Thank you."

"You can thank me by helping me pack your things," The Rodian nodded to her, pointing to her haphazard mess of a dwelling. "And probably clean up so it doesn't look so bad when you come back to visit."

"Ah, if I can, yeah definitely," She nodded shakily, laughing at the disorder she made. "I have really let this place go, haven't I?"

"It matches the rest of this place, frankly," He snorted.

"I'm a mess too!" She noted, running fingers through her hair and seeing nothing but blotches of oil and other junk bunched up on her clothing. "I'll need to buy better clothes. And a bag for my stuff. Probably should save some on food too, in case I need to make several stops."

"Let's worry about that," He motioned to the aforementioned clutter around her with a vibrating chuckle his kind was known for, "after we clean up, no?"

"Yes, let's," She nodded with affirmation, clenching her newly minted weapon in hand as she picked scraps and linen lying around her bedroll. As she tidied the place up, she couldn't help but ponder just why she was called to the crystal or why she was able to make a weapon whose instructions were void and a teacher was absent in instructing it. And the dreams that circled that precious gem, which stretched to the renewed affection she had with this crafted laser sword that she constructed to help deal with her own anxiousness and emotional scarring.

Whatever the case may be, her life as she knew it was becoming more complicated than she dreamed and feared it'd be.

Inquiring the Republic aide that oversaw restoration efforts on her level not more than the following morning, communication was quickly carried to those operating in efforts of contacting anybody who knew of the Jedi. Hearing back within several hours, Jaden was told that she wasn't the only one who was asking as scouting for prospective Force sensitives had been an ongoing mission for the New Jedi Order, currently heralded by one of the New Republic's most famous heroes.

Spending the next day shopping at relatively nicer places closer to the surface for clothing, taking a few hours at a cleansing spring to spruce her dirtied self and finally purchasing a ticket to meet at a rendezvous point for selected candidates to meet. On the day of departure, she brought Meelik with him to see her off, much to his protest. Stopping at the inevitable transport due for the station, she turned to see him off.

"Well," She began to say, her voice becoming a big thick with emotion. "This is it."

"Yeah," Meelik murmured out, feeling uncomfortable to say goodbye in a place far from home. The air here was far more clean, and the sky had a shine to it that the Sun Coruscant orbited gave off a warmth he never felt down below. He saw that the slew of species never changed on the surface, but the dress was far better kempt, and people seemed far more friendlier than those of the other levels below. Still, as the Coruscant System's Sun -Coruscant Prime- shined pleasantly, he couldn't help but admire how brave his friend was. "You sure you're up for this?"

"Hey, aren't you the one who talked me into going?" She joked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but look at you! I barely recognize ya from before," The Rodian youth exemplified with waving arms, gesturing to her with a complimentary squee his race apparently could make. It embarrassed her, but she smiled past the flush on her face. "I'm sure you'll knock the socks off anybody who looks your way."

"Is that a Jedi thing to do?" Jaden asked, taking time to look down at herself. As far as being on a budget went, she did think she dressed more regally than she ever dreamt of. A black linen with silvery threaded outlines was woven into her sleeveless robed top, complete with a hood that was unfastened and hidden by her large dark green duffel bag she strung over her shoulders. Finger-less gloves of leather make that gleamed in the Sunlight gripped at the straps to her pack, her hips wiggling in place to make the kama skirt of similar black and grey outline swish around her more dark grey bottoms, her feet placed inside all-terrain plasteel reinforced boots. Her belt presiding above her skirt was her prized possession, the lightsaber she lovingly crafted for nearly a month of persistent care and attention.

Even her complexion shone better in the planet's Sunshine. An alabaster hue with the slightest bit of rosy hue around her face, matching the crystalline quality of her silver eyes and platinum colored hair. Her Echani heritage was unknown due to her estranged childhood, but deciphered by those of otherworldly knowledge in her community she always stood out, even among the lower levels where soot and dust was a'plenty. Licking her peach lips, she batted her eyes with uncertainty as her emotions began to take hold of her throat once more.

"ALL PASSENGERS OF TRANSPORT ZX4005, PLEASE BOARD NOW!"

"That's you!" Meelik insisted with glee, practically shoving her around to the transport.

"I-I'm having second thoughts, M-Meelik," She stuttered out as the ship grew nearer and the bodies became fewer to bar her path.

"That's why I'm here," The Rodian snorted with a loud toot. "Go on!"

"B-But-!"

"Go before I call dock security to throw you in!"

"Not fair, Meelik!" Jaden cried out, finally stumbling up to the transports stairs. Stopping at the top stair, she turned around and began to wave unabashed, much to the flight attendant's chagrin on the inside. Tears flowed down her face as a broad smile stretched her face, her eyes catching sight of Meelik's own enthusiastic waves of his spindly fingers on the platform. "I'll come back to visit, Meelik! I promise!"

"GO, JADEN KORR! BECOME A JEDI AND SEE THE GALAXY!" The Rodian bellowed out loud, drawing many looks but he cast his cares into the open wind of the transport's propulsors. "AND BRING BACK SOUVENIRS!"

"You got it!" She cried out, finally ducking back inside, letting the stairs retract upwards and seal her inside. Rushing to her assigned seat, she pressed her face against, smudging her head against the window to see the Rodian youth brace himself as the ship rose up with her inside. Even as the lump of emotion made her softly sob, she felt a ping of curiosity surface in her head. Looking up and around the shape of the vessel, she marveled on its craft and design, being more sophisticated than any open-air speeder that was used for transportation.

She knew Meelik was right. The galaxy was a big place and her curious mind yearned to see how it all worked. Reaching for her lightsaber, she brushed her fingers affectionately against it and began to caress its smooth discs and the leather wrapped handle. Her silver eyes soon closed and the whispers urged her into unconsciousness, just before her transport jumped into hyperspace.

Her journey, as she'd know it, has just begun.

A/N: So I wrote this very late at night (or early in the morning, if you want to be technical) because I was in a very Star Wars mood. I produced a One Shot of Luke entering Jabba's Palace in a way I'd like (I Am A Jedi, look it up if you're interested) and I didn't feel quite satisfied. So, one thing led to another and after talking to a friend, I began writing this little bit.

At first I wasn't satisfied with the summary backstory I was writing, but I like giving a broad picture of a character so I won't bog down details in a Flashback later. Plus, a typical text crawl is what usually dissects a story's plot, so I think this isn't too far off the mark. Regardless I felt a surprising amount of catharsis for this Character. Like, I hadn't anticipated making her so vulnerable, let alone fun just to write in general. I guess memories of the good old days of the books I've read of Star Wars brought back the basics of what makes characterization so much fun in a text format.

This was also my opportunity to give clarity to how Jaden built her lightsaber. That was my favorite section to be honest. And her being a tinkerer opens the door to a lot of possibilities in the narrative. That and the weird voices circling the crystal she found. What can it mean? Things to think about I suppose.

See you guys in the next update. I'll try to be quick about it as I do have quite a few other projects weighing on me. Either way, I'll get to it when I can. Hope you all enjoyed it!