Disclaimer-I don't own anything Star Wars, that's Lucas's and Stackpole's and a host of others.
I am from Death. Nice name isn't it. All the lowlifes from all over the galaxy come hear. They come to deliver or sell the illegal goods they smuggle. While they are stopped off they go to the various clubs, cantinas, and bars. You don't want to mess with them because they will kill you or worse. There is an average of one thousand deaths a day, which is why the planet is called Death.
I live in the town of Suffering, named because most people hear die of wasting diseases and starvation more than anything else. The next town over is Hell's Haven. Suffering is pretty small, actually it's more of a slum of Hell's Haven. Hell's Haven is the second largest city on Death. No Return is the largest city. I guess it's called that because once you go there you will never be able to return to the right side of the law.
My mom's name is Narata. She is a dancer in the club called Devil's Maiden. My dad is Zekka Thyne, a smuggler. He is half-alien and half-human. My mom told me some people called him Patches because he had blotches of blue on his skin. I have a couple of pale blue blotches but not that many.
My mom said I was an accident. Dad was only in town for one month. I don't even think he knows about me and even if he did, he wouldn't care. I hope he never comes back to Death. My mom didn't even care enough to give me a name. Her and everyone else I know cal me it, you, or girl.
My mom and me live in a rundown building. We have holes in the walls from long ago blaster fights, and a few new ones. There is one bedroom and another room. The bedroom is mom's. I'm never allowed in her room unless it's to clean it. The other room is my bedroom and the living room. There is a couch, a refrigeration unit, and a storage compartment.
My days are all the same. I get up and eat a breakfast of whatever I could get the day before. I then go out to find money, food, or anything else I might need. Mom's income only pays for her. I have to pay rent, get my own food, and get anything else I want by myself. I'm surprised mom even lets me stay here. She probably keeps me here to keep the apartment clean.
I pretty much stay out of my mom's way. I never go back to the apartment unless I know that she won't be there. Thankfully, she is usually at the club. She doesn't seem to mind me roaming around a town full of murders and other scum. Whenever I am roaming the streets, I carry a hidden blaster beneath my clothes. Actually, I am never without my blasters, even when I'm at home.
What happened today will probably change my life forever. I was walking through town on my way to see a guy I usually do business with, Tress was his name. When I came to his building, I heard Tress pleading and a metallic sounding voice. I peeked into the window to see what was going on.
There was a squad of stormtroopers in there! One had him backed to the wall with a blaster pointed at his chest. Another was trying to get information from him. Tress saw me and made a signal with his head. He wanted me to kill him so the stormtroopers wouldn't get any information from him. I didn't want him to go through an imperial interrogation, no one deserved that.
I aimed at his head and shot. When I shot the stormtroopers turned my way. I couldn't see their faces but I bet you they were angry. I ran as fast as I could out of there. I heard one of the troopers yell to get after me, but I knew the city better and quickly lost them.
I ran to mom's club. When I burst in everyone yelled at me, children don't belong in the clubs, unless there part of the entertainment. My mom stormed up to me.
"What do you think you're doing here?" she yelled at me.
"Stormtroopers . . . in city . . . got Tress," I gasped. Even before I had finished, people were bolting toward the door. Stormtroopers were not a welcome sight on Death, everyone preferred not to have Imperial entanglements.
As they stampeded by me, I noticed a familiar face. Kran Selure had been an acquaintance of my mom's for a while. I stopped him and convinced him to bring my mom and me with him. (I had to let mom come or he wouldn't have taken me.)
We went to the spaceport and boarded Kran's ship the Shadow. It was an old Corellian stockfreighter. We took off and headed for Kran's next stop.
"Once we get there I'll find a place for you," he said.
"Where are you going," my mother asked.
"Imperial Center," he said. I gasped. We had just escaped Imperials and now we were headed for their government's headquarters.
"Are you crazy?" I asked.
"Look, kid, not all the denizens of Imperial Center are imperials," Kran said, "I'm going to the alien sector."
"But I thought the Empire frowned on aliens," my mom said.
"They do, that's why they have a sector all to themselves," he said.
"So we'll be safe from stormtroopers in the alien sector?" I asked.
"Well, if you don't make any trouble you will," he said.
We arrived at Imperial Center in only a few weeks. Imperial Center was a site to see. The planet was covered in buildings. None of the planet surface was visible anymore. We left light speed on the night side of the planet. The lights from the buildings shown making it look like a Corusca gem, which it was originally named after.
They received clearance to land in the Alien Sector. The ship landed with a lurch on a small landing platform. As Kran shut down the ship, I went outside to look around. The place looked rundown. Some of the walls were crumbling and trash was everywhere. Some kind of large rodent was digging through it. The stench was almost unbearable.
Kran and my mother came down the ramp behind me.
"Is the whole sector like this?" I asked.
"Most of it," Kran said looking around. "Most people don't care for aliens. In fact, a lot of people call this the Invisible Sector because they try to forget that it's here. You don't usually take good care of something you're trying to forget." He looked at me when he said the last.
"What will we do now?" my mother asked worriedly.
"Well, I'm going to take care of my business and take off," Kran said. "I don't know about you two."
"You can't just leave me hear!" Notice that she had no care what happened to me.
"Well I don't know." He leered at my mother. "I could find some uses for you."
My mother seeing an opportunity started to lay on the charm. It was a disgusting sight.
I cleared my throat. "What about me?"
They looked startled. They'd forgotten all about me.
"Get lost, kid," Karn said. "You should be thankful I brought you this far."
He and mother walked back up the ramp and closed it. I tried to jump on but no such luck. Hell, if I had made it he probably would have killed me any way.
I looked around; this was going to be a fun place to live. Maybe somewhere around here there was a place I could stay. Hell, it couldn't be worse than Death. Or, could it.